First AA Coach in NBA!

After Pat Riley officially stepped down as the head coach of the Miami Heat today, it was announced that Erik Spoelstra will succeed Riley as head coach.

Spoelstra has been with the Heat organization for 13 years, the last 7 of which he has been Assistant Head Coach and Director of Scouting. Spoelstra's hiring is a landmark move for the league for several reasons. Firstly, he now becomes the youngest head coach in the NBA at 37 years old. More importantly, as a Filipino American, he has become the first Asian American head coach ever in the NBA.

Good luck to Coach Spoelstra! With that Heat team...you're gonna need it!

Summer Movie Preview

It's summer movie season again...Time for the brainless blockbusters that I love so much! Here's a brief preview of the more high profile movies coming out this summer as well as some that may not be so high profile but still interesting to me....

May 2:
Iron Man - The first film to be produced solely by Marvel Comics without studio financing. Solid cast with Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges. Trailers look interesting but who's the villain? Every good comic movie has to have a great villain!

May 9:
Speed Racer - Looks very visually stimulating but perhaps too much so? Never saw the original cartoon so I'm not familiar with the storyline. Brought to you by the Wachowski Brothers who made The Matrix trilogy. Also marks the Hollywood debut of Korean singer Bi (aka Rain).

May 22:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Initial trailer didn't really excite me too much, but hey...It's Indiana Jones! Even if he is like 60 now....(also good to see Karen Allen back)

June 6:
Kung Fu Panda - Not really a fan of animated films but I love anything related to martial arts and this one looks fun.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan - I love most Adam Sandler comedies and this one looks like another winner.

June 13:
The Incredible Hulk - Another attempt to start this franchise, this time with Edward Norton in the leading role. The initial trailer is fairly boring and I'm hoping the next one shows more action.

The Happening - Big fan of writer/director M. Night Shyamalan thrillers, although the last few have been clunkers. Let's hope this one is more The Sixth Sense and less The Village.

June 20:
Get Smart - I was a fan of the original show and I think Steve Carrell's got potential to be a comedy star and this is a great platform for him to show it. Plus, Anne Hathaway's hot!

June 27:
Wanted - Angelina Jolie shooting guns? I'm there!

July 2:
Hancock - Will Smith owns 4th of July weekend once again, this time playing a superhero in LA. The trailer looks like a ton of fun!

July 18:
The Dark Knight - Second Batman film by director Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale. This time with the deceased Heath Ledger as a scary ass Joker. They've also subbed out Katie Holmes from the original film with Maggie Gyllenhaal. Bleah.

July 25:
Step Brothers - Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and the director of Talladega Nights reunite in another comedy with Ferrell and Reilly playing new step brothers when their single parents marry each other. Trailer is so so and Ferrell has been kind of on a cold streak recently so not really looking forward to this one.

August 1:
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - Wouldn't even be interested in this Mummy sequel if it wasn't for the fact that it has Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh in it.

August 8:
Pineapple Express - Is it just me or is Judd Apatow's name on every single comedy film released nowadays? The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Drillbit Taylor, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Step Brothers, Forgetting Sarah Marshall....they're all his! Whether as writer, director, or producer, he's had a hand in all of those films. I've seen a few of them and they're not bad, but not that great where they continue to praise him as the next comedy god. Anyways....Pineapple Express, a story about 2 stoners who witness a murder actually looks pretty fun and rumor is that they got inspiration for this film from Brad Pitt's character Floyd in True Romance which is my favorite movie of all time so that's a plus!

Wow....that's a lot of movies. I probably won't end up going to see even half of them but I wish I could see them all!

Ho...No Shame Or What?

Just got through reading this article over at the Honolulu Advertiser. Apparently two sets of parents are fighting over the rights to a David Bechkam jersey from the Pan Pacific Soccer Tournament this past February. They're even getting lawyers involved, as one set of parents is suing the other. And their kids, who were friends and soocer teammates before, are no longer speaking. They agreed to share the jersey at first but now both are unwilling to do that.

Jeez, these parents no more shame or what? I'd be so embarrassed if I were them. I didn't think this kind of thing could happen in Hawaii but I guess I was wrong. This is just really pitiful and sad....

Just sell the damn jersey and donate the money to AYSO already!

I Have No Heart!

Tickets, that is. I forgot for a while that the Heart concert tickets went on sale on 3/28 so I checked Ticketmaster to buy my tix today and found out it's sold out! What? Already? I had no idea that Heart had such a following here where the tix get sold out in a matter of a week!

Aw man! Now I guess I gotta hit Craigslist to see if I can get me some tix! Bummer!

"21" Movie Review

The movie 21 is based on the book Bringing Down the House, which is one of my favorite books of all time. The book is the real life story of how a group of MIT students figured out a way to count cards and win millions of dollars by playing blackjack in the Vegas casinos. If you haven't read this book, I highly suggest you go out and do so. It's an exhilirating read.

So when I heard that they were making a film based on this book, I had to go see it. It did kind of bother me a bit that the movie casted white actors in the lead roles when the real people were Asian Americans, but I decided to let that go and just judge the film on its own merits.

Jim Sturgess plays Ben Campbell, an MIT student who's just gotten accepted to Harvard Medical School. Problem is, he needs $300,000 to pay for the school's expenses. During a math lecture, he catches the eye of Professor Mickey Rosa, who then recruits Ben to join his team of geniuses in using a system to beat the casinos at blackjack. The system involved counting cards and also giving subtle signals to the team's "big players" to let them know which tables have an advantageous count going. Ben is initially against the idea but the lure of easy money to pay for his Harvard education is too much for him to resist.

I really enjoy movies about gambling and especially about Vegas so "21" was right up my alley. And I have to say that it was a very entertaining film. Yeah, they strayed from the book here and there but I'm not one of those guys that analyzes every scene for accuracy to the source material. Sturgess was good as the lead and Kevin Spacey as the ring leader Mickey Rosa is always exceptional. Not really a fan of Kate Bosworth but she did okay as the female lead. And Laurence Fishburne was also good as the casino head of security.

The fact that there was a character named "Choi" on the blackjack team was also very appealing to me for obvious reasons. Choi was an underdeveloped character but he had his funny moments and I liked his character. It was also cool to see Jeffrey Ma (the real life Ben Campbell) in a cameo as a blackjack dealer in the film.

So I'd recommend "21" if you liked films like "Rounders" and "Ocean's 11". While "21" is not as polished as those other films, it's still pretty exciting and fun to watch.

Open Seating at Aloha Stadium?

I just signed up for UH football season tickets for the 2008 season so I was really shocked to hear this news. Apparently, UH has decided that due to the high number of complaints about the high "Premium Seat Contributions", that they will do away with any seat assignments and will be offering open seating at the stadium for all future UH home games! So basically, it's become a first come - first serve system at the stadium!

Season ticket holders will still get a discounted rate on ticket prices, but no guarantee on seating assignment. This might anger the long time season ticket holders who are used to sitting in their regular seats year to year, but will give a great opportunity to regular joes who just attend a few games here and there to grab quality seats. Now all you have to do is show up early to get a good view!

I'm not sure yet how I feel about this development as I believe you should be loyal to your long time fans but just think about how many more fans you'd be able to attract to home games due to the possibility of getting a prime seat!

Hmmmm......