The Simpsons Movie Is Coming!!

I finally checked out the website for the upcoming Simpsons movie which comes out on July 27th. It's very fun. Mad Professah created his own Simpsons avatar; you can too! If you can't see me in the above picture (I'm in the lower left corner :)), here's a close up (note the color-coordinated outfit!):

Congratulations to Larkin's Joint!

Apparently Larkin's restaurant in Eagle Rock, serving high-end southern cuisine, has finally officially opened; the Los Angeles Times' main food critic S. Irene Virbila reviewed the joint (relatively favorably) in Thursday's paper. Mad Professah reviewed it over three months ago.
From the Times:

ACROSS from the Eagle Rock Baptist Church, a new soul food restaurant has
opened in a sweet little 1911 bungalow with a wraparound porch. Partners Larkin
Mackey, the chef; Joshua McBride, who runs the front of the house; and sous-chef
Rick Rowan have been working overtime for months to make it all happen, after
long delays. But it's here, and none too soon.

Finally, something that's not Italian or tapas or sushi. Larkin's revels in
Southern cooking with a contemporary spin. The copy on the restaurant's website
goes a bit over the top, hailing Larkin's debut as "a new era in soul food." But
you have to love the partners' enthusiasm.

The fact is, Larkin's cuisine really is something different. That's because
Mackey, who can trace roots back to New Orleans, grew up in Southern California
— a vegetarian. And he weaves the Mexican spices and California accents of his
youth through his tribute to all things Southern.

[...]

For those always on the lookout for a good fried chicken, I can say that
Mackey makes a mean one — cooked the way it should be, in a heavy cast-iron
skillet to give it the requisite crunch. It comes with red garlic mashed
potatoes and a little gravy. Jambalaya is nice and spicy. There's corn-battered
and fried catfish too. Southerners, though, may find the fish somewhat lacking
in that tasty funk they expect from catfish. It could be any fish at all under
that batter. And the smothered pork chop comes not only without the bone, it's
enclosed in a pasty gravy. Back to the drafting board on that one.

Most main courses come with sides, but you can order extra, or different
too, including "Aunt Carolyn's potato salad," the creamy old-fashioned kind,
both sweet and spicy, or skillet-sauteed collard greens with tomatoes, hot
pepper and garlic. Sweets include sweet potato pie — how could you not? — as
well as banana pudding, strawberry red velvet shortcake, fruit cobblers and
whatever else strikes the cook's fancy.

I agree the pan-fried chicken is excellent and Larkin's is worth checking out for that alone!

The Algebra Project on PBS Tonight

The public television show Now will be airing a segment tonight on The Algebra Project, a non-profit group who is trying to improve the teaching of elementary and high school algebra in low-income and minority schools throughout America. Mad Professah met the founder of the group, Bob Moses, at a Math and Social Justice conference in Brooklyn, NY this past April.

Celebrity Friday: Shemar Moore Nude on Gay Beach

Towleroad alerted me yesterday to the existence of nude pictures of hottie Shemar Moore who has appeared on numerous television shows (Criminal Minds, Moesha, Birds of Prey) and worked as afashion model:

Anyway, if you wipe that drool off your face long enough, listen to this. The beach that Shemar was frollicking in the buff was apparently a well-known gay beach in Hawaii. Shemar is 37 years old and unmarried. His mom is white (Dutch) and his dad is African American. He learned to speak Dutch before English and has reportedly dated Halle Berry and Toni Braxton. (Source: IMDb)

Wimbledon 2007: 5 Most Memorable Matches

Now that Wimbledon 2007 is history, I want to follow in the footsteps of Mary Carillo and John McEnroe and provide a list of Mad Professah's Most Memorable Moments at Wimbledon 2007 (with apologies to On The Baseline news):


1. R. Federer SUI (1) d. R. Nadal ESP (2), 7-6(7) 4-6 7-6(3) 2-6 6-2, Final.

Regardless of who won this match, history would be made in that something would have been done for the first time since 1980: Either Federer would be the first person since Bjorn Borg to win 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles or Nadal would be the first to win the French Open and Wimbledon double in the same year.


This match is the most memorable of the tournament for me because of the closeness of the match with the stakes so high. In addition, both Federer and Nadal both played well, with Nadal arguably playing better in the first three sets but unfortunately losing two of the three in tiebreakers, mostly thanks to Federer's more effective serve (24 aces and 38 unreturnables).

It was clear to me (and probably most people who watched the match) that Nadal can win this tournament, that he does have the game which can defeat Federer on just about any surface and that he probably will defeat Federer at a Grand Slam other than Roland Garros, sooner rather than later.


2. V. Williams USA (23) d. M. Sharapova RUS (2), 6-1 6-3, 4th Round.

To me this was an even more memorable match than Venus' win over Marion Bartoli in the final for her fourth Wimbledon title a few days later, because just a few days before she had been staring defeat in the face at the hands of Akiko Morigami when the Japanese player served for the match at 5-3 in the third set. By winning the last four games of that match, Venus was able to set up a rematch with the reigning U.S. Open champion and current World #2 who had beaten her in a heartbreakingly close match ni Miami earlier this year. She made ample use of the opportunity, turning her game around and for the first time in the tournament (and possibly the year) she played a match with more winners than errors (22 to 14). Sharapova for the third time this year had absolutely no chance against a Williams sister. This time she only lost 6-3, 6-1. But by showing that she could easily dispatch Sharapova, Venus sent the signal that other high ranked players, #5 Svetlana Kuznetsova and #6 Ana Ivanovic and possibly even #1 Justine Henin would have fared no differently.

3. S. Williams USA (7) d. D. Hantuchova SVK (10), 6-2 6-7(2) 6-2, 4th Round.

The most dramatic moment of the tournament occurred during this unsurprising matchup between the hard-hitting Slovak Daniela Hantuchova and the most powerful female player on the planet after Serena was cruising along at 6-1, 5-5, 15-15 when suddenly she experienced a massive cramp in her left calf muscle which caused her to collapse to the ground.

Despite what Serena-haters have been saying ("She faked the injury!" "She was over-dramatic! She used gamesmanship!") there's no question in my mind Serena was in extreme pain. It took incredible guts to play on despite very limited mobility and force a tiebreaker until the rains came down and granted a 2-hour reprieve which she could use to regroup. In the third set, despite injuring herself again (which no-one saw!) she was still able to overpower a rather good grasscourt opponent.

4. N. Djokovic SRB (4) d. M. Baghdatis CYP (10), 7-6(4) 7-6(9) 6-7(3) 4-6 7-5, Quarterfinal.

To me this was the best men's match of the fortnight. A five-hour classic of high quality tennis from two extremely talented and emotive combatants. The 20-year-old Serbian phenom, the heir apparent to Federer and Nadal who is currently the third best player in the world versus the flashy Cypriot shotmaker who is two years older and has already been two Grand Slam semifinals and a Grand Slam final and is attempting to return to the top of the game after the emotional rollercoaster such early heady success landed him on.n In the end Baghdatis had more winners 74 to 58 but also more errors, 60 to 50, than Djokovic who had 17 breakpoints to Baghdatis' 8 but they both converted just 5 times. At 4-4 in the final set, the total number of points won was tied, but the Serbian ended up winning 7 more, and thus the match.

5. M. Bartoli FRA (18) d. J. Henin BEL (1), 1-6 7-5 6-1, Semifinal.


The upset of the year, and possibly the decade. The completely unheralded French player, who is shunned by the French Tennis Federation and managed and coached by her father in a completely unorthodox manner, knocked out the World's #1 player, after previously beating the World's #3 player two rounds before--both times coming back from a set and break down! Bartoli plays with two hands on both sides and takes the ball early. She's also a tenacious fighter which compensates for her less than stellar fitness, although she is faster around the court than she looks thanks to heightened "ball awareness." Henin had been even-odds or better to win her first grass court championship, especially after the defending champion Mauresmo was dismissed in the 4th round, but Bartoli was a 100-to-1 shot. Absolutely no one thought that after Henin had won the first set easily at 6-1, and come back in the second set to lead 4-3 that she would lose the match but Bartoli won 10 of the last twelve games from that point. An incredible win and a devastating loss for the Belgian.

UPDATE 07/11/2007
Craig has added pictures to the version of this article I posted to his Tennis Blog, which also includes bonus "honorable mentions."

Controversial HIV Testing Bill Faces Crucial State Senate Hearing Today

Today Mad Professah will be in lovely Sacramento, CA attending a hearing by the California State Senate Health Committee chaired by out lesbian State Senator Sheila J. Kuehl which will be considering AB 682 (Berg), a controversial bill to drastically alter procedures for conducting HIV tests in the state of California.



Previously I blogged about the bill when a story about the battle to amend the bill hit the pages of the local LGBT media and discussed the ongoing battle of state legislatures to implement the U.S. Center for Disease Control's misguided revised recommendations on HIV testing the federal agency issued in September 2006.



The issue pits large AIDS service organizations like AIDS Project Los Angeles, AIDS Healthcare Foundation and the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Services Center against groups staunchly protective of civil rights (like the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, etc) and smaller AIDS organizations like Being Alive Los Angeles, HIV/AIDS Legal Services Alliance and Center for Health Justice. The groups in the first camp think that an "HIV test should be just like a cholesterol test" and that "all mental barriers to HIV testing should be removed" while the groups in the second camp think that in no way does society or the law treat being HIV positive like having high cholesterol and that there is a long-standing constitutional doctrine enshrined in California jurisprudence called "informed consent" which this bill attempts to nullify. It is clear that AB 682 goes much further than Illinois' recently enacted law would go in modifying HIV testing protocols and does not conform with the CDC's recommendations themselves which stimulated the legislative activity or with the 15 guiding principles of HIV testing announced by a wide coalition of groups on national HIV Testing day as recently as 2 weeks ago.



Mad Professah will be attending the hearing representing Being Alive Los Angeles. We're asking that the bill be amended so that whenever a person conducts an HIV test they have to make a notation in the medical chart that the person consented to the test and the consent was informed consent (which can be done through the distribution of an information sheet about the HIV test); that protections against using HIV tests to discriminate in the provision of medical services be strengthened; that the effect of AB 682 be studied to see if it increases the percentage of people who take HIV tests and that people who test HIV-positive have their results told in person and not through any telephonic or electronic medium and are immediately counselled and linked to treatment and care. The current version of AB 682 eliminates the current state requirement for both pre- and post-test counselling when conducting HIV tests.



I'll try and report back later on today to let you know how it goes. It should be interesting to see the public health policy of the state of California determined rihgt before my eyes...

HRC and LOGO TV Partner To Air Presidential Forum on LGBT Issues

The LGBT blogosphere (Pam's House Blend, Bloggernista, Joe.My.God, Towleroad, etc) is buzzing about the news reports that the Human Rights Campaign and Viacom's LGBT cable channel Logo are joining forces to put together and broadcast a presidential forum specifically devoted to LGBT issues. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Christopher Dodd have all confirmed their attendance.

In light of the recent stories circulating about his use of the Spanish pejorative maricón (faggot), Mad Professah would not be surprised to see Vice President-wannabe Bill Richardson also attend the event also.

Hopefully, since it will be taped in Studio City, CA on August 8 at HD Vision Studios (according to Pride Depot) maybe MadProfessah can wangle an invite! Stay tuned!

Electronic Line Calling Defended

Electronic line calling is being defended by it's creator in today's Times of London

In the third game of the fourth set, with Roger Federer a break down and
serving at 30-30, he did not play at a ball near the baseline. He thought that
it was out, the line judge thought it was out, the umpire thought it was out and
a BBC freeze frame seemed to confirm this, too.

[...]

Hawkins said that the ball had landed in by 1mm. He claimed that the naked
eye was deceived because of the way a tennis ball compresses and skids on
landing.

“The ball will be in contact with the ground for about 10cm,” he said.
“In the very first impact, it will compress so that the bottom half is flat.
Then it will start to roll and skid and uncompress. The freeze frame the BBC
used showed the ball about 7cm after it touched the ground.” He said tests had
showed that his technology was accurate to within 3mm. “The ball was definitely
in,” he added.

Hmmmm, how do you know the call was in by 1mm if the error is +/- 3mm? Any engineer knows that if the result is within yuor margin of error you really can't make the call. The ball might have been 2mm out. But, regardless I doubt that Federer or the umpire could distinguish that difference.

What The War in Iraq Costs

Think Progress has some metrics of war

Bloomberg notes, “Four thousand U.S. service members have
died in U.S. President George W. Bush’s ‘war on terror’ in Iraq and
Afghanistan 5 1/2 years after American forces ousted the Taliban in December
2001.” AP adds, “All told, Congress has appropriated
$610 billion in war-related money since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror assaults,
roughly the same as the war in Vietnam. Iraq alone has cost $450 billion.” The
wars cost approximately $12 billion a month, according to a new Congressional
Research Service report.

REVIEW: Live Free Or Die Hard

The first Die Hard (1988) movie by director John McTiernan is one of the great action movies of all time. The latest installment, the fourth in the series is called Live Free or Die Hard and stars Bruce Willis as John McLane, divorced New York City cop with the estranged family and a Superman complex even more over-developed than Jack from ABC's Lost. This edition Willis' sidekick is played (quite well) by Justin Long, "that guy from the Mac commercials."

What makes (or breaks) the Die Hard movies in the end are their villains. In the past, the villains have been played by veritable scene munchers like Alan Rickman (Die Hard) and Jeremy Irons (Die Hard: With A Vengeance, 1995). The main reason why Die Hard 2 sucked is that the producers didn't spend the money to find a convincing villain. In the third Die Hard we were also treated to the lovely buddy repartee of Bruce Willis and Samule L. Jackson. Plus it takes place in New York City, on location.



Sadly, this time the villain is played by Timothy Olyphant (HBO's Deadwood) who really is just the poor man's Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Match Point, Showtime's The Tudors). If you want a young, slightly British, pretty boy villain I don't think you should settle for someone who can barely communicate a sense of displeasure, to say nothing of malice and violence which are requisite job requirements of any well-reviewed cinematic villain.



Despite this lack, the first 90 minutes of the movie are crackling fun, with well-directed, suspenseful action sequences and a terrorist plot with enough verisimilitude to plausible real-world events to forestall instant dismissal. Unfortunately, the film is 130 minutes long with what seemed like a 30-minute action sequence of Bruce Willis in an 18-wheel truck battling a military fighter jet on a subway overpass inserted for no other reason but to enthrall 12-14 year old boys. Once McClane saves the country again (surprise, surprise!) the film is over for all intents and purposes but it keeps spooling on, like some kind of party guest who refuses to leave even though the party's over and the music has been turned off for a half hour.



"If they had real guts, the producers would have killed him off at the end," my film companion said as we left the theater.



"Yeah," I replied "but then how could they make another one?"



"Exactly!"



Indeed.



GRADE: B.

Wimbledon 2007: Federer Wins 5th Consecutive Title

Roger Federer SUI (1) d. Rafael Nadal ESP (2) 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-2 in 3 hours, 45 minutes to win a 5th consecutive Wimbledon title, his 11th major career title and extend his grass court winning streak to 54 consecutive matches and impriving to 5-8 against the Spanish "King of Clay."

This was Federer's first 5-set match at Wimbledon since his dispatch of his idol Pete Sampras in 2001 and he improved to 10-10 lifetime in 5 set matches. The final was a thrilling, high quality encounter with Federer's 65 winners to 34 errors (+31) outpacing Nadal's 50 winners to 24 errors (+26), with the key statistic being 24 aces (3 double faults) for the Swiss #1 to only 1 ace (2 double faults) to the #2 Spaniard.

In other news, African American phenom Donald Young won the Wimbledon Boys Title by defeating the top seed 7-5, 6-1. Craig Hickman has more details on this important result over at his Tennis Blog.

Gay Star Trek Fan Fiction in LA TIMES

In Saturday's Los Angeles Times the above-the-fold picture and Column One story is about an openly gay Star Trek fan's creative homage to the science fiction television series. Rob Caves is "a diminutive 28-year old" who has created the longest-running series in fan fiction history. Star Trek: Hidden Frontier has been running for seven years and consists of 50 fan-created, free-for-download episodes.

ASK Caves why he started a fan series, why he has kept it going for seven years and why he opens his house to strangers each weekend, and he'll mention that he loves "Star Trek" and he wants to be part of its legacy.

[...]

Caves shoots seven episodes a year at $200 per episode, and he has never built an actual set. "Hidden Frontier" may not be the most professional-looking fan series, but in the world of "Star Trek" fan films it is known as the series with the most heart.


[...]

The wedding party, dressed in matching white jackets, looked like waiters from a 1940s drama. The guests were a mix of series actors, digital camera-toting fans dressed in "Star Trek" uniforms and a few members of a local Klingon club. The grooms (it was a gay marriage) were hopeless romantic Lt. Corey Astor (played by filmmaker J.T. Tepnapa) and Lt. Nevin. Their love story had been a continuing arc since Season 2, when Caves, who is gay, insisted that there be a gay story line.

(When questions arose about how people in the future will respond to gay relationships, Caves said they will be socially advanced enough that nobody will think twice about it — "Whatever powers your starship," as one of Nevin's friends tells him.)

Being a big science fiction fan myself I had heard about these fan films, especially Star Trek: New Voyages, which has been covered by National Public Radio, but had never seen any episode until today. I was actually reasonably impressed when I watched episode 1 of Season 6 of Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, and I look forward to experiencing the latest episode of New Voyages when it comes out in about a month. The Times article mentions that this fan film costs $40,000 per episode although only one new episode is made per year.



Another interesting aspect of Caves is that he lives and does his filming in South Pasadena, which is literally 2 miles from my house. I was also impressed that the Times allowed Deborah Netburn to include the gay aspect of the story in such a matter-of-fact fashion. Kudos!

WIMBLEDON 2007: Ladies' Final (and Semifinal) Review

Venus Williams USA (23) d. 6-4, 6-1 Justine Henin BEL (1) Marion Bartoli FRA (18) . In one of the most shocking upsets of the year, and possibly the decade so far, yesterday unheralded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli came back from down losing the first set 1-6 to defeat 6-time Grand Sam champion and 2-time Wimbledon finalist Justine Henin, the top seed, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 to reach her first major final. Venus continued her astonishingly consistent and aggressive play to defeat 2007 Roland Garros finalist Ana Ivanovic (who will enter the top 5 in the WTA rankings on Monday) relatively easily 6-2, 6-4 in the other Wimbledon semifinal.

However, on Saturday Venus Williams broke her own record from 2005 by becoming the lowest seeded player (#14 in 2005, #23 in 2007) to win her 4th Wimbledon Ladies' singles title, 50 years after Althea Gibson became the first African American tennis player to win a major title. Williams won her 6th major title over-all and joined the elite players of the game, Martina Navratilova (9), Steffi Graf (7) and Billie Jean King (4) who have won (at least) 4 Wimbledon titles.

Marion Bartoli played well and proved herself a fearsome competitor, with a powerful, unorthodox game (two handed on both sides). She takes the ball very early and finds very difficult angles, a la Monica Seles. However, Venus played better, with 29 winners to Bartoli's 7 (Venus was running down everything). Venus had a mere 12 unforced errors (a very low total for her in 17 games played) to 9 errors for the Frenchwoman. If Venus can play like this on other surfaces, or even again at Wimbledon, there's no reason why she can't catch up to her sister Serena's total of 8 Grand Slam titles (3 Australian, 1 French, 2 Wimbledon, 2 US Opens).

There were some interesting quotes in the Los Angeles Times (formerly Venus' hometown newspaper) article covering the story:

"It has been a long road back," Williams said during the trophy ceremony. "I brought it together here against some of the best players in the world, including Marion."

She lost 22 games in her final four matches, beating 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova on Wednesday, 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova on Thursday and French Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic on Friday.

"She loves the grass," said Williams' boyfriend, pro golfer Hank Kuehne. "And she loves the environment here."

Her father and coach, Richard, said that when his daughter was about 9, she declared she wanted to win Wimbledon more than anyone else.

"I think she can win three more," he said, "and I would be disappointed if she did not."

[...]

Williams' resurgence was reminiscent of the run to this year's Australian Open title by her sister Serena, who entered that tournament ranked 81st. Venus expressed gratitude to her sister -- among others -- during the trophy ceremony.

"Serena, she inspires me," Venus said. "The Australian Open champion -- I wanted to be like her."

REVIEW: Ratatouille

The other half and I saw Ratatouille last Friday, the day it came out, primarily because we are fans of Brad Bird, the director of the film, who was also the main creative force behind The Incredibles, my favourite film of 2004. Plus, Pixar's track record at making computer animated films with intelligence and heart, has been impressive and consistent.

Ratatouille is no The Incredibles, but happily, it's not Cars, either. In fact, over at Oliver Willis blog I have been adding my comments on Oliver's rating of Pixar's entire oeuvre, in order of best to worst. I think my list would look something like this:

The Incredibles (2004)
Finding Nemo (2003)
Toy Story (1995)
Ratatouille (2007)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
A Bug's Life (1998)
Cars (2006)

What's amazing is that a movie about rat in Paris who wants to be a chef got made at all. One does not usually think these elements would make a compelling animated (which unfortunately is usually a synonym for kid-oriented) film: vermin, food and France! But somehow the film works, despite the lack of highly-paid voice talent and somewhat disjointed pacing. The film is highly creative in its depiction of the mysterious magic of cooking and taste; in fact cooking can really be thought of as a metaphor for any creative artistic endeavor. The plot is a bit silly but the strong points are the villain(s), the animation itself, especially in the more frenetic "swarm of rats" scenes and the character denouement of the food critic.

GRADE: B+/A-.

Celebrity Friday: Jill Scott Gets Divorced And Big Movie Role

You go, girl! One of Mad Professah's favourites, Jill Scott, has been making a lot of news recently. Two weeks ago it was confirmed that she is divorcing Lyzel Willliams, her longtime lover (and husband since 2001), and the inspiration for one of the best songs on her debut album, "He Loves Me (Lyzel in E-Flat)."

Jill's movie career has been heating up as her romantic life has been cooling. She is co-starring with Janet Jackson and Michael Jai White in the Tyler Perry movie Why Did I Get Married. In addition, she has been cast as Precious Ramotswe, the lead role in the new Anthony Minghella (Best Director Oscar winner for The English Patient) movie, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. This movie is based on the best-selling mystery novel about the first female detective agency in Botswana written by Alexander McCall Smith. The movie also stars Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls) and Idris Elba (Transformers, HBO's The Wire). The cast arrived in Botswana on Tuesday for 40 days of shooting on location. The book is the first in a series which highlight contemporary African life in the context of the mystery genre.

Villaraigosa Adultery Hits Media Sweet Spot

The Los Angeles blogosphere (LAist, LA Observed, Intersections, etc) and other local media have been buzzing with the news that recently separated Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has revealed that he is in a relationship with local Telemundo television anchor Mirthala Salinas.

But, wait, there's more! As Kevin Roderick has been revealing, Salinas has been cutting a swath through the top of the Mexican American Princes of Los Angeles politics for quite some time. Prior to dating the current Mayor of Los Angeles, Ms. Salinas was also romantically linked with Speaker of the State Assembly Fabian Nunez in the brief period during which Mr. Nunez was divorced from his wife (whom he later re-married) and Ms. Salinas also dated Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla (elected to the State Senate in November 2006).

The whole affair (sic) reaches "truth is stranger than fiction" levels when it was revealed that Salinas, who stopped covering local politics for the television station soon after she started dating the Mayor(!) a few weeks ago actually read the news story of the Mayor's decision to separate from his wife on the Spanish language station where she is an anchor:

(Thanks to Daniel Hernandez of Intersections blog for the screen shot of Mirthala Salinas.)

Black Lesbian Firefighter Wins Multimillion Dollar Lawsuit

Mad Professah has been covering the reports of multiple incidents of discrimination in the Los Angeles Fire Department for months now. This week, a jury found in favor of Brenda Lee in lawsuit claiming sexual orientation, gender and race discrimination and awarded the African American lesbian $6.2 million in the first penalty phase. Punitive damages are likely to be even larger. Pam at The Blend and 365gay.com have the story:

Lee alleged in her lawsuit that her superiors made derogatory comments about her, ignored her protests of discrimination. The lawsuit said that she was forced her into grueling drills that other firefighters were not subjected to and that proper safety precautions during the drills were ignored.

The suit also claimed that someone at the fire hall put urine in her mouthwash.

[...]

Lee filed a discrimination case in 2001 and later the civil lawsuit alleging she had been the victim of homophobic bias on the job.

Two other firefighters who testified in the discrimination case also filed lawsuits against the department claiming that as a result of their support for Lee they too became victims of discrimination.

Lewis Bressler sued the city claiming he had been forced to retire as a result of testifying for Lee. A jury in April awarded him $1.7 million. The verdict is under appeal.

A second firefighter, Gary Mellinger, settled his lawsuit last year for $350,000.

Oddly, the jury awarded a mere $2,500 in punitive damages, according to Kevin Broderick at LA Observed.

Bill Gates Saves PlanetOut From Bankruptcy

Towleroad, Joe.My.God, Boy Culture and others are all covering the story of Microsoft founder Bill Gates stepping in to invest over $26 million for a controlling interest in PlanetOut Partners, Inc. in order to save the first online gay media company publicly traded (under ticker symbol LGBT) from an imminent bankruptcy. Joe.My.God has been doing the best job of covering this story and last week reported that PlanetOut was selling it's racier adult properties. PlanetOut Partners is a holding company which currently controls Out magazine, The Advocate, gay.com, planetout.com, and RSVP Cruises.

DISCLAIMER

Mad Professah used to be on the Board of Directors of the original PlanetOut, LLC. back in the late 1990s way before the takeover merger by Liberation Partners during the dot-com boom/bust period. I have no financial stake in the company at this time.

Wimbledon 2007: Ladies' Semifinals Preview

The 2007 Wimbledon Ladies' semifinals are now set.

Justine Henin BEL (1) vs. Marion Bartoli FRA (18).
Unfortunately, the Serena Williams-Justine Henin quarterfinal did not live up to the breathless hype for the second Grand Slam in a row. This time Serena was clearly injured and in her press conference describe herself at being "40 to 50 percent" due to a strained thumb which occurred in the third set of an amazingly dramatic three-set victory over Daniela Hantuchova on Monday. Even so, Justine was barely able to pull out a tight win 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 after losing serve the first time she served for her first non-clay surface victory over Serena Williams. MadProfessah was pretty sure that Marion Bartoli would not be able to last against the genetically gifted Michaella Krajicek in the quarterfinals, but I was wrong and the Frenchwoman won 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. This was not the French player that commentators expected to make the semi-finals of Wimbledon this year, although Bartoli did make the semi-finals of the grass-court warmup Eastbourne, losing easily to Henin 6-1, 6-3 in a match which was not as close as the score appears. There's no reason why the Belgian will not repeat the deed to make a Federerian sixth consecutive Grand Slam final. PREDICTION: Henin in 2 sets.

Ana Ivanovic SRB (6) vs. Venus Williams USA (23). The Serbian beauty is in her second consecutive Grand Slam final thanks to an epic collapse by Czech teen phenom Nicole Vaidisova who served for the match at 5-3 in the third set and blew three match points before succumbing 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 with a double fault on Ivanovic's second match point. Ouch. After playing one of her best tennis matches in years to demolish reigning U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3 on July 4th, Venus Williams is clearly on her way to her 6th Wimbledon final (and possibly 4th title) in nine years. Venus had 22 winners to 14 unforced errors, +8(!), with 6 in the first set and 8 in the second. I have never seen Venus averaging less than one unforced error per game, ever. This was an even more dominating performance over Sharapova than her Wimbledon semifinal 7-6(2), 6-1 win which MadProfessah labelled the 3rd best WTA Tour match of 2005. Her average first serve speed was 115 miles per hour, which matches Sharapova's fastest serve (Venus hit several serves over 120 mph, peaking at 126 mph). Clearly the Williams sister bring a special focus to matches against the Russian "It" girl who supplanted them as the most prominent female athlete in the world in 2004. Sharapova is 0-3 against Williams sisters this years and has won a combined nine games in six sets of tennis! Venus followed up that performance by defeating 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4 with 23 winners and 20 errors. A Williams sister with more winners than errors is not going to lose to any other player on the WTA tour, especially not on Centre Court at Wimbledon. And not one whom she holds a 2-0 career head-to-head edge over. PREDICTION: Williams in 3 sets.

James Blake's Book Is Out

On sale now wherever books are sold. And on my wishlist.