While i certainly enjoy watching Manchester United flap in the wind as the Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid transfer saga winds on, this is getting ridiculous. He's under contract to United, but Madrid have consistently stoked the fires by stating interest and transparently attempting to unsettle the player to precipitate a move. United are understandably pissed at these sort of tactics, and have every right to feel aggrieved as Madrid are clearly trying to circumvent the rules by luring Ronaldo to their side and having him force United to accept a transfer. Essentially negotiating with a player under contract, a clear violation of FIFA rules. And yet, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said yesterday that United should let Ronaldo go if he wants to leave. He likened players being bound by contracts to slavery. Ooooookkaaaaaaay. By that logic we should just get rid of contracts altogether and players can do whatever the hell they please. Never mind that Ronaldo signed a contract with United in good faith that binds him to the club until 2010. It's situations like this that expose the world footballing powers as corrupt money grubbers, caring only about getting the world's best player to the world's largest club/brand and maximizing their profits in the process, contracts and rules be damned. Now i see Ronaldo is seconding Blatter's assessment ... looks like Madrid have their claws firmly in him.

In other football gripes, let me get something straight. 27 year old inconsistent beanpole striker Peter Crouch was sold to Portsmouth for £11 million, but Inter Milan offered only £8 million for 30 year old goal machine and fitness monster Frank Lampard? What f@$#ing bizarro universe are we living in?

Seen a bunch of movies lately. The summer semi-blockbuster Get Smart is surprisingly funny and worthwhile. It does well to update and expand upon its source material, as opposed to having Steve Carrell do his best Don Adams impression. Via Netflix we saw the pre-Flight of the Conchords Jemaine in the New Zealand indie flick Eagle Vs. Shark. I had no idea what to expect, and was more than a little taken aback at the seriousness of the subject matter, an outcast love story between a girl and her crush Jemaine, a damaged man-child with a neglectful father and a brother who killed himself. It was good, if a bit stilted in parts. The soundtrack however is excellent, with a collection of typically wonderful kiwi indie pop topped by the unexpected inclusion of the Stone Roses' "This is the One". We met up with Gabe Sonicliving and his ever-bustling entourage at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland to catch Wall-E, which despite my previously-stated reservations was very touching and original. Which is a good thing, considering if i'd disliked it i would've had to conceal my feelings during post-movie drinks with all of Gabe's Pixar-employee friends. Last night we watched a tivo-ed copy of the god-awful Shrek the Third. Mike Myers has apparently never met a horse he couldn't beat, dead or otherwise. A web search informed V that to no one's surprise, a fourth Austin Powers movie is in the works, apparently focusing on Dr. Evil. I wonder if he'll rap. Again.

My summer travel odyssey continues on Sunday with a brief cross-country jaunt to Washington D.C. to review some grants. I'm then back in the bay area for a week and a half before heading to Texas for two days in Dallas with my sister Emily, husband Jared, and little nephew Camden, then continuing on to sure-to-be-blistering Houston for a week at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. Houston in July. As close to an exact opposite to "Paris in springtime" as I can possibly imagine. As for a synonym, oh, how about "hell in an oven"? Then i get to spend August at home working on a grant for a September 1 submission. Then down to L.A. for Kevin and Shioko's wedding before flying over to France for the World Molecular Imaging Congress. V is unfortunately not accompanying me for that, so we'll take a vacation together later in the fall. Then back to Redwood City, before a final excursion to Boston for the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology conference and a week visiting old haunts. Whew. That's exhausting just typing it all.

Just got a few albums by Scottish indie rock outfit the Twilight Sad. The music is good, very reminiscent of the Reindeer Section and moreover Arab Strap ... somber rock music sung with a thick Scottish brogue. However, i'm tickled by the progression of their album covers. Have a look ...

... leads to ...