Movin' On Up

Whether or not this is good news I'll leave for you to decide, but Sunny Crowded Expensive is changing URLs.

That's right, faithful readers, SCE no longer needs that ".blogspot" extension.

The new url is, simply,

www.sunnycrowdedexpensive.com

I'm having some trouble getting some of the kinks worked out, but things should be ready to go within the next 24 hours.

Please tell all your friends and change your links accordingly.

Don't worry, you'll make friends at the new site just like you had here.

BREAKING NEWS: FIFA Is Clueless

The United States did its best to convince cynics and anti-Americans everywhere that it may still be years away from competing with the world's top teams, falling 3-0 in its World Cup opener to the Czech Republic Monday.

From the opening minutes, the Americans looked flat, slow and seriously overmatched against a Czech team who to my mostly untrained eye appears to be a serious contencer to advance deep into this tournament.

Jan Koller, who at 6'8" seemed taller than the entire American defense combined, scored in just the game's 5th minute and the rout was on. Despite a near-miss by Captain Claudio Reyna which struck the left post, this was never a competitive contest.

Tomas Rosicky added another to the books with a beautiful bending shot before the break. He would add another late goal to make it 3-0.

Everything about this performance was awful.

After an 18 month PR push to make people in this country actually give a damn about this sport, it was striking how inept the Americans looked today. Is this really a good soccer team?

Who will make the plays for this team? Landon Donovan was a non-factor (he is still without a World Cup goal). Where was DeMarcus Beasley? Eddie Johnson offered the only real second half scoring chances after entering at the half.

This is an experienced team with 12 returning starters, but this match looked nothing more than the Varsity versus the JV.

Pathetic.

Like the United States, this bird laid a big egg.

Champion of Champions

Without question, there is one place in the world that every discerning fan of tennis wished to be on this Sunday.

Paris, France. Stad Roland Garros. Court Phillipe Chatrier.

Occasionally, in athletics we are fortunate enough to have two competitors that both reach the pinnacle of their respective sports simultaneously (or at least close to it). I think of Chamberlain and Russell, Magic and Bird, Ali and Frazier, Affirmed and Alydar.

Tennis is lucky enough to have such an occasion with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Those who know me even relatively well likely know of my near mancrush on Federer. His poise, grace and overall prowess is unsurpassed in perhaps anything I have known (athletic or otherwise). For my money, he is greatness personified.

And along came the kid from Mallorca. The kid with a 6-1 career record against the world's number one. The kid with a stunning 60 match winning streak on a surface that can on any day humble even the most worthy competitor.

Today, again, was Nadal's time at Roland Garros.

His unrelenting play from the baseline and near flawless ground strokes seemed tailor made for the rugged red clay. Point after point Nadal scurried from sideline to sideline, often 10 feet or more behind the baseline, returning balls that were certain winners against lesser professionals.

After the match, Nadal was all class in saying, "This is my best final against the best player in history."

This was Federer's first defeat in 8 Grand Slam Finals.

After securing his second straight French Open title, Nadal rolled around in the dirt.

Zarqawi Death Details Emerge

Somewhat conflicting accounts of the circumstances surrounding the final moments of terrorist hero Abu Musab al -Zarqawi's life came to light on this Friday, a day afer an F-16 fighter jet dropped two 500 pound bombs on a house that was said to have been "safe."

In fact, the kingpin of al-Qaeda in Iraq was indeed alive when American and Iraqi troops arived at the scene of the killing yesterday.

"He mumbled something, but it was indistinguishable and it was very short," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said at a news conference.

My guess is he mumbled a thing or two about Allah and hating Westerners.

Perhaps Caldwell's most awkward moments came when asked whether Zarqawi was shot when troops arived (in essence, "put out of his misery").

Caldwell said he could not give a definitive answer based on what he had read in the latest official U.S. military report on the event. "I'll go back and specifically ask that," he said. "But no, there was nothing in the report that said he had received any wounds from some kind of weapons system like that."

"Some kind of weapons system like that."

For the record, the above paragraph appeared in the Associated Press story by Kim Gamil and Robert Burns, but was removed within an hour on Yahoo!. A little strange.

Yahoo! now has the story on its front page without the paragraph (though it was there at 10:15 local time).

Yahoo! Censors

While this link from the Calgary Sun still has it (5th Paragraph).

Calgary Sun Does Not

Can you say martyr?

Felines Newest Reality TV Subjects

In a bold and progressive move, Animal Planet has teamed up with Meow Mix cat food to launch the world's first reality television show for cats.

As the cats are put through their weekly paces in contests including best purr and top post-climber, a panel of judges will decide who stays and who goes. When a cat is voted out, it will move to a permanent home and get a year's supply of Meow Mix as a consolation prize.

Two winners will be chosen, one by judges and one by viewers in online voting. The judges' choice will get a new family and the title of Meow Mix's "feline vice president of research and development," the company said.

A friend of mine in the cat game told me some sharp money on the calico made her an early favorite at 5-2.

Kitty TV

MeowMixHouse.com

Not one of the competitors.

Another Election

If there ever were a state that loved to hold elections, that state would surely be California.

Recalls, special elections, California just loves to vote on things. Today marked no less than the fifth voting day since I moved to the Golden State in the Summer of 2003.

Voter fatigue is a major concern.

For me, on this Tuesday, the concern was actual fatigue. I had played in a semi-marathon poker game last night and woke up a bit late for work.

Truthfully, the entire decision of whether or not to vote in this primary election hinged solely on the location of my polling place.

North of Wilshire = No. South of Wilshire = Yes.

For those of you not familiar with the intersection of Wilshire and Fairfax on a typical weekday morning, suffice it to say that this is an important distinction.

Luckily for those candidates who earned my endorsement, the vote was held at a church that is South of the dreaded Wilshire / Fairfax intersection and right on my way to work.

I'm always struck by how little I know about the various people running for various positions (some of which clearly should not be voted on, in my opinion).

In the interest of full disclosure, following is how I voted:

Governor: Steve Westly
Lieutenant Governor: John Garamendi
Secretary of State: Debra Bowen
Controller: Joe Dunn
Attorney General: Rocky Delgadillo (how could you not vote for this name?)
Insurance Commissioner: Cruz Bustamante
U.S. Senator: Dianne Feinstein
U.S. District 33 Rep: Mervin Evans
State Sentaor (26th District): Marvin Columbus McCoy
County Sheriff: Don Meredith

State Measure 81 - Yes, $600,000,000 to improve and renovate California public libraries.
State Measure 82 - Yes, charges those with an income of over $400,000 an additional 1.7% yearly to fund universal pre-school.

As for all of the judges, I voted for the ones that seemed the least militant (ie professor = yes, prosecutor = no).

As for name recognition, I'd only heard of 5 of the names I voted for prior to doing so (Westly, Garamendi, Delgadillo, Bustamante, Feinstein).

Residents > 35,000,000.

Clones Bested by Mother Nature

The first ever athletic event contested with clones was conducted in none other that Winnemucca, Nevada this weekend.

Two cloned mule brothers, Idaho Gem and Idaho Star, finished third and seventh in an eight mule race at the 20th annual Winnemucca Mule Races, Show & Draft Horse Challenge after winning their qualifying heats.

Throughbred breeding standards are clear in stating that all registered horses must be conceived via a "live mount" between a registered dam and sire so we won't be seeing any of Satan's creatures in the Kentucky Derby.

But it is unclear, however, whether the American Quarter Horse Racing Association (AQHA), which has much more lenient breeding regulations, will ever allow cloned horses to race.

Two of these mules are not the same

Where am I?

Jockey Jesse Perez rides cloned mule Idaho Gem, center, across the finish line for the win in his qualifying heat Saturday. The animals were cloned at the University of Idaho.

Larry David's "Manager"

Dubbing itself as the "hottest sketch comedy in Los Angeles," a group of four separate troupes perform the first Friday of each month at The Highlands in something called "The Comedy Cocktail."

Truthfully, this was above average sketch comedy with the best of it comfortably approaching the level of what a discerning mind might call "good."

Trust me, the only site I could find

What I intend to discuss briefly, however, was the appearance of one Jeff Garlin.

(If you don't know who Jeff Garlin is, please stop reading right now and come back when you're learned).

Garlin was billed at the headliner and that fact alone was enough to ease the pain of shelling out $20 for an amateur comedy show.

When time came for the man of the hour, Garlin appeared a tad uneasy on stage and clearly was without material. He murmured on a bit about a flavored bottle of water he was drinking and the absurdity of the El Capitan theater screening Dumbo across the street.

Things were starting to infringe on the uncomfortable.

Then he proceeds to drag a large U.S Postal Service bin perched atop a stool from backstage. For the next 20 minutes or more (in fact, the promoters were urging him to wrap it up sooner) Jeff Garlin proceeds to give away all of the television "screeners" that have been sent to him for Emmy consideration over the past few weeks.

He also gives away a pile of CAA scripts that have been offered to him and some other "stuff from his trunk."

Most of this is conducted in a matter of fact sort of way without jokes or fanfare.

In the middle of the "set" I thought of Andy Kauffman and the ways in which he tried to redefine what was funny.

Was this a bitter snub by an actor on a show (a show which has never won an Emmy Award) which by nearly all accounts is some of the best comedy on television, now or ever?

Or was it just a lazy comedian cashing in on his minor celebrity? (for the record, at least of portion of the show went to benefit a charity).

Garlin's speaking fees are >$20,00

Pure crap or pure genius?


A cheesy shot that Garlin used to promote his recent stand-up tour.