Mike Heika / Reporter

I just got off the phone with Mike Modano and he said he was ``upset and disappointed'' that things with the Stars had to end this way.

``I was told a while back by different people that I would have the say of when I wanted to retire, and it obviously didn't happen that way,'' he said. ``I'm upset and disappointed with today. It's definitely not the way I pictured it happening.''

Modano said he's not upset with GM Joe Nieuwendyk, just with the process. He said he and Nieuwendyk remain friends.

``Yeah, definitely, it wasn't easy for him, and I know that,'' Modano said. ``It's just business, but it doesn't make it any easier for me, either.''

Modano has contacted some business associates who would help him in shopping himself around, but said he would act as his own agent in free agency. He said he would be personally fielding calls when free agency starts on Thursday and said he believes he would probably play in the Western Conference.

``I definitely think in the west, that's what I know best and where I'm most comfortable,'' he said.

Modano's wife, Willa Ford, has been shuttling back between California and Texas while pursuing acting gigs, and Modano said it would be good if he could work things to be near her.

``She'd be ecstatic if that would happen, so that's definitely preferred,'' he said. ``But I just have to find the right fit.''

Modano said he's still not sure he wants to play. He said he can't even put a percentage on his decision, because he doesn't know what opportunities are out there.

``Honestly, until I talk to people and know where I fit and how I can help a team, I have no information to even base a decision on,'' he said. ``It's a whole new world for me, but I think I should probably know a lot more after the first week or so of free agency. Who knows, I could find the right fit on the first day and sign a deal or I could find nothing and then decide to retire. Anything is possible right now.''

When asked about his fit on the Stars, he said he wasn't happy last season.

``No, but who on the team was,'' he asked rhetorically. ``It wasn't a good season, it didn't come together very easily. I just think you have to put that in the past and move on.''

Today is a sad day, My favorite player of my favorite NHL team has been told that he can no longer play for the Dallas Stars. I remember when the Dallas got this strange thing called NHL hockey and i really wondered will it make it here in Dallas.

The new fans were shown and told bout this one player #9. I really didn't think much about hit. He looked very normal but when I started to see a few of the Stars games on tv, I knew that the boy had some mad skills.



What I remember about this game was at this time I was living in Germany and we had channel 5 from London on our cable tv and that they were showing the game live and it was about 730 am and the game was still on and it was really into extra time and when the Stars won, I was so wanting to be back in Dallas losing my mind. I still have a hard time believing that Dallas actually won a NHL title.

But now it time for our leader to move on to the next part of his life and we shall miss him here in Dallas...

Movie Review: Shrek Forever After



I had really high hopes for this film. I named this the #4 film to see this summer season. After seeing this film, I am so glad that Dreamworks has stated that this is the final Shrek film. After this one, I really doubt that I would want to see another one in this series.

I had hoped that this film would try and establish Shrek's back story or bring Donkey's story or maybe more details about Fiona out. Instead we are given an angry Shrek that has a mid life crisis and this is the basis of the final act of Shrek?

I would love to ask the person who gave the "Go" order for this script to be made into the final film one simple question, why did you make this bad of a film? The story was very uneven and really showed no originally and missed every given opportunity to turn a so- so film into a great one. The film brings up many questions and fails to answer the majority of them.

Instead of watching a "Shrek" film, I felt like I was watching a very bad episode of 90210. This film fails to impress and should not be seen in IMAX or in 3D anytime in the immediate future.

Please pass on this Shrek and put it out of its misery.

Grade: F

Movie Review: Grown Ups



With some of Adam Sandler's films, I feel that we have been given some very funny films but I also feel that he has been very lazy in some of his recent attempts at humor.

I had heard of some of the very negative views of this film before I saw it so I really had no idea what to expect. I then remembered that most critics hate Adam and that I should just watch the film and see what happens. I am glad to say that I really liked this film.

The idea of this film is very simple, five best friends (Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider) from junior high reunite over 30 years later in the wake of the death of their old basketball coach and decide to spend the Independence Day weekend together with their families at the lake house where they celebrated their championship.

What I liked about this that it just showed a very simple vacation without a lot of the CGI that we have come to expect in the new age of comedy. I also really liked the chemistry of these 5 stars. You could tell that they were friends by the way that they were talking and interacting together. It was real and that, to me, made this film a lot more believable.

You will really see noting original in this film at all and I am sure that you have seen some of the humor in this film taken from other recent films. While I was watching this film I was laughing and when the film was over, I had a smile on my face.

I have no idea if this film will ever be shown here in Korea due to the recent low box office numbers of Adam here in Korea. If the film comes here at all, it will probably play for 1 week. So you need to see the film the first week that it’s here.

I really enjoyed it and I hope that you do to.

Grade: A-

Roxanne Chase-Feder: [an old woman approaches them] And this must be your mother.
Rob Hilliard: My wife.
Roxanne Chase-Feder: I'm sorry!
Rob Hilliard: I'm not.
[kisses his wife]
Marcus Higgins: [onlooking] Oh, grody.

Movie Review: Knight and Day



With Tom Cruise, either I have liked his films or I have really hated them. I went into this one hoping that the sneak preview did not turn out to be better than the actual film. In this case I thought that Tom did a nice job in this film and that you should see it while it’s playing here in Korea.

To be honest I really saw nothing new here in this film. We have seen Tom as a secret agent before but in this film it is like he has had a huge stick removed from himself and actually made me laugh throughout an entire film. I really have no idea why, but the film was funny to me and the Korean audience really seemed to enjoy the film also.

What you get in this film is a secret agent who everyone thinks has finally broken down and with Toms acting here, for the first time in a very long time; I actually believed what I saw from him in this film. I also really liked the role that Cameron Diaz had in this film. I saw that, although she brought nothing new to the film, I wasn't really shocked by anything that she did in this film.

Over all, I guess that is why I liked this film. Lately, I seem to be angry when I left the theater because I had just wasted my time and $ on some supposed new film, that ended up being a piece of crap. When I left the theater after this movie, I knew that it wouldn't get an Oscar but I left it happy and thinking that maybe Tom is going to have a good rest of the decade here.

The film is worth at least one viewing and I hope that you like it.

Grade: B-

June Havens: The pilots are dead!
Milner: Yeah, they've been shot.
June Havens: By who?
Milner: By me. No, actually, I shot the first pilot then he accidentally shot the second pilot. It's just one of those things.

Student’s video tribute to Donovan a hit

By Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports

Print

Robby Donoho, the popular video's creator, is a senior at Purdue University.

Follow Martin Rogers on Twitter at @mrogersyahoo

IRENE, South Africa – College student Robby Donoho watched Landon Donovan’s golden goal on Wednesday and decided it merited an instant tribute. Little did he know, within hours it would wind up bringing the United States soccer hero, flicking through the Internet half a world away, to tears.

Donoho, a 21-year-old Purdue University senior and avid fan of the men’s national team, collected a montage of clips of USA fans celebrating Donovan’s injury-time winner against Algeria and assembled them into a catchy package, which he put on YouTube.

Within hours, the video had gone viral, and as the American players headed to bed on Friday night ahead of their round-of-16 match against Ghana in Rustenburg, more than 350,000 viewers had tuned in.

It didn’t take long for the images to be passed through to the USA’s training camp near Pretoria and onto the laptop of Donovan himself. For all of the praise and plaudits the goal-scoring star received after his moment of glory, it was seeing the reaction sparked by his calm strike into the bottom corner of the Algerian net that touched him the most.

“Not sure if you guys saw this but it brings tears to my eyes every time,” Donovan wrote on his Facebook account, while linking to Donoho’s video. “Thank you all so much … we can do it.”

The scenes were intoxicating. From a frantic fan leaping from his couch in Arkansas to a raucous bar in Lincoln, Neb. From a Las Vegas casino to a New York sidewalk, where fans congregated to peer at a television through a shop window. From an American enclave in Lyon, France, to the streets of South Africa, the pictures of jubilation were enough to warm the hearts of those who have waited for soccer to matter in America.

For Donoho, it was a moment he will never forget, and it spawned unavoidable mental comparisons with a certain hockey game from 30 years ago.

“When I watched Landon’s goal go in, and the response from everyone across the world, it immediately reminded me of the Miracle on Ice,” Donoho wrote in an email to Yahoo! Sports, referring to the USA’s legendary hockey upset of the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. “Those kind of moments captivate a nation and bring us together in a time where belief seems dim and victory doesn’t seem possible. It was down the stretch, with everything on the line.

“The best always comes out in sports, and it did for that moment and Landon. That’s what inspired the world to react with sheer excitement and joy.”

American soccer is not blessed with a long list of spectacular moments. When the end of this tournament allows a sense of perspective to return, if Donovan’s goal does not go down as the national team’s finest hour, it will surely remain its most dramatic.

Head coach Bob Bradley took the decision to shield his players from the glare of the spotlight by sequestering them in a quiet training base in the countryside. Yet the omnipresence of the Internet allowed a sense of the excitement they had conjured back home to seep through.

“There needs to be some kind of distance, but I also think it is important for the players to realize what their achievement means to people,” Bradley said. “That is [not a] bad thing.”

For Donovan, this has been an emotional time. After failing to live up to expectations at the World Cup four years ago in Germany, Wednesday night was the kind of moment he had targeted on the countless nights when the pain of under-performance kept him awake.

When you combine the pride the 28-year-old has in representing his nation with tumultuous recent events in his personal life, it is little surprise Donoho’s stirring video elicited more raw emotion.

And he wasn’t the only one.

“Hearing about Landon’s reaction to my video almost brings me to tears,” said Donoho, who is studying mass communication (broadcast journalism) at Purdue. “I have always gone into making my videos and putting them on YouTube to bring excitement and joy into every viewer that sees them. To hear that the player that inspired the world with his goal saw my video and it inspired him to tears, brings me to tears just typing this.”

Today is fathers day in the USA and once again, I am separated from my 2 children. I miss you both today very much. Today I just went out by myself, stayed low and really kept to myself.

Even though I am as proud as I can be to be a Dad, I can't help but miss the
man who molded me! I love you and miss you Dad! Happy Fathers Day to all the "Dad's out there on earth and in heaven."

Miss you a lot today Dad.

Movie Review: 71-Into the Fire 포화 속으로 (Po-hwa Sok-eu-ro)




By a complete accident, I went into a theater to see one film and when I saw that they were giving a sneak preview of this film I immediately jumped at the chance to see the one Korean film that I wanted to see this summer.

I didn't know much about this film before I saw it. I knew that it was the Korean big screen debut of K-pop star T.O.P (Choi Seung-hyeon) and that the films preview looked like a Korean version of the Alamo or 300. I knew that this was the 2nd film to arrive at the Korean box office about the Korean War this year and after the huge failure of the first one A Little Pond I really wasn't sure what to expect about this film.

I soon learned that this film was based on a true story in which On Aug. 10, several hundred South Korean soldiers and 71 teenagers were drafted for the national emergency in Pohang. Due to the shortage of men, the small city was left in the hands of the 71 teenagers to try and stop the advancing North Korean Army.

What I really liked about this film was the young hero Oh Jang-beom (played by T.O.P.) When he is placed in command of these 71 teens, you soon discover that he has no idea how to be a leader. All he wants is the war to be over so he can go home and see his mother. In the film, it was stated that he wrote a letter to his mother and he wrote this to her, " Mother I might die today… I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid I might never see you or my brothers again. I wish the war would end soon so I may return to your arms." You see this thought the film, a simple boy wanting to return home.

I also liked the North Korean officer in charge, General Park Mu-rang (played Cha Seung-won) Once he figures out that he is going against teens, I saw how arrogant he became in his expected victory.

The film has its moments of humor, when the radio man ask by making a call, how they actually can operate a small artillery piece was funny. But as in war film there are the moments of terror that the film shows. The audience I was with were cringing at the final battle scenes. They felt the loss of these young teens who were trying just to stay alive in the insanity of war.

After the film was over the credits stated that Some 60 North Korean soldiers lost their lives while 48 of the 71 boys died. One of the fallen heroes, 16-year-old Lee U-geun, left behind letters addressed to his mother that testify to the horrors of war. When the film showed an actual survivor of the battle talking about that day and crying for his lost friends, the entire audience did not move at all.

This is when I knew that I had just seen a great film that I will want to add to my DVD collection ASAP. Please see this film when it opens up on 16 June 2010. I have no idea where any English subtitles will be for this film at the time of the writing of this review.

Grade: A

Movie Review: Sex and the City 2



So far this film has had 2 very distinct opinions. The majority of my female friends loved this film while the majority of my male friends, who have admitted seeing this, absolutely hated it.

I think one of my female friends said it the best.. "hmm....so if I make out with my ex. tell my husband about it, I should expect a huge black diamond as a punishment? thanks for the tip SATC!!!"

As an American male, I have never really understood the reasoning of why Sex and The City was so popular around the world. To me all they seem to be interested in are the latest parties and fashion and who they are seen with. I keep wondering am I the only one who see how pathetic and shallow these girls seem and as men do we want our future girlfriends and wives to act in this manner because we enjoy it?

Sad to say, but my last statement is exactly how I saw this film. It was shallow, empty and for the majority of the film, I just rolled my eyes and waited for it to be over.

The film splits into two different locations, New York City and Abu Dhabi and we are shown both of these worlds with a very different outlook for the ladies who are visiting there. It was interesting to look at how both worlds operate in their treatment of women.

Overall if you love SATC, I think that this film will work for you. if, you're like me, and really cant stand the SATC girls, then you should pas on this film and wait for something else to see at the movies.

Grade D-

Film Reviews: A-Team and The Karate Kid (2010)






As Harry from aintitcool states, "Neither THE KARATE KID remake nor the theatrical debut of THE A-TEAM particularly suck - but they are devoid of any real impact for me."

Lets first deal with the "Karate Kid"

I really fell that Will and Jada Smith want to make their son "Jaden" a film star. So they decided to move to China for a few months and remake the 1984 The Karate Kid and in the processed really made a film that left me flat. Its not that great of a film but it isn't that bad of one either.

For me the film really doesn't work over 2 main points..

1. Jackie Chain as a teacher. The entire time that he was on the screen it just looked like he wanted to do anything else but be in this film. He just never made me believe that he was a teacher. The only thing I believed about him in the film was his fighting scenes.

2. The love story. I just never could believe the love story between Jaden and Wen Wen Han as Mei Ying. It looked very forced and never worked for me in the film. I believed the original story because they we both older. This looked like a very bad case of puppy love gone wrong.

I kept waiting for a film to appear and all I received was a very bad imitation of an 1980's film that I liked. If you haven't seen the original, you might actually like this film a lot. If you are a fan or the original film, then I feel that you'll be very disappointed by this film.

Grade C-

I was a huge fan of this show back in the 1980's, when I heard that they were making a remake of it, I went WTF! I saw no reason for a relaunch of this because the original "Hannibal Smith" George Peppard, Jr died back in 1994. I just couldn't see anyone but him even attempt to try it.

My hopes were temporary erased when it was announced that Liam Neeson was cast as "Hannibal". As great of an actor I think Liam is, he just never made me feel that he was the real deal.

To me the film only works when Sharlto Copley is in it. He plays Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock and made me believe that he really was that "mad".

The films plot wasn't that great but then again neither was the TV show, so I wouldn't go into this film really expecting anything close to one in the film.

I feel that if you like action films then you might like this one but if you're a fan of the TV show then you might want to give this one a pass also.

There was no destroying of childhoods here. Instead, they're moderately entertaining retreads of some of my favorite 80's moments, and that's just sad all around. Has Hollywood truly that empty for any new movie ideas?

Grade: C-