Who Put the Ball in the German's Net ?

Tomorrow afternoon at Old Trafford, the United faithfuls have the chance to welcome back one legend, and say goodbye to another. When Roy Keane came out of the tunnel to led his Sunderland team as manager, there can be no doubt that a standing ovation for him was in order. It was under his leadership as a player that Manchester United enjoyed their most successful season to date, the 98/99 season which United won the famous treble.

But it was the leaving of another player that probably stoke up the most emotion. The player who coincidentally had as much say in that famous season as Keane, have announced his retirement from the game. After 3 years struggling with knee injury, Ole Solskjaer finally gave up any hope of playing professionally again.

The player who the press dubbed as 'The Babyfaced Assassin', due to his boyish look and his accuracy in front of goal, was probably ranked as one of the best buy Sir Alex Ferguson have ever made. When in the summer of 1996, Fergie failed to land Alan Shearer for the third time, he then settled for this then-unknown Norwegian to bolster his attacking options. Bought for a mere 1.5 million pounds, from Norway premier division side Molde FC, not many people paid much attention to this transfer. Karel Poborsky and Jordi Cruyff arrival after their impressive performance in Euro 1996 took most of it. But after the 96/97 season ended there's no doubt who people noticed most. Making the most of Andy Cole season long injury, Solskjaer ended as the club topscorer, scoring 19 goals, 18 in the league, and helped United retain their title.

Despite the impressive first season, Solskjaer never managed to hold a place as a regular starter afterwards, as Teddy Sheringham came next season, and Dwight Yorke the season after that. Not that he complained though. Despite the limited chance, he still managed to score double figures each season. Statistically, Solskjaer at that time was the most efficient striker in the league in terms of goals and minutes played.

In that fateful 1998/1999 season, Yorke and Cole partnership was firing all cylinders in domestically and in Europe, and Solskjaer saw his opportunities even more limited. So when United accepted a bid from Tottenham Hotspurs, United fans feared the worse. To their relief though, he rejected first team football with Spurs to stay with United. That decision cemented his status with the United fans, who already take him to heart when he deliberately received a red card for hacking down Rob Lee to prevent a goal in the crucial title run in the previous season.

We all know what happened that season. 4 goals against Nottingham Forest on their ground in just 10 minutes, last minute winner against Liverpool in the FA Cup. Injury time winner to seal the European Cup against Munich. If United fans adored him before that game, oh boy do they love him after that. His banner 20LEGEND was the only banner for a player in the Stretford End, which tells you something.

He helped United won another two titles after that, again being the subsitute most of the time. It was in 2002/2003 season though, he appeared to have cemented a first team place when Ferguson was toying with a 4-3-3 formation. Stationed as a right sided forward/winger, supporting Ruud van Nistelrooy as the lone striker and Ryan Giggs on the other wing, Ole helped United won their 15th league title. Therefore it was a cruel blow for him, when he started his injury problem after that, which robbed him 3 years of football. But commendably, United stood by him, by offering him contract extension even when he can't play because of the injuries.

His last contribution for United was the fourth goal in the 4-1 rout of Blackburn. It was typical Ole, receiving a left wing cross from Louis Saha, he sidefooted the ball first time into the bottom corner. One chance, one goal. Fittingly, in this last season, United won their 16th league title.

There was much praise come his way as a player. Arsene Wenger called him 'United most efficient player'. He wasn't that far off. Solskjaer could score from just about any angle and any way. Whether it's long range shot, tap ins, headers, left foot, right foot. You name it, he can do it.

But above all, what this (and most) United fan love about him is that the way he conducted himself as a person on and off the pitch. In an age where football players were worth big money and even bigger egos, it was refreshing to see a player who's committed to the cause, but so down to earth and doesn't take anything for granted.

Thanks for the memories Ole, it's been a privilege.
20LEGEND.

Feast For The Eyes

When my friends invite me to joined them to watched Ratatouille (read: Ra-ta-TOO-ee) last weekend, I wasn't exactly excited. As far as I can tell, I've finished my 'must watched movie' list after Bourne Ultimatum, and an animated movie about a rat who like good food (instead of garbage) wasn't that interesting to me. So, I walked into the theater having almost not read a single review. I read a few posts in a forum who praised this movie, but didn't give it too much thought. But by the time I walked out, I was filled with a gush of good feeling and appreciation that I've not have for a long long time. I guess I should have more trust at Brad Bird. I mean, this is the guy who can put heart and depth on a 50 foot animated alien robot voiced by Vin Diesel, or a guy who probably make the best superhero movie out there.

Ratatouille is about a rat named Remy (Patton Oswalt). He's not like any other rat though. His heightened sense of smell enable him to developed a taste for better things in life. Which is in this case, food. He refused to eat garbage, but instead prefer stuff like cheese cooked with saffron. For his clan though, who is led by Django (Brian Dennehy), his father, he was seen as a weirdo or mainly just being picky. But Remy really love good food. He also idolised the late Auguste Gausteau (Brad Garrett), a chef who had his own tv program, and wrote a book called "Anyone Can Cook". Through the books and TV programs, Remy developed a love for cooking. Unlike the rest of his clan, Remy didn't see human as the enemy, but instead admired human ability to create.

When a series of events seperate Remy from the rest of his clan, and take him to Gasteau old restaurant in Paris, Remy finally got a chance to fulfill his dream. When a new bust boy name Linguini (Lou Romano) messed up a soup in the kitchen, Remy came to the rescue, fix the soup so well that it drew compliments from a food critic. He eventually befriended Linguini, and strike up a partnership. With Linguini human appearance and Remy talent, they took Gasteau restaurant back into one of the best in Paris. And with Remy's help, Linguini take over the restaurant from Chef Skinner (Ian Holm), Gasteau former partner, when it was discovered that Linguini is actually Gasteau long lost son.

However, the adulation that Linguini received while not acknowledging Remy to the public and his relationship with Collete (Jeanane Garofalo), the female cook in the restaurant put considerable strain to their friendship. Remy also took some pressure from his own clan, because he choose to live with Linguini rather than live with them in the sewer. To add further to the conflict, Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole), the food critic whose savage review was the reason why Gasteau restaurant lost its popularity in the first place, is making a second visit to the restaurant, eager to dismissed it again.

I'll stop here before giving away of the ending. But in short, Ratatouille's message of love, friendship, family and chasing your dreams wasn't shoved in our throat, but delivered perfectly. I also have to give props to Brad Bird to avoid making this a cliche and not pouring this movie with the oh-so-tired references to pop culture. Besides the story, Pixar again outdo themselves in terms of animation. It looked amazingly real, even the fur on Remy's body looked like the real thing.

With top notch voice acting (against the tide of casting big stars),the end product is easily one of the best movie of the year, not just for animated ones. Ratatouille managed to do something very few movies can do, providing class entertainment which is not bound by age. You can take the little ones to see it, or just went to watch it with friends.

Sorry Mr. Bird, to ever doubted you.

Ultimately Bourne

In the times when action movies equivalent with high quality CGI shots and blowups, it is perhaps refreshing to see one which actually minimize them (I can even count the number of gunfight scenes and explosions in one hand), and gone back to solid storytelling and achieved maximum effect as the result. So when Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) shouted "Action" in directing Bourne Ultimatum, he really meant that.

Bourne Ultimatum is the latest (and some source says last) installment of the Bourne series, which chronicled the story of a CIA assassin who on one of his mission, got amnesia and found conscience. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) was through with killing people at the end of the Bourne Identity (the first installment of the series), and after apparently successful in evading CIA pursuit, live happily with his girlfriend Marie (Franka Potente). However, when Marie was killed in another CIA attempt to killed Bourne in Bourne Supremacy, he was determined to get back to the people who killed her, and ultimately the people who made him what he were.

Ultimatum continue exactly after Supremacy finished, and it picked up the pace right there. Bourne investigation led him to Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), a London journalist who have uncovered Blackbriar, the continuation of Treadstone, which is the project who trained and assigned Bourne to missions in the first place. From here, Bourne's effort to found out about Blackbriar and his real identity took flight.

Like in the previous two, Bourne's journey to achieve his goal full of thrilling suspense and action. Besides gathering information, he's also have to evade the CIA effort to killed him and anyone who helped him. Bourne's resourcefulness in outwitting the CIA agents and getting what he want is one of the key entertainment in this movie. He doesn't rely on gadgets, but instead on quick thinking and improvisations to get out of trouble. One of the most thrilling sequence in the movie was when Bourne and Ross was trying to dodged CIA surveillance in Waterloo train station with Bourne guiding Ross' movements using a cellphone.

Another strength is the previous two movies is the fight scenes, and this one is no different. I like the way the filmmakers make Bourne fights utterly believable. He was using martial arts, but not the flying and roundhouse kicks ones. He grappled, kicked, punched like street fighting, but there's a certain elegance and efficiency in his moves.

Matt Damon shines again in portraying Bourne loneliness and his one track mind to find out who he is. Julia Stiles finally got a bigger role here as Nicky Parsons, the CIA logistic agent who befriended Bourne in the first two movies. And here in Ultimatum, her interaction with Bourne was excellent. There's a certain poignant feeling about when they talked (and not talking) in a coffee shop, which led to further questions. But the ones that I'm glad that this movie decided not to answer. Joan Allen as Pamela Landy, perhaps the only person in CIA who doesn't want Bourne dead was also good. David Strathairn though was the best as Noah Vosen, a CIA director who was hellbent in his pursuit of Bourne.

It was a really good end to the series. For once this the third movie in a trilogy that doesn't try to be too smart, or try to be something it's not. A syndrome that plagued the likes of Shrek, Spider-Man and X-Men. This movie also announced the triumph of good old-fashion movie making, proving that to make a good entertaining action movie, you can rely on solid story and acting, not just big explosions and CGI.

Thank you Paul Greengrass, Tony Gilroy, and Scott Z. Burns!

R.I.P Mike Wieringo

On 12 August 2007, comic book artist/writer Mike Wieringo, passed away in his apartment due to heart attack. He was 44.


It was a sad day for the industry as Mike was one of the best working artist out there, and more importantly one of the few nice guys around. His partnership with writer Mark Waid was remembered fondly by both DC and Marvel fans. The duo work on Fantastic Four from March 2002 to January 2004, was regarded as one of the best F4 run in history.



It was his and Waid run on DC's The Flash vol.2 though that propelled him into one of the country's top artist. He penciled all but two issues (80-92), and along the way, they created one of DC's memorable speedster, Impulse (Who later become the 4th Flash).




His work other than with the DC and Marvel includes his creator-own Tellos with friend Todd DeZago. The last sketch he drawed was fittingly Jarek, the main character of Tellos.

Tribute from his colleagues and friends poured. Mark Waid said of Wieringo: "I could never get it into his thick, humble head in what regard he was held by his fellow professionals. Mike was a member of a very small club of illustrators who were so revered by their peers that the brilliance of their work was never a matter of debate."

But Karl Kesel summed it best when he said : "Mike's art was about hope, not hopelessness. He drew heroes, not martyrs."


So long Mike, you'll be missed.


PS: All art are courtesy of mikewieringo.com

Welcome Back Roy

On Friday, August 10, 2007, Roy Keane celebrated his 36 birthday. Of course celebrated here is a relative word, because Keane doesn't spent the day 'celebrating'. Instead, he focused himself on how to win against Tottenham Hotspurs at Stadium of Light the next day. Typically, his boys didn't disappoint him. With a last minute goal from Michael Chopra, Sunderland beat Spurs 1-0 on Saturday. They're typical Keane side, dogged, determined, and never give up until the final whistle is blown. Such was his mark on the game, whether as a player, or as a manager. As a tribute to Keane, I've written the following profile. It was written for the profile section at redcafe, and I'd thought of posting it here as a late birthday tribute.

United former captain was a controversial figure, but he was also considered as one of the greatest player to ever wear the red shirt. In his prime, the Irishman was just simply unplayable. Playing in central midfield, he had that ability to break the opponents attack on his own box and appear moments later to score a goal on the other end. An accomplished passer of the ball and a great reader of the game, he could dictate the pace of the game as well as anyone.

Born in the suburb of Cork, Ireland, 8 year old Keane started his career at local club Rockmount AFC. Although showing great promise, at one stage he was deemed too small to make it as a professional footballer. But after his request for trial was rejected by every English club he tried, he finally signed his first professional contract for Cobh Rambler at the age of 18. His performance at Rambler attracted the attention of Brian Clough, then manager of Nottingham Forest, who brought him to Forest for 47.000 pounds.

There, under Clough guidance, Keane was beginning to fulfil his potential. He helped Forest to two consecutive Cup finals, the 1991 FA Cup final lost against Tottenham Hotspurs and the 1992 League Cup final which they also lost to Manchester United. However, despite the excellent Cup runs, Forest league performance wasn't very good. When the bad run in the League reached its peak and saw Forest relegated, it was time for Keane to move on. Several Premiership clubs show interest, and it looked like Blackburn will get Keane service after reaching a verbal agreement with him. But when Alex Ferguson and Manchester United stepped in, there was only one way Keane will go.

He was a crowd favorite at Forest, but it was clear that Manchester United was the perfect stage from him. He helped United won their first double in his first season and forging a formidable partnership with Paul Ince at the centre of the park. And when United sold Ince, Kanchelskis and Hughes to give room for players from the youth academy, Keane became one of the senior midfielder at the club, a role which he relished. Keane and Cantona led the young team to another double, and when Cantona called it a day at the end of the next season, Keane was handed the captaincy.

His time as a captain is what locked him into the United legends pantheon. After missing most of the 1997-1998 season due to a knee cruciate injury, Keane led United to their best season to date, winning the Premiership, the FA Cup, and the Champions League all in one season. His performance in the Champions League Semi Final against Juventus in Turin, where he
dragged United from 2-0 down to win 2-3 was hailed as one of the best performance by a single individual player in United history. Ferguson highlighted the selflessness of his performance, citing the fact that even though the booking he got early in the game would ruled him out from the final, he still performed to ensure his teammates get there. Keane led United to another 3 titles (two consecutively after the treble, making United the only team in history to won the Premiership three times in a row), and 1 FA Cup before his controversial exit on 18 November 2005.

Keane, always one who speak his mind, was highly critical to some of the United younger players in their 4-1 defeat at Boro. A game which Keane missed due to injury. The criticism, which was recorded at MUTV, seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for his time at United. Although Ferguson and Keane still mantain a very good relationship afterwards, Keane presence at the club was deemed detrimental to the young players, which forced Ferguson to let him go.

Similar attitude was also the source of controversy, when he protested the Ireland less than professional set-up during the 2002 World Cup. Mick McCarthy, then Ireland manager, was less than happy and allegedly retort by accusing Keane of feigning injury to escape international duty at the qualifier. Keane went home and was he divided the country's opinion, some defended him claiming Keane's right about the Ireland set-up, while the other half claimed that Keane shouldn't desert his country when they needed him most.

Keane went to Celtic in January 2006, and he went on won another double for the Scottish club, winning a MOM performance against rivals Glasgow Rangers along the way. However after the season ended, Keane finally announced his retirement from football. Long time hip injury had finally taken its toll, and under medical advices, Keane was forced to hang his boots at the age of 35.

Even though Keane once stated that he didn't want to go into management after he see first hand the amount of pressure Clough and Ferguson had to endure, he finally cave in and was announced as manager of Sunderland Football Club at 28 August 2006, signing a three year deal. Keane showed his managerial talent at the North East club in typical Keane style, dragging Sunderland from second to bottom in the Championship division to won the league by the end of the season. People who judged his managerial career
would be a short one was surprised to see a much calmer Keane, although he maintains that competitive streak that has serve him so well in his playing and apparently in his managerial career too.

It remains to see whether Keane would finally come and replace Ferguson as United manager, but even if he's not, a warm reception when he'll back at Old Trafford as oppossing manager can be guaranteed.

And So It Ends

After ten years, Harry Potter finally met his fate. For those who have followed the books all these years, July 21, 2007 felt like the end of an era. The seventh and last book of the series was published, and the millions and millions of fans around the world can found out what happened to Harry Potter and his friends. It's quite astonishing to see the following a book series about adventures of a boy wizard and his friends to defeat an evil wizard can gather. J.K Rowling surely never quite imagine how powerful the impact of her creation when she completed the first draft of Harry Potter and The Philosopher Stone in 1995. Although frankly, not that many did at the time. She sent her script to twelve publishers and they all rejected it, until a small company named Bloomsbury took the gamble and bought the rights and published it in 1997.

Another 5 books and 325 million copies later, it was proved to be the best gamble they ever made. Rowling's story managed to capture the hearts of millions of children, and surprisingly, a massive number of adults too. The humour was sharp and funny, while the twists are good. The plot was interesting enough for grownups while not too complicated for younger people. In short, Harry Potter series is a well written story. The books was on the top of the New York best selling novel for quite some time, until they made a new category for children books so that other books canreached number one.

In Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, the wizarding world is at war. Lord Voldemort, the afore mention evil wizard had comeback from the dead and literally taking over. Harry, who was prophesied as the one to kill him, went on his final journey for this purpose, with the help of his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Those of you who got used to the slow starts at the previous two books, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, and Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince, will be pleasantly surprised at the tone of this book. Four chapters into the book we already got a massive on-the-brooms dogfight battle. For the most part, the book was full of high octane actions, and it is great because this story is reaching the climax.

As established in The Half Blood Prince, Voldemort quest for immortality ended up with him splitting his soul into 7 parts. As long as parts of his soul still exist, he cannot be truly dead.

In Deathly Hallows, the story fittingly revolves around the effort of Harry, Ron, and Hermione effort to find Voldemort's soul and destroy them. While at the background, with Voldemort taking over at the Ministry, the wizarding world was beginning to feel its effect on his effort to 'purify' the wizarding race. The pure blood ideology that Voldemort brought in this fictional world was not dissimilar with the real world Hitler's Aryan superiority. The quest also served as the ultimate test to the trio's friendship. It was great that in the few parts of the book about their quest that wasn't action oriented, Rowling managed to convey that feeling of loneliness and weariness that Harry, Ron and Hermione felt. And with this being a war, there bound to be casualties. Some of Rowling's memorable characters hit the dust in this book. It was sad, but also served as a realistic aspect of the book.

I felt that this book served as a fitting end to the much beloved series. It tied up a lot of loose ends although not all of them. Rowling has mentioned that it was done on purpose because her earlier draft was far too convoluted when she included in all the details.

Although I was sad that this book means that there are no more new Harry Potter story. But I'm glad that I, as Rowling mentioned in her introduction of the book, one of who 'stayed till the end'.

So long Harry, it's been a great ride.

It's a Kind of Magic

As a big fan of Harry Potter books, my experience with the movie franchise was quite mixed.

I know the old cliche that there's too much on the book to be put into the movie, played some part, but frankly, I'm one of the people who doesn't mind changing the stories from the books in the movie adaptations. In fact, I think one of the biggest mistake in the first two Potter movies: Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the lack of imagination from the director. Chris Columbus seemed too scared to upset the fans of the book, that he practically just copied everything he can from the books into the movies.

What we get then is essentially a collection of the most important part of the books, but with little cohesion and flow as a story. After Columbus switch to Executive Producer, he choose Alfonso Cuaron as the director of third movie, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. His effort was better than Columbus as he's willing to take more risk in adapting the book. He cut out a lot of the subplots, and added his own interpretation of J.K Rowling story. As a result, his movie was much more stylized and darker than the previous two. This is actually not a bad move, because in the book, the story also took a more darker tone. But the story is also much more condensed than the previous two, and the massive cut of the subplots still caused the effect of the story being rushed and non-smooth flow of the movie.

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire was next in line, and Mike Newell also did an admirable job in adapting the second thickest book in the Potter series. The nature of the story, which was full of action and was more straightforward, enable him to focus on main storyline and cut out most of the subplots. The result was action packed, fast paced movie that was quite enjoyable to watch. The old habit of feeling rushed and jumped flow was still there, but it was managed better than the other three.

The newest Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix is a different beast though. This book is the thickest in all seven Harry Potter books, all 766 pages. The story itself, is drastically different from the fourth book. While Goblet is action packed, Order of the Phoenix is more about character development. The book deals a lot with Harry angst and emotion, as well as his relationships with other characters, most notably with his godfather Sirius Black and his first girlfriend, Cho Chang.

David Yates did a great job in portraying the scared and guilt-ridden Harry, heavy with the burden of defeating Voldemort, and also worrying about his first kiss. If anything, the movie displayed a more likable Harry Potter than the book version. In the book, Harry's anger showed more often than ever, such that he's borderline with being a jerk, which is not the case in this movie. Yates also succeed in making the movie's flow smoothly, and doesn't feel rushed. The cuts and the changes he made paid off handsomely. So despite the enormous number of pages, the slimming down of the story really worked on this one.

However, those who expected the movie to be full of action as the previous one, will be disappointed. But those who understand the premise of the book about character development will understand that the movie is actually channeling what the book is all about, on how Harry Potter grow up from a boy to a man.

If there are any criticism, is that the movie failed to portrayed the ending of the book adequately. In the book, after spending most of it on dealing with emotions and angst, there's a big pay off for action in the end. But in the movie, the action felt cheap and short, because Yates tone down much of this quite considerably, which is quite a let down.

But in the end, it's still an enjoyable movie and to end this review with a positive note, one of the highlights of the movie was the introduction of Evanna Lynch who portrayed Harry's eccentric schoolmate Luna Lovegood perfectly in this movie. She shines in almost every scene she's in, and I can't pictured anyone else in this role. As her role continually increased in future books, I'm looking forward to see her again in the next installment of Harry Potter movies.