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Your Proofness: Dilaira Dubash Master Storyteller: Hurmat Majid Creativity Analysts: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Talha Ahmed Khan, Mohsin Alam, Maryam Rashid, Hira Fareed, Nabeel Khan, Sobia Khan and Umar Waqas
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 21, 2016
Hi light
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With Deadpool out in theatres, our thirst for superhero movies has been satiated for a while but the year has barely begun and all of us have a lot more to look forward to in 2016. Both Marvel and DC studios have a lot in store for their respective fandoms. Both franchises have announced the release dates for some major films. A total of six major superhero productions will be gracing the silver screen this year from both the studios. The best bit, however, is all of these films are going to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its DC counterpart in major ways. This week we have the latest scoop on what each of these films are all about.
What It’s All About: DC Comics and Warner Bros want to compete with Marvel Studios and their cinematic universe and Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is the project that will hopefully allow them to do that. Both a sequel to Man of Steel and its own feature introducing the larger DC Comics world, the blockbuster is a project for which fans have been waiting decades and with any luck it will raise our expectations for the Justice League that will be out in 2017. With any luck the film will deliver on everything we want and paint a bright future for the franchise.
What It’s All About: Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past completely changed the superhero franchise, hitting a reset button on the expanded continuity, but with X-Men: Apocalypse it looks like the whole thing is ready to be blown up all over again. In the movie, the titular team will be facing their most dangerous threat yet in the form of the titular antagonist, an ancient mutant with basically godlike powers, and the film also has the responsibility to laying down the path that future movies will follow for years to come. Some of the design elements have caused a bit of controversy, but no one will be able to make any real judgments until summer.
What It’s All About: Just last year we saw the release of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron, but Marvel Studios is apparently immediately ready to up the stakes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and will do so by having just about all of our favourite heroes clashing in regard to global superhero legislation policies. Captain America: Civil War promises to primarily function as a direct sequel to Captain America: The Winter Soldier — and that just makes us all the more excited for it because it brings back the same writers who worked on Captain America: The First Avenger.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 21, 2016
3 What It’s All About: If Gambit comes out in 2016, the X-Men franchise will be the first to have three movies released in one year, but that’s a pretty big ‘if’. While this project has been in the works for a while, telling the origin story of the eponymous kinetic energycontrolling mutant as he grows up in New Orleans, behind the scenes snags wound up causing major delays, and at this time the studio has not yet shot a single frame of footage. Marvel geeks are excited for this one, as it should expand the X-Men series in new and interesting ways, but we have a feeling that by October its release date will still be pushed a few months farther.
What It’s All About: Marvel Studios has been promising a lot of weird with Doctor Strange — what with the movie introduces magical concepts to the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and everyone’s got their fingers tightly crossed that it can deliver. The film is a new origin story for the franchise, telling the story of a brilliant brain surgeon who searches the world to find a cure for his irreparably damaged hands, but should provide some trippy visuals as characters transport into new dimensions the likes of which audiences have hopefully never seen. In terms of just acting talent, the movie has put together one of the most impressive ensembles we’ve all seen in the superhero genre and Marvel fans are remarkably excited to see all of them work together under the talented vision of Scott Derrickson.
What would you like to see in Hi Five? Send an email to hifive@tribune.com.pk and let us know! SOURCE: CINEMABLEND.COM
What It’s All About: David Ayer’s Suicide Squad won’t be R-rated or hyper-violent like Deadpool, but it will offer a different flavour to the superhero genre — specifically by being a movie primarily about supervillains. The likes of The Joker, Harley Quinn, Deadshot and more will make their DC Cinematic Universe debuts in the movie, with some of them teaming up for a Black Ops mission in hopes of reducing their sentences. Between both this film and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, we will definitely have an idea of the full scope and potential for DC’s planned future by the end of 2016.
Hi light
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 21, 2016
Trivia
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Fun Facts about Disneyland When you work for Disney, you’re not an employee. You’re a cast member. From the characters, to the ride operators and janitors, they’re all cast members.
Q: Who’s in charge of the pencil box? A: The ruler
A cast member always stays in character. Any characters outside the Disney universe simply don’t exist in Disney parks, so don’t ask Ursula the sea witch what she thinks about Hermione.
Q: What is a boxer’s favourite drink? A: Punch
A cast member is never allowed to say ‘I don’t know’. If guests ask a question they don’t know the answer to, they have to pick up a telephone and call an operator. The cast members playing characters have to follow specific guidelines so that each autograph looks identical. That way, no matter who is in the Mickey costume, the experience is the same.
Q: Why did the sun go to school? A: To get brighter
If a guest throws up, cast members used to have to call it a ‘Protein Spill.’ Now it’s just ‘Code V’. Q: How do hair stylists speed up their job? A: They take short cuts
Walt Disney only liked to be called ‘Walt,’ which is why you only see first names on the employee tags. Also, if two cast members who play a Disney character happen to have the same name, one of them gets to go by a new name to avoid confusion.
Q: Why was the boy sitting on his watch? A: Because he wanted to be on time
If you work at Disney, you cannot talk about what you do on any social media platforms.
By Babrus Khan The new game in the Street Fighter franchise does not fail to impress It doesn’t matter if you’re a gamer or not, everyone has heard of Street Fighter. Considered one of the pioneers of the genre, the franchise has been around for decades. Street Fighter 5, the latest in the series is yet another masterpiece. If you have played previous installments you will feel right at home and yet Street Fighter 5 is indeed a new beast in its own regard. The game is slow paced compared to last generation’s Street Fighter 4, instead it feels and plays more like the decade old Street Fighter 3rd Strike. The game is more forgiving with broarder input timers so new comers can perform those nasty Zangief commands with more ease, and yet it’s still rewarding for a series veteran. The game has been launched with 16 characters, 12 of them classics and four new. One of the new characters is Rashid, first Muslim/ Arabic character in the franchise, a fast paced fighter with crazy techniques. Other new characters are Laura, Nekali and F.A.N.G. and Capcom also plans to launch more characters via DLCs. This will allow players to buy those characters with real cash or earn them via fighter points by competing online. The game’s highlight this time around is the V-Gauge system, which replaces focus-attack system from the previous version. When you’re attacked or take damage you fill up your V-Gauge which is activated by HP + HK. It is extra energy for each of the characters to perform a certain counter strike: Ryu for example goes into a charge mode and his hadoukens turn into double hits, Ken goes into a fiery-kicks-and-combo-cancelling-move mode, each character has their own V trigger. Another interesting bit is that this time around every character has a unique move when you press MP + MK, Ryu parries anything, Ken dashes to start a combo and Chun Li launches in an air dash which can be followed by an attack. Every character in the roster has been reworked with some getting major redesigns and others getting minor tweaks. For example, Ken has gone through a serious redesign, a new hair-do and costume changes and some changes to his special-move arsenal, including three different versions of his classic Tatsumaki move. Overall, we would recommend Street Fighter 5 to any fan of the series or genre. We know it’s going to keep us all busy for a long time. User rating:
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 21, 2016
Get your weekly dose of unusual and funny news from across the globe!
Sweet honey, Valentine Four-year-old Max Schofield wanted to cheer up his mum up after her recent divorce — so he spent months saving up a jar of pennies to take her out for a special Valentine’s Day meal. Emma Schofield, a secretary from Newton Abbot, says she was “absolutely dreading” February 14 following her split from her husband of six and a half years. However, Max decided to take her mind off things with a day of surprises. Emma said, “I have always brought my son up to be thoughtful, kind, caring and appreciate even the smallest gestures.” Their day kicked off with a visit to the supermarket. After a quick grocery shop, my son told me to close my eyes (which I kept partially open to see what he was up to) and he proceeded to chose me a Valentine’s card and a small teddy bear in a gift bag. My eyes welled up as we continued to shop.” With the present he bought his mum a Pizza Express voucher. The mother and son then headed to a branch of pizza franchise after Max said he wanted to treat Emma to a “special meal”. “He also brought his jar of pennies with him,” said Emma. “After a delicious three-course meal, we went to pay. We were greeted with a waitress in tears who had watched our special dinner date. She gave us our meal free of charge as a gift.” TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
World wide weird
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The twin destroyer
Australian snake breeder John McNamara was left stunned when a rare two-headed snake hatched out of an egg. The two-headed reptile was born in captivity in the city of Wodonga, Victoria. They came from one of ten eggs laid by a five-year-old female python, with Mr McNamara initially believing he had twins when he saw them emerge. The ‘Siamese samurai’ snakes have been named Katana and Wakizashi after traditional Japanese swords used by Samurai warriors. “There would have been two yolks and they just haven’t split properly and I’ve ended up with this,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of mates that breed reptiles, and [I] have rang around and it’s pretty rare in the trade. To be alive is even rarer.” University of Melbourne School of Bio-Sciences senior lecturer Ben Phillips said the snake could theoretically live for many years in captivity. “They no doubt require extra care,” he told the newspaper. “Snakes aren’t all that clever, if you throw a mouse to a two-headed snake, it is likely one will grab the front and one will grab the back and they attempt to eat each other. “There is something fascinating about any animal that has two heads because there is a sense of them being separate entities and the same.” TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
Boy wonder Difficult pets Juniper the pet fox was recently caught on video pouncing on a bed and then trying to dig through it, perhaps thinking the white sheet was a blanket of snow. Juniper’s adventures are also being documented on Instagram, where she’s billed as ‘world’s happiest fox’ and has 92,000 followers who look forward to photos. While foxes are adorable, they require a lot of care when domesticated, such as a special diet with some raw meat — including bones — and the right amount of the nutrient taurine. They also stink, with their urine and feces smelling “like skunk mixed with ammonia,” as Juniper’s caregiver wrote in one Instagram post. She also says, “Foxes are not like dogs. While they may display some characteristics similar to dogs these animals have not been bred to want to please people, while dogs on the other hand have. These animals are prone to biting and destructive behaviour. They require an extensive amount of time and care to get them to the point where they are even sociable. Juniper takes up 90% of my day. If you don’t want to get bitten, don’t get one. If you don’t want to clean up pee constantly, don’t get one. If you want something to cuddle in the bed with you every night, don’t get one.” HUFFINGTONPOST.COM
A boy of six with an IQ as high as genius Einstein has become one of Mensa’s youngest members. Sherwyn Sarabi’s IQ is at least 160 — putting him in an elite group which also includes Stephen Hawking. He is studying for a GCSE in maths and has passed grade five piano. Mum Amanda, of Barnsley, South Yorks, said, “We work lots outside school as school is not enough for him. He wants to be taught and learn because otherwise he gets bored, and he used to misbehave when he wasn’t being challenged enough. Although maths is his favourite subject, he does well at everything he tries.” Sherwyn said, “I’ve always loved maths. I like everything about it, especially algebra. It’s hard to explain why I can do it though, it just feels natural. I think I’d like to be a mathematician when I grow up but I’m not sure what to do exactly yet. I just like feeling tested enough by my teacher and out of school I go to speech and drama class after lessons, I like football and musicals.” Amanda has now written a book offering advice to parents about how to bring up a child genius. The book talks about how to get the right support for a gifted child, the importance of IQ testing and whether to skip school years and more. Amanda said: “When I first found out he was gifted I was so confused. He had been learning fast all his life. By the time he was one he knew the colours, at two he could name all the countries on a map.” MIRROR.CO.UK
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 21, 2016
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Reading corner
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Instructions: • Insert a canvas inside the t shirt.
Material: 2
Old T-shirts Glue gun Scissors Canvas
• Mark out the area you want to display. • Cut the part you have chosen, leaving enough cloth to glue to the back of the canvas. • Carefully glue the edge of the cloth to the back of the canvas, making sure there are no bumps or creases on the front. • Let the glue dry before you hang your customised wall art up on the wall.
3
Method: Ingredients: Green onions
6
Chopped fresh parsley
2tbsp
Eggs
6
Egg yolks
3
Grated Parmesan
1/2 cup
Salt
1/2tsp
Pepper
1/4tsp
Milk
1-1/2 cups
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat nonstick mini-muffin pans with oil. Scatter scallions and parsley over bottom of each cup. • Whisk eggs and yolks with Parmesan, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk in milk until smooth. Fill each muffin cup with the egg mixture. • Bake until quiches are puffed and browned on top, it will take about 20 minutes, • Immediately run a small, sharp knife around outside of each quiche, then invert onto a wire rack to cool. Turn each quiche right side up. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Remember kids, always get permission from your parents before you start. It’s always a good idea to have a helper nearby.
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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 21, 2016
Activity corner
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Test your problem solving skills by completing this puzzle in the least possible time.
Key to last week’s puzzle.
Help Tris find her way by looking for all the words given below in the puzzle. TRILOGY DIVERGENT INSURGENT ALLEGIANT TRIS
FOUR DAUNTLESS TRANSFER BEATRICE PRIOR
ABNEGATION ERUDITE TOBIAS EATON JEANINE
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 21, 2016
1. Swift is the first country singer to win an MTV Video Music Award, and at the age of 11 won a talent contest by covering ‘Big Deal’, a song made popular by LeAnn Rimes.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (in theaters March 4, 2016) Tim Burton directs and Eva Green and Samuel L Jackson star in this dark tale following a teenager who’s transported to a secret island where he encounters a frightening old orphanage, kids with special powers, time loops and fascinating creatures. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Release date: Oct. 14, 2016) Oscar-nominated actress Felicity Jones plays the gravely ill mother and Liam Neeson is the titular monster in this intense mother-son tale about a tree that haunts a 13-year-old boy as his mom is dying.
2. After attending a traditional high school during her freshman and sophomore years, Swift transferred to Aaron Academy to be homeschooled. This worked best with her busy tour schedule. 3. She is paranoid about being secretly recorded. 4. After learning from a visiting computer repairman how to play three guitar chords, Swift wrote her first song, ‘Lucky You’, at the age of 12. Today, she can play guitar, banjo, piano, ukulele and electric guitar. 5. A lot of people don’t realise that singing isn’t Swift’s only gig — she has many television and movie credits to her name. 6. Swift is more than just a pretty face with a killer voice. She is also a history buff, noting on her website that she knows American history “like the back of my hand.”
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling (Release date: Nov. 18, 2016) David Yates, the director of the last four Harry Potter films, returns to the Wizarding World to adapt Rowling’s story about famed Magizoologist Newt Scamander’s adventures in New York City’s magical society.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Release date: TBA) Karou, a worldly blue-haired teen, works for her mysterious guardian — a chimera who grants wishes in exchange for teeth — until Akiva, an even more mysterious angel, makes her question everything in Taylor’s fantasy trilogy. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith (Release date: TBA) Director Edgar Wright knows how to tackle offbeat stories, so he’s just the filmmaker to adapt Andrew Smith’s awardwinning book about an Iowa teen who unintentionally unleashes an apocalypse of giant, procreating insects.
7. Swift is obsessed with ‘Disney everything’. She even appeared in the Disney feature movie Hannah Montana. 8. Swift clearly has a great sense of humour and also isn’t afraid to throw a bit of shade when it’s warranted. She has a framed photograph of the infamous onstage Kanye West encounter hanging in her Nashville home, captioned, “Life is full of little interruptions”. 9. Her favourite colour is tiffany blue. 10. Snakes and spiders terrify Swift. 11. On her website she says, “I consider myself an optimist, but it really depends on the situation. I’m pretty blindly optimistic, too, and I guess saying that isn’t very optimistic. But, I’m not a realist. I’m very much a dreamer.” 12. Swift knew she need to go to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue her musical dreams after she watched Behind the Music special on Faith Hill. 13. Swift lived on a Christmas tree farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. SOURCE: INC.COM
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (Release date: TBA) The producers of If I Stay have optioned Nelson’s poignant Michael Printz Award-winning novel about artistic twins Jude and Noah who at 13 were the best of friends and who applied to the same prestigious arts high school. Three years later, they barely speak to each other.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Release date: TBA) World War Z director Marc Forster is attached to Brown’s highconcept fantasy that’s equal parts Ender’s Game, Hunger Games, and Game of Thrones. In a distant future segregated by colour caste, young Darrow is a lowly ‘Red’ of Mars who ends up battling the oppressive ‘Gold’ rule. SOURCE:COMMONSENSEMEDIA.ORG