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‘The Magnificent Seven’ is fine, as far as it goes
CAMPUS | 06 FOOD | 08 ENTERTAINMENT | 11
Food front and centre at new US
museum
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SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016 @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatarEmail: [email protected] thepeninsulaqatar
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A unrelenting Hilary faces a ruthless Trump in a much-awaited debate tomorrow. The first of three debates promises to be a national sensation, contrasting two vastly different New Yorkers known around the world.
TRUMP VS HILLARY
P | 4-5
Br
| 03SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
COMMUNITY
HWW marks International Gratitude Day
By Amna Pervaiz Rao The Peninsula
Swift gratitude is the sweetest.
To spread the message of ap-
preciation and thankfulness,
How Women Work (HWW)
marked International Gratitude Day on
Wednesday.
Organised with the theme ‘Wel-
come Change’, the colourful yet se-
rene event at City Centre Rotana was
attended by a large number of women
to which the new head of HWW was
introduced. HWW Community was
founded in 2009 with the aim of em-
powering women to grow and succeed;
reaching hearts and minds, breaking
down barriers and promoting under-
standing across cultures and genders.
It brings women with aspirations and
ambitions together to share knowl-
edge, ideas, and ambitions, enabling
them to find sustainable ways to suc-
cess. HWW is presented by Tataowar
Coaching & Consulting. “In everything
we do at Tataowar we believe that
meaningful, sustainable growth fulfills
the true needs of the individual and
the greater good,” it says.
The HWW community includes
leaders, employees, executives, busi-
ness owners, entrepreneurs, graduates
and students, as well as women who
want to re-enter the workforce. The
group welcomes any woman with as-
pirations and ambitions.
World Gratitude Day falls on Sep-
tember 21 and was started in 1977 by
the United Nations Meditation Group.
An international gathering decided
that it would be a good idea to have
one day per year to formally express
gratitude and appreciation for the
many wonderful things to be found in
the world. HWW is an interactive, in-
spiring and empowering initiative that
help people evolve ‘change’ in order to
adapt and be successful.
HWW expressed its gratefulness
for support from H E Sheikha Alanou
bint Hamad Al Thani, who is once
again the patron for a second year.
The fresh, innovative programme of
HWW for 2016-17 was announced
and the new Head of HWW, Evridiki
Iliaki, was introduced. “In the race
for qualified achievements we miss
on some precious possessions that
may not have any assigned value
but are necessary to keep you going.
It has no value assigned because it
is priceless, it is precious and it is im-
portant for you to live your life to the
fullest. It’s your state of mind the
way you look at life that can change
everything around you” said Evridiki
Iliaki while talking to The Peninsula.
Evridiki Iliaki, who is Greek, is a
business/ life coach and inspiration-
al speaker with over 15 years of expe-
rience. She continues to help women
around her through free seminars and
counselling sessions. “We all should
celebrate it and enjoy a holiday on this
day” said Evridiki Iliaki.
While addressing the gathering,
she added: “Life is to enjoy and live to
the fullest each day, if you feel lost or
feel lack of self-worth; a life coach can
be your new friend. A life coach is a
professional who can hear you out and
understand where you stand currently
and where you want to be. I can help
one to design a path to get where you
really want to be.”
The event was hosted by Elisabete
Reis who is an Image, Protocol and
Etiquette Consultant and founder of
‘Glam Your Image’.
“I empower the women in fash-
ion style which helps them to face the
world with confidence. Professional
women are always looking for the right
look; I help them to carry themselves
perfectly. Today we celebrate change,
I better change together. We live in
a country which is continually evolv-
ing so the change is necessary. We
should positively embrace the chang-
es and come in together. Over the past
7 years, HWW has been conducting
monthly gatherings, conferences and
seminars to support the local commu-
nity” said Elisabete Reis
From left: Evridiki Iliaki, the new head of HWW, Zuniara Shahid, host of Whats up Doha, and Elisabete Reis, founder of
Glam Your Image.
World Gratitude Day falls on September 21 and was started in 1977 by the United Nations Meditation Group. An international gathering decided it would be a good idea to have one day per year to formally express gratitude and appreciation for the many wonderful things to be found in the world.
How Women Work
team with all ladies
present at the event.
COVER STORY
04 | SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
Mother of all debates tomorrowBy Sahil Kapur Bloomberg
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
have been locked in a fierce
election battle for months, but
tens of millions of Americans
will compare their presidential bona
fides side-by-side anew tomorrow.
The first of three debates promises
to be a national sensation, contrasting
two vastly different New Yorkers who
are recognised around the world. Clin-
ton, known for her extensive experi-
ence in government, is more comfort-
able discussing substantive issues than
pitching her candidacy; and Trump ex-
cels as a self-promoter and an unspar-
ing critic of his adversaries.
The Democratic presidential nomi-
nee is preparing for an unpredictable
opponent who “hangs back a lot, picks
his moments” and “may be aggressive,”
according to communications director
Jennifer Palmieri. Her challenge: driv-
ing home her message to voters re-
gardless of what he does, Palmieri said.
The Republican nominee is being
advised by some in his orbit to put his
rival on defence by questioning her
judgement, intelligence and accom-
plishments, as well as confronting her
over controversies such as the Clinton
Foundation, her private email server,
her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs
and other Wall Street firms, and by ac-
cusing Clinton and her husband of ex-
ploiting the Haiti earthquake for per-
sonal gain.
But his advisers are also wary of
him going too far, and coming across
as a bully.
The debate at Hofstra University in
New York comes six weeks before the
November 8 election, as Trump has
closed the gap nationally and in nu-
merous battleground states, with Clin-
ton retaining an edge in the electoral
college.
“It’s going to be a high-stakes dra-
ma,” said Peter Hart, a leading Dem-
ocratic pollster. “In an hour and a half
or two, opinions get suspended and
people look at the candidates, on large
measure, afresh. There are a certain
number of open windows for people
to look and decide what they’re feel-
ing.”
“Voters who say ‘I worry that I can’t
relate to Hillary’ will get an opportunity
to see her. Voters who wonder if Don-
ald Trump has the temperament or the
knowledge to be president — they get
to see that,” he said.
In a Fox News interview Tuesday,
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne
Conway cited a recent commander-in-
chief forum hosted by NBC’s Matt Lau-
er as a “very good preview” for what to
expect from Trump during the debate.
She said his answers to questions will
be “concise and confident” in contrast
to Clinton’s “lengthy” and “lawyerly” re-
sponses.
Clinton told donors in the Hamp-
tons last month she’s unsure which
Trump will show up to the debate: one
who will try to be presidential and con-
vey “gravity,” or one hurling insults to
“score some points.”
“You have to assume, well he might
approach the debate this way or he
may approach it that way and he may
be aggressive or he may lay back,”
Palmieri said. “That’s hard to game out
necessarily.”
COVER STORY
| 05SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
Trump has been practising for
weeks while travelling with his top
advisers. This week alone, he spent
time with Newt Gingrich, Rudy
Giuliani, Michael Flynn, and Ben Car-
son, asking each of them between
campaign events for their advice of
potential questions for the debates,
according to people familiar with his
plans.
Trump aides have indicated that
he isn’t practising with mock debate
sessions where someone plays Clin-
ton. He was campaigning through
Thursday, and today he has reserved
an entire day to prepare for the de-
bate inside Trump Tower, according
to people familiar with his plans.
Thus far, Clinton aides have de-
clined to say who is playing Trump
in her rehearsals or to say when and
where she’s preparing. She was at
home in Chappaqua, New York, all
day Tuesday, and-after a day trip to
Florida on Wednesday — she has no
campaign events scheduled through
the debate.
Clinton is working with the team
that helped her gear up for Dem-
ocratic primary debates: Karen
Dunn, Ron Klain, Bob Barnett, John
Podesta, Joel Benenson, Jake Sulli-
van and Palmieri. Barnett is stand-
ing in for Republican vice presiden-
tial nominee Mike Pence in Dem-
ocratic running mate Tim Kaine’s
preparations. Tony Schwartz, co-
author of Trump’s most successful
book, “The Art of the Deal,” is also
assisting.
She has hinted that if Trump ap-
pears more restrained on stage,
she’ll remind voters of the former re-
ality TV star’s history of inflammatory
comments and controversies. “He’s
trying to somehow convince people
to forget everything he’s said and
done, and I don’t think that he’s go-
ing to get away with that,” Clinton
said in an interview that aired Mon-
day on “The Tonight Show.”
But she’s also bracing for a more
confrontational Trump to take the
stage.
“I’m going to do my very best to
communicate as clearly and fearless-
ly as I can in the face of the insults
and the attacks and the bullying and
bigotry that we’ve seen coming from
my opponent. You know, I can take
it,” Clinton said Tuesday on “The Ste-
ve Harvey Morning Show.”
Clinton, facing criticism for avoid-
ing press conferences for over 270
days, has begun to do gaggles with
reporters regularly in recent weeks.
Trump, meanwhile, who used to do
regular press conferences in the first
half of 2016, has mostly avoided ad-
versarial reporters lately in favour of
regular interviews on the relatively
friendly Fox News.
David Kochel, a Republican strat-
egist and former top adviser to Jeb
Bush’s presidential campaign, said
a blustery Trump “maximises base
turnout and keeps his people fired
up,” but “doesn’t grow his electorate.”
“Hillary’s negatives are high
enough that he could win over
Trump-doubting Republicans and in-
dependents by showing a presiden-
tial bearing, similar to his appear-
ance in Mexico City,” he said.
“Hillary’s main goal is to be natural,
authentic, and show humour without
a script — be ‘likeable enough.’ She’s
a better debater than she gets credit
for, but this debate will be far more
about style than substance, be-
cause of Trump’s outsized presence
on the stage,” Kochel said. “I would
also have her prepped to needle at
Trump’s wildly overstated wealth, as
that seems to be the one thing that
most easily flusters him.”
In the Republican primary, Trump
demonstrated a knack for relent-
lessly branding his opponents — us-
ing labels such as “low-energy” Jeb
Bush, “little” Marco Rubio and “lyin’”
Ted Cruz — in ways that stuck and
paid off for him. He frequently calls
his Democratic rival “crooked Hillary.”
Clinton, meanwhile, has focused
heavily on criticising Trump rath-
er than making a positive case for
herself. She’s fluent in topics sure to
come up in the debate and the lines
of attack on her record she can ex-
pect from Trump, because they were
part of the debates during the 2008
Democratic primary race. Those in-
clude her vote to authorise the 2003
invasion of Iraq, her shifting posi-
tions on trade and questions about
her honesty.
In four one-on-one debates with
President Barack Obama in 2008-
and 17 others that included oth-
er candidates — Clinton showed her
ability to go on offence and make it
personal. She was able, at times, to
rattle Obama enough to bring a can-
didate known for his cool demean-
our to the brink of losing his temper.
Steve Schale, who managed
Obama’s 2008 campaign in Flori-
da, said the debate tomorrow will be
critical in establishing the contours of
the race in its final weeks.
CAMPUS
06 | SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
Edexcel A2 Level
Edexcel AS Level
Edexcel IX O Level
Edexcel X O Level
In line with its tradition of academic excellence, students of Bright Future International School have secured excellent results in Edexcel London Board UK and Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Islamabad, Pakistan. The management congratulates the students and their parents and wish-es them best of luck in their future academic pursuits.
Bright Future International School students excel in exams
CAMPUS
| 07SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
HSSC - I Level
HSSC - II Level
SSC - I Level
SSC - II Level
FOOD
08 | SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
By Maura Judkis The Washington Post
Carla Hall had tasted the food at
the National Museum of Afri-
can American History and Cul-
ture before. But the chef and
television personality from “The Chew,”
who serves as a “culinary ambassador”
for the museum’s Sweet Home Cafe,
had never tried it like this: surrounded
by visitors enjoying their first glimpse
of a museum that has mostly hosted
construction workers thus far.
As she took her first bites during
Wednesday’s media preview day, she
was impressed: “This is so nice. The
pepper pot is really good,” she said of
the Caribbean dish. “I think they’ve de-
veloped the recipes more” since the
last time she came in for a tasting. Al-
so on her plate: a smoked haddock and
corn croquette, and some honey-roast-
ed carrots.
“I tend to be drawn towards the
vegetables and sides because I feel
like I can eat more,” said Hall. “And also,
well, I just love vegetables.”
She loves the museum, too — and
when she reflected upon what it meant
to have a museum of African American
culture on the Mall, it nearly brought
her to tears. Here’s what Hall has to say
about the cafe, the artifacts and this
immense cultural moment for America:
A “cultural ambassador,” if you’re
wondering, is kind of like a cheerleader.
“My involvement really is not the day-
to-day,” said Hall, who did not devel-
op any of the recipes on the menu. “My
involvement is to get people excited
about the cafe and to show how it is
just as much a part of the exhibition
here as the rest of the museum.” That
means she’ll be making appearances
at yet-to-be-scheduled culinary events
at the museum, where she’ll interact
with visitors and promote the educa-
tional components of the menu.
She prefers the restaurant’s new
name. It underwent a last-minute
change due to a trademark dispute,
but Hall prefers Sweet Home Cafe to
the old name, North Star Cafe. “I think
there are no mistakes in the universe,
and this feels a lot more comforting,”
she said. It’s also a better way “to make
the connection to how the kitchen and
food plays a role in the African Ameri-
can home.”
Don’t see your favourite dish on
the menu? Don’t worry. “The menu is
a living, breathing thing. Food is a liv-
ing, breathing thing,” she said, noting
that the menu will change four times
a year. “If someone doesn’t see a par-
ticular thing they love, they’ll have to
come back, and maybe it will be on the
menu. It’s really hard: You have 400
years of history; how are you going to
put 400 years on a board, and how are
you going to cook all of that food?”
She predicts the menu will change
people’s perceptions. Some people
may know African American food on-
ly as soul food. “I think it depends on
where you’re from. If you’re from the
South, then you’ll find everything from
the North unexpected,” she said. “I
don’t think people, unless you grew up
in the West, think of black cowboys.”
It’s because the museum is like an ex-
hibition within the museum - and that
makes its chefs curators. “No longer do
you have to have this narrow view of
what African American food is,” said
Hall.
You’re going to need a bite after you
see some of the exhibitions. Not only is
the museum enormous — this reporter
logged 3.5 miles on her phone’s fitness
tracker during a press preview, enough
to work up an appetite — but taking
a break for a meal will be a way to let
the sorrowful stuff sink in. “After seeing
the museum, and dealing with heavy
social issues,” said Hall, it’s important
for guests “to come back as a family, or
with friends or as a group, and decom-
press and talk about what they saw.”
She actually hasn’t seen much of
the museum yet. “I want to see the
foodways exhibit. That’s definitely on
my list,” said Hall. An exhibition about
sit-in protests at lunch counters also
appealed to her, as did a segregated
rail car, “because I spend a lot of time
on Amtrak.”
But thinking about what she’s going
to see makes her get a bit emotional.
“I’m going to try to say this without cry-
ing — they’re tears of joy,” she said. The
museum “has been a long time com-
ing. Just the pride in knowing that peo-
ple will get to know us and who we are
and what our contributions have been
and not just learn about us through a
depiction in the media or how people
want to see us or think they know us. .
. . It’s like, hello, world! Get to know us!”
Food front and centre at new US museum
FASHION
| 09SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
Blurred lines help couture king riseAFP
Giambattista Valli says his
fledgling ready-to-wear line is
thriving — thanks to spillover
synergy from a haute couture
operation that has made him a darling
of the celebrity A-list set.
The Paris-based Roman design-
er has made his name with spectacu-
larly beautiful and eye-wateringly ex-
pensive made-to-measure creations
for the likes of singer Rihanna, George
Clooney’s wife Amal and, most recent-
ly, actress Emma Stone, who wowed
this month’s Venice film festival in one
of his dresses.
In the process, Valli has been cred-
ited with making haute couture more
relevant than it has ever been and
providing a bridge between a rarified
world and contemporary popular cul-
ture.
The way he sees it, it’s all about ide-
as, and he has got so many, he needs
different outlets to prevent them clut-
tering up his brain.
“I have the exact opposite problem
of someone having no ideas, my prob-
lem is too many ideas,” Valli tells AFP in
a backstage interview after the launch
of his latest collection for his ready-to-
wear label Giamba in Milan.
“It was Karl Lagerfeld who said ‘the
more you do, the less you do’ and that
is totally right for me,” he says.
“There are other designers that
work in a different way, they do one
thing and it is already a lot for them.
But you know for me one inspires the
other one, they go in parallel.
“I have an idea and say it doesn’t fit
for (couture line) Giambattista Valli but
it fits for Giamba, and it doesn’t fit for
Giamba but it does for Giambattista ....
it is very nice.”
The latest Giamba show featured a
soundtrack including Valli’s friend and
muse Soko and was staged in an erst-
while aristocratic residence in the cen-
tre of Milan, the Palazzo Litta.
‘100 percent DNA’
Valli said he had imagined a back
story of a young woman who had
been raised in the house returning to
it after a stay in Los Angeles.
After a night of partying with her
oldest friends, she crashes out in her
clothes and wakes up jet-lagged at
3:00 pm, puts on some music and
pads around — it was the mood of
that particular moment he wanted to
infuse in his latest collection.
“She walks around in the building in
a very comfortable way,” Valli explains.
“She is a little bit for me like Alice in
Wonderland. She is the kind of young
woman or girl that is not scared to ex-
periment in life, she is not scared to
know other cultures, to mix it up, to
have her own style, to be just herself...”
Being true to yourself is impor-
tant to Valli. Like his compatriot Gior-
gio Armani he guards the independ-
ence of his operation fiercely, even if
that means foregoing the addition-
al investment that could come with
a stock market listing or a partner-
ship with a luxury brand management
company.
After four seasons of the Giam-
ba line, he says he is happy with its
steady expansion.
“It is successful in a business way
but it is successful too in the real
world of women. And from a celebri-
ty point of view, from an editorial (cov-
erage) point of view. So it is very good,
I am very happy. “There is this kind of
freshness it has — it’s youthful, (about)
embellishment, romanticism, but also
a bit of the rebellion that there is in
the haute couture I do. Some of the
shapes come straight from the last
couture collection.”
Valli admits he felt flattered recent-
ly when he sat next to Armani’s niece
at an industry lunch and she high-
lighted the similarities between her
82-year-old uncle’s business model
and that of Valli, who turned 50 ear-
lier this year.
Armani said recently that “absolute
independence” was vital to him and
Valli shares that credo.
“Every single product that I do has
to be 100 percent DNA of the house,”
he said.
HEALTH
10 | SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
By Mike Plunkett The Washington Post
When Keith Cartwright played football in
high school, he never ran more than
200 yards at one time. He was a run-
ning back, so he didn’t have to do more
than a sprint.
“My buddies know me as an anti-distance runner,”
Cartwright said.
Now 52 years old, Cartwright, who lives near Rich-
mond, has become a long-distance runner in large
part because of Meg’s Miles, a group that came to-
gether after the passing of Meg Menzies. Menzies
died after being hit by a car while training for the
Boston Marathon. Cartwright is friends with Meg’s
husband, Scott, and because of her life and example,
he took up running and now is training for the Rich-
mond Marathon.
“In the past two to three months, I’ve been train-
ing, and I use training loosely,” Cartwright said. “I’m
not a fast guy. I’m just committed to getting it done
so I can say I ran a full marathon.”
Starting long-distance running during middle age
may seem like an exercise in futility, yet getting a late
start has certain advantages. Lisa Reichmann and Ju-
lie Sapper, running coaches at Run Farther & Faster,
said running longevity relates to how old you were
when you started.
“Whether you start running at age 40 or 45, or in
some cases 50, you’ve got about 10 to 15 really good
[running] years,” Sapper said. “If someone is running
their first marathon in their 40s and 50s actively but
have been running since their 20s, they’re not going
to have as much ‘shelf life’ as compared to someone
who completely started from scratch.”
Marathon training doesn’t get easier with age,
and the coaches say it can be more of a challenge
because it’s added on top of the stresses of work and
family. Consistency of training sessions and efficiency
in each session become critical to success.
After his mother’s passing in 2014, Adam Hud-
son, now 42, knew it was time to get fit. “I was go-
ing to do everything I could to be around as long as I
could,” he said. He lost close to 100 pounds and took
up running. Hudson discovered that he was fast and
excelled at 5K and 10K races. But for longer distanc-
es, he struggled to find a balance. “When I started, I
had no idea what I was doing, so I went out as hard
as I could. I was trying to be faster than the day pri-
or,” he said.
With the help of Reichmann and Sapper, Hudson
created a training plan to prepare for the 2016 Ma-
rine Corps Marathon. His coaches said his dedication
to his training is paying off.
It’s true that the aches and pains of daily living
start to catch up with people in middle age. What
you ignored in your 20s cannot be ignored in your
40s, and when it comes to running, it means know-
ing your limits.
Manuel “Manny” Romero, who lives in New York
City, took up running at age 42 to get over a roman-
tic breakup and deal with the stresses of moving to
the Big Apple. After quickly ramping up to five to six
miles a day every day, he suffered a stress fracture.
Romero ran a half-marathon and made the fracture
worse. He spent eight months in a support boot and
on crutches.
He wrote via email that “my doctor told me (and
I agree) that my injury was due to excessive running.”
“My muscles needed more time to recover, and I
also needed to increase my intake of protein. I have
since been able to make adjustments to my running
workouts so I run smarter. Before, I was just running
to get the miles in without thinking about time to re-
cover.”
Running success during middle age comes down
to perspective and understanding of what it takes to
complete a marathon. Romero finished the New York
City Marathon in 2014, his first, and now at age 45
has already qualified for the 2017 Boston Marathon.
He said an advantage to running in his 40s is a great-
er enjoyment of running as an end in and of itself.
“I think if I had started running competitively at a
younger age, I would find myself getting disappoint-
ed because I would constantly be comparing my re-
sults/performance to my younger days,” Romero
wrote.
Hudson finds himself visualising the Marine Corps
Marathon as he trains. He expects the completion of
the race to be emotional for him and his family.
“At the very end, when crossing the finish line, I’ll
be saying, ‘Mom, we did it.’ Because that’s something
that does drive me,” Hudson said.
Cartwright will join about a dozen first-time mid-
dle-aged marathoners who will run in honour of Meg
Menzies, including Meg’s mother, Pam. Running isn’t
pleasant for him. “I tell folks all the time, I’m misera-
ble the entire time I’m running,” he said.
Yet he knows the challenge of going farther than
the previous run makes it worth the struggle. “There’s
nothing I do in my life outside the things I do with
my kids where I get this feeling at the end that says,
‘Wow! I just did something.’ And it makes it worth
it, that one moment at the end, whether it’s a train-
ing run or the finish at the half-marathon. I just did
something that I’m not capable of doing. You get to
relive that frequently.”
If you’re hitting your stride at middle age and want
to conquer long-distance races, Reichmann and Sap-
per recommend the following:
Do not underestimate the importance of sleep.
The coaches say if you compromise sleep for more
training, it’s all going to fall apart. “If it’s a choice be-
tween running an extra mile in the morning or get-
ting a bit of extra sleep, always choose sleep,” Sap-
per said.
Don’t neglect strength training and flexibility.
“People think, ‘Oh, I’m training to run, so all I need to
do is run.’ But as we get older, we lose that muscu-
lar strength and the flexibility decreases, and both of
those will significantly impact your likelihood of inju-
ry,” Reichmann said.
Hire a coach or join a running group. Not only will
coaching or a running group help with form and pac-
ing, but the social elements also make the long-mile
runs go by faster.
Comparison is the thief of joy. It’s easy to compare
yourself to another person, but that’s not productive.
And don’t compare your new running self to how you
were at a younger age.
“Really try to enjoy the moment you’re in and rec-
ognise that running is a hobby, it’s a joy,” Sapper said.
“Don’t dwell on the past but focus on the present and
the future and enjoy that your body is able to do
something that you love.”
Keith Cartwright, 52, who lives near
Richmond, runs the Patrick Henry Half
Marathon in the brutal heat of late August.
Manny Romero, 45, ran the Phoenix Marathon in
February.
A late start atlong-distance running
ENTERTAINMENT
| 11SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
By Ann Hornaday The Washington Post
With its blinding white
teeth, high-gloss pro-
duction design and glib,
bloodless violence, “The
Magnificent Seven” plays like Baby’s
First Western: It’s less a remake of
John Sturges’s classic 1960 Western
(which was itself a remake of Akira Ku-
rosawa’s 1954 classic “Seven Samurai”)
than its easy-reader version, an attrac-
tive piece of pop-culture revisionism
designed less for connoisseurship than
bright-and-shiny distraction.
That “The Magnificent Seven”
achieves such astonishing visual lustre
and philosophical shallowness should
surprise no one familiar with its direc-
tor, Antoine Fuqua. Working with all
the classic Western tropes - the dusty
19th-century town besieged by a rapa-
cious villain, the charismatic stranger
who arrives to save the day by swag-
gering through the swinging doors of a
lively saloon (where the tinkling piano
goes silent right on cue) and the rag-
tag team of misfits and mercenaries
who make it their gun-twirlin’, sharp-
shootin’ business to do good while do-
ing bad - Fuqua delivers yet another
competently executed exercise in the
aggressive action and slick, vainglori-
ous style that he has brought both to
better-than-average movies (“Training
Day,” “Southpaw”) and no-better-than-
average movies (“Olympus Has Fallen,”
“The Equalizer”).
Less forgivable is a script, by “True
Detective” writers Nic Pizzolatto and
Richard Wenk, that is content to re-
vert to cliché, obviousness and over-
kill when it might have sought depth
and surprise. The big twist in this “Mag-
nificent Seven” is the heterogeneity of
its cast: Sam Chisolm, the tall, hand-
some stranger who agrees to save
the oppressed people of Rose Creek,
is played by Denzel Washington, and
the crew he lines up to help him in
his chivalric quest hews to the one-
of-each demographics familiar to an-
yone who has watched a World War
II bomber movie or “Fast & Furious”:
There’s a Native American named Red
Harvest (Martin Sensmeier); a Mexican
named Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rul-
fo); a “Chinaman” knife-fighter named
Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee); a former
Confederate marksman named Good-
night Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke); a
portly, grizzled hermit named Jack
Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio); and a smirk-
ing smart-aleck named Josh Faraday
(Chris Pratt). There also happens to be
a female member of the bunch, a dam-
sel played with a refreshing lack of dis-
tress by Haley Bennett. But clearly gen-
der equity was a bridge too far for the
filmmakers who, as one character says,
seem interested mainly in blowing stuff
up. With Peter Sarsgaard playing the
movie’s slimy bad guy - a robber bar-
on named Bart Bogue, who delivers
an oily opening speech that clearly de-
fines capitalism as the Real Enemy - all
the elements are in place for a story
designed to hit its marks with the un-
canny precision of the heroes’ bullets,
blades, flaming arrows and fists. Eve-
rything reaches its intended target in
this “Magnificent Seven,” with little or
no consequence beyond tasteful dabs
of cherry-red blood.
Indeed, the violence is so extrava-
gant and merciless (at one point, some-
one pulls out a Gatling gun for maxi-
mum carnage), yet so sanitised that it
makes the viewer long for the far risk-
ier likes of Quentin Tarantino’s “Djan-
go Unchained” and “Hateful Eight,” not
to mention the Coen brothers’ somb-
er, rigorously moral take on “True Grit.”
Nowhere near that amount of thought-
fulness has gone into “The Magnificent
Seven,” which prefers a winking, just-
kidding tone and cartoonish set pieces
to genuine substance.
Nowhere is this more apparent
than in the characters, who fail to come
alive despite some admittedly terrific
performances: Hawke and Washing-
ton are particularly good as a gun-shy
veteran and a steady-handed alpha
male, respectively. But Pratt can’t bring
enough of his practised, good-natured
ease to make Faraday anything more
than an obnoxious poser.
As for the rest of the Seven, each
gets his contractually stipulated mo-
ment of coolness in showdowns that
are staged more like carefully man-
icured magazine photo shoots than
life-or-death fights to the finish.
They’re cogs in what has become Hol-
lywood’s larger operation, which is to
mine cinema’s historical archive for
convenient properties to retool with
hip casts and catchy gimmicks. “The
Magnificent Seven” is fine as far as it
goes, but - especially when the famil-
iar strains of the 1960 theme song be-
gin wafting over the final scenes - one
can’t help feeling that it should have
gone much further.
Rated PG-13. Contains extended
and intense sequences of Western vio-
lence, historical smoking, some profan-
ity and suggestive material. 132 min-
utes.
(From left) Vincent
D’Onofrio, Martin
Sensmeier, Manuel
Garcia-Rulfo, Ethan
Hawke, Denzel
Washington, Chris
Pratt and Byung-
hun Lee in “The
Magnificent Seven.”
‘The Magnificent Seven’ is fine, as far as it goes
ENTERTAINMENT
12 | SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
By Amy Ellis Nutt
By The Washington Post
It’s not often that a health organisa-
tion teams with a professional music
company to produce an opera, but
that’s what happened in July when
“The Center Cannot Hold,” produced by
the Center for Health Services and So-
ciety at the University of California at
Los Angeles, in conjunction with the
Pacific Opera Project, staged the op-
era on the UCLA campus.
This week, the production’s spon-
sor, Mental Health America, published
a video of the event on its website, and
you can watch it there now.
The opera is based on the life of le-
gal scholar and former psychiatric pa-
tient Elyn Saks, who in 2007 chronicled
her struggle with schizophrenia in a
best-selling memoir. Saks co-authored
the libretto with the composer Ken-
neth B Wells, who is also a psychiatrist.
The idea for the opera came about
several years ago after Wells invited
Saks, a law professor and a MacArthur
Award winner, to serve as guest speak-
er before a performance of his first op-
era, about the life of Eleanor Roosevelt.
After reading Saks’s memoir, Wells
thought it would make a great musi-
cal subject and asked his friend if she
would collaborate.
“It’s a weird feeling to have an opera
written about yourself,” Saks said. “He
really gets inside the my mind, but also
inside the minds of young psychiatrists
and their hopes and worries.”
The opera concentrates on one of
the more traumatic incidents in Saks’s
autobiography: her involuntary hospi-
talisation after experiencing a psychot-
ic break while a student at Yale Law
School in the late 1970s.
In the first act, the soprano playing
Saks sings, “My mind’s in the dark. . . .
My head’s full of noise. ... People will kill
me from out of the sky.”
A tenor, playing the part of the ad-
mitting psychiatrist, responds, “She’s
dangerous, so dangerous ... gravely
disabled, suicidal, we must protect her
from herself.”
The experiences depicted in the
opera, Saks said, are all true.
“I was scared, angry and despairing,”
she said. “I was in restraints and scared
out of my wits.”
To “bring the person behind the
words into music,” Wells said he met
with Saks at least eight times over a
period of three to four months. Be-
cause the opera’s characters include
the doctors who treated Saks, Wells
also needed to depict, musically, their
fears and frustrations.
“I was training in psychiatry about
the same time as her early hospitalisa-
tions,” he said. “So I used my own ex-
periences to flesh that out.”
Saks also volunteered to help out
the singers, most of whom were mem-
bers of the Los Angeles Opera Compa-
ny or the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
“Elyn came to a rehearsal and talked
about her illness and her strengths,”
Wells said. “And then she went around
to each cast person and said, ‘Let me
tell you about this person.’ I mean, how
often do you have that when you’re do-
ing an opera?”
Still, there were moments of disa-
greement, according to Wells:
“At one point, she said, ‘You’re mak-
ing the [character of the] psychia-
trist too nice.’ I said, ‘It’s not that peo-
ple were trying to hurt you, they were
dealing with limitations. ... That’s the
drama of it.’ “
Schizophrenia affects approximate-
ly 70 million people around the world,
including more than 3 million Ameri-
cans, and is one of the top-10 causes
of disability, according to the National
Institute of Mental Illness.
Despite living with schizophrenia,
Saks has had a distinguished career
in mental-health law, patients’ rights,
competency, proxy consent and the
right to refuse treatment. Currently she
is an associate dean and the Orrin B
Evans Professor of Law, Psychology
and Psychiatry and Behavioral Scienc-
es at the University of Southern Califor-
nia’s Gould School of Law.
The opera, which was conducted by
Stephen Karr and directed by Brendan
Hartnett, has opened a new, and un-
expected, avenue of dialogue for Saks.
“I hope it helps people understand
the experience and decrease the stig-
ma,” she said. “The music is powerful.
So really, I just hope it moves people.”
Scene from the opera “The Centre Cannot Hold.”
Opera about life of aformer psychiatric patient
SCIENCE
| 13SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
By Rachel Feltman The Washington Post
Saturn’s moon Titan has been
called the most Earthlike world
found to date. It’s the only oth-
er place in the solar system
where stable liquid sits on the sur-
face — seas of liquid methane flow in-
to channels that have created magnif-
icent canyons — and scientists have
suggested that the icy world might be
able to support some kind of alien life.
Now researchers think they can
add yet another “Earthlike” quality to
Titan’s extensive list: According to a
study in Geophysical Research Letters,
a seemingly impossible cloud on Titan
may be created by weather processes
we’ve seen before at home.
The unlikely cloud type was first
spotted decades ago by Nasa’s Voyag-
er 1 spacecraft. It was made of a car-
bon- and nitrogen-based compound
called dicyanoacetylene (C4N2). C4N2
is part of the chemical cocktail that
cloaks Titan in an orange-coloured
haze. But high up in the stratosphere
where this particular cloud sat, the
compound was scarce. Scientists could
find just 1 percent of the amount of
C4N2 that should have been needed
to create the cloud.
Nasa’s Cassini mission recently spot-
ted a second example of this crazy
kind of cloud. When they used Cas-
sini’s instruments to puzzle out the
chemical composition of the ice cloud
and its surroundings, scientists came
up with the same impossible answer:
The stratosphere-dwelling ice cloud
is made of dicyanoacetylene, but the
stratosphere is sorely lacking in that
particular compound.
Clouds aren’t unusual on Titan -
they form when methane cools and
condenses, just as clouds made of wa-
ter form on Earth. Things are a little dif-
ferent when they form in the strato-
sphere - at the moon’s poles, circula-
tion patterns force warm gasses down
until they sink, cool and condense - but
in both cases, the clouds form when
ice and vapour reach a state of equi-
librium. In the case of these strange
ice clouds on Titan, the amount of di-
cyanoacetylene vapour present in the
area shouldn’t be enough to keep the
ice trapped in the cloud in equilibrium.
“The appearance of this ice cloud
goes against everything we know
about the way clouds form on Titan,”
lead study author Carrie Anderson of
Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center
said in a statement.
But Anderson and her colleagues
think they’ve found an answer - in the
clouds that damage Earth’s ozone lay-
er. Earth has certain clouds that fore-
go condensation altogether, forming
instead through a kind of “solid-state”
chemistry based on the interactions
of ice particles. On Earth, these guys
are bad news: Chlorine-based chemi-
cals enter the air by way of pollution on
the ground, then meet up with icy wa-
ter crystals in the dry stratosphere. The
chemical reactions that occur in these
wispy clouds release chlorine mole-
cules, which eat away at the ozone
layer.
On Titan, a similar process could
create the mysterious ice clouds:
Anderson and her colleagues suggest
that cyanoacetylene, a more common
compound containing hydrogen,
carbon and nitrogen, could become
coated with hydrogen cyanide as it
moved down the stratosphere in the
form of icy crystals. If ultraviolet rays
from the sun struck one of these
dual-layer ice crystals, the resulting
chemical reaction would release
dicyanoacetylene and hydrogen. Voila,
a cloud!
“The compositions of the polar strat-
ospheres of Titan and Earth could not
differ more,” Goddard’s Michael Flasar
said in a statement. “It is amazing to
see how well the underlying physics
of both atmospheres has led to analo-
gous cloud chemistry.”
The Cassini orbiter has been study-
ing Saturn and its wonderful moons for
over a decade, but the mission is com-
ing to a close. The mission will end in
September 2017, but first Nasa is un-
dertaking a “Grand Finale” in April. Cas-
sini will dive into the space between
Saturn and its rings - an area never
before visited - 22 times. On Septem-
ber 15, 2017, Cassini will dive for the
last time, plunging into Saturn’s atmos-
phere to send home unprecedented
data on the planet’s composition.
“We may be counting down, but
no one should count Cassini out yet,”
Cassini programme scientist Curt Nie-
bur said in a statement. “The journey
ahead is going to be a truly thrilling
ride.”
Saturn’s moon, Titan. Nasa scientists recently spotted a seemingly impossible cloud on Titan.
An ‘impossible’ cloud on Titan
AL KHOR
ASIAN TOWN
NOVO
MALL
ROYAL PLAZAVILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
BABY BLUES
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE
Seven gun men in the old west gradually come together to help a poor village against savage thieves.
14 SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
CINEMA PLUS
Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.
The Magnificent Seven(2D/Action)11:30am, 12:00noon, 2:40, 4:30, 5:20, 8:00, 9:20 & 11:00pmLaaf Wa Dawaraan (2D/Arabic) 10:00am, 12:20, 2:15, 2:40, 5:00, 6:40, 7:10, 7:20, 8:50, 9:40, 11:00, 11:30pm & 12:00midnight Bilal (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:10, 2:20 & 4:30pmBlackburn (2D/Horror) 10:00am, 3:30 & 8:50pmSully (2D/Drama) 11:45am, 5:10 & 10:30pm Scare Campaign (2D/Horror) 1:40, 7:00pm & 12:15am Urge (2D/Thriller) 10:00am, 2:00, 6:00 & 10:00pm The Possession Experiment(2D/Thriller)12:00noon, 4:00 & 8:00pmSnowden (2D/Thriller) 11:00am, 4:00 & 8:50pmBridget Jone’s Baby (2D/Comedy) 1:40, 6:40 & 11:30pmSheep & Wolves(2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00&4:00pm The Light Between Oceans (2D/Drama) 6:00, 8:40 & 11:20pmPete’s Dragon (2D/Adventure) 11:00am, 1:00 & 3:00pm Taht El Tarabiza (2D/Arabic) 7:00, 9:15 & 11:15pmSnowden (2D) 10:30am, 1:10, 3:50, 6:30, 9:10 & 11:50pmThe Magnificent Seven (IMAX/Drama) 10:00am, 12:45, 3:30, 6:15, 9:00 & 11:45pm
Banjo (2D/Hindi) 11:00am, 1:30 & 5:15pm Urge (2D/Thriller) 1:00pmOozham (2D/Malayalam) 11:00am, 4:00 & 11:30pmScare Campaign (2D/Horror) 10:00pmLaaf Wa Dawaraan (2D/Arabic) 1:30, 8:00 & 9:00pmThe Light Between Oceans (2D/Drama) 2:30 & 9:15pmThe Possession of Experiment (2D/Horror) 3:30pmPete’s Dragon (2D/Adventure) 5:00pm Barcelona (2D/Drama) 6:30pmThe Magnificent Seven (2D/Action) 7:00 & 11:30pm
Thodari (2D/Tamil) 11:00pm
Oozham (Malayalam) 5:00, 7:00, 8:00, 10:00 & 11:00pm Banjo (Hindi) 6:00 & 11:30pm
Thodari (Tamil) 6:30 & 9:30pm
Oozham (3D/Malayalam) 12:45, 3:30, 6:15, 9:00 & 11:45pmMagnificent Seven (3D/Action) 12:30, 3:15, 6:00, 8:45 & 11:30pm Thodari (Tamil) 12:15, 5:45 & 11:15pmBanjo (Hindi) 3:00 & 8:30pm
The Magnificent Seven (2D/Action) 11:00am, 9:15 & 11:30pm
The Possession of Experiment (2D/Horror) 11:15am & 6:45pmBanjo (2D/Hindi) 11:30am & 8:15pmLaaf Wa Dawaraan (2D/Arabic) 1:15, 7:15 & 9:15pmThe Light Between Oceans (2D/Drama) 1:00 & 6:45pmOozham (2D/Malayalam) 2:00 & 11:15pmScare Campaign (2D/Horror) 3:15pm Urge (2D/Thriller) 3:30pmManju (2D/Telugu) 4:45pm Pete’s Dragon (2D/Adventure) 5:00pmBarcelona (2D/Drama) 4:30pm Thodari (2D/Tamil) 10:45pm
15SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2016
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.
Yesterday’s answer
MEDIUM SUDOKU
ALL IN THE MIND
CROSSWORD
BRAIN TEASERS
Can you find the hidden words? They may be horizontal,vertical, diagonal, forwards or backwards.
BAKE, BARBECUE,
BASIN, BOIL, BRAISE,
BROIL, CAN OPENER,
CHEF, CODDLE,
CONDIMENT, COOK,
CUPS, FORK, FRIED,
FRYING PAN, GRILL,
HEAT, KNIFE, MARINATE,
MICROWAVE, MIXER,
OVEN, PEPPER, PLATE,
POACH, RECIPE, RELISH,
ROAST, ROLLING PIN,
SALAD, SALT, SAUCE,
SAUCEPAN, SIEVE,
SKILLET, SPATULA,
SPOON, STEAMED,
STEEPED, STIR FRY,
TIMER, TOASTED.
07:00 News
07:30 UpFront
08:00 News
08:30 People &
Power
09:00 Justice!
10:00 News
10:30 Inside Story
11:00 News
11:30 Talk To Al
Jazeera
12:00 News
12:30 TechKnow
13:00 NEWSHOUR
14:00 News
14:30 Inside Story
15:00 Al Jazeera
World
16:00 NEWSHOUR
17:00 News
17:30 The Listening
Post
18:00 NEWSHOUR
19:00 News
19:30 101 East
20:00 News
20:30 Inside Story
21:00 NEWSHOUR
22:00 News
22:30 Talk To Al
Jazeera
23:00 Hard Earned
13:00 KumKum
Bhagya
14:00 Jamai Raja
14:30 Tashn E Ishq
15:00 Vishkanya
15:30 Jamai Raja
16:00 Yeh Vadaa
Raha
16:30 Ek Tha Raja
Ek Thi Rani
17:00 KumKum
Bhagya
17:30 Vishkanya
18:00 Tashn E Ishq
18:30 Kaala Teeka
19:00 Sanyukt
19:30 Yeh Vadaa
Raha
20:00 Ek Tha Raja
Ek Thi Rani
20:30 Jamai Raja
21:00 KumKum
Bhagya
21:30 Tashn E Ishq
22:00 Vishkanya
22:30 Ek Tha Raja
Ek Thi Rani
23:00 Best of Fear
Files Season
2
00:00 Yeh Vadaa
Raha
00:30 Ek Tha Raja
Ek Thi Rani
01:00 Tashn E Ishq
01:30 KumKum
Bhagya
TV LISTINGS
11:50 Gator Boys
15:25 Africa’s Trees
Of Life
16:15 Africa’s Trees
Of Life
17:02 Africa’s Trees
Of Life
17:49 Hello World!
19:00 Village Vets
19:25 My Cat From
Hell
21:10 Hunt For The
Tasmanian
Tiger
22:05 Tanked
23:55 Crocodile
Hunter
00:50 Deadly Islands
10:50 Sabrina
Secrets Of A
Teenage Witch
11:10 Hank Zipzer
15:15 The Hive
16:10 Hank Zipzer
17:00 Violetta
17:45 The Hive
17:50 Mouk
18:00 Jessie
19:20 Liv And Maddie
20:10 Austin & Ally
20:35 Backstage
21:50 Austin & Ally
22:40 Ratatouille
00:30 The 7D
00:45 Girl Meets
World
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