SEPTEMBER 1-7 2013
Touched by genius
SEPTEMBER 1-7 2013
Essay
An Irish solution for Karachi? Northern Ireland was at war with itself for a quarter of a century — what can we learn from its peace process?
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Feature
BagPak Flaunt your Pakistani identity in style with these se designer bags gs
Cover Story
Touched by genius Even though Apple refused to come to Pakistan, Steve Jobs still changed our lives
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36 Regulars
6 People & Parties: Out and about with the beautiful people
38 Review: The Lone Ranger and 42
The Wolverine Gems: Diamonds are forever
Magazine Editor: Mahim Maher and Sub-Editors: Dilaira Mondegarian and Sundar Waqar Creative Team: Amna Iqbal, Essa Malik, Jamal Khurshid, Samra Aamir, Anam Haleem, Munira Abbas, Faizan Dawood & S Asif Ali Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Executive Editor: Muhammad Ziauddin. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk Twitter: @ETribuneMag & Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ETribuneMag Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com
PEOPLE & PARTIES Fahad Hussayn opens his first standalone fashion store in Lahore
Aneeka and Rima
Mahra Bhatti and Sana Bhatti Ayesha
Zara Peerzada
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Mehak
Hina and Hamna SEPTEMBER 1-7 2013
Mehreen Syed
Salima Hashmi and Mrs Raja
PHOTOS COURTESY SAVVY PR AND EVENTS
Saba Rana
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PEOPLE & PARTIES
Waqi and Maliha
Amber and Aneela
Natasha
Lydia and Dee
Mrs Raza
Faisal Farooqi, Vaneeza Amhed and Anaya
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Maram and Sara
PHOTOS COURTESY SAVVY PR AND EVENTS
Mahnam and Arjumand
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PEOPLE & PARTIES Samia and Azmay Shahzada open their seventh outlet in Karachi
Iffat, Amenah and Sara Nida and Saba
Aalma and Azmay
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Fatima and Zainab
Nadda PHOTOS COURTESY LOTUS PR
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PEOPLE & PARTIES
Tatmain
PHOTOS COURTESY LOTUS PR
Rushna and Aymen
Mariam Shaza and Sara
Ayesha
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Sana and Mariam SEPTEMBER 1-7 2013
Laraib
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PEOPLE & PARTIES
Alia, Sambreen, Nazia and Afsheen
PHOTOS COURTESY TAKE II
Momal Shaikh
Nighat and Anum
Saadia Nawabi
The multi-brand store Designer’s lounge opens up at Ocean Mall, Karachi
Naila
Nadia Yousuf
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Tina Sani SEPTEMBER 1-7 2013
Nadira, Fizza and Faiza
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PEOPLE & PARTIES
Sehrish
Maliha and Guest
Uzma and Wajiha Maria Rao
Shama Puri
PHOTOS COURTESY TAKE II
Rosy Patel
Abeer
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Farah
Manahil
Merzi and Maha
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COVER STORY
Touched by genius Even though Apple refused to come to Pakistan, Steve Jobs still changed our lives BY KHURRAM BAIG
You are either cool, or you are not. You either buy Apple or you don’t. That is how many people see Apple and its products. You either hate it or you love it. By the time Steve Paul Jobs died in 2011, Apple — a company he bought on the verge of bankruptcy — was the largest company in the world, with more cash reserves than the US government. His time at Apple is an incredible story of a revival of a company that
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LAYOUT BY SAMRA AAMIR
he co-founded and was then forced to leave. And the products that he helped design and visualise, more often than not, demarcated cool from uncool. But this is not just a story of business genius, creative excellence or even financial success. It is a story of love. Let me tell you upfront that I am a fan of Steve Jobs. I am also a fan of Apple, the company as well as Apple products. I thought I would clear this up at the start just so that no one can
COVER STORY
People often call Jobs an inventor. He was not. Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, was much more of an inventor accuse me of any bias later on. But I am telling you that I really am biased and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I am being honest. In many ways Steve Jobs was like that. He was a passionate, focused and driven individual who changed so many things in so many ways. He changed our lives on micro as well as macro levels. But he was not a nice person. In fact, some say that he often took great pleasure in making sure people knew that they were inferior to him. He was no angel, and no hero. He was also just as responsible for Apple’s failure in his first stint there, as he was responsible for Apple’s resounding success in
his second stint at the company. The movie Jobs, which has just hit cinemas in Pakistan, unfortunately ignores the first part of his journey. And that is why this movie falls flat trying to do justice to one of the greatest geniuses of our time. It focuses far too much on Apple products and the company and ignores the man. And where it does focus on the man, it portrays him in a light that is patronising in the least and idolatrous at the worst. For example, people often call Jobs an inventor. He was not. If at all, Steve Wozniak was much more of an inventor. But the reason Jobs was able to turn Apple into a financial success is because
He was not a nice person. Some say that he often took great pleasure in making sure people knew that they were inferior to him
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he never missed out on the money-making opportunity in every invention and innovation. He was a marketing genius, a brilliant seller. Basically anything Steve Wozniak could come up with, and see as a gadget, Jobs was able to mould into a marketable product. That was pretty much the essence of the man’s genius. But having said that, Jobs was a complex man and the movie fails to capture this. It focuses on the fact that Apple makes glamorous products but fails to see that this glamour does not transcend the company itself. It is sad that the movie’s plot failed it, because Ashton Kutcher actually did a pretty good job of portraying Steve Jobs.
One stand-out feature of the movie is the use of Steve Jobs quotes. For a budding entrepreneur, many of these sayings are pure gold. For example, Jobs once said, “The greatest artists like Dylan, Picasso and Newton risked failure. And if we want to be great, we’ve got to risk it too.” This quote is quintessentially Steve Jobs who didn’t hesitate to take risks. If he wanted something, he would just go for it. When he was twelve years old he called up HP co-founder Bill Hewlett to ask for spare parts. Hewlett gave Jobs the parts and a summer job as well. No surprise then, when Jobs also said: “Most people never pick up the phone and call. Most
When he was twelve years old he called up HP co-founder Bill Hewlett to ask for spare parts. Hewlett gave Jobs the parts and a summer job
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people never ask, and that’s what separates the people who do things from the people who just dream about them.” In another instance, in the movie, Jobs says, “How does somebody know what they want if they haven’t even seen it?” Indeed, Steve Jobs believed in building great products that he would want to use himself. To a large extent he had a point. For example, in 2010 how many of us would have asked for a third device in between a laptop and a smartphone? Most people would never have asked for an iPad, but once millions of consumers saw it, they couldn’t live without it. I point out these quotes to highlight the fact that I already mentioned above. Apple made amazing products and Jobs was an amazing man. This is why the company should not have been the focus of the movie. Steve Jobs once said that what made the Macintosh great was the fact that the people he chose to work on the system were “musicians, and poets, and artists, and zoologists, and historians who also happened to be computer scientists.” I think this says so much about how to build creative teams and also points at the sad fact that today so many companies overlook creative individuals because they don’t fit in a hiring box. So if you want to know more about who this man was, what made him tick, then save your money and skip the film. Because I really think this feel-good tragedy of the century isn’t worth your money. This movie did not really need to be made. Instead,
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go watch Pirates of Silicon Valley, a much better and much more accurate story of Steve Jobs and Apple’s beginnings. At the same time I feel this movie provides a sobering example of how critics and audiences can reach different conclusions. I admit that a lot of my criticism is based on the disappointment that certain events from the Jobs life story were not covered in the movie. I am, of course, completely aware that it is difficult to expect a single movie to do justice to a larger-than-life character such as Steve Jobs. You would be better off waiting for Sony Corporation’s movie on Jobs even though no release date has been given yet. This cinematic effort is based on Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography and is directed by Academy Award-winner Aaron Sorkin of The Social Network fame. I hope this one manages to take a risk to try and achieve greatness as its subject did in his lifetime. T
Fun facts about Apple Apple rejected Pakistan as a potential market for its products, as a low-end market with not enough demand for “quality” Apple rejected an app for tracking US drone strikes because it was not “useful or entertaining enough” Before co-founding Apple, Steve Jobs worked for Atari Steve Jobs was a Buddhist and his birth father was a Syrian Muslim, Abdulfattah Jandali Time magazine considered naming Steve Jobs ‘Man of the Year’ in 1982, even sending a reporter for interviews multiple times, but instead, the magazine named “the computer” the machine of the year Steve Jobs was dyslexic Apple’s original logo in 1976 featured Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree Apple wasn’t started in a garage, it was started in a bedroom at 11161 Crist Drive in Los Altos Apple didn’t have two founders. It had three: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne In 1985, Jobs lost a power struggle with the board of directors at Apple and left the company. He founded a computer platform, NeXT, that same year. In 1996, a floundering Apple bought NeXT and brought Jobs back to the company. Much of the OS X operating system is built on NeXT technology. Once Jobs returned, he pulled Apple from the brink of bankruptcy, tripled annual sales, doubled Mac’s market share, and increased Apple’s stock 1,300%
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ESSAY
An Irish solution Northern Ireland was at war with itself for a quarter of a century — what can we learn from its peace process? BY ADIL JAWAD DESIGN BY MUNIRA ABBAS
Where have all the militants gone? My question elicited a few amused looks and chuckles. But when he saw that it was in earnest, Vincent Kearney, BBC’s Northern Ireland home affairs correspondent, replied: “Most of them became taxi drivers.” We were referring to the Irish Republican Army or the IRA and my education on The Troubles, or the civil war that raged in Northern Ireland for three decades (1969-1998) was taking place at the BBC’s office in Belfast*. Throughout my visit I was stunned by the similarities with Karachi and its running sectarian and territorial wars. The more Kearney talked about Belfast, the more I felt he could have been talking about target killings, Shias, Sunnis, bomb blasts, Pathans, Mohajirs, morchas, TT
1921
1916
After several rebellions over the centuries, finally Irish nationalists stage the Easter Rising to declare their country an independent republic. The British crush it and execute its leaders
1968
The British partition Ireland into the independent state in the south (26 counties) and six Ulster counties in the north called Northern Ireland which remains part of the UK, under the Crown
Unfair treatment of Catholics to a civil rights movement. In the Troubles start as rioting e in (London)Derry during a loya parade. Scores sign up with th
leads 1969, erupts alist he IRA
pistols, funerals, protests, Sindhis. The only difference was that Northern Ireland managed to do something we have not: end the bloodshed.
Blame the British It is beyond the scope of this story to go back in time, but it is worth mentioning how the British are linked to the Northern Ireland conflict and Karachi’s. I cannot shake the feeling that colonial rule should not be ignored. In Ireland’s case, Catholicism has been the dominant sect ever since Saint Patrick introduced it to the island. But subsequent invasions from neighbouring England opened a chapter of sectarian discord and 700 years of colonisation. In the 1500s King Henry VIII decided to force the rival Protestant sect on Ireland’s Catholic population to quell rebellious Irish barons. He transplanted thousands of Protestant English and Scottish farmers to take over the lands of the native Catholic people. This decision altered the fabric of Irish society. We saw the same happening in Karachi in 1947 when colonial rule ended and thousands of refugees poured over the border from India. This is not to question the merits of Partition but to simply point out that British rule and colonialism is also directly linked to the demographic shifts that changed Karachi’s fortunes forever. Mohajirs and Sindhis came to live together in one city. In addition to Pakistan’s, the British were also responsible for the ‘Partition’ of Ireland. In 1921, after much Catholic rebellion, the British divided Ireland into six ‘Protestant’ counties in the north
1994 2005
1998
The IRA announces a ceasefire, loyalist groups follow suit. The first talks between the British government and the IRA’s political wing, Sinn Féin begin
The Good Friday Agreement is signed for a political settlement for Northern Ireland
IRA announces an end to its armed campaign. Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, wipes his brow after 10 hours of negotiations SEPTEMBER 1-7 2013
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ESSAY
‘You are now entering Free Derry’ is one of the most famous murals in Northern Ireland’s Londonderry. Part of the neighbourhood was taken over by the Catholics/Nationalists who kept the police at bay. Derry was the preferred name for the Catholics with the Protestants using Londonderry. An armoured car outside the Mounjoy Prison in Dublin during a hunger strike in 1920. IRA members were executed here. SOURCE: NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND and 26 ‘Catholic’ ones in the south. The north became Northern Ireland and remained a part of the United Kingdom and crown. The south came to be called the independent Republic of Ireland. As the island is still not unified, people still say that Ireland was England’s first colony and will be its last.
Divisions Irish Catholics and Protestants thus developed their own schools, football teams, playing grounds, pubs. In Karachi, we have no-go areas. In Ireland, people could tell which side or group you belong to by your name or surname. This works in Karachi too. In Belfast, you can tell whose turf you are on by the murals painted on houses to pay tribute to Catholic martyrs such as Bobby Sands, an IRA member and MP who died in prison on hunger strike. In Karachi, graffiti or wall-chalkings will declare who rules the area. In both Belfast and Karachi, sectarian, political or ethnic loyalties are also declared by flags. I was curious about a Pakistan flag painted by the Protestant (Unionist) side. As the Unionists support the British government and monarchy, they were showing their support for its 54 Commonwealth countries (formerly 32 under British rule). Pakistan has been a CommonSEPTEMBER 1-7 2013
wealth country. On the other hand, the Catholic (or nationalist or republican) side will support groups or countries that the British don’t back. This is why they put up flags of the Palestinian freedom fighters. Karachi’s sectarian violence can be traced to 1983 when four French offices were bombed at time of tensions over France possibly selling arms to Iraq. Days later the city descended into chaos over reports that one sect wanted to build its place of worship in a rival sect’s neighbourhood. Mobs went on an arson and looting rampage and clashes with police left scores injured. Soon later, in the mid-1980s, sectarian militant outfits emerged on both sides and have since regularly shed each other’s blood on Karachi’s streets. There are, of course, many significant differences between the IRA and the banned militant outfits (sectarian and political) that operate in Karachi. Most importantly, the IRA had declared demands and was a ‘public’ organisation, but the banned outfits in Karachi just seemed hell bent on a war of attrition, which does away with any possibility of bringing them to the negotiating table.
The violence Northern Ireland’s civil war erupted in 1968 when rioting broke out there. British troops were brought in to restore order. But the IRA and Protestant paramilitary groups did not let go. The violence lingered into the 1990s and this period became known as The Troubles. More than 3,000 people were killed. A surgeon in Karachi, who lived in Belfast and was training at the Royal Victoria Hospital during the 1970s, recalls the bloodshed: “There was a lot of knee-capping. They would shoot you in the knee,” he said, referring to the cases that came to the accident and emergency. “The vascular surgeons of Belfast became so good at treating it that they went
on to read papers across the world on this injury.” Staff at Karachi’s Jinnah, Civil and Abbasi Shaheed hospitals will tell you the same story if you ask them about gunshot and bomb blast cases. Aside from doctors, also on the sidelines of any conflict are journalists. In Belfast I was told that BBC struggled to figure out how best to cover the violence impartially. They used the ‘trick’ of declaring the victim’s sect — Catholic or Protestant. If there was a bombing they debated whether to say the IRA did it. The BBC eventually decided to name the IRA but this made coverage of funerals in Catholic areas especially dangerous and difficult. This same debate rages in Karachi newsrooms. Mostly journalists decide it is best to just name the victim’s ethnicity, sect or political affiliation if absolutely needed. Let the reader decide who the attacker is based on that.
Peace process The lesson from Northern Ireland is a simple one — parties in a conflict must realise that the political process is the only way forward. This was the case with the IRA. The first public talks began in 1994 between Sinn Féin (the political wing of the IRA) and British officials. Sinn Féin wanted the British out of Northern Ireland and the British said the IRA must first lay down its arms. Former diplomat Jonathan Powell, the author of Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland, offers basic advice. ‘You can’t go forward with preconditions.’ I asked him how he thought Pakistan’s government should tackle, say the Taliban, and he referred to the British government’s persistent demand that the IRA disarm before it came to the negotiating table during Thatcher’s era. It wasn’t a formula that worked initially. It would take over 10 years, several prime ministers and many failed rounds before both sides could claim success. Karachi has much to learn from the dogged commitment of leaders in the British government and in Ireland, despite many setbacks. In the end, power-sharing and the political process trumped violence. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif seems to understand this formula when it comes to a people at war with themselves. In his recent interview with The
An armoured personnel carrier patrolling Mauripur in Karachi where violence broke out. SOURCE: INP/FILE Telegraph, he said: “Britain had to talk to the IRA and resolve the problem and so to explore this option, I think, is not a bad idea.” While he referred to negotiations with the Taliban, the same approach would have to apply to Karachi. But most of all, when the Catholics grew fed up of the bloodletting, they put pressure on the IRA to stop. Unless the people at large reject violence and withdraw support for those who perpetrate it, there cannot be peace. We seem to be missing this in Karachi. Such is the strength of people power that in 2002 the IRA issued its first apology to the families of the 650 civilians it killed since the late 1960s. Can there be peace in Karachi without truth and reconciliation? Of course, some wounds stay raw. Today, if you hire a taxi as a tourist in Belfast, you might find that your driver is an ex-Catholic IRA militant. If you ask him to take you to a Protestant neighbourhood, he will only go as far as its ‘border’. He will hand you over to a new driver. That driver will be Protestant and he may even be an ex-militant himself. T *Adil Jawad is a correspondent with Roznama Express and visited Belfast as part of a 14-journalist group on the Chevening South Asia
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Journalism Programme 2013 SEPTEMBER 1-7 2013
BagPak A burst of colour from all things Pakistani turns up in designer bag collection BY SUNDAR WAQAR
Ajrak with a twist (Rs 5,400) Afghani thread work (Rs 4,500)
Swaying under a shimmering disco ball is a young girl dressed in a bohochic outfit, clutching on to a bottle of our well-loved Pakola. And taking his place beside her, dressed in a gypsy-style outfit, is an Elvis Presley lookalike, high on life with a sitar in one hand and a beer bottle in the other. While this could very well be a scene out of a 70s-inspired music video, it is actually an animated image, illustrated by Sana Nasir and screen-printed onto a faux leather clutch bag. This one, among many others, was featured at Sidra Nasir’s ‘All things Pakistani’ bag exhibition held on the 66th Independence Day of Pakistan and could be yours for Rs7,000. After the pre-election fever of Karma’s MK Nation kurta, that had every woman wearing Imran Khan close to her heart, Sidra’s bags are paying a tribute to all things that constitute Pakistani culture. “‘All things Pakistani’ to me is all forms of art around Pakistan and everything fun and colourful that [our country] has to offer. Be it pottery from Hala, truck art, the Ajrak or even traditional embellishments,” says Sidra, who has used this aesthetic to create a colourful array of clutches and cross-body bags.
Who needs a necklace! (Rs 5,800)
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Pakistan flag (Rs 4,500)
Army print box clutch (Rs6,500)
Pakistan in the 70s (Rs 7,000) With an undergraduate degree in fashion design from the Asian Institute of Fashion Design, Karachi, Sidra ventured into bags five years ago. “I felt there was a need in the market for accessory designers, as most people who I target were buying their bags abroad,” she explains. In contrast to her previous four exhibitions, Sidra stayed close to her roots for inspiration this time. Her exhibit ranged from a literal depiction which included weaving the Pakistani flag on to a clutch and screen printistan, to ing the map of Pakistan, nts such more subtle elements ror-work as intricate mirror-work embroidery and ethnic mo clutch brooches. Her camo with skull detail was such ery piece a knockout that every he end of was sold out by the the exhibition. “I have always appreciakistani ated and enjoyed Pakistani owever I arts and crafts, however was never drawn towards buying traditionall designs arket,” available in the market,” she says. “I felt that
they were too direct in terms of design and not so much inspiration.” Sidra’s aim was to incorporate everything Pakistani with a modern and chic twist into her designs, with her personal favourite being the turquoise clutch, embellished with lace and a blue pendant. “I love this piece because it is traditional in the material that has been used, and paired with a modern, western outfit it adds just the right amount of desi to the look without being too obvious.” While catering to a fashion-conscious and trendy lot, Sidra ensures that her customers are never far from their homeland. “I [designed] the map bag so [that] people travelling or living abroad could proudly point out [Pakistan’s location] when asked. I thought it would be a fun way to identify where we are from without having to say it.” And as it turns out the d design was one that resonated well w with her customers. T SEPTEMBER 1-7 2013
World Map (Rs 6,000)
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‘Never take off the mask’
Even the mask could not conceal the weak plot in The Lone Ranger BY RIFFAT RASHID Go for the horses, don’t mind the plot. Watch The Lone Ranger because you have to, and because it was filmed in over 16 stunning, sweeping desert-to-mountain New Mexico locations. But mind it, your world will seem small when you walk out of the cinema. In the latest cinematic interpretation of these fictional American icons, Armie Hammer plays Lone Ranger John Reid and Johnny Depp applies his by-now stock eccentricity to the sidekick Tonto, a Native American looking for revenge. The story is hinged on the transformation of Reid from a man of the law to an outlaw. He arrives on the scene a principled attorney who believes in bringing criminals to book rather than bumping them off. He even refuses to carry a gun. But the brutal murder of his Texas Ranger brother changes this. Unfortunately, the film’s makers picked and chose snippets from popular legend but did not give them context, without which we are left scratching our heads. A character becomes real when we know their motivations and what obstacles set them back. This is why, when Reid’s brother is killed, you feel nothing because the character has not settled with us. And if this murder is 38 the entire premise for the Lone SEPTEMBER 1-7 2013
Ranger’s transformation, the crux of the plot is on shaky ground. It doesn’t help that there is a lot of background noise surrounding the main plot. It is difficult to know whether we need to concentrate on the subthemes of colonial expansion and racism at a time when the railways were being laid through Native American land. Similarly disappointing is
the expectation set up that the supernatural elements in the film — accursed rocks, psychic white horses and a dead bird as a millinery accessory — would deliver on the magic they promise. Without some depth, they are reduced to comic flashpoints. If it were not for the Hammer-Depp chemistry on screen and the well-choreographed action sequences, the film would be a drag, all 149 minutes of it. Indeed, the film is so long that you want to fast forward to the parts with Tonto because those are the only half-decent scenes. Depp’s exaggerated make-up and quirky sarcastic one-liners punctuate the action-packed scenes with humour. He channels Chaplin in the chases and getaways, clinging to the undercarriage of a moving train whose car has been set loose, walking pigeon-footed on the top of the carriage, suddenly appearing on a ladder between two moving trains. The Lone Ranger of 2013 seems to suffer from a lack of belief in itself. Produced by the team behind super hits such as the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, the film sets the bar high, but falls short of its own expectations. But one thing’s for sure, for a film that advises you to “never take off the mask”, it would have done itself a favour by not hiding behind a weak plot. T
FILM F ILM Great action sequences kind of make up for a busy plot in The Wolverine BY GIBRAN ASHRAF Comic book adaptations for the big screen have been a gamble in recent years. But at least these cinematic experiments gave directors a chance to figure out what works. This is probably why The Wolverine manages to come into its own and separate itself from the comic book. This time round director James Mangold brings us an adaptation of the 1982 comic that is a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand. An adamantium-clawed mutant, Logan (Hugh Jackman), receives a request to travel to Japan to say goodbye to an old friend, an ailing Yashida (Hal Yamnouchi). Years earlier, Logan had saved the Japanese boy-soldier when the atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki.
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With a new lease on life, Yashida went on to become an industrial giant after the war. He is now an old man on his death bed who proposes that Logan ‘pass on’ his healing abilities. In return, Yashida will relieve him of his immortality. A suspicious Logan, while captivated by the idea of ‘eternal rest’, rejects the offer. Yashida then asks Logan to protect his beautiful granddaughter, Muriko (Tao Okamoto), to whom he has bequeathed his empire, bypassing her father as his heir. But even before Yashida’s funeral is over, the Yakuza try to abduct Muriko. This is where the movie transitions. In much of the second act Logan comes up against his trauma caused by what happened to Jean Grey in the third installment of X-Men (We can’t give it away). If the action sequences were not that distracting, this would have been a rich vein to mine. The one thing that gives Wolverine his strength and his identity is the bane of his life as well. Life is full of irony. The blessings of power, or say immortality, are double-edged; duality has always been the bread and butter of heroes and villains. But more importantly, we have to question, what do we make of the morality of characters such as Wolverine — who can cause so much pain and be so violent. As the movie sticks to a classic threeAUG AUGU AUGUST SEPTEMBER G T 118-24 8 -24 8-24 24 2 41-7 2 20 201 2013 013 2013 3
act structure it tends to drag in places. Periodic forced transition scenes are a weak point as is the script for some of the characters, especially the token love-interest Muriko. Her sole purpose seems to be acting as a catalyst to precipitate emotional flashes in Logan. Joining Muriko is Viper, a poison-secreting mutant, whose character goes as deep as her latex green suit. Unless we know more about her motives, she too emerges little more than a pretty prop. If these elements of the film disappoint, the action sequences do not with their neat swordplay and the adamantium samurai mech. But sadly, they don’t take advantage of the 3-D factor, especially the scene shot on top of a bullet train. They really could have worked the scene in which Wolverine lifts off and flies back the length of the train to sink his claws into a bad guy. Overall, this film is an improvement over the last Wolverine movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and director Mangold has done a fairly good job. While it could have benefited from better writing and more fulfilling characters, the action sequences are definitely worth a watch although they would have been just as good in 2-D. One last thing, do not forget to stay past the end credits for a special stinger. T
Set in Stone A quick lesson in the physics of diamonds
Something got stuck in my throat the minute the sales assistant gave me the price: £77,000. It was the classic Tiffany engagement ring. My sister and I were killing time at Heathrow Terminal 3 before heading home to Karachi. The sales assistant saw me looking at the display case from a safe distance and asked me what brought me into the shop. I replied that
Clarity is the key rating measure. Virtually all diamonds have imperfections. A stone is said to be ‘flawless’ if under ten-power magnification is shows no internal flaws (clouds, feathers, pinpoints). Diamond clarity ranges from FL (Flawless) to 13 (heavily included). The Tiffany round brilliant-cut stone has 57 or 58 precisely aligned facets.
this was the first time I had plucked up the courage to even enter Tiffany & Co. She flashed me a brilliant, pearly smile and quickly unlocked the glass cabinet. “Try it on,” she said. As my sister and I were temporarily stunned by its clarity, we were given a lesson on metallurgy and gemmology. In the Spring of 1887, Tiffany shocked the world by buying the French crown
jewels. From that time on, it became known as the world’s authority on the earth’s hardest substance. As I started to take the ring off, it began to stick. My sister coughed nervously as the sales assistant’s eyes narrowed. “Take your time,” she said. “Can’t you suck your breath in,” hissed my sister. “It’s not like we’re going home with it.” OUR CORRESPONDENT T
The facets on the pavilion (bottom) mirror the light back and forth in a frenzy until it bursts out in a blaze. The Tiffany experts warn against claims that more facets are superior. When a diamond is cut with a shallow pavilion and large table size, it produces a dull stone. It also creates an ugly ‘fish-eye’ effect when viewed through the crown. And if the pavilion is too deep, there is a darkening ‘nailhead’ effect in the middle of the stone.
If you go to the New York flagship store you can even see the 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond on permanent display. The weight of a diamond is measured by carats. One carat is 0.2 grammes. As carat weight is always a factor in pricing, some diamond cutters will attempt to trick casual buyers. They create an excessively thick girdle to increase carat weight and hence price. But brilliance and beauty are sacrificed. DESIGN BY ASIF ALI