Features

PARIS — The Rolling Stones burst back to life on Friday with “Hackney Diamonds”, their first album in 18 years, featuring megastar cameos from Elton John, Lady Gaga and even their old rival, Paul McCartney.

Now in their seventh decade of making music together, the legendary British band is back with their 24th studio album.

McCartney joins in for the first time, playing bass on the punky “Bite My Head Off”.

Back in their 1960s heyday, much was made of the rivalry between the Stones and the Beatles, but it was always more marketing than reality, with John Lennon singing on the Stones’ “We Love You” in 1967.

“Paul and I have always been friends,” Stones frontman Mick Jagger, 80, told France 2 this week.

McCartney’s appearance was something of an accident, Keith Richards told Guitar Player magazine.

“He happened to be around and dropped by,” Richards said. “I don’t even think he intended to play bass on a track, but once he was in there, I just said, ‘Come on, you’re in. You ain’t leaving till you play.’”

While McCartney and Elton John’s contributions are somewhat hard to pick out, Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder make more of an impact on “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”, a blues-y ballad in the vein of classics such as “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.

‘Hackneyed duds’ 

Reviews have been mostly polite rather than gushing.

The Guardian gave it four stars, saying: “If this is the end, they’re going out with a bang,” while the LA Times called it “surprisingly spry, sparked by the deathless riffs”.

There has indeed been plenty of hype ahead of the release, with some saying it is their best piece of work since “Some Girls” in 1978.

But others were deeply unimpressed by the sleek production from Andrew Watt, used to working with popstars like Justin Bieber and Dua Lipa.

“Hackney Diamonds” is old London slang for “broken glass”, but was used as a pun by Pitchfork, who called the album “a bunch of hackneyed duds, polished until the character has disappeared”.

No one is pretending it comes close to the legendary run between 1968 and 1972 that saw the release of “Beggars Banquet”, “Let It Bleed”, “Sticky Fingers” and “Exile on Main St.” in quick succession.

Nor does it head in any new directions.

“The group seemed to concede years ago that, with such a legendary discography, new albums and attempts at new styles are almost superfluous,” wrote Variety.

“[But] if there’s a better way to end the Rolling Stones 60-plus-year recording career, it’s hard to imagine what it could be,” it added.

DURBAN, South Africa — Every little detail counts in an isicathamiya competition: the harmony, the choreography, the costumes, the entrance on stage, the exit and, of course, the singing.

On Saturday night at a Durban theatre in eastern South Africa, Philani Ntuli and his group of 15 singers have just aced their performance, drawing loud cheers from the public.

The precise five-minute routine brought out their powerful bass voices enhanced by two pairs of altos and sopranos.

Group members hopped rhythmically from one foot to the other, before leaving the stage in single file, the jackets of their salmon-coloured suits folded on their forearms.

While many South Africans were glued to their TVs as the Springboks took on Ireland in the Rugby World Cup, the theatre was buzzing with several hundred music lovers.

Developed in South Africa after the First World War, this a cappella singing style is anchored in Zulu culture. Competitions — often lasting all night — are a mainstay of the genre.

In Durban, performers from at least 130 all-male groups battled to the tune of catchy rhymes, singing about everyday contemporary themes, from road safety to Covid-19 measures.

Mostly dressed in matching suits inspired by 1940s and 50s fashion, the ensembles, comprising an average of more than 10 members, quickly followed one another on stage to the delight of concertgoers.

“It’s more based into the reality than other music,” Nomtobeko Mtobela, 35, who came to the theatre with two friends, said of the genre.

“It has that — I don’t know how to call it — that African thing into it”.

Isicathamiya has its roots in a mix of local music, religious choirs and the so-called “minstrel” shows popular in the United States in the 19th century.

It became popular thanks to contests organised by Zulu miners working in big South African cities, who used to meet on Saturday evenings and sing until dawn.

To this day, competitions are organised throughout the year, particularly in Johannesburg and the Zulu heartland of KwaZulu-Natal, of which Durban is the largest city.

The Saturday night contest, however, was advertised as one of the most important of the year and carried special significance.

Ending well past midnight, it fell on Heritage Day, a public holiday aiming to promote the diversity in what is known as the “Rainbow Nation”.

Isicathamiya takes its name from the Zulu word “cathama” which evokes the action of walking softly and furtively like a cat.

It gained international recognition with American singer Paul Simon’s 1986 album “Graceland”, which featured leading isicathamiya group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Almost four decades later, it is still going strong, as testified by the large number of young singers taking part in the Durban contest.

20-year-old Ntuli, who is the frontman of his group, thinks it is a good thing for young people.

“It keeps us away from criminality because we spend most of our time rehearsing,” he said.

Winners took home prestige as well as a monetary prize. The festival included awards for elegance and a separate beauty contest for women called “onobuhle”.

LONDON — Veteran British actor Michael Caine, a Hollywood icon with a decades-spanning career littered with awards and acclaim, revealed on Saturday that he has retired from acting at the age of 90.

The Oscar-winner bows out following another widely-praised performance in his final film, “The Great Escaper”, which was released on October 6.

In it he plays real-life World War II British veteran Bernie Jordan, who escaped from an elderly residential care home to attend 2014 D-Day celebrations in France.

“I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well I am now,” Caine told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“The only parts I’m liable to get now are 90-year-old men. Or maybe 85.

“They’re not going to be the lead. You don’t have leading men at 90, you’re going to have young handsome boys and girls. So I thought, I might as well leave with all this.”

A prolific actor known for his amiable Cockney persona and deadpan acting style, Caine has appeared in more than 160 films during his seven-decade career.

Possessing one of Hollywood’s most recognisable — and imitated — voices, he has long enjoyed iconic status in Britain, where he became a defining face of the so-called Swinging Sixties.

His filmography includes classic films ranging from “Zulu” and “The Italian Job” to more recently appearing in “Interstellar” and “The Dark Knight” franchise, alongside Christian Bale.

A six-time Oscar nominee — who has won two Academy Awards, in 1986 (“Hannah and Her Sisters”) and 2000 (“The Cider House Rules”) — he has also earned Golden Globes, BAFTAs and numerous other gongs.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.

Working class roots 

Caine’s acting retirement announcement comes a month before his first novel, “Deadly Game”, is scheduled for release.

He revealed in June that it had been a long-held ambition to write a thriller, noting it is the genre he most enjoys reading.

Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in 1933 — to a fish-porter father and cleaner mother — the eventual star chose his stage name in tribute to his favourite movie “The Caine Mutiny”.

He left school at 16 and held a string of odd jobs before serving in the Korean War, only turning to acting after being discharged from the army.

Early starring roles included as working-class spy Harry Palmer in the 1965 Cold War drama “The Ipcress File” and a year later as womanising Alfie Elkins in “Alfie”.

In 1971, he played gangster Jack Carter in the gritty mobland flick “Get Carter” alongside another pin-up of the time, Britt Ekland, cementing him as a household name in Britain.

Prior to that, 1969’s “The Italian Job” allowed Caine to deliver one of his most memorable — and often quoted — lines.

“You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off,” his character Charlie Croker says, as his rag-tag team prepares for an audacious gold bullion robbery in Milan.

The 1983 comedy “Educating Rita” saw him praised for his portrayal of a jaded university professor, while he featured in “The Muppet Christmas Carol” in 1992 as a singing and dancing Ebenezer Scrooge.

Some roles failed to impress, but Caine remained unrepentant.

“I have never seen it but by all accounts it is terrible,” Caine once said of “Jaws: The Revenge” — voted the sixth worst summer movie of all time by rottentomatoes.com.

“However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific,” he added.

Introduced in 2016 and subtly revised in 2019, the S5 Coupe bridges the gap between the refined garden-variety A5 coupe and fire-breathing RS5 spiritual successor to the Ingolstadt automaker’s defining Audi Quattro. Akin to a modern revival of the 1980s icon’s more toned down Coupe Quattro sister model, the S5 is nevertheless more powerful than either classic. A stylish, sleek and sensationally swift lower slung two-door complement to Audi’s accomplished A4 compact premium saloon range, the S5 is probably the most well-rounded, practical and accessible car in its class.

Built on the same basic platform, the S5 also incorporates more lightweight aluminium intensive body construction for a reduced weight than its predecessor, and features optimised underbody covers and active grille shutters for enhanced aerodynamic efficiency. With a longer bonnet, wider body and shorter front overhang the current S5 has an unmistakably sportier demeanour than its predecessor. Crisp, clean and uncomplicated with its elegant yet defined creases and wavy flank line, its design clarity is completed with a level waistline, flowing roofline, short pert boot and slim rear lights.

Eager and assertive

First introduced with a more assertive design featuring bigger air intakes, broader hexagonal single-frame grille, and slimmer, more squinting LED headlights than its predecessor, the face-lifted S5 further ups the ante with sportier re-styled bumpers, lighting elements and intakes. It also adopts a slightly shorter grille with a more aggressive black honeycomb mesh rather than the pre-facelift version’s horizontal metallic slats. Under its ridged bonnet, the updated S5’s 3-litre V6 TFSI engine goes virtually unchanged, with its single twin-scroll turbocharger providing improved efficiency over its preceding generation’s supercharged engine.

Developing 349BHP at a wide 5,400-6,500rpm band, the eager revving S5’s swift progression to maximum power is underwritten by an abundant 368lb/ft mid-range torque sweet spot on tap throughout 1,400-4,500rpm.Versatile and responsive on the move, the S5 overtakes with effortless refinement and a subdued snarl as revs urgently rise to redline. Bolting through 0-100km/h in just 4.7-seconds and onto a 250km/h top speed, the S5 launches with urgent response from standstill, as its turbocharger spools up swiftly and its Quattro four-wheel-drive provides tenacious traction for its 255/35R19 tyres.

Reassuring roadholding

Riding on a more sophisticated all-round five-link independent suspension set-up than its generational predecessor, the S5 is among the most agile and balanced cars utilising Audi’s traditional front-biased driveline configuration consisting of an in-line engine positioned ahead of the front axle. Developing high levels of traction with imperceptible torque steer as expected, the S5, however, sheds most of the nose-heavy characteristics associated with this layout. Tidy and composed into bends, it is responsive to directional changes, and features a self-locking centre differential for front-to-rear power distribution and improved agility.

Thoroughly reassuring with its enormous road-holding through corners, the S5 carries speed with composure and commitment. At the edge of its grip limit, its instinct for under-steer is however manually mitigated by slightly easing off the throttle or through electronic stability systems. A limited-slip rear differential is meanwhile optionally available for further agility and grip. The S5’s smooth, slick and swift shifting 8-speed automatic gearbox, meanwhile, employ a wide ratio range to optimise performance, versatility, refinement and efficiency, and includes more responsive automatic and engaging paddle-shift manual modes.

Classy and composed

Reassuringly stable and refined at speed, the S5’s settled vertical control is meanwhile buttoned down over dips and crests. Slightly firm over jagged bumps and cracks, its suspension set-up nevertheless strikes a balance between taut cornering body control and smooth comfort over most road imperfections, even without optional adaptive dampers. Manoeuvrable and easily placed on road, its well-weighted electric-assisted steering is meanwhile quick and direct. User-friendly and practical through switchbacks, motorways and city streets, the S5 offers good road visibility, supplemented with a reversing camera, parking sensors and optional assistance systems.

Well-constructed, stylishly classy and sportily subtle, the S5’s cabin features a horizontally-oriented design incorporating luxury materials and textures, a thick flat-bottom steering wheel, clear and configurable cockpit-like digital instrumentation, accommodating 465-litre boot, and an airy ambiance. Front seating features an alert, supportive and comfortable driving position and well-adjustable steering, while rear seats are useable for adults, if not generous. Updated with a more advanced and user-friendly infotainment features, the S5 is thoroughly well-equipped with a host of carryover and enhanced convenience, comfort and tech systems.

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3-litre, turbocharged, in-line V6-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 84.5 x 89mm

Compression ratio: 10.3:1

Valve-train: 24-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 1285; 6th 1.0; 7th 0.839; 8th 0.667

Reverse / final drive: 3.317 / 2.848

Drive-line: self-locking centre differential

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 349 (354) [260] @5,400-6,400rpm

Specific power: 116.5BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 199.4BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 368 (500) @1,370-4,500rpm

Specific torque: 167Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 285.7Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 4.7-seconds

Top speed: 250km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 9.8-litres/100km 

Fuel capacity: 58-litres

Length: 4,696mm

Width: 1,847mm

Height: 1,369mm

Wheelbase: 2,764mm

Track, F/R: 1,585 / 1,567mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.31

Headroom, F/R: 1,005 / 920mm

Shoulder width, F/R: 1,404 / 1,287mm

Luggage volume: 456-litres

Kerb weight: 1,750kg

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning Circle: 11.49-meters

Suspension: Multi-link, anti-roll bars

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 350mm / 330mm

Brake calipers, F/R: 6-/1-piston

Tyres: 255/35R19

By Nathalie Khalaf,
Holistic Counsellor

What is perfection?

And better yet, who was it who set the standards ofwhat is perfect and what is not? I am pretty sure it was one, or a group of human beings (just like you and I) at some point in history. They may have needed to exert power and decided to set some rules around some topics such as perfection, from where we all now get our beliefs of who and what are good enough.

It would be easy to simply blame a group of human beings at some point in history, right? The fact is, weare all responsible for these rules of what and who are good enough. They did come down along the line of history and ancestors, but we are responsible for carrying them forward! What it takes to break this chain is to simply love and trust yourself enough to stand by your own side; stick to what you think is good for you and have faith that you do not need to be a follower, ora sheep, of any kind, in order to fit in.

Self-criticism and judgement of others, of things, situations and places, are all created by human beings. If we want to take a moment to think about it from a religious point of view (and this is just my way of looking at it), we always say God is perfect. We must therefore agree God creates perfection and nothingless. Then, if we put one and one together, the conclusion is clearly that we are all perfect! Even if wewant to consider another point of view, of those who are more scientific and believe in energy, that energy is also perfect and everything which comes out of it is therefore also perfect. We would be arrogant to assume we know more or better than God or that energy and judge it as imperfect!

Changing the perspective

Now, can that perspective make us look at ourselves and life from a different point of view? One ofacceptance and gratitude? So many people neglect themselves believing (as most of us were taught to believe) that we are “not perfect”, for getting who created them in the first place.

If we make them think about it by asking them if they are in anyway then negating or “dissing” God’s work, that immediately turns on a light bulb and puts a whole new perspective on things.

So how about looking at it this way:

1. Life is perfect the way it is. It has always been perfect and always will be. The only reason for it not being perfect at any given moment in our lives is because we come from a place of judgement and expectation, claiming in a way that we know more than that Perfection that created us.

2. We are perfect the way we are. We were born perfect (yes even those of us with mental or physical issues).We were born with certain consciousness “goals” our souls have come to experience, and those are translated into our physical appearance

Accepting your perfection

Work on fully accepting and loving yourselves as you are (please revert to previous articles dedicatedto self-love). When we achieve full self-love and acceptance, we realise we do not need to be clones of others, or copy anyone in order to be accepted or loved in our lives or society. We simply need to be ourselves, accept who we were created to be as separate individuals. And nothing nor no one is created by mistake! Everything and everyone are needed here intentionally. That is the way to be at peace with life, others and ourselves. We will see things differently and find happiness more easily.

Letting go and accepting ourselves and life is not to be seen as a sign of weakness, but one of acceptance which comes from letting go of the ego and leads us to a higher level of awareness and understanding, and that leads us to happiness and love. Acceptance takes patience, will and a lot of love. Next time you catch yourself judging yourself or life for not being perfect, ask yourself what it is you can learn from that situation, what it is you are expecting, according to whom, and how you can let go and replace expectation and judgement with acceptance.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

LOS ANGELES — Taylor Swift fans sporting friendship bracelets and glittery cowboy boots packed into early screenings of the pop megastar’s concert film at movie theatres across the United States on Thursday.

Thanks to the hysteria surrounding the singer’s ongoing and record-setting world tour, a filmed version of her concert — “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” — is already tipped to be one of the year’s biggest movies.

Usual cinema etiquette has been thrown out the window, with multiplexes such as AMC encouraging customers to dance, sing and even take selfies throughout screenings.

“At the top of my lungs, I will be screaming in my seat, and dancing around, and hopefully trading more friendship bracelets,” said Jamie Concha, 20, at a screening in Los Angeles’ Century City.

“I love every Swiftie. I think we’re all very connected,” she said, referring to the nickname adopted by Swift’s fiercely loyal fanbase.

Shot during three recent sold-out Los Angeles shows, the film contains no interviews, commentary or behind-the-scenes footage.

Instead, the film’s demand relies on drawing fans who missed out on tickets to the actual tour, or want to relive the phenomenon again, up close and alongside fellow obsessives.

In the concession line before the first screening in Century City, a pair of teenage girls arrived carrying a bag stuffed with friendship bracelets, which they handed out to fellow Swifties.

The colorful, beaded accessories have become a key part of “Eras” fandom, with concertgoers creating and swapping bracelets bearing references to their favorite Swift lyrics and quotes.

The Midwest-based Marcus Theatres has even promised “friendship bracelet making stations” at its screenings.

Swift-branded 

popcorn tins 

Almost all the moviegoers at Century City on Thursday had been to see the live shows already, and many were planning repeat viewings at the multiplex.

“I’m coming to four screenings, and I saw the concert three times,” said Amber Eaves, 33.

“It was the best concert experience I’ve ever been to... I was crying the entire time, I had makeup streaming down my face,” said Kasey Longstreet, 24.

“It was such a special night that I wanted to come back and see it again.”

Domestic opening weekend box office estimates are as high as $150 million — a record for a concert film, and numbers comparable to this summer’s reigning smash hit movie, “Barbie”.

Theaters — still recovering from the pandemic, and faced with a dearth of new movies thanks to the ongoing Hollywood strikes — were also cashing in on demand for Swift merchandise on Thursday.

AMC charged $19.89 — a reference to Swift’s album “1989” — for Swift-branded popcorn tins.

Staff reported fans arriving since the morning just to purchase empty soda cups, at the full price of $11.99. Some left with the maximum five cups allowed per movie ticket.

The movie had been set to hit screens Friday, but the singer announced on Wednesday that “due to unprecedented demand”, preview screenings would begin a day earlier.

“I’m already going this weekend, but when she dropped this at the last second, I was like, ‘I gotta go after work, oh my god,” said Eaves.

“It’s just gonna be one of those cultural phenomenons that you can look back and say ‘I was a part of that.’”

HOUSTON — A sample collected from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu contains abundant water and carbon, NASA revealed on Wednesday, offering more evidence for the theory that life on Earth was seeded from outer space.

The discovery follows a seven-year-round-trip to the distant rock as part of the OSIRIS-REx mission, which dropped off its precious payload in the Utah desert last month for painstaking scientific analysis.

“This is the biggest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said at a press event at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, where the first images of black dust and pebbles were revealed.

Carbon accounted for almost 5 per cent of the sample’s total weight, and was present in both organic and mineral form, while the water was locked inside the crystal structure of clay minerals, he said.

Scientists believe the reason Earth has oceans, lakes and rivers is because it was hit with water-carrying asteroids 4 to 4.5 billion years ago, making it a habitable planet.

All life on Earth meanwhile is based on carbon, which forms bonds with other elements to produce proteins and enzymes as well as the building blocks of genetic code, DNA and RNA.

The findings were made through a preliminary analysis involving scanning electron microscopy, X-ray computed tomography and more.

“This stuff is an astrobiologist’s dream,” said scientist Daniel Glavin, adding there was much more work to be done and the sample would be shared with labs around the world for further study.

Biggest asteroid sample 

OSIRIS-REx wasn’t the first probe to rendezvous with an asteroid and bring back samples for study — Japan succeeded in the feat twice, returning celestial dust in 2010 and 2020.

But the amount collected — an estimated 250 grammes — dwarfs that returned by the Japanese missions, with Hayabusa2 managing only 5.4 grammes.

Named after an ancient Egyptian deity, Bennu is a “primordial artifact preserved in the vacuum of space”, according to NASA, making it an attractive target for study.

Its orbit, which intersects that of our planet, also made the journey easier than going to the Asteroid Belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter.

In addition to scientific insights, better understanding of Bennu’s composition could prove useful if humanity ever needs to steer it away.

While there is no risk of it hitting Earth through the mid 2100s, the chances rise to around 1 in 1,750 between then and the year 2300, NASA says.

Data gathered by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft revealed the particles making up Bennu’s exterior were so loosely packed that if a person were to step onto the surface, they might sink in, much like a pit of plastic balls in children’s play areas.

Future study 

Researchers have so far focused their efforts not on the main sample itself but on “bonus particles”, that lay on top of the sample collecting mechanism.

An inspection of the remainder of the sample will follow later.

Back in October 2020, when the OSIRIS-REx probe shot nitrogen gas at Bennu to collect material, a flap meant to seal the sample got wedged open, allowing some of the material to flow out into another compartment.

“The very best ‘problem’ to have is that there is so much material, it’s taking longer than we expected to collect it,” said deputy OSIRIS-REx curation lead Christopher Snead, in a statement.

NASA says it will preserve at least 70 per cent of the sample at Houston for future study — a practice first started in the Apollo era with Moon rocks.

“The samples are then available for new questions, new techniques, new instrumentation far into the future,” said Eileen Stansbery, division chief of astromaterials research at the Johnson Space Center.

LOS ANGELES — Actor Jada Pinkett Smith has been separated from husband Will Smith since 2016 — six years before the infamous “Oscars Slap” — she revealed in an interview that aired on Wednesday.

The Hollywood power couple’s marriage came under intense spotlight at last year’s Academy Awards, when Smith struck comedian Chris Rock on stage for making a joke about his wife.

But the pair had already been living “totally separate lives” for years before the notorious incident, Pinkett Smith told NBC News.

“By the time we got to 2016 we were just exhausted with trying,” she said, in an advance clip from an interview to promote her new memoir, “Worthy”.

Rumours of affairs and an open marriage were repeatedly denied by the couple for many years.

But in 2020, Pinkett Smith openly discussed an extramarital “entanglement” she had with singer August Alsina some years earlier, during a period of separation from her husband.

According to Wednesday’s snippet, that separation has endured up until the present day, although the pair remain legally married.

Asked why the couple had chosen to conceal their separation, Pinkett Smith said they were “just not... ready yet” and “still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership”.

“We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us,” Pinkett Smith told People magazine, in a separate interview.

Pinkett Smith also discussed last March’s Oscars ceremony, in an excerpt from her memoir published Wednesday.

Rock was presenting on stage when he made a crack about Pinkett Smith’s closely cropped head. She has alopecia.

Smith mounted the stage and slapped the comedian hard across the face, before returning to his seat and yelling obscenities at the presenter.

In the excerpt, Pinkett Smith recalls that she initially thought the slap was a “skit”, and even once she realised it wasn’t remained “unclear on the reason why Will is so upset”.

“We had been living separate lives and were there as family, not as husband and wife,” she writes.

The couple first met on the set of Smith’s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” in 1994.

Smith was married at the time to his first wife, who he later divorced.

The couple has two children together, Jaden and Willow.