FOR AQUINO, POLITICS IS A VEHICLE FOR CHANGE

COOKING WITH KIDS

SPIELBERG TO HONOUR COMCAST HEAD DURING PHILLY FETE

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PAGE 38 | PARENTING

PAGE 39 | HOLLYWOOD

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Priest Adele: Rise Of The Mummy Arthur The Resident The Nutcracker Pak! Pak! My Dr. Kwak! Luv Ka The End Urmi

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Eric Bana had never ridden a horse before Troy (2004), and had to start from scratch without a saddle.

English (Action) English (Comedy) English (Thriller) English (Adventure) Filipino (Comedy) Hindi (Comdey) Malayalam (Action)

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Film world’s past & present meet at Cannes

The festival has always been clubby yet open to confrontation, and a stage for some head-on collisions. This year’s competition is between films by some of the festival’s favourite sons, who have a penchant for the dark and disturbing NYT SYNDICATE

HE 64th Cannes Film Festival, theatre of carefully plotted ceremonies and killer competition, is built in a seismic zone – anything can happen – and the ghosts of festivals past, even those who didn’t obey the protocol, are welcome. This year, the festival will get off to a lighthearted start with Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen’s out-ofcompetition offering that stars Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams, and features, in a small role, the French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. But it will quickly take a more sombre turn. An appearance by the Iranian director Jafar Panahi is unlikely: His last-minute entry, In Film Nist (This is Not a Film), was made clandestinely and in defiance of the regime that has forbidden him from making movies for 21 years. It follows Panahi’s wait for a verdict to a court appeal made after he was sentenced in January to six years in prison for allegedly planning to make a movie about the protests that followed the 2009 presidential election. True, the festival, which runs through May 22, has a history of showing such filmmaking coups and seems to relish a chance to play host to persecuted directors. Cannes this year includes a tribute to the past: Georges Melies’s Le Voyage dans la lune or A Trip to the Moon, a 1902 classic that has been digitalised, remasterised and restored to its original colour, added by hand. And the competition features a rarity: The Artist, Michel Hazanavicus’s silent movie of old Hollywood, made in black and white with all the trappings of 1920s filmmaking. At the other end of the spectrum is Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai by Takashi Miike, the first 3-D film to compete for the

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Palme d’or. The festival director Thierry Fremaux and his team have sprinkled this year’s competition with films by some of the festival’s favourite sons, who have a penchant for the dark and disturbing. Many sombre moments are in store for Robert De Niro and his jury. There will be blood. Among the less upbeat is Lars von Trier’s latest, Melancholia, an apocalyptic disaster film with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kirsten Dunst. And there is Bertrand Bonello’s L’Apollonide, described in press releases as about “a prostitute, her face scarred by a tragic smile in a house of tolerance ... a closed world, where some men fall in love and others become viciously harmful.” Likewise, here’s the pitch for Pedro Almodovar’s La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In) with Antonio Banderas: “Ever since his wife was burned in a car crash, Robert Ledgard, an eminent plastic surgeon, has been interested in creating a new skin with which he could have saved her.” There are four films directed by women in competition, a historical first. Lynne Ramsey’s entry, We Need to Talk About Kevin, is about a teenage killer. And Julia Leigh’s debut feature, Sleeping Beauty, with a heroine who has no recall of what the night has brought, promises a shiver or two. Radu Mihaileanu’s La Source des femmes, (The Source), is the lone comedy in this group, set in an arid Moroccan hamlet where the women go on strike, refusing to please their men until they receive justice. Terence Malick’s Tree of Life, the festival’s most keenly awaited film, has been kept under wraps; Malick is not even scheduled to appear in Cannes. While all involved have been keeping mum, we know that Sean Penn plays a man who looks back on his difficult childhood; Brad Pitt plays his father. Penn also

stars in Paulo Sorrentino’s, This Must Be the Place, about a rock star who sets out on a search for his father’s executioner, an ex-Nazi living in the United States. Surely the competition’s minimalist film par excellence is Alain Cavalier’s Pater, a digital movie with two actors: the filmmaker and Vincent Lindon. Cavalier, who won the Critic’s Prize in 1986 with his luminous Therese, about a young nun, is a pioneer, a New Wave breakaway who created his own system. Cannes has always played favourites, and its president, Gilles Jacob, is a big fan of Cavalier. There are filmmakers who can do no wrong, such as the Dardennes brothers, who twice won the Gold Palm with their social dramas, and are back in competition with Le Gamin au velo (The Kid With a Bike), the story of a boy, placed in a home, who is looking for his father. And there is Nanni Moretti, the Italian actor and filmmaker who has been to the festival 13 times, showing Habemus Papam; Michel Piccoli stars as a newly elected Pope assailed by doubts; Moretti plays a psychiatrist called in to help. The Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, who makes American movies with film noir sensibility, has made Drive, the only other American film in competition besides Tree of Life. In it Ryan Gosling plays a Hollywood stunt driver who works for the Mafia at night. But American movies, highly popular with the public, can be found in other sections. Gus Van Sant’s Restless opens Un Certain Regard, the prestigious parallel section, with the story of a teenager traumatised by the accidental death of his parents. Revenants and discoveries are to be found in this section: Bruno Dumont presents Hors Satan and Robert Guediguian offers Les Neiges du Kilimanjaro (The Snows of Kilimanjaro). Hong Sangsoo, the most New

Wave of Korean filmmakers, is showing The Day He Arrives and Andreas Dresen, who won the jury prize with Cloud 9 in 2008, is back with Halt auf freier Strecke (Stopped on Track), about a man in his prime facing a deadly illness. Other American offerings are Jodie Foster’s out-ofcompetition film The Beaver, in which she plays opposite Mel Gibson. Rob Marshall’s Pirates of the Caribbean 4, on Stranger Tides, with Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz, will be shown in a special screening. Among the newcomers making a splash: Nadine Labaki, discovered in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2007, with Et Maintenant on va ou?; Joachim Trier, withOslo, August 31st; and Eric Khoo, with the anime Tatsumi. Closing the festival is Christophe Honore’s musical Les bien-aimes (Beloved) a cross-cultural love story with Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni and Milos Forman. The festival has always been clubby yet open to confrontation, and a stage for some head-on collisions. This is where Antonio’s L’Avventura was held up to scorn, and where Maurice Pialat, who had just won the Palme d’or for Sous le soleil de Satan (Under the sun of Satan), faced his disgruntled public with a defiant “You don’t like me, and I don’t like you either.” In 1987, when glamour ruled, Elizabeth Taylor, in Cannes to announce her AIDS campaign, was notoriously late. She was so late in fact, that the fans began to boo and the photographers went on strike and posed their cameras on the Palais stairs. Then, as the actress ascended, regal in her sumptuous red gown, applause broke out. This year, Taylor, the performer, who planned to be late to her own funeral, will be on time, remembered at the festival.

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Thursday, May 12, 2011

QT SPOTLIGHT ON GLITTERATI

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Shakira performs during a concert at Papp Laszlo Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary. (AP)

Actress Eva Longoria poses with Disney character Mickey Mouse at the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. (AP) Actress Jennifer Aniston makes an appearance at Sephora to promote her new fragrance 'Jennifer Aniston' in New York. (AP)

Whitney Houston performs at the pre-Grammy gala salute to industry icons in Beverly Hills, California. (AP)

Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu arrives in Murmansk to star in Players, a new movie made by an Indian film company. (AP)

Singer/dancer Paula Abdul (left) and producer Simon Cowell arrive at the first round of auditions for Fox's The X Factor at Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. (AFP)

Thursday, May 12, 2011

RETROSPECT

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35

For Aquino, politics is a

vehicle for change

Senator Benigno Aquino

TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

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ENIGNO Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III has always viewed politics as a necessary vehicle for change, a perspective he formed early in life through the examples set by both of his parents. In 1998, he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives and won. He would serve as Congressman of the 2nd District of Tarlac

Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III

Former President Corazon C. Aquino

His commitment to continue the legacy of his parents was evident in his performance until 2007. In his nine years at the Lower House, Noynoy focused on the fiscalizing role of a legislator. He felt that there were already too many laws, and good ones at that, but they seemingly lacked proper implementation. He concentrated on crafting laws that would help create opportunity rather than impose additional burdens to those who are already disadvantaged. He actively took part in budget deliberations to ensure that government initiatives do address the plight of the people who need help the most. His commitment to continue the legacy of his parents was evident in his performance. In November 2004, he became Deputy House Speaker of Luzon, but he relinquished the post when he joined leaders of the Liberal Party (LP) in calling for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the height of the “Hello Garci” scandal. To him, it was easier to give up the position than abandon his duty to hold

accountable those who do wrong. In May 2007, he ran for Senator and won, placing 6th in the national elections. He chairs the Senate Committee on Local Government, and is also the vice-chairperson of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights. He had been determined to ensure that his key legislative initiatives would bear fruit and to see them through until the end of his term. However, fate had other plans for him. The passing of his mother, former President Cory Aquino, stirred a long-dormant yearning for good leadership. Filipinos from all walks of life, here and abroad, began to look at Noynoy as the new hope for a better Philippines. The groundswell calling for him to run for President became too loud to ignore, and eventually overcame his reluctance. In his letter from prison many years ago, Ninoy said to Noynoy, “Son, the ball is now in your hands.” Today, the people want the future back into their own hands and Noynoy will not let them down. His critics say he merely trades on his good name and skeptics consider him a lightweight. Rivals accuse him of wrongdoing despite a clearly unblemished record. Noynoy’s detractors have been busy trying to bring him down, but their efforts have only allowed him to improve his popularity. Noynoy is an economist by education, a lawmaker by vocation. He is an audiophile, history buff, marksman and selftaught billiards sharpie. He is a loving brother and uncle, and a steadfast friend. He is also destined to be the one to finally lead our country towards a brighter future. “There is no greater nation than our Motherland. No greater people than our own. Serve them with all your heart, with all your might and with all your strength.” – Ninoy Aquino wrote in a letter to his only son Noynoy

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Thursday, May 12, 2011

WHEELS

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Naked for 72 Years, a Bugatti gets fitted for a suit

Wheels guide

IN 1939, shortly before his death in a track accident, Jean Bugatti, the son of Ettore Bugatti, who founded the car-manufacturing company that bears his name, designed and built a chassis for the Type 64, which was intended to succeed the legendary Type 57. But only a few Type 64 chassis are known to have been built. But an example owned by Peter Mullin, who has collected more than 30 Bugattis at his Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California, is receiving an appropriate body. “We believe this chassis to be the very last to be designed by a Bugatti family member,” said Andrew Reilly, the museum’s chief curator, in a telephone interview. “It was a very radical piece of machinery, intended to get the car’s profile as low as possible.” According to Mullin, the lightweight frame is built of duralumin, an aluminum alloy that typically contains magnesium, manganese and copper. But Mullin said he was able to access some sketches from the Bugatti archives, now in the custody of Volkswagen, the brand’s owner. The car’s aluminum body, which is to be built by Automobile Metal Shaping in Kimball, Michigan, is expected to be ready in the fall. Mullin has specified a distinctive and streamlined coupe, true to the period, with upsweeping papillon, or butterfly, doors, which were part of Jean Bugatti’s original design brief and predate similar designs ultimately made famous by the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL gullwing coupes of the 1950s. Although the car will be driven when completed, Mullin said it would later be displayed on the museum floor with the body suspended over the frame, so that museum goers could fully appreciate the effect of the car Jean Bugatti created.

A lifetime of automobilia finds a new home Ludvigsen’s lifetime long private collection of Automotive books, photographs and articles are available to those who are seriously interested in automobiles at the Collier Collection in Florida

CHARLES MCEWEN NYT SYNDICATE

ARK Patrick has his hands full. As the librarian and archivist at the Collier Collection here, on the Gulf Coast in southwest Florida, he and his small staff face the daunting task of sorting through the 7,000 automotive books and 300,000 photographs and files that the Collier recently bought from Karl Ludvigsen, the prolific author, journalist and former auto executive. The trove arrived from

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1935 Duesenberg SSJ roadster

1935 Duesenberg SSJ roadster

1939 Mercedes-Benz W154

1949 Porsche 356SL coupe

Ludvigsen’s home in England in mid-March, the photos and documents in 41 four-drawer filing cabinets and the books in more than 500 green plastic bins, each holding volumes that once occupied two-and-a-half linear feet at the Ludvigsen Library in Hawkedon, Suffolk, northeast of London. Ludvigsen, who turned 77 on Sunday, had been contemplating selling his library for a couple of years. Why now? It’s a desire to stop working on Saturdays, he said by telephone. Writing is time-consuming. But that does not mean that he’s retiring. Ludvigsen, an American who has lived in England since 1980, said that in addition to writing about cars, he planned to devote more time to aerospace and military history, and has retained an archive to aid in those projects. Neither Ludvigsen nor Patrick, the librarian, would talk

about the cost of the acquisition. As Ludvigsen put it, That’s between them and us. Operating under the umbrella of the Revs Institute for Automotive Research, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organisation, the Collier comprises the library and a tightly curated collection of about 100 automobiles. Although it is not open to the general public, the Collier makes its holdings available to those seriously interested in automotive history, according to a Revs press release. Ludvigsen liked that his archives would not disappear into some private collection, he said, but would remain available to researchers, restorers and the media. His books and documents were shipped in a 40-foot container to Naples, where they are being temporarily stored in the Collier’s truck garage. After processing, they will become part of the Collier library, which, before the Ludvigsen acquisition, numbered 20,000 books, 300,000 magazines and 1 million letters, catalogs and photographs. The Collier is without a doubt a world-class collection, Prof. John Heitmann, an automotive scholar who teaches at the University of San Diego and at the University of Dayton, his home institution, said in an email. It has a large number of monographs (18,000 if I recall correctly), one of the best photo-

graphic collections in the US, hard-to-find journals and in my opinion the best automotive history librarian anywhere.” The Collier Collection is the brainchild of Miles Collier, a grandson of Barron G Collier (1873-1939), who made his fortune in subway and streetcar advertising in New York and later in Florida real estate, much of it in the Naples area, in what is now Collier County — named in his honour. The library and automobiles are in an 80,000-square-foot building in a landscaped office park. The cars, meanwhile, are arranged chronologically in four group exhibits: “Automobility: The Car, the Road and Modern Life”; “Vitesse: Sports Motoring and Motoring Sports”; “Porsche: Designed to Excel”; and “Revs: Racing Cars and Racing Men.” The collection includes a number of cars once owned by Briggs Cunningham, a Collier family friend. In 1933, he and Miles Collier’s father and uncles were founders of what became the Sports Car Club of America. On April 14, Ralph Stoesser, a volunteer docent at the collection, conducted a comprehensive two-hour tour of what is truly a connoisseur’s selection of automobiles, highlights of which included: • A 1902 Mors Model Z racer with nail-pullers on both rear wheels. The pullers, which resemble two big spatulas, are mounted just behind the tires so

that they could catch any nails — a hazard from horseshoes in the early days of motoring — before they could rotate around and puncture the inner tubes. • A 1914 Simplex Speed Car, a two-seater once owned by Barron Collier, with a 597-cubicinch engine, the largest in the collection. Its four cylinders produce 50 horsepower. • A 1927 Packard that Briggs Cunningham turned into a hot rod when he was a student at Yale. The story goes that the family chauffeur would deliver it to New ----Haven on Friday, Cunningham would drive it over the weekend and the chauffeur would pick it up on Monday. • A 1939 Mercedes-Benz W154 open-wheel racer, one of the Silver Arrows. The car takes five mechanics a half-hour to start because its V-12 engine must be carefully warmed up. It was raced only once, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on Sept. 3, 1939, the day Britain and France declared war on Germany. • A 1935 Duesenberg SSJ roadster, one of two built. Gary Cooper owned this one, painted in two shades of gray; Clark Gable owned the other. • A 1949 Porsche 356SL coupe, one of the first 50 cars handbuilt in Gmünd, Austria. All are kept immaculately dust-free — the three-story building is pressurised, and the air is filtered twice. As Patrick, the librarian, said, “Collier takes very good care of his property.”

Thursday, May 12, 2011

ENVIRONMENT

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Top recycling tips

Environment guide

1. REDUCING the amount that we consume, and shifting our consumption to well-designed products and services, is the first step. Finding constructive uses for "waste" materials is next. And tossing it in the blue bin is last. 2. Know what you can and can't recycle- Read up on the recycling rules for your area and make sure you don't send anything in that can't be processed. Each city has its own specifics, so try to follow those guidelines as best you can. 3. The essence of recycling is the cyclical movement of materials through the system, eliminating waste and the need to extract more virgin materials. Supporting recycling means feeding this loop by not only recycling, but also supporting recycled products. We can now find high recycled content in everything from printer paper to office chairs. 4. Encourage an artist If you know someone interested in making art from recycled materials, offer to provide supplies. Many school children need items like paper towel tubes for art projects. Older artists use everything from rubber bands to oven doors. If you know someone who teaches art classes, suggest that an emphasis be put on making art from trash. While you're at it, remind them to use recycled paper and biodegradable, earth-friendly glues, paints, and pencils whenever possible.

Ants team up to stay dry An individual ant can float on water for a few minutes, but a clump of the insects is heavy enough to break the surface tension of the water and sink

LIZZIE BUCHEN NYT SYNDICATE

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TEAM of engineers has discovered how colonies of ants survive floods by forming themselves into life rafts. The work shows how many simple components can interact to create complex structures and behaviours, a subject that touches on crowd control, urbanisation and robotics. An individual ant can float on water for a few minutes, but a clump of the insects is heavy enough to break the surface tension of the water and sink. Yet when a nest of fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) is flooded, the entire thousands-strong colony shapes itself into a raft that can stay afloat for months. “Together they form this really complex material that water should be able to get through, but can’t,” says Nathan Mlot, a mechanical engineer at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Mlot and his colleagues have shown how these rafts are built and why they float. When Mlot put thousands of ants in an empty beaker and swirled it, the insects clung to each other, gripping tightly to form a sphere that felt like a squashy ball, he says. Wearing gloves to avoid being bitten, Mlot could toss the clump in the air and catch it without any ants falling off. When such a sphere is placed in water, it relaxes into a dome and, within minutes, flattens into a pancake. The ants that hit the water first hook together with their jaws and legs, forming a tightly woven base. As the dome flattens and more ants reach the edge of the mass, their comrades at the bottom grip them tightly, weaving them into the base to help support the rest of the colony. At its flattest, the raft consists of two to three levels of ants, with the upper levels milling around on their interwoven nest mates. A lone ant’s exoskeleton can trap air bubbles and become slightly water repellent, but the surface of an interwoven group does so much more effectively, keeping the ants dryer. Although the raft is porous and its

base is below the water level, none of the ants are submerged, or even get wet. Instead, the ants at the base of the raft push against the water’s surface and shape it around them into a bowl without breaking the surface tension. Even when Mlot pushed the raft down with a twig or tweezers, it remained dry and afloat, so that the water’s surface deformed like a trampoline flexing around a jumper. When Mlot pushed the raft under the water, it clumped up to form a ball, trapping air bubbles that allowed the ants to survive. “When the cluster is underwater, we can see individual ants pushing against the air water interface, actually deforming it around them,” he says.

“It’s an example of how ants enhance their efficiency by being in a group,” says Audrey Dussutour, a biologist at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France, who studies collective ant behaviours such as foraging and path-finding. The raft phenomenon was previously known about, she adds, but has never been studied experimentally. Mlot and his colleagues devised a mathematical model of how the rafts spread as they grow, allowing the engineers to predict how this would happen in larger groups of ants – such as mature colonies, which in the wild

can reach hundreds of thousands Ant rafts are an example of emergence, where many parts organise into a complex whole without any overall control. Emergent behaviour is seen in many large groups, be they crowds of people, flocks of animals, or networks of neurons. The principles uncovered from studying ants could help us understand and harness such self-organising activity, says Mlot, in the form of groups of simple, autonomous robots, for example. But it might be a while before the ideas can be applied to other behaviours. Guy Theraulaz, who studies the collective behaviours of animals and robots at Paul Sabatier University, notes that Mlot’s model “is not strictly devoted to understanding how the cooperative behaviours of ants give rise to the increased water-repellent surface, but only how this surface increases with time. It’s a first step to understanding this complex phen o m e non.”

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Thursday, May 12, 2011

PARENTING

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Think outside the box while teaching your kids

Parenting guide

-YOUR child will learn more when you play with them rather than leave him alone with some fancy 'state-of the-art' devices with claims to building his brain. Take your cues from your child. Notice what he or she is interested in and find natural opportunities to make to make them even more enriching. Move away from memorising and towards learning in context. If we read to our children when they ask what is written on the cereal box or street sign, we are implicitly teaching that reading is fun and has utility, and that letters combing to make words and each letter or combination of letters has a different sound. Some of the gadgets on the market today offer wonderful opportunities for performing but fail to create genuine learning. Learning is the most powerful and lasting when it occurs in context. There is no need to travel to expensive theme parks or exotic locations to build brains. Step outside and witness the miracle of blades of grass blowing in the wind or of ants building homes, of all that teaming life that thrives right down in the dirt. For children, the yard is a world of bustling activity, science lessons and lessons about nature and colour. Look, listen and feel with all five senses at the wonders of nature. Stimulate imagination by asking your child what the world would look like from the perspective of an ant, what sounds would you hear? What would you be afraid of? What instruments can you make from sticks and stones? Bring out a blanket and lie out with your eyes closed, what do you hear? Even children as young as 2 enjoy these games. Make up some stories together and make up some games. There are hours of fun and games in each patch of backyard no matter how small. All of these experiences, free and fun and unfettered with concerns, all build better brains.

Cooking with children SEAN WILSEY NYT SYNDICATE

How much fun can one have when trying to teach children the essence of cooking and cleaning up right after. Sean Wilsey speaks of how he cooks up different dishes for his kids and gets them to eat what they are served also teaching them how to clean up after themselves

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ONCE shared a kitchen with a friend who left a trail of vegetable trimmings, dirty bowls, rejected greens and uncapped vinegar and olive oil bottles across every surface whenever she made a salad. It was a great salad. But it made me smug. I told this friend, ungratefully, while eating her salad and looking at the demolished kitchen from which it had come, that it ought to be physically impossible to cook and not clean. Cook and clean shouldn’t just be mentioned in tandem, but bound together with bonds unsunderable. Fused into a single word. After all, I prepared complicated, multicourse meals that hit the table with nothing to be washed but cutlery, glasses and plates. Such was my thinking up to the moment I became a father. Especially those moments, usually on a Sunday, when my wife, Daphne, gets to sleep late (8:15) in our home in NoLIta, and I am flying solo in the kitchen with the kids. Our 5-year-old, Owen, grouchy on less than 10 hours’ sleep, can best be restored to himself by pancakes. I make them often, employing one mixing bowl, one skillet, a whisk and a measuring cup, plus a knife, fork and plate. Sometimes I get a chance to wash the whisk right after I’ve used it, but not if Owen’s 2-yearold sister, Mira, is up. The sound of clomping feet precedes her arrival. When she gets to the kitchen she has been known to stop and throw her lilac and gray blanket over her head. Owen says, “Dad, ghost. At breakfast.” I say, “Haunted breakfast.” Mira nods. I put her in the seat we have clamped to our counter, and ask, “Do you want an egg?” “Mnh-hnh.” My daughter, lover of soft-boiled eggs, seems to get eczema from egg whites, so I try to cook precisely, making the yolk soft and the rest discouragingly (but not unappetisingly) inflexible. For the same reason Mira drinks goat milk, which she likes to have warmed for 20 seconds in a pan. Add to the dirty list one pot, one pan, a slotted spoon, a knife, an egg cup and a regular spoon. At this point some dialogue usually unfolds, as it did along these lines one Sunday some months ago: Mira: “I want go-go!” Me: “Sure, you can have some yogurt. How

would you ask if you wanted me to give it to you?” Mira: “CAN I HAVE SOME YOGURT PLEASE!” I give her some plain goats’ milk yogurt (Owen: “Goatgurt”) and turn around to get some honey, which we buy at the Union Square Greenmarket in halfgallon glass jars that weigh 10 pounds each. Mira wants to eat an entire one of these for breakfast. I wrestle a jar down from a cabinet, stick in a spoon, prepare to drizzle. Mira says, “I can do it!” “O.K.,” I say. “You can do it.” I give her the

spoon, full of honey. Suddenly it’s in her mouth. “Mmmm.” She removes it slowly, then reaches for a second dip. “Wait, don’t redip!” I get another spoon. “Last time, OK?” She dips and drizzles with total focus, allowing me to secrete the honey into an invisible zone on the floor. I then try to get some conversation going so the disappearance goes unnoticed. My strategy: talk off the top of my head, fast, and with enthusiasm. Circling police helicopters in Lower Manhattan, a background annoyance, and source of background anxiety ever since 9/11 (is something happening?), can be helpful. “Hear that helicopter? Maybe more than one helicopter. A group of helicopters. Is there a word for that? A group of birds is called a flock. Unless they’re crows. A group of crows is called a murder.” Owen: “Murder.” Mira: “Where’s the honey?” “Do you know they use helicopters to fight fires? Firefighting helicopters haul a big bucket full of water and dump it on the flames.” “WHERE’S THE HONEY?” “Wouldn’t that be cool if we had a remote control helicopter that could carry a bucket full of maple syrup and dump it on your pancakes?” “WHERE’S THE HONEY DADDY...THE HONEY?” “Honey’s gone, sweetheart,” I say in a neutral voice. “Not gone.” “It’s gone.” “But I don’t want it to be gone!” “You’ve got a lot there.” I point to her yogurt. “Not a lot.” “Uh,” I stall. “You’re trying to trick me, Daddy.” (I am proud of her for noticing.) “We have a lot.” Owen comes in. “She’s right, Dad, we have a lot of honey.” He cranes over. “She doesn’t have too much.” Mira: “Thank you, Owen.” Owen: “You’re welcome, Mira.” Mira: “Can I have the honey, please?” As a parent I cannot resist a “please.” If one of my children were to say, “May I have some weapons-grade Pu-239, please?” I would be helpless to refuse. I put Mira’s honey back on the counter and we go through another three spoons. More cleaning time spent not cleaning. Mira and I get sticky and Mira asks for a wet washcloth (without saying please). Owen says: “Dad, that was an interesting idea about a remote-control helicopter that could pour maple syrup on our pancakes. Maybe we could get a little jar, fill it with maple syrup, and tape it to the bottom of a remote-control helicopter. Really, we could do that, Dad.” “We could. Though I was thinking you’d maybe use wire and screws and make a sort of harness.” “What’s a harness?” “A series of straps and buckles designed to hold people or things safely when they’re hanging in the air.”

Owen: “Harness.” Pause. “Would you use a harness to hang from a mountain?” “Yes. Or a bridge, or any other tall thing. Like a building.” Mira mixes a lot of the honey into her goatgurt, and the mixture into her hair. I peel her an apple, then wash some blueberries and give them to Owen in a bowl, racking up two more spoons, a plate, a bowl and a peeler. Plus cups for milk or juice and/or water for each child (if they don’t want tea). There’s so much stuff on the counter that I’m running out of space. I am out of my depth. New vocabulary words learned while not cleaning any of this up: murder; harness. Things needing to be washed up midway through breakfast: 31. In the fall of 2001, long before I became a parent, the air in our neighbourhood smelled like melted plastic and nobody knew what to do. There was a police checkpoint at the end of our block. A man shouted at me on a crowded subway car because I was opening my mail, which he was afraid contained anthrax. I felt generally insecure, but specifically very good about one thing: my cooking/cleaning skills. So Daphne and I started inviting friends and acquaintances over for regular Sunday night dinners that served as improvised comfort and family for people who had neither. I made a series of dishes that I now almost never make (Owen: “That’s just not my taste, Dad.” Mira: both hands clamped over her mouth.) There was seafood risotto with peas (and homemade stock); gnocchi Bolognese with pork, beef and San Marzano tomatoes from DiPalo’s Fine Foods down the street; porcini mushroom tagliatelle (fresh from Rafetto’s around the corner); spaghetti and clams. Standing in the same spot from which I now ration honey, I would have conversations with friends in the immaculate kitchen. Everything was flavourful, everything was comforting and grounding and under control, and the next morning I would wake up and never even think about pancakes (which I’ve never much liked). But then things changed. And now even those changes are changing. Mira just ate some peas without requesting honey. Both kids’ palates have broadened to include soy sauce. After dinner the other night Owen put his plate in the sink and instead of running off he got a wet cloth and wiped up the floor under his seat. I almost cried. Ten years ago, on the beautiful fall day that provided Lower Manhattan with its flocks of police helicopters, as executives came streaming up my block, the first thing I did was boil a pot of pasta. I made ravioli at 10:30 in the morning, grated cheese, sat down with a friend stranded on his way to Midtown, and began to grasp what was happening. Fatherhood, at times, has also been a bewildering state of emergency. Cooking was, and remains, my response. And then it is time to clean up.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

HOLLYWOOD

Scene unscene

www.qatar-tribune.com

Paltrow puts off theatre ambitions for kids

Cruz made Depp feel broody

ACTRESS Gwyneth Paltrow has kept her theatre ambitions on hold to focus on motherhood. The actress is eager to land a part on Broadway or in West End. But she has put off her dream due to her commitment to daughter Apple, six, and five-year-old son Moses, her kids with rocker husband Chris Martin, reports contactmusic.com. “Yes, I’d love to (appear in a musical theatre role). But not right now. My kids are still at that age where I want to be home for bedtime and on weekends and if you do a play you’re out when they’re home. So it doesn’t make sense now, but maybe, someday,” Paltrow said on Something For The Weekend show.

ACTOR Johnny Depp has revealed that working with new mother Penelope Cruz has made him feel broody. Cruz, who gave birth to son Leo in January, was shooting for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, while she was pregnant and Depp admits the sight of her being pregnant on set and then seeing Cruz with her husband Javier Bardem and their new baby evoked a desire on him to have more kids. “It’s great to watch the three of them in action. It’s just adorable and it makes you incredibly broody and clucky,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted Depp. GWYNETH PALTROW

PENELOPE CRUZ

Spielberg to honour Comcast head during Philly fete AP

AMED filmmaker and Hollywood powerhouse Steven Spielberg, who created a foundation to preserve oral histories of the Holocaust, is honouring the head of cable TV company Comcast for his work as “an ambassador to learning.” Spielberg will present Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Philadelphia-based Comcast Corporation, with the Shoah Foundation’s annual Ambassadors for Humanity Award at a benefit gala on Monday night. The foundation and Comcast have joined forces on educational initiatives to advance the organisation mission to promote tolerance. Spielberg, a three-time Oscar winner, called Roberts “a longtime advocate of finding and developing innovative avenues to reach and educate young people.” “Brian’s vision and commitment to enhancing digital literacy in schools and communities across America make him a great ambassador for learning,” Spielberg said in a statement. Spielberg was inspired by his 1993 Holocaust epic, Schindler’s List, to establish the Shoah Foundation, which gathers video testimonials from Holocaust survivors and eyewitnesses to use as teaching tools for current and future generations. Shoah is the Hebrew word for Holocaust. Today, the foundation’s Visual History Archive is one of the world’s largest video libraries, with nearly 52,000 testimonials from 56 countries and in 32 languages. Its goal is to provide the videos to scholars and educators as a way of educating young people about the suffering caused by xenophobia around the world. Roberts, who first met Spielberg shortly after Comcast’s bought a controlling interest of entertainment and media company NBCUniversal in

F

A three-time Oscar winner, Steven Spielberg, will present Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Philadelphia-based Comcast Corporation, with the Shoah Foundation's annual Ambassadors for Humanity Award at a benefit gala

Brian Roberts January, said it was “an easy yes to want to help.” “They’re not just taking out a video camera and documenting, they’re looking at how to make it relevant, how to make it useful, how to preserve it,” Roberts told The Associated Press on Friday. “These guys are sitting on a trove of possibilities of making education relevant for today and at the same time connecting it with the past.” Comcast has made survivor testimonials avail-

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Steven Spielberg

able free to subscribers through its on-demand, online and iPad services. The company also is providing technical assistance for an application called IWitness, which will deliver lesson plans and online access to 1,000 of its video testimonials when it launches by the end of this year, Shoah Foundation executive director Stephen Smith said. More than 12,000 secondary school teachers around the United States have been trained on the multimedia curriculum developed by the Shoah Foundation, the Anti-Defamation League and Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. “Access is really important, from bringing the testimonies to larger audiences free of charge, to sharing with universities and young people in inner-city schools,” Smith said. “Comcast has been a great partner.” The foundation, based at the University of Southern California since 2006 and officially called the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, also gathers testimonials from survivors and witnesses of genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur and elsewhere. Comcast is the nation’s largest pay TV provider and the majority owner of media conglomerate NBC Universal. Comcast also owns the Philadelphia 76ers and the Philadelphia Flyers and the stadium where both teams play, the Wells Fargo Centre. The Shoah Foundation declined to disclose the dollar amount of Comcast’s contribution. Comcast most recently reported first-quarter net income of $943 million, or 34 cents per share, for the first three months of the year. That’s up 9 percent from $866 million, or 31 cents, a year ago

Cameron Diaz to star in What to expect when you’re expecting TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

AMERON Diaz is reportedly in talks to star in a big screen adaptation of the pregnancy guide, What To Expect When You’re Expecting. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron will play a fitness guru in the ensemble project that will reportedly follow five sets of couples as they go through their journey to childbirth. Nanny McPhee director Kirk Jones is attached to helm the movie. The pregnancy-themed project is expected to begin filming in July. The actress will next be seen with Justin Timberlake in this summer’s Bad Teacher, which hits theatres on June 24.

C Cameron Diaz

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Thursday, May 12, 2011

BOLLYWOOD/ SOUTHSCOPE

www.qatar-tribune.com

Scene unseen

Secrets about Siddharth-Shruthi

Shahid completes eight years in Bollywood

READERS of a popular English daily today woke up to a news article which claimed that- Siddharth and Shruthi Haasan “have taken their relationship to an all-new level” by started “living in” to understand each other better. The report also claimed that the legendary Kamal Haasan is aware of his daughter’s relationship with the young actor and in fact it is with his blessings they have implemented this new decision. When we asked circles close to the Haasans, they said that there is nothing to be confirmed about the article, as it has no quotes from either Siddharth or Shruthi. Siddharth and Shruthi acted together in a Telugu film titled Anaganaga O Dheerudu.

SHAHID Kapoor, who completed eight years in tinsel town recently, thanked his fans for their love and support. He describes his journey as “a hell of a ride”. “I have completed 8 years as an actor. Thank u all for all the love,” Shahid posted on his Twitter page. The actor made his debut with Ishq Vishq in 2003, and later featured in films like Fida, 36 China Town, Chup Chup Ke, Vivah, Jab We Met, Kaminey, Dil Bole Hadippa, Paathshaala and Badmaash Company. Initially, he started with romantic roles, but gradually Shahid has branched out into more mature roles, and is also experimenting with his looks. For his upcoming film Mausam, he has sported a moustache. “Time flies people. Make each day count!!” he added. SHAHID KAPOOR

SIDDHARTH (LEFT) AND SHRUTHI HAASAN

Sthaniya Sambaad

best film at New York festival IANS

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THANIYA Sambaad (Spring in the Colony), directed by Arjun Gourisaria and Moinak Biswas, has won the Best Feature Film award at the 11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival. Capping off five days of Indian cinematic excellence, the festival concluded with the spectacular closing night red carpet premiere of Rituparno Aparna Ghosh’s powerful Sen film Noukadubi at the Asia Society in Manhattan. The premier was attended by Indian Consul General Prabhu Dayal, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh Kapoor, Salman Rushdie, Mira Nair, Aparna Sen, Madhur Jaffrey and many other celebrities.

OLLYWOOD superstar Aamir Khan says that his forthcoming production venture Delhi Belly will destroy the goodwill he has earned in the past decades with his family-oriented films. “Aamir Khan Productions is known for its inspiring, clean, family entertainment. All that is about to change! Delhi Belly has the potential of destroying, in a single stroke, all the goodwill we have built in the last 10 years,” Aamir wrote on his blog aamirkhan.com. The film, co-produced by Aamir Khan Productions and UTV Motion Pictures, stars Imran Khan, Vir Das, and Kunal Roy Kapur and is slated to release July 1. The actor-producer says that Delhi Belly happened by accident. “Akshat Verma, the writer, had been trying to reach me with no success but dropped off a copy of the script at my house. One day I was busy with some email and (my wife) Kiran, while waiting for me to finish, picked up the script lying on top of the pile of unread scripts. Couple of minutes later I heard her giggling, then laughing, then falling off the sofa choking with laughter and rolling on the ground,” wrote Aamir. “Three hours later I was calling the number written on the first page of the script and asking for Jim Furgele and Akshat Verma. Fortyeight hours later Akshat and Jim were sitting in front of me,” he added.

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THE OTHER AWARDS INCLUDE: Best Director: Aparna Sen, Iti Mrinalini Best Actor: Rishi Kapoor, Do Dooni Chaar Best Actress: Konkona Sen Sharma, Iti Mrinalini Best Screenplay: Mohan Raghavan, TD Dasan Std VI B Best Documentary: Bhopali (Max Carlson) Best Short Film: Just That Sort Of A Day (Abhay Kumar)

Delhi Belly will destroy our goodwill: Aamir

Rishi Kapoor (right) receives Best Actor Award for his film Do Dooni Chaar from his wife and co-actress Neetu Singh Kapoor.

(From left) Konkona Sen Sharma in a still from the film Iti Mrinalini, posters of the films Sthaniya Sambaad and TD Dasan Std VI B. Aamir Khan

Now showing GRAND CINE CENTRE

LANDMARK CINEMA

PRIEST (ACTION/HORROR): 11 AM, 12 NOON, 1 PM, 2 PM, 3 PM, 4 PM, 5 PM, 6 PM, 7 PM, 8 PM, 9 PM, 10 PM, 11 PM, 12 MN (3D): 11.30 AM, 1.30 PM, 3.30 PM, 5.30 PM, 7.30 PM, 9.30 PM, 11.30 PM

PRIEST(3D): 8 PM, 9.45 PM, 11.30 PM

ARTHUR (COMEDY): 12.15 PM, 2.30 PM, 4.45 PM, 7 PM, 9.15 PM, 11.30 PM

ADELE: RISE OF THE MUMMY(ACTION): 3 PM, 5 PM, 7 PM, 9.15 PM FAST AND FURIOUS 5: (ACTION): 2.30 PM, 4.45 PM, 11 PM

ADELE: RISE OF THE MUMMY(ACTION): 12 PM, 2.15 PM, 4.30 PM, 6.45 PM, 9 PM, 11.15 PM THE RESIDENT (THRILLER):11.30 AM, 1.30 PM, 3.30 PM, 5.30 PM, 7.30 PM, 9.30 PM, 11.30 PM

VILLAGGIO MALL PRIEST (ACTION/HORROR): 10.45 PM, 12.45 PM, 2.45 PM, 4.45 PM, 6.45 PM, 8.45 PM, 10.45 PM (3D): 11.45 PM, 1.45 PM, 3.45 PM, 5.45 PM, 7.45 PM, 9.45 PM, 11.45 PM

THE RESIDENT (THRILLER): 7 PM, 9 PM, 11.15 PM THE NUTCRACKER (FAMILY): 2 PM, 4 PM, 6 PM

ADELE: RISE OF THE MUMMY(ACTION): 12.30 PM, 2.45 PM, 5 PM, 7.15 PM, 9.30 PM, 11.45 PM LUV KA THE END (HINDI)

THE NUTCRACKER (FAMILY): 12.30 AM, 4.45 PM, 7 PM, 9.15 PM, 11.30 PM PAK! PAK! MY DR KWAK (FILIPINO): 11.45 AM, 2 PM, 4.15 PM, 6.30 PM, 8.45 PM, 11 PM FAST AND FURIOUS 5 (ACTION): 11.45 AM, 12.45 PM, 2.30 PM, 3.30 PM, 5.15 PM, 6.15 PM, 8 PM, 9 PM, 10.45 PM, 11.45 PM SCREAM 4 (HORROR): 11.30 AM, 1.45 PM, 4 PM, 6.15 PM, 8.30 PM, 10.45 PM THOR (3D) : 12.30 AM, 2.45 PM, 5 PM, 7.15 PM, 9.30 PM, 11.45 PM RIO (ANIMATION):(3D) : 10.30 AM, 2.45 PM VAANAM (TAMIL): 11 AM, 2 PM, 5 PM, 8 PM, 11 PM URMI (MALAYALAM): 11.15 AM, 2.15 PM, 5.15 PM, 8.15 PM, 11.15 PM

THE RESIDENT (THRILLER):11.30 AM, 1.30 PM, 3.30 PM, 5.30 PM, 7.30 PM, 9.30 PM, 11.30 PM

ROYAL PLAZA

THE NUTCRACKER (FAMILY): 11.45 AM, 2 PM, 4.15 PM, 6.30 PM, 8.45 PM, 11 PM

THE NUTCRACKER (FAMILY): 2.30 PM, 5 PM, 7.15 PM PRIEST(ACTION/HORROR): 3 PM, 5 PM (3D): 9.30 PM, 11.15 PM FAST AND FURIOUS 5: (ACTION): 2.15 PM, 4.30 PM, 6.45 PM, 9.15 PM, 11.30 PM ARTHUR (COMEDY): 7 PM, 9.15 PM, 11.30 PM

FAST AND FURIOUS 5 (ACTION): 12 NOON, 1 PM, 2.45 PM, 3.45 PM, 5.30 PM, 6.30 PM, 8.15 PM, 9.15 PM, 11 PM, 12 MN SCREAM 4 (HORROR): 11.45 AM, 2 PM, 4.15 PM, 6.30 PM, 8.45 PM, 11 PM

MALL CINEMA

THOR (ADVENTURE): 12.15 AM, 2.30 PM, 4.45 PM, 7 PM, 9.15 PM, 11.30 PM (3D): 11.15 AM, 1.30 PM, 3.45 PM, 6 PM, 8.15 PM, 10.30 PM

PRIEST(3D): 6.30 PM, 8.15 PM, 10 PM, 11.45 PM THE RESIDENT (THRILLER): 5 PM, 9.15 PM, 11.15 PM THE NUTCRACKER (FAMILY): 2 PM, 4.15 PM ADELE: RISE OF THE MUMMY(ACTION): 6.45 PM, 9 PM, 11.15 PM SCREAM 4 (HORROR): 2.15 PM, 4.30 PM THOR (ADVENTURE): 2.30 PM, 6.45 PM

GULF CINEMA LUV KA THE END (HINDI): 2.30 PM VAANAM (TAMIL): 5.30 PM URMI (MALAYALAM): 8.30 PM, 11.30 PM

ARTHUR (COMEDY): 12 NOON, 2.15 PM, 4.30 PM, 6.45 PM, 9 PM, 11.15 PM

HOP (ANIMATION): 10.30 AM, 12.30 PM, 2.30 PM, 4.30 PM, 6.30 PM, 8.30 PM, 10.30 PM URMI (MALAYALAM)

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE (COMEDY): 11.15 AM, 1.15 PM, 3.15 PM, 5.15 PM, 7.15 PM, 9.15 PM, 11.15 PM