so long, champ

barbaro's owners decided to put the derby winner down early this morning, and i think they made a smart, humane decision. everyone was saddened by his injury and his owners truly went above the call of duty to treat him. one of my friends today said that all we'd been hearing was positive news about his recovery, but i had recently seen several stories that said they had been doing surgeries, casts, and slings as he continued to develop problems. putting him through much more of that would, in my opinion, have just been wrong.

the maestro

so yesterday i watched part of the federer-roddick match... and just marvelled at how amazing he is. now, i'm no fan of roddick, but even i was embarrassed to see him lose so pitifully. federer literally made the second set look like a practice session, just perfecting his exact shot placement. even roddick's serve didn't seem to be an effective weapon, it was wonderful. but, i was laughing at the commentators, they didn't seem to know how to talk about the match... dick compared federer to an entire orchestra, mary carillo was so frustrated she was quiet, and luke jensen (who is an odd choice to begin with) never said anything unless he prompted.

no one mourns the wicked...

except the end of it that is. i won the lottery tickets for wicked tonight, which is the like maybe the third time in my life i've won anything random... very exciting! anyways, my friend l. and i went to the show, and it is great. it's a side story to "the wizard of oz" - how the so-called 'wicked witch of the west' came to be. the story was very cute, the music was wonderful and the costumes/sets were green, goth, and gorgeous we sat in the first row, and i was truly amazed at these singer/actors... unbelievable. their talent is truly inspiring. in case you're wondering, my favorite song from the show was "defying gravity" though "i'm not that girl" came close because i could definitely relate.

also, l. had some serious flirtation going on with the orchestra conductor... well, with the back of his head at least. gotta admit though, he was a cutie!

let it snow...

just not too much! i am so happy to see snow outside the window. it's about time to see new york blanketed, even if for a few hours.

ethnic responsibility

i'm a relative latecomer to 24, just started watching regularly last year. i was definitely looking forward to this year's premiere, especially considering kal penn was part of the show. as excited as i was to see him in the first hour, pretty soon my enthusiasm turned into sadness when i realized he was a terrorist in the show. then last night, he played a rapist on law & order. now, i know he's just trying to get his serious acting chops out there, and i don't even think he's a top offender, but it made me think of actors who take jobs that portray their ethnic/racial identities in negative stereotypes. i started thinking about this during the united 93 movie - where some actors were given grief for portraying the terrorists that took the flight hostage. it's an interesting dilemma and i can understand both sides of the argument - reinforcing those images vs. getting work and hoping to lessen those stereotypes eventually. anyways, just something i was thinking about as i watched my beloved kumar do serious damage instead of just smoking it up and riding a wild cheetah!

bollywood buzz

two of the quote-unquote biggest stars in hindi movies... abhishek bachchan and aishwarya rai... got engaged last night, and it's making news all over the internet. cnn is reporting it on its website, and i've seen it several other places. speculation about the couple, known as abhiwarya, has been everywhere for several months, but it's official now. if you know my taste in desi movies, you know i don't really like ash at all, but i've warmed up to abhishek. his performances in several films have been great, though i don't think he should dance a lot. as for the couple, both of them have shady romantic backgrounds - particularly ash with salman khan - so i'm not sure where this will go. also interesting - apparently, their stars don't match, and so they've visited numerous temples to try to better align their horoscopes. now, i'm a borderline believer in astrology, so let's see.

a baby's cry

just saw children of men, and i thought it was pretty good. the movie is very bleak, both how it's shot and its central theme - a world torn by global violence and the human race dehydrated by global infertility. the story is harsh, but the image that stays with me is how it was shot. the director, alfonso cuaron, used a lot of hand held camera and i feel it worked beautifully. there are two sequences in particular - one, a long car chase shot from inside the car, and two, a gunfight scene where the camera runs alongside the hero, clive owen. both are just amazingly well done. owen is very good, solid and stark, yet hopeful... but i also think they wrote his character well. i can't say the same about the entire plot, i just wish they explained more - i wasn't sure why i was being asked to care about the main struggle, trying to smuggle a pregnant woman out of england. that being said, i thought some of the imagery was very relevant to the world we live in today, where fear of others and the common occurrence of violence heighten and meld into an apocalyptic existence.