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THOUSAND OAKS, California (Reuters) – South Korean KJ Choi described Tiger Woods as an artist after relinquishing his overnight lead to the American former world number one in the Chevron World Challenge second round on Friday.

Choi had been three strokes clear at the start of a breezy day in the Santa Monica Mountains but he ended it three adrift of his playing partner Woods, who carded a five-under-par 67 that was, at times, brilliant.

To put it simply, today he played like an artist, Choi, speaking through an interpreter, told reporters about Woods after being outscored by six shots.

He really played well. Its pretty clear that hes really recovered and is back in his old form again. He missed a few putts, but it was really good to see him play well.

While Woods recorded two eagles and five birdies on the way to matching the days best score, Choi battled after the turn en route to a 73 and a tie for second with American Matt Kuchar at five-under 139.

The 41-year-old Korean, renowned for his ability to cope with windy conditions due to his low ball flight, frequently mis-judged club selection on the hillier back nine in gusts of up to 20 mph.

At the par-three 15th, he hit successive balls into the water guarding the front of the green before running up an ugly quadruple-bogey that dropped him four shots behind Woods.

I wasnt on my top form today, said Choi, an eight-times winner on the PGA Tour. Not that thats an excuse, but I didnt really have a good sleep last night. I really struggled, especially on the back nine.

I think it was really misjudgment on the wind on the tee shots. I just wasnt really feeling all that great, but the good thing about it is that Im still in it and just need to get a lot of rest today.

Choi was relieved that two more rounds remained in the elite event that brings together just 18 players.

My body is a little fatigued right now and I just need to get my condition back, he said. There are still a lot of holes to play, so Im looking forward to it.

(Editing by Julian Linden)

This holiday season, the multiplex smells like a manger. Just as
puppies and kittens are arriving under Christmas trees, movies with
critter characters are arriving in theaters.

Pulling the wagon is War Horse, Steven Spielbergs battlefield
epic abut a stalwart stallion that is conscripted into World War I.
The movie opens nationwide on Christmas Day.

The menagerie in the heart-tugging true story We Bought a Zoo,
which opens Friday, features more than 70 trained animals,
including lions, tigers, and Crystal, the capuchin monkey from The
Hangover: Part II.

Virtual varmints hog the spotlight in the toons Alvin and the
Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Puss in Boots.

True-life traumatized animals are featured in the family drama
Dolphin Tale (newly released on DVD) and the recent documentaries
Buck (shortlisted for an Academy Award) and One Lucky Elephant
(about the pachyderm namesake of St. Louis Circus Flora).

But as is often the case, most of this years cinematic
scene-stealers are dogs.

In the critics favorite The Artist, opening here on Friday,
the life-saving companion of a down-and-out silent-movie star is a
Jack Russell terrier. Another Jack Russell is prominent in the
art-house hit Beginners.

In the new toon The Adventures of Tintin, opening today, a
fox terrier called Snowy plays the Dr. Watson to a journalistic
Sherlock.

In Martin Scorseses Hugo, a menacing Doberman hunts for
orphans in a Paris train station.

And in the comedy Young Adult, now in theaters, the only
warm-blooded creature who can tolerate tipsy novelist Charlize
Theron is the Pomeranian she keeps in her handbag.

The dog that plays that role was discovered by director Jason
Reitman while it was walking with its owner down a New York street.
As Reitman told the New York Times, the dog was perfect for the
part because Pomeranians have a permanent smile, implying positive
regard for the Theron character.

Of course, dogs have long been movie mainstays because they have
expressive faces and are more easily trainable than, say, cats.
Terry, the Cairn terrier who played Toto in The Wizard of Oz, was
paid more than the Munchkins and appeared in a dozen other movies.
Uggie, the 9-year-old Jack Russell terrier in The Artist, was
also featured in the recent movie Water for Elephants (and is the
subject of a tongue-in-cheek Facebook campaign to name him best
supporting actor). Cosmo, the Jack Russell in Beginners, was
trained by Mathilde de Cagney, who also trained the dog Eddie in
the TV series Frasier.

Trainers are the unsung heroes of such productions. More than 30
of them worked on We Bought a Zoo. On the set of the 3-D Hugo,
de Cagney was dressed as a character in the train station so she
could monitor the Dobermans movements.

Buck documents how trainer Buck Brannaman was a real-life
horse whisperer for the movie of the same name — and how creatures
of both species respond better to reward than punishment.

For War Horse, there were two horses, named Finder and
Abraham, who divided the role of Joey and were trained to charge
through a World War I-era hellscape of explosions, trenches and
barbed wire (which was actually rubberized Styrofoam that the
horses found pleasantly ticklish).

That war produced a real-life animal hero who became one of the
biggest stars in cinema. In 1918, an American colonel named Lee
Duncan entered a bombed out kennel in France and discovered a
German shepherd and her five starving puppies. While the other dogs
were divvied among the soldiers, Duncan named one of the puppies
Rin Tin Tin and eventually took it back to America with him. On the
set of a silent movie, the gallant dog did a stunt for a Warner
Bros. producer and was signed to a contract.

Rin Tin Tin made 18 movies and even starred in a radio serial.
As noted in a new biography by Susan Orlean, the wonder dog was
so popular in 1928 that he earned the most votes for the inaugural
Academy Award for best actor. The academy then changed its rules to
preclude nonhumans. But that rule would change if the new breed of
animal actors learned to speak. (And maybe with the translator
technology that was featured in the recent toon Up, they
can.)

Gowalla investor Sean Parker reflected on what went wrong with the company at LeWeb today.

After saying he liked and respected the team, he said Gowallas approach to the market was lacking in innovation.

The product was just too similar to Foursquare. They could have done a lot of interesting things to differentiate themselves, but they didnt.

Whats worse, Parker says he offered up specific product feedback on how to make Gowalla better, but the team rejected it, sticking to their plan. They were dead set on doing what they wanted to do.

The problem is that they lost the market a few years ago to Foursquare, and superficial changes were never going to position them as a contender.

All that said, Parker said hes happy they had a soft landing at Facebook. He still thinks the team is talented, and as someone with much of his personal worth tied to Facebook hes thrilled those guys are going be working at Facebook.