Features

Launched regionally at a media event in Jordan earlier this month, Hyundai’s largest Santa Fe SUV offering adopts a more distinctive facia and makes expected incremental improvements in performance, equipment, refinement and trim levels.

A comfortable and convenient mid-size SUV, the Santa Fe is without radical change, however, Hyundai has redoubled efforts in making it a more passenger- and family-oriented product, with numerous features, solutions and attention to detail. The Santa Fe has also become better for drivers with improved steering, handling and ride characteristics.

With a long bonnet, longer wheelbase, shorter overhangs and more level waistline and roofline, the new Santa Fe has a clearly stronger presence on road and seems like a more confident and substantial looking machine. Inside, this translates into improved passenger head and legroom, and crucially so in the middle and third rows. Said to be emphasising maturity and confidence over outright aggression, the new Santa Fe nevertheless bears quite the intimidating face, with a vast, broad hexagonal “cascading grille” with widely spaced honeycomb mesh.

Confident presence

Underling a perception of width is a metallic strip running horizontally atop the grille and underneath the Santa Fe’s now moody and assertively squinting ultra slim, heavily browed and high set running lights. Meanwhile, the main lights aside a ridged and angularly muscular bumper section. Yet, more overt in along the flanks the Santa Fe features distinctively prominent and bulging body surfacing above its wheel-arches. Emphasising length and forward motion, this design touch pays homage to Marcello Gandini’s signature rear wheel-arch line, as famously featured on cars no less aggressive than the Lamborghini Countach and Maserati Shamal. 

Benefitting from the use of 15 per cent more high strength steel than its predecessor, the new Santa Fe achieves a higher level of body rigidity for improved collision safety, handling ability and ride quality. Meanwhile underneath its bugling bonnet, the range-topping version of the Santa Fe receives a 3.5-litre multi-point fuel injection version of Hyundai’s tried and tested Lambda II V6 engine, while other petrol models depending on market, include multi-point and direct injection 2.4-litre and turbocharged 2-litre 4-cylinder engines. The Santa Fe’s engine is mated to a smooth and reasonable quick-shifting in-house developed 8-speed automatic gearbox.

Smooth and progressive

Progressive, eager and confident, the Santa Fe’s naturally aspirated V6 is responsive from low-end, and carries through to redline on an uninterrupted and rising stream of power, with 276bhp arriving at 6,300rpm and 247lb/ft torque peaking at 5,000rpm. Capable of 0-100km/h in 7.8-seconds and a 210km/h top speed, the Santa Fe returns 10.6l/100km quoted combined cycle fuel consumption. Refined and smooth, its generous mid-range torque output is progressively unleashed. However, on a particularly steep and winding route a more aggressive and closely spaced second gear ratio would have helped make more confident and seamless progress. 

A road-biased crossover SUV, the Santa Fe benefits from 185mm ground clearance and a four-wheel-drive lock mode where power is distributed evenly between front and rear. With transverse engine layout it is a front-drive biased vehicle on road, with its most efficient Eco driving mode sending power exclusively frontwards and its default Comfort mode re-allocating 20 per cent of that rearwards. Sport mode allows for better agility and road-holding and a more balanced driving experience with less tendency for torque steer, by employing a 65:35 per cent front-to-rear power split that automatically alters to 50:50 per cent.

Comfort and control

Riding on MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension and a more rigid frame, the new Santa Fe also benefits from a greater emphasis being placed on ride and handling qualities at Hyundai, and delivers noticeably improved dynamics than its predecessor. Tight into corners, its steering is sharper, quicker and more precise, while understeer has been significantly reduced. Grippy and balanced through corners, the new Santa Fe is a more agile vehicle than before, and one can even shift weight to the outside and rear to tighten a cornering line with a brief moment of oversteer before stability controls intervene. 

Tauter and more focused, the New Santa Fe better controls roll through corners and rides with a more settled and buttoned down manner over, crests and dips and on rebound. Road imperfections are meanwhile processed with more comfort and control, while high speed stability is reassuring, stable and refined from noise, harshness and vibrations. Driving position is well adjustable, comfortable and supportive, while all-round visibility is improved owing to a lower waistline, more upright roof and bigger glasshouse. Its parking sensors and camera also help one to manoeuvre such a large SUV with relative ease into tight confines.

User-friendly utility

With cleaner and more user-friendly interior design, the new Santa Fe features improved materials, textures and layouts. Spacious inside for seven passengers and minimum of 547-litres of luggage that expands to a maximum 1,625-litres the new Santa Fe is designed with family use at the forefront of its intent. As such, and in addition to a host of standard and optional, new and improved safety, driver assistance and infotainment, the Santa Fe also features a safe exit assistance system for rear passengers, including a warning if they open the door at the wrong time.

Expected by Hyundai to receive a 5-star Euro NCAP rating when it is officially tested, the Santa Fe is somewhat idiot-proof and features a Rear Occupant Alert so careless parents do not “forget” their children alone in the car, while other small features have children in mind and include tight lines for the window blinds and an automatic middle row folding system with a low positioned button to make it safe and easy to use for children. Third row passengers also get special ingress and egress handles moulded into the C-pillar.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 3.5-litre, aluminium block/head, inline V6-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 92 x 87mm
• Compression ratio: 10.6:1
• Valve-train: DOHC, 24-valve, continuously variable valve timing
• Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 276 (280) [206] @6,300rpm
• Specific power: 79.5BHP/litre
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 247.8 (336) @ 5,000rpm
• Specific torque: 71.3Nm/litre
• 0-100km/h: 7.8-seconds
• Top speed: 210km/h
• Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined: 14.6-/8.3-/10.6-litres/100km 
• CO2 emissions, combined: 253g/km
• Length: 4,770mm
• Width: 1,890mm
• Height: 1,680mm
• Wheelbase: 2,765mm
• Overhang, F/R: 940/1,065mm
• Ground clearance: 185mm
• Headroom, F/M/R: 1,016/995/917mm
• Leg room, F/M/R: 1,120/1,001/746mm
• Shoulder room, F/M/R: 1,500/1,450/1,344mm
• Luggage volume, min/max: 547-/1,625-litres
• Kerb weight: 1900kg (est.)
• Steering: Electric-assisted rack and pinion
• Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link
• Tyres: 235/55R19

“Mayday” is the SOS international Morse code distress signal that goes out during emergencies which is understood by emergency responders all over the world. Well, our body does the same, sending out signals of an internal SOS as it tries so hard to tell us what is going on inside us.

Inflammation increases in our body and all sorts of disasters take place inside us. Yet we choose to ignore the Mayday signals that our body sends. At first, the signals are not so loud, perhaps a little bit of weight gain and water retention and maybe a few migraines but then the signals get louder and louder until we cannot ignore them any longer.

Sadly, if we wait too long, we end up in the emergency room and sometimes we find ourselves sitting across the table hearing the tough prognosis at the doctor’s office about some kind of irreversible condition we no longer have control over.

Our bodies are begging us to make dire changes before it is too late.

Gambling with our health

Fellow desperate dieter, do we have to first be admitted into a hospital before we start taking better care of ourselves? Where is that breaking point for each of us when truth is going to stare us straight in the face and force us to make better choices? 

• Do we have to wait for the heart attack to strike before we stop making daily trips to the icecream store?

• Do we have to wait until we are all diabetic before we lay off sugar and reach for the fruit?

• Do we have to wait until someone in the family dies in their 40s or 50s before we start tracking how many calories we are scarfing down before the clock even strikes noon?

We have been so blessed with a very intricate alarm system. Our body quickly senses when things are out of balance and reacts almost immediately, sending us loud and clear messages. We receive signal after signal, warning us of the iceberg we are about to hit if we do not change our course. Yet, in our stubbornness, we insist on continuing on our path. We wonder what happened when we crash into that iceberg but that is just the tip of the iceberg! We do not take enough time to deal with all the things that are causing us to ignore those SOS signals.

Why are we ignoring our internal alarm system?

Perhaps we have filled our lives with so much noise that we simply cannot hear the distress calls any more. Perhaps we need to make room for quiet moments to sit in still waters and process through all that is going on in our lives and to rethink our goals. Perhaps we need to carve out sacred space in our lives to just have quiet times strategically dispersed throughout the day to recoup and regroup and just take time to breathe.

We are overworked and emotionally spent as we nurture and give our time to care for everyone else except ourselves. This seems like a positive and generous attribute on our part but there is only one problem: How do you help others take care of themselves if you cannot take care of yourself? Think about the emergency procedures on the airplane. The first thing they instruct you to do is to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you assist your child. Even your child must wait for you to put that oxygen mask on yourself because otherwise you will be of no use to them when you get dizzy and lose consciousness! The same is true in our lives.

Choosing health today for a better tomorrow

Let us love ourselves enough to exercise and eat well and take care of the body God gave us. Making better choices will help us and our families for generations to come as we pass on positive lifestyle habits. Your kids will thank you for it and your future grandchildren will adore you for it because maybe that will mean they will not just get to see you in a photo album. Maybe your better choices will mean you will get to stick around long enough to meet them face to face and still have enough energy to take them out to their favourite movie!

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

People who exercise may experience symptoms of mental health disorders less often, a US study suggests. 

That may be true even when the exercise involves doing household chores, researchers found. 

The study team examined survey data collected from more than 1.2 million American adults. Participants were asked how often in the past month they had exercised, aside from any physical activity at work. They were also asked how many days their mental health was “not good” due to stress, depression and problems with emotions. 

Overall, people reported an average of about 3.4 days of poor mental health each month, according to the results in The Lancet Psychiatry. Compared to people who never exercised at all, those who did some physical activity outside of work had an average 1.5 fewer days of poor mental health each month. 

The effect appeared even bigger for people with a history of depression. In this group, exercisers experienced an average 3.8 fewer days of poor mental health each month than those who never worked out. 

“People who exercise have better mental health than those who don’t, especially people who were exercising three to five times a week, for around 45 minutes,” said senior study author Adam Chekroud, a psychiatry researcher at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. 

“This study reiterates the broad range of health benefits for exercising, no matter your age, race, gender, income or physical health status,” Chekroud said by email. “Every little bit helps — as low as 30 minutes — and every exercise group including walking was associated with lower mental health burden.” 

All types of exercise appeared to influence how often people reported poor mental health. 

Some of the strongest associations were found with team sports and cycling, which were associated with a 22 per cent reduction in poor mental health days compared with not exercising, followed by aerobic and gym exercises, which were linked to a 21 per cent reduction. 

Mindfulness exercises like yoga and tai chi were also linked to a 23 per cent reduction in poor mental health days, relative to no activity at all. 

Even household chores were tied to at least a 9.7 per cent reduction in poor mental health days compared to being inactive. 

From a mental health perspective, however, it might be possible to exercise too much. 

Adults who exercised longer than 90 minutes per session had smaller reductions in poor mental health days than people who exercised from 30 to 60 minutes. And people who exercised more than three hours per session reported more poor mental health days than those who exercised only 45 minutes or who did not work out at all. 

The study was not designed to prove whether or how exercise might directly impact mood, and it is also possible that happier people worked out more often than those with mood disorders or a lot of stress. 

Another limitation of the study is that it looked rather broadly at mental health, rather than exploring specific mood disorders, Gary Cooney, of Gartnavel Royal Hospital in Glasgow, UK, writes in an accompanying editorial. 

“Mental health is not a term that is hugely helpful in this discourse, I think, because it can mean any or a combination of so many mental disorders including depression, anxiety, addiction, dementia, schizophrenia, etc.,” Cooney said by e-mail. 

MILAN — Emporio Armani touched the sky with its spring summer 2019 collection by showcasing the fresh and airy looks on the runway of Milan’s Linate Airport and ending the night with a performance by British pop artist Robbie Williams.

Thousands of guests on Thursday had to check-in, pass security and be escorted by airport staff to reach a shiny black runway built on the airport’s tarmac, in the hottest ticket of Milan’s fashion week. 

As the night fell on the show, planes landed in the background, some even parking close to the temporary fashion venue.

Williams wore a sparkling black tuxedo coat matched with a pleated skirt and black sneakers — “can you imagine Armani’s face when I emailed him what I wanted to wear?” the singer told the ecstatic crowd. 

The artist entertained the cheering and dancing audience with his greatest hits, including his latest single “I Love My Life”, as well as George Michael’s “Freedom”. He dedicated Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” to 84-year-old Giorgio Armani, closing the song saying, “You did it your way” and inviting him on stage.

And the extensive Emporio collection that preceded the singer’s show, with hundreds of outfits for both men and women, indeed travelled through the iconic traits of the world-famous designer: easy fits as well as sophisticated looks, the use of different fabrics, both smooth nuances and bold colours, soft feminine cuts and rich details. 

Accompanied by the notes of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World”, a video with an airplane taking off and a bird’s eye view of Milan’s most famous landmarks set the scene for the show. A giant screen surmounting the square catwalk, lined with fluorescent blue lights, projected Emporio Armani adverts.

Male models, dressed like surfers and carrying their boards, opened the runway show for what was a 20-minute long spectacle of colours, fabrics, shapes and combinations for the new collection of Emporio, one of Giorgio Armani’s clothing lines.

Emporio, which last year absorbed the brands Armani Collezioni and part of Armani Jeans, last September had shun the Milan fashion week, showing its collection in London in the brand’s renovated Bond Street store. 

Sports-inspired layered looks, with lightweight windbreakers and anoraks were alternated with casual looks with ankle-high trousers worn under comfortable cotton jumpers. Models carried light backpacks and wore glasses and hats with flat shoes or sneakers on their feet. 

Soft hues were broken with black trousers matched with white men’s jackets and sailor-like models wearing blue trousers and wide light blue jumpers with “E” and “A” lettering on them opened the way to brighter colours.

Designs included denim overalls, pastel pink matched with lime green. Classic pinstriped blue suits for him were paired with brightly coloured striped short dresses for her.

Deep plunge black dresses with blue fringes and flower embellishments were followed by sparkly green outfits.

In a merry-go-round of colours and shapes on the catwalk designs seamlessly turned from easy-going outfits to sequined evening wear dresses, in a breathtaking show that appeared like a trip through Armani’s design books over the years. 

And like all the best trips, it ended with an airport shuttle bringing you back home.

“Have a wonderful night and keep flying with us”, read an Emporio Armani panel with an eagle logo at the exit of the airport. 

Milan Fashion Week runs until Monday with runway shows from luxury group Tod’s, celebrity acclaimed Versace, Cavalli and Dolce & Gabbana still to show their collections in the next days.

A good way to recharge your brain at work might be with a short bout of exercise that does not require much concentration, according to a small study from Japan. 

 “The present study suggests that simple exercise is better than cognitively demanding exercise during working hours,” lead author Keita Kamijo, an assistant professor on the faculty of sports sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo, told Reuters Health by e-mail. 

Kamijo and coauthor Ryuji Abe enrolled 28 men and had them perform tasks that challenge what is known as working memory. Working memory is what allows people to maintain and update information in their brains about things they are working on, such as assignments, goals and strategies. 

The men took the working-memory challenges before, immediately after and 30 minutes after three different test periods on three different days. The test periods were assigned in random order and lasted 25 minutes each. In one, the men simply exercised on a stationary bike. In another, they performed a cognitive task while sitting on the bike, but they did not exercise. And in the third, they did both at the same time: they exercised on the bike and performed a cognitive task. 

Studies have shown that aerobic exercise has a rapid beneficial effect on people’s ability to plan, pay attention, remember and juggle tasks. The researchers expected, therefore, to see improvements in accuracy and reaction times on the working memory challenge after both periods in which the men exercised on the bike, Kamijo said. 

The positive effects of the exercise-only intervention became evident 30 minutes after cycling. 

But the exercise-cognition intervention resulted in “cognitive fatigue”, the investigators reported in the journal, Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise. 

Kamijo said the effects of acute exercise on cognitive function should not greatly differ between the sexes. 

Dr John Ratey, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston, told Reuters Health by phone: “We’ve known for some time that exercise improves working memory...The big take away here is that too much exercise may exhaust your brain for the next little while.” 

To improve your memory and attention span in the short term at work or school, it is best to do exercise not complicated by other demands, said Ratey, who was not involved in the research. 

Tai chi, yoga or high intensity intervals that make your heart rate soar are examples of cognitively challenging exercises that may overwhelm the brain at first, said Ratey. 

For long-term cognition, however, those kinds of exercises are healthy, too. “It is possible that a greater amount of load on the brain is required for chronic improvements in cognitive function, as with the overload principle of strength training,” Kamijo said. 

Whereas we definitely need several elements to satisfy our technology needs and to communicate with the world, one item remains the essential one “to have and to hold” — a good laptop computer.

From a fast fibre optic Internet subscription, to additional devices like a tablet, a smartphone, external hard disks and cloud storage subscription, everything matters and would contribute to a more pleasant experience. Your laptop, however, is the cornerstone of the whole system and every other element revolves around it.

Laptops are irreplaceable for they have proved how versatile, how dependable and how efficient they have become. A good model will run any piece of software at good speed. Through the years the size of the keyboard and the screen have confirmed that they are the most ergonomic and the most adapted to the human body: even the best tablets or smartphones just cannot compete.

With the new batteries and the SSD drives that now are integrated in any laptop made this year, laptops truly make fantastic hardware, with a value for money that is higher than any other equipment. This is true especially when you compare the price of high smartphones with that of an equivalent laptop. Everybody agrees that, all things considered, laptop are less expensive than tablets and smartphones.

“Future compatibility”, one important characteristic of laptops, remains hard if not impossible to control and to secure in advance. It is the certainty that your laptop will be compatible with the next version of the operation you are using — Windows in most cases. Indeed, a computer and the operating system that runs it are two closely linked elements.

When in 2016 and 2017 the majority of users decided to move up to Windows 10, the current world standard, many were disappointed to discover that their laptop was not fully compatible with Windows 10 functionality. This, despite the fact that the said laptop was not old, even by IT standards. Therefore they had to stick to their existing laptop and the older Windows 7, or buy a brand new laptop that could run Windows 10.

So the question is “is there a way to buy a laptop that will guarantee you full compatibility with the successor of Windows 10, whenever such a version would be released?”

Unfortunately there is not. On one hand the IT industry is very unpredictable and on the other Microsoft is hinting at the fact that Windows 10 may well be the last operating system as such. What does this mean in plain English? That there will not be any Windows to use in a while?

It actually means that the distribution and the installation of Windows may evolve to become “a service” (an online service, understand), not anymore a software product you would buy and install, as it has been the case till now. Everything indicates that this is probably what will happen in the near future. If and when this happens the whole notion of “future compatibility” will have a new meaning and consumers — most likely — will not have to worry about it.

This won’t change the essential, central role that laptops play in any working environment, be it at home or in the office. Regardless of future changes or “compatibility uncertainties”, common sense still applies when acquiring a laptop. Pick one of the best top brands: Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer, Apple, Fujitsu-Siemens, Samsung, Asus – you cannot go wrong this way. Get a lot of memory, 8GB at least and preferably 16GB. Make sure it has the very latest in terms of communication and ports. There is not much more you can do to protect and to optimise your investment in a laptop.

Toddlers may have an easier time learning new words when they hear the words in the context of predictable events, a small experiment suggests. 

 “We know that young children in general are very good at forming expectations about what’s going to happen next, and they readily detect when something new or surprising happens,” said study co-author Viridiana Benitez, a psychology researcher at Arizona State University in Tempe. 

But we do not know whether forming these expectations has consequences for learning, Benitez said by e-mail. 

Benitez and colleagues tested what happened when 107 toddlers heard made-up words like “bosa”, “tulver”, “sarn”, and “pisk”. 

During the tests, toddlers sat on a parent’s lap in front of a large screen. The screen showed four closed boxes, one in each corner of the screen. Inside the boxes were pictures of unfamiliar shapes. 

In the first part of the experiment, the boxes opened one at a time, always in the same order. But while the sequence of box openings was predictable, the object inside the box was not. 

After the boxes had opened and closed in the same order five times, the researchers started assigning the made-up words like “sarn” and “bosa” to the weird objects inside the boxes. 

The children heard the name of the object after the box opened and their gaze was fixed on that box. 

In half of the trials when the children heard names for the objects, the boxes opened in the expected order. In the other half of the object-naming trials, a box would open out of order. 

The researchers tracked where the children were looking with a special camera mounted beneath the screen. They used the child’s gaze to test whether the child learned the novel words. For example, two objects were shown on the screen, and the children were asked questions like, “Where is the sarn?” Researchers used the eye-tracking camera to see if the children looked at the correct object. 

In this way, the researchers compared how well children learned the names of objects when the boxes opened in the expected order versus how well they learned when the boxes opened unpredictably. 

“The results of our research suggest that knowing what will happen next can help toddlers learn new words,” Benitez said by e-mail. “Predictability may be an important factor to consider for understanding language and cognitive development.” 

Parents may find that toddlers learn new words more easily when they have a set routine and are in familiar surroundings, Benitez added. 

“When babies are learning language, they often hear lots of words in the presence of lots of objects,” Benitez said. “Knowing when and where an object will be when it is named may allow children to attend to it at the right time and process and learn the name for that object.” 

There are several ways predictability might help with language learning, said Caroline Kistin, a paediatrics researcher at Boston Medical Centre and Boston University School of Medicine who was not involved in the study. 

“Making predictions about upcoming events may enhance memory and may allow for faster information processing,” Kistin said by e-mail. “Predictable events may also allow young children to pay attention longer, while unpredictable events may be distracting.” 

These findings, however, are at odds with some other research suggesting unpredictability might help children learn, said Natalie Brito of the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at New York University in New York City. 

“These results were surprising as they were not consistent with recent infant findings showing increases in novel learning from violations of expectations,” Brito, who was not involved in the study, said by email. 

“Violations of expectations may signal to the infant the need to further explore the situation, whereas when novel information is presented after a predictable event, learning may be increased due to heightened attention,” Brito added. “Overall, the current results suggest that predictability can influence learning.” 

“Mothers of daughters are daughters of mothers and have remained so, in circles joined to circles, since time began,” said Signe Hammer, an American writer, editor and professor. How true this observation is and one has to have mothered a daughter oneself to understand how precious the bond remains, even to this day. 

My mother had four brothers and I have two, but neither of us had any sisters. I do not recall exactly how my birth was celebrated; however, our daughter’s arrival was welcomed with open arms. When I held her for the first time I experienced a sudden surge of love and an ache in my heart, which was so fierce that I knew I would never recover from it, in this lifetime at least. 

I had a privileged childhood; even so there were times when my elderly relatives favoured my brothers over me. Where serving the best roast chicken pieces or the sweetest dessert was concerned, that is. It was not their fault actually, in a patriarchal society it was simply assumed that sons needed to be fed better than daughters. Nonetheless, these blunders were corrected as soon as I pointed them out, but the fact that I had to point them out, left me bruised.

I promised myself that our daughter would never have to go through this. I would make sure of it. I was going to nurture her to be a good human being who was well mannered, kind, confident and generous. Since she had arrived two weeks before her due date, the earliest flight my husband could take to reach us at my mother’s house was three days later. Therefore, for that span of time, when I had her totally to myself, more qualities were optimistically added to the list.

I raised her by the book, literally and figuratively. The book, in this case, was “Dr Spock’s Baby and Child Care for the Nineties” (5th edition) by Benjamin Spock and Michael Rothenberg. It was, and still is, the most authoritative guide for young parents. He updated his manual that was earlier published in 1946 to include the latest approaches and techniques of breast-feeding, treatments for many common health problems, recent scientific discoveries, and provided reassuring advice on age-old topics such as caring for a new baby as well as accidents, illness and injuries. In other words, for a nuclear family that comprised of one set of clueless parents and a helpless infant, this book was a gift from God.

Initially she refused to walk without holding my finger but one fine year I found that she had become taller than me. I introduced her to reading and writing though today she has read and written for more international journals than I have. 

This week she turned thirty and like all mothers, I wondered at how quickly her childhood had flown by. Missing her, I started playing the Meryl Streep movie “Mamma Mia” on DVD. Soon my favourite number, “slipping through my fingers” came on. “Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning, waving goodbye with an absentminded smile,” sang the mum to her little girl. I began to cry softly. 

“What you doing?” our daughter messaged me. 

“Watching Mamma Mia,” I typed back. 

“You crying over that song again?” she asked. 

I did not reply. 

“Hello Ma,” she called me immediately. 

“Slipping through my fingers,” she sang tunelessly.

“Happy birthday,” I said, smiling through my tears.

LOS ANGELES — HBO’s record-breaking fantasy epic “Game of Thrones” stormed back onto the Emmys stage on Monday, winning the coveted best drama series prize on a night full of surprises, including an on-air marriage proposal that stunned the audience.

The other big story of the Hollywood gala, television’s answer to the Oscars, was the huge success of “The Marvellous Mrs Maisel”, Amazon’s story of a 1950s housewife-turned-stand up comic, which took home eight Emmys overall, including the best comedy award.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” — last year’s best drama and an early favourite for more hardware in 2018 — went home empty-handed from the star-studded event at the Microsoft Theatre, after winning three minor awards handed out a week ago.

The ceremony hosted by “Saturday Night Live” regulars Colin Jost and Michael Che took on a decidedly political hue at the start, with a barrage of edgy jokes on hot-button issues from diversity in Hollywood to #MeToo and Donald Trump.

The gala also saw several sentimental favourites take home their first Emmys.

Matthew Rhys won for best drama actor for spy thriller “The Americans”, Claire Foy was named best drama actress for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in “The Crown” and Henry Winkler triumphed for supporting comedy acting on “Barry.”

But the coveted drama prize went to “Game of Thrones”, which was ineligible for last year’s Emmys, and series star Peter Dinklage took home the best supporting actor prize for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister.

“Writing for these actors behind us is the honour of a lifetime,” said the show’s co-creator David Benioff.

“But we didn’t invent these characters. That was George R.R. Martin. The show could not be without the mad genius of George.”

“GoT” won nine Emmys this year, meaning the blood-spattered cinematic tale of noble families vying for the Iron Throne — which returns in 2019 for an abbreviated eighth and final season — now has 47 awards overall.

That breaks the programme’s own record as the most decorated fictional show since the Television Academy first handed out prizes in 1949. 

‘Mrs Maisel’ 

breaks through

In the comedy categories, “Mrs Maisel” bested all comers in its first year of eligibility, sweeping the female acting prizes (star Rachel Brosnahan and co-star Alex Borstein) and best series honours.

Earlier this year, “Maisel” won two Golden Globes.

“One of the things I love the most about this show... it’s about a woman who is finding her voice anew,” Brosnahan said.

“It’s something that’s happening all over the country right now. One of the most important ways that we can find and use our voices is to vote. So if you haven’t already registered, do it on your cell phone right now.”

HBO dark comedy “Barry” notched two acting wins — for Winkler and series star Bill Hader.

Politics and #MeToo

The Emmys opened with a daring song-and-dance number poking fun at myriad controversies including the problem of ensuring diversity in Hollywood productions.

“We solved it!” crooned “SNL” nominees Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson, with back-up from pop stars John Legend and Ricky Martin — and even RuPaul.

They then yielded the stage to Jost and Che — who let the zingers fly.

“This year, the audience is allowed to drink in their seats. Hope you’re excited about that — because the one thing Hollywood needs right now is a bunch of people losing their inhibitions at a work function,” Jost said, in a reference to #MeToo.

Emmy-winning 

proposal

Looking to boost audience ratings, Emmys organisers said they were hoping to shake up the broadcast — and indeed they did, intentionally and unintentionally.

A surprise marriage proposal from Emmy-winning director Glenn Weiss won over the audience — and the Internet.

As Weiss accepted his award for directing the Oscars, he asked Jan Svendsen, who was sitting in the audience, to marry him.

“You wonder why I don’t like to call you my girlfriend? Because I want to call you my wife,” he added to cheers, applause and a few teary-eyed actors in the audience.

Svendsen then joined Weiss on stage as the director got on one knee and formally proposed.

The moment was especially poignant as Weiss revealed his mother had recently passed away — and offered Svendsen the ring his father had given his mom.

Drama showdown

Other big winners included FX’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace”, which won Emmys for best limited series and an acting prize for Darren Criss, who earned rave reviews for his dark turn as the designer’s killer Andrew Cunanan.

Thandie Newton won the best supporting actress in a drama statuette for her work on HBO’s futuristic western “Westworld”.

“I don’t even believe in God but I’m going to thank her tonight,” Newton quipped.

“Saturday Night Live” won the award for best variety sketch series.

In the emerging battle of traditional networks vs new platforms, streaming giant Netflix and HBO ended in a dead heat at the top — at 23 Emmys each.

Stay tuned for the next episode in that duel... at next year’s Emmys.

With the right name, right look and right driving characteristics, the Kia Stinger is, without qualification, the Korean brand’s best car to date, and the one that is sure to make the biggest impact as an aspirational halo model.

Delivering on the promise of a sporting premium four-door grand tourer that was the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show debuting GT Concept, the Stinger is the Kia that finally sets its sights on impressing drivers who are passionate about cars.

Launched as a 2018 model, the Stinger is ambitiously positioned to compete with coupe-like German saloons.

Slightly larger than the Audi A5 Sportback and more sporting in flavour than the Volkswagen CC, the Stinger is also a viable and affordable alternative to entry level and mid-range versions of the slightly larger Porsche Panamera, Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class, BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe and Audi A7. Developed with European designers and engineers headhunted from premium sports manufacturers, the Stinger largely holds its own among lofty competition. And crucially, the Stinger name is a welcome departure for Kia, with a visceral, evocative and descriptive tone more similar to the Dodge Charger and Challenger.

Slinky silhouette

True to the striking original Kia GT Concept, the production Stinger may have ditched the pillar-less glasshouse, bonnet mounted rearview cameras and other motor show concept elements for practicality and engineering necessity, but nevertheless remains clearly recognisable.

It retains the same long and slinky silhouette, with short front overhang, distance between the front wheel and A-pillar, indulgently long bonnet and low roofline. The Stinger even keeps similar front and rear fascias, albeit with less pronounced side gills and less complex front headlights, but features almost the same exact slim wraparound rear light outline. 

Less minimalist in details and surfacing than the GT Concept, the Stinger sits with a more muscularly road-hugging emphasis on width. Eager and seemingly ready to pounce at standstill, its rearwards cabin contrasts with a pert rear that is reminiscent of the Maserati 3200GT.

Sporting details include wide honeycomb grille, low and sharp air splitter, bonnet and side extraction vents, muscular sills, strong shoulders, quad tailpipes and sticky low profile 225/40R19 front and 255/35R19 rear tyres. With a rakishly low roofline, the Stinger’s generous rear hatchback — rather than a narrow and compromised boot — provides excellent cargo access.

Mid-range muscle

Positioned far back under its lasciviously long bonnet for near ideal weight distribution and driving all four wheels with a balanced rear-drive derived four-wheel-drive system, the range-topping Stinger — as driven — is powered by a 3.3-litre twin-turbocharged direct injection V6 engine.

Producing 365BHP at 6,000rpm and 376lb/ft torque throughout a broad and accessible 1,300-4,500 band, the Stinger also delivers excellent off the line four-wheel-drive traction, which allows it to rocket through the 0-100km/h acceleration benchmark in 4.9-seconds and onto a 270km/h top speed.

With power accumulation underwritten by an effortlessly accessible and versatile torque band, the Stinger is also quick through 80-120km/h at 3.3-seconds.

Smooth in delivery, the Stinger’s engine is nevertheless responsive from low-end, with quick spooling turbos soon delivering a torrent of torque and urgent power build-up. Progressive in power delivery, the Stinger does its best work in its broad, muscular and versatile mid-range, where it pulls viciously hard. Shifting just as the rev needle hits the redline using its manual mode paddle shifters for best results, the Stinger’s 8-speed gearbox is otherwise smooth and quick shifting in auto modes, and is able to take successive commands, but can be a bit conservative when asked to downshift into very high revs. Meanwhile, large Brembo brakes proved tirelessly effective.

Adjustable abilities

Almost docile in character when driving with a light foot and in its Eco and Comfort driving modes, the Stinger adopts a more focused profile in Sport mode. More so, allows one to individually tailor engine and transmission, steering, suspension, four-wheel-drive and engine sound setting through the dash-mounted infotainment touch screen, with the latter setting yielding a more vocal churning roar and growl.

Meanwhile, the Stinger’s quoted combined 10.6l/100km fuel efficiency is moderate for a car of this performance level and 1,834kg weight, but rises somewhat when one begins to explore its generous mid-range grunt and top-end performance potential. 

A car that certainly “stings like a bee” in terms of performance, Kia’s four-door grand tourer may also have unexpected ride comfort levels, but it is far too focused, settled and taut through corners to “float like a butterfly”, as Muhammad Ali might have put it. Eager into corners, the Stinger does a terrific job of keeping understeer at bay, but at the same time also grips much harder at the rear than many modern sports saloons. Balanced through corners and with good body control, the Stinger delivers an intuitive feel for its rear grip limit and any potential drift.

Grip and agility

Easy to control through corners, the Stinger’s steering is precise, very quick and gives unexpected feel when loaded up. Rear drifts are easy to control, with electronic stability control and torque vectoring working to briefly cut power and apply brakes to tighten a cornering line. Meanwhile, one can alternately turn in tight and early to point the Stinger in the right direction before coming back on the throttle so that power is reallocated to the front to pull it out of a corner, while the rear squats down and digs deep for more traction. Additionally, the Stinger can be specified with a limited slip rear differential for better handling and agility.

Smooth, refined and planted at speed, the Stinger’s suspension is taut, but with enough suppleness to take the edge off of its firm low profile tyres. Adaptive suspension allows for more comfort or body control, while vertical control is settled. A slightly sportier and more up-market take on Kia interior design, the Stinger’s cabin used good materials and build and is ergonomic and user-friendly, if not particularly emotive. Front space is good with a supportive and sporty driving position and a 360 degrees parking monitor for easier manoeuvrability. At the rear it features wide door swing angles and good legroom, but the rakish roofline reduces headroom for tall rear passengers.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 3.3-litre, twin-turbo, in-line V6-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 92 x 83.8mm
• Compression ratio: 10:1
• Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, direct injection
• Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive
• Ratios: 1st 3.665; 2nd 2.396; 3rd 1.61; 4th 1.19; 5th 1.0; 6th 0.826; 7th 0.643; 8th 0.556
• Reverse/final drive: 2.273/3.538
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 365 (370) [272] @6,000rpm
• Specific power: 109.2BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 199BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 376 (510) @1,300-4,500rpm
• Specific torque: 152.6Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 278Nm/tonne
• 0-100km/h: 4.9-seconds
• 80-120km/h: 3.3-seconds
• Top speed: 270km/h
• Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined:
• 14.2/8.5/10.6-litres/100km 
• CO2 emissions, combined: 244g/km
• Fuel capacity: 60-litres
• Length: 4,830mm
• Width: 1,870mm
• Height: 1,400mm
• Wheelbase: 2,905mm
• Overhangs, F/R: 830/1,095mm
• Legroom, F/R: 1,083/925mm
• Luggage volume, min/max: 406-/1,114-litres
• Kerb weight: 1,834kg
• Steering: Electric-assisted, variable ratio rack & pinion
• Lock-to-lock: 2.1-turns
• Turning Circle: 11.7-metres
• Suspension: MacPherson struts/double wishbones, adaptive dampers
• Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 350mm/340mm
• Tyres, F/R: 225/40R19/255/35R19
• Price, on the road, no insurance: JD59,000 (as tested)