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Just as sports mirror society, so do the best sports films not only take us inside games and those who play them but also provide insight into our world and how it works. Wrestle, a superb sports documentary, does exactly that. As directed by Suzannah Herbert and co-directed by Lauren Belfer, this story of a Huntsville, Ala., high school wrestling team so expertly balances those two points of view, the athletic and the cultural, that comparisons to Steve James’ landmark Hoop Dreams are inevitable and legitimate. One reason Wrestle is so effective is that director Herbert and cinematographer Sinisa Kukic decided to move to Huntsville for the duration of the shoot. What resulted was not only 650 hours of footage but also the benefit of countless additional time spent just hanging out with the protagonists. As a result, the director notes, “When intense, hard things actually did happen, it wasn’t weird or uncomfortable for us to be there.” Though football is much the dominant athletic activity in Alabama, having intense, demanding wrestling at the centre of things pays dividends of its own. Often not as celebrated as other sports, wrestling has had its share of strong dramatic features focusing on it, Foxcatcher and Win Win being the best among them. Wrestle conveys a fine sense of this intense, demanding, almost gladiatorial sport, nakedly nerve-wracking and insisting on total mental and physical preparedness. One of the hooks of Wrestle is that Huntsville’s J.O. Johnson High, in one of the city’s poorest areas and a fixture on the state’s failing schools list, is the last place you would expect to find a competitive wrestling team. It exists because its 28-year-old coach, Chris Scribner, who taught social studies there, is a sincere and passionate believer that fighting to excel in sports, “grinding every day,” increases an individual’s chances of both winning tournaments and having a successful life. “It’s not about you, it’s about the opportunity you’ve been given to be great,” he says in the pep talk, one of many he gives that opens the film. Set in the 15 weeks between the start of the season and the state finals, Wrestle focuses on four of the strongest members of the team, empathetically examining their personal lives and the formidable  challenges that each of them faces. These include: Jailen: Quiet, even-keeled and self-motivated, he hasn’t seen his mother since he was 2, his father who is in and out of prison, and lives with his grandfather. Jamario: Determined to make a success of his life, he worries his mother and his coach because of the intensity of his involvement with his girlfriend. Jaquan: Though a weakness for burritos makes it hard for him to make weight, his passion for this unlikely sport confounds his mother, who says, “I got a white son, a white boy inside a black boy’s body.” Teague: The only white athlete of the four profiled, he has attention-deficit difficulties but increasingly avoids his medications in favour of self-medicating with recreational drugs. In addition to the rigors of this very demanding sport, these young men have to cope with living in poor, single-parent households where a sense of normality is not a given, and where personal situations may be beyond their capacity to handle. We also see, in vignettes that are all the more potent for being delicately handled, how what comes off very much like racial profiling affects these kids in terms of their interactions with local police. Even their coach, who reveals that his own high school years were more than problematic, legitimately worries that his charges will not get the repeated chances to overcome bad choices that he himself was given. By the time the Alabama state high school championships roll around, we know these four wrestlers intimately and we’ve come to care enough to want nothing but the best for each of them, not only in the tournament but in their lives. But this is truth, not fiction, and that’s not something that’s guaranteed. – Los Angeles Times/TNS

Actor Kunal Kemmu has been a part of filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal franchise for a while now. He says the multi-starrer film series works only because of the entire team, including his co-stars Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi and Tusshar Kapoor. Kunal has been part of Golmaal 3, Golmaal Again, Go Goa Gone and has more multi-starrer movies, including the recently announced Malang and the fifth part of Golmaal, lined up. What does he like about being a part of multi-starrer movies? “The most important reason is that it’s not on your shoulders,” he replied with a laugh. But that’s not the only reason. “It’s the story that always attracts me. A film like Golmaal only works because of all of us. It is as much Ajay’s film as it is mine or Arshad’s or Tusshar’s. These are the stories of the gang,” Kunal told IANS in a telephonic interview. “I do have a solo film coming out this year. It’s a fun-filled film. I am trying to do multiple things which I kind of enjoy doing,” added the Kalyug actor. He feels that as an actor, nobody really knows what’s going to work. “If we knew we would all be doing successful films. It is unpredictable... what kind of film will open... how on a Friday. Multi-starrers have gone down, newcomers’ films have worked. So, there is some formula that none of us actually know,” said Kunal. He is currently tied up with his maiden web series Abhay, an eight-episode crime thriller on ZEE5. “It’s a new platform for me and new experience. It’s a longer commitment. By the time I will be done with eight episodes, there will be about seven hours of footage. So playing a character for seven hours and playing a character for two hours on screen... There’s a difference. It’s a process that I am enjoying,” he said. – IANS

More energy. Changed taste buds. Better sleep. After a month without sugar, the (completely unscientific yet very compelling) anecdotal evidence is in from some of the more than 3,000 folks – myself included – who tackled the Star Tribune’s 28-Day Sugar-Free Challenge. Overwhelmingly, challengers said they found that going for a month without added sugar (no cookies, no cake, no fructose-laden sauces) made them feel better. Even if, like Maple Grove participant Tim Deets, they’re “not claiming perfection.” “I think my energy level is more balanced over the day,” he said. “I have not seemed to get the midafternoon crash.” But the benefits of reducing added sugar can go beyond energy. Researchers have found that cutting out added sugars can boost metabolic health and reduce the stress that consuming the sweet stuff puts on organs including the pancreas and liver, according to a scientific review by SugarScience, a site run by health scientists at the University of California, San Francisco. Studies by University College London researchers and others have also found that accountability is a powerful motivator, something that the members of our closed Facebook group demonstrated as they supported one another, banding together to figure out how to get through tough moments and stay positive. A look at data from the monthlong, very active group showed that the posts that garnered the most comments were often ones from folks seeking help or in need of encouragement. All told, the group created more than 23,000 posts, comments and reactions  — from recipes for cheese-stuffed dates to suggestions of ­mayonnaise brands without added sugars. Some were thrilled to discover that sugar-free peanut butter tasted so good. Others found that many of the packaged breads made without added sugars tasted like “cardboard.” Throughout February, many participants reported  –  in the Facebook group, in e-mails and even phone calls  –  that they were sleeping better, and that troubles such as inflammation, night sweats and aches and pains lessened as the month went on. “My arthritic aches and pains have greatly diminished,” said Kathy Obler of St. Paul. “After a couple of sugarless weeks I can hardly believe these are my knees!” “The mental fog that went with the roller-coaster quest for sugar is gone,” she said. “Now the overly sweet treats I loved have lost their appeal.” Not everyone noticed physical changes. Many reported simply feeling positive about being more in-the-know about what they were eating and drinking. “I found it eye-opening. Added sugar is in what I considered to be pretty healthy food,” said Paula Doll-Wildenberg of St. Paul. Being part of the challenge taught her to be a “better consumer by reading labels more carefully.” Mary Hanson-Busch of New Prague said she was shocked to learn how much added sugar she had been regularly consuming. “I don’t drink pop, so that was easy, but smoothies and blended coffee drinks were frequent purchases for me,” she said. “I feel like I can continue to pass on products that have added sugar or other sugar substitutes and hope it leads to better food choices overall.” And like Wynn Martin, many in the challenge found they actually enjoyed eating more vegetables and fruit and less processed and packaged foods. “It was a good change in our house,” said Martin, who lives in Minneapolis. This was what I ended up liking most about the challenge, too  –  the fresh foods we added to our shopping list. Cucumber slices instead of crackers. Fresh pineapple and mango instead of blondies and brownies, with no whining from our kids. We also managed to (mostly) wean our youngest off ketchup, although some of this effort was undone when, out to eat as a family, she saw that red bottle on the table before we did. (My efforts at homemade, date-sweetened ketchup were completely rejected, as were date and cocoa “brownie” bites.) When the Star Tribune decided to host this challenge, our hope was that we’d learn about the added sugar in packaged foods, sauces and condiments, which would spur us to create new, healthy habits to keep sugar consumption more in line with current recommended limits. Weight loss wasn’t one of the goals, but we did hear about it from lots of folks taking part. Many said they dropped a few pounds (this was true for me); while some said the scale didn’t change at all. Others, like Hanson-Busch, said they lost a dozen pounds or more. Some of the most inspiring feedback we’ve received has been from those who are newly empowered to permanently take charge of how and when added sugar makes its way onto their plate. “I have always been pretty conscientious about what I eat, but have never avoided sugars like this. It has been eye-opening,” said Mary Swanson Senneka. “The challenge has made me more deliberate about what I eat. I will go back to eating sugars. I love a piece of dark chocolate now and then or a cookie or ice cream. But I think that I now want to be able to decide when I consume sugar – my choice on the chocolate, not a manufacturer deciding to put it in soup.” – Star Tribune (Minneapolis)/ TNS

You can’t touch me ‘cause I’m untouchable, Michael Jackson sang on his last real studio album, and for years that appeared to be true. By the time Jackson released Invincible in 2001, he’d spent nearly a decade dodging suspicions of child sexual abuse. Evidence of his questionable behaviour seemed to abound; a boy accused him of molestation in 1993 before settling the civil case out of court for a reported $23 million. Yet in many ways nothing seemed to stick to Jackson, perhaps the biggest pop star the world has ever known. Though Invincible didn’t achieve the omnipresence of his earlier work — global smashes like Thriller and Bad, whose influence can still be heard today — the album topped the Billboard 200 and was certified for double-platinum sales. A second charge of abuse, of which Jackson was acquitted in 2005, failed to dampen enthusiasm for a series of 50 sold-out concerts he planned to perform in London starting in 2009. And his shocking death that year at age 50 only bolstered his appeal, as demonstrated by the success of several posthumous records and shows, including a Cirque du Soleil production on view as we speak at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Now that invincibility may finally be weakening. On Monday night, HBO concluded its two-part broadcast of Leaving Neverland, director Dan Reed’s searing documentary in which two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, detail the abuse they say they suffered as children at Jackson’s hand. The singer’s estate has denied the allegations and strongly condemned Reed’s film; it has also filed a $100-million lawsuit against HBO, which the estate accuses of violating a nondisparagement agreement. But Robson’s and Safechuck’s testimony is so powerful — as horrifyingly graphic as it is persuasively specific — that it’s hard to imagine Jackson gliding past their claims as he did others in the past. In part that’s because they frame their stories in language that fans can understand. Again and again in Leaving Neverland, the men describe the experience of being close to Jackson as a kind of hypnosis; so too do their mothers, who shake their heads at the memory of allowing their sons to be in the same bed with a grown man they hardly knew. But who can’t relate to the idea of being dazzled by Jackson’s talent? As a singer and a dancer and a songwriter, he synthesised the sounds and attitudes of soul and pop — and of black and white — to create a new American music that even now, 40 years after Off the Wall, feels revolutionary. Of course, as #MeToo has shown us, domination through amazement is a familiar MO among entertainers accused of abuse. Yet Jackson was operating on an infinitely higher level than that of R. Kelly or Ryan Adams; indeed, he presented himself — credibly! — as something of a magical creature, with talismans like his sequined glove and dance moves that seemed to defy earthly physics. In the late-’80s video game Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, his feet literally throw off digitised sparks that beat back the bad guys. And what was Neverland Ranch if not the ultimate embodiment of his fairy tale mindset? There was more troubling stuff too, including the many alterations to his physical body. Still, even when he baffled us or tempted our pity, the effect of Jackson’s supernatural bearing is that we’ve allowed him to live — even after death — beyond a normal code of conduct. Or at least we did. Watching Leaving Neverland, one of the revelations that strikes you is the ghoulish yet mundane precautions that Jackson took at his ranch, according to Safechuck, who says the singer had special doors and bells in place to hide their intimate interactions from anyone who might discover them. That’s not the doing of some otherworldly genius; it’s the sign of a predator who knew the risks of his alleged crimes. If our perception of Jackson is changing, then, what do we do with his music? I don’t mean strictly in a moral sense, though that’s certainly part of it. In the streaming era, when every play on Spotify or Apple Music is worth a few fractions of a penny, listeners must accept that interest is tantamount to support — a real shift from the days when problematic figures could be examined (as they should be) without being slowly enriched. But for Jackson the question is also an aesthetic one: How do we hear his music outside the framework of his untouchability? So much of Jackson’s catalog is rooted in the exceptionalism of a man who was groomed from childhood for superstardom — and who later, after he’d achieved it, seemed to take on some of the very qualities he’d grown up resenting in his domineering father. Try to listen to a song like Unbreakable, that defiant Invincible cut, while thinking of Jackson as someone bound by conventional notions of right and wrong. It doesn’t make any sense; the song presupposes that the singer occupies his own moral plane. In a way, though, the same is true of a much older song such as Rock With You, which practically glows with an ebullience simply out of reach for any of Jackson’s peers. The song is magic of a kind, and it’s not as though Jackson had only one trick up his sleeve; the guy made dozens of tunes that seemed to stand apart from the rest of pop, including Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, Beat It, Billie Jean, P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing), The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal and Remember the Time. To hear any of them is to be reminded of the others and, therefore, of the singularity of Jackson’s career. And to consider his career is to acknowledge the outrageous leeway we felt his work entitled him to in his personal life. Leaving Neverland may not prove Jackson’s guilt or innocence. But it demands that we start listening to him as a man, not as an icon. —Los Angeles Times/TNS

A globally-recognised celebration that has been observed since the early 1900s, International Women’s Day falls on March 8. Its official stated aim is to progress gender parity. All around the world, seminars, workshops and conferences are held to highlight the contributions made by women as leading figures in their respective societies. Like rest of the world, Doha also hosted many activities to highlight the role and real importance of women in the society. In this regard, the Embassy of France and Maison de la Fracne, in co-operation with different French organisations and companies, recently organised ‘Women and Diversity Lunch Talk’ in W Doha Hotel. Working women, particularly working at important positions in different organisations in Qatar, attended the conference in large numbers. Franck Cellet, Ambassador of France, attended the interactive conference as a special guest. The conference featured speeches by various experts along with an interactive session between the audience and two sets of expert panels. The programme kicked off with a key-note speech by Dr Sheikha bint Abdulla al-Misnad, a Qatari educationist and researcher. Tanguy De Belair, director of Diversity, Vinci Group, also spoke on the occasion on ‘What is Diversity?’ There were two panels of experts that took part in the interactive session. The first panel consisted of prominent women, included Dr Clare Beckett-Mcinroy, Executive Coach at Qatar Financial Centre; Maryam al-Kaab, Chief Administrator and Personnel Officer at North Oil Company; and Dr Noora Fetais, Director of Kindi Centre for Computing Research, College of Engineering Qatar University. The second panel had human resource managers, including Wafa al-Safaar, Lead CSR and Institutional Relations at Total; Navdeep Lamba, HR Manager at Thales; Alen Isac, Deputy HR Manager at Alstom.  While opening the session, Lionel Levha, President of Maison de la France, said. “This initiative is a part of the International Women’s Day. We should appreciate the roles played by women around the world, whatever the situation be. We have tried to make this event as open as possible. Do not hesitate to raise questions for the speakers. We thank and appreciate the speakers for participating in the programme. We are also thankful to the French embassy and our sponsors, including Total, Alstom, Technip FMC, INCI, French Chamber of Commerce, and French Business Council.” Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sheikha bint Abdulla al-Misnad, said, “I am thankful to the French Embassy for inviting me. Today, I will strictly share my personal views and experiences as a researcher with you. In my opinion, women in Qatar have made great achievements. There are reasons for that. The first reason is the historical nature of the Qatari society. As we all know, before the oil production, the life in Qatar was very hard. Men had to go far away from homes in search of livelihood for months. During that time, women would take care of the community. They were the managers of the community. Even in the Bedouin lifestyle, the women had a great role to play. They used to attend their guests in the absence of men. In this historical backdrop, the women in Qatar have always been as strong, respectful and important part of the society. The life was so hard that the women could not sit idle. “Since Qatar’s oil and gas industry started developing, things have changed a lot. The education system has brought many changes in the society. Education started in Qatar during 1950s. First school started in 1955. The government started many incentives encouraging parents to send their children to the modern schools. Most of the population of Qatar was concentrated in Doha and Al Khor. It was easy to provide school education for all.” The educationist, with the help of data and statistics, highlighted about the progress of women in Qatar because of education. She said that the government of Qatar continues to encourage students to obtain education wherever in the world they want to.  Her address was followed by an interactive session, further raising awareness about the progress of women in Qatar, in particular, and in the world, in general.

One of America’s greatest writers had a birthday last month, and she gave us all a gift. Toni Morrison turned 88 on February 18. If anyone has earned the right to rest on her laurels, it would be Morrison. She has had not one but several distinguished careers, as an editor at Random House where she worked to bring black literature into the mainstream, and as a professor of writing at Cornell, Bard and Princeton. She is a writer in many genres, from children’s books to criticism. What she is internationally famous for, of course, is her fiction, 11 novels of extraordinary power and beauty, the crown jewel among them her masterpiece, Beloved. Published in 1987, it earned the Pulitzer Prize and a tower of other awards. In 1993, she received the Nobel Prize for Literature. On February 12, Morrison published The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations. The pieces in this collection range over almost four decades, from 1976 to 2013, and include commencement addresses, eulogies, essays on other artists and her own work, and her Nobel lecture on the power of language. The introduction is titled Peril, and in it Morrison lets us know why she feels this book is necessary: Writing is powerful and therefore, in times like ours, threatened. That’s inevitable, she writes, “because truth is trouble. It is trouble for the warmonger, the torturer, the corporate thief, the political hack, the corrupt justice system, and for a comatose public. Unpersecuted, unjailed, unharassed writers are trouble for the ignorant bully, the sly racist, and the predators feeding off the world’s resources. … Therefore the historical suppression of writers is the earliest harbinger of the steady peeling away of additional rights and liberties that will follow.” One striking thing about these essays is how utterly timely many of them remain. The subjects that Morrison has focused her mighty intellect upon for more than half a century continue to be essential issues. Her great subject has always been America’s original sin of racism, and it surfaces in almost all of these pieces. In a 1994 speech, A Race in Mind, she discusses, among other things, blackface. “The point to remember is that minstrelsy had virtually nothing to do with the way black people really were; it was a purely white construction. … The black mask permitted whites to say illegal, unorthodox, seditious, and sexually illicit things in public. In short, it was a kind of public pornography, the main theme of which was sexual rebellion, sexual licence, poverty, and criminality.” So much for harmless, nonracist college pranks. Morrison explores the complexities and consequences of racism in many of these pieces, from the issue of immigration, so tainted by irrational fear of the Other, to literature, tackling race in those great American novels The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Moby-Dick. Of the latter she writes, “But if the whale is more than blind, indifferent Nature unsubduable by masculine aggression, if it is as much its adjective as its noun, we can consider that possibility that Melville’s ‘truth’ was his recognition of the moment in America when whiteness became ideology. And if the white whale is the ideology of race, what Ahab has lost to it is personal dismemberment and family and society and his own place as a human in the world.” Her approach to the Other is always to attempt to understand them by imagining their lives, even in fairy tales. In Cinderella’s Stepsisters, she brushes off the “rather vague absent father and a nick-of-time prince with a foot fetish” as well as Cinderella’s surrogate mothers, because “it is the stepsisters who interest me.” In real life, she imagines her way into the ultimate Other, the racist, revealing the terrible intimacy of the relationship between hater and hated: “If I spend my life despising you because of your race, class, or religion, I become your slave. If you spend yours hating me for similar reasons, it is because you are my slave. I own your energy, your fear, your intellect. I determine where you live, how you live, what your work is, your definition of excellence, and I set limits to your ability to love. I will have shaped your life. That is the gift of your hatred; you are mine.” In the title essay, Morrison writes of the power to counter such hatred. The essay is a fascinating exploration of her process in writing Beloved, most of which takes place during Reconstruction, and the novel that followed it, Jazz, set in the 1920s. The author details how she grappled with writing historical novels, with immersing herself in research but then finding the evocative, unique images that bring a novel to life. She writes, too, of the power of love to make us free. In Beloved, Sethe commits an unimaginable act of violence out of love for her child. For a slave, who had no claim to her own flesh and blood because that baby was someone else’s property, choosing that fatal love was revolutionary. Jazz focuses on romantic love rather than familial love; its black characters, unlike their enslaved ancestors, can choose with whom they get intimate, form families, fall in love. “Where they could effect the widest possible choice,” she writes, “by deciding to fall in love. Claiming another as the beloved. Not because of filial blood relationships or proximity, but precisely because it was ad hoc and accidental and fated but not predictable.” In a speech last year, Oprah Winfrey (another powerful woman whose career is inextricably connected to Morrison’s) said of the author, “She is our conscience, she is our seer, she is our truth-teller.” In an era when complex ideas are reduced to slogans and tweets, when language is dumbed down and truth so often debased, The Source of Self-Regard moves with courage and assurance in the opposite direction. What a gift.  —Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Florida)

If you want to enjoy the Qatar-India Year of Culture 2019, do not miss the most appropriate performance going to take place on March 1 when both Indian and Qatari music will be offered. Bollywood’s ‘Sultans of Swag’, Vishal and Shekhar are all set for their debut concert in Doha. The performance will also feature Qatar’s Grammy-nominee Fahad al-Kubaisi. The event will take place at Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena in Al Sadd from 6pm onwards. The performance is styled by Manish Malhotra, well known Indian fashion designer.  First ever Qatar-India vocal collaboration in the world is bringing two different kinds of music together for the Doha audience making it a historic performance. There have been different kinds of cultural exchange programmes taking place both in India and Qatar to mark the year and bring the two nations closer through culture and art. Bollywood’s ‘Sultans of Swag’ is presented by FAB Entertainment. Ensuring this special performance is accessible to all, the organisers have also launched a ‘Worker Welfare Initiative,’ allowing for corporations in Qatar to purchase special discounted tickets for their staff to experience the premiere performance. The event provides a rare opportunity for nationals of South Asia to see the global entertainment icons together in Doha. In a statement shared with media, Fauzia Adeel Butt, CEO of FAB Entertainment, said, “We are thrilled to be bringing this special world-class entertainment duo to Qatar for the first time as a part of the Qatar-India Year of Culture. India’s fashion icon Manish Malhotra will be dressing Fahad al-Kubaisi depicting a fusion of Indo-Arab fashion. We are grateful to our partners QNTC, Qatar Museums, Qatar Airways, HBK Contracting, St. Regis Doha, Al Mana Malls, MegaMart, OneFM and Careem, who have ensured we make this pioneering effort a reality. We thank Embassy of India and P Kumaran, Ambassador of India, for his continuous support. We have recently launched the ‘Worker’s Welfare Initiative’ in hope that such efforts can bring communities together and ensure that everyone has access to good entertainment. It certainly feels rewarding and boosts one’s morale.” Vishal–Shekhar are an Indian music composer duo consisting of Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani. The duo is known for their work in Hindi, Telugu and Marathi films. The duo rose to prominence when they composed the songs for the film Jhankaar Beats which included the song Tu Aashiqui Hai. They won the Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent for Jhankaar Beats. Vishal Dadlani is a singer and vocalist of the electronic band Pentagram, and Shekhar Ravjiani is a trained classical singer. Vishal is also a judge of the globally acclaimed music talent show, Indian Idol and Shekhar of Sa Re Ga Ma. The duo composed more than 250 songs featuring superhit albums, including Tiger Zinda Hai, Befikre, Ra.One and Sultan. Their biggest hit Swag Se Swagat became the world’s fastest song to hit 100 million views before going on to touch 650 million within a year. Fahad al-Kubaisi is a Qatari singer, record producer, fashion model and human rights activist. His voice has been described as a ‘tender’ baritone. He is also famous for producing a sophisticated genre of Khaliji music. Fahad became the first Gulf singer to compete in the Grammy Awards. His album, Enta Eshq, was nominated for the ‘World Music Album’ in the 60th Grammys Awards in 2018. Fahad will be collaborating with Vishal and Shekhar for a special performance and will be styled by Indian fashion icon Manish Malhotra. Talking to Community, Muralidhar Rao, member of Indian Community Benevolent Forum, said, “There have been numerous performances by different Indian artistes in Qatar. But, this is a different sort of event. It is going to offer a rare opportunity of witnessing two different music performances together. It will give the audience a better understanding of two distinct cultures. “Indians live in Qatar in huge numbers. Such cultural exchange programme will help bring them close to the Qatari culture. Music removes all communication barriers and we can understand each other better through music.”

Podcasting, once viewed as a niche industry that catered to public radio fans, got a major boost this month when Swedish streaming giant Spotify agreed to pay around $230 million for Gimlet Media, the New York producer of such audio dramas as Homecoming and the documentary series Crimetown. The deal – the largest to date – comes during a period of rapid growth in podcasting and could transform the industry in much the same way that Netflix changed television, analysts and executives said. Spotify’s venture into the business is expected to bolster the value of podcast firms, generate higher licensing fees for producers, and potentially create a more consumer-friendly model built around subscriptions rather than advertising revenue. “It sends a signal that podcasting’s time has come in a big way,” said Kelli Richards, chief executive of All Access Group, a digital music and entertainment consultancy. “You are going to see a frenzy of more podcasters entering the system.” The surge will probably prompt a wave of consolidations in a crowded market that already boasts more than 550,000 podcasts worldwide on Apple’s Podcasts app, one of the most popular ways to discover programmes. Newer podcasts will need to work harder to get discovered, said Oren Rosenbaum, head of emerging platforms at United Talent Agency. The agency represents more than 50 podcast creators or companies. “It is getting tougher and more challenging,” Rosenbaum said. BuzzFeed laid off members of its podcast team, while other companies, such as San Antonio-based IHeartMedia Inc have expanded their footprint, purchasing Atlanta-based Stuff Media, one of the nation’s largest podcast publishers, for $55 million last year. Podcasts are expected to take in $514.5 million in ad dollars this year, up 28 percent from 2018, according to Interactive Advertising Bureau and PwC. That boost has helped fuel Southern California podcast firms such as Beverly Hills-based PodcastOne, which will take in about $40 million in revenue this year, up 25 percent from 2018, said Executive Chairman Norm Pattiz. “People listen to podcasts from start to finish,” Pattiz said. “If they can’t do it in one sitting, they hit the pause button. They can consume it whenever and wherever they want.” Last year, about 73 million Americans tuned in to podcasts each month, with many concentrated in metropolitan areas such as New York and Los Angeles, according to Edison Research and podcast analytics firm Podtrac. Part of the growth has been fuelled by celebrities such as Remi Cruz and Alisha Marie, who last year launched an L.A.-based podcast about their lives called Pretty Basic, in which they discuss such topics as dating and fitness. The podcast has helped them gain new fans beyond YouTube, generating more than 5 million downloads. It’s produced by Ramble, a joint venture of New York-based podcast company Cadence13 and United Talent Agency. “It feels very intimate,” said the 24-year-old Cruz. Fans have tweeted saying they felt as if they “were in the room with us,” she said. Southern California hosts more than two dozen podcasting firms. Popular shows recorded locally include The Dream, an investigative series on multilevel marketing companies; Pod Save America, which features political commentary by aides of former president Obama; and The Ron Burgundy Podcast on iHeartRadio, in which comedian Will Ferrell voices his character from the Anchorman movies. Hollywood screenwriters can learn about their craft on the weekly podcast Scriptnotes. There’s even an agency for podcasters called Pod People, an L.A.-based firm that launched last year and has more than 330 clients. “We’re going to see a huge jump in 2019” in awareness and audience, said Pod People founder Rachael King. “It’s a combination of technology getting better and bigger players getting into the game.” Podcasting took off in 2005, when Apple made more than 3,000 podcasts available for free on iTunes. Digital audio files became even more widespread seven years later when Apple launched its Podcasts app. Hollywood took notice in 2014 after the success of Serial, a popular podcast that investigates whether convicted murderer Adnan Syed really killed his high school ex-girlfriend. Venture capital firms poured money into start-ups, including Gimlet Media and West Hollywood-based Wondery, that created narrative programmes similar to “Serial” that could be licensed for TV shows. Increasingly, podcasts have been an inexpensive way to test stories for possible TV shows or movies. “There is a lot more hunger for stuff that has been proven than for stuff that’s just pitched,” said producer Marc Smerling. He and Zac Stuart-Pontier launched the documentary series “Crimetown” as a podcast through Gimlet. It cost $500,000 for 18 episodes, a fraction of a TV budget, and had 16 million downloads in its first season. FX is now turning the podcast into a cable TV series. “There is a large appetite from television producers for underlying (intellectual property) that comes with a built-in audience,” said Wondery CEO Hernan Lopez. “Books and comic books have been the main sources of IP to be optioned, but podcasts are becoming an increasingly popular form of IP.” Wondery has several nonfiction narrative programmes, including popular true crime story Dirty John with the LA Times and medical investigation Dr. Death. Dirty John became a hit show on Bravo; Universal Cable Productions is developing a TV series based on “Dr. Death.” Lopez declined to disclose financials but said Wondery’s revenues nearly doubled last year. The company recently expanded its West Hollywood offices and expects to grow to 40 employees this year, up from 30, he said. Despite the industry’s growth, making money in podcasting has been a challenge, in part because of a heavy reliance on advertising. Often podcasts must have at least 10,000 downloads per episode to even quality for ads – a tall order for small firms. But Spotify – with its 96 million subscribers – could help matters by making a subscription model for podcasting more popular, as the company attempts to build a robust audio platform that goes beyond streaming music. “The subscription model is a better consumer experience than having an advertising business,” said Michael Montgomery, a lecturer at UCLA Anderson School of Management. “Netflix has shown that in spades.” The streamer, which charges $9.99 a month for a premium account, plans to spend as much as $500 million this year buying podcast companies (including about $340 million to buy Gimlet Media and New York podcast company Anchor FM Inc.) Already, Spotify has more than 185,000 podcast titles, including 14 exclusives in the fourth quarter. “We have the opportunity to make original content the way Netflix does and to utilise the catalogue of content we have in the platform to help bring people to the podcast space,” said Dawn Ostroff, Spotify’s chief content officer, in an interview. Rival Pandora also is heavily investing in the space, building technology that will help users recommend podcasts based on their listening music patterns. The Oakland-based firm, which is owned by SiriusXM, uses algorithms to make recommendations on podcasts based on users’ music listening patterns (Pandora also charges $9.99 for its premium service). “As we learn that about you, we can then serve you content that you care about,” said Chris Phillips, Pandora’s chief product officer. Pandora has snapped up exclusive streaming rights for some podcasts, including Seasons 2 and 3 of “Serial.” Some analysts believe podcasting will continue to evolve beyond a Netflix-style subscription model. For example, in China, apps like Ximalaya FM bundle audio programmes allowing users to pay a la carte based on the topic they are interested in, said Connie Chan, a general partner at Menlo Park venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. The podcast industry has “a big future ahead of it, if it can learn to move beyond ads and monthly subscriptions, because that’s the only way that the creators will have more incentive to produce deeper, better content,” Chan said. Some podcasters are trying to leverage their popularity by selling tickets for live events. L.A.-based Crooked Media’s political commentary programme Pod Save America held more than 70 shows across the US and Europe last year, with tens of thousands people attending its shows since 2017. “It’s become a great source of revenue,” said Tommy Vietor, one of the hosts. He declined to disclose figures. For now, local entrepreneurs like Jason Smith, CEO of Burbank-based Starburns Audio, welcome Spotify’s entry into the business. His 10-person company produces such shows as Dumb People Town, about people doing asinine things. “It opens it up,” Smith said. “It shows that there is real value in these networks.” — Los Angeles Times/ TNS

A team of scientists, astronomers and engineers meets weekly in a conference room on a Howard County, Maryland, research campus and plans to save the world. “Keep calm and carry DART,” reads a poster on the wall. DART — the Double Asteroid Redirection Test — is their plan to avert catastrophe. It’s also Nasa’s first mission not to explore space, but to defend against it. The research team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel plans to launch a spacecraft, speed it up really fast and smash it into an asteroid. BOOM! The impact, they hope, will bump the big space rock off course — actually more like nudge it slightly. Someday, the thinking goes, this method may save humans from the fate of the dinosaurs. “Kind of like a big missile,” said Elena Adams, the mission’s lead engineer. “It’s very exciting. You are actually doing something for the fate of humanity.” An estimated 100 tonnes of space debris falls to Earth every day, according to scientists with the Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. This debris is mostly dust and sand. Occasionally, space sends something bigger. In February 2013, a fiery meteor cut across the Siberian sky. It came streaking down as fast as 40,000mph. Then came a mid-air explosion, a flash and boom. The shock wave blew out windows across the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. A factory roof collapsed. More than 1,000 people were hurt, mostly from shattered glass. Scientists estimate the meteor unleashed a force stronger than the atomic bomb detonated in Hiroshima. The rock was about the size of a school bus. That’s a pebble compared to a meteor believed to have exploded over remote Siberia in 1908, flattening hundreds of square miles of forests. Researchers estimate that fireball equalled 185 Hiroshima bombs and heated the air to near 50,000 degrees. If the Tunguska meteor had arrived, say, three hours later, it could have obliterated Moscow, said Lindley Johnson, whose title with Nasa is planetary defence officer. “That probably would have changed the entire history of the 20th Century,” said Johnson, who runs Nasa’s asteroid-defence programmes. “These are natural disasters that we need to be aware of.” Some time in a span of several hundred-thousand years, scientists say, an asteroid even larger could strike Earth and wreak global disaster. They believe a meteor 8 to 10 kilometres in diameter crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 65 million years ago and killed off the dinosaurs. “We’ve found all the nearest asteroids that size. We’re safe from that,” said Paul Chodas, who runs an asteroid search team at the Nasa lab in California. But smaller asteroids can unleash megatonnes of energy too. “Even down to the 1-kilometre size, if it hits in the right spot, could cause global devastation,” Chodas said. “It’s the small asteroids that pose the risk.” In the 1990s, Congress ordered Nasa to locate dangerous asteroids in the solar system. Researchers today aim to catalogue the orbits of 90 percent of asteroids 460 feet or bigger. They predict 25,000 of them hurtle through the solar system. Chodas said they have found and charted about a third of them. The researchers can calculate each asteroid’s trajectory decades into the future. Scientists have long debated what to do if they discover one on a collision course with Earth. Hollywood portrayed such events in Deep Impact and Armageddon. In both movies, mankind narrowly escapes doom by planting nuclear bombs and blowing the asteroids to pieces. It’s not that easy. Nasa has considered nuking an asteroid with warheads, but that risks turning a single incoming rock into a shower of debris as happened in Deep Impact. Another plan calls for flying a spacecraft beside the asteroid and gradually drawing it off course like a gravity tractor. DART offers a third strategy, and will be the first given a live test. “It’s the simplest and most effective,” Chodas said. Now the team at the Hopkins laboratory in Laurel has begun the final design and construction of the DART spacecraft. About the size of a Honda Civic, it’s scheduled for launch in summer 2021. While it sounds simple, the crash mission involves some tricky engineering. The target is the tiny moon of an asteroid. The two bodies are collectively named Didymos or Greek for “twin.” They orbit the sun between Earth and the Asteroid Belt. The moon is not much bigger than the Washington Monument in DC — minuscule in the scale of space. “This is by far the smallest object anyone has ever flown a spacecraft into,” said Andy Cheng, the mission’s co-lead and chief scientist in APL’s space department. The spacecraft will be powered by solar panels that unfurl like wings. Its journey will take more than one year, and the researchers will be flying blind mostly. “We don’t see the moon of the asteroid until we’re just an hour away,” said Adams, the engineer. “That last hour is going to be really thrilling.” They plan for DART to reach speeds as fast as 15,000 miles per hour. The crash in October 2022 will fling debris from the asteroid moon. A small satellite will accompany the DART spacecraft to measure the effect. The team wants to hit the asteroid moon with enough force to bump it, but not break it apart. The moon orbits the asteroid at a speed of about seven inches per second. They hope to change the speed by about a centimetre per second. “We’re just going to give it a love tap,” said Andy Rivkin, the mission’s other co-lead and planetary astronomer at APL. In theory, a series of taps over time could deflect an asteroid off a course for Earth. One impact may suffice if scientists have enough warning time. An imminent asteroid strike, however, would require multiple launches and impacts. “You could have a constant stream,” Rivkin said. “Each one nudges it a bit more.” It’s humanity’s best plan to save Earth, but one the team hopes they never have to use. —The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Nasser Al Ali Enterprises, an IOS certified company, recently awarded its 30 employees of various nationalities, including Nepali, Indian and Bangladeshi with each 10 gram gold coin as part of Qatar National Sport Day celebrations. The employees were felicitated for their performance on the working site.  The employees work in the construction wing of the company. Speaking on the occasion, the employees said, “Nasser is our employer and friend; he has made a mark in our life.” 

Himalayan International Music Awards 2019, one of the prestigious Nepali music awards, will be held in Doha on February 15 at Best Western Plus Hotel. The event has been organised by Sabin Ghising, Sagar Nepali, Prabin Gurung and Ramji Bagale.  According to the organisers, “Himalayan International Nepali Music Awards are to promote Nepali songs and music industry in the international market space.” Some 37 categories, including best national song, best modern song, best music video, best composer and best musician among others would be presented at the ceremony. Some 30 artistes of Nepali entertainment fraternity, including Bhumika Giri, Amrit Khatri, Radha Tiwari Shova Tirpati, Chija Lekhali Tamang, Nabin Poudel and Sarswoti Lama, singers; Alina Rayajami, female actor; Dinash lama, comedian; Susmita Giri, dancer; and Ashma Gautam, model, would be performing at the event.  The jury members of the awards, include Shambhujeet Baskota, Nepali music director; Unnati Shila Bohara, song lyricist; Pawan Wang lama, music arranger, Bikram Jung Shah, folk singer; Milan Moktan, music director; Roj Moktan, singer; and Anna Stir. The event will be hosted by Naresh Bhattari and Seemron Syangbo. 

A more diverse line-up of performers and award winners helped stabilise the audience level for the Grammy Awards, delivering a slight ratings bump for CBS. Sunday night’s telecast of the annual music industry prizes presented by the Recording Academy bucked the trend of declining audiences for TV awards shows, growing up 0.5 percent over last year to 19.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. The live broadcast of the 61st Grammy Awards from Staples Center in Los Angeles, hosted by Alicia Keys, was widely praised by critics for greater recognition of women performers after a perceived snub at last year’s show. Hip-hop artists –who have struggled to get Grammy accolades equal to their music sales and cultural influence – were also better represented than in previous years. The combination may have been the formula to stave off another drop for the annual event that saw its audience level drop by 24 percent in 2018, a nine-year low. Country singer Kasey Musgraves’ Golden Hour received the Grammy for album of the year. Childish Gambino’s This Is America earned record of the year and song of the year – the latter award a first for a hip-hop artist. Awards telecasts such as the Grammys have had a tougher time accruing massive audiences in recent years as the entertainment landscape becomes more fragmented. More younger viewers also choose to watch clips of the winners and their favourite performers online than sit through a three-plus-hour live show. The programme did see a 5.6 percent decline among viewers ages 18 to 49, a new all-time low in the audience most sought by advertisers. CBS also streams the Grammy Awards on its subscriber-based CBS All Access Service. The network did not yet have data on how many viewers watched the programme online, but said in a statement that it expects “double-digit growth” over last year. Even before last year’s audience declines, ratings for the Grammy Awards historically fluctuated based on the popularity of the artists being honoured. The telecast hit 39.9 million viewers in 2012, when Adele swept the awards and artists paid tribute to singer Whitney Houston, who died the day before the ceremony. Sunday’s show did have a few broad-appeal acts familiar to older viewers. Country legend Dolly Parton, the 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year, led an all-star tribute to her career. Jennifer Lopez delivered a Vegas-style medley of Motown hits to celebrate the soul label’s 60th anniversary. And Motown diva Diana Ross marked her 75th birthday by leading the audience in her first solo hit, Reach Out and Touch. – Los Angeles Times/ TNS

The aesthetically elaborative and colourful exhibition by four Pakistani artists concluded at Gallery 2, Building 18 of Katara yesterday. The exhibition titled ‘4 Visions’ proved to be a crowd-puller as art enthusiasts from different communities as well as the Pakistani community members thronged the venue for nine days. A variety of artwork on different subjects such as seascapes, horses, and modern architecture through abstract and realistic art techniques attracted visitors who could not help but appreciate the artistry of the four visual artists. The exhibition included artworks by Shahla Khan, Mala Waseem, Adnan Siraj, and Shazia Bhanji was inaugurated by Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, general manager of Katara, on February 4. The artworks highlighted different postures of Arabian and other kinds of horses, seascapes, modern architectures in Qatar and other abstract works. All the participating artists expressed their satisfaction and happiness over the response to their creative works. The visitors, including prominent art personalities, diplomats and ambassadors appreciated the works. Syed Ahsan Raza Shah, newly appointed ambassador of Pakistan to Qatar, visited the exhibition and appreciated the creative talents of the Pakistani artists.  He said: “I am very pleased to be here. I was expecting a very high quality of creative work at the exhibition. But I must confess that the work I have seen is beyond what I had thought. It is absolutely brilliant work by all the four artists from Pakistan.” Sharing his thoughts about role of Katara in promoting art in Qatar, the ambassador said: “I have only been here for one month. I had heard about Katara before coming to Qatar. This is my first visit to the art facility, but I already know a lot about Katara. It is the place to promote art and culture from all countries. This exhibition is one example of what Pakistan can show to the world about its heritage, culture and art. We are very rich in art and culture. I hope in the coming months, we can collaborate with Katara to highlight Pakistan’s heritage, art, culture and music.” Sharing her experience at the end of the exhibition, Shehla Khan said: “I collaborated with Katara in arranging the exhibition. It was a great experience to work with three other artists. It was the first time that a group of four Pakistani expatriate artists had an exhibition in Qatar. We all are expert in our form of art. “My interest is in realism but I always try to deal with different and unique styles. I have done lots of experiments and finally I came up with a new technique which I call fluid marble art. It is done with acrylic or oil fluid colours. I do not use brush. I just pour the colours on the canvas carefully then mix them with different tools, sticks or combs etc. It is an action painting. It takes around 10 hours, without a break, to complete the artwork before it becomes dry. I exhibited seven paintings in the exhibition. We got appreciation from the visitors and our ambassador. It is really boost for our passion for art. I want to say thanks to Katara for supporting us.” Shazia Bhanji said: “It was truly an incredible feeling to see the response and footfall the exhibition managed to attract. My work is tickaway. Tickaway portrays the importance of treasuring the love within three generations. Every moment we live, we never know when it was the last time someone has enveloped their last breath of air. So cherish whatever time you have left with your loved ones before time ticks away. The various colours used depict the different facets of the feelings we experience. My work also highlights the complex relationship of a husband and a wife. The layering in work represents the complex mind and feelings of a woman.” Mala Wasim, a graduate from the prestigious National College of Arts in Lahore, said: “Participating in the exhibition gave me a lot of expression and medium. My series of oil paintings titled Texture in Rhythm reflected abstract co-ordination. All paintings are combination of medium and juxtaposed around texture. Each painting claims and fully indulges in the flow of harmonious colour scheme, beauty and peace. Through the series of paintings, I aim to share my knowledge and create meaningful dialogue between human, nature and current culture.” Adnan Siraj said: “I really appreciate the role of the general manager of Katara for providing us the space and appreciating our works. I had a great experience since it was the first time ever in Doha that Pakistani artists displayed their works in a group exhibition. “I work in realism and try to capture the beauty of nature in its purest form. My seascapes and horse paintings show my passion for my subjects. I try to play with colours and present the beauty as realistically as possible.”

Twenty years ago, Martin Quezada was told the end was nigh. The sun was setting on the typewriter. Computers were king. Twenty years later, Quezada’s shop, International Office Machines in San Gabriel, is still in business. The downturn happened. But it did not defeat Quezada, now 61, who kept his doors open. He had loyal customers — small-business owners set in their ways, retirees unwilling or unable to learn to use a computer. He branched out into copiers and printers. He held on. Then young people took an interest in antique typewriters. A group of street poets brought Quezada several to repair. The typewriters were used to write poetry on demand for passers-by. “At Santa Monica Pier and Seal Beach, those trendy places,” Quezada said. People ask Quezada to fix old typewriters they purchased on the Internet. He sometimes buys them himself at thrift shops and flea markets. He recently found an Underwood from the 1940s at a yard sale. In his backroom workshop on a recent afternoon, Quezada pulled handfuls of desiccated ribbon from the 70-year-old machine. He removed the rolling pin-like platen and coaxed tiny springs into place with hooked instruments that resemble dental tools. If a reporter were not present, he said, he would talk to the typewriter, expressing his frustration with the machine’s finicky innards. “I will say some things to the machine. I think it helps, when I let him know how I feel.” But Quezada’s admiration for the machine is clear. The Underwood and its kind “are like Mercedes, like Rolls-Royces,” he said. They belong to an era before planned obsolescence, when people did not just replace, but repaired, what they owned. Unlike the pager, the PDA, the floppy disk and the VCR, the typewriter has escaped the heap of gadgets defunct and disused. The reason, according to Steve Soboroff, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission and typewriter collector: Its slow pace is meditative, not frustrating, an exercise in deliberateness closer to engraving than typing on a computer. “In a world that’s too fast and too easy, a typewriter slows you down,” he said. “If you type a word wrong, it’s wrong. If you miss a space, you missed it. That’s endearing to people now.” And a typewritten letter is no arrangement of light on a computer screen but a thing, Soboroff explained, a physical expression of thought and care and courtesy. It tells its recipient: You are worth the time it took to type this. If Soboroff is soliciting donations for a charitable cause, he will type the overture with one of his typewriters. Maybe the 1932 Royal Model P once owned by Ernest Hemingway, or the 1936 Corona Junior used by Tennessee Williams. “If I send a typewritten letter, I get a 70 percent return rate. If I send it on a computer, it’s about 3 percent,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. If I want a response, I’ll type the letter.” The typewriter, that is to say, is no charmless, soulless device. In Hollywood, it has famously transcended being a thing to become almost a character: In movies from The Shining — All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy — and All the President’s Men to Schindler’s List. In the adaption of Stephen King’s novel Misery, the typewriter is literally a tool of salvation, used to kill the villain. Richard Polt, a philosophy professor at Xavier University and self-professed owner of 300 typewriters, said the machines’ performative use has helped spur a renaissance. “Street typists,” like Quezada’s poetic clientele, became popular in New Orleans and have spread throughout the United States, Polt said. “Type-ins,” or gatherings of typewriter owners at coffee shops and pubs, are “a lot of fun,” he added, as are letter-writing parties. “There’s this irrational, immediate love of the thing,” Polt said of the typewriter, “like a musical instrument that invites you to create an infinity of things.” Refurbished, oiled and polished, Quezada estimates the Underwood could sell for $600. Interest may have been rekindled in the typewriter. But it is not enough to offset what Quezada lost when they tumbled out of use in the late 1990s. Catering to curiosity is no substitute for the contracts with businesses and school districts that sustained his shop for decades. When Quezada left his Mexican home state of Chihuahua in 1987 to join his sister in San Gabriel, the shop she owned with her husband — an Italian immigrant who repaired typewriters as a boy in Salerno — had servicing contracts with school districts in San Gabriel, El Monte, Whittier and Alhambra. In the summer, when students were gone and the schools wanted classrooms full of typewriters repaired, the shop had so much business it had to hire temporary workers, Quezada said. “Around 1980, every little town had a shop that repaired and sold typewriters. A typewriter was expected to be serviced and repaired, and it was expected to last 20, 30 years.” Quezada took over the shop in the mid-’90s. It wasn’t long before computers were supplanting the typewriter. Though he’s held on, business gets leaner every year, the new interest notwithstanding. But what else can he do? Besides, he feels there is an importance to his work, beyond providing him a livelihood. Those who come to his shop, to buy a typewriter or have one fixed, need his help to communicate. “Like the poets, they want to communicate how they feel. It’s important,” he said. “Or older people who cannot write anymore. I have older customers — they say they have to write something, and they cannot hold a pen and cannot use a computer.” He carries the old Underwood outside, satisfied that its innards are clicking. The sun is setting. He sprays the typewriter down with WD-40 and scours it with a toothbrush. Beneath the blackened bristles, in the fading light, it begins to gleam. —Los Angeles Times/TNS

A young Indian expatriate represented Qatar in the World Economic Forum (WEF) recently held in Davos, Switzerland as one of the 50 Global Shapers invited every year at the forum. Neeshad Shafi, a member of the Global Shaper Doha Hub, along with the shapers from other parts of the world raised important issues from responding to disasters and combating poverty, to fighting climate change and building inclusive communities. Neeshad’s application was accepted for his contribution in Qatar towards raising awareness about climate change and advocacy for sustainable development goals. Community recently spoke to him about his experience of being in Davos as a young leader from Qatar. When asked to comment on the significance of being a part of the 50 global shapers at Davos, Neeshad said: “The Global Shapers are a network of more than 7,000 young people working to address local, regional and global challenges. It is an initiative of WEF. Around 50 of them get invited to the forum every year. It is a huge mandate regarding my work on climate change advocacy and awareness in Qatar and to Doha Hub of Global Shapers for doing extraordinary work in our own respective communities.” Regarding the selection criterion for WEF, he said: “To apply for it, you need to be a global shaper with any hub across the globe. I submitted a video message highlighting different works that I have been doing in Qatar. I feel proud that I was selected based on my immense work with the hub and as well as for my initiative of Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar. I was able to give young people – (especially from Arab World) a voice at the gathering, where older politicians and corporate leaders tend to dominate. When asked to explain what he has been doing in Qatar so far, Neeshad said: “Ever since I move to Qatar four years ago, I have been known to be an environmental activist, educator, speaker and a social change advocate for my extensive campaigns to raise the awareness about climate change and sustainable development goals both offline and online channels of communications. I hold a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering. Over the years, I gained extensive experience in analysing global environmental and climate politics, with a special focus on the Middle East. Further, this lead me to be a part of several global environmental youth groups and have contributed to international summits related to climate policy and youth’s role in development. Since 2015, I have been actively part of the UNFCCC climate negotiation process and been invited to UN climate change conferences for last three years. I have also attended a variety of international forums and conferences representing Qatar. When asked how being in Qatar helped him in reaching Davos, he said: “I became a global shaper in Qatar. As a Global Shaper in Doha Hub for one year, I have played a crucial rule raising awareness about environment and climate change. It is in Qatar that I have been organising extensive education and awareness initiatives on different issues. In Qatar, I got appreciated and recognised for my efforts both by the government agencies and international community here. I believe that it is because of Qatar, I got selected to attend the forum as a young leader. I hope that my efforts will encourage the youth in Qatar to step forward and become future leaders. Regarding his contribution at the Davos meeting, he said: “As a shaper, I was fortunate to share youth perspective on ‘Voice for Planet’ initiative in two panel discussions along with eminent scholars, activists and NGO heads. I also attended an open forum with young school students in Davos. I also highlighted the efforts and initiatives Qatar has been taking to deal with climate change. “In the coming months, we are planning to work on climate change topic with Global Shapers Doha Hub in collaboration with Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar.”

She is at home both in art and fashion. Her art finds inspiration in everyday events. It influences her creation of clothing and related accessories. It is fashion detourned (rerouted) by art, a new way of sharing the vision of an artist and a new way to bring beauty to everyday life. Chung Hye Yeon, better known as Grace Hye, is a South Korean artist and fashion designer. The 32-year-old entrepreneur runs her fashion brand with the name of Grace Hye. She tries her hand with perfection in paintings, ceramics, interior decoration and fashion designs. Her creations — art works and also fashion designs — are characterised by high quality and personal touch. They are oriented to a clientele looking for high-end quality products. Community recently caught up with Grace to talk about her personal and professional life. Please describe your journey thus far. I was born and brought up in South Korea. I have two sisters and a brother. I am married to a Spaniard, who I met in France and got married in 2016. He works in Qatar. I was a decent student and my parents wanted me to broaden my horizons. However, I chose to study fashion and art. In 2008, I completed Double Bachelor Degree of Fiber Art and Digital Design from Kyung-won University in South Korea. In 2012, I got Master of Fashion Design and Modelling from École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in France. Since completion of my studies, I have been living in France. I have been following my interests in fashion design and artwork. As an artist, I have organised many group and solo exhibitions. All my solo exhibitions have been held in France. I took part in Qatar International Art Festival last year. I am working towards holding a solo exhibition of my creative works in Qatar next month. On the fashion front, I have worked with different famous houses in France, including Lanvin, Maurizio Galante, and John Galliano. I also happened to be an assistant designer for women’s fashion. In 2015, I founded my own fashion brand Grace Hye. I work for the brand as artistic director and fashion designer. I have also conducted many fashion shows in Parish highlighting my designs and brand. I also create and design jewelry, shoes and handbags for women. How did you develop an interest in painting? I used to draw different things when I was very young as a student. Since then, I have not given up my interest in art. However, professionally I began doing paintings in 2014 in France. I started having my own collections. I have attended some 20 exhibitions so far. What kind of art do you follow and what techniques do you employ? I am basically interested in modern art. I also bring some subjects from South Korea. I like working on papers with Chinese ink. I draw whatever inspires me. I have many details in my artworks. I play a kind of hide and seek in my paintings. We cannot figure out what my paintings are about very quickly. We need to see and think about what I have drawn. After sometime, one can find meaning and story in my work. I can explain what my paintings are about. However, I want people to think. I like to surprise people with my works. I use splash of colours in my paintings. It is always up to the people how they perceive my work. I am impressed by many contemporary artists in France, but I am really inspired by Pablo Picasso, the legendry Spanish painter. I love his paintings. I also admire works of Joan Miró i Ferrà, also a Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist. What is art for you and what are your plans in future? Today, art and fashion are a very important part of my life. I have always been a very curious and creative person. As an artist, I have a very particular vision of the world and I would like to share it with as many people as possible, by doing an art exhibition, a fashion show or by opening a pop-up store. I think that it is important for everyone to bring art and beauty in their everyday life and that is what I try with my art works and also with my fashion collections. I want the people to stop and think how beautiful our world can be and they should bring these feelings to their everyday actions. In future, I want to continue working as an artist and fashion designer. I want to have more and more exhibitions to showcase my work. I want to be a part of different art galleries. Throw some light on your fashion designs… Every day, I develop designs. Every day, I change my mind, too. Though fashion is similar to art, it is at the same time, different. For me, art is little bit freer. As an artist, I can create something for myself. Fashion is more like a commercial thing. While designing, I can put forward my opinion, but the opinion of others and current trends are more important. I work closely with my customers for my fashion brand. I want what my customers want. My main goal is to continue developing my brand Grace Hye by opening a store for my collections. I am sure that I will continue working with art and fashion all my life, but at the same time I keep my spirit open to the surprises that any new day might bring. I will follow an open path towards my goal. How has been your experience coming to Qatar? I never imagined that one day I would come to Qatar. I came here last year. I took part in an exhibition and met many good people. I got encouraged and now I am going to have my solo exhibition. I see a lot of opportunities here. The artist community of Qatar is very vibrant and passionate. I see different genres of art here. I was happy to see different subjects, especially Arab, in paintings.

Qatar is a shining example of peaceful co-existence and co-operation among different communities. Although Islam is the official religion of Qatar, all faiths are respected and everyone enjoys the freedom to follow their own sets of belief in complete harmony.  Expatriates also have the right to preserve their cultural identity as long as they don’t collide with native values and traditions. The more diverse a country grows, the more challenged people are to challenge their own prejudices, biases, and beliefs. The spirit of solidarity, harmony and benevolence evident in the people of Qatar is something of a common thread with respect to expatriates and migrant workers.  Community spoke to a clutch of expatriates, who cited their experiences of how they came to build excellent relations with the citizens as well as resident communities in a diverse milieu. Mehmood Ali Mohammed Jaffer  A senior Finance Manager at M/s Rosario Contracting Co WLL, the 64-year-old Indian has been living in Qatar for 29 years. He said: “Being part of a multicultural society is very helpful in that we are exposed to varied cultures. However, it is important to learn some basic elements of other cultures to ensure that due respect is accorded to sensitive cultural aspects of a cross section of the people. As we have our own identity from a very highly noble and well-respected culture, the basic elements are to co-exist with folks of different cultures. Living in Qatar which is a highly versatile society, our culture has the respect of one and all; hence, we are given much respect and regarded with respect in all walks of Qatari life.” Salman Masoom  The 60-year-old Pakistani is an engineer by profession and works in a government department. He has been living in Qatar for 28 years. Masoom said: “Working in a multicultural domain is extremely demanding. The study of these differences is interesting. Essentially, the major cultural teachings are not much different in the end. One learns of new ways at work. But sticking to your own values is neither a cause for annoyance nor hated. That having said, I have noticed that local cultural values and traits are inherently helpful to generate inter-community harmony. Securing a sound financial base is surely the reason why an expat chooses to work abroad. But Qatar is extraordinary in that it has the kind of conducive and welcoming environment that makes it seem like a second home for a foreigner. Working in a multicultural environment is a great experience and one learns from amongst the best in the profession, inducing peak performance all the time.” Olga Rog  The 29-year-old Ukrainian works in the hospitality sector. Rog, who has been living in Qatar for two-and-a-half years, said: “To be honest, in the beginning, it was a challenge trying to adapt to the multicultural milieu especially with regard to the language barrier. But after some time, one got used to it and the all-embracing spirit was just incredible. So yes, accepting and respecting the cultural dynamics of Qatar has been a rewarding experience. Safety, stable economy, cultural values are what I admire the most here. It’s a like a hub of universal values.” Shahnaz Shabdeen  The 37-year-old Sri Lankan is a designer by profession and works as an art director for a media and publication company. He has been in Qatar for the past 13 years. Shabdeen said: “I feel it’s an advantage working in an innovative environment which enables us to respect cultural differences. It’s a challenge how to sync with individuals from different cultures, but engaging with them developed my self-confidence. A new place with a different mix is always likely to throw up some differences. But in my case, these ‘differences’ helped me rediscover my own culture by differentiating it from the new ethos. Most importantly, living and working in a foreign country like Qatar enables you to learn and experience new professional skills. Qatar believes in the strong influence of culture, which enables us to be open to other cultures; thanks to this, we appreciate, learn and are inspired to build a modern and tolerant society. I think we should look at the beauty of individuality with its ethnic and cultural aspects that binds people and contributes to appreciating one another even more. We all have something interesting and special to offer each other.” Mohammed Khalid  The 24-year-old Pakistani born and raised in Qatar, is a software engineer by profession and works in an IT company. He said: “Working in a multicultural environment requires a certain level of patience. People from different backgrounds often have different ways of accomplishing tasks and human interactions. They are neither right nor wrong, only different. People are learning to value diversity more than in the past. Although we are far from perfect, most ordinary Qatar citizens have learned not to discriminate against people because of their religion, their lifestyle or their views. That’s the reason we are at peace. Qatar is very safe, with low levels of even petty crime, end-of-contract benefits or end-of-service benefits. Qatar enables you to acquire new professional skills. Differences teach you to rediscover your own culture through differentiating it from a new culture. You get the chance to learn the meanings behind all those rituals, traditions and beliefs.  Raymond Brian Kidd  The 42-year-old American works as a Logistics Engineer in a government department and has been living in Qatar for two years. He said: “I’ve always enjoyed working with people with unique cultural perspectives. In general, I find Qatar to be more diverse than most of the countries that I’ve worked in and I think that makes the opportunity to live and work in Doha a rich and rewarding experience. I’ve always had a confident personality and have never felt that my respective identity or ability to coexist was a concern in the slightest. I find that most people, myself included, have a tremendous sense of pride in supporting Qatar in their praiseworthy pursuit to improve the country and the lives of everyone living in Qatar. Qatar provides expatriates the financial freedom to achieve their personal goals. The state incentivises expatriates to live and work in Qatar by providing affordable healthcare services, low taxes, security, and safety. What I love about living in Qatar is that I’m given the opportunity every day to truly improve the opinions of my co-workers. They commonly meet me with hesitation and scepticism and are genuinely surprised when they find me to be helpful and enjoying their company. I truly enjoy breaking through these ideas and showing people that we are all individuals and deserve the opportunity to show our own talents and skills. I believe that there is a bright future in the eyes of Qatari youth and that in the future all peoples in Qatar will be judged not by nationality, ethnicity, race, or colour but by the content of their character and the accomplishments which they achieve through hard work and honest efforts.” Monnette Gaba  The 33-year-old Filipina is a Leasing Manager at Homes 2 Rent and has been living in Qatar for three years. She said: “One of the greatest perks of working in a multi-cultural setup is that no matter what you’ll never find yourself in a monotonous routine. The amount of knowledge and real-world experience you’ll gain is priceless. As a Leasing Manager to one of the prominent real estate agencies here in Qatar, I am dealing with clients of different nationalities. There is a good chance you need to work with people from several different racial, language, ethnic, or economic groups. And in order to work with people from different groups effectively, you need to rebuild sturdy and caring relationships primarily based on trust, understanding, and shared goals.  “To learn to develop as a person, you must discover things about yourself that you may not have known before: your beliefs, passions, and character. Through interacting with a foreign society you are bound to be exposed to all aspects of life that would be difficult to learn in your native country. This immense personal growth is something that can’t be learned by reading a book, or even by searching online.”

It might get windy at times but the weather in general is very calm, pleasant and cool right now. Don’t you think heading into a pitch-dark movie theatre has somehow lost its appeal to the breezy charm of a screening under the stars? It has for us. So now, you can grab a picnic blanket, oh wait – that’s also available, invite some friends along, and check out what Graze has to offer at one of your favourite places in Doha. We were there last night and believe it when we say it – it was all fabulous. Nowadays since the weather is good and the trend of heading out is changing and increasing, people these days are seen spending their evenings with families in the open air to enjoy the breezy weather. It won’t be erroneous to say that although Doha has a lot of attractive and peaceful places to be but there is no match for the sense of serenity and peace of mind sitting outside in front of your favourite restaurants, having a Latte, warm soup or healthy food whilst enjoying the picturesque Pearl.  Graze is one such place where you can not only enjoy the tranquillity of the Pearl in the evening but you can also watch a movie in the open with your family every last Saturday of the month. It is an extraordinary opportunity for families to enjoy a movie in the open while having the freshly prepared food by Graze. The restaurant, owned by Qatari Rashid al-Mansoori recently organised its first movie night. The organisers presented Chef, a 2014 hit movie telling the success story of a struggling chef. The families were seen siting on cushions in the open and enjoying the movie with the food of their choice.  Fajer Hayat, Business Development Director at Prep-Line, is currently working with Graze. She is from Kuwait. A young and dynamic person working to make the concept of grab and go a success in Qatar.  On the occasion of the first movie night, Hayat spoke to Community about the idea of having an open air theatre outside the restaurant and its connection with eating habits. “I work with an advisory investment company that has offices in all the Gulf countries. We also have our projects in Europe and we mainly deal in Food and Beverages. We do branding, interior and kitchen designs. We started working with Graze to develop the restaurant from the scratch,” said Hayat. She added, “As part of our project with Graze we intend bringing Qatar community together. We are trying to sell a lifestyle to Doha. So basically Graze is a grab and go concept that has freshly made meals, snacks, froyo, and specialises in coffee. Everyone seems to be on the run now a days especially our generation. So, we are introducing grab and go concept. As part of this campaign we’re all set to introduce different events. One of them is outdoor movie nights. We thought this is the perfect season for it. We have decided that every last Saturday of the month we’ll organise an outdoor movie night.” Talking about why an outdoor movie night, she said, “We knew that it was going to be something new to Doha. Even this life style – Graze – is new to Doha. You can see people in Doha have started going out more and more. We reached out to the community through social media about the movie night and as we wanted to have an intimate casual event, everyone came in their sports shoes and with their blankets for the movie.” Talking about the response, Hayat said, “Actually, the response has so far been great. We reached out to lots of people. It is our first event and we expect more people for future movie nights. Chef is family movie that is related to food and cooking. We also want to collaborate with local directors and filmmakers. So, we can show some short movies as well before the main movie.” About the scope of business in the food industry, the expert said, “I feel there is a huge potential in the industry right now. People are receptive to and absorbing all the new concepts and they want more original and creative concepts. If your concept is original and the food is good, then people will definitely come. Graze wants to be your best friend. People in the Gulf countries want to have the best. It is in our culture. Especially in Doha, you have to pay attention to details. First impressions are important in Doha. The country is a young market and is very open to new opportunities.” Eid al-Otaili was present enjoying the movie night. He said, “I started coming to Graze after just two weeks of its opening. I have become their regular visitor. Here, I get healthy and tasty food. I also enjoy the variety of food available here. I think the idea of having an outdoor movie is going to work gradually for the restaurant.”

Having bankrolled successful films such as Khoobsurat, Veere Di Wedding, Fanney Khan and the popular series 24, actor-filmmaker Anil Kapoor finds producing movies a daunting task. Anil ventured into film production in 2002 with the comedy Badhaai Ho Badhaai, in which he also starred. It was followed by My Wife’s Murder in 2005 and Gandhi, My Father, which was awarded the National Film Award-Special Jury Award/Special Mention. In 2010, he produced Aisha starring his daughter Sonam K. Ahuja and his last outing as a producer was in 2018 with Fanney Khan. What does he find more daunting – acting or producing? “Producing is definitely tough,” Anil, who has also starred in the Hollywood film Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, said. What about starring in his own productions? “Casting is very important... Even in my own company, I do get rejected. As a producer, I am conscious about my casting. So, first comes the content. It’s not the other way round that you think about a star or an actor or build content. We make content go for the story and build everything around it,” said the 62-year-old star. The Slumdog Millionaire star says his daughter Rhea Kapoor and his production company Anil Kapoor Films & Communication Network Seven Stories Ltd. are producing some “exciting work”, when it comes to content. Anil’s latest production venture is Netflix’s Selection Day, a series about two brothers – Radha and Manju – who are raised by their strict, obsessive father to be star cricket players in India. The cast includes Ratna Pathak Shah, Mahesh Manjrekar, Rajesh Tailang and debutantes Yash Dholye and Mohammad Samad as brothers Radha and Manju Kumar. With the growing popularity of social media platforms, can digital platforms take over cinemas? “It is the future and everybody knows it that this is going to be the future, where content will be consumed the maximum... You are your own boss... How much you want to consume, what time you want to consume and there is so much content in various languages, which you can see. Kapoor was a part of Netflix’s Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle directed by Andy Sekis. He dubbed the Hindi version of the film, where other Bollywood celebrities like Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Abhishek Bachchan too lent their voices for pivotal characters. Talking about working with Shroff and Madhuri Dixit Nene in the film, he said: “Our names being in the same film makes me very nostalgic. All three are part of an endeavour after many many years. I think it’s after Ram Lakhan.” Kapoor is gearing up for the release of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aesa Laga, where he will share screen space with his daughter Sonam K. Ahuja, actor Rajkummar Rao and Juhi Chawla. – IANS

Many people believe the best way to really experience a new city is by walking. On foot, you can get intimate with the streets, shops and locals; the sounds, smells and tastes. But Matt Green has taken that philosophy one step further than most. In the sprawling metropolis of New York, he’s resolved to walk every street, every path, every park and every public square in the city. The estimated distance is 12,800 kilometres – roughly the distance from Berlin to Tokyo. Green has been on the road for seven years now, and every day he walks a few more kilometres and city blocks. He sleeps on friends’ sofas, sometimes looking after their pets in return. What began as a way to escape the boredom of his desk job as a civil engineer has turned into a long-term study of this city of 8.5 million people. Green meets people, takes photos and reads about the history of the city. And he records everything on his blog, “I’m Just Walkin’.” Walking has a long history as a religious or political undertaking. For centuries, the Muslims have been going on pilgrimage to Makkah, Jews to Jerusalem and Buddhists to Tibet. In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi marched 400 kilometres through India in protest against the British salt tax. And last year, more than 300,000 travellers walked to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the most famous pilgrimage route in Europe. Then there are the dozens of travellers who have crossed the United States or even the whole world by foot: Dave Kunst rose to fame in 1974 as the first man to walk around the world; and Canadian Jean Beliveau spent 11 years walking more than 75,000 kilometres to promote “peace and non-violence for the profit of the children of the world.” He went through 54 pairs of shoes and crossed 60 countries. Many others have undertaken very long walks to highlight issues such as cancer or Parkinson’s disease. But Green is not interested in walking for a higher purpose, nor towards a concrete goal. “I don’t really know what the point is,” he says in the recent documentary The World Before Your Feet. He doesn’t want to become a city tour guide, either – or write a book. Green walks simply because he wants to walk. In the documentary, he says he believes the most fascinating people are those who do something simply because they want to do it. Even college professor Bill Helmreich, who walked New York from 2008 to 2012, had the big picture in mind, and took a systematic approach. For Green, by contrast, it’s more about exploring the city’s individual parts, says Helmreich in the film: discovering forgotten paths or unfinished construction projects, or stumbling across the tallest tree in the city. Green has discovered coconut shells in stretches of water (probably part of a Hindu ritual) and picked up bristles from street cleaning vehicles. Helmreich says that Green describes the “heart, soul and pulse” of the city. The result could be the most detailed online city guide New York has ever had. Posts are of interest to those who know New York well, too – such as the one about the memorial to Eric Garner, who died at the hands of police violence, or the gravestones of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and magician Harry Houdini. And where else can you find a catalogue of the estimated 300 monuments to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks? Green’s trip through this great city encourages you to travel more slowly; to take a quiet moment among the planes, trains, buses and cars. For many city dwellers, the landscape they travel through becomes invisible, Green explains to a school class in the documentary. On his journey, the world is revealing itself anew through the simplest of human activities: walking. – DPA