weird & wacky - home - the peninsula qatar · 8/10/2016 · plus | monday 23 december 2013 3...

MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2013 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741

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• HEC Paris holdsleadership workshopfor women

• Home Centrepicks roommakeover winners

• Range Rover isready to go anywhere,even if you’re not

• Lower-cost surprisesdrive Hollywood towards record year

• Studies unlockmystery of how HIV causes Aids

inside

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Learn Arabic • Learn commonly

used Arabic wordsand their meanings

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WEIRD & WACKY WEIRD & WACKY TECH GIFTSTECH GIFTS

Top 10 gamesof 2013

2 COVER STORYPLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2013

By Bree Fowler

It’s tough to shop for techies. They already own everything with a plug or rechargeable battery. But fear not, a slew of unique technology gifts have hit the market just in time for year-end.

Here’s a roundup of some of the season’s most offbeat offerings. While these items may seem a bit wacky and bizarre, it’s doubtful that the tech enthu-siasts in your life own anything similar.

Call Me Gloves, Hammacher Schlemmer, $80These winter gloves let you wirelessly connect to your smartphone by making

the universal “call me” sign. That is, by holding your thumb to your ear, pointing your pinkie finger toward your mouth and folding the rest of your fingers in to make the shape of a phone.

The left glove has a speaker in the thumb and a microphone in the pinkie. Buttons on the glove’s cuff let you answer and end calls. There also are conduc-tive fibers woven into the tips of both thumbs and index fingers so you can text and Web surf on a smartphone or tablet without taking the gloves off.

You’ll get 12 hours of talk time out of the battery, but you’ll need more time than that to convince onlookers you’re not crazy.

Egg Minder, Quirky.com, $70Nobody likes a bad egg. This gadget wirelessly connects to your smartphone

to make sure you don’t eat one. LED lights show you which eggs in the tray are the oldest and the app’s push notifications let you know when you’re running low, preventing a last-minute scramble at breakfast time.

Plush Toast Wireless Speaker, ThinkGeek, $40Speaking of breakfast, does the person you’re shopping for like toast? I mean,

really like toast? If so, then this tablet holder and speaker might be right for them. Most tablets fit and plug into this rechargeable device. You can listen to music that way, or connect it to your smartphone or iPod via Bluetooth. Its plush exterior makes it as cuddly as a teddy bear. It’s sure to please both day old bread enthusiasts and small children.

Unique gifts for techies

3PLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2013

Scout1 Wi-Fi Pet Monitor, Motorola Mobility, $300

This product, sold exclusively through PetSmart, you keep an eye on Felix or Snoopy while you’re away. In addition to viewing furry friends remotely, users can pan, tilt and zoom cameras through their smartphone, tablet or desktop computer.

There’s also two-way audio to allow remote con-versations between you and your pet, infrared night vision, temperature monitoring and the ability to take snapshots and record video, just in case Fido does something especially cute.

Does Rover like to roam? If so, you can connect and view up to four cameras in multiple rooms.

Personal Submarine, Hammacher Schlemmer, $2m

If you have some extra cash he can buy this two-person submersible that can reach depths of 1,000 feet. The sub’s transparent acrylic dome keeps adven-turers safe and dry as they channel Jacques Cousteau and Jules Verne.

The sub is powered by battery packs that can sup-ply up to six hours of travel and a maximum speed

of three knots. It’s also equipped with four external 150-watt quart-halogen lamps to light up the under-water landscape, along with a xenon strobe light and RF beacon alerts to let others know your location.

There’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to piloting these vehicles, so training is included.

Pop Dongle by Pop Secret, eBay auction, price to be determined

Does the person you’re shopping for find smart-phone games a little dry? Well the folks at Pop Secret think the key to jazzing things up lies in adding but-ter, or in this case, a buttery smell.

The Pop Dongle is part of an iPhone game created by the popcorn maker. It plugs into your iPhone’s earphone jack and when you slather pieces of pop-corn with butter in the on-screen game the dongle releases a buttered-popcorn scent.

There’s nothing fancy about the game. The scent itself hangs in the air and after a while you can’t really tell when the dongle is releasing it.

You won’t find these in stores. The only dongles

available to the public are being auctioned on eBay. The money goes to the Red Cross. The first sold earlier this month for $315. At last check, bidding on the second was up to $152.50 in an auction set to close on Monday.

The third will be auctioned off in bidding that ends on January 2.

Zombie apocalypse supplies, Larson Electronics, various prices

Everybody needs to be prepared for the day that zombies take over the earth, right? Larson Electronics, which makes heavy duty and industrial lighting, has a collection of products designed for just that.

Offerings include a high-intensity discharge spot-light capable of reaching distances of over 5,000 feet--just what you need to let you know walkers are approaching. There’s also a solar-powered LED beacon for signaling other survivors and universal handcuff keys to help you escape from unfriendly members of the living. AP

PLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 20134 CAMPUS

HEC Paris holds workshop for women

HEC Paris School of Management, a lead-ing global business school, held an interac-tive plenary session and workshop called

‘Facing Your Leadership Challenges’ for ladies in Qatar that focused on the theme of leadership and entrepreneurship.

“The objective of the workshop is to further develop the leadership and entrepreneurial capa-bilities of women in Qatar,” said Professor Laoucine Kerbache, Chief Executive Officer and Academic Dean of HEC Paris in Qatar. “This is in line with our fundamental role of developing managerial skills and unlocking talent which contributes to greater economic diversification and sustainability, and an improved global corporate competiveness for Qatar.

During the workshop, participants learned about their sense relational leadership skills that could be developed further and was also able to share and discuss ideas on entrepreneurial projects.

“Undoubtedly, the women of Qatar today have a lot to offer in the ongoing and continued development of the country,” said Professor Valérie Gauthier, a full-time faculty member of HEC Paris. “Through the right programs and courses, especially through HEC Paris, such abundance of talent and skill can even be further enhanced and utilized in its maxi-mum potential.

“This country has indeed a bright future ahead and every stakeholder, especially women, have an impor-tant role to play,” she added. “As the country then

moves forward into realizing its aspirations, I am therefore eager to participate and lead more formal programs for women in Qatar in the near future.”

At the end of the workshop, a panel discussion about its outcome was also moderated by Prof. Gauthier. Among the panelists were Michelle Wu,

Business Solutions IT Leader at General Electric’s Growth & Operations in Middle East, North Africa and Turkey; Diana Al Dajani, Founder of eduTech-noz, a curriculum-based gaming platform that aims to entertain and engage children while teaching them Arabic. The Peninsula

SIS organises orientation programme

Shantiniketan Indian School (SIS) organised an orientation programme for students of class X and parents recently. The orientation programme was an effort to help parents and the

children to select a suitable stream and electives in pursuit of their academic and professional career.

Orientation began with an introductory note by the Principal, Dr Subhash Nair, to apprise the audience with the objective and purpose. Shakir Hussain, briefed about humanities and enlightened the students with future prospects in the stream. Syed Meeraj Ali, gave a presentation on various options available in Commerce. Saleem presented with the scope and combinations available for prospective Science students.

The programme was closed with the Principal, Heads of Department, Manju Singh, Syed Meraj Ali and M A Saleem answer-ing queries of the parents and the students.

The Peninsula

MES honours long-serving staffMES Indian School honoured its staff for their long service at the school ranging from 10 to 25 years during the 39th Annual Day cel-ebrations. Fifty-three staff comprising 30 teachers, four administrative staff, and 19 transport staff received awards which included cash, trophies and certificates of merit. 25 years of service: Sasidharan A P, Principal, Nasreen Samad Khan, Head of Academic Inspection, Siraj Ahmed Geetay, Head, Department of Arabic & Islamic Studies, Md Abdul Samad Khan, Head, Department of Biology, N P Prakasan, Head, Department of Computer Science, Lizzamma Koshy, Teacher, Boys’ Section, Abdul Latheef, Administrative Staff, K Kunhimon, Md M P Kamaludeen, P B Mohammed Yousuff, P P Ummer, A A Mohammed Kutty, C Abdul Kader, Moideen Palassery and Ummer K, Transport Staff.20 years of service: Rosilin Mathew P, Teacher, Boys’ Section, G Rajkumar, Vice Principal CBSE-I, Sukhvinder Kaur P Singh, Teacher, Junior Section, P Jamaludheen, M Kunjumon Zainuddeen, P P Abdul Salam and M P Basheer, Transport Staff.

5COMMUNITY / MARKETPLACE PLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2013

Qatar Fuel Additives Company limited (Qafac) sponsored the first golf competition at Mesaieed Golf club recently. The first winner of the Qafac Trophy was Jim Balila. Jim is current MGC Summer League champion. Two points behind was Andrew Duffy. Mark Prior came third. And in fourth place was Chris Penebad. There were prizes for the top 10 golfers and a selection of spot prizes that included nearest the pins on the par 3s, nearest the rope on the 18th and longest putt in the 18th brown. Justin Goldsack, the MGC Captain, referred in his speech to the role of Qafac in the community and their willingness to get involved in sponsorship of sporting events. The Acting General Manager of Qafac, Rashid Nassib Al Abdulla, gave away prizes.

Qatar UAE Exchange celebrated Qatar National Day by giving flowers to passengers who arrived at Doha International Airport.

Telugu Kala Samiti (TKS) conducted its annual pic-nic “Pagale Vennela” at Al Shamaal city park recently. The event witnessed a gather-ing of more than 480 members of the association. TKS execu-tive committee and its active volunteers conducted games and sports activities involving all sections of the community. Prizes were distributed to winners of different games. Congratulating all winners, the President of the association, Ramakrishna Punyamurtula, appreciated efforts put in by the committee for organising such a grand event.

Ooredoo has continued to enhance its train-ing, education and development processes in 2013, offering employees new avenues to

enhance their personal skill sets and increase their professional opportunities. To celebrate the incred-ible progress made by employees during the year, Ooredoo hosted a special HR talent development event this month, under the heading “Recognising Learning is the Key to Business Success”.

Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, CEO, Ooredoo Qatar, said:“Ooredoo is dedicated to recruiting, devel-oping and retaining Qatari talent, and believes in the potential of the next generation to lead our company to bigger and better things. We offer opportunities to grow and develop expertise through training and on-the-job experience and have made it our top priority to enable employees to reach their full potential.”

Mohammed Jassim Al Kuwari, Chief Corporate Services Officer of Ooredoo Qatar,said: “Ooredoo is a unique working environment where we focus on employees’ feedback, ideas and growth. Our open culture is one of the reasons why we succeed as a business and we are proud to celebrate the fact that our employees’ success in training and development helps to build our company’s success.”

Buthaina Al Ansari, Senior Director, Human Resources, Ooredoo, said: “Enriching people’s lives is one of the main goals of Ooredoo. As one of the country’s employers of choice, Ooredoo places offer-ing educational and professional growth at the heart of our strategy. Our people are key to our business success, and we hosted this event to showcase how much has been achieved in 2013.”

The Peninsula

Ooredoo celebrates education and development

PLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 20136 MARKETPLACE

Global Auto Parts, auto parts dealer in Qatar, celebrated its 12th anniversary with a get-together at Grand Qatar Palace Hotel. Aby Davis won the best salesman award and Joseph Padamadan the second best salesman for 2013. Global, an authorised dealer for Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Chevrolet, GMC and Kia genuine spare parts, has 12 branches in Qatar.

Indian bodybuilding gold medallist Kishor Dange at Splash at Centrepoint Al Asmakh Mall. Working with Maharashtra Police, he won gold medal at North Ireland World Police Fire Games 2013. He was Mister Universe at London 2013 where he won a silver medal, and a bronze medal at World Bodybuilding Championship 2013 in Morocco. Dange chose Splash to shop for his winter collection and said Centrepoint is a destination for shopping for his family.

Total appointments

Effective January 1, Guillaume Chalmin (pictured) will take over as Managing

Director at Total E&P Qatar and Group Representative. He will report to Stephane Michel, who will be President Middle East, Exploration & Production Division at Total from January 1.

Guillaume Chalmin has been the director of strategy in Total Exploration and Production (E&P), Paris since mid-2011.

Previously he held the position of director, geosciences & reser-voir in Total E&P Indonesia after being the country manager within the field optimisation department (Russia, Caspian sea, Australia, China) in Total E&P Paris from 2006 to 2008.

Guillaume entered the Total Group in 1995 as Reservoir Engineer in Centre Scientifique et Technique – Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse, before being a Planning Engineer in Total Oil and Gas Venezuela starting 1997. He is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique (1994) and Ecole Nationale Supérieure du Pétrole et des Moteurs (1995). The Peninsula

A room makeover is not merely about changing the furniture and fixtures in a room – it is

about redefining a living space. And, if the transformed room reflects the personality of its occupants, the change can work wonders for their overall well-being. This year’s edition of Home Centre Room Makeover Contest takes on the challenge of recreating rooms to articulate the individual personalities of participants.

The contest received good response both in terms of entries as well as the final voting for winners. Judges faced the daunting challenge of whittling down the 37,000 plus submissions to a manageable 500 that factored in the personality traits of the contestants. The final 25 winning entries were cho-sen by a panel of in-house experts, of which 3 entries were picked by popular demand through voting that generated over 200,000 votes.

With the winners announced, the next phase of the Home Centre Room Makeover Contest will involve an aggregate spending of QR250,000 on reinventing the living spaces of eight contestants each in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and three winners each in Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

Each entry came with a unique story. A young fashion enthusiast, blogger and singer was looking for a room that’s not only made to sleep but one that stimulates her inter-ests; a couple, whose tastes are miles apart, wanted a solution for their bedroom and a homemaker who wants her living room to reflect her vibrant personality, after living with hand-me-downs for the past 11 years - are examples of entries received this year.

Expert stylists from Home Centre are set to redesign the rooms of the winners according to the tastes,

attitudes and needs of the occupants. Each makeover will be completed in a single day. The Home Centre makeo-vers will be accomplished using the latest range of products, integrating contemporary trends in interior design, keeping in mind maximum utilisation of space and functionality.

Aarti Jagtiani, General Manager, Home Centre, said: “By changing the contest mechanics to include a sim-ple, personality-based questionnaire the contestants had to fill in, we were able to engage more people and reach a larger cross-section of consumers in the region. The incredible response we received only reiterated the faith of our customers in our initiatives and products. Home Centre’s vision has always been to transform houses into homes, and with this contest we get the opportunity to show how we breathe life into personal living spaces.”

The Peninsula

Home Centre picks room makeover winners

WHEELS 7PLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2013

By Warren Brown

We looked for mud and found it in abundant amounts here on the eight-acre Biltmore

Estate. It was deep, thick, rock-and-clay-infused mud. This was not a journey through muck I would have undertaken on my own — certainly not in a 2014 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Supercharged HSE sport-utility vehicle priced at $102,540, certainly not one I actually paid for.

But that was the point.I’ve long found it difficult to under-

stand why people would spend so much money on a vehicle whose full capabili-ties they would never use. At home in Arlington, Virginia, I see Land Rovers mainly in the parking lots of ritzy shopping centres, or in front of offices or homes that scream exclusion. They are clean, polished machines giving no evidence of having done anything more difficult than finding a reserved park-ing spot.

So I asked the Land Rover peo-ple: Are people so hung up on pres-tige that they are willing to spend so much to actually use so little? Do they ever intend to put their expensive machines, the best of the world’s SUV crop, through the kind of physical pun-ishment and indignities we put them through here at Biltmore?

The answers are yes, yes, and it really doesn’t matter. Land Rover is about possibilities — the poten-tial to crawl through the deepest muck, to ford streams and crawl up and down rocks, even if the owners have no intention of ever doing so. It is functional luxury — the power and ability to do everything, poten-tially anything that can be done on

four wheels, even if you want to do nothing.

Thus, there are the Land Rover Experience driving schools — here, in Vermont, in Florida and on the West Coast. Their objective is twofold — to teach Land Rover owners how to do properly and safely what their vehi-cles are engineered and designed to do and to show them that, yes, when used correctly, their Land Rover SUVs can actually do everything they are engi-neered and designed to do.

Personally, it was a difficult lesson.I am a control freak. When I turn

a vehicle’s steering wheel to the right, I want the vehicle to turn right. When I steer left, I want it to obey my directive without hesitation. But

in the mud, ruts and rocks, the direc-tives come from the terrain, not the driver. You follow the ruts. If the ruts veer rightward, you steer accordingly. If the ruts lean to the left, you follow those ruts.

Going against the ruts can lead to disaster. You slip and slide. You get stuck, which brings up another point.

On the racetrack, speed is every-thing. Off road, speed is nothing. You go only as fast as the terrain allows you to go. And another thing: Lack of friction cannot be overcome by force. Compliance is mandatory. Proceed slowly. Make friends between tires and terrain. Cooperation will get you almost everywhere, even under the worst of circumstances. Force and opposition

will get you nothing except trouble.The Land Rover Experience driv-

ing school is a humbling experience, and maybe that is the point. You have the money to buy the best sport-utility vehicle available. Maybe you buy it as a reward for yourself, or as a statement of arrival at the top of the heap.

What the Land Rover Experience driving school reminds you is that it is still a heap. Even in a Land Rover, you’ve got to know how to crawl up and down it safely and properly, especially if it is wet, rutted and muddy.

The terrain rules. You don’t. Learn that much, and you’ll be able to enjoy your Land Rover on and off road.

WP-Bloomberg

Bottom line: Land Rover Range Rover sport-utility vehicles are among the best in the world. Sadly, most of the people who buy them will never, ever use their full potential. That’s too bad. Exploiting the full capabilities of these vehicles is a hoot — and a valuable, possibly life-saving lesson in humility.

Ride, acceleration and handling: It gets good marks in highway driving, including acceleration. Off road, it is probably the best friend anyone could have.

Body style/layout: This is a compact, front-engine luxury vehicle with full-time four-wheel drive. It has four side doors and a rear hatch. It is a work of aluminum construction.

Head-turning quotient: Attractive and stately in a rich, con-servative sort of way.

Engine/transmission: It comes with a standard 3-liter V-6 gasoline engine developing a maximum 340 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. The vehicle driven for this column was equipped with the optional 5-liter gasoline V-8, developing a maxi-mum 510 horsepower and 461 pound-feet of torque. Both engines are supercharged, so they employ a forced-air system to improve engine air/fuel mixture and increase power without increased fuel consumption.

Notable technology: Its hill-descent control, engineered to help you move down steep grades without

brake abuse, is one of the most useful SUV technologies available.Capacities: Seats for five people. Maximum cargo capacity

with rear seats up is 27.7 cubic feet. The fuel tank holds 27 gallons (premium-grade gas is required).

Mileage: This week's journey was mostly off road. Land Rover's engineers said the V-8 engine gets 17 miles per gallon in the city and 23 on the highway.

Safety: Front and rear ventilated disc brakes, four-wheel anti-lock brake protection, emergency braking assistance, electronic brake-force distribution, and side and head air bags.

Price: The Range Rover Sport starts at $63,495 in US. But expect to pay more — $80,000 to more than $102,000, depend-ing on options chosen. The most expensive option is the 5-liter V-8. Many serious off-roaders are buying Range Rovers as used vehicles. The best buys in the resale market are vehicles with every conceivable off-road option purchased by people who never went off road.

WP-Bloomberg

Nuts and Bolts

Range Rover is ready to go Range Rover is ready to go anywhere, even if you’re notanywhere, even if you’re not

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i M

eri

Ja

an, sa

ys

she h

as

shed t

he g

irl-

next-

door i

mage

in t

he c

om

edy,

Mr

Joe B

. C

arv

alh

o, dir

ecte

d b

y S

am

ir T

ew

ari.

“It’s

a c

om

edy fi

lm a

nd I

got

an o

pportu

nit

y t

o d

o a

cti

on a

nd c

abaret

- so

it

was

fun for m

e. A

ll t

his

while I

have d

one m

ore o

f th

e g

irl-

next-

door k

ind

of a r

ole

, but

in t

his

film

I h

ave c

om

e o

ut

of th

at

image,” s

aid

the 3

5-y

ear-o

ld.

In t

he fi

lm,

whic

h i

s com

ing o

ut

January 3

, S

oha h

as

team

ed u

p w

ith

Arsh

ad W

arsi

.

PLU

S |

MO

ND

AY

23 D

EC

EM

BE

R 2

013

HO

LLY

WO

OD

NE

WS

Low

er-c

ost

surp

rise

s dri

ve

Low

er-c

ost

surp

rise

s dri

ve

Hollyw

ood t

ow

ard

s re

cord

yea

rH

ollyw

ood t

ow

ard

s re

cord

yea

rB

y L

isa

Ric

hw

ine

As

Ron

B

urgun

dy

retu

rn

s to

th

e

big

screen

in

th

e

An

chorm

an s

equel, i

t’s

kin

d

of

a b

ig d

eal, a

s th

e fi

cti

onal

new

sman

would

say,

for H

ollyw

ood’s

enti

re y

ear.

Aft

er a

han

dfu

l of

expen

sive s

um

-m

er fl

ops,

low

er-c

ost

movie

s su

ch a

s th

e $50m

A

nch

orm

an

2:

Th

e L

egen

d

Con

tin

ues

are lig

hti

ng u

p t

he s

creen for

studio

executi

ves

who a

re c

auti

ousl

y

predic

tin

g a secon

d str

aig

ht

record

year.

Tic

ket

sale

s at

theatr

es

in t

he U

nit

ed

Sta

tes

an

d C

an

ada s

tarte

d s

low

ly a

t th

e b

egin

nin

g o

f 2013

. E

ven w

ith t

he

sum

mer h

its

Iron

Ma

n 3

and D

esp

ica

ble

Me 2

, revenue f

or t

he y

ear w

as

run

-nin

g 0

.3 p

ercent

low

er t

han l

ast

year

through J

uly

26, accordin

g t

o d

ata

from

R

entr

ak, fo

llow

ing b

om

bs

like T

he L

on

e

Ra

nger.

But

starti

ng i

n A

ugust

, box o

ffice

receip

ts p

ulled a

head o

f la

st y

ear’s

pace,

help

ed b

y l

ate

-year s

urpris

es

such a

s th

e c

ivil r

ights

sto

ry L

ee D

an

iels

’ T

he

Bu

tler

and t

he h

ost

age t

hrille

r C

ap

tain

Ph

illi

ps

that

were m

ade f

or $

55m

or

less

and h

ad t

icket

sale

s of

more t

han

$10

0m

each.

They w

ere join

ed b

y c

om

edie

s W

e’r

e

the M

ille

rs a

nd J

ack

ass

Pre

sen

ts:

Ba

d

Gra

nd

pa.

“The p

ost

er c

hild i

s G

ravi

ty,’”

said

G

erardo L

opez,

chie

f executi

ve o

f th

ea-

tre c

hain

AM

C E

nte

rta

inm

en

t, w

ho

said

th

e fi

lm w

as expecte

d to

ta

ke

in on

ly $50m

to

$70m

at

dom

esti

c

theatr

es.

“It

’s a

good fi

lm a

nd p

eople

fo

und it.”

Gra

vity

, th

e 3

D s

pace t

hrille

r a

bout

a p

air

of

stranded a

stronauts

sta

rrin

g

San

dra B

ullock a

nd G

eorge C

loon

ey,

defi

ed proje

cti

on

s to

sell

$253m

at

movie

theatr

es

in t

he U

nit

ed S

tate

s and C

anada.

The fi

lm, w

hic

h c

ost

about

$10

0m

to

make, ranks

sixth

on t

his

year’s

list

of

hig

hest

-gross

ing m

ovie

s at

dom

est

ic

theatr

es,

ahead o

f big

-budget

acti

on

hit

s like F

ast

& F

uri

ou

s 6 a

nd S

tar

Tre

k

Into

Da

rkn

ess

. T

hose

film

s both

cost

at

least

$16

0m

apie

ce t

o m

ake.

Help

ed b

y h

igher t

icket

pric

es,

US

an

d C

an

adia

n m

ovie

gross

es

are 0

.4

percent

ahead o

f a y

ear a

go a

t $10

.16bn

through

S

un

day.

Th

e average pric

e

paid

by m

ovie

goers

clim

bed 1

1 cen

ts

this

year t

o $

8.0

5 t

hrough t

he e

nd o

f S

epte

mber,

accordin

g t

o t

he N

ati

onal

Ass

ocia

tion o

f T

heatr

e O

wners.

Cro

wded

Su

mm

erT

he success of

Gra

vit

y an

d oth

er

overachie

vers

help

ed o

ffse

t w

eak p

er-

form

ances

by s

om

e p

ric

ey s

tar-s

tudded

acti

on fi

lms.

They inclu

de A

fter

Ea

rth

, R

.I.P

.D. and W

hit

e H

ou

se D

ow

n, w

hic

h

an

aly

sts

say w

ere h

urt

in p

art

by a

crow

ded s

um

mer m

ovie

sla

te.

“If you look a

t th

e lis

t of th

e t

op-p

er-

form

ing m

ovie

s, t

here i

s a v

ery b

road

div

ersit

y of

film

s th

ere,”

said

C

hris

A

ron

son

, presi

den

t of

dom

est

ic d

is-

trib

uti

on f

or 2

0th

Centu

ry F

ox, w

hic

h

scored a

sum

mer h

it w

ith T

he H

ea

t,

a c

om

edy w

ith a

budget

of

$43m

that

gross

ed $

160m

at

dom

est

ic t

heatr

es.

This

year’s

surpris

e h

its

took o

ff for

dif

ferent

reaso

ns.

Gra

vit

y,

from

T

ime W

arn

er In

c’s

W

arn

er B

ros,

aw

ed c

rit

ics

an

d a

udi-

ences

wit

h i

ts d

epic

tions

of

space a

nd

weig

htl

essn

ess,

wh

ich

push

ed m

ov-

iegoers to

hig

her-p

ric

ed IM

AX

an

d

3D

tic

kets

.S

tar pow

er h

elp

ed prom

ote

T

he

Bu

tler,

whic

h w

as

boost

ed b

y O

prah

Win

frey’s

popula

rit

y,

wh

ile C

ap

tain

Ph

illi

ps

sti

rred O

scar buzz fo

r le

ad

acto

r T

om

Hanks.

“They s

ust

ain

ed a

fair

ly h

igh v

olu

me

of conversa

tion o

ver t

ime,” s

aid

Wayne

St.

Am

an

d,

executi

ve v

ice p

resi

den

t of

marketi

ng f

or C

rim

son

Hexagon

, w

hic

h a

naly

sed T

wit

ter c

om

ments

on

both

film

s. T

he t

weets

“kept

both

film

s on t

he m

inds

of

movie

goers

for longer

perio

ds

of ti

me t

han y

ou m

ight

expect,”

he s

aid

.T

he year als

o saw

m

assiv

e big

-budget

hit

s, l

ed b

y W

alt

Dis

ney’s

Co’s

M

arvel

superhero s

equel

Iron

Ma

n 3

($409m

), U

niv

ersa

l P

ictu

res’

anim

ate

d

Desp

ica

ble

Me 2

($367m

) an

d d

yst

o-

pia

n t

hrille

r s

equel

Th

e H

un

ger

Ga

mes:

Ca

tch

ing F

ire (

$358m

). D

om

est

ic s

ale

s fo

r t

he s

um

mer m

ovie

season

hit

a

record $

4.8

bn.

Holl

yw

ood’s

big

-budget

thril

lers

grabbed m

ass

ive r

etu

rns

overse

as.

Iro

n

Ma

n 3

, fo

r i

nst

ance, earned $

806m

in

inte

rn

ati

on

al

mark

ets

, or t

wo-t

hir

ds

of

its

tota

l.L

ions

Gate

Ente

rta

inm

ent

the s

tu-

dio

behin

d C

atc

hin

g F

ire,

als

o f

oun

d

a h

it w

ith t

he $

75m

heis

t caper N

ow

You

See M

e t

hat

open

ed i

n l

ate

May

and c

ollecte

d d

om

est

ic t

icket

sale

s of

$11

8m

.“W

e f

elt

we c

ould

liv

e i

n t

hat

world

an

d h

old

up very n

icely

, an

d th

at

turned o

ut

to b

e t

he c

ase

,” s

aid

Ric

hie

F

ay,

presi

dent

of dom

est

ic d

istr

ibuti

on

for L

ions

Gate

. W

hile t

he m

ovie

was

init

ially a

imed a

t an o

ver-2

5 a

udie

nce,

it a

lso p

ulled in y

ounger fi

lm g

oers,

Fay

said

.A

mix

ture o

f upcom

ing b

ig-b

udget

an

d sm

all

er pric

ed fi

lms w

ill

giv

e

Hollyw

ood a

shot

at

beati

ng last

year’s

$10

.8bn r

ecord, sa

y a

naly

sts.

Leonardo

DiC

aprio

is

gett

ing O

scar buzz fo

r

Param

oun

t’s

Th

e W

olf

of

Wa

ll S

treet,

whic

h c

ost

more t

han $

100m

to m

ake,

while F

ox h

as

heavily p

rom

ote

d t

he

Ben

Sti

ller c

om

edy T

he S

ecr

et

Lif

e o

f

Wa

lter

Mit

ty.

An

chorm

an

2 w

ill likely

join

the lis

t of

this

year’s

hit

s m

ade w

ith m

od-

est

budgets

, accordin

g t

o B

oxoffi

ce.

com

, w

hic

h p

roje

cts

the m

ovie

from

P

aram

oun

t P

ictu

res w

ill

take in

$185m

dom

esti

cally d

urin

g i

ts t

he-

atr

ical run.

The m

ovie

’s s

tar,

Will

Ferrell,

has

appeared i

n c

haracte

r a

s B

urgun

dy

seem

ingly

everyw

here,

from

D

odge

Duran

go com

mercia

ls an

d a n

ew

s-

cast

in N

ebrask

a t

o a

n inte

rvie

w w

ith

Denver B

ron

cos

quarte

rback P

eyto

n

Mannin

g f

or E

SP

N T

he M

aga

zin

e.

“Will

Ferrell i

s about

as

big

a s

ell-

out

as you can

get,”

said

Jeff

B

ock,

senio

r b

ox o

ffice a

naly

st a

t E

xhib

itor

Rela

tions

Co. “A

nd t

hat’s

a g

ood t

hin

g

for e

verybody involv

ed in t

his

.”R

eute

rs

Ice

Age

5 t

o r

elea

se i

n 2

01

6

The fi

fth i

nst

alm

ent

of

anim

ate

d m

ovie

Ice

Age w

ill

com

e o

ut

on J

uly

15

, 2016

. D

eta

ils

of

the u

pcom

ing m

ovie

are n

ot

available

, but

it i

s sa

id t

hat

Ray R

om

ano, Jo

hn L

eguiz

am

o a

nd D

enis

Leary a

re e

xpecte

d t

o

retu

rn t

o g

ive v

oic

es

to t

heir

characte

rs M

anny,

Sid

and D

iego, resp

ecti

vely

, reports

acesh

ow

biz

.com

.T

he fi

rst

Ice

Age m

ovie

took o

ff i

n 2

002, and w

as

follow

ed b

y I

ce A

ge:

Th

e M

elt

dow

n in 2

006.

The t

hir

d a

nd f

ourth

parts

, nam

ely

Ice

Age:

Da

wn

of

the D

inosa

urs

and

Ice A

ge: C

on

tin

en

tal

Dri

ft c

am

e in 2

009 a

nd 2

012

resp

ecti

vely

.

Juli

anne

Moore

’s s

tyle

sec

ret

What

is J

ulianne M

oore’s

sty

le s

ecret?

The a

ctr

ess

says

that

she t

akes

her a

ge a

nd r

ed h

air

into

consi

derati

on w

hen p

ickin

g o

ut

an o

utfi

t.E

online r

eports

that

the 5

3-y

ear-o

ld, w

ho r

ecentl

y featu

red o

n t

he c

over

page o

f N

et-

a-P

orte

r’s

online m

agazi

ne,

Th

e E

dit

, sa

id:

“Aft

er a

certa

in

age, you c

an’t

wear a

nyth

ing w

ith w

ords

on it.”

“Als

o, I

don’t

wear a

lot

of

colo

ur b

ecause

, havin

g r

ed h

air

, I

carry a

lot

of

colo

ur w

ith m

e.”

Moore a

lso h

as

one d

esi

gner in p

arti

cula

r t

hat

she fi

nds

herse

lf t

urnin

g

to a

gain

and a

gain

— T

om

Ford, w

ho r

efe

rs

to h

er a

s a m

use

and c

ast

her

in t

he leadin

g r

ole

in h

is 2

009 fi

lm A

Sin

gle

Ma

n.

Prais

ing h

im, M

oore s

aid

: “I

don’t

know

that

I’m

his

muse

, I’m

definit

ely

a frie

nd. H

e’s

not

myst

erio

us

about

fash

ion, w

hic

h I

love... H

e’s

just

a g

reat,

w

onderfu

lly c

reati

ve a

nd s

oulf

ul perso

n, and a

really g

ood f

rie

nd.”

As

for h

er o

ff-d

uty

hours,

Moore l

ikes

to r

each f

or a

n I

sabel

Marant

jacket

and b

oots

and fi

nis

h o

ff h

er laid

back look w

ith J

Brand jeans.

Big

fat

wed

din

g f

or

Kim

-Kanye

Reali

ty

TV

star

Kris

Jen

ner

has

hin

ted t

hat

her d

augh-

ter,

socia

lite

Kim

K

ardash

ian

’s w

eddin

g

to r

apper K

anye W

est

, w

ill be a

gala

aff

air

.“W

e h

ave a prett

y

big

fam

ily.

I d

on’t

thin

k

it w

ill

be t

wo p

eople

in

a c

hapel, i

f you k

now

w

hat

I m

ean

,” p

eople

.com

quote

d J

en

ner a

s sa

yin

g.

Th

e

58-year-old

did

not

open u

p a

bout

wheth

er t

he c

ouple

has

set

a w

eddin

g d

ate

, but

said

: “H

opefu

lly i

t w

ill

be s

oon.”

As

the m

oth

er o

f th

e

brid

e, Je

nner w

ould

lik

e

to m

ake s

uggest

ions

for

the c

ouple

’s b

ig d

ay,

but

adm

its,

“I

don’t

know

if

they’ll le

t m

e jum

p in.”

“T

hat’

s

two

very

creati

ve m

inds

gett

ing

togeth

er a

nd t

hey d

ef-

init

ely

have t

heir

ow

n

ideas,

” sh

e a

dded.

Kim

and K

anye g

ot

engaged i

n O

cto

ber a

nd t

hey t

ogeth

er h

ave a

six

-m

onth

-old

daughte

r N

orth

West

.

PLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2013 AVIATION610

© G

RA

PH

IC N

EW

SP

ictures: Associated P

ress, Florida P

hotographic Collection, M

KF

I, Steve F

itzgerald, Roger W

ollstadt, Pedro A

ragao, Alf van B

eem

Jan 1, 1914: F

irst scheduledpassenger air service beginsin F

lorida, flying between

cities of St. P

etersburg andTam

pa. Service uses tw

oB

eno

ist XIV

seaplanes andoperates for nearly fourm

onths, carrying more than

1,200 passengers in total

1930: Un

ited A

irlines

becomes first airline to

introduce stewardesses

1940: Bo

eing

Strato

liner

enters service – first airlinerw

ith pressurized cabin,allow

ing plane to cruiseat higher altitude, avoidingturbulence

1919: First daily

international passengerair service launched,from

London to Paris

1945: Lo

ckheed

Co

nstellatio

n delivered

to Tran

s Wo

rld A

irlines –

fastest, most m

odernairliner of its day

1969: BA

C/A

erosp

atialeC

on

cord

e – world’s first

supersonic comm

ercialpassenger aircraft – m

akesm

aiden flight. New

airlinercuts transatlantic traveltim

e by more than half.

2007: Airb

us A

380 –w

orld’s biggest passengerplane – enters com

mercial

service. Capable of carrying

850 passengers

Retired from

service in 2003

1925: First in-flight m

ovie –T

he L

ost W

orld

– shown

on scheduled flight byIm

perial A

irways

1926: U.S

. carmaker H

enry

Fo

rd begins production of

Fo

rd Trim

oto

r – first mass-

produced airliner

1933: U.S

. developsB

oein

g 247 – all-m

etal,tw

in-engine, low-w

ingm

onoplane – regardedas first m

odern airliner

1939: Outbreak of W

orld

War II – conflict brings huge

advances in navigation,radar and com

munications

1958: Bo

eing

707 entersservice w

ith Pan

Am

ericanA

irways, ushering in new

age of comm

ercial jettransportation

1995: Debut of B

oein

g 777,

largest twin-engined airliner,

with room

for 400 passengers.H

olds record for longest non-stop flight by com

mercial

aircraft – 21,600km (halfw

ayaround w

orld)

1935: Do

ug

las DC

-3“D

akota” m

akes airtransport profitablefor first tim

e.W

idely used byA

llied forces inW

orld

War II,

and continuesin civil andm

ilitary serviceto this day

1949: Britain’s d

e Havillan

dC

om

et – first comm

ercial jetairliner – m

akes maiden flight.

Grounded in 1954 due to

metal fatigue

2011: Bo

eing

787D

reamlin

er enters service –first airliner to be built m

ainlyfrom

lightweight carbon-

composite m

aterials.A

ircraft plagued with

development issues

2014: First A

irbu

s A350 due

for delivery – designed tobe one of w

orld’s most fuel-

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HEALTH 11PLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2013

By Julie Steenhuysen

US scientists have dis-covered the basic mechanisms that allow HIV to wipe out the

body’s immune system and cause Aids, which could lead to new approaches to treatment and research for a cure for the dis-ease that affects 35 million people around the world.

Instead of actively killing immune system cells known as CD4 T cells, much of the dam-age done by HIV occurs when the virus tries to invade these cells and fails, triggering an innate immune response that causes the cells to self-destruct in a fiery kind of cell suicide known as pyroptosis.

The findings, published simul-taneously in the scientific journals Science and Nature, also suggest that an experimental anti-inflam-matory drug owned by Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc that has already been tested in people with epilepsy could be repurposed as a possible new treatment for Aids.

“Our papers deal with the fundamental issue that causes Aids, and that is the loss of CD4 T cells,” said Dr Warner Greene of the Gladstone Institutes, an independent biomedical research nonprofit based in San Francisco, whose lab produced the research in both papers.

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said the papers offer an “elegant” solution to a question that has eluded sci-entists since the virus was first identified in 1983.

Greene said for years, scien-tists had thought that HIV killed immune system cells by infecting them directly, hijacking their DNA

machinery and turning them into virus-producing factories.

But this only happens to a small portion of CD4 T cells. In a series of experiments in human spleen, tonsil and lymph node tissues from HIV-infected patients, the Gladstone scientists discovered that the real damage of HIV infec-tion occurs in so-called “bystander cells,” the most common type of CD4 T cell.

These cells are in a resting state, so when the virus attacks, it is unable to hijack them, and aborts the attempt.

But the damage is done. These so-called abortively infected immune cells release a protein that activates an enzyme called caspase-1, which causes the highly inflammatory form of cell suicide, pyroptosis.

“The cell is committing suicide in a vain attempt to protect the host,” Greene said. “The abortive process releases a call for help from new CD4 cells, who then fall victim to this fiery death.”

In the paper published in Science, the Gladstone team iden-tified a mechanism that detects the damaged cells and triggers this cell death pathway.

“This idea that CD4 depletion is more of a cellular suicide than it is a murder by the virus is a new and important concept,” Greene said.

In the paper published in Nature, the team explored the implications of blocking this cellular suicide with experi-ments using anti-inflammatory drugs that block the caspase-1 enzyme, including the Vertex drug VX-765.

Greene said the company tested the treatment in patients with a chronic seizure disorder who would not respond to normal anti-epileptics, but the effect was

not strong enough to continue development.

What they did find in a six-week clinical trial in people is that the drug was safe and well-tolerated.

“We would like to see if that drug could be repurposed to pre-vent inflammation in CD4 T cell loss in HIV infection,” Greene said.

Gladstone is in talks with Vertex to gain access to the drug for clinical trials as a potential new treatment for HIV infection. Such a drug could have three potential applications.

It could be used globally as a stop-gap treatment for the 16 mil-lion individuals who are infected with HIV but do not have access to antiretroviral therapy or ART, the highly effective medicines that keep HIV from replicating in the body.

Because the drug fights the inflammatory response linked with HIV infection, it might also be useful in addition to ART as a way of preventing the long-term consequences of HIV infection, such as early dementia, heart attacks and cancer.

Greene thinks the drug might even be useful in the research for an HIV cure, helping to flush out parts of the virus that go into hid-ing and cause the infection to start up again once people stop taking antiretroviral therapy.

At this point, all of these poten-tial uses are theoretical, Fauci said. “It still remains to be seen what the ultimate practical usage of this is, but nonetheless, it’s still a significant paper.”

Greene said his team is in nego-tiations with Vertex for access to its drug, and hopes to come to an agreement soon as to how to proceed. “For the benefit of HIV-infected individuals, this merits testing.” Reuters

Studies unlock mysteryof how HIV causes Aids

Ageing can be reversed in mammals: Scientists

The ageing process is like the married cou-ple next door — when young, they com-municate well, but over many years the

communication breaks down.And as in relationships, says a new study,

restoring communications reverses the ageing process, at least in mammals.

A series of molecular events in our body enable communication inside cells between the nucleus and mitochondria, also called “cell’s powerhouse”.

As communication breaks down, ageing accel-erates. By administering a molecule naturally produced by the human body, scientists restored the communication network in older mice.

“Subsequent tissue samples showed key bio-logical hallmarks that were comparable to those of much younger animals,” said David Sinclair, senior author on the study and Harvard Medical School Professor of Genetics.

Mitochondria generate chemical energy to carry out essential biological functions. As these self-contained organelles become increasingly dysfunctional over time, many age-related con-ditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes occur.

Sinclair and his team primarily focused on a group of genes called sirtuins. Previous studies from his lab showed that one of these genes, SIRT1, was activated by the compound resvera-trol, which is found in grapes and certain nuts.

They studied mice in which this SIRT1 gene had been removed. While they accurately pre-dicted that these mice would show signs of age-ing, including mitochondrial dysfunction, they were surprised to find that most mitochondrial proteins coming from the cell’s nucleus were at normal levels.

Cells stay healthy as long as coordination between the genomes remains fluid. SIRT1’s role is that of an intermediary, akin to a security guard, said Sinclair.

“There’s clearly much more work to be done here, but if these results stand, then many aspects of ageing may be reversible if caught early,” said Sinclair.

This study was a joint project between Harvard Medical School, the National Institute on Ageing, and the University of New South Wales, Sydney. The findings of the study have been published in the latest edition of the journal Cell.

China tightens birdflu precautions

China’s top health authority directed health departments at all levels to tighten super-vision of new pneumonia and flu cases.

According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, east China’s Jiangxi prov-ince confirmed a human case of H10N8, a new strain of bird flu, Xinhua reported.

The commission also said that south China’s Guangdong province has reported six cases of H7N9 bird flu since October, and Zhejiang prov-ince reported five cases in the second half of this year. It urged local health authorities to make prevention and control of H7N9 a priority, strengthen monitoring of the virus, and step up medical treatment.

Winter and spring are traditionally the worst seasons for infectious respiratory disease.

Agencies

TECHNOLOGYPLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 201312

By Keith Stuart and Simon Parkin

Here we go then, the top 10 games of the year! As mentioned previ-ously, this is a highly subjective list compiled by the Guardian’s games

writers and reflecting our personal favourites from the past 12 months.

10. Proteus (Ed Key/David Kanaga/Curve Studios, Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS3)

You begin waist deep in the ocean and your eyes open to an island of woozy colour, like something painted by a Die Brücke artist. The trees shed vast flakes of blossom, weird creatures dart about in the undergrowth. And you’re just here, just drinking it in. And that’s really all you have to do, unless you want to follow the seasonal flow of lights, over the hills and into the swirl that advances the cal-endar. Asking if this is a game is like asking if Brian Eno’s Ambient albums are music – it is because you play it. Even if you think it’s like an unfinished Commodore 64 classic, a blocky landscape lacking a pixellated hero, it is a thing of soul and idiosyncratic beauty. This isle is full of noises that give delight and hurt not. Proteus is the setting for a digital production of The Tempest that will never take place.

9. Brothers A Tale of Two Sons (505 Games, PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Like Papo and Yo before it, this heart-wrenching adventure seemed to come out of nowhere to teach every multimillion dollar, 200-person mega-studio a thing or two about emotional storytelling. The fairy tale narra-tive follows siblings Naiee and Nyaa as they embark on a quest to find the tree of life and save their ill father. But at its very heart is the audacious control system, with each ana-logue stick controlling a different brother. It is, then, a story of family love in which the central relationship is symbolised by the interface – if that’s ever happened before it certainly hasn’t been done with such power.

8. Assassin’s Creed IV (Ubisoft, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)

Pity Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed develop-ment teams, scattered around the globe, tasked with creating and launching a new sprawling adventure for the series every 12 months. Each game is set within a discrete period within time and space requiring unique architecture, costume and props. It’s a tall order and more recent entries to the series have struggled to funnel all that workload into a coherent game. Black Flag, however, is a bold return to form, starring the grizzled pri-vateer Edward Kenway as he swashbuckles through the Caribbean Sea, boarding and stealing ships, landing upon and plundering islands and, section by section, taking grim control of the high seas. It’s a vast game, but not quite so needlessly bloated as its recent predecessors. It may lack the cinematic finesse of Grand Theft Auto V, but the life to live within its high seas is one of the year’s most enjoyable.

7. Animal Crossing New Leaf (Nintendo, 3DS)

There is no revolution within the latest Animal Crossing’s gentle village; the game’s lazy rhythms remain identical to how they first appeared in 2001 except now, when your character arrives jobless, homeless and pen-niless in town, they’re mistaken for the new mayor. You still work for the local landlord

and shopkeeper to pay the mortgage, deliv-ering items to the village’s various twittering inhabitants while you fly-fish, bug-catch and fossil-excavate for supplementary income, but there’s a new urgency to everything now that you’re a cog in the municipal machine. On the 3DS, Katsuya Eguchi’s long-running village simulator (originally designed as a means for him to connect with his children when working long hours) makes wonderful use of the system’s features with multiplayer and Street Pass connecting better than ever before, and a far greater opportunity for self-expression. It’s a game that lodges itself into your daily routine, and once there, it won’t be easily removed.

6. Zelda Link Between Worlds (Nintendo, 3DS)

A smart, brisk sequel-cum-reimagining of 1991’s seminal Super Nintendo game A Link to the Past, this, the final big-hitting 3DS release in a year of big-hitters on the system, is more eager than most to tread carefully in the series’ tradition. And who can blame it? A Link to the Past remains one of the two tallest peaks in Shigeru Miyamoto’s fantasy series – small wonder this game copies its structure, Hyrule map and, even, the names of the dun-geons from its esteemed predecessor. But there is fresh invention here too: the way that Link’s armoury is now rented from the shops rather than plundered from dungeons and the ability that allows the hero to gloop onto walls by turning into a mural and shuffling around. A brightly curious and wonderful game in a series defined by curiosity and wonder.

5. Papers, Please (Lucas Pope, PC)There have been many and varied virtual

vocations to be experienced through video games in 2013 but none quite so affecting as that found in Papers, Please, Lucas Pope’s harrowing game set in a fictional communist country’s border control booth at the dawn of the 1980s. Your task, assigned to you by the state, is to process the winding line of would-be immigrants each day, checking their pass-ports and other supporting documents and, quite simply, confirming or denying their entry.

Each day you must contend with further bureaucracy and rules issued down from on high, a dual frustration as the fewer people you manage to process in a day, the fewer wages you take home. The quietly agreeable administrative power quickly dissipates in the face of the burden of your family – at dusk you must daily choose whether to buy food,

medicine or heating to support them and there’s never enough money to go around. Likewise, the gently heart-breaking stories of the people you meet in the line make this a game quite unlike any other, one that, despite the rudimentary graphics, reveals the largely unexplored potential of the medium to build true empathy and understanding.

4. GTA V (Rockstar, PS3, Xbox 360)Rockstar’s record-breaking behemoth

crushed everything else this year in terms of sales, its super-charged mix of ultra-violence, scattergun satire and visual beauty ensuring hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Los Santos is a world realised in incredible depth and the fact that this sprawling landscape is still giving up secrets to obsessive play-ers months after release says much about the care, attention and passion lavished on the game. We’d dearly love to have seen a female protagonist and we could have done with waaaay less bickering between Trevor and Michael in the main campaign. But for bombastic, brain-bludgeoning set-pieces, GTA V could not be beaten – and as flawed and broken as it was, GTA Online provides an intriguing vision of where online multiplayer can go. Enhanced PC version next year? Everyone knows it makes sense.

3. Gone Home (Fullbright Company, PC/Mac/Linux)

Like Proteus, Gone Home is a game that makes people really think about games – what they are, what they mean and how they tell us things. This very enclosed, almost neurotic experience is like a modern day epistolary novel, its narrative told voyeuristically through private communications – letters, journals, answer phone messages. The house is as much a symbolic space as it is a real one – a place haunted by memories and disappoint-ments. Ostensibly, it is Kaitlin Greenbriar’s story, as she returns from a long trip away to find her parents and sister gone, but of course, the ghost of Samantha haunts it.

Steve Gaynor and his team play brilliantly with notions of memory, nostalgia and love, and the psychogeography of home and fam-ily. Some see in this game a sallow ode to the point-and-click adventure, but actually it explores the first-person perspective, and the conventions of interactive narrative, in interesting and meaningful ways. We thought about this game all year, that is the main thing. The message lingers like an answer-phone message you can’t bear to delete.

2. The Last of Us (Sony, PS3)In Joel and Ellie’s story of survival against

the odds – and against all reason – Naughty Dog provided us with one of the most mature and gruelling mainstream action adventures of the decade. While some saw it as little more than a post-apocalyptic palette swap for Uncharted, this is a very different beast – a true narrative journey in which characters and relationships eclipse all other concerns. But it is also exciting and involving, with a thud-dingly violent combat mechanic and a con-tinual sense of raw peril. So many wonderful dramatic moments too, from lovesick survi-vors committing suicide to giraffes wandering the sun-scorched city streets. Whatever you make of its devastating conclusions, the Last of Us was the moment that cinematic gaming started to mean something – something that went beyond form and into feeling. It hints at amazing things for the future.

1. Super Mario 3D World (Nintendo, Wii-U)

It may not have the pioneering spirit of some of the strongest games released this year, but Nintendo EAD’s latest displays a restless brilliance in its reinvention of one of the medium’s most valuable and inspir-ing heritages. Super Mario 3D World is an undeniable retreat from the farthest reaches of space, which were so gloriously brushed against in the two Super Mario Galaxy titles on the Wii-U’s predecessor. But there is no such withdrawal in terms of its design and finesse; this game ranks amongst the com-pany’s finest.

There’s an easy familiarity to the world, the way its stages are arranged, Mario’s suite of furry costumes and, of course, the seemingly endless levels themed around the seasons and elements. But the riotous imagination on display in its design ideas has an unexpected freshness: quite how these designers man-age to mine gold from such a relatively thin rulebook is dumbfounding. Then there are the social features: the multiplayer that allows up to four players to sprint through the game’s levels in a heady concoction of competition and cooperation, and the online ghost data, beamed into your game without fuss in order to provide a person against whom to race. Super Mario 3D World is a warm and con-temporary exploration of the medium’s past, rather than a bold signpost to its future, but celebrations are rarely so wonderfully unre-strained and stirring.

The Guardian

Top 10 games of 2013Top 10 games of 2013

COMICS & MORE 13

Hoy en la HistoriaDecember 23, 1888

1933: Emperor Akihito of Japan was born; he ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne in 1990 on his father’s death 1973: Iran said that the six main Gulf oil producers would raise export prices by 100% from January 19741996: Four women were ordained as priests in Jamaica, the first in the history of the Anglican church2000: A U.S. motorist in Oregon was rescued after 16 days trapped in his car which was buried by deep snow

In a fit of depression Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear. A self portrait shows the right one bandaged because he painted the mirror image

Picture: Getty Images © GRAPHIC NEWS

ALL IN THE MIND Can you find the hidden words? They may be horizontal,vertical, diagonal, forwards or backwards.

ANUBIS, APIS, BASILISK, BAST, BUNYIP, CENTAUR, CERBERUS,CHIMERA, DRAGON, ELVES, ERINYES, EUMENIDES, GIANT,GNOME, GOBLIN, GORGON, GRIFFIN, HARPY, HORUS, HYDRA,LEPRECHAUN, LEVIATHAN, LYCANTHROPE, MERMAID,MINOTAUR, NYMPH, PEGASUS, PIXIE, SATYR, SCYLLA, SIREN,SPHINX, THOTH, TRITON, TROLL, TYPHON, UNICORN, VAMPIRE, WEREWOLF, WYVERN.

LEARN ARABIC

Baby Blues by Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman

Zits by Dennis Young and Denis Lebrun

Hagar The Horrible by Chris Browne

To hire a room

I want to rent a room Oureedou an asta'jira �ourfa

I want a room in the �rst �oor Oureedou �ourfa fee al��abiqi alawwal

I want a furnished room Oureedou �ourfa mafroo�a

What is the rent? Kami aleejar?

I want it for a month only Oureedou al�ourfa li�ahrin faqa�

I want a room with two beds Oureedou �ourfa bisareerayn

Send me the chambermaid Arsil lee al�adim

Put the things here �aç ala�ra houna

I want another blanket Oureedou bataniya aar

Please wake me up at seven Ayqi�nee alssaça alsabiça min falik

ç = ‘a’ in ‘agh’ when surprised

PLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2013

HYPER SUDOKU

CROSSWORD

CROSSWORDS

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

How to play Hyper Sudoku:A Hyper Sudoku

Puzzle is solved

by filling the

numbers from 1

to 9 into the blank

cells. A Hyper

Sudoku has

unlike Sudoku

13 regions

(four regions

overlap with the

nine standard

regions). In all

regions the numbers from 1 to 9 can appear

only once. Otherwise, a Hyper Sudoku is

solved like a normal Sudoku.

ACROSS 1 ___ one’s time (waits

patiently) 6 Open-air rooms11 Slippery, as winter roads14 Perfect15 Chili ingredients16 This instant17 Iced tea brand19 Mom’s forte, in brief20 Greets the Red Sox at

Yankee Stadium, say21 Young’s partner in

accounting22 “Cheers” actress

Perlman23 Canadian capital25 Spine-tingling27 Observance prescribed

in the Book of Esther32 Provide with guns35 An “A” in N.C.A.A.: Abbr.36 Old-time actress Dolores37 Where an ocean and a

continent meet39 BlackBerry or iPod

Touch, for short41 Toots of a horn

42 “… better left ___”44 Ye ___ Shoppe46 Baseball bat wood47 It’s headquartered at

Naval Station Pearl Harbor

50 Al of auto racing51 Actor Brendan of

“Journey to the Center of the Earth”

55 Leave at the altar, say57 ___ cuisine60 The “I” of F.Y.I., for short61 Israeli-made weapon62 Country singer with the

2012 #1 hit “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

64 Imus of “Imus in the Morning”

65 Literary device much used by

O. Henry66 “Imus in the Morning”

medium67 Poem of praise68 Ferber and Krabappel69 Look of disdain

DOWN 1 ___ Baggins of “The

Hobbit” 2 Birdbrain 3 Commercial word after

Home or Office 4 Persistently aggravates 5 ___-mo (instant replay

technique) 6 E.g., e.g. 7 Slender shorebird 8 Lifted 9 As an alternative10 “Don’t ___, don’t tell”

(bygone military policy)11 Close by12 Singer Nat King ___13 Service org. for females18 Gets closer22 Remington product24 Hypotheticals26 Hearty-flavored brew28 Clairvoyant’s skill, for short29 “It’s the ___ the world …”30 Small tastes31 Peter of reggae32 Smallish bra size33 Author Jaffe

34 Like a he-man38 Matthew, Mark, Luke or John40 Every last one43 Blockbuster Bruce Willis

movie45 Put off until later48 Kid’s coloring

implement49 Taipei’s land52 Nasty, as a remark

53 “The Hunger Games” chaperon

54 Helicopter blade55 Cousin of karate56 Shirt brand that once

had a crocodile symbol58 Humerus neighbor59 Santa’s bagful62 Make a knot in63 Former jrs.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22

23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

32 33 34 35 36

37 38 39 40 41

42 43 44 45 46

47 48 49

50 51 52 53 54

55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63

64 65 66

67 68 69

R O A D S T E R SS A M U E L A D A M S

M I N N E S O T A F A T SL E N D E R S T R A T II T E R S S A P S T P A TT R A Y S E N E T E L K ST O D S P L I T S C R E E NE S O E E L L I K E S H OR E C O N N O I T E R C O TE X O N T U N E D S E L FR U N E S T E S K I N D AS A N S E I W I N T E R

L O T T E R Y W I N N E RR O A S T M A S T E R

P E T E A C H E R

How to play Kakuro:The kakuro grid, unlike in sudoku, can be of any size. It has rows and columns, and dark cells like in a crossword. And, just like in a crossword, some of the dark cells will contain numbers. Some cells will contain two numbers.However, in a crossword the numbers reference clues. In a kakuro, the numbers are all you get! They denote the total of the digits in the row or column referenced by the number.Within each collection of cells - called a run

- any of the numbers 1 to 9 may be used but, like sudoku, each number may only be used once.

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

14

EASY SUDOKUCartoon Arts International / The New York Times Syndicate

Easy Sudoku PuzzlesPlace a digit from 1 to 9 in each empty cell so everyrow, every column and every 3x3 box contains allthe digits 1 to 9.


CINEMA / TV LISTINGS 15

TEL: 444933989 444517001SHOWING AT VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

09:30 Omni Sport

10:00 Scottish

League; Celtic V

Hearts

11:45 Rugby Heineken

Cup, Gloucester

V Worcester

13:30 Football Asia

14:00 Omni Sport

14:30 Nba Basketball

Magazine

15:00 English

Championship;

Milwall V

Middlesbrough

17:00 Nba Basketball;

Boston @

Indiana

19:00 Nba Basketball;

Minnesota @ La

Clippers

21:00 Golf, The Royal

Trophy

08:00 News

09:00 21Up South

Africa (P1)

10:30 Inside Story

11:00 News

11:30 South2North

12:30 People &

Power

13:00 NEWSHOUR

14:30 Inside Story

15:00 Witness

16:00 NEWSHOUR

17:30 Talk to Al

Jazeera

18:00 NEWSHOUR

19:30 Counting the

Cost

20:00 News

20:30 Inside Story

21:00 NEWSHOUR

22:00 News

22:30 The Stream

23:00 Muslims of

France

14:30 English Premier

League; Swansea

V Everton

18:00 English Sports

News


League Football


League Season

Review

21:30 The Football

League Show


League Monday

Night Football

And Arsenal V

Chelsea

13:00 Do Dil Bandhe

Ek Dori Se

14:30 Jodha Akbar

15:00 Pavitra Rishta

16:30 Qubool Hai

17:30 Pavitra Rishta

18:30 Ek Mutthi

Aasmaan

19:30 Jodha Akbar

21:00 Qubool Hai

22:00 Doli Armaano Ki

22:30 Do Dil Bandhe

Ek Dori Se

13:00 Shake It Up

13:25 That's So

Raven

15:00 Wolfblood

17:00 Toy Story 2

18:30 Good Luck

Charlie

20:05 Jessie

22:00 Austin And Ally

22:25 A.N.T. Farm

23:10 Wizards Of

Waverly Place

14:00 Fun Size

16:00 Gabe The

Cupid Dog

18:00 Giant

Mechanical Man

20:00 Ghostbusters

22:00 How To Make

Love To A

Woman

13:15 Wheeler

Dealers

15:20 Flying Wild

Alaska

16:10 Fast N' Loud

17:00 Ultimate

Survival

19:30 American Guns

20:20 Storage

Hunters

21:10 How Do They

Do It?

22:00 Man, Cheetah,

Wild

22:50 Bush Pilots

23:40 Battleground:

Rhino Wars

14:00 Bones

15:00 Royal Pains

16:30 Coronation

Street

17:00 The Ellen

DeGeneres

Show

18:00 Bones

19:00 Bunheads

20:00 Revenge

21:00 The Blacklist

22:00 The Newsroom

23:00 Rescue Me

11:00 A View From

Here

13:00 The Pirates!

Band Of Misfits

15:00 Will

17:00 The Lucky One

18:45 The Bourne

Legacy

21:00 Moonrise

Kingdom

23:00 Pariah

13:15 Freddy

Frogface

14:45 Marc Logan

16:00 Missing Lynx

18:00 American Girl:

McKenna Shoots

For The Stars

20:00 A Cat In Paris

22:00 Marc Logan


QF RADIO 91.7 FM ENGLISH PROGRAMME BRIEF

LIVE SHOWS Airing Time Programme Briefs

SPIRITUAL HOUR

6:00 - 7:00 AM A time of reflection, a deeper understanding of the teachings of Islam.

RISE 7:00 – 9:00 AM Today on Rise, Laura and Scott speak with Shabina Khatri from Doha News. Shabina will fill us in on everything that's happening locally here in Qatar.

INTERNATIO-NAL NEWS

1:00 PM The latest news and events from around the world.

DRIVE 3:00 – 4:00 PM A LIVE daily afternoon show broadcast at peak travel time. Today Nabil focuses on movies, what’s showing in cinemas and upcoming must sees with Amir Ghonim from the Doha Film Institute.

Repeat Shows

LEGENDARY ARTISTS

10:00 – 11:00 AM The show tells the story of a celebrity artist that has reached unprecedented fame. Throughout the episode the artists’ memorable performances/songs will be played to put listeners in the mood.

FASHION 12:00 – 1:00 PM A weekly show hosted and produced by Laura Finnerty. The show brings together the latest fashion trends along with exciting interviews with local and international designers.

INNOVATIONS 7:00 – 8:00 PM A weekly show hosted and produced by Scott Boyes. The show talks about all the newest and exciting advancements in the world of science and technology.

MALL

1Dhoom 3 (2D/Hindi) – 2.00, 5.00 & 10.30pm

Biriyani (2D/Tamil) – 8.00pm

2

Tarzan (3D/Animation) – 2.30pm

Frozen (3D/Animation) – 4.30 & 6.30pm

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (3D/Adventure) – 8.30pm

Blood of Redemption (2D/Action) – 11.30pm

3

A Madea Christmas (2D/Comedy) – 3.00pm

The Citizen (2D/Drama) – 5.15pm

Hours (2D/Drama) – 7.15 & 11.30pm

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2D/Comedy) – 9.15pm

LANDMARK

1Dhoom 3 (2D/Hindi) – 2.30, 7.30 & 10.30pm

Frozen (3D/Animation) – 5.30pm

2




Blood of Redemption (2D/Action) – 9.30 & 11.30pm

3

Hours (2D/Drama) – 3.00 & 9.00pm




ROYAL

PLAZA

1

Dhoom 3 (2D/Hindi) – 2.30 & 8.15pm



2



Biriyani (2D/Tamil) – 6.00pm

Hours (2D/Drama) – 8.45pm


3



Hours (2D/Drama) – 7.00pm



PLUS | MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2013 POTPOURRI16

Editor-In-Chief Khalid Al Sayed Acting Managing Editor Hussain Ahmad Editorial Office The Peninsula Tel: 4455 7741, E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected]

IN FOCUS

The morning sky near TV Roundabout.

by Sanjay Basu

Send your photos to [email protected]. Mention where the photo was taken.

Salem Mohammed Al MarriChief Financial Officer, Msheireb Properties

Prior to joining Msheireb Properties he worked as the AGM of Finance Group at Qatar Islamic

Bank (QIB). Al Marri also held key posi-tions at Qatar Mining Company and State Audit Bureau. During this time, Al Marri was sent on secondment to Deloitte Middle East, Moore Stephens (London) and Qatar Mawashi Company where, as Investment and Finance Director, he played a key role in devel-oping Mawashi financial performance. Al Marri holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Qatar.

Who’s who

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Project Space: Magdi Mostafa: Sound Element When: Till Jan 5, 2014Where: Mathaf: Arab Museumof Modern Art

What: Egyptian artist Magdi Mostafa explores the dialogue between sound and space. Mostafa’s work evokes personal and shared memories, recalling different images and emotions to be experimented by the visitors. Free Entry

Relics — Damien HirstWhen: Until Jan 22; Sun-Wed: 10:30am–5:30pm. Tuesday ClosedThur-Sat: 12pm–8pm, Fri: 2pm–8pmWhere: Al Riwaq Exhibition Space What: The most comprehensive survey of Damien Hirst’s work ever shown and his first solo exhibition in the Middle East. Free Entry

L’âge d’or — exhibitionby Adel AbdessemedWhen: Till January 5Where: Atrium and ground floor of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art What: Curated by Pier Luigi Tazzi, the exhibition will showcase recent works, including drawings, paintings, sculptures and videos, many created by Adel Abdessemed. Entry: Free, open to all

Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim: A Leader’s Legacy When: Until January 30, 2014Where: QMA Gallery, Katara What: The first of its kind to showcase Qatar’s modern history, this exhibition presents new insights into Sheikh Abdullah’s life and legacy to Qatar’s people through exceptional artifacts, historic photographs, oral history interviews and original films. Free Entry

‘Our Qatar’Photography ExibitionWhen: Till Jan 18, 10pm to 10pm Where: Katara Gallery 2 - Bldg 18 What: “Our Qatar” is a Community Photography Installation project. Katara is inviting all those living, working and visiting Qatar to deliver to the Katara Art Studios, Building 19 at Katara Cultural Village Foundation, one photo that expresses the way they feel about Qatar and their life in the country. Maximum Size accepted is A3. For more information contact the Katara Art Studios Team at [email protected]: Free Entry

Events in Qatar

A vast store of water equivalent in area to Ireland lies beneath Greenland’s icesheet, and it

may provide answers to one of the big riddles of climate change, scien-tists reported.

In 2011, US scientists crossed the southern Greenland icesheet on an expedition to drill ice cores, a bench-mark of annual snowfall.

They were stunned when they drilled into a layer of compressed snow called firn -- for instead of piercing an icy sponge at a depth of 10m (33 feet) as expected, they encountered liquid water and ice granules instead.

They carried out another drilling a few kilometres away, and got the same result when they reached the firn layer at 25m (81 feet).

Seeking an answer to the liquid mystery, a Nasa plane with terrain-mapping radar was brought in to fly over the zone, as well as ground-pene-trating radar towed by a snowmobile.

Radar returned bright reflections pointing to the presence of a vast res-ervoir of water beneath the ice.

Extending down Greenland’s south-eastern flank, the hidden water cov-ers a whopping 70,000sqkm, or 27,000

square miles. It is found at depths beneath the ice that range from five to 50m (16 to 160 feet).

The store is believed to hold melted snow from the previous summer, according to the paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

It works similarly to an aquifer below the ground, which is a spongey rock that holds water in its air spaces.

In this case, the air spaces in the firn are occupied by water, resulting in something akin to the crushed-ice soft drink called a snow cone.

“The surprising fact is the juice in this snow cone never freezes, even in the dark Greenland winter,” said Rick Forster, a professor of geography at the University of Utah, who led the mission.

“Large amounts of snow fall on the surface later in the summer and quickly insulates the water from the sub-freezing air temperatures above, allowing the water to persist all year long.”

The secret store appears to have been around for some time and was not initiated by man-made global warming, the scientists believe.

AFP

Revealed: Vast water store beneath Greenland’s ice

weird & wacky - home - the peninsula qatar · 8/10/2016 · plus | monday 23 december 2013 3...

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