Features

LONDON — The mostly defunct red phone boxes no longer attract much attention in London except from tourists. But Stuart Fowkes is thrilled to stumble upon one still in working order.

Its ring is one of the world’s disappearing noises that his pioneering “obsolete sounds” project is dedicated to preserving.

He whips out a hand-held recording device and swings into action, explaining, “I’ve always had sonic curiosity.

“New sounds are appearing faster than at any time in history but they are also changing and disappearing faster than ever before.”

Over the past five years Fowkes’ Cities and Memories website has collected and remixed more than 5,000 sounds from 100 countries which are being archived by the British Library.

Now, his latest project aims to preserve sounds that are “just on the edge of memory”.

These sounds that we are “just about forgetting” are the ones that have the “greatest emotional resonance”, he told AFP.

“What I have been struck by is how people have responded emotionally to some of the recordings.

“You’ve got people who heard the sound of a Super 8 film camera and this reminded them of being in their living room in 1978 with their dad showing them home movies for the first time.”

The “obsolete sounds” project features more than 150 recordings collected from around the world, and also includes remixes of those sounds by musicians and sound artists. 

Billed as the biggest collection of its kind, it includes everything from Walkman personal stereo cassette players and old video game consoles, to steam trains and vintage racing cars, as well as sounds that evoke the rapidly changing natural environment, such as crumbling glaciers. 

“Before the industrial revolution, our sound environment — bells and horses’ hooves and manual industry — would not have changed much for hundreds of years,” says Fowkes.

“Today, the pace of change is ridiculous. Things that are only a few years old, like ring tones on mobile phones, already sound dated.”

Sound of 

the Underground

Moving below street level down into London’s Underground train network, Fowkes gets to work again.

A bit like the “trainspotters” who were once a familiar sight on the platforms of UK railway stations, Fowkes is a dedicated “soundspotter”.

But to him, there is nothing dull or uninteresting about the screeching of the train’s wheels scraping against the curves in the metal tracks or the clunk of the doors opening and closing.

“I’ve always been someone who listens to the world. As soon as I have a recording device in my hand I start to listen to the world kind of differently and hear things that other people wouldn’t necessarily notice or listen to,” he says.

The digital consultant launched Cities and Memories in 2015 and has drawn in some 1,000 collaborators across the globe. 

“Every morning I wake up to emails with recordings from somewhere completely unexpected, like a beach in Bali or even the metro in Pyongyang,” he says.

Field recordings are “having a moment”, he adds, with artists such as ethereal Icelandic singer Bjork using them in their music. 

“It used to be seen as very niche, even trainspotter-like behaviour, but now anyone can make a decent recording on their phone and it’s becoming increasingly mainstream.”

Fowkes has been thrilled by the response to his project — but is keen to receive more, especially from African cities.

Anyone can contribute, he says, just by “sticking their mobile phone out of the window” and then visiting citiesandmemories.com.

In the meantime, he’ll keep on adding his own recordings, while admitting his dedication can sometimes be a source of mild irritation for his wife.

“Whenever we go to a new holiday destination... I am going ‘have you heard that pedestrian crossing? I have to go and record it’.”

First introduced in 2019 as the discrete high performance version of Audi’s full-size A8 luxury model, the S8 was something of a low key “sleeper” car next to wilder, more exaggeratedly style rivals. Packed with advanced features and built on a lightweight aluminium frame, the S8 is supercar swift luxury chariot for the tycoon with a desire for discretion. Boasting beguiling point-to-point performance, the S8’s high tech engineering all but bends the laws of physics in how it hustles its 2.2-tonne mass with impeccable composure, commitment, control, comfort and unexpected agility.

Subtle athleticism

Sculpted and statuesque with its fine detail and chiselled surfacing, the S8 walked a fine line between anonymity and outright aggression with it overall subtle athleticism and contrastingly overt and aggressive grille. So ahead of the game in its class when launched, the latest revised S8 remains almost unchanged since last driven, with updates focused on an aesthetic refresh, which introduces an edgier bumper and light treatment with sharper angles, creases, and lighting signatures. The S8’s grille more notably features a somewhat overstated large mesh, or chain-link style background, in place of its predecessor’s somewhat conservative slatted treatment. 

Nestled low between its enormous single frame grille and front axles, the S8’s aggressively tuned version of Audi’s twin-turbocharged, direct injection 4-litre V8 engine carries over unchanged. Producing a prolific 563BHP at 6,000rpm and an ample wave of torque throughout a wide and easily accessible 2,050-4,500rpm plateau, it powers all four wheels through Audi’s Quattro system. With short gasflow paths allowing for quick spooling turbos, and its tenacious traction, the 2,220kg S8 launches from standstill with immediacy, blasting through 0-100km/h in scant 3.8-seconds and onto an electronically-governed 250km/h maximum.

Swift and smooth

Pulling with confidence from low-end and through a muscular mid-range, the S8 is smooth and versatile throughout, and ever willing right to its rev limit. Stretching its legs in urgently linear fashion towards full power, the S8’s progression is backed up by a deep and wide torque reservoir. Silently swift in default and “comfort” driving modes, it returns comparatively restrained 11.4l/100km combined fuel efficiency. Brutally quick when driven with a firm right foot, the S8’s engine, however, adopts an edgier and more vocal soundtrack as sportier driving modes are engaged.

The S8’s rear-biased Quattro four-wheel-drive offsets its layout’s front-biased weighting and delivers remarkably reassuring road holding as associated with Audi since the 1980s. Sure-footed and agile, the S8’s self-locking centre differential distributes power between front and rear, while a “sport” differential diverts power where necessary along the rear axle to push it through corners. Its swift and smooth shifting 8-speed automatic gearbox meanwhile employs a broad range of ratios to optimise performance, flexibility, refinement and efficiency and features a choice of driving mode responsiveness, and more direct manual mode shifting.

Predictive poise

Superb in its stability at speed and settled yet supple ride characteristics in comfort mode driving, the S8’s air suspension provides taut lateral and vertical control. It nevertheless forgivingly soaks up rough textures. Poised and seemingly floating over imperfections, the S8’s air suspension firms up in sport mode for more composed cornering control. The S8 also features advanced Predictive Active Suspension, powered by its 48V system. With electric actuators individually adjusting each wheel for lumps, bumps and cracks, this can also automatically raise the car to mitigate side impacts.

The S8’s 48V-powered predictive suspension meanwhile virtually reads the road to anticipate and adjust for imminent textural changes, it also adapts to counteract body roll through fast corners. The 48V mild hybrid system also powers ancillary systems for improved efficiency and coasting. The S8’s dynamic envelope additionally includes four-wheel-steering, which turns rear wheels opposite to front at low speed to effectively shorten its wheelbase for enhanced manoeuvrability. It alternately steers rear wheels in the same direction at speed, to lengthen its wheelbase for improved steering response and lane-change stability.

Deluxe dynamics

As a result of its sublimely executed high-tech solutions and engineering, the S8 belies its size, weight and weight distribution in how tidy it turns in and through corners. With unanticipated responses, agility and control, the S8 seemingly shrinks around the driver and handles with the nimbleness of a smaller, sportier car, as its four-wheel-drive, differentials, active suspension and four-wheel-steering all act in concert to deliver flat, poised, smooth and composed dynamics and alternately cushioned refined and insulated comfort. Inside, passengers further benefit from noise cancellation tech, luxurious leather, metal and wood appointments.

Sportier than the garden variety A8, the S8’s deluxe lounge-like cabin is spacious in front and rear. Comfortable, well-adjustable and supportive seats, meanwhile, feature automatically adjustable pneumatic side bolsters for hard-driven corners, and optional massaging and ventilation functions. With extensive comfort, infotainment, safety and assistance equipment, the S8 features a configurable instrument panel and twin screen infotainment system with haptic buttons and voice recognition. The S8’s driver assistance and safety tech suite meanwhile includes lane tracking, traffic jam assistance, adaptive cruise control, and collision avoidance and mitigation systems.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 4-litre, twin-turbo, in-line V8-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 86 x 86mm

Compression ratio: 10.1:1

Valve-train: 32-valve, DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Ratios: 1st 4.714; 2nd 3.143; 3rd 2.106; 4th 1.667; 5th 1.285; 6th 1.0; 7th 0.839; 8th 0.667

Reverse/final drive ratios: 3.317/3.204

Drive-line: self-locking centre differential, optional limited-slip rear-differential

Power distribution, F/R: 40 per cent/60 per cent

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 563 (571) [420] @6,000rpm

Specific power: 141BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 253.6BHP/tonne (unladen)

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 590 (800) @2,050-4,500rpm

Specific torque: 200Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 360.3Nm/tonne (unladen)

0-100km/h: approximately 3.8-seconds

Top speed: 250km/h (electronically governed)

Fuel consumption, combined: 11.4 litres/100km 

Fuel capacity: 82-litres

Length: 5,190mm

Width: 1,945mm

Height: 1,475mm

Wheelbase: 2,998mm

Track, F/R: 1,629/1,614mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.28

Luggage volume: 505-litres

Unladen/kerb weight: 2,220/2,295kg

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion, all-wheel steering

Turning Circle: 11.4-metres

Suspension: Five-link, anti-roll bars, adaptive air dampers, active electro-mechanical suspension

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated & perforated discs, 400mm/350mm

Tyres: 265/40R20

By Nathalie Khalaf
Holistic counsellor

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become”. Many of us may have read or heard this quote by Carl Jung, or something similar, indicating that we are somewhat responsible for our life circumstances. I could not understand nor accept such a concept for the longest time as a young adult.

My biggest questions were: “How is this even possible?” and “How would I have desired to have a disturbed gut leading to Irritable Bowel Syndrome [IBS], or acne on my face for so long past my teenage years, colds and coughs which would turn asthmatic and last for a minimum of three months?” It took three rounds of severe depression to finally understand it!

The tipping point

It was only when I drove myself over a tipping point and “fell” into what I call “the abyss of my own darkness” that I came face to face with my life and how it was not going well for me.

I was not happy yet pretending everything was fine. I had developed all these diseases but could not see how unhappy I was and how that was contributing to my diseases! The truth is that if I hadn’t driven myself into a “brick wall” and hadn’t fallen deep into depression, I would really not have chosen to face the reality of my life nor fixed anything.

Up until the age of 36 I was just looking at my physical diseases as just ‘physical diseases’ with no idea nor concept that they may have been linked to the way I regarded myself; all the fears and doubts about life, all my negative thoughts about myself, the lack of self-support, and above all, the lack of self-love.

Little did I know that all of these negative thoughts (which are energies) were triggering emotions in me (also energies) which I did not want to “feel”. So, by suppressing what was happening in my body and pretending I was feeling good, I had stopped the natural flow of energy in my body, thus creating dis-ease in the energy flow: I had created my own disease in a physical sense.

Desperate to survive

I reached a stage where I was so desperate to “survive” and return to happiness, along with a realisation that the medication I was taking, in specific for my depression, was not really curing me, but just making me “believe” all of my anguish and problems were gone. 

I was not ready to face nor handle anything yet

It was only when I was weaned off the anti-depressants that I realised my life was still the same! Anti-depressants (from my own personal experience and having taken them three times over a long period of time) proved to simply ‘sweep things under the carpet’ if you wish, by numbing some emotions in my body. If I wasn’t feeling sad or afraid, it didn’t mean my issues were resolved, it just meant the flow of energy in my body had been further suppressed in order for me to be able to manage my life. And for that, I do thank those numb moments of absence of clarity-I was not ready to face nor handle anything yet.

Emotions are energy in motion

Our emotions can of course be challenging, especially the ones we do not wish to feel, such as sadness, anger, jealousy and fear. But they are a fact we need to deal with. The more we suppress what we do not wish to deal with, the more those energies “persist”. Emotions are “energy in motion”. The more we resist an energy, the more it will persist and over the years accumulate until we have to deal with it.

By feeling our way through life, and releasing emotions, we allow the natural flow of energy through our bodies and help our organs stay healthy.

Understanding our internal system

Why wait for a disaster to understand and use our internal system at all levels? Our emotions are the fuel our bodies need in order to stay healthy. By feeling our way through life, and releasing emotions, we allow the natural flow of energy through our bodies and help our organs stay healthy. My body became used to the medication I was taking so much so it had to be increased over the years. I “thought” I was “feeling” better. In fact, I was not really “feeling” anything.

Health and wellness

Holistic wellness means we are able to look into all levels of our health and well-being. These levels are: the spiritual, the mental, the emotional and the physical. They are all inter-connected. Once we understand how these levels affect our health and well-being, it becomes a matter of choice, and then a matter of will for us to create health and wellness in our lives.

Understanding the mind-body relationship requires commitment and determination to dig deep into our psyche and uncover long-established images and beliefs, as well as heavily suppressed emotions we were never taught how to deal with as youngsters and children. These heavy emotions are mostly sadness, abandonment, fear, guilt, shame, jealousy and anger.

Everything is energy and it needs to be in continuous vibration. If energy flow is suppressed then it creates stagnation and that’s where our physical diseases come from. Our thoughts, beliefs and emotions are all energy. Shedding light on our thoughts, self-talk and bringing all of this into our conscious mind, and looking at them through adult eyes, helps us understand where it may have originated from during our early years.

What we think and believe becomes our reality. We react to our belief system by allowing or suppressing feelings. The latter creates what is called an energy block or dis-ease in energy flow. Most energy blocks start when we are young children and remain with us in our physical body until we are adults. When we understand and commit to creating health and wellbeing in our lives by taking responsibility for our thoughts, beliefs and self-talk, then we can slowly work on releasing the energy blocks, and, with the help and support of a professional, we can bring health into our lives.

Self-acceptance

Once I understood that I had never loved nor accepted myself as a child, always comparing myself to others and never believing I was good enough, my self-confidence grew, my digestive system improved and my IBS disappeared and so did my acne.

When I started talking to my counsellor about my childhood, I started to release so much of the sadness, anger and grief that I had held on to as a child and teenager. I learnt I had the right to all those feelings. That nothing we feel is wrong or something to be ashamed of. By releasing all past hurt, all sadness from my chest and my heart, releasing all the choked-up words and pain from my throat, I stopped getting sick, I no longer got colds, and I no longer suffered from chronic coughing. We are all capable of holistic wellness. It is free and it is liberating. It needs commitment, determination (from ourselves to ourselves) acceptance, forgiveness and a lot of self-love.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

WASHINGTON — Chilly weather and common respiratory infections often go hand in hand.

Reasons for this include people gather inside more in winter, and viruses survive better in low-humidity indoor air. But there has been less certainty about whether lower temperatures actually impair human immunity and, if so, how.

Now, a recently published study in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology details a previously unknown way that the immune system attacks viral intruders inside the nose — and finds it works better when it’s warm.

These discoveries could pave the way for an eventual treatment against the common cold and other viruses, Mansoor Amiji, a pharmaceutical sciences professor at Northeastern University, who co-led the research, told AFP.

The starting point was previous research by Amiji and colleagues in 2018, which found that nasal cells released “extracellular vesicles” (EVs) — a spray of tiny sacs that swarmed and destroyed bacteria upon inhalation.

“The best analogy that we have is a hornet’s nest,” said Amiji. Like hornets defending a nest from attack, EVs swarm, bind to, and kill invaders.

For the new research, the team set out to answer two questions: are EVs also secreted in the nose in the presence of viral infections? And, if they are, is the strength of their response linked to temperature?

To answer the first question, they used a test substance which mimics a viral infection to stimulate nasal mucosa — a thin tissue that lines the nose — that was taken from volunteers who had surgery to remove polyps.

They found it did in fact produce EVs that target viruses.

In order to tackle the second question, they divided the nasal cell samples into two groups and cultured them in a lab, subjecting one set of samples to 37oC, and the other to 32oC.

These temperatures were chosen based on a separate test that found the temperature inside the nose falls by about 5oC when outside air drops from 23oC to 4oC.

Under regular body heat conditions, the EVs were successfully able to fight off viruses, by presenting them with “decoy” targets that they latch on to instead of the receptors they would otherwise target on cells. 

But under the reduced temperatures, fewer EVs were produced, and those that were made packed less punch against the invaders tested: two rhinoviruses and a non-Covid coronavirus, which are typically found in winter cold season.

“There’s never been a convincing reason why you have this very clear increase in viral infectivity in the cold months,” said co-author Benjamin Bleier, a surgeon at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear, in a statement.

“This is the first quantitative and biologically plausible explanation that has been developed.”

One of the most exciting aspects of the work is the potential to rev up the body’s natural production of virus-targeting EVs in order to fight or even fend off the cold — or even the flu and Covid, said Amiji.

“That’s an area of great interest for us and we certainly continue to pursue that,” he said.

PARIS — A year of extraordinary upheaval, from the war in Ukraine to catastrophic natural disasters, AFP looks at some of the words and phrases that have defined 2022.

Armageddon

With the war in Ukraine and increasingly strident threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin, the spectre of nuclear warfare is stalking the globe for the first time in decades. “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis” in 1962, US President Joe Biden warned in October. Experts warned of the most dangerous situation they can remember, with fears not limited to Russia: North Korean nuclear sabre-rattling has reached new heights, with the world bracing for a first nuclear test since 2017.

London Bridge

At 6:30pm on September 8, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth had died, bringing to an end the longest reign in British history and sending shock waves around the world. For 10 days, Britons paid respects to the only monarch most had known, following a carefully choreographed series of ceremonies. The programme of events, famously codenamed “London Bridge”, set out in minute detail every aspect of the protocol — down to BBC presenters wearing black ties. In the event, she died in Scotland, meaning special provisions came into force — Operation Unicorn.

Loss and Damage

World leaders and negotiators descended on the Egyptian Red Sea port of Sharm el-Sheikh for the latest United Nations summit (COP27) on tackling climate change. After a fractious summit, widely seen as poorly organised, a deal was clinched on a fund for “loss and damage” to help vulnerable countries cope with the devastating impacts of climate change. Behind the institutional-sounding name lies destruction for millions in the developing world. The COP summit was hailed as historic but many voiced anger over a lack of ambition on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Woman. Life. Freedom

The chant screamed by protesters in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested by the Tehran morality police. Protesters have burned posters of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and women have appeared in public without headscarves, in scenes scarcely imaginable before the uprising. The demonstrations have lasted three months and appear to pose an existential challenge to the 43-year rule of the clerical regime.

Blue tick

The tiny blue tick (it’s actually white on a blue background), which certifies users on Twitter, became a symbol of the chaos engulfing the social media platform in the wake of its $44-billion takeover by Elon Musk. The mercurial Tesla boss announced that anyone wanting the coveted blue tick would have to stump up eight dollars, only to scrap the plan hours later. A month on from the takeover, Twitter’s future remains up in the air, with thousands of staff laid off, advertisers leaving, and its “free speech” platform hugely uncertain.

Roe versus Wade

In an historic ruling, the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 “Roe vs. Wade” decision that enshrined a woman’s right to an abortion. The Supreme Court ruled that individual states could restrict or ban the procedure — a decision seized upon by several right-leaning states. Protests erupted instantly in Washington and elsewhere, showing how divisive the topic remains in the United States. The overturning of “Roe v. Wade” became a critical battle in the US mid-terms, in which candidates in favour of abortion rights won several victories.

Quiet quitting

One of the “words of the year” in Britain and Australia, the phrase refers to doing the bare minimum at work, either as a protest against your employer or to improve your work-life balance. The trend, which has sparked debate about overwork, especially in the United States, appears to have surfaced first in a TikTok post in July. “You’re not outright quitting your job but you’re quitting the idea of going above and beyond,” said the post which went viral, drawing nearly a half-million likes.

Wet lettuce

As Liz Truss approached the end of her chaotic and short-lived tenure as British prime minister, the Economist weekly mused that her effective period in office had been “roughly the shelf-life of a lettuce”. The tabloid Daily Star leapt on the idea, launching a live web cam featuring said vegetable — complete with googly eyes — next to a picture of the hapless Truss. Her premiership lasted just 44 days and featured a mini-budget that collapsed the markets and generated extraordinary political upheaval. In the end, the lettuce won.

Tomatoe soup

Environmental protesters seeking to draw attention to the role of fossil fuel consumption in the climate crisis hurled tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting at London’s National Gallery in October, touching off a series of similar stunts. Since then, activists have smothered mashed potato on Claude Monet and glued themselves to works by Andy Warhol, Francisco Goya and Johannes Vermeer. For some, the campaigners are heroes bravely drawing attention to the climate emergency. For others, the attacks are counterproductive and lose force by becoming commonplace.

A4

Protests erupted in China, initially over Covid restrictions but later widening to broader political grievances, posing the greatest threat to the Beijing authorities since 1989. The demonstrations became known in some quarters as the “A4” protests as protesters held up blank A4-sized sheets of white paper in a sign of solidarity and a nod to the lack of free speech in China.

BARCELONA — When they were just eight years old, Spanish twins Sergio and Javier Torres set a goal: they wanted to become chefs who were among the top in their field. 

To achieve this, they strategically split up to get training in different esteemed kitchens around the world, published books on cooking and presented a popular TV show.

The plan worked.

Over four decades after they surprised their family by saying they wanted to be chefs, Sergio and Javier’s Barcelona restaurant, Cocina Hermanos Torres, was awarded a third Michelin star last month.

“We developed a plan, that I think is a perfect plan,” a smiling Javier, 51, said at the restaurant, one of only 13 in Spain and Portugal with the top three-star ranking from the prestigious French guide.

“When we started to go out of Barcelona, we thought that Sergio would take one path, I would take another, and we would never coincide until we were ready,” he added.

The journey took the twins — who grew up in a working-class Barcelona neighbourhood — to different elite restaurants in Spain, Switzerland and France. 

Before moving to Paris where he worked with top French chef Alain Ducasse, Sergio spent two years at the award-winning Le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier which is also run by twins — Jacques and Laurent Pourcel.

“We were separated but every month we met up in a restaurant, ate well, we spent the little money we had and developed the next steps of our strategy,” said Sergio as he sat beside his brother.

Grandmother influence

Each brother specialised in different areas — one learned to cook meat and vegetables, the other fish and bread, he added.

Both siblings credit their grandmother for their passion for cooking.

She was part of a wave of people who moved from the southern region of Andalusia to the more industrialised Catalonia in the northeast in search of a better life following Spain’s devastating 1936-39 civil war.

“Our grandmother looked after us, and since she was in the kitchen all day we literally grew up in a kitchen,” said Sergio.

After earning two Michelin stars with their previous project “Dos Cielos” and becoming familiar faces thanks to their participation in a cooking show, they decided to open Cocina Hermanos Torres in 2018.

The twins visited some 200 possible locations before settling on an industrial building near Barcelona’s iconic Camp Nou football stadium.

They invested nearly 3 million euros to convert it into the restaurant, which seats a maximum of 50 people at tables with no wall separating them from the three workstations where staff prepare meals.

“We wanted to reflect what we experienced in our childhood, which was a kitchen and a table, and everyone around the table,” said Javier.

‘Difficult road’

The tasting menu costs 255 euros ($265), with another 160 euros if it is paired with wine, a stiff price in a country where the monthly minimum wage is around 1,000 euros.

Praised for its creative and playful cuisine, among the dishes served is cured squid with poultry broth and an onion soup with Parmesan cheese and truffles.

“You will experience flavours that you have never experienced before, because you will discover a cuisine where you will like what you don’t like,” said Sergio.

On a recent visit at noon, 50 staff members — many of them young — are busy at work finalising details before customers arrive.

“It seems like today a chef is like a ‘super star’. It’s a very difficult road, very difficult, with long hours and it’s very hard to make it, it takes tremendous perseverance,” said Sergio.

“You have to risk it, go for broke, give it your all because if you don’t, you are not living,” he added with a smile.

WASHINGTON — Hollywood’s finest joined politicos including President Joe Biden for a rare night of Washington glitz Sunday, celebrating the newest Kennedy Centre honourees, including George Clooney and U2.

Soul legend Gladys Knight, along with Cuban-born American composer Tania Leon and contemporary Christian pop artist Amy Grant rounded out the 45th annual class receiving the highest US arts honour, after the elite group of stars enjoyed a special weekend in the American capital honouring their illustrious careers.

During the glamorous main event at the Kennedy Centre — Washington’s performing arts complex that serves as a living monument to slain president John F. Kennedy — the inductees were honored with seats in the opera house’s presidential box.

They joined the president and first lady as well as the vice president and second gentleman, along with other politicians including Nancy Pelosi and her husband, who was making a public appearance weeks after he was violently attacked and hospitalised when an intruder looking for the congresswoman broke into their California home.

Clooney — accompanied by his human rights lawyer wife Amal Clooney, who stunned in a glittering silver gown — told journalists on the red carpet that the event, which he had grown up watching on television in small-town Kentucky, was “exciting”.

Speaking at the traditional State Department dinner one night prior, Clooney, 61, joked that during his extensive travel, both as an artist and as a humanitarian, he was told one universal truth: “You sucked at Batman.”

The self-deprecating celebrity has an impressive list of films to his name, as an actor and as director and producer — “Michael Clayton”, “Syriana” and “Ocean’s Eleven” among them.

“You must be someone pretty special in the arts, Mr Clooney,” joked Sesame Street children’s TV icon Big Bird, a fellow Kennedy Centre inductee.

Julia Roberts donned a ballroom gown adorned with images of Clooney, her longtime friend and frequent collaborator, whom she called “the best combination of a gentleman and playmate”.

“Not only is he handsome, and talented in all mediums he chooses to tackle, he is profoundly present and attentive to the world around him,” Roberts said of the actor. 

Roberts, along with Matt Damon, Richard Kind and Don Cheadle both razzed and praised Clooney before the beloved actor’s father Nick delivered a touching speech of his own.

Eddie Vedder of rock band Pearl Jam led a rollicking tribute to U2’s vast songbook, singing the hit “Elevation” in his signature power warble, later bringing down the house with the ballad “One”. 

And Ukrainian singer Jamala joined Brandi Carlile and Hozier for a rendition of the U2 track “Walk On”, in support of Ukraine’s ongoing fight against Russia.

Actor Sean Penn also praised bandmembers Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr, calling them “great musical poets for the ages” who manage to stay “consistently relevant” despite nearly half-a-century in the industry.

And Sacha Baron Cohen — in character as his darkly humorous Borat — delivered a comedic tribute to the band that drew laughs, raised eyebrows and had actor Roberts cracking up as he twistedly speared Kanye West’s recent outbursts of anti-Semitism and pretended to mistake Biden to ex-president Donald Trump.

“Your pretty orange skin has become pale,” he said to Biden, as First Lady Jill burst into laughter.

Empress of Soul Knight earned heartfelt accolades including from LL Cool J, who praised her as foundational across genres including gospel, country, rock and hip hop.

“I once heard Gladys sing the ABCs and I thought I was in church — true story,” the rapper told the audience.

Singers Ariana DeBose, Mickey Guyton and Garth Brooks delivered heart-pounding versions of some of her most beloved songs, including the standard “Midnight Train to Georgia”.

Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy-award winning Leon, 79, has already won numerous recognitions for her pioneering, sweeping compositions and chamber works that followed her immigration to the United States from Cuba as a refugee at age 24.

The moving program honouring her life’s work brought the artist — herself a regular performer at the Kennedy Centre — to tears.

Speaking prior to the show on the red carpet, Leon told AFP she was pleased the Kennedy Centre was recognising types of classical music outside the Western-oriented understanding of the genre.

“There’s many, many classical pieces in the world, of different nations or difficult cultural backgrounds,” she said.

She voiced delight at having visited the White House, describing to journalists an endearing anecdote of the president showing her the woodwork on his enormous desk.

And stars including Sheryl Crow and the country supergroup the Highwomen — comprised of Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires — turned out to honour Grant.

The 62-year-old Grammy winner is the first contemporary Christian star the Kennedy Centre has ever inducted, and said “never in my wildest dreams” did she envision receiving the honour.

Developed with emerging markets in mind and built in collaboration with Kia’s Chinese Dongfeng partner, the Pegas arrived in the region back in 2018 to support the brand’s entry-level end of the market, as its other offerings slowly but surely inch further upmarket. Based on — and slotting in below — the Rio saloon in an ever-expanding and more sophisticated Kia line-up, the Pegas is instead positioned to take on small affordable “world cars” like the Renault Logan head-on, in the competitively cut-throat small saloon B-segment.

Rationalised and refined

The Pegas was developed to be cost effective and affordable for value-oriented, first-time, family and fleet buyers. It incorporates proven components, Chinese production and a rationalisation of some better features and finishing materials, and well-selected equipment to maximum effect to attract buyers. Designed with a slim version of Kia’s trademark ‘Tiger-nose’ grille, big gaping and functional lower, and faux gill-like side intakes, chiselled bonnet, high waistline and ridged surfacing, the Pegas fits seamlessly into Kia’s contemporary design direction, without being overly dramatic or ambitious in aesthetic. 

Even more relevant now than when it first arrived, given the gloomy global financial forecast, the rationalised and economy-oriented Pegas is powered by a sole engine option chosen for efficiency, reliability and cost-effectiveness. The Pegas’ naturally-aspirated 1.4-litre 4-cylinder engine is meanwhile mated to a choice of 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic gearboxes, driving the front wheels. Producing 94BHP at 6,000rpm and 97lb/ft torque at 4,000rpm, the comparatively lightweight Pegas is good for 180km/h, while 0-100km/h acceleration is estimated at 13.1-seconds. Combined fuel efficiency is meanwhile restrained at 6.1l/100km.

Smooth and progressive

Under-square in design and slightly more torque-biased, the Pegas’ engine nevertheless revs freely, and with a faint, distant, and muted top-end snarl. Smooth and progressive throughout its rev range, the Pegas builds power and torque in a linear fashion and is as responsive at low-end and versatile in mid-range as can be expected of such a modestly powered car. That said, it manages to keep a fair pace at moderate inclines and in city, highway and country road driving. 

Driven in auto guise, the Pegas was often hunting for a lower gear and alternately up-shifting when driven at a constant 80-100km/h on mostly inclined routes, so as to maintain or build speed. In such conditions, the Pegas would have benefitted from a fifth gear and closer gear ratios. Alternatively, the manual gearbox version would have provided the necessary ratios, quicker pace, better efficiency and more driver involvement. The Pegas’ 4-speed auto was nevertheless and otherwise smooth shifting, reasonable responsive and economical.

Comfortable 

and manoeuvrable

Riding on a Macpherson strut front and torsion beam rear suspension design, the Pegas is smooth riding and reassuringly stable on highway. It is, meanwhile, manoeuvrable, agile and easy to drive in town. A more refined drive than anticipated in its ride quality and noise, vibration and harshness isolation, the Pegas’ light steering may initially seem somewhat vague at low speed. However, pushed somewhat harder through corners, it weighs up with a more communicative level of resistance. Body roll and understeer are meanwhile kept to a minimum.

Comfortable over Jordan’s lumps, bumps and imperfect road surfacing without wallow or much bounce, and seemed settled on rebound after dips and crests. The Pegas gains much of its pliancy from its narrow and tall 175/70R14 tyres, which are sized to be affordable, efficient and more durable in the face of high kerbs and deep sudden ruts and potholes. The Pegas’ tyres meanwhile also promote a more nuanced steering feel for road textures, car position and dynamic limits as it nimbly zips through switchbacks or city streets alike.

Practical and sensible

A narrow car with comparatively good 150mm ground clearance to better cope with poorly paved roads, the Pegas is well suited for busy urban roads and less developed areas. Inside, it has good sightlines and a comfortable driving position with rake-adjustable steering and easy to reach, user-friendly console and layouts. However, it could benefit from slightly lower front seat mounting points for taller drivers, when equipped with a sunroof. Meanwhile, rear seats are adequately spaced for adults, if not as generous as its 475-litre boot volume.

A practical, attainable and manoeuvrable compact saloon with tight city-friendly 10.4-metre turning circle, the Pegas is, meanwhile, rather well-equipped for its segment. The Pegas’ features list includes a 7-inch screen Android Auto-, Apple Carplay- and Bluetooth-enabled infotainment system, rear parking sensors, A/C, electric windows, remote central locking, ABS, ESC and four airbags. 

Using some hard plastic textures, the Pegas’ uncluttered dashboard seems more stylishly upmarket than its faux leather or shiny fabric upholstery. Meanwhile, other upmarket features include an integrated driver’s armrest, and intuitively stepped auto gear lever motion.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.4-litre, transverse 4-cylinders

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC

Gearbox: 4-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 94 (95) [70] @6,000rpm

Specific power: 67.3BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 90.3BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 97 (132) @4,000rpm

Specific torque: 94.5Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 126Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 13.1-seconds

Top speed: 180km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 6.1-litres/100km 

Fuel capacity: 43-litres

Length: 4,300mm

Width: 1,700mm

Height: 1,460mm

Wheelbase: 2,570mm

Overhangs, F/R: 785/945mm

Tread, F/R: 1,509/1,515

Ground clearance: 150mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.29

Headroom, F/R: 995/952mm

Legroom, F/R: 1,062/865mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1,365/1,357mm

Hip room, F/R: 1,352/1,295mm

Luggage volume, min/max: 475-litres

Kerb weight: 1,041-1,062kg

Steering: Electric-assisted power steering

Turning Circle: 10.4-metres

Suspension: MacPherson struts/torsion beam

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs/drums

Tyres: 175/70R14

Holiday gatherings are knocking on our doors and if we don’t plan ahead, then we might as well just call it quits. Winning any battle starts way before you get to the battlefield and the same is true for us desperate dieters.

It starts at the grocery store and in our kitchens. It even starts in our bedrooms as the lack of sleep creates havoc on our sugar cravings and decimates our motivation level. I know from experience that when I get enough quality sleep, I’m better able to resist foods that add no nutritious value. The opposite is true. When I don’t sleep well, I crave sweets and comfort foods all day long.

I have found that the more weapons we have under our belt, the more chance we have of winning our battles. Combining good sleep with sound eating and daily movement makes all the difference in the world. Notice I called exercise ‘daily movement’ because sometimes the thought of ‘Exercise’ makes me so tired.

Changing the mindset

I’m more likely to get up and take a walk or dance to my favourite beat if I think of it as a fun activity. I also tell myself that I’m just doing five to 10 minutes which inadvertently turns into 30 minutes after my body is warmed up. It’s the starting that’s difficult for most of us. We tend to have the “All or Nothing” mentality and miss out on the benefits of short sporadic activity.

One of the best things we can do to set ourselves up for success is to determine ahead of time to be our own best advocates. Just like a helmet protects a soldier’s head from injury, so does our mindset protect us from losing the battle of the bulge. It starts in our head as we begin visualising what it looks like to stay strong.

Preparing ahead of time

Before going to social events, I picture myself talking to friends and enjoying the conversation. Catching up on people’s news can be fun. It’s also important to be realistic and face the truth. Remind yourself that if you’re ravenous and your stomach is running on empty then you surely won’t enjoy socialising. You’re also more likely to eat from every selection and even help yourself to seconds. Knowing that ahead of time prepares you in advance to do things to strengthen your position.

These fortifications include drinking enough water and eating some nuts ahead of time so you can be strong enough to make better choices. Keep in mind that filling up on veggies helps quiet the hunger monster so take advantage of every variety you can think of. Eating fruits and vegetables and aiming for the colours of the rainbow provides us with much needed vitamins and minerals.

The good news is that the more we include them in our meals the more our body starts to crave them. They also satisfy our sweet tooth and we’re less likely to cave in when they serve that birthday cake.

Here’s to gearing up for the holiday season fully armoured for any food attacks that come our way!

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

LOS ANGELES — Directing “Emancipation”, a brutal and harrowing film about slavery set deep in the alligator-infested Louisiana swamps, was always going to be a challenge for Antoine Fuqua — and then his star Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars.

Despite reports that Apple could delay its release until the raging controversy around Smith’s actions subsides, the movie hits theatres this weekend and streams globally next Friday, raising fears that audiences and Oscars voters could boycott it.

“Absolutely, I have big concerns about that,” Fuqua told AFP.

But “Will’s been a good guy, in front of all of us, for 37 years,” he said of Smith, who rose to fame in the 1990s.

“I hope we have more compassion in our hearts, to at least go see the work he did — because he did amazing work in the movie. They all did.”

“Emancipation” is inspired by the story of a Black man who defied enormous odds to escape slavery during the United States’ Civil War.

“Whipped Peter” became a global symbol of the horrors of slavery, after photographs of his bare back — utterly mutilated by lashings he received on a cotton plantation — circulated around the world.

Less is known about the real man, who Smith depicts fleeing sadistic slavers and evading alligators, snakes and other perils in the Deep South swamps, in pursuit of freedom for him and his family.

Paced more like an escape thriller than a sombre historical drama, “Emancipation” is as graphic in showing the savagery inflicted on the enslaved as recent films like “12 Years a Slave”.

The movie was shot on location in real Louisiana swamps, in what Smith at Wednesday’s world premiere in Los Angeles called “an absolute monster of a difficult film to make”.

But while Smith’s performance has drawn praise, critics have pondered whether it is too soon for a comeback, just eight months after the notorious Oscars night.

Smith resigned from the Academy for striking Rock on stage over a quip about his wife’s hair loss. He has been banned from attending the Oscars for a decade, though can still win Academy Awards.

An image rehabilitation campaign has included online apologies and a late-night TV show appearance in which Smith told host Trevor Noah that he “was going through something that night” and had “just lost it”.

On “the question of the slap”, Fuqua is unequivocal that “it was wrong.”

But the “Training Day” director added: “Will’s a good guy. I stand behind him.

“I was with him for a couple years, man, I’ve been in the swamps with him. The guy never complained once.”

‘Scary’

For Fuqua, part of the urgency for releasing the film now is a US political climate in which the legacy of slavery has become a hot-button, polarised issue.

“You hear about things in America especially where there’s discussion of not teaching about slavery in some of the schools... like they want to erase the past,” he said.

Republicans have slammed proposed education reforms that would address systemic racism and the legacy of American slavery in schools.

Mitch McConnell and other conservative senators wrote last year that children should not be “taught that our country is inherently evil”.

But Fuqua said there are “scary” parallels with the “Whipped Peter” photographs, which were required to finally confront many who had sought to downplay the brutality of slavery back in 1863.

“That’s why it’s important to keep the museums going, to keep alive all these things,” he said.

“A lot of kids don’t even know about slavery.”

Whether the film’s message is lost in the chatter surrounding Smith and Rock remains to be seen.

But Fuqua remains hopeful that the two men can reach a respectful reconciliation of their own.

“Hopefully they can get together, not in front of cameras, and shake hands and have forgiveness and move on with their lives,” he said.

“I just keep my focus on the film,” said Fuqua.