HEFNER WATCH: The Playboy Women of Enron issue comes out, major wire services somehow cover it. What's an Enron? Way to strike why the iron is hot.

CLIPPERS WATCH: Devastating takedown of the Donald (Sterling), again in the LA Times, making all of us doubt that the Clippers' gradual improvement will continue.

CLIPPERS WATCH: LA Times: Donald Sterling ready to spend money. File that under "believable when seen."

THAT DANGED INFECTIOUS NIKE SOCCER COMMERCIAL SONG: Is an Elvis remix by Junkie XL; read the BBC's review here, buy it here or here. It's a fun song to inexplicably hear on the oldies station while driving to work in the morning. And, yes, Elvis now beats the Beatles for most number one records in United Kingdom history with this one.

MORE BELATEDNESS: Here's Jim's giant response to Bruce Sterling. Get a cup of coffee, it's a lot, but worth it. Jim's post, I mean. I don't know what your coffee's like.

MORE BLOGWATCHING: Follow the NBA draft along with The Rapmaster. And watch to see what the Clippers do this time, there's trade rumors involving their picks and Cleveland's.

I JUST NOTICED: And bear in mind I'm an idiot, but lowflyin' lolana changed her URL and she's posting paintings now because her hits are down. Go and admire.

ANYHOW: We showed up at like six fifteen, six thirty to try and get on The Price Is Right and I'm like that'll be plenty of time --we'll be THE FIRST ONES THERE and end up sitting around so I brought my extremely informative book with me --David Harris' The League: The Rise & Decline of the NFL, written back when the NFL actually was in decline due to Al Davis' shenanigans and labor unrest and Bob Irsay and a bunch of different things. If you want to know anything about the Rozelle era and the formation of the modern NFL, this is the place to go, just realize the focus is almost exclusively on the owners of the NFL franchises; he barely mentions who won the Superbowls and other onfield stuff. But of course there's a huge line which I don't understand, having little game show knowledge --I shoulda asked Dave Tepper for tips, in retrospect-- I figured, how many people really want to get on a game show? The answer is many, and too many, and so my brother did not get to go on Price Is Right, which was the whole motivation for this sudden trip to Los Angeles.

So we went to DisneyLand which I understood to be the Happiest Place On Earth because Matt needed to be cheered up. Thank Walt there's still a Mr. Toad's Wild Ride there; that is such a great ride conceptually speaking, you get to accompany Mr. Toad on his night of debauchery and pay for it with jailtime, sudden death, and a trip to hell. How great is that? And they actually pipe in the heat for the hell sequence, which I had forgotten all about. Mr. Toad is like the Pac-Man of theme park rides: you know there's other rides that are more modern and visually impressive but Mr. Toad is conceptually eternal and should be enjoyable for the rest of human history. We also went on Pirates Of The Caribbean twice --my all time favorites. And they got this fastpass dealie which is like making a reservation at a restaurant so you don't have to wait in any lines. DisneyLand is as fun as I remember from my youth. And they're playing the Jungle Cruise for laughs now.

In line for Star Tours Matt and I decide the Star Wars Trilogy is really crying out for a giant audioanimatronic extravaganza ride a la The Haunted Mansion and Pirates. It could replace the hideous Innovations building where they teach you how to use Google.

The next day we find the La Brea tarpit and --yes-- it is a giant pit of tar. I swear it sounded more impressive when I was younger. Then we went to Koreatown so we could get bulgoki and I could ogle Korean chicks. Everybody had those "BE THE REDS!" shirts on. I mean, everybody. Then we went to a Dodgers game to watch them play Matt's beloved Red Sox. Dodger stadium is cool because every level has its own entrance. AND upper deck seats were only six bucks. Cheaper than a movie.

We also went to Santa Monica and drove through West Hollywood and wondered if we looked gay or not. Conclusion: maaayyybe. Then we saw the no-bad-seats-at-all Staples Center for a Los Angeles Avengers game, which was great for me, having never gotten the live AFL experience before. There was music before every play which helped get the crowd into but what really helped was knowing that if the Avengers scored 50 points everybody in attendance was getting free Carl's Jr. burgers. And when Carolina started making a comeback in the second half when the Avengers had 48 I was thinking "CONSPIRACY! CARL JUNIOR is calling in THE FIX!" But the Avengers ened up with 64 so we made out like bandits and Carl Jr. is ruing the day he ever met us, let me tell you.

By some quirk of fate we got bumped up into first class both ways which we had never travelled before and Matt and I decide to play "Who's The Bigger Rube?" by me asking if we can get the alcoholic drinky-drinks and by Matt wondering if he has to pay to use the headphones. We were the Nouveau Riche for those two flights, full of wonder at getting drinks while parked on the ground and more drinks whenever you asked for them. Yes: first class is all about the drinks. And all the cashews you can eat.

VAYKAY: Going to accompany my brother as he tries to get on the Price Is Right this weekend. Stay tuned.

KEWL: A six-legged insectoid Finnish logging machine. Thank you, Boing Boing.

BLOGGING PUTS YOU THERE: One blogger's account of the night Korea won.

MEMO TO JIM HENLEY: Perennial WNBA doormats the Washington Mystics (one of the all-time great sports franchise names) are 7-1 and atop the Eastern Conference. Michael Wilbon explains why. Jim, get the WNBA Season Pass, it's only forty bucks --WOTTA DEAL!

AWRIGHT: New Rick Veitch. He's doing Aquaman now. Veitch's Maximortal is one of the greatest superhero comics ever; it was supposed to be part of a trilogy with Bratpack but the third part, Kid Maximortal or something, never came out. I'd rather see him finish that but new Veitch is better than no Veitch. Via Distorting the Medium.

ITCHY TRIGGER FINGERS: Remember when those Canadian soldiers got killed by a U.S. pilot in Afghanistan? Apparently the guy just wanted to bomb the hell out of something, and the Canadians just happened to be there. Flit has the story.

A LITTLE MORE ON THE KALBI/CAPELLINI GAME: Here's the Sportsfilter discussion on the game, they're theorizing that the ref forgot he had already carded Totti when he carded him again in overtime and forced his ejection from the game. Huh. It was a weird call to make in overtime, so maybe that is the most plausible explanation.

Italy and Korea.....man, that's two fine fine national cuisines and you hate to root for one team over the other based on food terms. If we're picking on that basis, Korea should beat out tasty yet not-quite-spicy-enough Spain and the U.S. should win over Germany --a one-sausage nation-- due to the sheer variety of our food products. Somebody else will have to judge Senegal versus Turkey. I've never had Brazilian food but imagine it has to be spicier than the sturdy potato-and-cow constructions England specializes in so Brazil has the edge there. But England has contributed meat pies and fish and chips to the world cuisine --the latter deserves like a food Nobel Prize-- so it's sort of a wash in my book. I dunno. England on penalty kicks.

Italy and Korea are also two completely baberiffic nations and in that sense the game always was win-win for us, the viewing public. Korea and Spain are kind of a wash in that regard, Brazil whomps England --you know this, maaaann-- we beat the Germans and I think Senegal beats Turkey. Let's face it, though, the U.S. dominates the world stage in terms of attractive women because of the zillion different ways an American woman can be attractive; our multifaceted, unpredictable attack destroys all challengers. America wins the World Cup in the lotsa-hotties scheme.

BEST SEARCH THAT FINDS ME YET: Nietzsche bukkake. I can only thank Kitty.

INTERESTING LITTLE DETAIL ABOUT THE KOREA VICTORY: Check out this picture, it's the Korean fans spelling out "AGAIN 1966" in one wing of the stadium before the game. 1966 was the year that North Korea beat Italy. One wonders how long the division between the two nations is going to last --I don't think anybody's heart is in it anymore.

FOR PURPLE MOUNTAIN MAJESTIES! NO? HOWZABOUT, I'M A YANKEE DOODLE DANDY?: Review (via SPORTSbyBROOKS) of the ESPN announcing of World Cup matches. Jack Edwards is okay but his "Mine eyes have seen the glory" when the U.S. beat Portugal was incredibly silly; you think to yourself, you had ninety minutes to think about this and that was the best you could do? And it sounded rehearsed, which, as the review points out, the Univision "GOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL!"s never sound like, even though you know they're coming. The shortcomings of not living in a soccer culture, I guess.

SLATE IS ON FIRE TODAY: Rob Walker on that horrendous Michael Jordan Hanes ad:

Do I really need to point out the obvious racial and sexual tensions hovering just below the surface here? Is there anything fresh to be said about a mostly white, and mostly naked, group of guys looking from Michael Jordan to their own nether regions with an air of wistfulness and inferiority? I didn't think so. Just draw your own conclusions on that.

SOCCER GRABS THE PUNDIT NATION: Anne Applebaum on soccer, the last place patriotism is allowed in Western Europe. And why rooting for the U.S. promotes geopolitical instability:

[T]he significance of the American team's weakness has always been underrated, too. Particularly now that the Olympics have been spoiled by total American dominance, it is nice for everybody else that the United States always loses at the only game the rest of the world really cares about. Now that the United States has started to do a bit better, the future looks darker. Hearing the score of this morning's Mexico game—and the rumors that riots might start in Mexico City—I immediately worried: If the United States started to dominate soccer the way it dominates basketball, then anti-Americanism might really start to get ugly.

As it stands, the relationship between the United States and soccer is perfect. Americans—citizens of a modern state—have plenty of opportunities to show their patriotism, on inaugurations and at school assemblies and on the Fourth of July. They don't need to do it in soccer stadiums as well. Europeans, on the other hand—citizens of postmodern states—have fewer and fewer, and need those soccer highs badly as a result. Cheer for the American soccer players if you will—but keep your fingers crossed, and hope the U.S. team doesn't upset the balance by winning too many more matches.