Banda Aceh, Indonesia, ive years after the tsunami. P 2 3

time out
On the
rebound
Banda Aceh, Indonesia, five years after
the tsunami. P 2-3
GULF TIMES
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2009
time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009 • Page 3
inside
PAGE
4
Quiet retreat
Gstaad in Switzerland is proud of being
a slow-paced resort town, a fact that
attracts top dollar tourists to it.
PAGE
5
In search of a standard
High on star quotient, France still
couldn’t boast of five-star hotels. A new
ranking system hopes to make amends.
*
Signs of recovery like these are common all over the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh. Cover photograph: (Top) a
view of the damage near Baiturrahman mosque on December 27, 2004, the day after the tsunami hit Banda Aceh,
and (bottom) an Acehnese man collecting grass for his goat in the same area, on December 4 this year.
PAGE
11
PAGE
12
PAGE
13
Appraisal
Brittany Murphy was an actress of great
promise, as her wide-ranging choice of
roles showed.
Women
Support groups in Chicago help firsttime mums deal with the stresses of
miscarriage.
Style
A quick way to update your wardrobe is
to team them up with tights, available
now in great variety.
Regulars
Comics, Puzzles, Info-guide Page 14-16
[email protected]
Features Editor: Nahla Nainar
Sub-editor: G John
Layout artist: Pushpa Raj Shrestha
Twin
triumphs
Cover
Story
Racked by a separatist conflict for nearly three
decades, the province of Aceh, on the northern tip
of Sumatra island, was a tense place. Then came
the 2004 tsunami ... By Kathy Marks
I
n a fishing village west of
Banda Aceh, young men
gather in an outdoor coffee
shop at dusk to talk, smoke
and watch the television
news bulletin.
It is an unremarkable scene —
yet it is one that for many years
was rarely seen in this part of
Indonesia.
Racked by a separatist conflict
for nearly three decades, the
province of Aceh, on the northern
tip of Sumatra island, was a tense,
fearful place. Then came the
devastating tsunami of December
26, 2004, which injected a new
urgency into long-stalled peace
negotiations.
Seven months later, the warring
parties signed a historic agreement
to end the violence.
While peace was an unexpected
by-product of the tsunami, it has
helped the province to recover from
one of the world’s worst natural
disasters, while at the same time
radically improving the lives of
ordinary Acehnese. “You could say
the tsunami was a blessing,” says
Azwar Hasan, head of a local nongovernmental organisation (NGO),
Forum Bangun Aceh.
“We are no longer living in fear.”
No one could have predicted that
the giant waves that destroyed
entire towns and villages, killing
more than 160,000 people and
leaving half a million homeless,
would transform the political
landscape so thoroughly. But
the provincial governor who will
preside over the sober ceremony
on Saturday to mark the fifth
anniversary of the disaster is a
former rebel commander, Irwandi
Yusuf, and ex-combatants also
wield power as district leaders
and local representatives in the
Indonesian parliament.
Equally, no one who visited Aceh
just after the tsunami, which was
triggered by a huge, 9.3-magnitude
underwater earthquake, would have
believed it possible for the place to
be rebuilt so quickly from scratch.
While 13 countries bordering
the Indian Ocean were affected,
the province — barely 100 miles
from the epicentre — was ground
zero, and a 500-mile stretch of
the densely populated west coast,
extending nearly two miles inland,
was flattened.
Banda Aceh, the bustling
capital, is unrecognisable from
five years ago, when it was a grim,
silent wasteland, its streets piled
high with the debris of smashed
buildings and washed by fetid
floodwaters. Now, thanks largely
to $6.7bn of foreign aid, the city
is a sea of spanking new houses,
schools, clinics, mosques, markets
and streets.
While there are reminders of
the tragedy everywhere, in the
memorials, peace parks and mass
graves, as well as in the sad eyes of
survivors, the dreadful stench of
death that hung over the devoutly
Muslim province has gone. The
air is no longer pierced by grief;
instead, there is commerce,
laughter and a sense of normality.
Normality was absent even
before the tsunami struck. The
streets were deserted in the
evening.
Indonesian security forces,
notorious for their brutality and
corruption, maintained a heavy
presence, while the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM), which engaged
in extortion and intimidation,
inspired almost equal dread.
Now GAM fighters have handed
in their weapons and rejoined
civil society, and the military is
almost invisible, in coastal areas
at least. Meanwhile, the province,
which was virtually closed to
outsiders during the civil war,
is bidding farewell to thousands
of international aid workers
who took part in the remarkable
reconstruction effort, one of the
biggest ever undertaken. Nearly
500 overseas agencies were
involved in building 140,000
new houses, 1,700 schools, 996
government buildings, 36 airports
and seaports, 3,800 mosques, 363
bridges and more than 23,000 miles
of road.
But the statistics only tell part
of the story, for in parallel with the
physical restoration of Aceh, people
have slowly been recovering from
the trauma of losing everything:
home, village, community,
livelihood and numerous close
relatives.
The 2004 earthquake punched
a hole in the wall of the Banda
Aceh prison holding Irwandi Yusuf
and 286 fellow GAM members.
Three days later, GAM announced
a ceasefire, and in August 2005,
following talks mediated by
Finland’s former president, Martti
Ahtisaari, a peace deal was reached,
which, among other things, allowed
for the establishment of local
political parties and guaranteed the
province the lion’s share of revenue
from its vast natural resources. In
February 2007 Irwandi was sworn
in as Aceh’s first democratically
elected governor.
The transition to peace has not
been entirely smooth. It has been
difficult to find work for thousands
of former guerrilla fighters, some
of whom, underemployed and
frustrated, have turned to crime.
“They only know how to use a
Kalashnikov, so what do you put
in their hands to enable them to
make a living in peacetime?” asks
Bobby Anderson, co-ordinator
of the International Organisation
for Migration’s post-conflict
reintegration programme.
A government agency, the Aceh
Reintegration Board, was set up to
allocate cash grants and housing to
former rebels. Among its employees
is Kacut, an ex-combatant who has
exchanged her automatic weapon
for a computer. This serious young
woman, who wears lipstick and an
Islamic headscarf, has no regrets
about her involvement with GAM,
which she joined at 18.
“I joined because my father’s
nephew and other relatives had
been tortured by Indonesian
military forces,” she says. “It was
a difficult life, but there was no
choice, and it was difficult for all
Acehnese at that time.”
While she is happy with her
new life, some ex-rebels remain
dissatisfied, believing that the
peace agreement did not go far
enough. Saifdul Helmi, who spent
18 months in prison, where he
was subjected to water torture
and electric shocks, says: “The
goal of our fighting was to gain
independence for Aceh, and we
haven’t achieved that.”
There is resentment, too, that
villages in the Acehnese hinterland,
ravaged by decades of civil war,
have received relatively little
assistance. Craig Thorburn, an
Australian academic who has
closely studied the recovery process
in Aceh, says: “The resources
available for post-conflict
reconstruction are minuscule,
while tsunami-affected areas have
had plenty of aid.” Many tsunami
survivors, meanwhile, received
substandard housing because
contracts were awarded to former
GAM commanders, according to
Thorburn.
“They got their peace dividend,
but a lot of houses were built
with shoddy materials, and
people were afraid to complain,”
he says. Almost everyone has
been rehoused, though, and the
extraordinarily resilient Acehnese
are getting on with their lives. In
the coastal village of Gampung
Dayah Teungoh, children race their
bicycles around the freshly paved
streets, while young men sit on the
beach, gazing out to sea.
Most of Gampung Dayah
Teungoh’s population was wiped
out in the disaster.
The 119 survivors include
Nurhanifah, 47. She says: “It’s
much quieter than before. But we
try to forget the tragedy and the
trauma by working and keeping
active.” Razali lost his wife, three
daughters and six grandchildren.
His house was destroyed; all that
was left of the village was one tall
coconut tree and the tiled floor of
the mosque. “You don’t want to
see how bad it was then,” he says.
“It was so sad.” Now life is slowly
improving.
“After five years, we’re finally
getting back our community spirit,
because people are moving into
the village and it has come back to
life,” Razali says. “But the feeling of
sadness never disappears.” — The
Independent
Tale of war and peace in the 2004 tsunami
For two of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies, the 2004 Indian Ocean
tsunami offered a chance for peace in each.
In Indonesia’s Aceh, one of the worst calamities in history led to a historic
peace agreement, and the former rebels are now in power in a province once
under military rule.
But in Sri Lanka, the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) saw
the tsunami as an opportunity to re-arm, before both sides girded for a final
fight in a quarter-century war.
While the catastrophe that killed 226,000 people around the Indian Ocean
rim dealt both regions a deadly blow, their futures on the path of conflict may
have come down to human nature rather than a force of nature.
“Hasan di Tiro, the GAM leader (in Aceh), was very determined to resolve the
problem, and he was looking for every opportunity to end the fight,” said
Singapore-based terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna. “He was genuinely
committed to peace.”
Not so with Tamil Tiger founder Vellupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed in the
final battle in Sri Lanka’s war on May 18.
“Prabhakaran was looking for every opportunity to militarily strengthen and
hand the Sri Lankan government a military defeat,” said Gunaratna, who is
head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism research
at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
Another big difference was that the tsunami caused far greater damage in
Aceh, a mere 150km (90 miles) from the epicentre of the 9.15 earthquake
that triggered the monster waves, creating a more urgent climate for peace.
Former US President Bill Clinton told Reuters in an interview this week to
mark the fifth anniversary of the catastrophe that Aceh was so devastated the
only way for the people to recover was to work together.
The damage in Sri Lanka’s conflict areas was not as profound and they “didn’t
have to do enough together, so that they couldn’t conceive of going back to
another way of doing things”, said Clinton, the UN special envoy for tsunami
reconstruction.
Clinton, along with other international donor organisations pressed hard
in Sri Lanka for an “aid-sharing mechanism” that would have brought the
government and the rebels together as partners in rebuilding after the
tsunami in the conflict areas.
Both sides came to a half-hearted agreement after months of negotiations,
but it was never implemented.
Aceh’s rebels offered a ceasefire on Decembers 28, 2004, four days after the
tsunami, which allowed the Indonesian military to help co-ordinate a massive
emergency relief operation.
With some $7bn in foreign aid pledged for Aceh’s reconstruction, the GAM
rebels then decided to make a peace deal, with former Finnish president
Martti Ahtisaari as the mediator.
International backing was crucial.
“The agreement was not just between GAM and the Indonesian government,”
said Adnan Beuransyah, a former rebel spokesman and now a member of the
provincial assembly. “We supported the agreement because it involved the
EU in sustaining the peace and integration process in Aceh.”
When the tsunami struck Sri Lanka, the LTTE were two years into a tenuous
ceasefire with the government. But they were busy re-arming for a fight that
would erupt into the decisive phase of the long-running civil war in late July
2006.
The flood of post-war tsunami aid money, and the LTTE’s control of portions
of northern and eastern Sri Lanka meant they could dictate terms to aid
agencies and eventually set up the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO).
The TRO was later revealed to be an LTTE fundraising front that took in tens
of millions of dollars which were diverted to the rebels’ coffers for building up
an arsenal that could match that of other standing armies.
Washington banned the TRO for funding the LTTE, which was on the
terrorism lists of the US and more than 30 other countries.
“They seized their opportunity in the reconstruction,” said Iqbal Athas, an
analyst for Jane’s Defence Weekly. “A lot of the NGO funds gave them the
opportunity to consolidate their strength on the coastal stretches.”
The tsunami did cost the Tigers some of their fleet of small attack boats and
several caches of buried weapons.
Prabhakaran’s former deputy, Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, told Reuters in
an interview last year the deadly waves also destroyed a particularly prized
set of rebel weapons—surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
By August of 2005, the Aceh rebels were ready to sign an historic peace
accord and participate in the reconstruction of their oil- and timber-rich
province.
In Sri Lanka by then, the $3bn post-tsunami aid sharing agreement,
signed in June by a reluctant government under pressure from Clinton
and international donors,
had fallen apart, after the
Supreme Court halted its
implementation.
After that, the LTTE set up
its TRO front and both sides
hunkered down for war.
“One looked to harness the
tsunami opportunity to
build peace, the other group
exploited the opportunity
Some of the 450 30kg bags of rice from
to tap into the financial
the United Nations World Food Programme,
resources that came as a result
a gift from the people of Japan, are unloaded of it,” Gunaratna said. — By C
in the town of Panadyra, Sri Lanka in January Bryson Hull and Bill Tarrant/
2005.
Reuters
*
Page 4 • time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009
travel
*
Above: Dog-sled rides are
among the non-skiing treats on offer
at the exclusive Swiss winter resort
of Gstaad.
Right: Serious skiers often have the
ski runs around Gstaad practically to
themselves.
Gstaad: Quiet, cool
By Bernhard Krieger
I
nhabitants of the Swiss
canton of Bern have a
reputation among their
countrymen for slowness.
Villagers in the exclusive
winter resort of Gstaad, southwest of the capital Bern in the
Bernese Alps, do not mind the
ribbing at all, though. They are
proud of being slow, in fact, and
have even made “Come Up — Slow
Down” their advertising slogan.
The world may seem to turn
ever faster, but Gstaad, part of the
commune of Saanen, has managed
to retain its bucolic charm. While
it is said that the fashionable resort
of St Moritz, in the eastern Swiss
canton of Graubuenden, attracts
celebrities who want to be seen,
Gstaad is known as a haven for the
rich and beautiful who prefer not to
be disturbed.
Gstaad is one of the few
Alpine resorts where skiing
is not the main attraction for
most guests. This pleases
serious skiers, who often
have the ski runs practically
to themselves
Gstaad residents are quite
pleased with this characterization,
which suggests that the resort
is down-to-earth and genuine
despite the glitter and glamour of
its guests. It is not a place where
the high nobility, top business
executives and famous performing
artists show off.
“Outwardly, the chalets of the
super-rich are hardly different
from the old farmhouses,” noted
Robert Speth, the star German
chef, who lives in Gstaad.
Strict building regulations allow
only traditional-style chalets,
so the village feeling has stayed
homogeneous. A number of
Gstaad’s farmhouses date from the
15th century.
“Sometimes real palaces are
hidden behind the plain facades
of new chalets,” Speth said.
Underneath some wooden houses
lie private movie theatres and
garages for sports-car collections.
Gourmet restaurants and fivestar hotels are not all that Gstaad
has to offer, though. Affordable
accommodations can be found
in simple boarding houses,
apartments and the region’s winter
campsite with its small, chaletstyle wooden cabins. And the ski
areas are free for children under
nine years of age.
Holidaymakers seeking wild fun
on the slopes and apres-ski hubbub
need to look elsewhere. The four
ski areas around Gstaad, which is
situated 1,050m above sea level,
have 250km of pistes all the way
up to the Diablerets glacier — with
guaranteed snow — at 3,000m.
But most of the ski runs are easy
to moderately difficult and empty
until late in the morning.
About half of the guests are older
than 50.
“They don’t come up the
mountain until 10 or 11 am and
return to one of the cabins after a
couple of runs,” said Fiona, a ski
instructor. Many of them head
straight to one of the cross-country
skiing areas or winter hiking trails.
Hence Gstaad is one of the
few Alpine resorts where skiing
is not the main attraction for
most guests. This pleases serious
skiers, who often have the ski runs
practically to themselves.
Accompanied by ski mountain
guides and an indispensable ABS
avalanche backpack, they can also
ski off-piste on untouched, deepsnow slopes.
Guests who sleep at the Igloo
Village on the local mountain Eggli,
1,550m above sea level, can even
be the first to ski down freshly
groomed pistes every morning.
Special sleeping bags help keep
them warm at night in their icy
abode. In the evening, they can
gather in a restaurant where the
seats of ice are covered with warm
lambskins.
To chase any residual chills
away, there is an outdoor
whirlpool heated to 40°C, with
an unobstructed view of the stars
overhead.
While guests at the Igloo Village
are meeting for late-afternoon
drinks and conversation at the
Igloo Bar, their counterparts down
in Gstaad’s central pedestrian
area are getting together over hot
chocolate, wine or champagne.
Among them are gourmets and
families, easygoing folk and serious
skiers, and also the super-rich,
who, since it is Gstaad, usually
remain incognito behind their
sunglasses. — DPA
time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009 • Page 5
French luxury hotels
reach for a star
By Sophie Taylor
A
cliche recipe for
success is to aim for
the stars. France’s
luxury hotels say they
need to reach for just
one more.
The world’s largest tourism
destination has introduced a fivestar category to its hotel ranking
system and the country’s gilded
establishments are flocking to
apply, believing the upgrade will
reel in higher rollers.
Until this year, France was in the
odd position of being synonymous
with high culture, finery and the
very best in food and drink — yet
it had none of the five-class hotels
found elsewhere in Europe.
“Lots of people have asked
why even so-called palaces here
like Georges V and Hotel Plaza
Athenee had only four stars,” said
Francoise Parguel, vice president
of communications for the Sofitel
chain.
Paris now has 13 five-star hotels,
the city’s tourism office said. For
many, including Sofitel, the fifth
star is simply the culmination of
longer renovation programmes
aimed at shifting upmarket.
Hotels applying for top status
need to satisfy hundreds of criteria,
from bedroom size to phones in
bathrooms.
“Why a fifth star? While there
only used to be a ‘luxury’ fourth
star, today it’s about putting French
establishments on the same level
as international competition,” said
the press office of Concorde Hotels
& Resorts, which owns Le Palais
de la Mediterranee based near the
Cote d’Azur overlooking the sea.
The government hopes a
five-star bracket will help France
better weather the financial crisis:
the French hotel sector has held
up better than neighbouring
countries, but suffered from a drop
in British and American tourists,
Deloitte said in its winter 2009
research report.
A more standardised rating
Arizona opens
new walkers’ trail
The Grand Canyon state has a new
hiking path that stretches 1,288km
from Kaibab National Forest to
the Mexican border. The Arizona
Trail takes walkers to Flagstaff
city, Roosevelt Lake and Saguaro
National Park. Aside from a few
sections the trail is completely
open to the public.
Circus fest in Monaco
set for January
The principality of Monaco is
staging its annual circus festival
from January 14 to 24 where lion
tamers, clowns and performing
artists will compete for the “Golden
Clown” prize. The circus festival has
been staged since 1974.
Algarve to get
luxury golf course
The Portuguese holiday region
of the Algarve is to get another
spectacular golf course when
the “Quinta do Vale Golf Resort”
opens in October 2010. The 18-hole
course was designed by Spanish
golfer Seve Ballesteros and will
have its own five star hotel. The
new course will be in addition to
the Algarve’s other three dozen
golf clubs.
*
Outside view of the Hotel Crillon at Place de la Concorde in Paris. The world’s largest tourism destination has
introduced a five-star category to its hotel ranking system and the country’s gilded establishments are flocking to
apply, believing the upgrade will reel in higher rollers.
system might win them back.
Analysts say the sector’s
resilience is thanks more to budget
hotels than the high-end, which
has lagged behind other countries
such as Britain.
“It’s a marketing operation and
does not change much from an
operational point of view,” said
Guillaume Rascoussier, a hotel
sector analyst at Oddo Securities.
A fifth star alone could not justify
higher room rates, he said.
Visitors to France fell 7.5% to
15.9mn in the first half of this year,
according to the Paris Tourism
Office.
Dwindling demand, shorter
booking times and pressure on
average room rates led to a 14%
drop in revenue per available room
in the first half of 2009, Deloitte
said.
But Paris still had the highest
occupancy rate in the euro zone,
at 74%, and the second-highest
average room rates after Venice in
the first half of 2009, said Deloitte.
Spain has been hit hard by
competition from Turkey and
North Africa, as well as a dwindling
number of visitors from Britain due
to the weak pound against the euro.
“Even as more European
countries emerge from recession,
it may take some time for business
and leisure demand to bounce back
and hoteliers to start reporting
positive results once more,”
Deloitte added.
While France is known for elite
culture, it’s the budget hotels that
have proven most resilient during
the financial crisis.
“France depends less on the
high-end than Germany, or Spain
for example. Economy hotels in
France represent much more of
the total network than in other
countries like Germany or Spain
where it is much less developed,”
said Oddo’s Rascoussier.
Accor, a French company which
is Europe’s largest hotel group, has
had to cut costs to help weather a
decline in demand for its upscale
and midscale, but said in October
its economy segment in France had
proven resilient. For the time being,
luxury hotels say they will continue
to hold out for big spenders rather
than address the mass market.
Paris’ Le Meurice, known for its
illustrated ceilings and celebrity
chef, embarked on a €6mn
($8.84mn) facelift two years ago,
prior to the five-star initiative.
“We feel no need to go mass
market,” said Le Meurice
spokeswoman Anne Vogt-Bordure.
“After all, we are a palace.” —
Reuters
Holidays with a feel-good factor
P
travel
tips
hilip Engleberts went to Thailand for
a good time and came back enthused
with a good cause: helping fund an
orphanage.
“When I came back to Sydney I just
felt I wanted to do what I could and that’s how
it’s been,” the public relations consultant said.
Even relatively wealthy countries like
Thailand can give travellers from even richer
countries like Australia a pang of conscience.
Some, like Engleberts, act on that desire to
help with a personal commitment. Others opt
to sign up for organised trips abroad that offer
both a holiday and a salve for the credit-cardcarrying traveller.
You can help in village clinics in Nepal, wield
a spade in an archaeological dig in Mexico and
labour in a conservation project in Kenya. There
are even organised trips to help the down-andout in New York and other developed world
cities.
“I think that it has to be one of the most
amazing experiences of my life,” said Caspar
Erskine, who spent two months teaching
English in Nepal for the Australian operation of
international volunteering organisation Projects
Abroad. “I was supported well and made lots of
new friends, and more importantly I never felt
insecure but rather at home in Nepal.”
Projects Abroad mostly offers teaching
jobs, participants pay their own way and most
positions are in the developing world.
Commercial operators like Australia’s Contiki
Holidays have started offering holidays where
volunteering is a component.
You can plant vegetables in southeast Asia
— or, at the very least, eat in restaurants where
former street urchins do the cooking and
serving. — DPA
Universal theme
park in Singapore
Universal Studios will open a
new theme park in Singapore
at the beginning of 2010 which
will include a Shrek castle and a
Battlestar Galactica rollercoaster
that provides passengers with a
moment of weightlessness. The
park will be the first by Universal
Studios in south-east Asia and
is located in Resorts World on
the island of Sentosa south of
Singapore. — DPA
Some cool websites
q
www.studentuniverse.com
What: Geared to student travellers
seeking inexpensive flights, cheap
hotels and spring break ideas.
Why: Many students are flexible
about where they go for vacation.
The Fare Play feature lets you type
in a departure city and dates, then
gives suggestions about great
deals that week.
How: Click on “Fare Play” and
follow the prompts.
q www.diz-abled.com
What: Helps travellers with special
needs, disabilities, health and
emotional conditions plan a trip to
Walt Disney World.
Why: Gives confidence and
information to special-needs
families, including those with
members who have special diets,
use oxygen or a wheelchair/
scooter, or who have mental
challenges.
How: Research by park and issue.
— Detroit Free Press/MCT
Page 6 • time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009
time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009 • Page 11
reviews
The truth, sort of,
about relationships
By Christopher Kelly
FILM: The Ugly Truth
CAST: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler
DIRECTION: Robert Luketic
S
he’s the control-freak morning news show
producer who evaluates potential dates
according to a checklist. He’s an abrasive
chauvinist commentator just hired by her
station to help juice up the ratings.
You can now close your eyes and write the remainder
of The Ugly Truth in your head: Opposites repel;
opposites attract; opposites eventually find themselves
bickering, but finally falling in love during a remote
segment on live television.
This romantic comedy isn’t completely
unwatchable, partly because of the appealing
performances of Katherine Heigl and Gerard
Butler, who almost manage to humanise these preprogrammed creations, and partly because of the film’s
intriguingly sexualised undercurrents.
Heigl plays the uptight Abby, who is predictably
aghast to hear the cable-access ranting of Mike, who
insists that men are only interested in one thing and
that women who think otherwise are either ugly or
foolish or (mostly likely) both.
Imagine Abby’s dismay, then, when the next
morning Mike turns up in the studio, where he
immediately grabs the attention of viewers by exposing
on-air the sexless marriage of the show’s airhead
anchors (John Michael Higgins and Cheryl Hines).
For most of the film’s running time, the characters in
The Ugly Truth behave according to no known laws of
human logic.
The screenplay, by Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah
Lutz and Kirsten Smith, merely poses the actors in
bizarre, semi-humiliating scenarios designed for
maximum yuks.
This occasionally results in laughs, such as the
Cyrano-style sequence in which Mike guides Abby
through her first date with a hunky doctor named Colin
(Eric Winter). But the filmmakers’ approach never
allows us to become invested in these people’s lives,
perhaps because they never seem like actual people.
Heigl and Butler are both fabulously attractive,
but lack any actorly narcissism; they’re hot but they
don’t seem to know it — which makes them that
much hotter. Yet despite a few nice scenes together in
which Mike recounts the litany of bad relationships
that led him to permanent bachelorhood, director
Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) never allows his actors
to breathe before thrusting them into another crude
scenario.
Whatever serious inquiry into human sexuality The
Ugly Truth might be flirting with is finally sabotaged by
the obvious twists, the broad jokes and the shameless
pandering to the hopeless romantics in the crowd.
Opposites attract.
Every chauvinist secretly has a heart of gold. Trust
that your Prince Charming is out there. Cliche, cliche,
cliche, blah, blah, blah.
Instead of reinventing the chick-flick genre, this
movie just ends up cementing its bad name. — Fort
Worth Star-Telegram/MCT
(DVD courtesy: Saqr Entertainment Store at The Mall.
Tel: 4670096)
appraisal
'Never trust a dude
in a tunic'
Life, interrupted
FILM: Land Of The Lost
CAST: Will Ferrell, Anna Friel, Danny
McBride and Jorma Taccone
DIRECTION: Brad Silberling
I don’t want to get too worked up
over the impossible waste of time
and money that is Land of the Lost,
because ultimately it’s just another Will
Ferrell knuckleheader — he takes off his
shirt, thrusts his chest tufts and beer
gut, and says dopey stuff that’ll elicit
laughs.
But really, a $100mn production
that monopolised six Universal
soundstages, employed hundreds
of people including jobs in “creature
foam” and “prosthetic teeth” (OK, I
guess employment is a good thing)
and had the supremely talented
production designer Bo Welch
reimagining sets that were made for
a few bucks back on the original ‘70s
TV show — isn’t that emblematic of
everything that’s wrong with modernday Hollywood?
Big over small. Special effects over
story. Excess, excess, excess.
But like I said, I’m not going to let it ruin
my day.
And going to see Land of the Lost
— director Brad Silberling’s epically
silly homage to Sid and Marty Krofft’s
much-beloved Saturday morning
series — won’t necessarily ruin your
day, either.
With Ferrell as Dr Rick Marshall,
a “quantum paleontologist” with
big ideas about time travel and
“transdimensional energy,” Land of the
Lost jumps from the Today Show set
(Matt Lauer “interviewing” Marshall) to
the La Brea Tar Pits (Marshall talking
to kids about dinosaurs) to, well, the
titular land of the lost.
Said place is accessed via a portal
located at a third-rate California desert
tourist trap presided over by the
redneck doofus Will Stanton (Danny
McBride).
The professor and his plucky British
research assistant, Holly (Anna Friel),
go there, get in a raft with Will, and
next thing you know the trio are
whirlpooling down a space-time vortex
— landing in a place full of caves and
rocks, jungles and temples, dinosaurs
and Sleestaks — bipedal reptilians with
goggle eyes and rows and rows of
pointy teeth.
“The past, present and future are
mashed up together,” explains
Marshall, looking over dunes where
a Viking ship and a Cessna plane lie
together, and where bits of the Golden
Gate Bridge, the Great Wall and a Union
76 gas station orb dot the landscape.
This is also where Chaka (Saturday
Night Live’s Jorma Taccone), a furry
missing link teenager, resides.
The primate boy speaks in a strange
language of grunts and squawks (a
UCLA linguist was hired by the studio
to develop a vocabulary!) and can’t
keep his hands off Holly’s breasts. She
doesn’t seem to mind.
Ferrell’s Marshall runs around in his
Florsheim zipper boots, fleeing a
ferocious T. Rex and the slow-moving
Sleestaks, ultimately facing off against
Enik the Altrusian — a smarter, nastier
Sleestak who dwells in a Dali-esque
field of light crystals and glassy cones.
Enik wears a tunic.
“Never trust a dude in a tunic,”
warns Will. Other quotable moments
from Land of the Lost: Marshall’s
exclamatory “Captain Kirk’s nipples!”
and a joke based on mis-hearing the
words “chorizo tacos.”
Not exactly $100mn’s worth of
classic comedy. — By Steven Rea, The
Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT
(DVD courtesy: Viva Entertainment,
Qatar WLL. Tel: 4369305)
Brittany Murphy achieved fame with Clueless, but
her role in an unfilmed Janis Joplin biopic
symbolised an unfulfilled potential.
By Ryan Gilbey
I
t has become something of
a Hollywood formality that
any young woman actor fresh
on the scene is pencilled in
to play Janis Joplin sooner
or later. Brittany Murphy, who has
died aged 32 from cardiac arrest,
was one of many performers over
the years who were attached to
some Joplin biopic or another.
In this case, it was Piece of
My Heart, for which Murphy
auditioned successfully in 1999,
but which was never made. It
certainly was not much of a stretch
to imagine her evoking the gusto
and vulnerability required for that
part.
Murphy was no run-of-the-mill
star. In her first substantial role,
as a greenhorn mentored by the
coolest girl in school in the 1995
hit Clueless, she proved herself an
inventive comedienne.
She demonstrated her versatility
in dramatically intense films such
as Girl, Interrupted and 8 Mile.
She claimed to draw no distinction
between the various characters
she played, describing them as
“all using my tears and snot and
sweat and bruises, just in different
contexts. There’s [sic] probably
800 people living inside of here, so
they all pop out in different ways.
It’s like me, myself, and I.”
She was born in Atlanta, Georgia,
and moved with her mother,
Sharon, to Edison in New Jersey
after her parents divorced. By the
age of five, she was a member of
a school of dance and theatre.
Later she claimed to have spent
most of her youth cajoling her
mother into decamping with her
to Hollywood to further her career
but when Murphy began notching
up advertising jobs after auditions
in New York, mother and daughter
did indeed move to Los Angeles.
At 14, Murphy became a regular
on the sitcom Drexell’s Class, about
a white-collar criminal who starts
over as a teacher. More television
and advertising work followed
before she was picked to play Tai,
the new girl at a Beverly Hills high
school, in Clueless.
Amy Heckerling’s witty, wellreceived film, based loosely on Jane
Austen’s Emma, was a charmer
which regarded its often superficial
characters with genuine warmth;
it was also a surprise box-office
success, launching the careers of
several of its youthful cast (Alicia
Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Donald
Faison).
A film career did not follow
immediately for Murphy. For
a while, she worked in theatre
(including a Broadway production
of Arthur Miller’s A View from the
Bridge in 1997) and television.
She was wonderfully funny as
LuAnne Platter, the promiscuous
“born-again virgin” in more than
200 episodes of the animated
sitcom King of the Hill.
And in 1999 she began a run
of high-profile movie roles,
starring in the beauty-pageant
“mockumentary” Drop Dead
Gorgeous, and holding her own
amongst the largely-female
powerhouse cast of Girl,
Interrupted, set in a 1960s mental
institution.
Other films during this busy
period included Alan Rudolph’s
light-hearted mystery Trixie, the
teen horror Cherry Falls (both
2000), and the self-conscious
“issue movie” Riding in Cars with
Boys (2001).
Murphy returned to the mental
ward in the 2001 thriller Don’t
Say a Word, which she stole from
under the nose of its star, Michael
Douglas, before joining the
ensemble cast of the quirky, drugsrelated comedy-cum-drama Spun
(2002). When she starred opposite
Eminem in 8 Mile, it appeared to
be a career turning point. Though
*
Britanny Murphy, actor, born November 10, 1977; died December 20,
2009
transparently a vehicle for the
controversial rapper, the film
was nonetheless of high calibre,
directed by Curtis Hanson (LA
Confidential) and poetically shot
by the Mexican cinematographer
Rodrigo Prieto (Amores perros).
Murphy brought pathos and grit to
a routine love-interest part.
But few of the roles she took
in the wake of 8 Mile gave her the
opportunity to capitalise on that
picture.
There were ditsy comedies,
including Just Married (2003),
opposite her then-partner Ashton
Kutcher, as well as the violent
graphic-novel adaptation Sin City
(2005).
She sang on Faster Kill Pussycat,
a 2006 track by the producerDJ Paul Oakenfold, and her
singing could also be heard in
the computer-animated penguin
musical Happy Feet (2006).
Following her recent departure
from the lead in the supernatural
mystery The Caller, Murphy’s
representative denied accusations
of unprofessional behaviour,
insisting that “creative differences”
were to blame.
Among Murphy’s final
completed films, to be released
posthumously, are the thriller
Something Wicked and the action
movie The Expendables, in which
she is one of the few female faces
among a rogue’s gallery of ageing
action stars.
She is survived by her husband,
the British screenwriter and
producer Simon Monjack. —
Guardian News & Media
Noughties remembered ... 2004
January 13
Serial killer Harold Shipman is found
hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison,
4 years after being convicted of
murdering 15 patients in Cheshire,
England.
February 4
Social networking website Facebook is
set up at Cambridge, Massachussetts.
February 29
The 76th Academy Awards are held
at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood,
California, with The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King directed by
Peter Jackson, winning a record-tying
11 Oscars, including Best Picture and
Best Director.
March 22
Palestinians protest in the streets after
an Israeli helicopter gunship fires a
missile at the entourage of Sheikh
Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City, killing him
and 7 others.
April 21
Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed an
Israeli nuclear weapons programme
in the 1980s, is released from prison
in Israel after serving 18 years for
treason.
April 28
Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse in Iraq is
revealed on the television show 60
Minutes II.
June 5
Ronald Reagan, the 40th President
of the United States, dies at his home
in Bel-Air, California at the age of 93.
A 6-day state funeral follows after his
death.
October 8
A fleet of 360 vehicles comprising the
first batch of new taxis hits Doha roads.
Operated by The Transport Company
(Mowasalat), the Karwa cabs, all
painted in metallic turquoise, are taken
out in a convoy from the Sheraton
Hotel’s vast parking ground at 4pm.
November 2
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan,
the president and founding father of
the United Arab Emirates, one of the
richest countries in the world, dies.
The UAE declared a 40-day official
period of mourning.
December 26
One of the worst natural disasters in
recorded history hits southeast Asia,
when the strongest earthquake in
40 years hits the entire Indian Ocean
region. (See today's cover story).
tv listings
24/12/09
Pamela Anderson works
festive magic in Aladdin
By Odile Duperry
B
ouncing on stage in
a skintight red outfit
and pink platform
shoes, Baywatch star
Pamela Anderson is
clearly having fun in her British
pantomime debut, playing the
genie in Aladdin’s lamp.
And the audience is also enjoying
the spectacle as the Canadian star
throws herself into the spirit of the
traditional Christmas-season show
enjoyed by everyone from children
to grandparents.
This time, there are an unusual
number of middle-aged men in the
audience at southwest London’s
New Wimbledon Theatre, eager to
see the curvaceous Anderson strut,
wiggle and pout her way through
her British stage debut.
It is not exactly high-brow
stuff—pantomimes are stage
versions of folk tales featuring
singing, dancing, bad puns and
plenty of participation from the
audience, who boo villains and
cheer heroes with gusto.
But sex symbol Anderson’s
involvement is a coup for
organisers.
Most Britons expect to see
a minor celebrity in their local
pantomime, not the star of one of
the biggest television shows ever,
whose picture has reputedly been
downloaded from the Internet
more than any other woman.
Anderson appears to huge
cheers, balancing on a trapeze and
sporting fishnet stockings.
In this version of the pantomime,
the genie that she plays “comes
from Beverly Hills” and “always
ends up with the bad boys” —
perhaps a reference to Anderson’s
three doomed marriages, including
to rockers Tommy Lee and Kid
Rock.
Anderson’s two-week stint in
Aladdin runs to December 27.
*
Actress Pamela Anderson performing in as the genie in the pantomime Aladdin.
Though she is back in the red
costume of her Baywatch days,
winter in Wimbledon is as far
away from the sunny beaches of
Los Angeles as pantomime is from
Anderson’s usual beat.
Britain’s traditional Christmas
pantomimes, knockabout musical
comedy versions of fairy tales such
as Aladdin, Cinderella and Snow
White, take over Britain’s theatres
in December and January.
The actors, wearing outlandish
costumes, run about the stage
singing and dancing, while others
hose the audience with giant water
pistols.
Schoolchildren are brought on
stage to sing, while the cast scatter
double-entendres as the band plays
on.
Hardly comfortable ground for
Hollywood icons.
However, First Family
Entertainment (FFE), which has
already managed to bring American
stars like Mickey Rooney, Patrick
Duffy (Dallas) or Paul Michael
Glaser (Starsky and Hutch) over to
Britain to do a stint in panto, has
pulled off an even bigger coup in
bringing Anderson to the stage.
Tickets are few and far between
for her twice-daily appearances.
After Aladdin rubs his lamp, the
genie Anderson descends from
the ceiling, about an hour into the
show.
She sings Christina Aguilera’s
hit Genie in a Bottle and in a script
made to measure, she announces
she is “the most downloaded genie
in the world”.
When she drops to her knees to
ask her master Aladdin “what can
I do for you?” the audience falls
about laughing, and is stunned by
one particularly vigorous dance.
However, it’s all family
entertainment — unlike her
previous turn on the European
stage, riding a motorcycle at the
Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris last
year on Saint Valentine’s Day,
wearing nothing but a black body
stocking.
Anderson has even visited the
local pubs in Wimbledon during
her spell in the suburb.
Her debut made for frontpage photographs in Britain’s
newspapers and reviews have been
favourable.
The Daily Telegraph said:
“Though Anderson has a talent far
smaller than her bust, she proves a
good sport in the show”.
The Daily Mail said: “Well
done Pam. Welcome to British
Vaudeville”. — AFP
Page 8 • time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009
Super Movies
0300 The Oxford
Murders
0500 Waitress
0700 Taking Chance
0830 Us Top 10
0900 Shadows In
Paradise
1100 Racing Daylight
1230 Us Top 10
1300 In Memory Of My
Father
1500 Graduation
1630 Us Top 10
1700 The Prestige
1910 Horton Hears A
Who
2100 Fred Claus
2300 Deck The Halls
0100 Unaccompanied
Minors
0300 Deck The Halls
0500 Unaccompanied
Minors
Orbit News
0400 Nbc The Today
Show
0700 Nbc Nightly News
0735 Abc Nightline Live
0805 Abc World News
0830 Nbc Nightly News
0900 Newshour Pbs
1000 Abc Nightline
1030 Nbc Nightly News
1100 Abc World News
Now Live
1230 Nbc Early Today
Live
1300 Abc America This
Morning Live
1430 Nbc Early Today
1500 Nbc The Today
Show Live
1900 Abc News Now
2000 Msnbc Dr.Nancy
Live
2100 Msnbc Andrea
Mitchell Reports
Live
2200 Newshour Pbs
2359 Abc News Now
(Live)
0100 Abc News Now
0200 Abc Nightline
0230 Abc World News
Live 2009
0300 Nbc Nightly News
Live
0330 Abc World News
0400 Nbc The Today
Show
America Plus
0500 The O.C. 416. The
End’s Not Near, It’s
Here
0600 Good Morning
America 2006 Amp
Repeat
0800 Good Morning
America Health
0830 What’s The Buzz
0900 Gilmore Girls
1000 Ally Mcbeal Season
1100 The O.C.
1200 One Tree Hill
1300 Gilmore Girls
1400 24 Season 2
1500 Good Morning
America 2006
Amp
1700 Good Morning
America Health
1730 What’s The Buzz
1800 Dollhouse
1900 Smallville 705.
Action
2000 Sons Of Anarchy
Season 1
2100 Er
2200 The Bachelor
2300 Supernatural
0000 True Blood
0100 Er
0200 The O.C.
0300 Er
0400 Gilmore Girls
0500 One Tree Hill
Sky News
0630
0700
0900
1300
2000
2200
2300
0100
0200
0300
0330
0400
0500
Cbs News
News On The Hour
Sunrise
News, Sport And
Weather
Live At Five
News On The Hour
News, Sport And
Weather
Sky News At Ten
News On The Hour
Sky Midnight News
Cbs News
News On The Hour
Year In Review
time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009 • Page 9
BBC Ent
0635 Bargain
Hunt
0720 Tweenies Set 13
New Arrival
0740 Little Robots
Series 3 & 4
The Odd Couple
0750 Teletubbies Set
1 Playing In The
Rain
0815 The Roly Mo Show
Set 3 Painting
0830 Tikkabilla Set 1
Trampoline
0900 Tweenies Set 13
Big Brave Jake
0920 Little Robots
Series 3 & 4
Good Sport Sporty
0930 Teletubbies Set 1
Dad’s Lorry
0955 The Roly Mo Show
Set 3 Little Bo’s
Sad
1010 Tikkabilla Set 1
Honey Biscuits
1040 Little Robots
Series 3 & 4Metal
Makes Us Special
1050 Bargain Hunt
1135
Ancient Rome The Rise & Fall Of
An Empire
Rebellion
1500 Bargain Hunt
1545 Cash In The Attic
Set 2 Hinchcliffe
1615 Antiques
Roadshow
1900 Casualty Set
2
Discovery Channel
0540 How It’s
Made
0605 Ultimate Survival
South Dakota
0700 Really Big Things
Dry Docks
0755 Rides
Foose’s
‘69
0850 Overhaulin’
Wake Up Call
0945 How It’s Made
Baseball Gloves
1010 Mythbusters
Exploding Toilet
1105 Ultimate Survival
Yukon
1200 Destroyed In
Seconds
1230 Destroyed In
Seconds
1255 How It’s Made
Baseball Gloves
1325 How It’s
Made
1350 Fifth Gear
1415 Mythbusters
Alaska Special
1510 Miami Ink Bad
Break
1605 Mythbusters
Cell Phone
Destroys Gas
Station
1700 Ultimate Survival
Yukon
1800 Destroyed In
Seconds
1830 Destroyed In
Seconds
1900 Overhaulin’
Scout’s Honour
Cinema City
MGM
0500 Enemies Among
Us (Cct)
0630 Us Top 10
0655 Heartbreakers
0900 The Seven Of
Daran Battle Of
Pareo Rock
1100 Hard Ball
1300 Shallow Hal
1500 All Roads Leads To
Home
1700 Short Track
1900 All She Wants For
Christmas
2100 Mars Attacks
2300 Enemies Among
Us (Cct)
0030 Us Top 10
0100 Who Is Cletis Tout
0235 Us Top 10
0615 Miracle Mile (1989)
0740 The Heavenly Kid
(1985)
0910 Heart Of Dixie
(1989)
1045 Bikini Beach (1964)
1225 The Burning Bed
(1984)
1400 Miracle Beach
(1992)
1525 Huckleberry Finn
(1974)
1715
Parker Kane (1990)
1850 Women Vs. Men
(2002)
2015 Futureworld (1976)
2200 The Fantasticks
(2000)
2325 Wild Bill (1995)
0100 Cuba (1979)
0300 Crooked Hearts
(1991)
0450 Sweet Lies (1987)
Star Movies
0620 Me And Luke
0750 The Ticket
Entertainment news
0820 Wildfires
0950 They Are Among Us
1135
Ladder 49
1330 Family In Hiding
1505 The Hive
1640 Carrington
1840 Cop
2030 Raw Deal
2215 Agent Cody Banks 2
Destination London
0000 Family In Hiding
0135 They Are Among Us
0320 Carrington
0520 Cop
Animal Planet
0525
0620
0645
0710
0800
0825
0850
0945
1010
1040
1105
1155
1250
1345
1440
1535
1630
1725
1820
1915
2010
Animal Cops
Phoenix Trapped
Underground
Lemur Street
Sleeping With The
Enemy
Monkey Business
Surviving Sharks
Wildlife Sos
Pet Rescue
The Crocodile
Hunter Diaries
Backstage Bedlam
The Planet’s
Funniest Animals
The Planet’s
Funniest Animals
Aussie Animal
Rescue Seal Pup
Release
Animal Cops
Phoenix Trapped
Underground
Planet Earth
Shark After Dark
Air Jaws
Air Jaws 2
Bull Shark World’s
Deadliest Shark
With Nigel Marven
Sharkman
Sharkman
Animal Cops
Philadelphia
Puppy Mills
Exposed
Austin Stevens
Adventures
The Last Serpent
Killer Whales Up
Close And Personal
Disney Channel
0510
0535
0600
0610
0635
0700
0720
0745
0810
0835
0900
0925
1030
1210
1235
1255
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1500
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1645
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1800
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1845
1900
2040
2105
Science fiction series: Watch sci-fi series Battlestar Gallactica on MBC Action today.
Extreme Sports
0530
0600
0630
0700
0800
0900
1000
1100
1130
1200
1300
1400
1500
1530
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1800
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2100
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2230
2300
Ride Guide Snow
Sacred Ride
Sacred Ride
Ast Winter Dew
Tour
Sacred Ride
Ticket To Ride
Ast Winter Dew
Tour
Quattro Int Events
Gt Academy 2
Quattro Int Events
Cold Water Classics
Tasmania
Sacred Ride
Ticket To Ride
Ride Guide Snow
Quattro Int Events
Gt Academy 2
Quattro Int Events
Cold Water Classics
Tasmania
Sacred Ride
Ticket To Ride 2008
Ast Winter Dew
Tour
Lg Action
Sports World
Championships
2008
Ride Guide Snow
Ticket To Ride
Quattro Int Events
Gt Academy 2
Quattro Int Events
Cold Water Classics
Tasmania
Lg Action
Sports World
Championships
2008
CNN International
0500 World Report
0600 Anderson Cooper
360
0700 World Report
0730 Talkasia
0800 Living Golf
0830 Backstory
0900 World Report
1000 World Report
1030 World Sport
1100 World Report
1130 Rookie Trader
1200 World Report
1230 International
Correspondents
1300 Larry King
1400 World Report
1430 World Sport
1500 World Report
1600 Amanpour.
1630 Vital Signs
1700 Quest On The Road
1800 International Desk
1900 The Brief
1930 World Sport
2000 Living Golf
2030 Vital Signs
2100 Business Traveller
2130 Rookie Trader
2200 Quest On The Road
2300 Amanpour.
2330 World One
0000 Connect The World
0100 Backstory
0130 World Sport
0200 Revealed
0300 World Report
0330 Luxury Life 09
Cartoon Network
0555 Best Ed Go Kart Go
0620 Samurai Jack
Xli - Robo/Mondo Bot
0645 Cramp Twins
Wicked Wendy
0710 The Powerpuff Girls
Not So Awesome
Blossom
0735 Camp Lazlo
Lumpy Treasure
0800 My Spy Family The
Truffles Are Forever
Affair
0825 Chowder The
Thousand Pound
Cake
0850 Best Ed Cat Fright!
0915 My Gym Partner’s A
Monkey Lyon Of
Scrimmage
0940 George Of The
Jungle License To
Swing/My Own
Private Hero
1005 Foster’s Home For
Imaginary Friends
Good Wilt Hunting,
Part 2
1030 Ben 10
Permanent
Retirement
1120 The Powerpuff Girls
Mommy Fearest
1155
The Life & Times Of
Juniper Lee
I’ve Got My Mind On
My Mummy And
My Mummy On My
Mind
1245 Bakugan Dan And
Drago
2130
Discovery Science
0545
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0800
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1000
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1120
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How Does That
Work?
Mean Green
Machines
Weird Connections
Swimming In Syrup
What’s That About?
Thunder Races
25-foot Jump
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Engineered
How Does That
Work?
Stuntdawgs
What’s That About?
Green Wheels
Killacycle
Weird Connections
Monkey Genius
Race To Mars
Engineered
Human Body
Ultimate Machine
Sensation
How Does That
Work?
Thunder Races
25-foot Jump
Brainiac
Monster Moves
Mammoth
Mansions
Science Of The
Movies Secrets
Of “south Park”
Brainiac
How It’s Made Glass
Bottles/Hacksaws/
Goalie Masks
How It’s Made
Lacrosse Sticks/
MBC 4
0315
0400
0415
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1000
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0100
0230
0315
0400
0415
Late Show with
David Letterman
Inside Edition Week
CBS-Evenning News
90210
The Starter Wife
Hope And Faith
CBS-Evenning
News
Entertainment
Tonight and Insider
Late Show with
David Letterman
CBS-The Early Show
Wheel of Fortune
The Doctors
Days Of Our Lives
Home Shopping
Oprah
Dr. Phil
Rachel Ray
90210
Damages
The Doctors
Oprah
Al- Hareeb
The Starter Wife
Al- Hareeb
Entertainment
Tonight and Insider
Late Show with
David Letterman
Friends
CBS-Evenning News
Hannah Montana
Sonny With A
Chance
Higglytown Heroes
Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse
Handy Manny
Special Agent Oso
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Replacements
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With Hannah
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Lost Treasure
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Place
Hannah Montana
Fairly Odd Parents
Pinocchio
Hannah Montana
The Suite Life Of
Zack And Cody
The Suite Life Of
Dubai One
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The Apprentice
3rd Rock from the
Sun # 5
Emirates News
3rd Rock from the
Sun # 5
How I Met Your
Mother # 1
The Apprentice
Everwood
The Rose - Movie
The Bold and the
Beautiful
The West Wing # 7
Out & About This
Week
The Patriot - Movie
The Apprentice
Everwood
The Bold and the
Beautiful
Notes From The
Underbelly Project
Emirates News
The Class # 1
How I Met Your
Mother # 1
Gone With The Wind
- Movie
She’s The One Movie
Sky High - Movie
Emirates News
See No Evil, Hear No
Evil - Movie
Boomerang
0500 The Perils Of
Penelope Pitstop
North Pole Peril
0525 A Pup Named
Scooby-doo
The Story Stick
0550 Johnny Bravo
My Fair Dork
0615 Dexter’s Laboratory
Dimwit Dexter
0640 Popeye Klondike
Casanova
0705 The Jetsons
One Strike, You’re
Out
0730 The Flintstones
Here’s Snow In Your
Eyes
0800 The Flintstones
The Golf Champion
0855 Tom & Jerry
Baby Puss
0945 Duck Dodgers
Wrath Of Canasta,
The/They Stole
Dodger’s Brain
1035 King Arthur’s
Disasters The Bear
Necessities
1130 Hong Kong Phooey
Voltage Villian
1225 Popeye I Yam
What I Yam
1315
Dexter’s Laboratory
Jurassic Pooch
1405 Wacky Races
Free Wheeling To
Wheeling
1455 Dastardly And
Muttley A Plain
Shortage Of Planes
MBC Action
0500
0600
0645
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0815
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0945
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0430
0500
WWE RAW
NCIS
Lost
Law & Order SVU
Battlesttar Galactica
World’s Wildest
Police Videos
Monster Garage
Most Daring
Gladiators UK
K-Ville
HYPER SONIC
NCIS
Law & Order SVU
Battlesttar Galactica
The Mentalist
Lost
WWE RAW
Criminal Minds
Kill Bill Vol2
WWE RAW
Criminal Minds
THE OMEN
SIX FEET UNDER
Gladiators UK
Most Daring
Showcomedy
0500 Less Than Perfect
Dating Protocol At
Gnb
0600 My Wife And Kids
Jay Gets Fired
0630 Home
Improvement
Tanks For The
Memories
0700 Fresh Prince Of Bel
Air
Bullets
Over Bel-air
0730 Three Sisters
Two Steps Forward,
One Step Back
0800 Less Than Perfect
Dating Protocol At
Gnb
0830 8 Simple
Rules...
Paul
Meets His Match
0900 The Nanny
The Best Man
0930 Rita Rocks
Love On The Rocks
1030 My Wife And Kids
Jay Gets Fired
1100 Seinfeld The
Understudy
1130 8 Simple
Rules...
Paul
Meets His Match
1200 Three Sisters
Critical Reaction
1230 The Nanny
The Wedding (1)
1300 Fresh Prince Of Bel
Air
A Decent
Proposal
1330 Less Than Perfect
Arctic Nights
1400 Home
Zee TV
0500
0630
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0830
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Benny Hinn
Aapki Antara
Jhansi Ki Rani
Yahan Main Ghar Ghar
Kheli
Agle Janam Mohe
Bitiya Hi Kijo
Pavitra Rishta
Agle Janam Mohe
Bitiya Hi Kijo
Pavitra Rishta
12 / 24 Karol Bagh
Jhansi Ki Rani
Aapki Antara
Pavitra Rishta
Aapki Antara
Agle Janam Mohe
Bitiya Hi Kijo
Ghar Ghar Mein Fursat
Ke Lamhe
Jhansi Ki Rani
Yahan Main Ghar Ghar
Kheli
Pavitra Rishta
Agle Janam Mohe
Bitiya Hi Kijo
12 / 24 Karol Bagh
Aapki Antara
Yahan Main Ghar Ghar
Kheli
Pavitra Rishta
Play TV
Pavitra Rishta
Namaste Cinema
Jhansi Ki Rani
Dance India Dance
Baba Ramdev Ka Yoga
Vishwas Meditation
Narsevak Narayanseva
Shakti Yug
The Faith Show
Enjoying Everyday life
Page 10 • time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009
Star Plus
0500 Mitwa - Phool Kamal
Ke
0530 Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat
0630 Bidaai
0700 Yeh Rishta Kya
Kehlata Hai
0730 Sabki Laadli Bebo
0800 Shraddha
0900 Tere Mere Sapne
0930 Bidaai
1000 Yeh Rishta Kya
Kehlata Hai
1030 Tujh Sang Preet
Lagayi Sajna
1100 Hamari Devrani
1130 Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat
1200 Kis Desh Mein Hai
Meraa Dil
1230 Sajan Ghar Jaana Hai
1300 Bidaai
1330 Yeh Rishta Kya
Kehlata Hai
1400 Mann Kee Awaaz
Pratigya
1430 Hamari Devrani
1500 Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat
1530 Sabki Laadli Bebo
1600 Mann Kee Awaaz
Pratigya
1630 Shraddha
1700 Mitwa - Phool Kamal
Ke
1730 Sajan Ghar Jaana Hai
1800 Tere Mere Sapne
1830 Bidaai
1900 Yeh Rishta Kya
Kehlata Hai
1930 Sabki Laadli Bebo
2000 Mann Kee Awaaz
Pratigya
2030 Sajan Ghar Jaana Hai
2100 Yeh Rishta Kya
Kehlata Hai
2130 Shraddha
2200 Sajan Ghar Jaana Hai
2230 Ek Nayee Zindagi
2300 Mann Kee Awaaz
Pratigya
2330 Shraddha
0030 Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat
0100 Sajan Ghar Jaana Hai
0130 Bidaai
0200 Yeh Rishta Kya
Kehlata Hai
0230 Fillmore
0300 Lilo & Stitch
0330 Seva Ganga
0400 Ek Nayee Zindagi
0430 Sabki Laadli Bebo
TCM
0500 Shaft
(1971)
0645 The Girl From
Missouri
(1934)
0800 Julius Caesar
(1953)
1000 Arena
(1953)
1115 Ride The
High Country
(1962)
1245 Tom Thumb
(1958)
1415 High Society
(1956)
1600 Little Women
(1949)
1800 Anchors Aweigh
(1945)
2015 Raintree County
(1957)
2300 Ben Hur
0225 The Shoes Of
Star World
0500
0600
0700
0730
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1000
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2100
[V] TUNES
7th Heaven
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
Beauty and the
Geek
COPS
Different Strokes
Grey’s Anatomy
MARRIED WITH
CHILDREN
My Name Is Earl
My Name Is Earl
Dilbert
Prison Break
Different Strokes
WORST WEEK
THE BOLD AND
THE BEAUTIFUL
7th Heaven
MARRIED WITH
CHILDREN
Grey’s Anatomy
Dilbert
[V] TUNES
COPS
COPS
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
Beauty and the
Geek
Samantha Who?
Samantha Who?
Desperate
National Geo
0500 About Asia
-Malaysian
Journey with
Jason Scott Lee
0600 Seconds From
Disaster -Russia’s
Nuclear Sub
Nightmare S2.5 - 6
0700 Rhino Rescue
0800 Naked Science
-Landslide S2-3
0900 Nat Geo Junior
-Monkey Thieves
Monsoon
Showdown 6
0930 Nat Geo Junior -I
Didn’t Know That
6
1000 Big, Bigger,
Biggest -Tunnel
1100 Seconds From
Disaster -Russia’s
Nuclear Sub
Nightmare S2.5 - 6
1200 About Asia
-ShowReal Asia
Making Christmas
1300 Mega Thursday
-World’s Toughest
Fixes Pipeline
Shutdown 8
1400 Mega Thursday
-Big, Bigger,
Biggest Telescope
1500 Mega Thursday
-Megastructures
Ice Hotels
1600 Mega Thursday
-Big, Bigger,
Biggest Tunnel
1700 Mega Thursday
-World’s Toughest
Fixes Pipeline
Shutdown 8
1800 Mega Thursday
-Big, Bigger,
Biggest Telescope
1900 Mega Thursday
-Megastructures
Channel V
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[V] Tunes
Double Shot
Backtracks
Loop
[V] Plug
Double Shot
Backtracks
[V] Tunes
[V] Christmas Eve
Special with U2,
Coldplay, Mika,
Lenka
[V] Special Going
Gaga Party
[V] Tunes
Backtracks
[V] Tunes
[V] Christmas Eve
Special with U2,
Coldplay, Mika,
Lenka
[V] Special Going
Gaga Party
[V] Tunes
[V] Plug
The Playlist
Loop
Backtracks
Double Shot
[V] Plug
The Playlist
HP Space
Videoscope
History Channel
0640 Ancient
Discoveries 3
0730 Lost Worlds
0820 Mummy Forensics
The Screamer
0910 Rome Rise And Fall
Of An Empire
Wrath Of The Gods
1000 How The Earth
Was MadeThe
Deepest Place On
Earth
1055 Specials - 2 Hrs
(Year 3)
1240 Ancient
Discoveries 3
1330 Lost Worlds
1420 Mummy Forensics
The Screamer
1510 Rome Rise And Fall
Of An Empire
Wrath Of The Gods
1600 How The Earth
Was MadeThe
Deepest Place On
Earth
1655 Specials - 2 Hrs
(Year 3)
1840 Ancient
Discoveries 3
1930 Lost Worlds
2020 Mummy Forensics
The Screamer
2110 Rome Rise And Fall
Of An Empire
Wrath Of The Gods
2200 Warriors The Last
Crusaders
2255 Cities Of The
Underworld 2
2350 Modern Marvels 3
Mad Electricity
0040 Mega Movers
0130 Man Moment
Machine 2Stormin’
0220 Dogfights (Year 3)
0310 Ax Men ALogger’s
Thanksgiving
On the radio
QBS English Service
0600 Holy Qur’an and
Islamic Programme
0630 The Breakfast Show
News Summary
0900 London Line
1000 30 Minutes Feature
Sports Connection
1100 News Summary
1105 Var Music
1300 The News
1315 French Transmission
1600 S&B Music
1700 Evening Show
1800 The News
1815 Evening Show contd...
2000 News Summary
2005 Nic’s Nu Tunes
2100 The Alternative Rock
Top 40
QBS French Service
0725 Expresso
1345 Sports without
borders: Weekend
results with Younes
1400 Heartbeat: World
news through
Cecile’s eyes
1500 Zoom on Africa, the
story of a famous
African singer
QBS Urdu Service
1858 Opening Music
1900 Opening & Holy
Qur’an
1910 Hamd or Na’at
1915 Islamic Heritage
1930 News
1945 Bazm-e-Ahbab
Saif-ur-Rehman
2015 Poetry & Songs
Ferzana Safdar
2100 Phone Fermaesh Dr
Fozia Shafeeq
2200 National Anthem
Radio Asia
Malayalam Service
0500 Manjurukum Pular
Kalam
0530 Life Magazine
0605 Keraleeyam
0700 Sarasakeralam
0800 Hello Rainbow
0900 GMG
1000 Comedy Serial
1100 Daily Diary
1305 Sneha Veedu
1330 Aardrabhavangal
1357 Nam Engottu
1420 Atlas Daily SI
1500 Viva Dhaparvam
1530 Quiz Time
1600 Kerala Link
1702 Snehithare Ithile
1800 Hotline
1900 Sneha Sandeshan
2000 Nenchil Ninte Ran
gam
2100 Isai Malai
2130 Uravaum Padalum
2215 Ragamrutham
2300 Songs
Asianet Radio 648AM
Malayalam Service
1000 Opening and Holy
Qur’an
1010 Good Morning
Gulf
1040 Sneha Sandesam
1100 News Headlines
1105 Daily Serial
1135 Film India
1200 Hot News
1210 Mayuri Tex
1235 Lulu
Kudumbasamedham
1300
1310
1335
1400
1402
1420
1445
Hitachi
News
Cinema Cinema
Atlas
Suvarnanimishangal
News Headlines
Sharp Public Demand
Requested
songs
Westar News/close
BBC
World Service
0500 BBC News
0505 World Briefing
0520 World Business News
0530 World Briefing
0540 Analysis
0550 Sports Roundup
0600 BBC News
0605 The World Today
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0705 The World Today
0720 Sports Roundup
0730 The World Today
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0805 World Briefing
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0840 Business Daily
0900 BBC News
0905 The World Today
1000 BBC News
1005 Documentary
1030 The Strand
1100 BBC News
1105 Outlook
1130 Health Check
1200 BBC News
1205 World Briefing
1220 World Business News
1230 Business Daily
1250 Sports Roundup
1300 BBC News
1320 World Update
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1405 World Briefing
1420 World Business News
1430 World Briefing
1440 Analysis
1450 Sports Roundup
1500 BBC News
1505 Newshour
1600 BBC News
1605 Documentary
1630 Health Check
1700 BBC News
1705 Outlook
1730 The Strand
1800 BBC News
1805 World Briefing
1840 Business Daily
1900 BBC News
1905 World Briefing
1920 World Business News
1930 World Briefing
1940 Analysis
1950 Sports Roundup
2000 BBC News
2030 Europe Today
2100 BBC News
2105 World, Have Your Say
2200 BBC News
2205 World Briefing
2220 World Business News
2235 World Briefing
2240 Analysis
2250 Sports Roundup
2300 BBC News
2305 Documentary
2330 Health Check
0000 BBC News
0005 Newshour
0100 BBC News
0105 Outlook
0130 The Strand
0200 BBC News
0205 Documentary
0240 Health Check
Page 12 • time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009
women
Solace after loss
T
wo miscarriages in three
months had taken such a
heavy toll on Stephanie
Nash that when she
became pregnant again
that summer an old familiar fear
crept back in.
Twins, the doctor said, on the
day of the ultrasound.
That’s when the tears began to
fall, and Nash realised that joy and
heartache are sometimes one and
the same.
“I just thought, ‘I don’t know if
I can go through this again,’” Nash
said. “I was grateful to be pregnant
again, but I also felt like I’d been
down this road before.”
Unable to resolve her conflicting
emotions, Nash joined Still Missed,
a support group for “subsequent
parents” — women who’ve become
pregnant while still grieving for
children who died in the womb.
The group, which meets monthly
out of the Adventist Hospital
network in suburban Chicago,
is one of the few of its kind to
help women deal with that often
awkward and painful period
after a miscarriage and before
motherhood.
There is a lot that researchers
still don’t understand about what
triggers a miscarriage, which
occurs in about one out of every six
pregnancies, depending on age and
other risk factors.
But this transition period after
the loss of a pregnancy is an
emerging area of study for clinical
psychologists trying to predict how
a miscarriage can affect parental
behaviour.
“After a miscarriage, a lot of
women think, ‘If I can just get
pregnant again I’ll feel better.’ But
they end up feeling a lot worse,”
said Joann O’Leary, a parentinfant specialist at the University
of Minnesota who organised one
of the first support groups for
subsequent parents in the 1980s.
“The natural inclination for
any mother who’s suffered a
miscarriage is to detach herself
from the child they’re carrying
when they become pregnant again.
“It’s like, they don’t even want
to think about being pregnant
because the pain of losing another
one is too great to imagine.”
That psychological detachment
during pregnancy can have
lingering effects even when a
healthy child is born, O’Leary said.
What research exists suggests
mothers who had earlier lost a
child during pregnancy tend to be
more overprotective and fearful
regarding their child’s safety,
even when compared with the
heightened anxiety of the typical
first-time parents. In some ways,
Support groups in Chicago help women deal with
that often awkward period after a miscarriage and
before motherhood. By Joel Hood
*
Stephanie Nash, right, with her husband Eric, and twin babies Caroline, left, and Jack, 7-months-old, enjoy feeding
time in their Downers Grove, Illinois home. The twins were conceived after the couple had suffered two miscarriages.
Stephanie said memories of the miscarriages created great anxiety for her during her pregnancy.
O’Leary said, subsequent parents
are more respectful and sensitive
to their child’s needs, having
themselves gone through a period
of profound grief.
“All the fear and anxiety they
feel are normal and may always be
there,” O’Leary said.
“One important aspect to these
support groups is that women learn
from each other how to cope with
that anxiety, how to have trust in
the world again.”
When Bartlett resident Carol
Wotovich became pregnant the
first time, it all seemed too easy.
She was 35 and had just begun
talking with her husband about
starting a family.
But the pregnancy ended soon
after, and on the next try the
Wotovichs sought the help of
Mothers who had earlier
lost a child during
pregnancy tend to be more
overprotective and fearful
regarding their child’s safety,
even when compared with
the heightened anxiety of
the typical first-time parents
fertility treatments.
That was the start of a harrowing
two-year stretch in which
Wotovich became pregnant only
to lose the child after 12 weeks and
became pregnant again. She lost
her third unborn child at 18 weeks.
“I was an emotional basket case,”
said Wotovich, now 41. “Every
time I went in for another round of
fertility treatments, I was bawling
my eyes out.”
The fourth time Wotovich
became pregnant she joined Still
Missed at the Adventist Health
hospital in Hinsdale.
They met monthly in a small
conference room in a building
across the street from the hospital.
The meetings were informal
and involved a revolving cast
of expectant parents—men and
women. Fathers-to-be are affected
by a miscarriage in different ways
from mothers, O’Leary said, but
the feelings of loss are no less
severe. Men typically suppress
their grief for 10 to 12 years,
O’Leary said, before it comes back
to the surface.
For the woman, the grief is
immediate and complex, and so
group members offer guidance
on how to deal with the anxiety.
Some meditate, others try yoga
and acupuncture, said Rosie Roose,
co-ordinator of the Still Missed
programme.
“The problem with a subsequent
pregnancy is you never feel safe,”
Roose said. “You’re robbed of that
feeling.” The conversations become
so emotionally charged that many
parents form strong bonds with
one another.
Wotovich said she attended
meetings for nine months while she
was pregnant with her fourth child,
and felt so close to the group that
she returned to several meetings
after giving birth. And she brought
her newborn, a boy named
Benjamin.
“I felt like it was important to go
back and bring Ben just to provide
some hope for those women who
remained there,” said Wotovich,
who gave birth to a second child,
Matthew, in August.
“They needed to know things
could work out better than before.”
After two miscarriages last
year, Nash, 29, of Downers Grove,
Illinois, found out six weeks into
her third pregnancy that she was
having twins.
Her family was overjoyed by
the news, but Nash remembers
feeling empty and confused. It was
only months earlier that she and
her husband buried the cremated
remains of her first, who died 11
weeks into pregnancy, in a small
plot designated for infant deaths at
Bronswood Cemetery in Oak Brook,
Illinois.
“I was scared the whole
pregnancy that something might go
wrong,” said Nash, who gave birth
to healthy twins, Jack and Caroline,
in April.
Little things now trigger feelings
of anxiety, Nash said, such as when
she sees a child left in a car while
the parent runs into a store.
“My initial response is always,
‘Are you crazy? What if something
happens?’” said Nash. “My family
thinks I’m a little paranoid about
it.”Like Nash, Wotovich describes
herself as overprotective and “a
worrier;” she admits to constantly
checking in on her son Matthew
when he’s sleeping, just to make
sure he’s breathing. This despite
having a baby monitor at her side.
The lingering effects of a
miscarriage can be profound, Nash
and Wotovich said. But the Still
Missed programme has given them
the support to control that anxiety
and the perspective to look at the
big picture.
“You go through some tough
losses, and you realise how quickly
it can all be taken away from you,”
Wotovich said. “You understand
how fragile and precious life is.” —
Chicago Tribune/MCT
time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009 • Page 13
Warming up to tights
By Adrienne Johnson Martin
S
usu Bear has seen it with her own eyes. The founder
of scoopcharlotte.com, a site that tracks what’s
new, what’s on sale, and what’s happening on the
Queen City’s style scene, says as she’s been out and
about, she’s seen evidence of one of the season’s
strongest trends.
The other day there was a woman with black hose paired
with taupe patent leather platform shoes. And she spied
another blogger’s posting of herself, rocking bright yellow
tights with brown cowboy boots.
“I am definitely seeing it, mostly on people who work in
the stores,” Bear says, adding that the weather has still been
pretty warm. “Not a lot of patterns, but the dark tights.”
It’s been building for a few seasons. Since the mid-’90s,
women boldly braved the cold with bare legs, free from those
saggy, easy-to-run pantyhose and inspired, some say, by the
Sex and the City ladies.
But last season, major designers began moving back to
covered legs. And at the fashion shows for this autumn and
winter, there were lots of brightly hued or intricately textured
tights, boots paired with floppy socks, tailored skirts worn
with opaque tights, even lingerie looks with old-fashioned
but sexy nylon stockings, says Edward Miccinati, co-owner
of New York-based StockinGirl, an online boutique.
One of his current best-sellers is the swiss dot pantyhose,
popular several years ago. Thus the new style mantra: The
covered leg is fresh.
The revived look is good news to some folk.
“I’m personally thrilled with the end of the bare leg,” says
Bear. “For the last few years, I saw mostly legs in the dead
of winter. People were in heavy winter coats and bare legs;
people even had them with knee boots. The bare leg is hard
when your legs aren’t tan. Maybe if you’re young it’s OK,
or your legs are in great shape. But if you’re older or have
varicose veins ...”
The runway may have spearheaded the legwear revival, and
the economy could be helping to empower it.
“If you’re not able to really update your wardrobe, using
legwear is a good way to do it,” says Miccinati. “The price of
entry is not as expensive as other accessories.” Wear the same
little black dress, but add a $15 pair of lace hose, he says. Or
shake up your workaday black suit with some burgundy hose.
On the same economical note, tights give you the
opportunity, in our warmer climes, to take lighter-weight
clothes through cooler weather, extending their life.
And they add some pizzazz.
*
Bear says the fresh look includes treating leggings like
tights, perhaps a metallic silky taupe pair or an inky leather
pair and putting them under suits or with a shift and a
cardigan. Another trend is to not go for the traditional long
line by using the same colour hosiery and shoe; instead wear
black hose with a taupe, grey or coloured shoe for an exciting
contrast.
Ahead of the curve is Liz Bradford, a scientific illustrator
who has 25 pairs of tights. The Raleigh woman’s passion
for them started when she was at North Carolina State
University. A participant in the Art to Wear fashion show,
she’d put her models in tights to add bold accents and make
short skirts “more appropriate.” And then she found herself
falling for them. A friend who was moving to California gave
her 10 pairs.
Now she has fishnets, lace, polka dots and a pair of faux
leather leggings so sleek they work like tights. She owns some
neon tights, too; her bright yellow pair earned a “Good Day,
sunshine” greeting from a passer-by.
“It’s another accessory, like necklaces and scarves,” she
says. “I like to wear them with shorts and skirts when it’s
cooler. I like black tights with my summery shorts.”
And no, you aren’t too old for tights. You just have to make
the first step, says Miccinati. — The Charlotte Observer/MCT
If you’re not able to really update your wardrobe, using legwear is a good way to do it.
Page 14 • time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009
comics
Octocross
Adam
Across
Down
1. Solemn promise
5. Insane
8. Notion
9. Single
10. Temporary provision
of money
11. Consumed
12. Fabric
14. Woodland deity
17. Eggs
18. One time only
22. Lair
23. Morose
24. Biblical vessel
25. Jug
1. Lubricant
2. Fuss
3. Beverage
4. Useful
5. Complain
6. Against
7. View as
13. Wear away
14. Pop
15. Assert
16. Military vehicle
19. At present
20. Hint
21. Make a mistake
Pooch Cafe
Codeword
Every letter of the alphabet is used at least once.
Squares with the same number in have the same letter
in. Work out which number represents which letter.
Puzzles courtesy: Puzzlechoice.com
Animal Crackers
Change Word
Puzzle courtesy: allstarpuzzles.com
By changing one letter at a time to form a new word,
transform the beginning word to the ending word in the
rated number of steps (or fewer).
L
O
P
E
S
K
I
P
Solutions on Page 16
Bound & Gagged
time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009 • Page 15
puzzles
Sudoku
Colouring
Sudoku is a puzzle based on
a 9x9 grid. The grid is also
divided into nine (3x3) boxes.
You are given a selection
of values and to complete
the puzzle, you must fill the
grid so that every column,
every row and every 3x3 box
contains the digits 1 to 9 and
none is repeated.
horoscopes
ARIES 21 Mar - 20 Apr
CANCER 22 Jun - 22 Jul
LIBRA 24 Sep - 23 Oct
CAPRICORN 22 Dec - 20 Jan
Take time to catch up on gossip and make plans
to do a little adventure travel. Make sure you
concentrate if operating machinery or vehicles.
Outdoor sports events should entice you.
You can make wonderful contributions to any
organisation that you join. Expect problems
with settlements that you are trying to resolve.
Channel your energy wisely.
Take time to make physical improvements that
will enhance your appearance. Your temper could
get the better of you if you confront personal
situations.
Sign up for tours or courses that will enlighten
you. You will not be able to trust someone you
work with. You have more than enough on your
plate already.
TAURUS 21 Apr - 21 May
LEO 23 Jul - 22 Aug
SCORPIO 24 Oct - 22 Nov
AQUARIUS 21 Jan - 19 Feb
Your desire for excitement and adventure may be
expensive. You may find that your plans will cost a
little more than you had expected. You should get
out and enjoy social events.
Someone you live with could be frustrated and
upset. Someone you least expect could be trying
to make you look bad. You will be well looked
upon due to your compassionate nature.
Take some time to change your house around.
Come to your own conclusions rather than taking
the word of someone else. Someone you work
with may be emotional.
Consider selling your homemade crafts at the
flea market. Don’t allow your personal problems
to interfere with your professionalism. Beware of
individuals who are not that reliable.
GEMINI 22 May - 21 Jun
VIRGO 23 Aug - 23 Sep
SAGITTARIUS 23 Nov - 21 Dec
PISCES 20 Feb - 20 Mar
Your position may be in question if you haven’t
been pulling your weight. Financial limitations
may add to your depression. Try to do your job
and then leave.
Don’t let someone talk you into parting with
your cash unless you can truly see the benefits
of doing so. You can make sound financial
investments if you act fast.
It would be in your best interest to stay away
from any intimate involvement with a client or
coworker. Plan to visit friends or relatives. You
may have difficulties with your partner.
You can learn a great deal more if you listen
rather than rant and rave. Romantic opportunities
are evident. Your tendency to vacillate will drive
everyone crazy.
Page 16 • time out • Thursday, December 24, 2009
puzzles
Quick Clues
Cryptic Clues
Yesterday’s Solutions
Cryptic
Across: 4 Service; 8 Italic; 9
Diluted; 10 Little; 11 Entrap;
12 Sea-green; 18 Overpaid;
20 Retain; 21 Opener; 22
Inflame; 23 Teases; 24
Terrace.
Down: 1 Airless; 2 Partial; 3
Tiller; 5 Eminence; 6 Vaunts;
7 Caesar; 13 Economic; 14
Garnish; 15 Address; 16
Seance; 17 Sailor; 19 Ripped.
Quick
Across: 4 Discuss; 8 Openly;
9 Asinine; 10 Clever; 11
Appeal; 12 Decision; 18
Overcast; 20 Reveal; 21
Spring; 22 Quality; 23 Dilate;
24 Degrade.
Down: 1 Concede; 2
Defence; 3 Alters; 5 Instance;
6 Canopy; 7 Sundae; 13
Isolated; 14 Capital; 15
Stagger; 16 Refuse; 17 Seller;
19 Repair.
Answers
Across
1. Quibbling (12)
7. Hail (5)
8. Vagrant (5)
9. Before (3)
10. Defender (9)
11. Not certain (6)
12. End (6)
15. Distress (9)
17. Prohibition (3)
18. String (5)
19. Bend (5)
21. Untimely (12)
Down
1. Indispensable condition (12)
2. Wrath (3)
3. Choice (6)
4. Assembly (9)
5. Respond to stimulus (5)
6. Fearful (12)
7. Conjecture (5)
10. Keep on striving (9)
13. Tinge deeply (5)
14. Athletics implement (6)
16. Pretend (5)
20. Manage (3)
Across
1. Resolute due to threats,
perhaps (5-7)
7. Not the best man in the
stable? (5)
8. A belief in sacred office (5)
9. Boat propeller (3)
10. Could you mend a broken
skate with it? (9)
11. Is hard, perhaps, but may be
eaten (6)
12. Granting some misplaced
ingenuity (6)
15. I’d put in now for a high
position in society (9)
17. A politician concerned in
current affairs (3)
18. A bonus for an actor (5)
19. Spring edition? (5)
21. They help people grow
better (5,7)
Down
1. Song part here distributed to
an office girl (12)
2. Also comes to nothing (3)
3. She and men get involved and
become engaged! (6)
4. He gets what’s coming to him
(9)
5. Yet quoted as odds (5)
6. Swiss cantons, for example?
(7,5)
7. Blush when attacked by a bull
(5)
10. Use face strain to attract (9)
13. I am a long time getting the
likeness (5)
14. Emotion felt when it appears
to give you a break? (6)
16. Come in and start the
entertainment (5)
20. The whole world finds it
illuminating (3)
Octocross
Codeword
Information
Prayer Time
Fajr 4.51am
Shorooq (sunrise) 6.13am
Zuhr (noon) 11.30am
Asr (afternoon) 2.27pm
Maghreb (sunset) 4.48pm
Isha (night) 6.18pm
Doha Zoo
Open from 8am to 12 noon and
2.30pm to 7pm daily. Tuesdays
are reserved for women. Friday
for general public in the afternoon
only.
Consumer Complaints
(Food control department)
Head of dept
4347633
5570888
Deputy head of dept
5555296
Central operator
4347777
Food consultant
4347540
Help Line
Is drinking a problem for you or
someone you love?
Call Alcoholics Anonymous:
5605901
Hospitals
VISITING HOURS:
Hamad General Hospital, Women’s
Hospital and Rumaillah Hospital:
6am to 7.30am, 4pm to 8pm.
Useful Numbers
Police, Fire, Ambulance
999
HMC
4392222
Women’s (Rumaillah)
4393333
HMC (Emergency)
4393507
Veterinary
653083
Water & Electricity
991
Flight Inquiries
4622999
Doha Seaport
4457457
Cinema
4671811
Museum of Islamic Art 4224444
Mumtaz Post (24hr)
4415566
4432211
(Car)
4483555
Ship Phone Service
4864444
Ministry of Interior main
switchboard 4330000
Public Department
for passports,
nationality and residence 4882882
Capital Security Dept
4444420
Criminal Info Dept 4477477
Boundaries and Coasts
Security
4414488
Civil Defence
Department 4413666
Rescue Service
4682888
The Grand Cinecentre
Cinema Palace
The Mall Cineplex
Cinema Land
Gulf & Doha Cinema
Qatar National Theater
4839064
4320938
4678666
4881674
4671811
4831246
DVD, Video releases
ENGLISH: Fall Down Dead
(Dominique Swain); Accidental
Husband (Uma Thurman); He’s
Not Just Into You (Jennifer Aniston)
Smart People (Ellen Page); Tiptoes
(Kate Beckinsale); Revenge of the
Fallen (Shia LeBoeuf); Skate or
Die (Mickey Mahut); Night Train
(Danny Glover).
HINDI: Wanted (Salman Khan);
Lova Ka Tadka (Sameer Dattani);
Vaada Raha... (Bobby Deol); Agyaat
(Adesh Bhardwaj, Rasika Dugal); Dil
Bole Hadippa! (Rani Mukherjee);
Love Aaj Kal (Saif Ali Khan); Kisaan
(Jackie Shroff); Daddy Cool (Sunil
Shetty).
(Information courtesy: Kings
Electronics (previously QMart
Video) at Al Safeer Centre,
Tel: 4626965.)
Change Word
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