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MONDAY 9 JANUARY 2017
MARKETPLACE | 5 HEALTH | 9 HOLLYWOOD | 11The St. Regis Doha
appoints Saleh Bataineh as Deputy GM
Study: Eat high-fiber diet to cut inflammation
caused by gout
FITNESS ROUTINE
What’s the best fitness routine for you? Consider your personality to find the right match for long-term motivation.
P | 2-3
Email: [email protected]
WOOD | 11MARKThe
appoints Affleck would discourage his kids from becoming actors
COVER STORY MONDAY 9 JANUARY 201702Gabriella Boston The Washington Post
Are you super social? Which motivates you more — internal or external validation? Maybe you’re laid-
back? Or keen on getting the biggest bang for your buck? (In fitness, this often translates to burning the most calories.)
As 2017 rolls in and resolutions are being hammered out, fitness and health usually take centre stage.
But what exactly is the best fit-ness routine for you? Many instructors and trainers will say - irritatingly perhaps — that “the best fitness routine is the one you will do consistently.”
Okay, if you say so.But if you’re not already in a
good routine, how do you find the right fitness direction — the one that will promote consistency?
Some say that looking at your personality outside the fitness world can help you figure out what works best inside the fitness world.
In which case, you need to know: What is your fitness personality?
“If you’re a Type A personality, you probably have a quantitative goal. You might be wearing a fit-ness tracker, and you probably feel you need a reason to work out,” says Pete McCall, a spokesman for the American Council on Exercise.
“On the other hand, if you’re more motivated by collaboration, whether there is a quantitative goal or not, then you might do well in something like Zumba, where the purpose is to have a dance party,” McCall says.
So, ask yourself:Are quantitative goals impor-
tant to you? If so, try fitness trackers, spin class, treadmill workouts and the like. Or are you energised by the group setting and maybe hav-ing less-trackable goals? Then try group fitness, a la Zumba.
Cassia Denton, personal-train-ing and group-exercises director for Balance Gym in Washington, agrees and says to look specifically at what energises you in life.
“The first thing to look at is what tends to recharge you outside of work. Is it a hot bath? Or is it a big
meal with friends?” Denton says. “This can be telling in terms of what will help you stay motivated.”
In other words, are you an introvert or extrovert?
The former, Denton says, might do well in a spin or yoga class,
where, although there are people around you, the room might be dark and the focus is turned inward.
The latter might do better in a group fitness class such as CrossFit, treadmill running or boot camp, where not only can people see you
but there also might be an element of collaboration.
“If you’re in the ‘big meal with friends’ category, this might be a good fit, because there is a certain amount of focus on interacting with other people,” Denton says.
Liz Kerr, a Washington resident who works in government relations and public affairs, says her person-ality partly fits Type A’s desire to track workouts and see results (she takes spinning three times a week and tries to lift twice a week), but over time she has added yoga, which is a little less quantifiable.
“It just makes me feel better,” she says. “It’s hard to measure, but my flexibility is better and my bal-ance is better.”
Kerr, who tends to lift on her own, says coming to a class often inspires her to work harder (she played team sports in college), both because of the instructor and the people around her.
Deciding best fitness routine for you
COVER STORYMONDAY 9 JANUARY 2017 03
In other words, you can be social and competitive at the same time. A good instructor, she says, will both encourage and challenge.
“If the instructor is good, they will make everyone, no matter what their fitness level, feel comfortable, and still make sure they get a good workout.”
Kerr says she prefers the gym environment because she can choose her regular classes, lift on her own or try something com-pletely new. But some people prefer boutique studios or outdoor alter-natives. How do you know what’s best for you?
Ask yourself: What setting
works for your personality?The only way to truly know is
to visit many places, whether they be boutique studios, gyms or out-door boot camps.
“This is a great time of year to take advantage of a trial member-ship at a gym,” says McCall, adding that many gyms offer free or dis-
counted memberships in January.“It’s like a favourite restaurant -
it’s not just the food, it’s whether you feel comfortable in the space,” he says.
Same goes for boutique studios and outdoor alternatives such as boot camps and running groups —January offers many deals.
Once you have figured out your fitness personality and started your routine, then what?
McCall says to keep it up for six weeks or so and then start homing in on what your fitness goals for the year might be.
“Exercise is stress on the body,” McCall says, so you need to let your body adapt to that stress in a meas-ured way. Don’t do what so many end up doing in the new year: ramp up too fast. “Measured” for a begin-ner might mean walking briskly and eventually introducing intervals on a treadmill for 30 minutes two to three times a week for a six-week period.
If you then need help in the goal-setting area (is it a weight-loss goal, a quality-of-life goal, a strength goal, a race goal?), ask a trainer, McCall suggests.
“In the end, exercise should be fun, enhance your life and not just make you look good, but also feel good,” he says.
Now, go figure it out: Who are you?
CAMPUS MONDAY 9 JANUARY 201704
PIS students visit Dandy Ice Cream Factory
Pakistan International School (PIS) Doha, Qatar arranged an educational trip for the students of Junior Wing on January
1, to Dandy Ice Cream Factory. Dandy Company Limited, an
ISO 9001:2000 certified company, is one of the most well-respected brands in Qatar, with a growing presence across the GCC region. The students visited the factory accompanying their teachers, Tau-seef Fatima and Noshaba.
All students were very excited and looking forward to seeing the process of making ice cream. As they reached the factory, Wajid Sofi (Executive Marketing) greeted all warmly. Then he gave instructions and distributed caps among the stu-dents to cover their heads and took the students inside the factory .The students were amazed to see so many machines and pipes. There were different machines for mak-ing Laban, Yoghurt, ice cream, etc.
The guide showed the
procedure of how an ice cream was made. After visiting certain areas of the factory including the freez-ing room and fridge-room, he led the students to a conference room where they enjoyed ice cream and also asked question about various methods of making ice-cream and other items.
Later on, eight students (Hadia Ghaffar, Safi Naz, Rehab, Sara Zahid, Abdullah Mohsin, Ahmed Hesham, Masood and Shaarif Imran) partic-ipated in an interesting competition
of making an ice cream. They had to make an ice cream by using col-oured syrup, nuts, and different flavoured ice cream. They were given three minutes for this. The students really enjoyed this activity.
Hadia Ghaffar and Safi Naz won the competition and they were awarded certificates and trophies. The rest of the participants were also awarded with the participa-tion certificates. It was really an informative trip for the students.
NIS conducts teachers’ orientation programme
The Noble International School conducted teachers’ orientation programme on January 7 at the preparatory premises by Dr Azad Chalikuzhi, a Man-agement Consultant and Trainer, specialised in strategy, programme and
project management. Dr Azad held the training session on “Communicating to win” which helped the teachers to enhance their communicative skill which in turn can be implemented in the classroom teaching for easy comprehension of the topics taught. Activities like ice-breaker was conducted where in the teach-ers had to introduce themselves in 2 minutes and group discussion on various topics were also carried on which was again evaluated by the mentor.
MARKETPLACEMONDAY 9 JANUARY 2017 05
Ezdan Hotels is strategic partner of Chess World Championship
Ezdan Hotels, one of Ezdan Holding Group subsidi-aries, has participated in the men’s and women’s FIDE World Rapid & Blitz
Championship as a strategic partner.
The tournament was held in Doha at Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Arena, and was organised by the World Chess Federation in collab-oration with the Qatar Chess Association and Qatar Olympic Committee, with the participation of 156 players from all over the world, from December 25 to 30.
Ezdan Hotel West Bay, operated by Ezdan Hotels Company, offered participants and organisers high quality support and integrated hos-pitality services, as well as adequate facilities and equipment to meet the needs and desires of players in major international championships of all kinds.
On sponsoring the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship, Gen-eral Manager of Ezdan Hotels Company, Hasib Kayali said:
“Choosing our hotel to sponsor this important event is a sign of trust in the experience we have gained over the past period in hosting interna-tional sports delegations of international key competitions, such as the cycling UCI Road World Championships during October, and the AIBA World Boxing Champion-ship Doha 2015. We have worked tirelessly and demonstrated high merit in providing top notch hos-pitality services that have significantly contributed to the suc-cess of these tournaments”.
Kayali pointed out that spon-soring the tournament comes within the framework of coordina-tion with the Qatar Olympic Committee, stressing that the com-mittee has selected Ezdan Hotels based on the confidence of organ-isers in the premium quality of services the company provides. This trust stems from the joint cooper-ation between the two parties, which has seen light three years ago through hosting delegations of the I P C A t h l e t i c s W o r l d
Championships.Addressing the ongoing devel-
opments taking place in Ezdan Hotels, Kayali stressed that the development plans are afoot to raise the quality of services pro-vided by the company to the highest international standards inhospital-ity. He added that raising the standards aims to ensure superior services for all guests, especially participants in international com-petitions and events, alluding to a series of developments that have taken place at Ezdan Hotel West Bay recently. This facelift drive included the opening of an advanced conference centre, well
equipped with all modern techno-logical means, with an operational capacity to accommodate up to 2,000 people for a variety of pur-poses, in addition to the launch of a new fitness centre of the highest calibre for women.
It should be noted that Ezdan Holding Group has recently announced the partial opening of The Curve Hotel Apartments, by opening six floors of the hotel with a capacity of 150 apartments of a variety of spaces.
The entire hotel comprises 24 floors, totalling 600 apartments and built on 6,788 sqm area, overlook-ing the West Bay area.
The St. Regis Doha appoints Saleh Bataineh as Deputy GM
The St. Regis Doha, the finest address in Qatar, has con-firmed that it has appointed
Saleh Bataineh as Deputy General Manager at the award-winning property. With Bataineh stepping into his new role in December 2016, he will oversee all aspects of The St. Regis Doha including day-to-day operations as well as being involved in all features of running the Hotel.
Additionally, in his new position, Bataineh will also be closely involved in employee training, coaching and mentoring at all lev-els; will work to sustain The St. Regis Doha’s unique positioning as the preferred address and
most exclusive Hotel in Doha; and continue providing undisputed lux-ury services and bespoke experiences to guests – a signature stamp of The St. Regis Doha.
Prior to joining The St. Regis Doha, Bataineh worked at a number of prestigious brands including Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, where he had different leadership roles in cities like Amman, Toronto, Dubai and Beijing, with his most recent role being a Hotel Manager at Four Seasons Cairo at The First Residence. A seasoned hotelier with close to twenty years of international expe-rience, Mr. Bataineh said: “My new role as the Deputy General Manager
of the Hotel is an incredibly unique opportunity for me to continue working in one of Qatar’s most lux-urious hotels. Since opening in 2012, The St. Regis Doha has built up an unrivalled reputation for offering guests an unsurpassed deluxe expe-rience every time, and I look forward to maintaining this reputa-tion and personalized guest experience.”
Tareq Derbas, Area General Manager of The St. Regis Doha, said:
“The St. Regis Doha has always prided itself on being an exceptional hotel in Qatar, and a core compo-nent of this is also working with the most talented and dedicated
hoteliers. Bataineh has shown a remarkable ability to provide com-fortable and unique guest experiences along with leadership and management traits over the years, and we are delighted to have elevated Bataineh to the position of Deputy General Manager at The St. Regis Doha.”
COMMUNITY MONDAY 9 JANUARY 201706
North Indians’ Associa-tion (NIA) recently celebrated a family get-together on New Year’s eve in Al Mas
Ball room in Hotel City Center Rotana Doha. The event “New Year Bash 2017” was attended by more than 325 members along with their families. The programme unfolded with live performance from in-house talented singers, professional singer and a stand-up Comedian from India.
NIA Vice-President Sanjay Arora welcomed the gathering. NIA
President Praveen Sharma, NIA Chairman Mukesh Kumar Singh and NIA Chairman Advisory Har-ish Kanjani received the guests.
Programme started with melo-dious performances by Moksha Gupta and Abhijit Sarkar, followed by energetic song dance numbers and performances by guest artists who enthralled the audience with their performance.
Guest artist who were specially called from India for this event were Anjan Bhattacharya, who is a music director and a singer and Ex. Meet Bros Partner.
He was the winner of Stardust Award 2010 for outstanding per-formance by a music director and Gaurav Sharma, a humour poet and stand-up comedian. He was the winner of Laughter Challenge-2 on Star TV, Winner in Comedy Ka King Kaun.
DJ Shameem was at his best on the Dance floor. Entire programme was coordinated by NIA Managing committee members; Durgesh Gupta, Kuldeep Kour Bahl, Shivani Mishra, Abhijit Sarkar and Punit Jain.
The North Indians’ Association,
Doha Qatar is a unique Social Cul-tural organisation which is truly promoting Indian Culture and com-munity spirit in Qatar and dedicated to the goal of preserving, promot-ing and enhancing an understanding of Indian culture and its values among the children and other communities by conducting a number of events and pro-grammes for its members throughout the year. The NIA is a unique organisation known for its vision, dedication of its committee members and volunteers, and unquestionable integrity.
NIA celebrates New Year get-togetherNIA celebrates New Year get-together
QIA Champions League to kick off on March 2 Qatar Indian Association
for football (QIA) is plan-ning to organise its 5th Edition of QIA Champi-ons League from March
2 to April 28. Twelve teams will be participating in the tournament — including teams from Goa and Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bho-pal — in addition to prominent teams from Kerala.
The teams will be split into two groups. Following the group matches that will be played in a league format, two teams from each group will advance to the
semi-finals. The final match will be played on April 28.
QIA, a forum of Indian expatri-ates in Qatar, was formed in 2013 to promote football among the Indian expatriates to fulfil the host country’s objective in establishing Qatar as an international sports hub. Subsequently QIA realised the necessity of having a common plat-form for other games and sporting activities to represent India.
QIA is the only all India associ-ation who registered under the Embassy of India to promote foot-ball. QIA is operating as a face of
the entire Indian expatriate com-munity to represent Indians for participating in various interna-tional events of Qatar Football Association (QFA), SC and other Sports bodies of Qatar. QIA is rep-resenting India in Qatar Community league (League sponsored by SC and Aspire Zone).
As part of QIA’s objective to pro-mote football in Qatar, the Champions League Football Tour-nament has been introduced in 2014. The 4th Champions League Football Tournament 2016 started with 10 major teams from March
18, and its final was played on May 6 at Doha Sports Stadium. The clos-ing ceremony of the tournament had a spectacular show to show-case India’s solidarity towards Qatar 2022 . In order to strengthen the commitment to support Supreme Committee towards Qatar 2022, a pledge had also taken by all Indian Community leaders, presidents of Indian organisations and officials from all Indian schools to provide full-fledged support in FIFA 2022.
Those who are interested to participate in this year’s league, email to [email protected]
FASHIONMONDAY 9 JANUARY 2017 07
Miki YabukiJapan News/Yomiuri
Fake fur accessories such as bags, scarfs, hats and sandals are popular this winter. Soft, fluffy and warm-looking, they sub-
tly dress up winter fashion. Imitation fur is made of synthetic fibers. Its appearance and texture
are often indistinguishable from the real things.
Prices for fake fur are reason-able and there are a wide variety of designs.
An 18-year-old university stu-dent in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, wore a pair of earrings made of snow-white imitation fur. She chose the earrings to fit with her chic outfit featuring a black hat and brown
jacket. As she walked, the earrings swung, highlighting their fluffiness.
“I like these earrings as they add a bright touch,” she said.
A 20-year-old part-time worker in a white knit sweater and dark-blue jeans carried a pale pink-and-brown shoulder bag in imitation fur to accent her outfit.
“Even when I am dressed casually, fake fur accessories add glamour,” said the woman from Kurume.
In recent years, colorful fake fur items have grown in popularity. According to the Tokyo-based Japan Chemical Fibers Association, imitation fur is highly chromoge-nic, making it possible to create complex patterns. A 29-year-old company employee from Fukui car-ried a black bag with a key ring made from fake fur that had been
dyed light-blue, pink and purple, that worked to soften the look of her bag.
The variety of fake fur accesso-ries has doubled when compared to the previous season, according to Me%, an accessory store chain operating outlets mainly around Tokyo, including at Lumine shop-ping complexes in station buildings.
“People can enjoy a warm feel-ing by adding fake fur accessories to their usual clothes,” company spokesperson Hanae Imori said.
“They can easily make themselves look wintry by using fake fur items.”
Women who I met on the street used just one fake fur accessory to soften the look of their attire. Imi-tation fur appears to make winter fashion look more stylish, rather than protect against the cold.
Reuters
British rapper Tinie Tempah made his catwalk debut at London Fashion Week Men’s
on Saturday with a minimalistic, casualwear collection inspired by architecture and “the everyday man”.
The 28-year-old, known for hits such as “Written in the Stars” and “Not Letting Go”, opted for a simple colour palette of navy blue, grey, white and black to present his first creations of mainly loose tops, trousers and shorts for his menswear brand “What We Wear”.
To the sound of a live music
performance, models walked down the catwalk in zip jackets, large tops, drawstring shorts and ankle-length tracksuit-like trou-sers in cotton, neoprene, linen and nylon. The “Pleats & Poppers” col-lection also featured subtle folds in designs and easy fastening on sleeves or the sides of trouser legs. The looks were accessorised with white sports shoes bearing the
“What We Wear” logo at the back.“I was very much inspired by
architecture, especially European architecture as well, travelling throughout Scandinavia and even now I think east London is start-ing to adopt a lot of that as well,”
the rapper told Reuters backstage.
“And then again it was the eve-ryday London man...I’m excited to be able to get my vision of the way I see menswear in 2017 going onto 2020 and beyond.”
Tempah, who has designed clothing before, said the line would launch in April and that he would also consider doing a collection for women’s wardrobes eventually.
“To be honest I got a little bit
bored of people just saying I was really stylish just for wearing other people’s clothes,” he said of his decision to launch the menswear line. “After a while I feel like peo-ple start to put more of the emphasis on the clothes than the actual person...I started to feel like I was a bit of a walking manne-quin.” Asked if fashion could now take his focus away from music, he said: “No...Music is always the core focus.”
Fluffy fake fur brings touch of glamour to everyday clothes
Rapper Tinie Tempah makes catwalk debut with menswear line
FOOD MONDAY 9 JANUARY 201708The Washington Post
Because black rice is high in fiber, this is a warm and comforting dish that may keep you feeling satisifed longer.
Black glutinous rice is the unprocessed whole grain of
traditional sticky rice; it’s lower in calories and carbohydrates than white and brown rice. You’ll find it in some health food stores and Japanese markets and via online purveyors. We tested this recipe with Lotus Foods brand Organic Forbidden Black Rice as well, and that’s an acceptable substitute.
MAKE AHEAD: The rice needs to be soaked overnight. It can be cooked, cooled, covered and refrigerated a day in advance.
Adapted from “Skinny Soups: 80 Flavor-Packed Recipes of Less Than 300 Calories,” by Kathryn Bruton (Kyle Books, 2017).
Ingredients (2 servings, Healthy)3/4 cup black glutinous rice (see headnote)1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/2 teaspoon ground ginger1 coin (quarter)-size slice peeled fresh gin-
ger root1 cup coconut water1/2 cup cold water1/2 cup unsweetened plain fresh almond milk
(from the refrigerated case)1 banana, sliced (may substitute a fruit of your
choice)21/2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds (arils;
optional)2 tablespoons low-fat coconut milkA few mint leaves, for garnish (optional)
MethodPlace the rice in a bowl and cover it with
water. Let soak overnight.Drain the rice and rinse it until the water
runs clear, then place it in a small saucepan. Add the cinnamon, ground ginger, fresh ginger, coconut water and cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then give it a stir, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover tightly and cook for about 30 minutes or until tender. Not all the liquid will be absorbed.
Uncover; stir in the almond milk and increase
the heat to medium; after the rice begins to bub-ble at the edges, cook for about 5 minutes, then discard the slice of fresh ginger.
Divide between bowls. Top with the banana, the pomegranate seeds, if using, and the coco-nut milk.
Garnish with the mint leaves, if using; serve warm.
Nutrition | Per serving: 360 calories, 9 g pro-tein, 82 g carbohydrates, 5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 35 mg sodium, 7 g dietary fiber, 14 g sugar
Black rice, banana and coconut breakfast bowls
HEALTHMONDAY 9 JANUARY 2017 09IANS
Consuming a high-fiber diet may sig-nificantly induce the action of gut bacteria to help reduce inflammation associated with gout and possibly help the treatment of arthritis,
researchers have found.Gout is a metabolic disease in which mono-
sodium urate crystals of uric acid -- a waste product in the blood -- form in the body’s tis-sues or joints, causing inflammation and pain.
The study found that the action of gut bac-teria, influenced by different types of food, can affect inflammation in the body.
Diets that are high in fiber trigger bacteria in the gut to produce short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which induces neutrophil apoptosis and the resolution of inflammation.
The findings may have important implica-tions for the treatment of gout, and possibly for the treatment of arthritis, the researchers said.
“By understanding the way foods interact with living organisms, we may be able to create diets that help people with the disease, as well as their health overall,” said Mauro M. Teixeira from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil.
For the study, the team used a high-fiber diet and treatment with SCFAs to prevent inflamma-tion associated with the injection of monosodium urate crystals in the knees of mice.
The results showed that injecting monoso-dium urate crystals affected a particular type of blood cells, easing inflammation, while improv-ing anti-inflammatory cells in the knee joint, preventing knee damage and dysfunction.
The high levels of uric acid in the body in
people with gout, the kidneys are unable to flush them easily out of the body.
As a result, the MSU crystals form in the body’s tissues or in the joints, where they col-lect in the fluids that keep bones moving smoothly and causing tissue to become inflamed and painful.
What we eat plays a determinant role in our
capacity to fine tune the inflammatory response.This tuning inflammatory circuits by linking
diet to microbial products can have a profound effect on an inflammatory disease in the joints, the researchers stated.
The study was published in the Journal of Leukoctye Biology.
The very few people who do not like music at all may have reduced brain connec-
tivity between two regions of the brain linked to sound processing and reward.
The findings showed that people who lacked joy from music
-- a condition described as specific musical anhedonia -- had reduced functional connectivity between cortical brain regions responsible for processing sound and subcortical regions related to reward. The inability to experience pleasure from music affects three-to-five per cent of the world’s population, the study said.
For the study, the team led by researchers at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, recruited 45
healthy participants who listened to musical excerpts inside an fMRI machine while providing pleasure ratings in real-time.
To control their brain’s response to other reward types, the participants also played a monetary gambling task in which they could win or lose real money.
The results revealed that while listening to music, people with the specific musical anhedonics did show reduced functional connectivity between cortical regions associated with
auditory processing and the activity of the nucleus accumbens
-- a key subcortical structure of the reward network.
In contrast, individuals with high sensitivity to music showed enhanced connectivity.
Moreover, when the participants won money in the gambling task, their nucleus accumbens showed increased activity.
The fact that subjects could be insensible to music while still being responsive to another stimulus like money suggests
different pathways to reward for different stimuli.
This finding may pave the way for the detailed study of the neural substrates underlying other domain-specific anhedonias and, from an evolutionary perspective, help us to understand how music acquired reward value.
“These findings not only help us to understand individual variability in the way the reward system functions, but also can be applied to the development of therapies for treatment of reward-related disorders, including apathy, depression, and addiction,” said Robert Zatorre, neuroscientist at McGill University, Quebec.
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Not liking music at all linked to poor brain connectivity
Study: Eat high-fiber diet to cut inflammation caused by gout
BOLLYWOOD MONDAY 9 JANUARY 201710
IANS
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has urged parents to teach their sons how to respect women.
Asked about the recent Bengaluru mass molestation, Shah Rukh said: “It is completely wrong. I feel mothers and fathers should teach their sons how to respect women.”
SRK spoke to media on Saturday at the Arch-ana Kochhar Show, where he walked as a showstopper. The charity event was held to raise funds for free heart surgeries for 100 children at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital & Medical Research Institute.
“All women as daughters or mothers are close to my heart. It’s high time we realise and make sure that they are the most respected people on the planet. They are god’s creations. Irrespec-tive of their field, they should be respected,” he said.
Bollywood celebrities like Salim Khan, Shek-har Kapur, Akshay Kumar and Farhan Akhtar had earlier strongly condemned the incident that took place during the New Year celebration in Bengaluru.
Durga Chakravarty IANS
Her first film, “Dum Laga Ke Haisha”, con-tained the message that over-sized women are not at a disadvantage as
long as there is love. Her second, “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha”, too has a societal message. Actress Bhumi Pednekar is more than happy about Bol-lywood making message-based films and says cinema is the easiest way to communicate with the people.
“I feel that today’s people, audiences and filmmakers, we all have become very aware of the problems and the situations that we have around us. Earlier, we were in a position to ignore them... but I think we have now reached a point where we cannot ignore certain things and I think it is fantastic...
“Cinema is the largest and the easiest way to communicate with the masses and if you can put it to good use, then why not,” Bhumi asked while speaking to IANS over phone from Mumbai.
The 27-year-old actress says “Toilet-Ek Prem Katha” isn’t preachy. “It is a beautiful love story that taps into a lot of aspects of our soci-ety as well,” she added.
While it is quite apparent from the title that the film is about personal hygiene, the produc-ers are keeping the storyline close to their chests to retain interest in the movie that is set to release in June.
Fans of “Dum Laga Ke Haisha” fondly remember Bhumi as the simple plus-sized
Sandhya, and in the upcoming film starring Akshay Kumar, her role again seems to be on similar lines. “What I did in my first film is noth-ing like what I am doing in ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’. What attracts me are real stories about real Indian girls. It’s not that I only pick those subjects. I pick characters purely on the basis on how good the story is and how good my role and character are,” Bhumi said.
Bhumi, who before entering the world of films was a casting director, considers herself to be lucky for bagging realistic roles.
“I think I have been really lucky that I have been getting roles where I can play the girl-next-door or a girl... My roles are not similar at all,” she said. “Dum Laga Ke Haisha” came in 2015 and Bhumi’s next film is all set to release in June 2017.
Will the time gap help her build a new image?
“The time I took off was planned because I had to come back to being Bhumi (my natural self) and it took me this much time. I had gained an insane amount of weight for the film and I had to drop it off,” she explained.
She says she has taken time to choose the scripts that she really wants to be a part of.
“I have been really lucky and touchwood, for me, life has always been on track,” Bhumi added.
Cinema easiest way to communicate with masses: Bhumi Pednekar
Indian Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan (left) takes part in a charity fashion show by designer Archana Kochhar in Mumbai yesterday.
Parents should teach sons to respect women: SRK
HOLLYWOODMONDAY 9 JANUARY 2017 11
Reuters
Hundreds of devoted fans gathered at a party in central London on Friday night to pay tribute to George Michael, after the double Grammy-
award winning singer died on Christmas Day.With a live band playing the ex-Wham!
singer’s hits in the backdrop, fans young and old thronged the dancefloor of Soho’s Tropi-cana Beach Club, its name inspired by the 1983 Wham! single “Club Tropicana.”
“We had originally planned the event for Thursday with about 50 to 100 people,” said club manager Anthony Knight.
“However we had thousands of messages and calls from fans begging us to change it to the weekend so they had time to travel in,” he said, adding that people had travelled in from Greece, Italy, Vienna, Germany and the United States to attend.
As waiters in straw hats poured drinks for the partygoers in booths with thatched roof-ing, a cohort of muscular men wearing shiny red boxers and George Michael masks made their way through the crowd, posing for the occasional selfie.
“I’d much rather be here saying ‘I can’t believe George just won an Oscar’ or ‘George just did this’,” said the event’s compere Julian Bennett, who was a friend of the late singer.
“I think we go through life thinking people are indestructible, but unfortunately they’re not and 2016 is proof of that.”
In one dedicated corner of the club, fans stuck sticky notes of tribute to the “Careless Whisper” singer on a wall.
“Childhood soundtrack, foundation of friendships, lonely days, joyful dances, cheesy sing alongs - all scream George. Lovely, genu-ine, funny man of ours. Lots of love,” one note read.
Amrit Sagoo, 40, dressed in the uniform of a policeman was among the early entrants to the club.
“In my deepest, loneliest of times, his music was a source of comfort to me.”
While entry to the party was free for guests, donations were collected in aid of three char-ities the 53-year-old singer supported
- Childline, the Terrence Higgins Trust, and
Macmillan Cancer Support. “He was a philant-ropist at the end of the day,” said Bennett.
“What we have to be careful about is that all the bad stuff is going to come out as well, but I think that’s just part and parcel of being in the public eye.”
The cause of Michael’s death is still unclear after an initial autopsy and more tests are needed, British police have said.
In the mid-1980s, “Wham! were one of the most successful pop duos with singles such as
““Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, ““Last Christ-mas”, and ““The Edge of Heaven” before Michael embarked on a solo career.
Affleck would discourage his kids from becoming actors
Actor-filmmaker Ben Affleck says he would not encourage his and his estranged wife Jennifer Garner‘s children to jump into acting.
“I wouldn’t allow them to do it until they are 18,” the 44-year-old Oscar winner said during an interview on “Extra” show, reports people.com.
“Once they were 18, they can do whatever the want to do -- but I would dis-courage it.”
He has daughters Violet, 10, and Seraphina, 7, and son Samuel, 4.Reflecting back on his success from the 1997 film “Good Will Hunting”, he said:
“Overnight, I went from somebody no one ever heard of, to somebody that gets recognised on the street and could get a table at a restaurant.”
“I was 24 years old and it was a confusing time. I’ve got three kids now, and it’s a whole long road later. I have a much better perspective on it all, although it still can be confusing and difficult to deal with... there’s no map to it, you’ve just got to figure it out on your own.”
Fans pay tribute to George Michael
TECHNOLOGY MONDAY 9 JANUARY 201712
Amazon’s virtual assist-ant Alexa is emerging as one of the big win-ners at this year’s Consumer Electronics
Show, cropping up in TVs, cars, fridges -- you name it -- in what may signal a breakthrough moment for the smart technology.
Alexa’s voice-activated artifi-cial intelligence tool was everywhere at the annual tech gath-ering in Las Vegas -- a closely-watched testbed for the lat-est industry trends -- even though Amazon was not officially taking part.
Tech giants Apple, Samsung, Google and Microsoft are all vying to develop the most sophisticated connected assistant -- but the dom-inance of Alexa at CES 2017 suggests Amazon is winning the race.
It may also be the sign that smart home hubs -- heralded for years as a coming consumer tech revolution but slow to catch on in the marketplace -- have finally come of age.
To name just a few of her appearances at CES, Amazon’s Alexa is integrated into the LG smart refrigerator, allowing consumers to “talk” to their fridge to find out what food is on its shelves and order fresh groceries.
She features on three different Chinese television brands made by Tongfang Global Ltd.
She will be present on Huawei’s new flagship smartphone and inte-grated into Inrix’s Open Car platform for connected vehicles. Ford also announced this week it would integrate Alexa in its on-board electronics.
Alexa made its debut as the heart of the Amazon Echo -- a fam-ily of internet-connected speakers that answer questions, run apps, and let people get weather reports or order goods on Amazon.
The technology was first seen as a curiosity.
But Amazon claims it has sold “millions” of the Echo devices
-- with a big spike over the recent holiday period. And by opening the system to third-party developers, Amazon is making big strides toward boosting its presence in the consumer electronics space, say analysts.
Now Alexa can be used to play music, order food, summon an Uber ride, dim the lights or provide direc-tions, among other things.
Chinese electronics giant Len-ovo meanwhile used the tech show to unveil its own smart assistant speaker, powered by Alexa.
While the company is working on its own artificial intelligence pro-gram, Lenovo chief technical officer Yong Rui said Alexa “is one of the best assistants in the US market and the rest of the world.”
He expects the collaboration “can amplify each company’s strengths.”
Connection pointBob O’Donnell of the consul-
tancy Technalysis Research said Amazon appears to be making progress in integrating the vast array of connected home devices that use different operating systems.
“Alexa is becoming the de facto central point for all these devices,” O’Donnell said.
“The devices can’t talk to each other but they can talk to Alexa. That puts Amazon in a powerful position.” Even more remarkable is that Amazon has been able to raise its profile without its own operating system or smartphone -- having killed the weak-selling Fire phone. O’Donnell said that Alexa, because it is based on voice, “is like a mega-OS (operating system), it sits atop the operating system,” which allows it to integrate with a variety of devices.
Ben Thompson, a technology analyst who writes the blog Strate-chery, said Alexa is a strong contender to be a dominant home hub operating system.
“There was an ecosystem to
assemble: more and more ‘smart’ products, from lightbulbs to switches, were coming on the mar-ket, but nearly every company trying to be the centerpiece of the connected home was relying on the smartphone,” Thompson wrote.
“Alexa... has all of the qualities of an operating system you might expect: All kinds of hardware man-ufacturers are lining up to build Alexa-enabled devices, and will inevitably compete with each other to improve quality and lower prices.”
Alexa’s rivalsAmazon and Alexa are still fac-
ing fierce competition and not winning all battles.
At CES, computer chipmaker Nvidia said it would use Google Assistant for its interactive stream-ing devices. Microsoft’s Cortana will power a voice-assistant speaker for kids and families being introduced by Mattel, and will also be in Renault-Nissan’s connected car hub.
Samsung’s smart refrigerator, which acts as a connected hub -- with a voice activation system unveiled at CES -- uses the South Korean giant’s Tizen operating system.
Many smart devices for the
home also integrate with Apple Home Kit, which uses the iPhone maker’s artificial intelligence and voice assistant Siri.
At CES, Chinese giant Baidu showcased its own virtual assistant
“Little Fish” which will debut in China this year.
But many others are adopting Alexa, including the Chinese robot-ics group Ubtech, the home audio group iHome and Dish Network for its digital video recorder.
‘Thrilled’Amazon has no exhibits or
events at the Las Vegas extrava-ganza, but the company’s head of Alexa, Steve Rabuchin, made a brief appearance at a CES keynote with Huawei.
Rabuchin said that by opening up the system in 2015, “this lets developers add new skills to Alexa” to make it more useful.
“We continue to be thrilled with the response we are getting from developers and the momentum of Alexa,” he said. Voice-activated home hubs are becoming a hot ticket, said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at the Consumer Tech-nology Association (CTA) that organizes CES. “Ultimately, vocal computing is replacing the (screen).”
A Lynx
robot with
Amazon Alexa
integration is
on display at
the Robotics
Marketplace
at CES in Las
Vegas.
Amazon Alexa virtual assistant shines at CES
BABY BLUES
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE
Biographical sports drama on former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and
his two wrestler daughters’ struggle towards glory at the Commonwealth
Games in the face of societal oppression.Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.
DANGAL
NOVO ROYAL PLAZA
ASIAN TOWN
MALL
LANDMARK
Assassin’s Creed (Action) 2D 10:00am, 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:00, 7:30, 9:15, 11:30pm3D 12:45, 5:15 & 9:45pm The Great Wall (2D/Action) 10:30am, 12:30, 2:45, 3:00, 5:00, 7:15, 7:30, 9:30, 9:35, 11:45pm & 12:00midnight Moana (2D/Animation) 10:30am, 12:45, 3:00 & 5:15pmOzzy: Fast & Furry (2D/Animation) 10:15am, 12:15, 2:15 & 4:15pm The Founder (2D/Biographical) 6:15, 8:45 & 11:15pm Florence Foster Jenkins (2D/Biographical) 10:00am, 2:50, 7:30pm & 12:10pm La La Land (2D/Musical) 12:10, 5:00 & 9:40pm Snow White’s New Adventure (2D/Animation) 10:30am, 12:30, 2:10 & 4:50pm Passengers (2D/Drama) 6:10, 8:30 & 11:00pm Sing (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:00noon, ,2:00, 4:00 & 6:00pm February (2D/Thriller) 8:00, 10:00 & 11:55pm Snow Queen 3: Fire And Ice (2D/Action) 10:40am, 12:30, 2:20, 4:10 & 6:00pm Level Up (2D/Thriller) 7:50, 9:40 & 11:30pmThe Great Wall (3D IMAX/Action) 11:15am, 1:25, 3:35, 5:45, 7:55, 10:05pm & 12:15am
Moana (2D/Animation) 2:30pm Ozzy: Fast & Furry (2D/Animation) 4:00, 5:45 & 7:30pmLevel Up (2D/Thriller) 4:15 & 11:30pmAssassin’g Creed(2D/Action) 5:30pm Florence Foster Jenkins(2D/Biographical) 9:30pmThe Founder (2D/Biographical) 2:15 & 11:30pm Snow White’s New Adventure (2D/Animation) 3:00 & 4:30pmDangal (2D/Hindi) 6:00pm The Great Wall (2D/Action) 9:00 & 11:00pm Al Maa Wa Al Khoudra (2D/Arabic) 7:15pm Sardar Saab (2D/Punjabi) 9:15pm
Snow White’s New Adventure (2D/Animation) 2:00 & 6:30pm Level Up (2D/Thriller) 2:30pm Assassin’g Creed (2D/Action) 3:30pm Ozzy: Fast & Furry (2D/Animation) 2:45, 4:00 & 5:30pmFlorence Foster Jenkins (2D/Biographical) 4:30pm The Founder (2D/Biographical) 5:30pm Moana (2D/Animation) 5:30pmAl Maa Wa Al Khoudra (2D/Arabic) 7:30 & 9:30pm Dangal (2D/Hindi) 8:00 & 11:00pm The Great Wall (2D/Action) 7:30, 9:30 & 11:30pm Sardar Saab (2D/Punjabi) 11:30pm
Snow White’s New Adventure (2D/Animation) 2:30, 4:00 & 5:30pmThe Great Wall (2D/Action) 2:30, 9:30 & 11:30pm Ozzy: Fast & Furry (2D/Animation) 3:00 & 5:15pm The Founder (2D/Biographical) 4:30 & 8:45pm Level Up (2D/Thriller) 7:15pm Florence Foster Jenkins (2D/Biographical) 6:30pm Sardar Saab (2D/Punjabi) 8:30pm Al Maa Wa Al Khoudra (2D/Arabic) 11:00pm Dangal (2D/Hindi) 10:45pm
Dangal (Hindi) 6:00 & 9:15pm Katapana (Malayalam) 8:30pmOru Muthasi Gadha (Malayalam) 6:30 & 9:30pm 10 Kalapanakal 5:30, 8:00 & 10:30pm Oru Mukham 6:00pm
MONDAY 9 JANUARY 2017
VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER
CINEMA PLUS 13
ROXYSnow White (2D/Animation) 2:00, 4:00 & 6:00pm 10 Kalppanakal (Malayalam) 2:00 & 10:45pm The Great Wall (Action) 2:00, 4:15, 6:30, 8:45 & 11:00pm Dangal (Hindi) 2:00, 5:30, 9:00pm & 12:30am Level Up (2D/Thriller) 8:00 & 10:00pm Oru Muthasi Gadha (Malayalam) 4:45 & 7:45pm
AL KHORThe Great Wall (Action) 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:00, 9:15 & 11:30pmDangal (Hindi) 11:00am, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 & 11:00pm Sing (Animation) 12:00noon, 4:30 & 9:00pm Moana (Animation) 2:15, 6:45 & 11:15pm
CROSSWORD CONCEPTIS SUDOKU
ALL IN THE MIND
08:00 News 08:30 101 East 09:00 Indian
Hospital 10:30 Inside Story 11:30 UpFront 12:00 News 12:30 Witness 13:00 NEWSHOUR 14:00 News 14:30 Inside Story 15:00 Al Jazeera
Correspondent 17:00 News 17:30 Talk to Al
Jazeera 18:00 newsgrid 19:30 Counting the
Cost 20:30 Inside Story 22:00 News 22:30 The Stream 23:00 World War One
Through Arab Eyes
11:00 Inside Alcatraz: Legends Of The Rock
12:40 Swamp People
13:30 Ax Men 14:20 Mountain
Men 15:10 Ice Road
Truckers 16:50 Pawn
Stars 19:20 Ax Men 20:10 American
Pickers 21:00 Pawn
Stars 22:15 Storage
Wars 22:40 Counting
Cars 23:05 Car Hunters 23:30 American
Pickers
11:05 Tanked12:00 America’s
Cutest Pets13:20 Gorilla
School13:50 Big Fish Man14:45 Gator Boys15:40 Mutant
Planet16:35 Tanked17:30 River
Monsters19:20 Dr. Dee:
Alaska Vet20:15 Tanked21:10 Weird
Creatures With Nick Baker
22:05 Dr. Jeff: Rocky Mountain Vet
23:00 Dr. Dee: Alaska Vet
23:55 Gator Boys
13:05 How Do They Do It?
13:30 Storage Hunters UK
14:20 Alaska: The Last Frontier
15:10 Big Giant Swords
16:00 Deadliest Catch
18:30 How Do They Do It?
19:20 Big Giant Swords
20:10 Storage Hunters UK
20:35 The Liquidator
21:00 Gold Rush21:50 Deadliest
Catch22:40 Sean
Conway - Running Britain
King Features Syndicate, Inc.
BRAIN TEASERS MONDAY 9 JANUARY 201714
Yesterday’s answer
Conceptis Sudoku: Conceptis Sudoku is
a number-placing puzzle based on a
9×9 grid. The object is to place the
numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so
that each row, each column and each
3×3 box contains the same number only
once.
ALARM CLOCK, ANALOG,
ATOMIC CLOCK, BALANCE
WHEEL, CARRIAGE CLOCK,
CHRONOMETER, CUCKOO
CLOCK, DIAL, DIGITAL,
ESCAPEMENT, FACE,
GRANDFATHER CLOCK,
HAIRSPRING, HANDS, HOUR,
HOURGLASS, MINUTE,
MOVEMENT, PENDULUM,
POCKET WATCH, SANDGLASS,
SECOND, STOPWATCH,
SUNDIAL, TIME, TIMEPIECE,
TIMER, WALL CLOCK,
WATCH, WATER CLOCK,
WRISTWATCH.
