Sunday, December 23, 2007
I wonder...
Media plays an important role in democracy. The history books convey what the media then reported. So much of what we know about the past is from the media clippings from that period. One would think that press would realize this and be very responsible with respect to what they report, but they tend to report views instead of news which is not good for the sake of our future generations that are going to understand history based on this information. Not only are political parties/individuals influencing and "buying" media guys - TV channels, newspapers and websites...countries/governments are also dictating terms to ensure that something is reported while something else is not. Since that's what is happening now, it could have well been happening earlier too. It makes me wonder if we are learning history from one particular point of view rather than learning facts of the past. Isn't it possible that some happenings were exaggerated and some others underplayed? Could Hitler have been a different personality from what we are told he was? Do we know everything we need to know about the war on Iraq?
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Infinite Energy Slam
Last week (Dec 15) I had been to an exhibition match between Andy Roddick and Robby Ginepri at Gwinnett Arena. For the kind of interest I have in Tennis, it’s surprising that this is only the second match I’m witnessing – the first one will remain etched in my memory forever since my all time favorite - Boris Becker featured in it!
This was an event I didn’t even know was happening until I accidentally stumbled upon it while “googling” for something else. I took it as a cosmic sign and booked a ticket the very next day. My friends at work and outside it are not much into tennis, but going to this event alone was not going to make it any less exciting to me!
When I reached the arena on this rainy night, a men’s doubles match between some locals was in progress. Since it was an exhibition, the air was light and players were willing to go for some unconventional shots which added some pep and entertained the audiences. This doubles match was followed by a 1-set men’s singles match between 2 upcoming players and a 1-set women’s singles match between the world #96 and Junior’s world #6. The men’s match was very entertaining, but it lacked quality maybe because of the fact that the guys took it too easy. The women’s match was the exact opposite – good quality but zero “extra” entertainment. This being an exhibition I would have expected the girls to have an I-don’t-care-who-wins-as-long-as-we-have-fun attitude but that didn’t happen…but no complaints - the match was good. I started to think if this displayed the difference between general mentality of girls and guys. I think girls tend to take everything a tad seriously and try to give their best and guys tend to take things very lightly until and unless it really matters. I don’t think one attitude is better than the other but it’s interesting to analyze…
Roddick and Ginepri had a grand entrance into the arena. The spotlights were on, there was music and fanfare and the noise from the audience was reaching decibel levels unheard of (pun intended). I did my bit to raise the dB level while trying to hold my camera steady to record some video clips. My Canon Rebel which should have been my date to the event was not allowed in since it had a detachable lens and I had to borrow a compact Sony camera from my friend for this event. The upside to this was I had the option of taking videos but don’t get me started about the downside!
The match started and the crowd that was yelling all this time quietened down as Roddick prepared to serve. Roddick gestured to the crowd to continue cheering and that set the stage for the rest of the match. I always knew that Roddick was one of the funniest guys on the tour and that fact was confirmed by his humorous displays throughout the match. He was doing everything that a seasoned entertainer does – connecting well with the crowd and getting them to participate, rooting against a section of the audience while siding with the rest, throwing goodies to the crowd once in a while, talking (something funny) to us very frequently, imitating players and getting the laughs, enjoying the match while respecting his opponent all the same…in addition to all this is the fact that he’s damn good looking!
His impersonations were extremely funny and very accurate! I have them on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/RndmVidz
Ginepri was a great sport. Though Roddick was the more popular guy, Ginepri had the ome advantage – he is an Atlanta local! The crowd did not ignore him at all. He played along with Roddick adding his funny bits to the drama that Roddick was scripting. He got out maximum laughs when he imitated Roddick after Roddick was done imitating the rest of the world!
All in all, an evening well spent. Here are some pics…
This was an event I didn’t even know was happening until I accidentally stumbled upon it while “googling” for something else. I took it as a cosmic sign and booked a ticket the very next day. My friends at work and outside it are not much into tennis, but going to this event alone was not going to make it any less exciting to me!
When I reached the arena on this rainy night, a men’s doubles match between some locals was in progress. Since it was an exhibition, the air was light and players were willing to go for some unconventional shots which added some pep and entertained the audiences. This doubles match was followed by a 1-set men’s singles match between 2 upcoming players and a 1-set women’s singles match between the world #96 and Junior’s world #6. The men’s match was very entertaining, but it lacked quality maybe because of the fact that the guys took it too easy. The women’s match was the exact opposite – good quality but zero “extra” entertainment. This being an exhibition I would have expected the girls to have an I-don’t-care-who-wins-as-long-as-we-have-fun attitude but that didn’t happen…but no complaints - the match was good. I started to think if this displayed the difference between general mentality of girls and guys. I think girls tend to take everything a tad seriously and try to give their best and guys tend to take things very lightly until and unless it really matters. I don’t think one attitude is better than the other but it’s interesting to analyze…
Roddick and Ginepri had a grand entrance into the arena. The spotlights were on, there was music and fanfare and the noise from the audience was reaching decibel levels unheard of (pun intended). I did my bit to raise the dB level while trying to hold my camera steady to record some video clips. My Canon Rebel which should have been my date to the event was not allowed in since it had a detachable lens and I had to borrow a compact Sony camera from my friend for this event. The upside to this was I had the option of taking videos but don’t get me started about the downside!
The match started and the crowd that was yelling all this time quietened down as Roddick prepared to serve. Roddick gestured to the crowd to continue cheering and that set the stage for the rest of the match. I always knew that Roddick was one of the funniest guys on the tour and that fact was confirmed by his humorous displays throughout the match. He was doing everything that a seasoned entertainer does – connecting well with the crowd and getting them to participate, rooting against a section of the audience while siding with the rest, throwing goodies to the crowd once in a while, talking (something funny) to us very frequently, imitating players and getting the laughs, enjoying the match while respecting his opponent all the same…in addition to all this is the fact that he’s damn good looking!
His impersonations were extremely funny and very accurate! I have them on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/RndmVidz
Ginepri was a great sport. Though Roddick was the more popular guy, Ginepri had the ome advantage – he is an Atlanta local! The crowd did not ignore him at all. He played along with Roddick adding his funny bits to the drama that Roddick was scripting. He got out maximum laughs when he imitated Roddick after Roddick was done imitating the rest of the world!
All in all, an evening well spent. Here are some pics…
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