Prince Turns 50

Thanks to commenter Wonder Man I was alerted that Prince turned 50 years old this weekend (June 7).

FRENCH OPEN 2008: Nadal Demolishes Federer to Win 4th Title

World #2 Rafael Nadal defeated World #1 Roger Federer 6-1 6-3 6-0. Nadal had eleven (or seven) unforced errors to Federer's 30-something. It wasn't a match it was a mis-match!

A Delegate For Obama

Craig Hickman, proprietor of Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog, which I contribute pieces to regularly has become an official Maine Democratic delegate for Barack Obama.

Congrats, Craig!!

Exactly 150 Days Until Election Day

It is 150 days until Californian's will vote on whether to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. Please make your voice heard!

FRENCH OPEN 2008: Men's Final Preview

Roger Federer SUI (1)	vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2).

Historic. That's the first word that comes to mind as I think about this match-up between the presumptive Best Clay Court Player Ever and the presumptive Greatest Of All Time for the third consecutive year in the Roland Garros final.

This time around Federer is playing in his fifteenth Grand Slam final (12-2) after having been in sixteen consecutive Grand Slam semifinals. Four of those major finals have been against Nadal in 2006 and 2007 and they have split them equally, with Nadal winning both of the matches played on clay and Federer winning both matches played on grass.

On Sunday they will play a fifth major final, with the stakes, as usual, high for both combatants. If Federer wins, he will finally complete his career Grand Slam and move 1 major title closer to catching Pete Sampras' all-time record total of 14. If Nadal wins, he will have won 4 consecutive French Open titles, matching Bjorn Borg's wins from 1978-1981. Either way, history will be made on Sunday.

PREDICTION: Nadal in 5 sets.

Ivanovic Wins 1st Title

Ana Ivanovic defeated Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3 to win her first title at Roland Garros.

FRENCH OPEN 2008: Women's Final Preview

Dinara Safina RUS (13)	vs. Ana Ivanovic SRB (2).

The brand new World #1 from Serbia is in her second consecutive final of the year as well as her second consecutive Roland Garros final. She's favored to defeat "Marat's little sister" who has twice stared down match point (against Maria Sharapova in the 4th round and Elena Dementieva in the quarters) in this tournament but is miraculously through to her first major final. Could this be the year of the Russian exactly four years after the first all-Russian final of Myskina-Dementieva? Doubtful.

Ivanovic dug deep in her semi-final against compatriot Jelena Jankovic when she lost the second set despite being up 3-1. In the decisive third set she proceeded to fall behind 3-1, fought back to even the score at 4-4 through some extremely hard hitting and athletic defense and eventually denied the older Jankovic her first "bite at the apple" in a major final.

In her semifinal, Safina played her third consecutive countrywoman, Svetlana Kuznetsova, who surprisingly was even more nervous than Safina was and unfortunately was unable to play her best tennis, thus handing Safina her first major final. If Safina wins, Dinara and Marat would become the first brother-sister sibling pairs to win major titles. If Ivanovic wins, she will be the first woman from her country to win a major tennis title, and amazingly someone from Serbia will have won the first two titles of 2008.

PREDICTION: Ivanovic in 3 sets.

Mariah Carey's "Bye Bye" Video

FRENCH OPEN 2008: Men's Semifinals PREVIEW

MadProfessah previewed the 2008 French Open Women's semifinals a few days ago. Today I'm going to preview the Men's Semifinals.

Roger Federer SUI (1) versus Gael Monfils FRA.This match is extremely important for the host nation France who have had to wait seven long years since they have had one of their own in a men's semifinal. It's been 25 long years since Yannick Noah's Cinderella run to the title in 1983. However, Federer has played Monfils three times (twice this year) and never lost to the fiery young Frenchman. Monfils has long been talked about as a potential Top 10 player, having been the Top Junior in the World four years ago, when he almost won the Junior Grand slam in 2004 (lost in the 3rd round of the Junior draw of the U.S. Open) but this is his first big splash at a Grand Slam. Happily for him it happened at his country's major. Federer has now been in a record 16 consecutive semifinals, every since tournament for the last four years, starting with the 2005 French Open, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. Federer has proved himself the second best player on clay since then, and will have another chance to prove this on Sunday. PREDICTION: Federer, in four sets.

Novak Djokovic SRB (3) vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). This match, although it is scheduled first, is actually the more important (and likely to be the higher quality) showdown. The World #2 ranking (and thus eventually the World #1 ranking) could be at risk depending on the result. Thanks to his performance earlier this year having won 2 ATP Masters titles (Indian Wells and Rome) and the first major of the year (beating Federer along the way) Djokovic is a few hundred points behind Nadal. .If Nadal loses, Djokovic will become World #2, and if were to beat Federer in the final he would almost certainly end the year at #1. However, both of those events are very unlikely. The most likely event is Nadal winning this semifinal showdown to produce a Federer-Nadal showdown for the third consecutive year in the Roland Garros final. Nadal has been clearly the sharpest player in Paris this year, demolishing talented Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the quarterfinals on his 22nd birthday by giving up a mere 3 games in the match (for the second round in a row!) In fact, Nadal has obliterated his competion at the 2008 Roland Garros, losing a total of 24 games in 5 rounds. Last year, Nadal defeated Djokovic easily to reach the final, and it looks like even they both are playing better this year than last, Nadal has improved more. PREDICTION: Nadal, in three sets.

The Veepstakes Begin in Earnest for Obama

kennethinthe212 posted this picture of the current popular contenders to be Barack Obama's running mate. They are:

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN)
Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE)
NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg
Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark
Sen Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC)
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA)
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ)
Former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA)
Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM)
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS)
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA)

Mad Professah is surprised to not see our favorite, Gov. Ted Strickland (D-OH) on the list, or Markos Zuniga's fave, Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT). I think a Governor should have an edge over a current Senator.

Ridley-Thomas Leads Parks 45%-39%

In the hotly contested 2nd District Los Angeles County supervisorial race to replace Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, Mad Professah-endorsed Mark Ridley-Thomas ended up placing first in a crowded field with 45.29% of the vote.

MRT will be in a November run-off with Los Angeles City councilman Bernard Parks (39.8%).

Text of CA Supreme Court Order Denying Stay

Pam has posted the text of the Cal Supreme Court order refusing to re-hear the case. There will be no delay in the implementation of the gay marriage ruling. All the justices signd the order, with the issenting Justices Baxer, Chin and Corrigan expressing support for the stay.

Gay Marriages In California WILL Begin June 17!

The California Supreme Court has voted 4-3 to refuse to delay implementation of its ruling that same-sex couples have equal access to marriage in California.

"It would have been unprecedented to postpone constitutional rights based on speculation of how a political scenario may or may not play out," San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera said.

"Folks can get married on June 17," he said.

[...]

The court's original ruling becomes final at 5 p.m. on June 16, opening the way for gay marriages to start the next day.

[...]

Massachusetts is the only U.S. state that allows same-sex marriage, but offers licenses only to its own residents. California has no residency requirement, which means gays from across the United States will be able to go there to marry.

Mad Professah and The Other Half intend to tie the knot on August 8, 2008.

Gael Monfils Reaches French Open Semis

Unseeded 21-year-old 6' 4" Gael Monfils of France reached the semifinals of Roland Garros on Thursday by winning the "battle of the hotties" by defeating #5 seed David Ferrer. Monfils becomes the second black tennis player(from France!) to reach a Major Final in 2008 after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga accomplished the same feat at the Australian Open, where he went on to lose the final against Novak Djokovic. Monfils will have to defeat World #1 Roger Federer, who also won on Thursday (in 4 sets) against 2007 Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez.

FRENCH OPEN 2008: Women's Semifinals PREVIEW

The 2008 French Open Women's semifinals are now set. Mad Professah correctly predicted all 4 of the women's quarterfinal match results.

Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (4) vs. Dinara Safina RUS (13). For the third round in a row there is an important match between fellow Russians. The first was Dinara Safina's stunning come from behind victory over Maria Sharapova in the fourth round despite being down a match point and featuring two close tie-break sets. The round after that featured the knock down, drag out battle between Safina and Elena Dementieva. That match was a reprise of the final of the Qatar German Open, which Safina won 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. This time Dementieva was forced to eat a bagel 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0 in the deciding set after blowing her chances to win in straight sets. Kuznetsova had a much easier path to the semifinal and sports a 4-3 head-to-head against Safina, with all but two of these matches being on clay. The Safina playing in this tournament, however, is a player we have never seen before. Clearly, she wants to be the second member of her family to bring home a major trophy to Mom (and coach). I still think that at some point, the magnitude of her results will start weighing on her mind and the bubble will pop, although I'd be very pleased if it doesn't happen until after the final. Regardless, the Russian who gets to the final is likely to lose against the Serbian in the other half of the draw. PREDICTION: Kuznetsova in 3 sets.

Jelena Jankovic SRB (3) vs. Ana Ivanovic SRB (2). The bottom half of the draw has featured last year's finalist Ana Ivanovic working methodically through the draw in an attempt to give herself another chance to win a French Open final. The two Serbs have played six times before but Jankovic has only managed to win once.

As I said before, it looks like revenge (and shame!) are two excellent motivating forces for producing excellent tennis. After being demolished by Serena Williams in the 2007 Australian Open final, Maria Sharapova returned to Melbourne with a mission to erase last year's final from everyone's memory and managed to win the title without dropping a set. Last year, Ana Ivanovic got to the final of Roland Garros and then was so overwhelmed by the occasion she couldn't play a fraction of her game and lost easily to Justine Henin in two uncompetitive (and ugly) sets. In 2008, Ivanovic returned to Paris with a mission, and she has so far not lost a set and has been handing out beatdowns (and bagels) to everyone in her path to the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. Even if Jankovic were 100% (which she clearly isn't) she would have difficulty beating Ivanovic in this mode. The only question now is which Russian will he Serbian have to beat to win her first major title (and possibly claim the World #1 slot). PREDICTION: Ivanovic in 2 sets.

CA Openly Gay Candidates Win Primaries

Openly gay Assemblymember Mark Leno easily won the hotly contested Democratic primary in State Senate District 3 last night with 43% of the vote, while openly lesbian incumbent Carole Migden placed 3rd with 27.7% behind Joe Nation at 29.3%.

Openly gay John "Tony's Cousin" Perez won his primary in the State Assembly District 46 race with more than 54% of the vote.

San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano won his uncontested primary to replace Mark Leno in the California Assembly in District 13.

Sadly, Greg Pettis and Chris Cabaldon lost their primaries by just over 1000 votes each, in Assembly District 80 (Palm Springs) and Assembly Distrist 8 (West Sacramento), respectively.

So, as Mad Professah predicted many weeks ago the new LGBT Legislative Caucus in 2009 will be: State Senators Christine Kehoe and Mark Leno, and Assemblymembers John A. Perez and Tom Ammiano, a reduction to 4 members from last session's 5 and down from a high of 6 in 2005.

In the last three years term limits have forced John Laird, Sheila Kuehl and Jackie Goldberg out of the Legislature.

Mad Professah had endorsed Perez and Leno in their contested primaries.

Obama Clinches Democratic Nomination

Barack Obama is likely to become the next President of the United States. He clinched the Democratic Presidential nomination today.

FRENCH OPEN 2008: Women's Quarterfinals

The 2008 Roland Garros Quarterfinals are almost set. The second Grand Slam of the year is reaching its second week without either of the Williams sisters, who lost within hours of each other in the 3rd round.

Dinara Safina RUS (13) Maria Sharapova RUS (1) vs. Elena Dementieva RUS (7). For the second time in three years "Marat's little sister" has defeated the WTA's "It Girl" at the toughest Grand Slam in the fourth round. But not only did Dinara Safina beat Sharapova at the French Open, she came back from an almost impossibly lost position to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Again. In 2006, Safina was down 1-5 in the 3rd set against her Russian compatriot and ended up winning the match 7-5 by losing only 3 of the last 31 points. This year Sharapova held a match point on her serve at 5-3 in the second set but lost that point and the set in a tiebreak. The third set was pretty close, but Safina prevailed 6-2 to end Sharapova's chances of a career or calendar Grand Slam. Safina goes on to face Elena Dementieva, who had a surprisingly difficult time defeating Vera Zvonareva in 3-sets. This quarterfinal should be the humdinger of the four. PREDICTION: Safina in 3 sets.

Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (4) vs. Kaia Kanepi EST or Petra Kvitova CZE. Every two years Svetlana Kuznetsova seems to be breakthrough at the French. In 2006 Kuznetsova reached the French Open final before losing to Justine Henin in a match in which only one player (Henin) competed. However, Kuznetsova has been playing well since that final and although her ranking has fallen to #4 recently (from her high of #2) it is theoretically possible for her to reach the #1 position her friend Justine vacated a ew weeks before the tournament, and who has also said she would like Kuznetsova to replace the Belgian as the French Open titleist. PREDICTION: Kuznetsova in 2 sets.



Carla Suarez Navarro ESP vs. Jelena Jankovic SRB (3). With the retirement of the 4-time and defending French Open champion Justine Henin alll eyes turned to Serbian Jelena Jankovic (and Ana Ivanovic) as the two highest ranked players yet to win a major title (Jankovic hasn't even reached a major final, while her Serbian "sister" has been in 2 in the last year). However, at this tournament Jankovic has been struggling to win against lower ranked players and complaining about the heavy conditions ausing injury while playing with large portions of her bidy wrapped. Regardless, she should have more than enough game against a surprise quarterfinalist Mad Professah had never even heard of to make her second consecutive Grand Slam final, where she lost to the eventual champion, Maria Sharapova. However, she will be facing Ivanovic who has looked the sharpest of all the top players, and who has beaten her Serb compatriot 5 times of the 6 matches they have played.
PREDICTION: Jankovic in 2 sets.


Patty Schnyder SUI (10) vs. Ana Ivanovic SRB (2). Ana Ivanovic is playing the 2008 Roland Garros tournament like a woman on a mission after being embarassed by Justine Henin in the 2007 Roland Garros final. Her fourth round match was a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Petra Cetkovska.
Patty Schnyder is a crafty lefty player who took Sharapova to a 3-set match last year (which she should have won) and is always a difficult opponent on any surface. With the departure of Henin and Sharapova, Ivanovic is the player to beat in order to win the title, and I'm doubtful anyone left in the draw will be able to do that.
PREDICTION: Ivanovic in 3 sets.

Endorsements for June 2008 Primary Election

Today is the date of the statewide primary election. It is the second of three statewide elections scheduled in 2008. California's Presidential Primary was February 5th. Hillary Clinton won the most votes for the Democratic nomination, defeating Barack Obama.

STATEWIDE

Proposition Number (Topic)                             MadProfessah
Proposition 98 (Eminent Domain. Repeals Rent Control)            NO

Proposition 99 (Eminent Domain. Overturns Sup Ct Decision)       NO

LOS ANGELES COUNTY
Although I don't live in District 2, Mad Professah endorses Mark Ridley-Thomas over Bernard Parks for Los Angeles County Supervisor.

Figuring out which judges to vote for is always difficult, particularly with limited information. I used the Los Angeles Times and Stonewall Democrats endorsement pages as sources of information. Here is who I voted for:

Judicial Office             MadProfessah Voted For
Judge of the Superior Court
Office 3               Daniel Ramirez
Office 4               Ralph Dau
Office 35              Juan Carlos Dominguez
Office 41              Michael Villalobos
Office 55              Hector M. Guzman
Office 69              Serena Racquel Murillo
Office 72              Hilleri Grossman Merritt
Office 82              Cynthia Loo
Office 84              Pat Connolly
Office 94              Michael J. O'Gara
Office 95     Patricia Nieto

Office 101           Daniel S. Lopez
Office 102             Jose Sandoval
Office 119             Jared Moses   
Office 123             Kathleen Blanchard
Office 125     James N. Bianco
Office 154       Michael V. Jesic

MOVIE REVIEW: The Visitor

Finally got around to seeing The Visitor at the Laemmle Colorado 7 theaters in Pasadena this week.

The Visitor is the second film written and directed by Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent). It stars Richard Jenkins of Six Feet Under fame, Arab hottie Haaz Sleiman, Hiam Abbass and Danai Gurira.

Mad Professah caught the trailer for The Visitor a few months ago and immediately noticed that my favorite Arab actor Haaz Sleiman was in it.

After watching it, I noticed that it has been getting amazing reviews from major newspapers like The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and has a 91% rating at rottentomatoes.com.

And I agree (mostly). The performance by Richard Jenkins is Oscar-worthy. There are, however, some issues I take with the script.



The story deals with a lonely Connecticut College economics professor who recently lost his wife. He goes to New York City for a conference and discovers an African-Arab couple (Sleiman and Gurira) living in his long-dormant apartment. It turns out that the couple are both undocumented immigrants and through an unfortunate series of events the vagaries and indignities of the U.S. immigration law and policies come into focus. That's not the part of the script that I have a problem with.


The problematical part of the script is the ending (which is a downer) as well as a slightly odd inclusion of a surprising budding romance between two of the characters. However, the overall impact of the film is quite strong and it is definitely a moving and memorable cinematic experience, mostly due to Jenkins performance and Sleiman's infectious good looks.

GRADE: A-.