Thursday, June 11, 2020 Shawwal 19, 1441 AH

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Cover Story Untenable The Bachelor fans are fed up and demanding change. P4-5

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A tale that is too cold to grapple Minecraft Dungeons – hours of with humanist quandaries. fun for locked down families. Page 14 Page 16 2 GULF TIMES Thursday, June 11, 2020 COMMUNITY ROUND & ABOUT

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The Tick for decades, an accountant with no superpowers comes to DIRECTION: Ben Edlund realise his city is owned by a super villain. As he struggles to Emergency 999 CAST: Peter Serafinowicz, Griffin Newman, Valorie Curry uncover this conspiracy, he falls in league with a strange blue Worldwide Emergency Number 112 SYNOPSIS: In a world where superheroes have been real superhero. Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991 Local Directory 180 International Calls Enquires 150 Hamad International Airport 40106666 Labor Department 44508111, 44406537 Mowasalat Taxi 44588888 Qatar Airways 44496000 Hamad Medical Corporation 44392222, 44393333 Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation 44845555, 44845464 Primary Health Care Corporation 44593333 44593363 Qatar Assistive Technology Centre 44594050 Qatar News Agency 44450205 44450333 Q-Post – General Postal Corporation 44464444

Humanitarian Services Office (Single window facility for the repatriation of bodies) Ministry of Interior 40253371, 40253372, 40253369 Ministry of Health 40253370, 40253364 One Mississippi hometown after the sudden death of her mother. Still reeling Hamad Medical Corporation 40253368, 40253365 DIRECTION: Diablo Cody, Tig Notaro from her own declining health problems, Tig struggles to Qatar Airways 40253374 CAST: Tig Notaro, John Rothman, Noah Harpster find her footing with the loss of the one person in her life who SYNOPSIS: This semi-autobiographical dark comedy understood her. All while dealing with her clingy friend and starring Tig Notaro follows her as she returns to her her dysfunctional family.

ote Unquo u te Q“No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.” — Albert Einstein

Community Editor Kamran Rehmat e-mail: [email protected] Telephone: 44466405 Fax: 44350474 Red Oaks SYNOPSIS: A coming-of-age comedy set in the “go-go” DIRECTION: Joe Gangemi, Gregory Jacobs 80s about a college student enjoying a last hurrah before CAST: Craig Roberts, Ennis Esmer, Oliver Cooper summer comes to an end – and the future begins. Thursday, June 11, 2020 GULF TIMES 3 BODY & MIND COMMUNITY Men’s health: live a healthier life Many of the leading causes of death among men can be prevented. Here’s what you need to know to live a longer, healthier life

To successfully stop smoking, you’ll need to address both the addiction and the habits and routines that go along with it. But it can be done. With the right support and quit plan, any smoker can kick the addiction — even if you’ve tried and failed multiple times before. 2. Eat a healthy diet. Choose vegetables, fruits, whole grains, high-fibre foods and lean sources of protein, such as fish. Limit foods high in saturated and trans fats, and foods with added sugar and sodium. 3. Maintain a healthy weight. Losing excess pounds — and keeping them off — can lower your risk of heart disease as well as various types of cancer. 4. Get moving. Exercise can help you control your weight, lower your risk of heart disease and stroke and possibly lower your risk of certain types of cancer. Choose activities you enjoy, such as tennis, basketball or brisk walking. All physical activity benefits your health. 5. Manage stress. If you feel constantly on edge or under pressure, your lifestyle habits may suffer — and so might your immune SAY NO TO SMOKING: If you do smoke or use other tobacco products, ask your doctor to help you quit. Avoid exposure to second-hand smoke, air pollution system. Take steps to reduce stress and chemicals, such as those in the workplace. — or learn to deal with stress in healthy ways.

o you know the greatest Stop avoiding the doctor threats to men’s health? Don’t wait to visit the doctor The list is surprisingly until something is seriously wrong. short. The top causes of Your doctor can be your best ally for death among adult men maintaining health and preventing Din the US are heart disease, cancer, disease. Follow your doctor’s unintentional injuries, chronic treatment recommendations if you lower respiratory disease and stroke, have health issues, such as high according to the Centers for Disease cholesterol, high blood pressure or Control and Prevention. The good diabetes. Also, ask your doctor about news is that making a few lifestyle when to have preventive care such as changes can significantly lower your cancer screenings, vaccinations and risk of these common killers. other health evaluations.

Start by looking at your What else puts you at risk? lifestyle Motor vehicle accidents are Take charge of your health by another common cause of death making better lifestyle choices. For among men. To stay safe on the example: road, wear your seat belt. Follow 1. Don’t smoke. If you do smoke the speed limit. Never drive under or use other tobacco products, ask the influence of alcohol or any your doctor to help you quit. Avoid other substances, and don’t drive exposure to second-hand smoke, distracted or while sleepy. air pollution and chemicals, such Suicide is another leading men’s as those in the workplace. Smoking health risk. An important risk tobacco is both a physical addiction factor for suicide among men is and a psychological habit. The depression. If you have signs and nicotine from cigarettes provides symptoms of depression — such as a temporary — and addictive — feeling sad or worthless and a loss of high. Eliminating that regular fix interest in normal activities — talk to of nicotine causes your body to your doctor. Treatment is available experience physical withdrawal symptoms and cravings. Because of The bottom line nicotine’s “feel good” effect on the PREVENTION: Don’t wait to visit the doctor until something is seriously wrong. Your doctor can be your best ally for Understanding health risks is one brain, you may turn to cigarettes as a maintaining health and preventing disease thing. Taking action to reduce your quick and reliable way to boost your risks is another. Start by making outlook, relieve stress, and unwind. different, healthier ways to cope response for you to smoke a cigarette a hectic day. Or maybe your friends, healthy lifestyle choices. The Smoking can also be a way of coping with those feelings. with your morning coffee, while family, or colleagues smoke, and it’s impact might be greater than you’ll with depression, anxiety, or even Smoking is also ingrained as a taking a break at work or school, or become part of the way you relate ever know. – Mayo Clinic News boredom. Quitting means finding daily ritual. It may be an automatic on your commute home at the end of with them. Network/TNS 4 GULF TIMES Thursday, June 11, 2020 COMMUNITY COVER STORY Shifting sands The newly launched campaign calls for the casting of a black bachelor for the show’s next iteration. The petition is also pushing for more systemic change. Organisers believe the show needs to cast at least 35% black, indigenous and people of colour every season

THE ONLY ONE: The 2017 Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay is the sole black to have appeared on the franchise in 18 years.

We believe that the national conversation should be focused on black lives, but in this moment where diversity issues have been brought to the forefront, our support has to extend beyond a symbolic gesture or a single social media post ‘ — Ria Ali, lawyer who helped form the campaign ’ Thursday, June 11, 2020 GULF TIMES 5 COVER STORY COMMUNITY

By Amy Kaufman

ith Black Lives Matter protests erupting across the US in the wake of George Floyd’s Wdeath, a reality television dating show might seem more frivolous than ever. But that’s not how some ardent fans of The Bachelor see it. On Monday, a dozen viewers of the show who met in a Facebook group launched an anti-racism campaign calling on ABC, which airs the show, and Warner Brothers, which produces it, to diversify the franchise. In 18 years and 40 seasons since its inception, only one of the franchise’s leads — 2017 Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay — has been black. Those who appear as contestants on the series are also predominantly white, and show creator Mike Fleiss has blamed the SPOTLIGHT: Contestants on the show The Bachelor. File photo lack of diversity on the fact that “for whatever reason, (people of boycott the series. storylines” for people of colour and white — she was an unbelievable as contestants on The Bachelor colour) don’t come forward” in the “My hope is that we don’t get find leads who have experience with Bachelorette? It revealed something from 2009 to 2012. In April 2012, casting process. to that point, because a boycott interracial dating. about our fans,” the executive two black football players who The newly launched campaign could have really difficult financial “It is a naive expectation to producer said, adding that he was applied to be on the show but calls for the casting of a black implications for people who work believe that leads will authentically “raring to try” casting a nonwhite were not ultimately cast filed a bachelor for the show’s next on the show behind-the-scenes,” start an interracial relationship lead again. That was a stark change class-action racial discrimination iteration. (The Bachelorette, which said an additional member of for the first time on national in tone from 2011, when he told lawsuit against The Bachelor. was set to begin filming in March the initiative, Leigh Chesley, a television,” said Lindsay, who is the Entertainment Weekly that though In it, Nathaniel Claybrooks and but was put on pause due to the 36-year-old marketing executive co-host of the official ABC Bachelor he’d “really tried” to cast for ethnic Christopher Johnson argued Covid-19 pandemic, will feature from Georgia. “I think a show like podcast and often appears as a diversity, “sometimes we feel guilty that “the refusal to hire minority 39-year-old white hairstylist Clare this is more powerful than people special guest on the TV franchise. of tokenism. ‘Oh, we have to wedge applicants is a conscious attempt Crawley.) But the petition — which give it credit for. This is one of the “The sad reality is that people of African American chicks in there!’” to minimise the risk of alienating had already amassed more than most popular franchises on TV, and colour become placeholders as the In my reporting for my 2018 book their majority-white viewership 20,000 signatures on Monday they have the unique opportunity token person of colour to add some about the show, Bachelor Nation, and the advertisers targeting that afternoon — is also pushing for to show BIPOC relationships and flavour to the second half of the numerous producers who worked viewership.” The lawsuit was more systemic change. Organisers story lines to people who may not season.” on the series told me that those dismissed roughly six months later. believe the show needs to cast at have experienced that in the world When Lindsay’s season of The who worked on the programme In the past, Chris Harrison, who least 35% BIPOC (Black, Indigenous they grew up in. If they’re not doing Bachelorette concluded in 2017, expressed no genuine interest in has hosted the reality show since and People of Colour) every season, that, it’s very irresponsible.” it attracted an average of 7.6 making it more diverse. its premiere in 2002, has previously hire a diversity consultant and The campaign comes on the million viewers — down from 8.4 “We always had to cast a black suggested that higher-ups fear publicly apologise for enabling heels of public comments made by million viewers the year prior, girl or two. ABC would say that,” diversity might impact ABC’s racism. Lindsay, the former Bachelorette, when the show featured white Scott Jeffress, who served as the bottom line. “We believe that the national about her dissatisfaction with the lead JoJo Fletcher. In a subsequent series’ co-executive producer for “Television is a business, like conversation should be focused franchise. In a blog post on Monday, interview with the New York Times, its first seven seasons, told me. “It anything else. And what we have on black lives, but in this moment the lawyer wrote she would Fleiss said he found the ratings was very obvious to me that it was to do, we can’t just say, ‘We’re where diversity issues have been “dissociate” herself from the series decline “incredibly disturbing in a token … They’re afraid of losing the changing the world. We’re going brought to the forefront, our unless it undergoes a “diversity Trumpish kind of way.” audience. It’s absurd.” to do whatever it takes to change support has to extend beyond a makeover.” Among her suggestions: “How else are you going to Between 2009 and 2011, no black the world and make a stand on symbolic gesture or a single social hire more diverse producers, explain the fact that she’s down men were cast on The Bachelorette, any social issue,’” he told NPR in media post,” said Ria Ali, a 32-year- refrain from “creating problematic in the ratings, when — black or and no black women appeared 2015. “Advertisers have to buy the old lawyer from Massachusetts who next season of the show. I need helped form the campaign. “The millions of people to want to watch Bachelor is something in our daily “Television is this show. So I need to put on lives that we spend time with and people that others want to watch. enjoy, and we feel we have to make a business, like … And I don’t care — let me tell that place as diverse, inclusive and you something — if you’re white, reflective of the principles of anti- anything else. And black, Asian, whatever — if I think racism that we are marching for and a million more people are going donating to.” what we have to do, to watch, you go in that direction. Ali began discussing the idea of we can’t just say, Because that is what’s going to sell a campaign with other Bachelor and be a successful business. But, to fans less than a week ago on ‘We’re changing the that end, to go in and just say, I have Facebook Messenger. Though they no social responsibility on the show had never met in person and none world. We’re going regardless, that’s silly.” had professional backgrounds in But from the perspective of those public relations, the group started to do whatever it who formed the new diversity having Zoom calls to brainstorm takes to change the campaign, “issues of inclusion ways to move forward. Together, should not come down to a financial they created a press kit outlining world and make a decision.” their goals, created images ready for “We don’t want ABC and Warner influencers to post on social media stand on any social Brothers to put in a BIPOC lead and and did early outreach to former leave it at that,” said Ali. “We want Bachelor contestants. issue’” them to revolutionise their entire ABC and Warner Brothers did approach to diversity. And the not respond to The Times’ request petition also asks viewers to pledge for comment on the campaign. But — Chris Harrison, they will have no tolerance for its founders are hopeful that the racism. We have to think about who show’s producers will commit to reality show host we as viewers choose to support.” change before fans are moved to —Los Angeles Times/TNS 6 GULF TIMES Thursday, June 11, 2020 COMMUNITY BOOK REVIEW A hit for quarantine nightstand Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars by Joyce Carol Oates is primarily the story of the dysfunctional McClaren family as it struggles to come to terms with its patriarch’s untimely death, writes Pamela Miller

AUTHOR: Much has been said about Oates’ astounding productivity – year after year, novel after novel, some brilliant, some clumsily rendered Goth schlock (and yet, good reads, all).

the dysfunctional McClaren family kids disrespectful, her mean habits which these days is most painfully as it struggles to come to terms out of control. She is sure she represented by people who lack with its patriarch’s untimely death. knows what is good for everyone, the ability to step back and Widow Jessalyn, a gentle, especially her quiet mother, yet has consider the other and his or her agreeable woman, plunges into no clear sense of bald reality, much circumstances. isolated grief, then slowly emerges less her own. Yet their turmoil is not foreign into a new life that includes a Third oldest Lorene, a high school to any of us. “Christ, life is a careful new relationship with an principal, may be the story’s least struggle,” Whitey thinks in his enigmatic man she has met near likeable character. She is mean, dying moments. “Anyone who SPOT ON CURRENT TIMES: Night is spot on for these times of racial divide, her husband’s grave. Their love manipulative, narcissistic and prone tells you anything else is a liar.” as well as in portraying the fractious family dynamic that many of us know all story is one of the novel’s few to self-hatred and self-harm. Much has been said about too well. happy threads, despite Jessalyn’s The two youngest McClaren adult Oates’ astounding productivity – tremulous sense that she is children are the most sympathetic. year after year, novel after novel, dead man is the central later, he dies in a hospital, unable dishonouring her marriage with Sophia is a biological researcher some brilliant, some clumsily character in Joyce to convey the truth of what has her late husband. Her labyrinthine struggling to come to terms with rendered Goth schlock (and yet, Carol Oates’ timely, happened to him to his bewildered path through grief is complicated experiments on live animals and good reads, all). And here we have monumental new novel family. in a way that may reflect the path an affair with an older, married a new novel by her you could Night. Sleep. Death. It is easy to assume, after this Oates has felt in her own two colleague. Virgil is a hippie held in employ as a 3-pound doorstop. AThe Stars., whose title echoes dreadful episode, that we are diving widowhoods. contempt by his family, except for It is brilliant. How blessed we a gut-punching Walt Whitman into a story about racial injustice, Whitey and Jessalyn’s five adult his mother and sister Sophia, who are to have her as a novelist in our poem. the pivotal issue of our time. And children are brilliantly drawn love and indulge him. chaotic, confusing times. In October 2010, John ‘Whitey’ indeed that is a strong thread in characters, whose passions, The McClaren siblings have but Night is spot on for these times McClaren, the affluent former this masterful novel, yet another politics, struggles and secrets fit one thing in common – they all of racial divide, as well as in mayor of a small city in New York, piercing examination of American well into the factions we Americans loved their father, who in turn loved portraying the fractious family dies of a stroke after an apparent culture by the writer this reviewer fall into. them all as best he could. That dynamic that many of us know all car crash. Readers who have braved considers our country’s greatest Oldest son Thom, handsome, alone keeps them from abandoning too well. this daunting, 3-inch-thick novel’s living novelist. [A side note: Oates successful and mean-spirited, is each other. Three inches thick or no, Night 800 pages know better. We witness wrote this novel before the death of the first to learn the truth about his Over hundreds of pages, their deserves the top spot on your McClaren pulling over to rush to George Floyd and the protests that father’s death. He takes a twisted relationships play out in raw, quarantine nightstand. Here’s a the aid of a man of colour who is followed, and this review was also path in pursuit of justice. authentic detail. Their encounters fervent salute to Oates, our finest being mercilessly pounded by two written before those events, but has Beverly, the second oldest, is are revelatory, not just in the realm American novelist, for this one. police officers, who then beat the been revised.] even less likeable than Thom. Her of family trickiness, but in the – Star Tribune (Minneapolis)/ daylights out of McClaren. Days But Night is primarily the story of marriage is rotten, her teenage larger context of American culture, TNS Thursday, June 11, 2020 GULF TIMES 7 TECHNOLOGY COMMUNITY

BOOSTING SIGNALS: Wi-Fi mesh is the up-to-the minute solution for efficiently boosting Wi-Fi right through your home. Hacks to get the most from your Wi-Fi These expert tips will ensure your Wi-Fi is performing at its best – even if everyone at home is using it at once

speeds that are too high for older extenders are the answer – but By Alexi Duggins pieces of equipment, these devices hold fire because there’s a new won’t be able to connect. Thus Wi-Fi kid on the block. Wi-Fi mesh is networks automatically slow down to the up-to-the minute solution ood Wi-Fi makes run at the pace of the slowest device for efficiently boosting Wi-Fi all the difference connected to them. Unfortunately, right through your home. “It’s at even the best of this means that every other device a series of modules that can be times. Right now, it’s on the network also operates at placed around your house,” says absolutely vital. It’s that speed. “So, go to the admin Vodafone’s McKenzie. “Wi-Fi yourG office, your children’s teacher, settings of your broadband provider’s mesh is a lot stronger than putting your portal to friends and family. app to discover which devices are Wi-Fi extenders in different For the sake of your household’s connecting,” says McKenzie. “You rooms. It’s very effective if you’re sanity, you really cannot have it may be surprised to find you have working in a corner of the house, functioning at anything less than 20 devices connected, and you may or even out in the garden.” The 100%. Fortunately, there are some only need four of them.” Once you garden, huh? Working from home little-known tips and tricks to help see what’s connected, you can also just got a whole lot more relaxing. improve your Wi-Fi’s performance, disconnect older devices when speed and keep it quick and reliable. is at a premium. 6. Take the lead Here’s how you can get the best In a typical home there are any from your invisible friend ... 4. Stop channel surfing number of devices competing Live in a built-up area? You’ll be for Wi-Fi, so it’s worth asking 1. Send clear signals surrounded by lots of other Wi-Fi yourself whether you could Few things are as frustrating TAKE THE LEAD: Plugging a cable directly into your laptop will help when routers competing to find the quietest lighten the load by using a lead as when slow Wi-Fi turns you you need a lot of speed for a video call and can’t afford for your connection to channel to operate on. But this to connect to your broadband. into a malfunctioning Dalek just drop out. can mean your router flitting from “Plugging a cable directly into as you make an insightful point channel to channel, occasionally your laptop will help when you to colleagues on a video call. video calls, try changing to the in an area with minimal electronics dropping the Wi-Fi altogether. “To need a lot of speed for a video Why does that keep happening? higher frequency by going into the present,” says McKenzie. Just make avoid this happening right in the call and can’t afford for your “Microwaves, underfloor heating Wi-Fi settings on your browser and sure it’s not bang next to your TV, middle of a work task or at a crucial connection to drop out,” says controllers and gaming controllers selecting 5GHz,” advises McKenzie. smart speaker or other devices. If moment in the film you’re streaming, McKenzie. create electromagnetic fields that playing around with the position of try manually setting your router to “The Wi-Fi router sends interfere with your Wi-Fi signal,” 2. Position is everything your router doesn’t help, try using a operate only on one channel,” says a signal that’s subject to says Charlie McKenzie, technical Your router may well be plugged router with beamforming technology. McKenzie. Erm, how? Simple: “Log interference, but a lead provides adviser for Vodafone. One solution into a phone socket in the hall but “This technology can focus the Wi- into your router, which usually has a secure connection.” So whether is to check the frequency that your that might not be the best place for Fi straight at your device.” That’ll instructions on how to do so on the you’re working or, better still, router operates at. Most modern it. All sorts of things can block Wi- help keep your kids entertained with back.” streaming Little Fires Everywhere, routers send out signals at 2.4GHz Fi signals and affect your network’s back-to-back episodes of SpongeBob if you’re plugged in, the kids and 5GHz, but as the 2.4GHz performance: brick walls, pipes while you’re tied up on business calls. 5. Be wary of extenders should be able to play Minecraft frequency is used by lots of devices and household appliances. “To get Is your Wi-Fi brilliant in the using the Wi-Fi, and household around the home there’s intense the best from your Wi-Fi, you need 3. Slow devices are your enemy living room but a bit patchy in the harmony will be ensured. competition for bandwidth. “For to give your router pride of place If Wi-Fi networks operate at kitchen? You might think Wi-Fi – The Guardian 8 GULF TIMES Thursday, June 11, 2020 COMMUNITY FASHION ‘The fashion show is over’: what I have learned from 20 years of catwalks

As catwalks go digital for who-knows-how-long, Jess Cartner-Morley looks back on two decades of attending fashion weeks

ashion people love to white hot pants and gold boots. At exaggerate, but I have been Calvin Klein, Trish Goff wore a pencil to a lot of fashion shows – skirt and plain fine-knit sweater with about 3,000, by according the sleeves pushed up and I had the to my back-of-envelope feeling (one I have had many times Fmaths. Mostly in London, Paris, Milan since) of finally knowing exactly how and New York, but also Tokyo and I wanted to dress thereafter. Watching Rio de Janeiro, Berlin and Edinburgh, Naomi Campbell at Marc Jacobs, Marrakech and Reykjavik. Twenty and that season’s new face Gisele years of pret-a-porter and haute- Bündchen in a zebra-print bikini at couture collections – two of each Michael Kors, I was knocked out by every year, give or take two maternity the visceral power of the supermodel, leave gaps, a bout of appendicitis and goddess-made-flesh. And then there the time I messed up my US visa – was a hurricane, and shows started adds up to a lot of catwalk time. getting cancelled. But the Alexander But now, suddenly, the fashion McQueen event went ahead, even show is over. No more impossibly though it took place on a pier in the beautiful people in ridiculously Hudson. gorgeous (or just ridiculous) clothes. Around the time of the millennium, No more seating squabbles, no more McQueen was at the forefront of front-row gossip, no more writing reinventing fashion as theatre. His copy in the back of a minicab between rival for fashion’s attention was John shows. There are no real-life catwalks Galliano, who had begun turning this season, with the first all-digital Christian Dior Paris catwalks into London fashion week kicking off psychedelic costume parades. on Friday, and online-only events McQueen and Galliano had very scheduled for Paris and Milan next different aesthetics – Galliano vibrant month. Most probably no physical and supersized, McQueen dark and shows for the rest of the year, with lean – but both loved to shock their September’s fashion weeks looking audiences. unlikely. And after that, who knows? That night in New York, the models Will social distancing and recession walked through a catwalk submerged kill the catwalk for ever? in water. (Nothing to do with the The squash and squeeze of fashion hurricane, that was just the way that week makes watching football from McQueen, with his uncanny instinct my seat in the west stand at the for the zeitgeist and apparently the Emirates look like a Glyndebourne weather, had planned the show.) After picnic, and is at odds with new the model finale, a field of iron spikes protocols about how we navigate each rose up from the ground, their points other. But long before the pandemic skywards, and a troupe of dancers in it was clear that fashion shows were burqa-like coverings pirouetted above out of control. Fashion weeks in them, suspended by silk ropes – an cities throughout the world, brands allusion to western fear of Islam that presenting six or eight collections was made all the more unsettling a year rather than two, with lavish when McQueen took his bow and production and international travel BLOCK COLOURS: Models walk the Pyer Moss catwalk during New York fashion week, September 2019. dropped his baggy jeans on the added up to an indefensibly large catwalk to display stars-and-stripes carbon footprint. If the combined boxer shorts. It was my first taste of impact of social distancing, travel the appetite-jolting salty-sweet lick of restrictions and recession is that beauty and bombshell that a fashion the fashion week is reinvented as a week can be, and I was blown away. I virtual moment, there will be much to suspect my reports were hopelessly celebrate in that. breathless. I remember being halfway But I will really, really miss fashion through reading one down the shows. They have brought me so phone to the office in London, when much joy. My entry to fashion week the copytaker interrupted me, not coincided with the moment the unkindly, to ask: “Is there much more, catwalk was evolving from its second love?” before sighing and audibly half of the 20th-century form – a chic lighting another cigarette. but rule-bound, elite, inward-focused Fashion shows are as much about parade that served a clique of editors drama as they are about clothes. I have and buyers – into a stadium-sized pop admired hundreds of perfect bouclé cultural carnival. tweed suits, but the Chanel shows I The first fashion week I attended, will never forget are those staged in as this paper’s new deputy fashion a giant supermarket where Rihanna editor, was New York in September pushed Cara Delevingne down the 1999. My trusty pre-Google soft-drink aisle in a shopping trolley, paperback Dictionary of Fashion and the one where a space rocket launched Fashion Designers in no way prepared during the finale and the one where a me to report on what I found. I voice informed us just before the show remember Donatella Versace’s Versus that M Lagerfeld was indisposed, and show, where Madonna sat next to would not be attending that morning. Rupert Everett on the front row both He was 85, and had never missed one in cowboy hats, I think applauding of his own shows before that; a month Kate Moss as she strutted past us in PERFORMANCE ON RUNWAY: Prince performs before the Matthew Williamson spring/summer 2008 show at LFW. later, he was dead. Thursday, June 11, 2020 GULF TIMES 9 FASHION COMMUNITY ‘The fashion show is over’: what I have learned from 20 years of catwalks

ON TRACK: Models present creations by the designer Marc Jacobs as part of his autumn-winter 2013 women’s ready-to-wear fashion show for Louis Vuitton in Paris.

There is a special thrill in the cheered from the back rows. Yves expectant wait for a debut show to Saint Laurent’s final shows before his begin Raf Simons at Dior, where retirement, the audience squished the atelier was wallpapered with on to tiny benches but thrilled to thousands of fresh blooms; Nicolas be there, the elegance austere and Ghesquière at Louis Vuitton, where an intoxicating as cold cola. In recent earnest note from the designer was on seasons, The Row have conjured that every seat; Lindsay Lohan at Emanuel same chic mood at their sublime New Ungaro of which, well, the less said York fashion shows. the better. There is the camp, Strictly- There are cultural issues with final emotion of a farewell show. (After fashion shows that run deeper than two decades of these I can tell you that the logistics of social distancing nobody blinks back tears as prettily, and are as problematic, in their in immaculate black tie and with a own way, as the events’ carbon poignant half smile, as Tom Ford.) footprint. Whether you look on the On stage at Sadler’s Wells in 2000, catwalk or the front row, or at the Hussein Chalayan transformed chairs Instagram influencers, the world into dresses and a coffee table into view of fashion weeks skews sharply a hooped skirt. When Marc Jacobs towards skinny white women. There was at Louis Vuitton, a courtyard of is still a huge amount of work to STATEMENT: Hussein Chalayan’s coffee table hooped skirt. the Louvre was decked out as a belle be done on diversity, not just on époque railway station, and we sat model casting but in ensuring that at the forefront of fashion-week Club in Paris during a Phoebe people unfathomably bursting into on benches waiting for the show to people of colour are represented conversation. Vivienne Westwood has Philo Celine show on first view of a tears at Comme des Garçons. All of begin. Then a real train trundled down within brands’ creative teams, and made London fashion week a platform particularly delicious polo neck. The this has been, frankly, a blast. the tracks and the models got out of in audiences. There are still too for climate activism. At New York camaraderie and hysteria that builds But fashion must move with the it. That was eight years ago, and I still few women at decision-making fashion week, Pyer Moss designer over the course of a month on the times, Otherwise it’s not fashion. wonder how they did it. level within the fashion business. Kerby Jean-Raymond has shown the road. The time Anna Wintour jumped The catwalk has reinvented itself In 2007, Prince got up out of his However, it is not true that fashion power of being both an activist and a up and led a standing ovation for a hundred times over, swapping front row seat at Matthew Williamson shows have nothing interesting to say. designer. In 2016, his collection was McQueen’s They Shoot Horses Don’t ballgowns for streetwear, ditching and did a set on the catwalk. In Jean Paul Gaultier was challenging accompanied by the screening of a They? The backstage scrum to get stuffy salon shows in favour of 2018, the actual Queen turned up at gender stereotypes on the haute- powerful film about police brutality close to a designer for a quote, which popcorny clickbait. Digital is how we London fashion week. And yet for all couture catwalk back in 2002. Raf against people of colour. is usually mumbled or Delphic or live now – so that’s where the fashion the hoopla, some of the most perfect Simons used his debut at Calvin Just as even a top-flight sports both. (One season, I thought Miuccia show needs to live, too. The catwalk fashion moments have been those Klein in February 2017 to challenge match is not the same when played Prada said her collection was about has a fabulous history, but fashion shows that are pure, old-school chic. Trump culture with a homage to an without fans, fashion week will be moccasins and another broadsheet is about the future. So I’ll be binge- Christian Lacroix’s catwalk shows alternative vision of Americana. Maria very different without a live audience. fashion editor thought she had said watching the next season of fashion in Paris, when a red rose was left Grazia Chiuri’s Christian Dior shows The synchronised intake of breath it was about democracy; either was from here, at home on my laptop. And on every seat and his seamstresses have consistently placed feminism that would sweep around the Tennis equally believable.) I will even miss I can’t wait. – The Guardian 10 GULF TIMES Thursday, June 11, 2020 COMMUNITY PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE Thursday, June 11, 2020 GULF TIMES 11 LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE COMMUNITY Being happy can protect you from gastrointestinal distress

esearchers have found these gut bacteria are beneficial, human cells showed that the that Serotonin, a but pathogenic bacteria can also bacteria could no longer cause chemical known for colonise the gastrointestinal tract, infection-associated lesions on the encouraging happiness causing serious and potentially fatal cells if these bacteria were exposed and well-being, can infections. to serotonin. Rreduce the ability of some intestinal Because gut bacteria are Next, the researchers examined pathogens to cause deadly significantly affected by their how serotonin affected virulence in infections. environment, the research team living hosts. The findings, publishing in the wondered whether the serotonin Using mice, the researchers journal Cell Host & Microbe, could produced in the gut can affect the studied how serotonin might offer a new way to fight infections virulence of pathogenic bacteria change the ability for Citrobacter for which few truly effective that infect the gastrointestinal rodentium – a mouse gut bacterium treatments currently exist. tract. often used as an analogue for E. coli “Although the vast majority of They worked with Escherichia in humans – to infect and sicken research on serotonin has centred coli O157, a species of bacteria that their hosts. on its effects in the brain, about 90 causes periodic outbreaks of often These mice were genetically per cent of this neurotransmitter deadly foodborne infection. modified to either over- or – a chemical that nerve cells use to The team grew these pathogenic underproduce serotonin in their communicate with each other – is bacteria in Petri dishes in the lab, gastrointestinal tracts. Treating mice with fluoxetine exposure, often dying from their produced in the gastrointestinal then exposed them to serotonin. Those that overproduced (sold under the brand name illness. tract,” study lead author Vanessa Gene expression tests showed this neurotransmitter were less Prozac) to increase serotonin levels In the future, the research team Sperandio from UT Southwestern that serotonin significantly reduced likely to become colonised by C. prevented them from getting sick plan to study the feasibility of Medical Centre in the US, the expression of a group of genes rodentium after being exposed to from C. rodentium exposure. manipulating serotonin levels as a explained. that these bacteria use to cause this bacterium or had relatively However, the mice that way of fighting bacterial infections In humans, trillions of bacteria infections. minor courses of illness, according underproduced serotonin became in the gastrointestinal tract. live within this space. Most of Additional experiments using to the study much sicker after bacterial — IANS

Aries Taurus Gemini March 21 — April 19 April 20 — May 20 May 21 — June 20

You shouldn’t try to fight the feelings that run through you today. Your dreams could be vivid, pleasant, and full of information to help Today you will have all the energy you need to deal with long-term Don’t even try to rationalise them. These feelings are probably you make a decision. New and exciting contacts could come into family problems. Indeed, you’ll probably clash with some of your related to emotions dating back to your childhood. You shouldn’t your life today, Taurus, possibly proving helpful in showing you ways relatives. But this situation won’t cause any serious issues, and you’ll avoid or analyse them. There will be a lot of turmoil welling up inside to increase your income. New careers, sidelines, and investments deal with these circumstances like a pro. You have the ability to get you, Aries. You should try to find some peace and quiet with special appear promising and worthy of consideration. Make the most of out of any delicate situation you find yourself in today. someone. whatever comes your way. It could make a difference. Cancer Leo Virgo June 21 — July 22 July 23 — August 22 August 23 — September 22

You enjoy caring for others and you intervene regularly in their We all have to make compromises in order to live in contemporary Important enterprises centring on your home could take up a lot of lives to guide them. Ironically, today you’re the one who needs society. You may have strong beliefs, but it’s difficult to combine your your energy over the next few days, Virgo. Many people might come advice. You’ll probably need to get away from it all in order to get a ideals and a social life. Today you may wonder if you’re prepared to and go from your life. Perhaps you’re moving to a nicer place, or clear view of your own life, Cancer. You could even decide to make be edged out of society and fight for your convictions. Shouldn’t you maybe transacting a lot of business in your home. Whatever it is, it’s the necessary arrangements for a trip abroad at some point in the try to find a compromise between life and your ideals? likely to produce the results you’re hoping for. Work hard and make future. the most of it. Libra Scorpio Sagittarius September 23 — October 22 October 23 — November 21 November 22 — December 21

You may feel annoyed about the attitude of some of your group of You should feel especially warm and loving today toward just about You really know how to seduce, Sagittarius. There is a spark inside friends. Unlike these people, you’re very open-minded and you can anyone you meet, Scorpio. Good news about money may have of you that spreads naturally to those around you. You have a big deal with situations as they arise. Indeed, you have a natural ability caused you to feel especially positive. This could attract new people reservoir of sensitivity and emotion that could grow today. You to adapt to every situation. Libra, today you’ll probably have to to you and bring closer those already in your life. If you’ve been might charm new people. Don’t forget to recharge your batteries in arbitrate between two people with widely differing opinions. thinking about starting an artistic project, this is the day to do it. order to keep your feelings intact in the days to come. Creative ideas should flow freely. Have fun. Capricorn Aquarius Pisces December 22 — January 19 January 20 — February 18 February 19 — March 20

You’re a very active person, Capricorn, but today you’ll probably Nothing much is happening today, yet you seem worried and tense. You often need to thrive on personal emotions. Today will be no be disappointed. If you ask those around you to help with your You’ll have to use this day to your advantage. Think about your exception to the rule. For instance, you could try to captivate the activities, they most likely won’t understand your needs. They’ll life. You’ll also think about the needs of your relatives in the years attention of people you admire. The only problem is that they might wonder why you need to move constantly and why you need to to come and how to attain those goals. You’ll also be in the best not be receptive at first. Try to take your time. You will have other create. The day may seem exhausting and complicated to you. disposition to think about your own family life. opportunities in the near future. 12 GULF TIMES Thursday, June 11, 2020 COMMUNITY CARTOONS/PUZZLES

Wordsearch Adam

Pooch Cafe

CANALETTO MATISSE VAN GOGH INGRES SEURAT GAUGUIN RUBENS DEGAS POLLOCK CHAGALL MONET WARHOL MANET TURNER GOYA SARGENT EL GRECO RENOIR DALI PICASSO WHISTLER

Codeword Every letter of the alphabet is used at least once. Squares with the same number in have the same letter in. Work out which number represents which letter.

Garfield Puzzles courtesy: Puzzlechoice.com courtesy: Puzzles

Sudoku

Bound And Gagged

Sudoku is a puzzle based on a 9x9 grid. The grid is also divided into nine (3x3) boxes. You are given a selection of values and to complete the puzzle, you must fill the grid so that every column, every anone is repeated. Thursday, June 11, 2020 GULF TIMES 13 PUZZLES COMMUNITY

Super Cryptic Clues Colouring

Across Down 1 Maybe Bo-peep provides some 1 South African holding unknown jazz (5) dog (5) 4 Going west in glider really was 2 Tough guy has broken rib? wrong (5) Sure! (7) 7 An apology for a dance (6-2) 3 Like a piper - or four-and- 8 Pay to carry on (4) twenty blackbirds? (4) 9 We hear whisky’s to go up (4) 4 Boys were developing facial 10 Stone smashed in grate (7) hair (8) 12 We lay off in exchange for a 5 Disagreement over a new tree drink (6,5) (5) 14 A monster making some 6 Lassie from Sirius? (3,4) angry phone calls (7) 11 Eccentric can’t hope for 16 Go by steamship after old monument (8) man (4) 12 Advantageous purchase 19 Wise men, not completely provides pub with profit (7) imaginary (4) 13 One raising glass that’s used 20 Excited by a small bet (8) in the kitchen? (7) 21 Nick is refusing to have letters 15 Indicate the precise moment on taps? (5) (5) 22 Take off sports gear (5) 17 Clean up in lottery (5) 18 Principality ignoring capital drinks (4)

Solution Answers

Wordsearch Codeword 14 GULF TIMES Thursday, June 11, 2020 COMMUNITY REVIEWS A tale that is too cold to grapple with humanist quandaries

It is devastatingly bleak, both in content By Katie Walsh and in colour palate. There is almost no colour, the film awash in black, white, gray and neutrals (when a colour does appear, anish star Nikolaj Coster- pay attention), and the emotional palate is Waldau takes a hard left similarly reserved. The timeline slips back away from his swaggering and forth between Max’s stay at the hotel Jaime Lannister character and his previous life, in a devoted marriage from Game of Thrones and to Laerke (Tuva Novotny). Or is that all a Dhis other testosterone-fuelled actioners dream, a memory, a flashback? with the Danish drama Exit Plan. In this Max wrestles mightily with his fate as he existential and nearly inscrutable mystery, spends his days at the hotel with the other Coster-Waldau steps into the shoes of a guests living out their last hours. Given his mild-mannered, bespectacled insurance diagnosis, is the right thing to do to slip adjuster named Max, who chases down the away quietly, disappearing with nothing disappearance of a client to an incredibly left except a video message? Exit Plan is dark and unexpected place: an apparent a film that wants to grapple with these suicide hotel. essentially humanist quandaries, but it is The Hotel Aurora is a strange resort too cold and too remote. It hardly offers indeed, located in a remote, barren but a moment to hook into, to become drawn starkly beautiful Scandinavian landscape. into Max’s struggle. The audience is kept at It is a place that offers a luxury experience arm’s length, treated with the same robotic in assisted suicide, or at least it seems to. politesse Max receives at the Hotel Aurora. For folks with terminal illnesses or who just At the 11th hour, Birch and Arnby throw can’t bear the world anymore, it seems the in a science-fiction twist, turning the film best way to go, with your own instructions, into a thriller of sorts. But the mystery is preferences and every corporeal and buried in layers of dream sequences and emotional need attended to. But is it what it flashbacks and psychological torment. With seems, or is there something lurking below so many misdirected cues and misleading the surface? Max, who has been diagnosed perspectives, you can’t ever trust what’s with an inoperable brain tumour and is happening, so you can’t buy in, or invest in considering suicide, checks in and considers Max’s emotional journey between life and the possibilities before him. death. There is real potential in this premise, Written by Rasmus Birch and directed and a few flickers of genuine artfulness, but by Jonas Alexander Arnby, who previously the storytelling is frustratingly abstruse, collaborated on When Animals Dream, making for an Exit Plan that’s a real missed Exit Plan is not an easy film to discern. opportunity. — TNS Hong Sang-soo’s beguiling rom-com

allows that she has a twin by that name. By Mark Olsen Driven by his jealousy and confusion, Young-soo argues with Min-jung when she comes home late one night and they outh Korean filmmaker Hong break up. The other woman (if it is another Sang-soo has already premiered woman, also played by Lee) continues to six more feature films since have encounters with other men, eventually Yourself and Yours first played meeting a heartbroken Young-soo and the festivals in 2016. Though it two immediately connect. (In a further Sis only now receiving a US release, it twist, the film’s stars began dating in real says something about the ever-prolific life after making the film, until Kim’s death filmmaker’s consistency and extremely from a car accident in 2017.) high level of proficiency that the film still Drawing from influences such as seems fresh and enchanting, by turns Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Bunuel’s That delicate, romantic, mysterious, witty and Obscure Object of Desire and Kiarostami’s crushing. Certified Copy, Hong explores how identity The relaxed hang-out rhythms of Hong’s can be shaped by relationships and the work are just right for these shelter-in- expectations partners place on each other. place times, though seeing the characters Without ever presenting answers, the film casually spend time in neighbourhood playfully questions who are we, really, even bars and coffee shops will bring a certain to ourselves, and whether it is possible for unanticipated melancholy. There is a relationships to be given a reset. delightful sense of everyday adventure to With a running time under 90 minutes, the film as the characters are seen talking, Yourself and Yours wisely does not wear drinking, sitting around and just living. out its welcome. Rather, the movie A young artist, Young-soo (Kim manages to feel both ponderous and Min-jung – or perhaps her double or even outrun something, staying one step ahead Joo-hyuk), is told by a friend that his enigmatic, remaining light without feeling another version of herself – says at one of critics, audiences and their own artistic girlfriend Min-jung (Lee Yoo-young) insignificant, comfortable with being a point, “There’s so much we’ll never know. output. Though being released here in the has been spotted out with another man. ruminative rom-com. Don’t try to know everything.” States out of order from when it was made, Meanwhile, a young woman drinking coffee Lee’s performance in particular conveys A filmmaker as prolific as Hong often Yourself and Yours finds a filmmaker who is approached by another man and asked if a beguiling, inviting charm, even as it runs a risk of devaluing the individual firmly knows who he is and where he’s at. she is Min-jung. She says no, but eventually deepens the central conundrum. As films, as if the artist is attempting to – Los Angeles Times/ TNS Thursday, June 11, 2020 GULF TIMES 15 SHOWBIZ COMMUNITY

Keanu Reeves ‘cherished’ Honey Singh: Worked on a lot working on Toy Story 4 of songs during lockdown

Actor Keanu Reeves, who is known Rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh says the lockdown for his roles in action films such as experience has had a great influence on his Speed and The Matrix franchise, says creativity. He adds that he has worked on a lot of he cherished working on Toy story songs during this period, which he will release 4 as the voice of the character Duke soon. Caboom. “I feel in this current scenario, away from the The animated character shares a lot hustle and bustle of life, we have become more of similarities with the actor which creative. Main acha time spend kar raha hoon includes being Canadian and having apne studios mein (I am spending a good amount an eternal love for bikes. of time in my studios), and so is my team in their Described by Reeves as “a daredevil respective studios,” Honey Singh said. with a good heart”, Duke Caboom “I’m working on a lot of songs in this lockdown was a new addition to the Toy Story period and will release these soon. I’m also franchise, which has voices of actors thinking of releasing an album this summer. Kaafi GOING STRONG: Rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh is Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. gaane ban gaye hain (a lot of songs are ready),” he planning a lot of collaborations. “I cherished it and it was a great added. experience. I have always hoped The rapper, whose recent hits include Loca name.” The singer, who started out as a rather that regardless of genre or the and Moscow mashooka, is planning a lot of slim-and-fit person, had returned to the public world creation that I was part of... collaborations. eye after a hiatus last year with the track Makhna, stories that could also entertain and ANIMATED: Keanu Reeves worked “In terms of Bollywood, I will feature in a song, where he looked obviously obese. He even took you could also have some kind of in Toy story 4 as the voice of the ‘I’m in love with you’, in an upcoming movie. The potshots at his weight through witty lyrics in the nourishment from the story telling character Duke Caboom. shoot of the song has been delayed due to the song. that when you leave the theatre, you lockdown, but we will hopefully resume soon,” he On the other hand, he recalls making his have something to talk about and a showman. He wants to entertain revealed. Looking back at his journey, he said: “I popular song Dheere dheere se during the worst think about. Something that could people and he wants to take risk for never planned my career to begin with. I started phase of his life. “It’s been five years since give back to us and I think that Duke people, he just wants to entertain,” he rapping for a few Punjabi songs at the start of my the song Dheere dheere se was released, I had Caboom and Toy story 4 does that,” added, about his character in the film, career, that time my name was printed as Honey composed the song in the worst phase of my he said. which will air on Star Movies soon. Singh only. It was when I came up with the song health. I had recorded the entire song on my “Caboom is full of love and he is — IANS Brown rang, I decided to add Yo Yo before my phone,” he said during a Helo live session. — IANS Abhay Deol speaks up against caste system in India

ctor Abhay Deol feels people in #blacklivesmatter #caste #casteinindia.” India should raise their voice In an earlier post, Abhay slammed against the caste system in the Bollywood celebrities for not voicing country. problems in their own country, and coming The actor also stressed that out to support the enraged Black Lives Matter ABlack Lives Matter movement is all for movement in the US. equality, not preference. He said it is time to “create your own “All life is supposed to have equal value, but actions, your own movement, relevant to we have seen enough evidence time and time your own country”. again, that that is not always the case with “Maybe it’s time for these now? Now that black lives. 400yrs of slavery has left their “woke” indian celebrities and the middle communities with little opportunity,” Abhay class stand in solidarity with fighting wrote in his post, through which he tried to systemic racism in America, perhaps they’d explain the “problem with #AllLivesMatter”. see how it manifests in their own backyard? “The @blklivesmatter movement is all for America has exported violence to the world, equality, not preference! The repercussions of they have made it a more dangerous place, it slavery have to be undone and that may take was but inevitable that it would come back decades. It’s the same with the caste system karmically,” Abhay said. in our country, which has existed for over a He continued: “I’m not saying they 1,000 years. It is much harder for the poor deserve it, I’m saying look at the picture and disenfranchised to achieve the goals they in it’s totality. I’m saying support them by want because of the poverty and prejudice calling out the systemic problems in your they live and grow up in,” he added. own country, because they turn out to be The actor then explained why he one and the same thing. I’m saying follow used the hashtag, #poorlivesmatter, their lead but not their actions. Create your #migrantlivesmatter, #minoritylivesmatter own actions, your own movement, relevant in one of his earlier Instagram posts. to your own country. That is what the “Hence I used the hashtag for migrants/ #blacklivesmatter movement is all about! minorities/poor in an earlier post, so that I In the larger picture, there is no “us” and could make BLM relatable to us. It would be “them”. There is not a country that’s real. counterproductive if we take the title of the But a planet in peril. #migrantlivesmatter movement, and replace the word “black” with #minoritylivesmatter #poorlivesmatter who we see as the underprivileged in our, or #blacklivesmatter”. any other country,” he said. Over the past few days, celebrities Abhay continued: “To join hands including Karan Johar, Priyanka Chopra authentically would be to find a peaceful way Jonas, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Disha Patani to bring about change in our own society, to and Ishaan Khatter, have extended support headline our own movement. The 1st step we to the movement, which has been raging must take in order to do that is in recognising in the US following the brutal death of an who is most vulnerable in our culture, why unarmed African-American man named DRIVEN: Abhay Deol feels its time to ‘create your own actions, your own movement, are they so, and what can be done about it. George Floyd. — IANS relevant to your own country’. 16 GULF TIMES Thursday, June 11, 2020 COMMUNITY Minecraft Dungeons – hours of fun for locked-down families This retro-tinged hack-and-slash spinoff has plenty of Mojang character and humour – not to mention baby zombies and charming references to the original Minecraft

By Keith Stuart

hen the idea to make a Minecraft spinoff was first batted around at Mojang Studios, a Wdungeon crawler game must have been one of the first suggestions. From Gauntlet to Diablo, this genre has always featured dank subterranean lairs, treasure chests and warrior skeletons – all beloved Minecraft components. The signature blocky visuals also work well, ensuring that Minecraft Dungeons will look familiar to fans as they hurtle through dioramas of hack- and-slash fun that rearrange themselves each time you play. The plot is paper thin: a vengeful loner discovers a treasure that turns him into a powerful mage and duly begins a reign of terror over the Minecraft kingdom. The game can be played alone, but it is most enjoyable to play its co-op mode, which can be enjoyed on a console or online. In this mode players work together to bring down waves of skeletons, slime monsters, and giant spiders, reviving fallen allies as they go. With four players taking part, each equipped with magical weapons, the screen is soon awash with arrows, explosions, BLOCKY VISUALS: Minecraft Dungeons with its signature blocky visuals. lightning bolts and freeze rays in a confusing but exciting light show. Dungeons is a delightful thrill exactly an epic challenge. You’ll As Gauntlet veterans will recall, ride of a dungeon game. The be able to complete a basic run- it’s the hidden rhythms of this levels are filled with detail, from through in an evening, though genre that are really delightful; lush pixellated woodlands to escalating difficulty levels bring the anticipation of the next wave deep red stone caverns where up ever more powerful and of enemies, the anarchy of battle, clattering mine carts rush through interesting weapons and items. then the delicious gluttony of loot the narrow tunnels and torches Plus, as the levels are partly collection. flicker on craggy walls. Each level random, they’re never quite the Fighting is highly intuitive – has a clear path to the end, but same when you return, adding one button for melee attacks, there are plenty of side routes to to the replay value. Some players one for ranged weapons. You explore, along with whole cast will find it galling that the game start with a basic sword and of baddies and bosses including map shows an unavailable area bow, but soon unlock more the terrifying Endermen, that will be available to purchase powerful weapons such as spears, accompanied by horror movie later on. battle hammers and rapid-fire music, and necromancers who It’s also a shame that we see crossbows. You can also earn generate hordes of zombies. none of the main game’s focus enchantments for your weapons, Minecraft Dungeons is on player creativity. Between giving them new attacks – a enlivened by a sprightly, varied each level you’re returned to your poison cloud or lightning strike, score, theatrical sound effects and training camp where you can for example. Armour and artefacts many references to the original buy new items and practise with imbue you with their own special Minecraft. fresh weapons, and it would have abilities, from lasers to healing If you aren’t charmed by the been a nice touch to be able to auras. The generous cornucopia of baby zombies rushing at you, build your own little castle there. defensive and attacking options arms outstretched, or by the But as a retro-tinged hack-and- add a rich seam of strategy and collectible anthropomorphic slash jaunt with plenty of Mojang planning to the chaos of the levels. dungeon keys that run away in character and humour, Minecraft From the first encounter with terror when you’re attacked, then Dungeons is a hugely diverting a cute skeletal archer to the you have had your soul extracted treat that’ll provide hours of fun final mega battle against the by a sorcerer. for locked-down families. Arch Illager himself, Minecraft Minecraft Dungeons isn’t — The Gaurdian SEQUENCE: Intuitive fighting in Minecraft Dungeons.