d c—40 c today lifestyle/horoscope puzzles new hope

DOHA 34°C—40°C TODAY PUZZLES 12 & 13D LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE 11L P

Shawwal 22, 1437 AHWednesday, July 27, 2016

CommunityIn Germany, a unique car workshop

goes to great lengths to restore American classics.

CommunityPunjab Music Group is organising a

musical event in the honour of late playback singer Mohammed Rafi.

P7 P16

New hope

Study says specialised brain

training may forestall dementia

onset for years. P4-5

COVER

STORY

Wednesday, July 27, 20162 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY ROUND & ABOUT

KabaliGENRE: Action, Drama CAST: Rajinikanth, Winston Chao,

Radhika ApteDIRECTION: Pa RanjithSYNOPSIS: Superstar Rajinikanth

emerges as a great don (gangster).

He is seen in a role fi ghting for his people, trying to protect his family and his business from enemies. Before Independence many Indians (Tamils) were sent to Malaysia as workers where they were treated as slaves. Rajni fi ghts for his people’s rights. But their owners

manage to send Rajni to jail for 25 years to curb the revolution. They thought that Rajni was suppressed but to their surprise Rajni emerges as a great Don on his release and fi ghts for his people.

THEATRES: The Mall, Royal Plaza

Madaari GENRE: Adventure, Crime, DramaCAST: Irrfan Khan, Jimmy Shergill,

Vishesh BansalDIRECTION: Nishikant Kamat

SYNOPSIS: A man named Nirmal loses his family in a man—made disaster. He starts the journey of seeking answers asking for accountability which urges him to take revenge. Madaari is a

social thriller pertinent to the current political scenario in India. A burgeoning nation of 1.4bn people in which the powered call the shots.

THEATRES: The Mall, Royal Plaza

Community EditorKamran Rehmat

e-mail: [email protected]: 44466405

Fax: 44350474

Emergency 999Worldwide Emergency Number 112Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991Local Directory 180International Calls Enquires 150Hamad International Airport 40106666Labor Department 44508111, 44406537Mowasalat Taxi 44588888Qatar Airways 44496000Hamad Medical Corporation 44392222, 44393333Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation 44845555, 44845464Primary Health Care Corporation 44593333 44593363 Qatar Assistive Technology Centre 44594050Qatar News Agency 44450205 44450333Q-Post – General Postal Corporation 44464444

Humanitarian Services Offi ce (Single window facility for the repatriation of bodies)Ministry of Interior 40253371, 40253372, 40253369Ministry of Health 40253370, 40253364Hamad Medical Corporation 40253368, 40253365Qatar Airways 40253374

USEFUL NUMBERS

Quote Unquote

PRAYER TIMEFajr 3.33amShorooq (sunrise) 4.58amZuhr (noon) 11.40amAsr (afternoon) 3.07pmMaghreb (sunset) 6.24pmIsha (night) 7.54pm

Happiness is not something you

postpone for the future; it is something you design for the

present. — Jim Rohn

Mall Cinema (1): Alice Through The Looking Glass (2D) 11am; Kabali (Tamil) 1pm; Monkey King: Hero Is Back (2D) 3.30pm; Alice Through The Looking Glass (2D) 5pm; The Conjuring 2 (2D) 7pm; Central Intelligence (2D) 9.30pm; Kabali (Tamil) 11.15pm.Mall Cinema (2): Kabali (Tamil) 11.30am; Kabali (Tamil) 2.30pm; Finding Dory (2D) 5.15pm; Alice Through The Looking Glass (2D) 7pm; Star Trek Beyond (2D) 9pm; Madaari (Hindi) 11.15pm.Mall Cinema (3): Madaari (Hindi) 11.30am; Kabali (Tamil) 2pm; Silah El Talamiz (Arabic)

5pm; Star Trek Beyond (2D) 7pm; Madaari (Hindi) 9pm; The Conjuring 2 (2D) 11.30pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (1): Monkey King: Hero Is Back (2D) 11.30pm; Madaari (Hindi) 1.30pm; Alice Through The Looking Glass (2D) 4pm; Alice Through The Looking Glass (2D) 6pm; Kabali (Tamil) 8pm; Kabali (Tamil) 11pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (2): Star Trek Beyond (2D) 11am; Monkey King: Hero Is Back (2D)

1pm; Finding Dory (2D) 3pm; Monkey King: Hero Is Back (2D) 5pm; Star Trek Beyond (2D) 7pm; Alice Through The Looking Glass (2D) 9.15pm; Madaari (Hindi) 11.30pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (3): Ghosbusters (2D) 12.30pm; Silah El Talamiz (Arabic) 2.30pm; Central Intelligence (2D) 4.30pm; Abo Shanab (Arabic) 6.30pm; The Conjuring 2 (2D) 9pm; The Conjuring 2 (2D) 11.30pm.Asian Town Cinema: Kabali (Tamil) 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11pm & 12am; Madaari (Hindi) 6.45pm.

3Wednesday, July 27, 2016 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYROUND & ABOUT

Compiled by Nausheen Shaikh. E-mail: [email protected], Events and timings subject to change

EVENTS

Qatar Summer Festival DATE: August 1—31VENUE: Doha Exhibition and Convention

CenterEnjoy Qatar Summer Festival throughout

the month of August under the theme ‘Color Your Summer’. It will include a wide range of summer entertaining events and activities, art zones, shopping promotions, in addition to a unique entertainment city.

Barzan Girls Center’s Summer Programme

DATE: Until August 25TIME: 6pmVENUE: Barzan Girls CenterBarzan Girls Center is organising its

summer programme, which continues for a month and targets girls aged 15 years and above. For registration, you can visit the centre’s headquarters at 6pm. The programme aims to exchange experiences and information between the girls, establish the spirit of cooperation between them, and to advance their characters through learning. It will feature several educational programs, workshops, courses, camps, festivals, skills, and trips. For enquiries, please call 44789392.

Blood Donation CampDATE: August 5TIME: 8am—4pmVENUE: Aster Medical Centre, Industrial

AreaCare & Aware, a joint charitable venture

of Aster Medical Centre, Malabar Gold & Diamonds, Wellcare Group and KMCC Kozhikode District Committee, is organising a blood donation drive to raise awareness on the importance of blood donation among the public with the support of Hamad Medical Corporation and felicitating blood donors on August 5 from 8am to 4pm. The drive will be held at Aster Medical Centre, Industrial Area.

Qatar Summer Camp 2016DATE: Ongoing until Aug 11VENUE: TBAQatar Summer Camp includes a wide

range of sporting, artistic, cultural and educational activities and events provided by some of the most prominent institutions and organisations in Qatar. The camp is open for boys and girls from independent and Arabic—speaking private school students aged between 11 and 14 years. The girls will be fully separated from boys in all the events and activities.

Garage GalleryDATE: Until November 1TIME: 8pmVENUE: Spaces at the Fire StationThe Artists in Residence exhibition is a

culmination of an intensive nine—month programme featuring works by 18 local contemporary artists who have been working in the studios and spaces at the Fire Station since September 2015. The exhibition showcases new work and projects created by the artists during their residency period, shedding light on the development of their innovative ideas and diverse studio practices. Photographic, sculptural, and installation—based artworks fill the Garage Gallery and showcase these talented artists.

Vacation CompetitionDATE: Until September 21VENUE: FCC OfficeThe Women’s forum of Friends Cultural

Centre has announced competitions for Qatar—based Malayalee students of grades IV–XII. There are two competitions including Avadhikkalath — an article on vacation experiences and Avadhikkalakazhchakal, on photography. Article on vacation experiences should be prepared in Malayalam or in English with a minimum of 500 words. Photographs for the competition should be printed on A4 size art paper or photo paper. Pictures should not have been published before and should not be downloaded from internet. Entries for competitions need to be submitted to FCC Office on or before September 21. More details can be obtained by contacting telephone number 44661213.

TCA Science Summer CampDATE: July 10—Aug 4TIME: 8:30am—3:15pmVENUE: TCA, C—Ring RoadQatar’s most exciting summer camp is

an unique science workshop to introduce young children to the mysteries of science, through hands on make and take projects with interactive experiments. For inquiries, call 66523871.

QSports Summer CampDATE: Until September 1TIME: 8am—1pmVENUE: Al Jazeera AcademyQSports summer camps are committed

to providing a safe, fun and skill—based experience for kids between the ages of 4 and 14. We have a dedicated team of specialist kid’s coaches and classes and activities are safe, planned, progressive, active, creative, inclusive and designed to maximise participation of all children by offering a variety of activities.

Yamativo Salsa ClassesDATE: Every MondayTIME: 7pmVENUE: Radisson BluIt’s always fun and always challenging.

Let’s meet and learn some moves every Monday night. You don’t need to do anything, just join us. Level 1 (intermediate level) 7pm and for beginner level 8pm. Be there are Radisson Blu Hotel Cabana Club.

Cake Decoration ClassesDATE: Morning and eveningVENUE: Tavola Royal Plaza, Al Saad

StreetTavola offers a range of cake decorating

and kitchen skills classes. Tavola is the only authorised Wilton method provider in the Middle East.

Combination of Sun, Sand and Surfi ng

DATE: OngoingVENUE: Aqua ParkFor the fi rst time ever in Qatar, it will

be possible to ride up curved sidewalls at 90 degrees to the direction of the water fl ow. Giving visitors and especially surfi ng fanatics an amazing experience available at Aqua Park. Come join us and also take advantage of the extra free ticket you get anytime you buy two Stingray Tickets.

New Bootcamp Abu HamourDATE: Sunday, Tuesday, ThursdayTIME: 6pmVENUE: Doha British SchoolLocated just minutes from Villaggio

and a walk away from Ain Khalid Gate, the Doha British School campus is our newest Bootcamp location.

The training takes place on the main grass playing field surrounded by an athletics track. There are showers available and changing rooms.

Pottery workshop for kidsDATE: Every MondayTIME: 5pm—6pmKids will learn a new hand building

technique for creating and finishing artworks in clay. For more, call 44865201.

Fitness TrainingDATE: Sunday, Tuesday, ThursdayTIME: 6pm—7pmVENUE: MIA ParkThere are fitness classes in the park on

Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday nights between 6 and 7pm. Open to all levels of fitness. Bootcamp is an intensive and fun way to train and also meet new people in the open and friendly group atmosphere. More information, from Bootcamp, Qatar or info@ bootcampqatar.com.

FOODIE CHOICE

RESTAURANT: Al Canteen RestaurantLOCATION: Arumaila Boutique HotelAl Canteen Restaurant in Arumaila

Boutique Hotel, Souq Waqif Doha offers comfort food at its best. Guests can relax and enjoy a wide range of dishes including pasta, noodles, fish & chips, and traditional Arabic dishes, in the distinctively energetic surroundings of Souq Waqif.

Summer Programme DATE: July 31—Aug 21VENUE: Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar will organise its summer programme for all

school students aged six years and above. They can choose from a variety of programmes designed for various age groups, with the aim of learning new skills and making new friends during the summer holidays.

4 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY COVER STORY

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Train the brainThe new clinical trial results establish specialised brain training as a potentially

powerful strategy to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other aff lictions, including

normal ageing, that sap memory and reduce function, writes Melissa Healy

If you’re intent on keeping dementia at bay, new research suggests you’ll need more than crossword puzzles, aerobic exercise and an active

social life. In a study released this week, researchers found that older adults who did exercises to shore up the speed at which they processed visual information could cut by nearly half their likelihood of cognitive decline or dementia over a 10-year period.

The new clinical trial results, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association’s International Conference in Toronto, establish specialised brain training as a potentially powerful strategy to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other affl ictions, including normal

ageing, that sap memory and reduce function.

With 76 million baby boomers reaching the age of maximum vulnerability to Alzheimer’s and with no eff ective treatments available to alter the disease’s progression, researchers are keen to fi nd ways to prevent or delay the onset of the memory-robbing disease.

The new research suggests that even years after it is administered, an inexpensive intervention without unwanted side eff ects might forestall dementia symptoms.

The latest results emerged from a 10-year study that compared the eff ects of three forms of brain training in a group of 2,802

cognitively healthy seniors. The ACTIVE study — short for Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly — was funded by the National Institute on Aging.

A quarter of the participants, who had an average age of 73.4 at the study’s start, got no training at all. The remaining participants were divided into three groups, and over fi ve weeks, each group got 10 hour-long training sessions. One group got a classroom-based course designed to impart strategies aimed at boosting memory; a second got a classroom-based course designed to sharpen participants’ reasoning skills.

A third group was given computerised training designed

to increase the speed at which the brain picks up and processes cues in a person’s fi eld of vision. Speed of visual processing is a cognitive skill that declines with age, a trend that some neuroscientists attribute to the increasing “noise” in electrical communications between cells and among regions in the brain.

Over the study’s 10-year follow-up, 14 percent of participants in the control group suff ered signifi cant cognitive decline or dementia, compared with 11.4 percent in the memory-strategies training group, 11.7 percent in the reasoning-strategies training group and 10.5 percent in the speed-of-processing group. Cognitive decline or dementia was not only less among those in the speed-of-processing

group; when it appeared, it came later.

Statistically, the trial’s four groups experienced sizeable diff erences in cognitive ageing. For those who got the commercially available brain-training exercises, the cumulative risk of developing cognitive decline or dementia over 10 years was 33 percent lower than for participants who got no training at all. Among a smaller group of computerised-training participants who got “booster sessions” — at least one refresher class 11 and 35 months after the initial training — the risk of cognitive decline or dementia went down even further. Compared to study participants who got no training at all, recruits who went through more than 10 of


COMMUNITYCOVER STORY

the computerised brain-training sessions were 48 percent less likely over 10 years to experience dementia or cognitive decline.

Participants who took part in the other two training regimens, which focused on teaching strategies for remembering and for reasoning, were as a group slightly less likely than the control group to suff er cognitive decline or dementia over the study’s 10-year span. That was particularly true for those who got 10 sessions to improve reasoning-strategies. But the results of those training regimens were less robust than those for the computerised training, and researchers could not rule out the possibility they were caused by chance.

In the ACTIVE trial, participants’ cognitive health was measured at one, two, three, fi ve and 10 years after initial training took place, using several standardised batteries. Researchers gauged participants’ mood, confi dence and self-rated health, and surveyed their ability to conduct such daily tasks as preparing meals, driving and taking care of fi nances.

The computerised brain-training exercise is commercially available as the “Double Decision” game, one of a suite of cognitive exercises marketed online by the San Francisco-based Posit Science Corp. The game exercises an individual’s ability to detect, remember and respond to cues that appear and disappear quickly in varying locations on a computer screen. It uses colourful graphics and challenges players with escalating diffi culty as their profi ciency increases.

In an interview, University of California, San Francisco neuroscientist Michael Merzenich, chief scientifi c offi cer of Posit Science, said that the seemingly narrow skill of processing visual cues appears to be a pretty good indication of a person’s overall cognitive health.

The new study suggests that when visual processing skills are improved by programs designed to

build up those mental “muscles,” people not only perform better in tests of that specifi c skill, they get better at a wide range of complex behaviours, he said. The cognitive benefi ts, in short, appear to be “generalised.”

For companies marketing computer-based brain-training programs, now a multimillion

industry, claims of such generalised cognitive benefi ts have generated criticism and controversy. In 2014, neuroscientists gathered under the auspices of the Stanford Center on Longevity took the brain-training industry to task for promising results that were “frequently exaggerated and at times misleading.”

Though such exercises can produce performance improvements in the lab, they wrote, “these small, narrow and fl eeting advances are often billed as general and lasting improvements of mind and brain.” Despite bold marketing claims, “compelling evidence of general and enduring positive eff ects on the way people’s

minds and brains age has remained elusive,” they wrote in a December 2014 consensus statement.

University of South Florida associate professor Jerri Edwards, fi rst author of the new study, said the ACTIVE study’s fi ndings appears to be a milestone — “the fi rst time a cognitive training intervention has been shown to protect against cognitive impairment or dementia in a large, randomised, controlled trial.”

Among the study’s most intriguing fi ndings, said Edwards, was the suggestion that with continued brain training — an increased dose — older people might further boost their protection against dementia.

“Next,” she said, “we’d like to get a better grasp on what exactly is the right amount of cognitive training to get the optimal benefi ts.”

The ACTIVE study was one of several unveiled in Toronto, where Alzheimer’s disease researchers and activists met to review the progress of research into the disease.

Included in the fi ndings presented was data suggesting that people whose work requires complex thinking and/or activities are better able to withstand the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

In one such study, researchers from the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute scanned the brains of 284 people in late middle age who were cognitively healthy, looking for injury to connective tissue that is a marker for Alzheimer’s disease. Among those who showed evidence of the diseased “white matter,” they found that those who worked primarily with other people, rather than with things or data, had maintained the highest cognitive function.

“These new data add to a growing body of research that suggests more stimulating lifestyles, including more complex work environments with other people, are associated with better cognitive outcomes in later life,” said Maria C. Carrillo, chief science offi cer of the the Alzheimer’s Association. —Los Angeles Times/TNS

Among the study’s most intriguing findings according to Jerri Edwards, a University of South Florida associate professor and first author of the new study, was the suggestion that with continued brain training — an increased dose — older people might further boost their protection against dementia


COMMUNITY MARKETING

Nissan challenges fastest

man on Earth to take on his

toughest competitor yet

Six-time Olympic gold medallist and Nissan Global Director of Excitement Usain Bolt has risen to numerous challenges on the track. Now, in Nissan’s digital campaign, “Bolt vs.

Flame,” he faces an unprecedented challenger — fi re.

Released recently across Nissan digital channels, a two-minute, documentary-style fi lm shows Bolt being challenged in a fi ctional “Fire Research Laboratory” to contend against the speed of a fl ame. Bolt shares in the video what it feels like to be the fastest person on Earth and how he prepares to compete on the world’s biggest stage, saying, “I set goals for myself. My goal is to be the greatest.” The video, fi lmed in Bolt’s home country of Jamaica, also shows the sprinter driving his custom Nissan GT-R painted in “Bolt Gold.”

“Usain Bolt’s daring attitude to always go

further is inspiring. We wanted people to experience the inner strength of the most famous sprinter in history when posed with a challenge to reach even further. This is also an opportunity for fans to see Usain with his custom Nissan GT-R, which soon will be available in Brazil. To see the world’s fastest man driving the world’s fastest mass-produced car is exhilarating,” said Ronaldo Znidarsis, VP Marketing & Sales, Nissan Brazil.

The Bolt vs. Flame fi lm project is supported by a global social media tease campaign, featuring a series of 9.58 second videos and movie posters created from 19,000 actual matchsticks being lit on fi re for dramatic eff ect. Additional footage and behind-the-scenes videos featuring Bolt will be released over the next month. The campaign is being supported through a robust paid social eff ort across Brazil. Two of the promotional images for the campaign.

Technogym launches ‘Let’s Move for Rio’ social campaignT

echnogym, an Italian athletic training, rehabilitation and wellness company, has been selected as the Offi cial and Exclusive fi tness equipment supplier for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the

company said in a statement. For Technogym, Rio 2016 represents the sixth

Olympic experience after Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Turin 2006, Beijing 2008 and London 2012. In Rio, Technogym will equip 15 centres with over 1,200 equipment for the training of the 10,500 athletes taking part to the games.

Technogym says its commitment for the Rio 2016 Olympics goes far beyond the company’s role of Offi cial Supplier and that it aims to concretely contribute to the legacy that the Olympic movement wants to leave after the Games.

On July 24, Technogym launched the “Let’s Move for Rio” social campaign. The campaign’s purpose is to donate part of the equipment provided to the Olympic training facilities in favour of the post-Olympic legacy. Through the Technogym digital platform Mywellness cloud, during the Olympics, athletes and wellness enthusiasts will be able to measure their physical exercise — both on the equipment and thanks to the free Technogym mobile app — and transform it into equipment that Technogym will donate to 22 public gyms in Rio’s most disadvantaged communities.

Nerio Alessandri, President and Founder of Technogym, said: “We are very proud of being chosen for the 6th time as the offi cial supplier of the Olympic Games. This important achievement represents a victory for the whole Technogym team and a strong reference on our products innovation and quality standards.

“Rio 2016 will also represent a unique social opportunity to promote wellness in Brazil and in the whole Latin America and to get increasing number of people interested in regular physical exercise.” CAUSE: The campaign’s purpose is to donate part of the equipment provided to the Olympic training facilities in favour of the post-Olympic legacy.


COMMUNITYOFFBEAT

A passion for US carsBy Lars Mueller

Thomas Kurz strokes the hood of his Plymouth Road Runner almost aff ectionately with a cloth.

“It’s a 1970 model,” he says, alluding to the fact that this highly polished muscle-car with 335 horsepower under the hood is exactly as old as its owner.

Kurz is a trained vehicle mechanic who specialises in US classics.

Late last year, he went solo and opened a little workshop on his parents’ farm. There, he restores, repairs and provides maintenance for big American cars that barely fi t on the average European parking spot.

In a sign of the growing interest in such vehicles, the recent sixth edition of a recent US Car Convention in Dresden, Germany, took bookings for 1,200 vehicles and 15,000 visitors, according to organiser Mathias Lindner.

For the fi rst edition, in 2011, fans took just 300 cars to Dresden and there were 4,000 visitors.

Car owners from as far as Norway, Lithuania and Hungary came to this year’s show, says Lindner. It included rock ‘n’ roll, typical American food and a 101-year-old Dodge as well as brand-new cars made in the United States.

A sense of America as a paradise of self-indulgence, as the not-Germany, makes some Germans

starry-eyed. The feeling may be heightened around Dresden and Bautzen, where Kurz lives, by the fact that their area was under totalitarian rule until 26 years ago.

Kurz shares his passion with his girlfriend, Irene Grusla, who organises the business side. If there is time to spare, she will pick up a wrench too to take apart eight-cylinder engines under her boyfriend’s guidance.

31-year-old Grusla discovered her love for American cars during a trip to Florida, and she later met her boyfriend in Dresden’s US car scene.

Kurz bought and restored his fi rst Ford Mustang in 2008.

“I just wanted to work on a V8 at some point,” he recalls. “And to enjoy the special sound under the hood during rides.”

Most German cars are powered by smaller straight four or straight six engines. Where a German car purrs, an American car roars. German makes pride themselves on refi nement, whereas US classics are brash and fl ash.

The German US car fans are a colourful bunch, including both passionate autofreaks and mechanics.

Some of them see the classics as an investment: they will sometimes pay 15,000 euros (16,600 dollars) for what looks like a wreck and put in at least that much money again to fi x it in a way that respects the car’s history, then wait for someone to fall in love with it.

Kurz shows, on a sandblasted car, where steel bodywork had turned to rust, concealed by layer

upon layer of cosmetic fi ller. Some owners would despair, but not Kurz. You cope, you fi nd a fi x: “We get them all back on the road,” he says.

Solutions can be time consuming, relying on spares cannibalised from junked cars and patient searching.

Kurz orders many spare parts directly from the United States. Through a friend, he made contact with Americans who, if needed,

will look in scrapyards for the parts he needs in his German workshop. The clients are happy to pay.

On weekends in particular, Kurz and his girlfriend like to get in the thirsty Road Runner with their young daughter and cruise the region. They need to plan 15-20 litres of petrol for every 100 kilometres.

“The odd shower won’t hurt the car,” the mechanic says. “But if it is already raining before we head out,

the Plymouth stays in the garage.”This year’s Convention in

Dresden was the fi rst where Kurz’s workshop showed off its restoration projects. The highlight was a 1968 Chevelle SS convertible they meticulously restored over several months.

When asked how many hours went into that project, Kurz looks at its glossy chrome engine.

“That’s impossible to say,” he muses. —DPA

THE RESTORERS: Irene Grusla, left, and Thomas Kurz with a 1950 Buick Roadmaster, left, and a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner. His company in Daranitz, Germany, specialises in restoring US classic cars.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Thomas Kurz at his Daranitz workshop works under the bonnet of a 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS.


COMMUNITY TRA

Into the Wild(woods) o

By Gretchen McKay

Beach vacations, done right, have a magical way of getting you to eat, drink and do things you’d normally steer clear of on a

regular weekday. Take roller coasters. I hadn’t been on one in years, ever since a wild ride on the Phantom’s Revenge at a Kennywood school picnic left me dizzy for weeks.

Yet, there I was under the stars on a recent Tuesday, my knees stuff ed under a bar in a seat high above the Atlantic Ocean on The Great White, a rickety beachfront wooden roller coaster on New Jersey, USA’s Wildwoods Boardwalk. After fi rst stuffi ng myself silly with funnel cakes and mango-fl avoured teppanyaki ice cream.

Biking, boogie-boarding and boating on vacation? Par for the course. But hurtling down a 25-foot drop into a dark tunnel under

the boardwalk before creak, creak, creaking 110 feet back up so my daughter and I could plunge, screaming, 100 feet back down toward the ocean? Not in my wheelhouse.

Yet something about the ocean air and pulsing energy of this two-mile stretch of the Jersey Shore made me throw caution to the wind. Crazy-crowded and loud once the sun goes down, the boardwalk takes tacky to unrivalled heights with its gaudy souvenir shops, endless pizza stands, and vendors hawking 25-cent games of chance. But that’s what also makes it a hoot. Not to mention a nostalgic dose of old-fashioned kitsch.

The two-minute coaster ride is a perfect metaphor for the Wildwoods, the collective name for the “sister” beach towns of North Wildwood, Wildwood City and Wildwood Crest at the tip of Southern Jersey. Driving into town, there’s so much activity and so many people. With more than 8 million visitors each summer season, Wildwoods is the most-visited family vacation destination at the Jersey

Shore, surpassed only by Atlantic City. And where are the high-rise beachfront hotels? But like the Great White, the island grew on me. By the time I left, I was already planning a trip back. Here’s why.

You can’t help but love the beaches, which are so insanely wide that it takes a good fi ve minutes to walk from the boardwalk to the water’s edge. Plus, they’re free. (Although you will have to pay to park; bring plenty of quarters to feed the meters.) The Wildwoods also is a great town for cycling, with a recently expanded bike path, and boasts a handful of museums in which to kill time when it rains, including the working Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, the National Marbles Hall of Fame and a converted 60s motel devoted to doo-wop.

There’s also free fi shing and crabbing, free entertainment most summer nights along with Friday night fi reworks and some of the coolest architecture on the East Coast.

Whereas neighbouring Cape May celebrates Victorian design,

the Wildwoods lives and breathes doo-wop. During the 1950s and 60s, brothers Wilbert and William Morey built a small empire of candy-coloured motels on the island inspired by the MiMo-style hotels they saw during winter vacations to Miami’s South Beach. They were much smaller, of course, but just as stylised, with playful, futuristic architectural details such as acute angles, delta wings, cantilevered roofs and lots of fl ashing neon.

The Googie or doo-wop style, as it came to be known, was an immediate hit with tourists, and eventually the area became home to some 200 such family-owned motels, says Dan MacElrevey, president of the Doo Wop Preservation League. With their kidney-shaped pools, plastic palm trees and garish fl uorescent signs, “they were diff erent and more fun.”

As tastes changed and beachgoers sought more modern accommodations, many of those buildings fell into disrepair and were demolished. The remaining 96 or so

might be gone altogether had a group of business owners and architectural buff s not gotten together in 1997 to form the preservation league, with its mission of keeping the architecture and spirit of doo-wop alive in the Wildwoods.

“They realised how cool it was and that it needed to be preserved,” says MacElrevey, an original board member and also a key force in an artefact-fi lled Doo Wop Experience museum that opened in 2007.

How much does Wildwoods love the Googie style? Enough that its Acme and Wawa markets and Walgreens all have neo-doo-wop-inspired signs.

As Kirk Hastings writes in Doo Wop Motels: Architectural Treasures of the Wildwoods, “These structures are actually a lot more than just buildings. They are imagination run wild, with soaring ramps and crazy angles. They are visual wonders ... they are nostalgia, reminding us of a simpler, more optimistic time.... Most of all they are fun. There is a magic there that is hard to explain.”

HUGE: The Wildwoods’ free beaches stretch for five miles across the shores of North Wildwood, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest.


COMMUNITYAVEL

of New Jersey

Thirty-eight blocks long, the Wildwoods Boardwalk stretches for two-and-a-half miles along the Atlantic Ocean, and off ers more than 100 rides and attractions.

Today, the state-designated Wildwoods Doo Wop District is home to the largest concentration of preserved mid-century doo-wop buildings in the US. So when you stay in one of its motels, you’re living history.

One of the most famous is the Caribbean, built in 1958, saved from demolition in 2004 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The fi rst to “plant” plastic palm trees in the Wildwoods, it appears ready for blast off with a “levitating” ramp, canted glass

walls and recessed “spaceship” lighting. Other notables include the Polynesian-themed Waikiki, the air-travel themed Pan American and the Chateau Blue Motel, built in 1962 with a heart-shaped pool.

If you prefer neo-doo-wop, the boutique StarLux Hotel across the street from the huge Wildwood sign, originally built in 1957, is the bomb. A $3 million renovation in 2000 created lodging the Jetsons might consider checking into, what with its angular roof lines, all-glass lobby and lava lamps in each room.

More adventurous guests can also bed down in one of two vintage Airstream trailers in a lot across the street.

The Wildwoods is not luxurious, but like some of the roller coasters you’ll fi nd along the Jersey Shore, it’s quaint and quirky, like a vacation into the past. As singer Bobby Rydell, who in 2014 was immortalised in a mural on the boardwalk, crooned in the 60s: “Woah, woah, woah those Wildwood days.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

IF YOU GO

Where to stay: There are more than

8,000 hotel, motel and bed and

breakfast rooms for all budgets on

the island, including many in vintage

doo-wop style motels. The retro

StarLux (305 E. Rio Grande Ave.,

Wildwood; 1-609-522-7412) is the

island’s boutique hotel, and has a new

miniature golf course for the kids. One

of the larger hotels on the island, the

Adventurer Oceanfront Inn (5401 Ocean

Ave.,Wildwood Crest; 1-609-729-1200)

off ers 2-, 3- and 4-room suites geared to

families with pool and ocean views.

Where to eat: The Wildwoods is not

a foodie town, but that’s not to say

you’ll go hungry. The boardwalk is

home to all your favourite eats, from

pizza and cotton candy to fudge, taff y

and buckets of hand-cut Curly’s Fries,

a beach staple since 1974. Some of it

is incredibly cheap: A hot dog can be

had for $1 and I lost count of the many

$6.99 breakfast specials off ered on

the boardwalk. Off the boardwalk, we

enjoyed authentic Neapolitan pizza at

Poppi’s Brick Oven Pizza (4709 New

Jersey Ave., Wildwood), decent Mexican

at Bandana Mexican Grill (5607 Atlantic

Ave., Wildwood Crest), and some of the

largest mussels I’ve ever seen at Dog

Tooth Bar & Grill (100 E. Taylor Ave.,

Wildwood).

Other local favourites include

Schellenger’s for seafood (3516 Atlantic

Ave., Wildwood), Duff er’s for ice

cream (5210 Pacific Ave., Wildwood)

and Laura’s Fudge for saltwater taff y

and candy (357 E. Wildwood Ave.,

Wildwood).

Activities: Bikes are easy to rent ($10

and up/hour) and are allowed on the

boardwalk north of its famous 17-foot-

high sign and colourful concrete beach

balls at Rio Grand Avenue until 11am.

After that, pedestrians have to share

the wooden walkway with the town’s

famous Sightseer Tram Cars ($3 each

way), which as day turns to night is no

small feat given the crowds — when

a voice warns “Watch the Tram Car,

please!” it’s not kidding.

Old-school Italians will be happy to

teach you how to play bocce from 7 to

11pm daily at Wildwood Bocce Court

(6300 Ocean Ave.) and you also can

take a free fitness class each day at

8:30am on the beach pier at Heather

Road, Wildwood Crest. If you swim,

there’s comfort in knowing the beaches

have lifeguards and Wildwoods also has

several designated surfing areas.

The Wildwoods Boardwalk, which

stretches 38 blocks, boasts three

amusement piers featuring more than

100 rides and attractions. There’s also a

waterpark.

And for architecture fans, the Doo Wop

Experience museum (4500 Ocean Ave.,

Wildwood, across from the convention

centre) off ers guided “Back to the 50s

Neon Nights” bus tours every Tuesday

and Thursday at 8pm during the

summer season ($13 adults/$8 kids;

609-523-1958). Or pick up a map for a

self-guided tour at the free museum,

open Tues., Thurs.-Fri. from 5 to 9pm,

and 10am-10pm Sat.-Sun.

Info: wildwoodsnj.com or 1-800-992-

9732

HARKING BACK TO THE OLD TIMES: The Lollipop Motel in North Wildwood, one of more than 300 motels built during the Doo-Wop era of the 1950s and 60s, features a 1950s lollipop road sign and retro decor.

ACTIVITIES: The Wildwoods Boardwalk off ers dozens of attractions, including world-class roller coasters and a waterpark.


COMMUNITY INFOGRAPHIC


COMMUNITYLIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE

ARIESMarch 21 — April 19

CANCERJune 21 — July 22

LIBRASeptember 23 — October 22

CAPRICORNDecember 22 — January 19

TAURUSApril 20 — May 20

LEOJuly 23 — August 22

SCORPIOOctober 23 — November 21

AQUARIUSJanuary 20 — February 18

GEMINIMay 21 — June 20

VIRGOAugust 23 — September 22

SAGITTARIUSNovember 22 — December 21

PISCESFebruary 19 — March 20

Don’t get in over your head today Aries and then expect everyone

else to bail you out. It’s simply a matter of knowing when to stop. Not

the easiest thing for the majority of you, but it can be done.

Unless you really feel you owe someone something, don’t go out

of your way to try hard to do something for them which they are

perfectly capable of doing themselves.

There are times when you wish you weren’t such a ‘big personality’,

aren’t there Leos? One of those times could be right now, having

off ered something you maybe cannot deliver on. Next time, be less

definite!

Sometimes it seems as if nothing is going right and everything is

going wrong. Not the greatest attitude to have goats. You’re not

seeing the forest for the trees if you’re thinking along those lines.

If you’re not sure about something or someone today, ask yourself

why? Is it your intuition warning you, something someone said

earlier in the week or simply you’re scared to make a change?

There are times when you wish you weren’t such a ‘big personality’,

aren’t there Leos? One of those times could be right now, having

off ered something you maybe cannot deliver on. Next time, be less

definite!

Nothing gets done without a lot of hard work and brain work from

you Scorpios. You are the mastermind behind so many projects right

now and others are looking to you for guidance today.

When one door closes, another opens. And that’s exactly what’s

happening this week and today for you. Sure you’re disappointed the

way things went down, but there could be something or someone

much more interesting behind door number 2 or 3.

Follow through on something you said/promised you would do

earlier in the month today twins. It’s nearing the end of July and you

are super charged right now and have energy to spare.

Stop allowing someone to know you into doing or saying something

you don’t want to do or say. You have a voice — use it. NO is the word

you’re looking for.

Be open to a 180 degree turn around today. It could come from you

or someone else, but things are about to go in a completely new

direction. Good thing you’re so easy going, right?

Try not to rock the boat too much today Pisces. You aren’t usually

one to get caught up in off ice politics or friendship drama, but you

might not be able to escape/avoid it today.

Make home changes now to be safe as a seniorW

hat homeowner, young or old, isn’t interested in aff ordable and functional home

improvements that can be enjoyed for years to come? For seniors 65 and older, well-thought-out additions or upgrades are necessary for continued comfort and safety.

Ageing in place, or modifying your home to better accommodate changing needs, can be a major undertaking. Building entrance and access ramps, widening entrances and doorways, adding a first-floor bedroom and bath, and other structural accommodations can be costly. But many other options that add both convenience and safety don’t require major expenditures.

Installing grab bars in baths and bedrooms to help with standing and balance, switching to lever-

handled doorknobs, lowering electrical switches and raising electrical outlets are among the most frequently completed non-budget-busting projects.

Adequate lightingAdequate lighting is an

important health and safety consideration for seniors, since vision changes rapidly in our later years. Universal Design guidelines call for increasing both task lighting and general room illumination as we age. Research published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology suggests that natural light may be better for ageing eyes than artificial light.

Increased ventilationIndoor air quality can be

worse than the air outside your home, and many people spend as much as 90 percent of their time

indoors. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to respiratory problems, eye irritation, headaches and even depression.

Adding skylights is one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to achieve balanced, glare-free natural light, as well as passive ventilation, in virtually any space.

Home monitoring and security

Other options that address functionality and living safely, independently and comfortably include home automation systems and Smart Home technologies, security systems, in-home health and activity monitoring to detect falls, and cell phone apps that control thermostats, lighting and other systems in the home. Too many of us wait until we reach a health or financial crisis to plan for getting older. We plan

our careers, we plan to send our children to college, we plan our vacations, but we don’t plan to age. And yet the evidence is there that those who do accept they are

going to get older, and make plans in advance, have a considerably better later life.

© Brandpoint

Adam

Pooch Cafe

Garfi eld

Bound And Gagged

Codeword

Wordsearch

Every letter of the alphabet is used at least once. Squares with the same number in have the same letter in. Work out which number represents which letter.

Puzz

les

cour

tesy

: Puz

zlec

hoic

e.co

m

ATTACKBISHOPBLACKBOARDCAPTURECASTLECHECKCLOCK

DIAGONALDRAWENDGAMEEXCHANGEGAMBITKINDKINGKNIGHT

MATEMOVEOPENINGPAWNPINQUEENRANKROOK

SQUARETHREATWHITEWINZUGZWANG

Chess

Sudoku

Sudoku is a puzzle based

on a 9x9 grid. The grid is

also divided into nine (3x3)

boxes. You are given a

selection of values and to

complete the puzzle, you

must fill the grid so that

every column, every anone

is repeated.


COMMUNITY PUZZLES/CARTOONS

Colouring

Answers

Wordsearch Codeword

DOWN2. Age (3)3. Commercial dealings (5)4. Nakedness (6)5. Bobbin-bearing rod (7)6. Dessert dish (4,7)7. Made a mistake (9)10. Butterfly’s larva (11)11. Apparently believable (9)14. Wart (7)16. Bowman (6)19. Scorch (5)21. Aff lict (3)

ACROSS1. Jewels (9)8. Unwell (3)9. Nursery rhyme characters (4,3,4)11. Tolerant of delay (7)12. Tricked (5)13. Reach a destination (6)15. Off er (6)17. Winter sportsman (5)18. Annul (7)20. Nitrous oxide (8,3)22. Meadow (3)23. Pleasant (9)

ACROSS1. Insure oneself and hide (4,5)8. See 2 Dn.9. After a short time, a spectacle shown by the clairvoyant? (6,5)11. Stage in the development of yellow flowering shrub (7)12. Elgar transcription of considerable magnitude (5)13. Sounds like how a local authority maintains order! (3-3)15. Do his pictures show unusual traits? (6)17. Two-way revolver (5)18. What the girl could be as a result of dieting (7)20. So sell new or revised version for director of “Citizen Kane” (5,6)22. She can be found in seclusion, undoubtedly (3)23. As a settler I occupy the churchyard, maybe (3,2,4)

DOWN2 & 8Ac. One related to the lemur? Yes, indeed! (3-3)3. Has an inclination to be a social worker in the Civil Service (5)4. Slave girl returning to Virginia (6)5. Soldier who frequents the pub? (7)6. This causes liquid to spurt from the barrel (5-6)7. Yeoman who fancies a steak! (9)10. Established customs for representative assemblies (11)11. Be reading diff erent material (9)14. A looser variety of spray (7)16. Take a quick look at the German leader with a cavalry weapon (6)19. The kind of house where one is entertained (5)21. She appears at dawn among the osiers (3)

Quick Clues

Cryptic Clues

Yesterday’s Solutions

QUICKAcross: 7 Kaolin; 8 Petrol; 10 Punch-up; 11 Power; 12 Eats; 13 Close; 17 Mural; 18 Veto; 22 Hindi; 23 College; 24 Unique; 25 Pirate.Down: 1 Skipper; 2 Hornets; 3 Lithe; 4 Tempest; 5 Crowd; 6 Flare; 9 Appliance; 14 Curious; 15 Several; 16 Forever; 19 Shrub; 20 Snail; 21 Plain.

CRYPTICAcross: 7 Damsel; 8 Bother; 10 Airmail; 11 Knots; 12 Crew; 13 Icons; 17 Heads; 18 Hail; 22 Right; 23 Tacking; 24 Menace; 25 Settle.Down: 1 Advance; 2 Smarted; 3 Debar; 4 Docking; 5 Throw; 6 Crush; 9 Elucidate; 14 Lettuce; 15 Lariats; 16 Flagged; 19 Aroma; 20 Agent; 21 Acted.


COMMUNITYPUZZLES


COMMUNITY CINEMA

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

Despite the massive publicity for Kabali that got the thousands of the fi lm’s lead star, Rajinikanth, on a frenzied high, he seemed to have disappointed both critics

and the man on street. One of the key points of the public relations campaign was the Kabali director, Pa Ranjith, assertion — which he made time and again — that he would turn the superstar into a super actor — the kind one saw of him in his early works with auteurs such as K Balachander, Bharathiraja and J Mahendran to name just three.

But as I walked out of an early screening of Kabali on July 22, there was disappointment writ large on the faces of viewers. Even during the show, there was silence, except for the fi rst 10 minutes when one saw Rajinikanth emerge out of the prison after a 25-year incarceration — suited and booted. This was certainly unusual for any Tamil movie with any star worth the name, and the kind of din spectators (girls included) create made it almost impossible to follow what was being spoken on screen. But the silence during Kabali was disturbing in diff erent sort of way.

As Tamil actor and stand-up comedian, Bosskey, told me soon after watching the fi lm, “this is hardly a Rajinikanth movie”. How true.

For, Kabali was minus all the antics we have got so used to seeing in Rajinikanth — right from fl icking a cigarette in the air to the way he wears and re-wears his “angavastram” (shawl). In any case, Ranjith had planned this — to get the star out of his starry mannerisms that have over a period of time got quite jaded. People were tired of them, and this was one important reason why Rajinikath’s past few movies like Enthiran, Kochadaiiayaan and Lingaa had battered the boxoffi ce into pulp.

To top it all, Rajinikanth has not been keeping well, and the star one saw in Kabali conveyed this in no uncertain terms. As one viewer quipped at the fi lm’s intermission, “Thalaivar (Rajinikanth) is looking so weak”.

So, Ranjith must have had all the noble intentions when he got Kabali off the drawing board. He wanted to show an ageing Rajinikanth, but a gangster — who would leave most of the actions to his henchmen, stepping into the ring only in the fi nal sequences to draw his pistols out of his coat sleeves (!) and vanquish the heavily made-up Winston Chao (who essays the Malaysian baddie, Tony Lee, and looking positively uncomfortable trying to talk Tamil).

Ranjith got this all right, turning the superman into a docile but dressed-up don. But what the director could not achieve was to transforms the showman Rajinikanth into actor Rajinikanth. The helmer completely

failed here. Not surprisingly so. For, this was a big task for a rather inexperienced director like Ranjith — with just two movies, romantic comedy Attakathi and crime drama Madras, in his basket.

To be honest, Rajinikanth is far too gone into gimmicks, far too used to showing off with his tricks, and it will need a director of substantial stature to remould Rajinikanth into an actor — all over again. One can only think of two names here. One, Mani Ratnam — whose gangster adventure, Nayagan, made many, many years ago, still remains a high point in Tamil cinema, nay Indian cinema, and certainly Ratnam’s career best, yes still, and protagonist Kamal Hassan’s best as well, yes still. Two, Vetrimaaran, whose Visaaranai (2015 Venice premiere) and earlier Aadukalam were laudable cinematic eff orts.

So, Rajinikanth in Kabali seemed as if he was stranded in no man’s land. He was stopped by Ranjith — or so he has been saying in his interviews — from performing gimmicks (except in one scene where he crosses his legs with stylish panache), and the actor could not sparkle as an actor. Ranjith’s fault to a large extent, for, let us not forget that while theatre is an actor’s platform, cinema is a director’s medium.

In the fi nal analysis, one must contend that Kabali must prod Rajinikanth to pause and ponder. It is time, he ceases to view himself

as a lover or he-man chasing nubile young lasses or taking on Goliaths of goondas. A classic example he must bear in mind is that of Dev Anand, who just could not free himself from the lover-boy image (even when he was knocking 80), with the result that fi lm after fi lm of his fl opped.

On the contrary, artists like Kamal Haasan, Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor, have been smart enough to reinvent themselves. We saw a diff erent Kamal in Unnaipol Oruvan and Papanasam, though there were disasters like Uttama Villain and Viswaroopam between these two high points.

Bachchan’s Cheeni Kum, Aarakshan, Satyagraha, Black, Paa, Piku, Te3N and Wazir have amply proved that here was a man willing to move with times, even if that meant letting go an avatar which had made him, in the fi rst place, a celebrated star. Gone was that angry young man of Zanzeer, gone was that lover boy of Silsila. Bachchan drew the drapes over these characters to become a proud restaurant owner in London, a true teacher, a grieving grandfather and a cantankerous old father with an obsessive bowel syndrome.

And the Rishi Kapoor one watched in D Day, where he plays an underworld kingpin! What a change from his Bobby days and his several other romantic movies. He was fantastic in Shuddh Desi Romance as a marriage broker, he was just wonderful in Kapoor and Sons, though the make-up went overboard.

Yes, Bachchan and Kapoor and even Hassan got themselves good scripts, and able helmers. But above all, these men made up their minds to select stories that seeped into their ageing psyches — unlike a Dev Saab, who clung on to his youth and youthful heroines. And fell from a majestic citadel like Guide.

Rajinikanth must get rid of the on-screen halo around him, and pick scripts that will help him shine all over again. As an actor, of course. It is still not too late.

Gautaman Bhaskaran has been writing on Indian and world cinema for

close to four decades, and may be e-mailed at [email protected]

Rajinikanth must reinvent himself to live on

NEW DIRECTIONS: Rajinikanth needs to reinvent himself along the lines of Kamal Haasan, Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor.

EXPERIMENT: Rajinikanth seems to have disappointed both critics and the man on street.


COMMUNITYHOLLYWOOD

By Rafer Guzman

When Matt Damon won the Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy earlier this year, he thanked

the usual people — his children, his wife, his colleagues — and graciously ignored the fact that his winning fi lm, The Martian, was not really a comedy. Then he said something surprising.

“When people go see movies, it’s kind of rare,” Damon said. “I’ve made a lot of movies that people just didn’t go see.”

Really? Damon has been a major celebrity since he starred in Good Will Hunting (1997) and shared a screenwriting Oscar with Ben Affl eck. He followed that by becoming an action hero in The Bourne Identity (2002), which became a popular franchise that he juggled with the Ocean’s Eleven fi lms. Throw in that Globe for The Martian — the 10th highest-grossing fi lm of last year — and you might wonder: Which Matt Damon movies did we not go see?

There are more than you’d think. Damon’s resume includes not just major hits but also a mix of middling performers and fl at-out misses. Ahead of the July 29 release of Damon’s much-awaited Jason Bourne, the fi fth fi lm in the series, here’s a selective look at the actor’s career.

SCHOOL TIES (1992): After making his fi lm debut with a brief appearance in Mystic Pizza (1988), Damon landed his fi rst major role in this prep-school drama alongside newcomers Brendan Fraser, Chris O’Donnell and Ben Affl eck. Reviews were middling, as was the box offi ce, but it’s an early example of Damon’s easy charm and eff ortless-looking acting.

GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997): Damon was already a rising star when he co-wrote and co-starred with Affl eck in this drama about a brilliant thug who begins seeing a therapist (Robin Williams). Now considered a 1990s landmark, the movie marked the fi rst of Damon’s collaborations with director Gus Van Sant.

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999): Anthony Minghella’s moody thriller cast Damon in the unlikely role of a charming sociopath who murders his way across Europe. Though not Damon’s biggest hit, Ripley may be his best performance to date. The supporting cast includes Philip Seymour Hoff man, Jude Law and Cate Blanchett.

THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE (2000): Robert Redford’s adaptation of a novel about a war-damaged golfer (Damon) who meets a mystical caddie (Will Smith)

polarised critics: Some warmed to its life-lessons, others called it racist claptrap. The same year, Damon starred with Penelope Cruz in another novel adaptation, All the Pretty Horses, which sunk like a stone.

OCEAN’S ELEVEN (2001): With all the A-list names packed into Steven Soderbergh’s Las Vegas heist comedy — George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt — there’s barely any time for Damon as pickpocket Linus Caldwell. That somewhat minor role, however, means Damon will always have this $1 billion trilogy of fi lms on his resume.

GERRY (2002): Damon and director Van Sant re-teamed for this story about two friends (one played by Casey Affl eck) who get lost in the desert. All three wrote the non-narrative screenplay. Despite critical acclaim, Gerry was a fl op even by art-house standards, pulling in a little over $250,000.

THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002): If Damon is synonymous with any role, it’s Jason Bourne, the amnesiac superspy created by Robert Ludlum. Slick but hard-hitting, preposterous but somehow believable, this fi rst Bourne movie launched Damon on another $1 billion franchise.

STUCK ON YOU (2003): The Farrelly brothers cleaned up their act for this Christmas release starring Damon and Greg Kinnear as

conjoined twins. The gags aren’t too gross and the characters are rather sweet — but was that the wrong move? The fi lm earned about a third of what Dumb and Dumber made in 1994.

THE DEPARTED (2006): Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed mob movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio cast Damon in a supporting role as a corrupt cop. It’s one of Damon’s better performances (and one of Scorsese’s best-loved fi lms), but the Oscar nomination went to Mark Wahlberg as the principled Sgt. Dignam.

GREEN ZONE (2010): Damon and two-time Bourne director Paul Greengrass struck a serious note with this dramatic thriller about an Army offi cer looking for WMDs in Iraq. Damon’s star power helped this Middle East war movie fare better than others, but the box-offi ce take of $94 million still fell short of the movie’s $100 million budget.

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (2011): This sci-fi romance based on a Philip K. Dick story starred Damon and Emily Blunt as lovers kept apart by a shadowy network of reality-wranglers. Writer-director George Nolfi (a Bourne writer) gives the story wit, warmth and tenderness — but also a disappointingly schmaltzy ending. Still, the two stars made a nice team and helped the fi lm pull in a decent $127 million.

WE BOUGHT A ZOO (2012):

Damon plus Scarlett Johansson? How bad could it be? Well, it wasn’t great. This Cameron Crowe movie, based on the memoir of a neophyte zookeeper, marked the start of a somewhat fallow period for Damon that included the preachy political drama Promised Land (2012), the so-so sci-fi thriller Elysium (2013) and the middling war movie The Monuments Men (2014).

THE MARTIAN (2015): Damon bounced back big time

in this space-adventure about an astronaut stranded on Mars. Directed by Ridley Scott, the fi lm was nearly a one-man show for Damon, who as Mark Watney often speaks to the camera as he plans his escape. Audiences lined up for the chance to spend two-plus hours with the infi nitely charming actor, and the movie became a $630 million hit that put Damon fi rmly back in the stratosphere. —Newsday/TNS

Matt Damon and his movies: Which ones didn’t we go see?

Plot’s a mystery

In the trailer for Jason Bourne, CIA agent Nicky Parsons, played by Julia Stiles,

puts it best: “Remembering everything doesn’t mean you know everything.”

Those utterly uninformative words are the closest thing to a plot synopsis

that Universal Pictures has released to date. The studio’s off icial line — Bourne

is “drawn out of the shadows” — doesn’t tell us much more. Thanks to

Entertainment Weekly’s interview with Damon, published in February, we have

some other hints as to where this new film — the fifth in the series — is headed.

As with many an action-thriller today, Bourne will touch on recent and perhaps

still-urgent themes, including financial collapse, cyber warfare and civil liberties.

Those will be “kind of somewhere in the stew of our story,” Damon said. Indeed,

the trailer features shots of protesters lobbing Molotov cocktails, a nod to the

financial crisis in Greece and a mention of the name Snowden. Alicia Vikander

plays a new character, a cyber-specialist.

But what’s going on in Bourne’s head? The last time we heard from him was

2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum, in which he recovered his memories of the men

who “created” him, brought them down and went into hiding. Bourne doesn’t

appear to have moved on emotionally, however, as the trailer suggests with a

brief shot of a sweaty, troubled Bourne lying on a bed in dingy room. (It looks a

bit like Martin Sheen’s hideout in Apocalypse Now.)

Will this be the final film in the series? That may well depend on the box off ice, but

Damon’s answer is this: “It feels like the conclusion, even though we’re not saying

it’s the conclusion, it feels like the conclusion of my identity journey.”

DISSATISFIED: Matt Damon


COMMUNITY

Pak singer to graceRafi tribute concertOrganised by Punjab Music Group, the musical event in the honour of late playback

singer Mohammed Rafi, will revisit some of his evergreen melodies. By Umer Nangiana

Artistes from Doha will join a celebrity singer from Pakistan to pay tribute to one of the greatest singers

from India, Mohammed Rafi. Carrying on with its tradition of organising a concert on Rafi’s death anniversary, Punjab Music Group, a community forum comprising expatriates from the subcontinent, will organise the Rafi Tribute Nite at Skill Development Centre on July 29.

Sohrab Ali Khan, a classical vocalist from Lahore, has been invited to perform at the event. He will be joined by singers from India such as Neha Prasad and Shyam Moham while popular radio host Farzana Safdar of FM 107 will host the musical event, expected to be attended by a large number of Rafi fans in Doha.

Sohrab Ali Khan is a popular singer who started in 2001 and has since been the disciple of classical vocalist Ustad Basharat Hussain. Khan released his first audio album in 2007. “This will be as big a show as we have been organising in the past and we are expecting a large number of people to show up,” said the chief organiser of the event, Nazakat Ali Khan.

Mohammed Rafi (December 24, 1924 –July 31, 1980) was an Indian playback singer and one of the most popular in the Hindi film industry. Rafi was notable for his versatility, his songs ranged from classical to patriotic songs, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans.

He was known for his ability to mould his voice to the persona of the actor lip-synching the song on screen in the movie. Between 1950 and 1970, Rafi was the most sought after singer in the Hindi film industry. He received six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri award by the government of India.

Rafi is primarily noted for his songs in Hindi, over which he had a strong command. He sang in other Indian languages including Assamese, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Odiya, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Telugu … and notably Urdu. Apart from Indian languages, he also sang songs in English, Farsi, Arabic, Creole, and Dutch.

Contemporary Bollywood singers like Shreya Ghoshal, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Mahendra Kapoor, Shabbir Kumar and Mohammed Aziz were influenced by Rafi’s style of singing.

Pakistan’s noted film, television and radio singer Anwer Rafi also imitated Rafi’s voice. Mohammed Rafi Academy was launched in Mumbai in 2010 on the 30th anniversary of the singer’s death, started by his son Sahid Rafi to impart training in Indian classical and popular music.

After his death in 1980, seven Hindi movies were dedicated to Rafi: Allah Rakha, Mard, Coolie,

Desh-Premee, Naseeb, Aas-Paas and Heeralal-Pannalal. Rafi is one of the recording artistes mentioned in the 1997 hit British alternative rock song Brimful of Asha by Cornershop.

Anwer Rafi was invited by PMG in 2014 at a similar concert to pay tribute to legendary Mohammed Rafi at Al Khor Community auditorium. Anwer regaled the audience with over two dozen immortal songs of Rafi . Indian singer and actress Aishwaria Murali presented duets with Anwer, much to the delight of the audience.

Anwer is a recipient of several awards like Bolan Award,

Graduate Award, Bahoo Award and National Award. Born in Lahore on June 23, Anwer is the son of well-known music director Mohammad Shafi Nagi, who was the cousin of Mohammad Rafi. He is married to the daughter of Pakistan’s prominent music director Nazir Ali. Incidentally, Anwer was also born in Lahore’s Mohallah Chumalaa, the birth place of Rafi.

Local singers Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, Javed Bajwa and Abu al-Khair presented popular songs. Mohinder Jalandhri group and Sangharsha group also performed at the show.

Farzana Safdar of FM 107 will host the show.REMEMBERING RAFI: Vocalist Sohrab Ali Khan of Khaberdar fame from Pakistan will perform at the show.

Late Mohammed Rafi

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