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BE PART OF A COLOURFUL JOURNEY IN DUBAI.
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Presenting Shoppiesta – an annual exhibition that’s a unique celebration. The Dubai event calendar is all set to get even more exciting! Shoppiesta, the five-day lifestyle extravaganza, is coming soon to enthral everyone with great bargains, adventure sports, exclusive concerts and lots more.
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EDITOR’S LETTER
C
onfession time. I used to work as an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea. The students ranged from ‘tiny’ to ‘quite small indeed’, and I was there ostensibly to teach them English, but in reality I was there to babysit them. The kids seemed quite fond of me, cheerfully shouting Korean phrases at me. It was only later I realised they were calling me ‘angry man’ or ‘monster teacher’. There were nice moments, too. Like the three-year-old with the face of a snowman who would offer me some of her juice, every day, without fail. When I would refuse, she would hug me and waddle off smiling. Then one day I accepted and drank some of her juice. She looked stunned, then burst into tears.
I learned nothing from the incident, except that I should not be put in charge of children. Yet children are who we celebrate in this issue — their creativity, their innocence, their belief that anything is possible. Akinori Oishi captures that dreamlike state in his cover, illustrating some of Emirates’ destinations in his playful style. His creations are dotted through the magazine as well. See if you can spot them all. We take a look at the life and legacy of Bobby Fischer, a child prodigy and troubled genius who transformed the world of chess. We also wonder if Disney’s myriad theme parks are relevant in an age of Facebook, Twitter and the iPhone. Finally, we head to Thailand where we showcase some rather amazing young fighters. Enjoy the issue. CONOR@OPENSKIESMAGAZINE.COM
Emirates takes care to ensure that all facts published herein are correct. In the event of any inaccuracy please contact The Editor. Any opinion expressed is the honest belief of the author based on all available facts. Comments and facts should not be relied upon by the reader in taking commercial, legal, ďŹ nancial or other decisions. Articles are by their nature general and specialist advice should always be consulted before any actions are taken. PO Box 2331, Dubai, UAE Telephone: (+971 4) 282 4060 Fax:(+971 4) 282 4436 Email: emirates@motivate.ae
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Obaid Humaid Al Tayer GROUP EDITOR & MANAGING PARTNER Ian Fairservice GROUP SENIOR EDITOR (JOB +PIOTPO Ĺ&#x; HJOB!NPUJWBUF BF SENIOR EDITOR .BSL &WBOT Ĺ&#x; NBSLF!NPUJWBUF BF EDITOR Conor Purcell Ĺ&#x; DPOPS!NPUJWBUF BF ART DIRECTOR 5JB 4FJGFSU Ĺ&#x; UJB!NPUJWBUF BF CHIEF SUB EDITOR *BJO 4NJUI Ĺ&#x; JBJOT!NPUJWBUF ae FEATURE WRITER .BUUIFX 1SJFTU SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER S Sunil Kumar PRODUCTION MANAGER C Sudhakar GENERAL MANAGER, GROUP SALES "OUIPOZ .JMOF Ĺ&#x; BOUIPOZ!NPUJWBUF BF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER /JDPMB )VETPO Ĺ&#x; OJDPMB!NPUJWBUF BF SENIOR ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER +BZB #BMBLSJTIOBO KBZB!NPUJWBUF ae; ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Murali Narayanan ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER 4ISVUJ 4SJWBTUBWB EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS FOR EMIRATES: &EJUPS 4JPCIBO #BSEFU "SBCJD &EJUPS )BUFN 0NBS %FQVUZ &EJUPS 4UFQIBOJF Byrne 8FCTJUF Ĺ&#x; FNJSBUFT DPN CONTRIBUTORS: 8BFM "M 4BZFHI .BSL 1PXFMM (FNNB $PSSFMM 1IJM 0I &BNPOO $BSFZ :HPS .BSPUUB .BSL 1PXFMM %BO (SFFOQFBDF %PSU 3BBIBWF %BWJE ,PFOJH "OESFX "OUIPOZ +BTPO /FTT Axis Maps, COVER ILLUSTRATION by Akinori Oishi MASTHEAD DESIGN CZ 2VJOU Ĺ&#x; XXX RVJOUEVCBJ DPN
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13
CONTENTS
AUGUST 2011 DENMARK’S LEGOLAND IS GIVEN THE ONCE OVER (P21)… WE TAKE AN ABSTRACT LOOK AT THE INFLIGHT MEAL (P22)… EUROPE’S TOP TOY STORES GET TO SELL THEMSELVES ON TWITTER PITCH (P25)… WE RUN THE RULE OVER A UNIQUE CHILDREN’S BOOK (P27)… WHY DO KIDS’ MOVIES HAVE TO BE SO BRUTAL? WE WATCH BAMBI FOR ANSWERS
(P32)… WAEL AL SAYEGH WONDERS WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EMIRATI
SPIRIT (P37)… WE JOURNEY TO SHANGHAI TO GAWK AT THE CITY’S FASHIONISTAS (P42)… THE TRADITIONAL SWEET SHOP IS UNDERGOING A REVIVAL. WE VISIT LONDON TO SUCK AND CHEW
(P46)… ARE DISNEY ’S THEME PARKS STILL RELEVANT? WE EXAMINE THEIR PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE (P54)… CRAZY, GIFTED AND ULTIMATELY DOOMED, BOBBY FISCHER WAS THE CHESS WORLD’S GREAT WHITE HOPE. SO WHAT HAPPENED? (P66)… THE LITTLE
PRINCE IS ONE OF THE GREAT CHILDREN’S BOOKS, HAVING SOLD MORE THAN 80 MILLION COPIES. WE PUBLISH AN ENCHANTING EXTRACT
(P78)… FOR KIDS IN THAILAND , MUAY THAI IS ONE WAY TO ESCAPEPOVERTY. WE SHOWCASE BANGKOK’S YOUNG FIGHTERS (P88)… 15
CONTRIBUTORS
AKINORI OISHI: After winning a 2001 MILIA award, Akinori worked at the creative design studio Teamchman in France. Today, he is an independent artist and has worked on major animation TV projects for Coca-Cola and Nickelodeon’s Yo Gabba Gabba in the US.
DAVID KOENIG: David is the foremost authority on Walt's Magic Kingdom, penning a monthly column for MousePlanet.com and four books on Disney, including the best-selling Mouse Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland. MARK POWELL: Mark’s writing has appeared regularly in Total Film, as well as Official Playstation Magazine, and Creative Times. Formerly a senior staff writer at Metro newspaper. He now lives in Manchester where he gets rained on a lot.
JASON NESS: Based in Canada, Jason has worked for a variety of editorial and commercial projects in Cuba, Europe and Southeast Asia. His series on Muay Thai was inspired by his love of boxing and of the Thai variation of the sport.
CRAIG REDMAN: Craig is an Australian-born illustrator currently living in New York. He has worked with clients such as Nike,
Apple, Vogue, Converse, MTV and VH1. Craig has had two books published, and exhibited across the world, most notably at the Louvre.
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INTRO ×Ü º
P. ØÝ º child prodigies
P. 46 º london’s best sweet shop
P. ÙÝ º New York toys
DEER HUNTERN’S
ILDRE WHY DO CH TO BE SO E V MOVIES HA AUMA? FULL OF TR
P32
19
OUR MAN IN
LEGO LAND DENMARK’S MOST FAMOUS EXPORT MANAGES TO CELEBRATE ITS HERITAGE IN SCANDINAVIAN STYLE
S
ince LEGOLAND opened 43 years ago in Billund, Denmark, 44 million people have passed through its gates. Last year, the number of visitors increased to 1.7 million, making LEGOLAND the most popular Danish tourist attraction outside of Copenhagen. It’s a remarkable statistic, all stemming from one man’s creation: colourful interlocking bricks that can be put together and taken apart again. That man was Ole Kirk Christiansen, and those six, eight-knobbed bricks can be combined in an amazing 915,103,765 ways. This very Danish creation is now a worldwide phenomenon, with every person on Earth owning, on average, 52 LEGO bricks. LEGOLAND came about as a natural extension of a 1960’s exhibition of various LEGO toys. The park plays a major part in all Danes’ childhoods, and its quirky appeal shows no sign of waning: visitor numbers are rising and the park continues to expand. It has more than tripled in size since it opened in 1968 and the park continuously introduces new attractions. This summer sees 2,000
Star Wars models on show, where
visitors can press buttons to activate various scenes. Miniland is where it all began. Famous monuments and small cities from all over the world built in LEGO in a scale of 1:20 and 1:40 dot the area. The park is divided into sections built around themes including Pirate land, The King’s Castle, an undersea world, an ancient Egyptian temple, Legoredo, a Western-themed town and Duplo land, targeted at toddlers. The park offers 50 attractions such as mini-trains, roller coasters, water rides, 4D movies, and a Traffic School that teaches basic driving rules — where kids drive LEGO cars and can earn a driver’s license. It is this constant expansion and innovation that has seen LEGOLAND stay relevant in a world where kids spend more time indoors than out. It is also a very ‘hands on’ park, where children get to do more than just sit in rides. Take for example LEGO City, which contains an indoor robo-coaster where visitors can build their own roller coaster. More traditional thrills are on offer at Knight’s Kingdom, where a roller coaster named The Dragon sends
young bodies hurtling past LEGO castles, knights and dragons. The park also manages to eschew overt commercialism to a large degree. Although LEGO branding is obviously everywhere and the world’s largest LEGO shop is on site, there is little hard sell. LEGOLAND is a very European, or possibly Scandinavian, amusement park in that sense. The overall vibe is relaxed. Children run by laughing, the sound of water can be heard everywhere, and queues are small, except during the height of the summer. Emil Eken, a 10-year-old Norwegian boy, has travelled to LEGOLAND from his home, close to the Arctic Circle, This is his third and last day in the park: “The best experience was trying the Traffic School and getting my driver’s license,” which he proudly shows me, his photo emblazoned on the front. Although there are now parks in the UK, Germany and the US, the original Danish location best sums up Ole Kirk Christiansen’s invention — give kids the tools, and let their imaginations do the rest. And a wander around this Danish ‘town’ will bring out the big kid in everyone.
Dorte Raahave is a journalist based in Copenhagen. 21
22
23
ILLUSTRATION: YGOR MAROTTA
| WWW.YGORMAROTTA.COM
TWITTER PITCH
EUROPEAN
TOY SHOPS
Every month we profile a number of venues in a different city, country or continent. The catch? The companies must be on Twitter and must tell us in their own words what makes them so special. This month, we feature Europe’s best toy stores. If you want to get involved, follow us at: www.twitter.com/openskiesmag
HAMLEY’s
Toykio
The greatest toy store in the world!
A concept toy store in the Japanese
Play a part in the magic and theatre.
district of Düsseldorf with a gallery,
You definitely haven’t experienced
coffee bar with healthy snacks and
toys until you visit Hamleys!
shop under one roof.
www.twitter.com/HamleysToys
www.twitter.com/www_toykio_com
Sixxa Store
Kidrobot
Iksentrik
Sixxa Store Vienna, located in
Founded in 2002, Kidrobot is the
Based in Bath, we have a veritable
Vienna’s lively Neubau area, offers
world’s premier designer and retailer
treasure-trove of goodies sure to
a wide selection of urban designer
of limited edition art toys and apparel.
please your inner child and stun
toys, books and streetwear!
www.twitter.com/kidrobot
the naysayers into awed submission.
www.twitter.com/sixxastore
www.twitter.com/iksentrik
25
BOOKED
EDWARD GOREY — THE GASHLYCRUMB TINIES
A
is for Amy who fell down the stairs. B is for Basil assaulted by bears. C is for Clara who wasted away. D is for Desmond thrown out of a sleigh. Oh yes, The Gashlycrumb Tinies is no ordinary children’s book; in fact it is debatable if it is a children’s book at all. For sure, the main characters (the ‘tinies’) are all children, but they all meet their demise in bizarre and unusual ways. The writer and illustrator, the late Chicago native Edward Gorey, has a very warped sense of humour. He also has a brilliant eye for the absurd, and this is, in effect, a parody of the happy-go-lucky children’s books that pervade the market. His line drawings have an almost Victorian feel, showing the children just before their untimely deaths (G is for George smothered under a rug. H is for Hector done in by a thug). This is laugh out loud funny, at least if your sense of humour is in any way twisted. Gorey weaves a magic spell over the traditional children’s book and ends up with something close to genius. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997
ROOM
1302
ST. REGIS
SAN FRANCISCO, USA
INTERNET SPEED: 1MB, $15 per day PILLOWS: Four IPOD DOCK: Yes CLUB SANDWICH DELIVERY TIME:
18 minutes COMPLIMENTARY SNACKS: Fruit TOILETRY BRAND: Luxe DAILY NEWSPAPER: San Francisco
Chronicle EXTRAS: Town & Country, Dwell,
Bespoke, CD/DVD player BUSINESS CENTRE: Yes VIEW: 4.5 /5 RATE: From $400 WWW.STARWOODHOTELS.COM/ STREGIS
There’s something wonderfully oh-sohip about San Francisco, with its mix of ageing hippies and Silicon Valley cool kids milling around against its backdrop of Victorian and modern architecture and rolling hills. Hip, but not to the point of annoyance — it’s certainly one of those ‘we could live here’ cities, managing to tick more than its fair share of life’s must-have boxes. Much the same can be said for the St Regis San Francisco; a bespoke hotel housed in a 40-storey tower in the SOMA area of the city. Resplendent with the usual five-star amenities, including cute slide screen glass bathroom walls. It boasts sweeping city views, two top-notch restaurants and a Remède spa and indoor infinity pool. It also adjoins the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art, and the Museum Of The African Diaspora. Like we said, hip.
27
MAPPED TORONTO
The financial heart of an expansive country like Canada has to be pumping 24 /7, and Toronto takes on the challenge with gusto. Hard workers with a sense of humour, sophisticated but never stuffy, these city dwellers have finessed the perfect work/life balance. A multicultural mosaic of a metropolis, it caters to those with a hunger for the arts as well as more conventional gourmands. Stephanie Plentl discovers what makes Toronto tick.
WWW.HG2.COM
28
HOTELS 1. The Hazelton
2. The Drake
3. The Ritz-Carlton
4. The Thompson
RESTAURANTS 5. Buca
6. Lee
7. Guu Izakaya
8. The Black Hoof
BARS / CLUBS 9. Muzik
10. Amber
11. Spice Route
12. The Dakota Tavern
GALLERIES 13. Mira Goddard
14. Stephen Bulger
15. Corkin Gallery
16. Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation
29
MAPPED TORONTO
HOTELS 1 THE HAZELTON
Oozing masculine chic, this is the best hotel in the chi-chi Yorkville area. With five-star services and a seeand-be-seen restaurant/ bar, the glamour here is palpable. A favourite with visiting celebrities.
2 THE DRAKE
3
THE RITZ-CARLTON The first foray for the brand into Canada and the first five-star hotel in downtown Toronto. Luxe amenities and attentive staff are to be expected, but the 23,000 sq ft super-spa defies belief.
4
THE THOMPSON Modern and minimal, fashionistas check in here to be checked out. With a 360° rooftop bar/ pool and an outpost of New York’s Scarpetta restaurant on the ground floor, this is all glitz.
7
GUU IZAKAYA This Japanese bar and snack-stop is crazy and chaotic, but fabulous fun. Classics like sashimi and black cod sit beside more adventurous Tokyo tapas. Sakes, beer and wine fuel the lively atmosphere.
8
THE BLACK HOOF A charcuterie that’s not for the faint hearted, this nose-to-tail dining experience has amused the locals who stampede here. Think Tongue on Brioche and Raw Horsemeat Sandwich.
The cultural nucleus of the cool Queen West area, this boutique hotel caters to bright young things: alfresco cocktail bar, stylish, chic restaurant and very funky, modern rooms.
RESTAURANTS 5 BUCA
You’ll find authentic Italian food – grandma’s vinegar has been added for 30 years – in an achingly cool but casual space with high ceilings and exposed brick. Its King West locale is a social hot spot.
6 LEE
Celebrity chef Susur Lee’s Asian-inspired cuisine seduces the senses with its taste, fragrance and beauty. Attractive clientele and an elegant environment suits the trendy King West address.
BARS/CLUBS 9 MUZIK
A vast 41,000 sq ft party haven that explodes every Saturday night, this stunning megaclub heaves with glamour and gloss. In the summer it transfers to the garden and swimming pool.
10 AMBER
A preppy Yorkville bar that persists in attracting the über-selective, smart set, its cachet is the clapperboard rooftop patio replete with DJ. The door policy is strict, so make sure you are dressed to impress.
11 SPICE ROUTE
For an exotic escapade, this Asian-inspired bar/ restaurant is unique in the city. Cocktails and sake are served from a bar with a 16ft waterfall, and the terrace features a pond of lily pads and koi.
12 THE DAKOTA TAVERN
A shack-chic bluegrass bar that instantly livens up any bar crawl, this basement saloon doles out mint julep cocktails and beer. You’ll find an eclectic crowd who can’t resist a good hoedown.
GALLERIES 13 MIRA GODDARD
Sprawled over three floors featuring paintings, sculpture, prints and photographs, this Yorkville gallery is one of the largest in Canada. A stellar collection of visual artists show here.
30
14 STEPHEN BULGER
Situated in the artsy Queen West neighbourhood, this small gallery showcases more than 15,000 photographs by international and Canadian photographers.
15 CORKIN GALLERY
This 10,000 sq ft contemporary art gallery in a converted tankhouse in the city’s cultured Distillery District, exhibits photography, sculpture, video installations and a variety of art work.
16 YDESSA HENDELES
ART FOUNDATION Canadian philanthropist Dr Ydessa Hendeles owns all the works exhibited in this stunning gallery set in a former uniform factory. Open on Saturdays only.
FLICK CELLULOID DISSECTED
MARK POWELL WONDERS WHY CHILDREN’S MOVIES HAVE TO BE SO DISTURBING
I
f you’ve ever been charged with the vaguely Sisyphean task of keeping a minor entertained for a rainy afternoon, the DVD shelf might well have been your first port of call. A cabinet lined with gaudy animated adventures is effectively a sort of survival kit for childminders: bung a disc in, shove a juice box in their hand, and suddenly you’re off the hook for a couple of blissful hours. It’s so easy, it almost feels like cheating. And, in a sense, it is. Mind you, we’re unlikely to get away with such a shameless lack of hands-on effort — if kids’ films have taught us anything over the last 50 years, it’s that they’re pretty much up there with matches, bleach and permanent markers in terms of
32
items no curious child should ever be left alone with. It doesn’t matter how endearingly fluffy the main protagonist is, or how numbingly cheery the opening sing-along may appear: sooner or later some horrifying fate is going to befall a talking critter, and the next 20 or so tear-stained, lip-quivering bedtimes will be spent fielding increasingly weighty questions about it from the rattled youngster in question. The predominance of trauma in children’s movies is by no means a new phenomenon. Indeed, the annals of ‘family’ film history (just like those of classic fairy tales) are strewn with the emotional wreckage of countless distressing scenarios. Disney, of course, has long been
at the forefront of the ‘scarringkids-for-life’ industry: having softened up Second World Warera infants with the wrenching mother/baby separation scene in Dumbo (1941), the following year saw Bambi deliver perhaps the most devastating emotional sucker-punch ever portrayed in an animated feature. Children’s films have been rehashing the same formula ever since. Disney are by no means unique in plumping repeatedly for this tactic — every memorable kids’ movie from The Wizard Of Oz (1939) to Shark Tale (2004) via Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), The NeverEnding Story (1984) and Beethoven (1992) has pivoted around some deeply
harrowing turn of events that threatened to forever trample the hopes and dreams of any youngster within ogling range. In fact, dragging young audiences to the razor edge of a dizzying emotional precipice seems almost a prerequisite for any family film hoping to achieve classic status. The potential effects of these dalliances with peril are hotly debated by child psychologists, although precisely why such flirtations with pre-teen horror are deemed necessary at all has been rather less commonly queried. Various attempted justifications do exist, which will vary depending on your level of scepticism. Perhaps the most commonly
proffered is that, by encouraging young viewers to explore issues of violence, terror and loss in a cartoon/ fantasy environment, children’s films provide early blueprints for encounters with similar real-life challenges further down the line. Indeed, since we can’t forever cushion young people from these darker facets of adult life, it seems reasonable to try to influence the ways in which they’ll relate to them. But is that really the job of the movie studios? And is it really what we are aiming for when we plonk a child down with Toy Story 3 for an afternoon? Either way, we’d better plonk ourselves down alongside them. Regardless of whether we see trauma in children’s films as a tool for teaching
important life lessons, or merely a key ingredient in a thrilling yarn, we need to be ready with answers when the questions about Bambi’s mum (or Buzz Lightyear) start reeling off faster than the closing credits. And, if we’re not sure we have the answers to hand, maybe it’s time to revisit a few of the Disney classics that left us a little shaken in our own childhoods — after all, there’s clearly more at stake in learning to process our early film experiences than simply looking a bit of a Dumbo in front of our children.
Relive your childhood memories (and decide if our film writer is right) with our selection of Disney Classics on ice throughout August. 33
SKYPOD UK DJ D AN GREENPEACE GI VES US HIS FAVOURITE CHILDREN’S TRACKS. HTTP: // SOUNDCLOUD.COM/ DANGREENPEACE
SLICK RICK — CHILDREN’S STORY An obvious title for the Children’s issue, but this track was one of the first to introduce narrative into rapping, an art form mainly known for rhyming ‘hotel’ with ‘motel’ until then.
BABY HUEY — HARD TIMES This single was taken from Huey’s only album, released after his untimely death in 1970. It’s dubbed ‘Psychedelic Soul’, but to me it’s good old fashioned funk. Poignant lyrics, hard hitting drums and a voice befitting of a man who weighed over 300lbs, this is a stone cold classic.
SWAY — LITTLE DEREK Sway is one of the most talented lyricists in the UK hip hop scene and this track provides a snapshot of his life from being a young man growing up in London’s inner city, to becoming one of the country’s most prominent poets.
ED O.G. AND DA BULLDOGS — BE A FATHER TO YOUR CHILD The title is cheesy, but has an important message borne of a pandemic of single parent families in 1990’s America. 34
MUMFORD & SONS — LITTLE LION MAN An amazing song from one of the UK’s best exports. The band’s sound and vocals resonated around the world and I urge you to hear their debut album Sigh No More in its entirety. Hopefully it’s on this plane’s playlist already.
DIDDY — DIRTY MONEY My son doesn’t call me ‘Daddy’ like most kids, he calls me ‘Diddy’ and, believe it or not, I didn’t teach him that. This track is from P Diddy’s latest album Last Train To Paris and is devoid of any ego, a rare occurrence for Puff Daddy. It’s an unbelievably cool and overlooked R&B album.
SISTER SLEDGE — WE ARE FAMILY I’m just a few points from being a Silver Skywards member and I’m hoping this uplifting bit of 1970’s disco cheese will persuade the powers that be to skip Silver and give me a Gold card.
NEGGHEAD — POINTLESS PRESSURE I love this track because it’s from one of my favourite labels (www. waxonrecords.com) and I often have it playing on repeat. Good vibes.
DE LA SOUL — BABY PHAT De La Soul’s debut album 3 Feet High & Rising was recently inducted into America’s Library Of Congress and deemed ‘culturally and historically significant’. This track however, is about chubby women.
JAMES BROWN — MOTHER POPCORN Another pun-based title because mums rule, also a fantastic excuse to pick out a track from another of my favourite artists. A song so great it was even covered by US rockers Aerosmith amongst others. James Brown was a troubled legend who strove for perfection, re-recording and re-releasing many of his songs time and time again. Everyone should be aware of his career highlights.
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LOCAL VOICES
THE PITFALLS OF PROGRESS ARE MANY
SUPER-SIZE NATION WAEL AL SAYEGH ARGUES THAT MAJOR CHANGES NEED TO BE MADE TO RECLAIM THE EMIRATI WARRIOR SPIRIT
ILLUSTRATION BY VESNA PESIC
O
nce upon a time, hard work, self-sacrifice and self-governance were the order of the day for many Gulf Arab societies. Men were forced to seek employment in dangerous ways, such as diving for pearls for five consecutive months of the year. While the men were away at sea, the women were trusted to run things at home and protect society from potential threats, such as attacks by rival tribes. Even the basic day-to-day necessities, such as finding and maintaining a safe passage to water, were a struggle. One would imagine we would inherit their warrior spirit. Sadly, this is not the case. With the removal of the need to fight for survival, this spirit seems to have been washed away by the comforts the oil exporting industry has afforded. No longer do the grandchildren of pearl divers need to labour under the
baking sun, and no longer are women expected to be part-time soldiers and full-time mothers. Instead, in their place is a generation plagued with Type 2 diabetes, an obesity rate of great concern, high levels of personal financial debt, vitamin D deficiency (whilst living in a desert, would you believe?), thalassemia, one of the highest divorce rates in the world and a multiple array of cultural identity issues. Public and private schools never stood a chance, despite their best intentions. They have not been able to keep up with the ultra-fast pace of development the UAE went through in its early transitional days — and is still experiencing as it continues to change. As a consequence, they have not been able to prepare their students for the globalised world they are expected to perform in. The same holds true for parenting. How can parents prepare their 37
children for something they never had to go through? The values and norms that held true for them in a more conservative monocultural Gulf Arab setting are very far from the ever-changing multicultural reality in which their children now live. So what can we do to change all this? Well, the first thing we need to do is to stop blaming anyone but ourselves. The government didn’t force us to overeat and not exercise; there is nothing in the Islamic religion that
orders us only to marry within our family despite knowing the genetic match up will produce seriously challenged children (it’s law for UAE nationals to have a genetic screening test before couples can be married). Once we realise that the solution can only be found within us, we will be on our way to being able to effectively face some of the issues. The second thing we need to do is start focusing on factors we have missed out on or deemed too unimportant to merit our complete attention.
The gaps in our game must be addressed once and for all. They include our attitude towards food. The battle to control one’s appetite is arguably the most difficult discipline to master, but it is precisely there, as a nation, that we must start. There is no use having an excellent education system if our children’s bodies are too clogged up with unhealthy food and sugary drinks for their minds to learn. The government is trying its best to regulate what goes into school
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CH ILD PRODIGIES
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As the person who devised the science of radioactivity (and won two Nobel Prizes) it is no surprise that Marie Curie taught herself how to read Russian and French at age four. One of the few child prodigies to have gone on to true, unarguable brilliance in her field.
Accepted into Harvard at 16, and an Ivy League professor at 25, Ted Kaczynski was one of the smartest men of his generation. Things did not go to plan however and he was arrested in 1996 after a mail bomb campaign. Meet the Unabomber.
At the e age of o 13, 3, Bobby bb b Fi d already ad Fischerr had ta ne of taken p part in one th h greatest re st chess es the m h of all time. m At A matches 15 he e was w the th youngest yo ge gr m te e in h or grandmaster history. g 29, he dropped p off Age th ad and an ended nd the radar hi a amid m bizarre b re his years g (see legal wrangles pa page 66 66).
Q e possibly Quite s si the th r m n the e smartest man in ld Kim m Ung-Yong g-Y g world, a to read d eight ht was able g s by the t time me languages w five. ve He e was w he was vit to o NASA SA at invited seven, and got a PHD in ys at age 14. 1 UnUn physics e many ny prodigies, od es, the e like Korean seems to have w up p justt fine. fi grown
LOCAL VOICES
canteens, but it’s up to us to help instill the discipline of healthy eating in our children. Physical education standards must be drastically improved. You teach by example. If children don’t see their elders exercising, as well as eating healthily, then they are being set bad examples, and they can be expected to do exactly the same. Many of our youth delinquency issues are partly due to the fact that a physical outlet for their energy is not offered to them in school. In a society that sees medicine, law and
engineering as the only worthwhile career opportunities, many potential writers, poets, artists, philosophers, entrepreneurs, musicians and designers face a lonely uphill climb. Their natural talents are often sacrificed to an unexciting, but financially stable, career as a civil servant. Being happy with what one does is a blessing few people enjoy. The cost of repressing these natural talents can be damaging to the individual as well as society. To be able to live and work successfully with many different
cultures is a key part of our future. This helps people see differences as learning opportunities, not as threats. It helps us to see that our own culture is not the only legitimate one, but one of many, each of which has something valuable to offer humanity. Whether we like it or not, the challenges faced by today’s youth are more a reflection of our inner selves than of their shortcomings. It’s time to reconnect with our warrior ancestry and fight to build our sovereign nation from within.
1963
1975
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The e yyoungest ng actor a r co pe p ve to wi win a competitive ad y Award A ard (aged ge Academy m O’Neal ’N ssoon 10), T Tatum in the th Hollywood o wo fell into d starr trap. t H adult a t child Her ee was as tainted n b career by o abuse b a a fallheroin and o with wit her he father, th ing out n The e two o (predicta( d Ryan. bly) reconciled on their n rreality ity TV V show. s w own
On off the few One fe child h ro gie to o excel el in prodigies he chosen ch n field, d Tiger ger their Wo w displaying d ay a Woods was is prowess ow s o his on TV at ge three. re He went en on n age o become o th ic t, to the richest, n one n of the t most m and uc ssf golfers go rs in successful, is y. Despite p hi history. his re-cent setbacks we expect im to o bounce b n back. ba him
What ha could ou you yo do o at ge seven? ve Well W A age Akrit sw performed p or ed his Jaswal st medical ed l procece first ur He e hass an IQ Q dure. ly 150 0 and d is off n nearly o g on a cure re forr working an N too t shabby sh byy cancer. Not ee e He’s e’ also so forr a teenager. p ed e on nT The eO Opappeared rah Winfrey Show, but ey, nobody’s bo ’s perfect. rfe hey,
Akiane k e Kramarik am k sold ld he rs painting a ng forr her first $1 0 before ef e tthe $10,000 ag S was w age off 10. She w ng poetry et at seven, e writing aand donates do es a large la nk of the th money mo y chunk sshe m h e makess to charities. S ta ht and home h me Self-taught sschooled, o d, Kramarik oo am m ikk is one prodigyy with a vvery bright b ht future. tu
39
INTERVIEW
S
IC
I LY S P E C I AL
MY TRAVELLED LIFE DAVE DARINKO, 43, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER
able to afford any sandwich I desired. I can
ON CHILDHOOD
ON RELAXATION
afford that now. I once spent more than
I grew up in a poor part of Chicago. We had
I work hard and I play hard. OK, that is a cliché,
$500 on a sandwich. It had a special type of
nothing. My dad (Dave Darinko Sr) came to
but I really do. I jog most nights. Sometimes
butter and caramelised caviar, and tomatoes
America with five bucks and a dream. He also
I run. I enjoy hang gliding and chess, making
flown in from Sicily. It did not even taste that
had a checking account and a Brooklyn loft.
different types of sandwiches and looking
good. Now that I think about it, buying that
out the window of my apartment. I can
sandwich was a mistake.
see 37 lanes of traffic from my apartment.
ON BEING DIFFERENT
Sometimes I pretend I am a giant and I can
I have big bug eyes and tiny pupils. I have
pick up any car I choose and talk to the driver.
ON THE FUTURE
fangs, not teeth. Also I am entirely red. This
Then I stop thinking like that and go to bed.
I hope to retire to a small house on a
was not easy for me growing up. The other
Greek island. Preferably surronded by tiny
kids used to make fun of me. Sometimes
Darinkos runnning around bug-eyed and
they called me names. “Ridiculous Fang Face
ON SUCCESS
red, shaking with joy. First though, I have
Blob” was the most hurtful. But I was not
Success is a by-product of effort. I always
to get married. And buy a house in Greece.
ashamed of who I was. And when the other
tell kids to work hard in school as then they
And have children. Then they have to have
kids saw that, they stopped calling me
can get anything they want. I wanted to be
children. Joyful, red, bug-eyed children.
names. It’s no crime to be different and now I am proud of who I am.
ON TRAVEL I love travel. I love going to new places and experiencing new cultures. I recently went to Italy for the first time. I ate so much spaghetti I felt sick, but it was worth it. I also saw a museum in Rome, but I cannot remember its name. I enjoy getting to places too. Economy Class is like First Class for me because I am so small. I like airline meals as they have special small cans of orange which fit in my tiny hands. And I enjoy peanuts. 40
STREET PEEP • ER SHANGHAI  WWW.STREETPEEPER.COM  ™
STUDENT
Celine top Prada trousers
City Dreams shirt
Christian Louboutin shoes
and shorts
Hermès bag
Feiyue shoes
Zara top
Gucci shoes Celine bag
42
FASHION EDITOR MIAOW MIAOW FASHION EDITOR
Marni dress and shoes
SIMON TANG
FOOD WRITER
PRESENTER MTV CHINA
Vintage
43
PLACE
IMAGE: DANIL KRIVORUCHKO | MYSHLI.COM
A R C H I T E C T U R E M A P P E D « THE FUTURE « S WEETS « BUILT & DESTROYED: 2 059
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STORE U R BA N C ARTO G RA P H Y « SUCK AND CHEW « LONDON « SWEET SHOP
T
he past few years has seen the great British sweet shop go through something of a resurgence. From traditional holdouts in Scotland where the sweets are still boiled in copper vats in the basement, to modern shops in London’s Covent Garden selling a variety of chocolates, bars and oddly flavoured goodies from around the world; the choice, these days, is endless. This is either a consequence of Tim Burton’s reimagining of Willy Wonka, or a revitalised sweet industry in the UK. Suck And Chew, on Columbia Road in East London, is just one of the recent crop of sweetshops offering everything from boiled aniseed balls to traditional toffees. Run by ad creative Vicki Magure, Suck And Chew as a concept is something that’s in her blood. “My gran, Winnie, had a sweetshop in Leicester. I remember as a kid staring in wonder at the jars and the penny sweets. As I grew up, and retail became more sophisticated, these types of shops disappeared from the high street until it was impossible to buy a sweet for five pence. Everything nowadays is packaged in bigger, better, brighter family bags.” In its spot near the famous Columbia Road flower market, Suck And Chew is at the heart of an increasingly cool and popular East End. Just down the road in Shoreditch is the much-vaunted Tech City — London’s answer to Silicon Valley. Slightly further east is the Olympic Stadium, which will form the centrepiece of London’s games next year.
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The shop is exactly what you’d expect in such a design conscious area. The bright red exterior, Union Jack flags, old fashioned dressers and sweet jars evoke a slightly post-war feel — enhanced by the occasional Ministry of Food ration book — most of it sourced from Maguire’s home and her granny’s old shop. “Our clientele is varied,” says Maguire. “We get trendy locals and also tourists who come down to the market and want to take a taste of Britain home. We get sweet tooths who travel for miles as we stock many sweets you can’t find in the supermarkets anymore. We even have celebrity clients, for example, Paul Smith loves our collection of vintage tins so he’s stocking them now. Which is nice because we love his shop too.” Pricewise, there’s something for everyone. “We sell everything from five pence chocolate mice to vintage tins with the Queen on for [$48]. Locals have taken us to their hearts. Mums say it’s nice to be able to give their kids a small amount of pocket money to come to our shop, instead of having to buy them a big bag of sweets from the supermarket.” For those of you who can’t make it as far as the East End of London, fear not — online ordering is available if you fancy a Kola Kube, some rhubarb and custard or any other pieces of the ‘vintage tat’ that Suck And Chew specialise in.
Suck And Chew, 130 Columbia Road, London E2 74G, 0044 208 9833504; www.suckandchew.com
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BOOTY N E W YO R K
WE GRAB SOME QUIRKY CHILDREN’S TOYS AND CANDY IN THE BIG APPLE.
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Yummy Pocket Burger, $12. We are not sure if it is yummy or not, but it will fit in your pocket. Bite-sized bliss.
Dave Darinko Ugly Doll, $10. This self-made man/ doll is an inspiration. Check out his story on page 40.
Rubik’s Cube, $14. A design classic that is still befuddling generations of kids (and adults) today.
MoMA Soho, 81 Spring
FAO Schwarz, 767 5th
Avenue at 58th Street
Street, Soho
Avenue at 58th Street
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FAO Schwarz, 767 5th
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Dinosaur Pez Dispenser, $3. It’s not a real dinosaur, it’s simply a Pez dispenser!
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Luna Lovegood Glasses, $13. Surreal specs from the Harry Potter character.
FAO Schwarz, 767 5th
Yoku Rubber Duck Light, $18. Soothe yourself to sleep at night with this wonderful, magic yellow duck.
FAO Schwarz, 767 5th
Hershey’s 5lb Chocolate Bar, $40. Don’t eat this mammoth bar all at once. Big chocolate from the Big Apple.
Avenue at 58th Street
MoMA Soho, 81 Spring
Avenue at 58th Street
Hershey’s, Time Square
Street, Soho
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COPENHAGEN FASHION WEEK
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Snappy dressers flock to northern Europe’s biggest fashion event. www.copenhagenfashionweek.com
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THE PREMIER LEAGUE The start of the football season is upon us again. www.premierleague.com
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Rock out in San Diego with this oneday indie music festival. www.vanswarpedtour.com
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PALIO DI SIENA The traditional medieval horse race around the piazza in Siena, Italy. www.ilpalio.org
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EID AL-FITR The Muslim world celebrates the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_ul-Fitr
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ILLUSTRATION: CRAIG REDMAN
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WWW.CRAIGANDKARL.COM
MICKEY’S FUTURE
W
hen Disneyland opened in 1955, the top attraction at the California theme park was a seven-minute Jungle River Ride past mechanical wildlife — gyrating rubber rhinos, a squirting elephant, a giraffe chomping on some leaves. At every turn, the boat’s captain escaped certain death, on cue veering away from a crashing waterfall, eluding angry cannibals, and firing a convincing volley of blanks into the snout of a lunging hippopotamus. Passengers screamed in terror, on the verge of fainting. Today, Jungle Cruise skippers square off against those same fibreglass hippos. Fifty feet away, the Enchanted Tiki birds croon the exact same tunes they’ve been warbling since 1962. And Disneyland’s other marquee attractions — the Mark Twain, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Haunted Mansion — are basically the same rides Uncle Walt designed for our grandparents. The difference today is that now it takes a longer time to get to the rides, after spending $15 on a remote parking spot and another $72 at the turnstiles. In an age when you can enjoy a more state-of-the-art, interactive experience for free by instantly downloading an app to your smartphone, how long can Disney’s nostalgia factories remain popular? To hear Disney tell it, theme parks aren’t like vaudeville or the eight-track tape, which came with a built-in expiration date. “Theme parks are additive,” insists Joe Garlington of Walt Disney Imagineering. “Theatre wasn’t killed off by radio. Radio wasn’t killed
56
off by television. I don’t think theme parks can be killed off by the iPad.” Gadgets can’t duplicate the social experience a park provides, no matter how virtual the reality. Nonetheless, Disney has always taken advantage of the highest tech, either as innovator (360-degree movies, talking robots) or early adopter (fibre optics, motion simulators). Guests usually don’t notice the dazzling technology, because it’s always disguised in the service of telling a story. “Every successful new form of entertainment has been able to more deeply involve the audience in the story,” says Garlington, who, as vice president of creative interactive attractions, is charged with developing new ways to better engage visitors. He views the tech explosion as friend, not foe, of theme parks. “Total human knowledge doubles every year. I read that a laptop today contains the brainpower of a mouse. By 2020, it will contain the brainpower of a human being and by 2050, it will have the combined brainpower of all human beings. That’s a huge amount of power to put behind entertainment and has huge implications for how we immerse people in our stories.” But movies and television shows drop off the public’s radar after they’ve run their course. A theme park attraction is built of steel and concrete. It’s difficult to hide a flop or yesterday’s fad. So the idea behind every attraction must endure or be reconfigured to meet modern sensibilities. Perpetual reconstruction is expensive. More daunting is the realisation that being old fashioned is
part of the parks’ charm. Generations have grown up visiting Disneyland and bristle when the company messes with their childhoods. Garlington admits: “At the base level, our theme parks are for binding moments with our loved ones. Most people don’t visit the parks alone; you go with family or friends. The rides and shows draw us there to make memories. We realise that when we change something, we’re potentially rupturing memories. We have to be sensitive to that. It’s a constant push / pull to deal with.” Fans have generally accepted the addition of Jack Sparrow figures into the Pirates Of The Caribbean attraction, because they fit seamlessly into the story and don’t alter the essence of the ride. Extreme makeovers of Florida’s Enchanted Tiki Room and Epcot’s Journey Into Imagination, however, have been criticised by some because they rewrote the narratives, removed major characters, and — some would say — mocked the original rides. To be sure, the key drivers of new tech and pop culture — late teens and young adults — have never been Disney’s core audience. According to Jim Hill, who covers the Magic Kingdom at JimHillMedia.com: “To a large degree, it’s still a mindset within Disney that we win over the hearts of children, we accept that we’ll lose them as teenagers, but we’ll get them back again when they become parents.” The strategy has worked. Disney’s resorts have shown no signs of flagging appeal, recession be damned. Last year, its 11 parks combined to draw 115 million visitors — a tick above 2009. The company is ready to break
WALT DISNEY WITH HIS MOST FAMOUS CREATION, MICKEY MOUSE, I N 1935
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ground on park number 12, a $3.7 billion resort in Shanghai, and is said to be actively scouting sites in South America, Australia, and beyond. The theme parks and resorts division traditionally generates a third of the company’s revenue. Yet whereas the fortunes of Disney’s networks and movie studio rise and fall with their latest releases, the parks are ever-golden geese, reliably cranking out profits in the range of $1.5 billion a year. Ironically, Disneyland started as a curious side business; the boss’ plaything to occupy his creative juices while his company made real money off movies and TV shows. With Disneyland, Walt could create truly 3D entertainment. His audience could physically enter into and interact with it, and he could continually add and subtract from the experience. He transposed the 1950’s suburban dream onto cartoon backdrops, the Old West and the optimistic world of tomorrow; subtly tweaking customers’ behaviour through his highly stylised environments. Walt found the power intoxicating. Within a decade, by the time the park had become a moneygusher, the boss began planning an entire city based on Disneyland’s principles — high-tech schools, transit systems, factories and homes that would be continuously updated. An Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow (EPCOT). Months after breaking ground on EPCOT, Walt died. At first, his corporate successors stalled. They built only the Magic Kingdom, a super-sized copy of Disneyland to anchor Florida’s Walt Disney World resort. For five years, 58
SPACESHIP EARTH AT EPCOT FUTURE WORLD, DISNEY WORLD, ORLANDO, FLORIDA
IMAGE: JOE PENNISTON
MICKEY’S FUTURE
the accountants still couldn’t figure out a way to wring a profit out of EPCOT, the futuristic city. The two theme parks were now generating 70 per cent of the company’s income. So they instead built Epcot, the futuristicthemed amusement park. Social critics balked. Yet in Epcot’s first year, attendance at Disney World doubled, from 12.56 million to 22.7 million. Profits skyrocketed. The Florida resort was transformed from a fun activity for vacationers already visiting the southeast into a magnet — the reason they came to the area in the first place. A year later, Tokyo Disneyland opened to instant success, partly because the Japanese shared a culture similar to that of Walt’s idealised America — respectful, regimented, at times thrilling, but ultimately comforting. The resort division’s first stumble came in 1992, with the opening of Disneyland Paris. Although the Magic Kingdomstyle park proved immediately popular, so much money was spent adding adjacent hotels that the overall project struggled. Disney’s reflexive reaction was to pinch pennies when building companion parks in California and France. Visitors, expecting more expansive, immersive environments, balked. Disney’s California Adventure also committed the unpardonable sin of trying to be “relevant, hip and trendy” — anathema to fans of the original Disneyland next door. Nicknamed DCA, the new park debuted 10 years ago as the anti-Disneyland; it served alcohol, featured more shops and restaurants than attractions, offered live entertainment, limited the appearances of the costumed characters, and restricted kids to 59
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a handful of rides that didn’t have height limits. Disney is now spending more than $1 billion to flood DCA with Mickey Mouse and other traditionally Disney elements. The company experienced the opposite problem at its newest park, Hong Kong Disneyland. During one groundbreaking ceremony, a vice president from California handed each Hong Kong dignitary a lanyard for “pin trading” — a theme park fad foreign to the locals. The executive patiently explained how the neckpieces were covered with collectible images of Disney characters and rides, which they could swap with other guests. One Hong Kong official bravely stepped forward to give it a try. He stared at the VP’s pin-covered lanyard for several minutes and finally announced, “I’ll take the orange pig.” “Orange pig?” the wide-eyed exec thought. “He doesn’t know who Winnie The Pooh is!” The moment Hong Kong Disneyland opened to the public in 2005, the company learned that the proven template – a small-town Main Street leading to a princess’ castle, branching out into lands of fantasy, adventure and tomorrow – bewildered the Chinese. “The castle was copied straight from California,” blogger Hill shares. “But guests didn’t have the same perceptions, the same ideas of nostalgia. It was a Main Street they couldn’t connect with.” Low attendance has forced Hong Kong Disneyland to frantically tweak its offerings. Unlike with DCA, this time they’ve had to throw out the playbook. Quickly omitted was the formerly ironclad rule that any brands, such as pirates, princesses or
Pixar properties. Hill notes: “After all these years of requiring that all new attractions promote a brand, they’re currently building two attractions at Hong Kong Disneyland – Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars and Mystic Manor – that aren’t tied to any brand. It’s gutsy, because without being able to slap a character on the front, the audience has no guaranteed frame of reference.” For the designers, the reversal has been freeing. Sure, the park can’t benefit as much from its storehouse of tried-and-true characters, attractions
and traditions, but it’s not bound by them, either. As part of a Halloween promotion, Hong Kong Disneyland added a haunted maze off Main Street – an unthinkable idea for Western guests expecting an early 1900’s market house and candy palace. The desire to better serve new international markets helped drive Disney’s recent acquisition of Marvel’s comic-book characters. Some Disney fans in the US have been worried at the thought of one day wandering into Tomorrowland only to see Buzz Lightyear butting helmets
Theatre was not killed off by radio, radio was not killed of by television, I don’t think theme parks can be killed off by the iPad
WALT DISNEY OUTSIDE DISNEYLAND WITH HIS GRANDSON IN 1955
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with Iron-Man. But in Hong Kong, there are no preconceived borders between the lands of Marvel, Disney or any other Hollywood studio. The ultimate crossover might be an entirely virtual amusement park, if it could still provide what traditional park visitors want. Orlando business consultant Jeff Kober, who gleaned his strategies from years as a manager at Disney World, says: “To understand amusement parks, you must break down the phrase — amusement and parks. Over the centuries, parks have existed for three purposes: association – a location for being with others. Recreation – a space for physical experiences. Beauty — a place to enjoy nature in all its greatest senses. Amusement parks add a fourth purpose — entertainment.” He points out that Bakken, near Copenhagen, considered the world’s oldest operating amusement park, began as simply a park. “Disney’s success today,” Kober says, “comes as a result of doing all four of those things right. I think that virtual worlds, while successful in simulating those things, do not necessarily replace those things.” Anyway, the company has already tried back in the 1990s. “At one point,” Kober notes, “Disney thought the way to compete against videogames and virtual worlds was to create the greatest videogame experience ever. “They called it DisneyQuest. It was five floors of high-tech arcade games and virtual experiences. That venture, intended to corner regional markets with a highly themed entertainment experience, was well received in Orlando and, during its first summer, in Chicago.
DisneyQuest fell short as a place of nature, but made up for it with the ability to provide amusement, recreation and, initially, association with others. Yet it failed to attract Chicago audiences in the off-season, and thus the idea of creating huge virtual gaming worlds fell through. Disney has since gone on to utilise
[ Disney ] can engage many more senses than a four-inch iPhone display or even a huge screen projection
high tech, interactive and virtual solutions in its parks, but they reside in a well attended physical space that provides for all of those purposes.” At DCA and Epcot, Turtle Talk with Crush — like similar shows in Paris and Hong Kong featuring the cartoon alien Stitch — allows guests to converse with animated characters in real time. “Part of the appeal,” explains Imagineer Garlington, “is it presents the world as children see it, as it ought to be. In the real world, kids talk to the characters and I think they’re subtly frustrated when the characters don’t talk back.” In Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, guests explore Epcot using cell phone-like “Kimmunicators” over which fellow secret agents provide clues to help foil a villain’s dastardly plot. Disney has also run several in-park experiments in which guests solve quests using their own phones. There are also dozens of free apps on the market that allow park visitors
to access ride wait times, restaurant menus, and even directions to the nearest restroom. Further responding to the pluggedin culture, the company is on a quest of its own to slash downtime at its parks. Disney is reportedly investing a half-billion dollars creating “interactive queues,” to entertain visitors while they’re standing in line. “God forbid guests have to spend 20 minutes staring at the back of someone’s head,” laments Hill. “They’re already pulling out their cell phones to check their messages or play games.” But now Disney is providing the games. At the Magic Kingdom, guests in line for the Haunted Mansion pass by interactive crypts and tombstones. Queuing up for Space Mountain, or the Soarin’ hang-glider simulator at Epcot, guests participate in games projected on the walls. At Toy Story Mania, a giant animatronic Mr Potato Head heckles the waiting crowd. The bottom line is, according to Garlington, “We want you to not only see a character, but to be a character.” Can it last? Will Disney parks, as we know them, still be around in 2055? Certainly, world unrest and natural disasters are beyond the company’s control. Consider that Tokyo Disneyland, a non-stop success from the day it opened in 1983, was shut down for over a month following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. For its part, Disney will do everything within its power to ensure the medium survives and thrives. “I’d like to think (the parks) will exist,” Hill says, “but it may get harder trying to get people out of their homes. Imagine if somebody invents an online Haunted Mansion that you can explore for hours…” 63
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Similarly, Kober reserves judgment, wondering how tomorrow’s virtual worlds will be able to meet those four ideals — association, recreation, beauty and entertainment. “If Disney continues to provide that leadership role in the amusement industry, it will be the one to offer those experiences. But there’s something about trees and leaves and flowers and water, and even the texture of brick and mortar, which is irreplaceable. For instance, the new Toy Story Mania, in which riders interact with a life-sized, 3D video game, is highly popular at Disney parks in both Florida and California. But so are the 45-year-old attractions like Pirates Of The Caribbean that carry you through an immersive physical world. Although high tech entertainment continues to improve, it’s hard to imagine a gaming attraction like Toy Story Mania having that kind of legs 40 years from now.” Disney’s Garlington advises looking at the bigger picture. “The parks have an inherent advantage over other forms of entertainment,” he says. “We have a tonne of tools at our disposal. Theme parks are big, physical places with streets and buildings and rooms you can go inside and ride vehicles. “We can engage many more senses than you can staring at a four-inch iPhone [display] or even the biggest screen projection.” Disney sounds as though it’s willing to grow up — if its audience will let it.
David Koenig is a columnist for MousePlanet. com and is the author of Mouse Tales 64
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ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANTHONY ZINONOS
ES AN DR EW AN TH ON Y EX PL OR TH E MA GIC AN D MA DN ES S OF THE BIGGES T SUPERS TAR IN CHESS 67
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n 1999, I spent three days sitting in a variety of thermal baths dotted around Budapest. As grand and attractive as the Hungarian capital’s spas are, I wasn’t stewing myself for therapeutic or leisure purposes. Instead, I was waiting for someone I’d been told frequented the baths, someone who was said to be a genius and a paranoid obsessive, the greatest chess player who ever lived and an obnoxious crackpot. I was looking for Bobby Fischer. For the last four decades of his life, that’s what people did with Fischer – they looked for him. Fans, journalists, biographers, friends, they all tried to find this mythical creature, either in person or in that fabulous abstract realm that he continued to haunt: chess. He had ventured deep into the alternate world of this most intellectually demanding of games, a daunting contest of infinite possibilities, and succeeded in becoming world champion. Like some chequerboard version of Conrad’s Kurtz, the experience seemed to leave him in a state of dread. Then he vanished. As with those other great disappearing acts, JD Salinger, Greta Garbo and Howard Hughes, Fischer was almost as well known for his withdrawal from public life as he was for the achievements that brought him fame in the first place. There was even a feature film made called Searching for Bobby Fischer. It wasn’t actually about Fischer, but based on the life of another chess prodigy, Joshua Waitzkin. Fischer’s name was employed as a metaphor for his total commitment, what Garry 68
FISCHER THE CHI LD PRODIGY AGED 14 IN NEW YORK IN 1957
Kasparov, Fischer’s only rival for the title of best-ever player, has described as “pathological determination”. Fischer was apoplectic when he heard about the film, which he called a “monumental swindle” and even angrier when he discovered that he had no legal grounds on which to sue the film-makers. Had I run into him, I wasn’t expecting him to be any happier. I’d been prompted to seek him out after he’d made one of his rare public statements. In a live interview on Hungarian radio, he said: “As Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, the Jews are not the victims, they are the victimisers!”, before launching into a Holocaust-denying rant. Over
half-a-million Hungarian Jews are estimated to have been killed during the Holocaust. Fischer was born a Jew, and if Hitler had had anything to do with the matter, he would have died a Jew, too. I wanted to discover how or why Fischer’s obsessive character had taken such a selfdestructive turn. The word was that he remained a peerless analyst of chess games. Would it not be possible to appeal to his rational side? In the event, the bath-house stake-out was a failure. None of the bearded strangers I spent my time staring at through the saturated air turned out to be Fischer. He didn’t show up at any of the baths. I left Budapest with Fischer seeming even
Brady, and the soon-to-be-released HBO film, Bobby Fischer Against The World. Brady knew Fischer in the 1960s and is the author of Bobby Fischer: Profile Of A Prodigy, perhaps the only other worthwhile biography on the subject. He is also credited as consultant for the documentary. Together, the film and the book give shape to a more complete picture of Fischer: brash, complex, troubled, bold, vulnerable, lonely, occasionally loving, but fundamentally enigmatic. The tortured genius and the celebrity recluse are two archetypes by which the popular imagination
He played chess in the bath, at school, at home. He learned Russian just so he could study Soviet chess literature
more elusive than before I arrived. He was fiercely protective of his privacy, which was the reason the story of his progress from prodigy to pariah remained the subject of so much speculation and rumour. Among the many perceived betrayals for which his friends and intimates were permanently expunged from his life, the gravest was speaking to the press or biographers. Only with Fischer’s death in 2008 did the atmosphere of omerta that surrounded the legend begin to dissipate and a more accurate testimony emerge. The fruits of this candour are a new biography, Endgame: Bobby Fischer’s Remarkable Rise and Fall, by Frank
appears incurably enthralled. No one in recent times has combined these two roles with more tragedy or pathos than Fischer. His descent into wild and irrational behaviour is far from a unique narrative, particularly in chess. The history of the game contains many similar trajectories. As GK Chesterton noted in arguing that reason bred insanity: “Poets do not go mad, but chess players do.” Akiba Rubinstein, the early 20th century Polish grandmaster, would hide in the corner of the competition hall between moves, owing to his anthropophobia (fear of people), retiring from the game when schizophrenia got the better of him. William Steinitz, the Austrian who was the world’s first undisputed chess
champion, died in an asylum. Then there was Paul Morphy, the American who was said to be the 19th century’s finest player and to whom Fischer has frequently been compared: he quit the game, having beaten all his rivals, and began a decline into paranoid delusion. Aged 47, he was found dead in his bath, surrounded by women’s shoes. Fischer, who registered an IQ of 180, once said that he did not consider himself to be a genius at chess. “I consider myself to be a genius who happens to play chess.” He was not only furnishing his own myth when he made that statement, but also playing to our romantic notions of genius as a kind of destiny. The truth is that not even the exceptional Fischer was an exception. Born in Chicago in 1943, Fischer moved around America during the war years with his mother, Regina, and his older sister, Joan. The one-parent family eventually moved to New York, settling in a rundown area of Brooklyn. Having shown a precocious talent for kids’ puzzles, Fischer began playing chess at six when his sister bought him a $1 plastic set. By the age of nine, he was practising and studying the game to the exclusion of all else. By the age of 15 he was US champion. Nothing interrupted his obsession. He played while eating. He played in the bath. He played when he should have been at school. He cultivated an extraordinary facility for reading chess games, absorbing pages of dense notation in seconds, and learned Russian just so that he could study Soviet chess literature. He could play blindfold and recite games by heart. “Chess and me,” Fischer later said, “it’s hard to take them apart. It’s like my alter ego.” 69
I A D N U Y H
Y E K R TU I A D N U Y H “The strategic position, the high quality production and its strong manpower make Turkey one of the most desired countries in Europe regarding automotive production. That is why we, as Hyundai, chose to invest in Turkey.” W.S. Chang, President & CEO of Hyundai Turkey
• A population of 74 million, half of which is under the age of 29 • Approximately 500,000 students graduate annually from more than 150 universities • Around 26 million young, well-educated and motivated labor force • Highly competitive investment conditions • A country that offers 100% and more tax deductions on R&D expenditures
• Access to Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa • 17th largest economy in the world (IMF-WEO, 2010) • 15th most attractive FDI destination for 2008-2010 (UNCTAD World Investment Prospects Survey) • Fastest growing economy in the world with an impressive GDP growth rate of 11% in the first quarter of 2011
BOBBY FISCHER
Such was Fischer’s preoccupation with chess that his mother took him to see two psychiatrists, both of whom told her not to worry. Perhaps it was not worry but guilt that caused Regina to seek professional advice about her son. She didn’t just work at a multiplicity of jobs, often leaving him alone in their small apartment, she spent most of her spare time studying for a medical degree or organising political protests. A communist sympathiser, she was anxious about FBI attention, telling Fischer never to speak to the authorities should they approach him. His earliest life lessons were in paranoia and loneliness. If chess offered an escape from his humdrum life in Brooklyn, it also provided a much-needed structure. He mastered its rules and valued its traditions in a way that he never quite grasped social norms or conventions. The more he learned about chess, the less he cared about school, friendship, girls, job prospects or any other teenage concerns. Nearly everyone who showed an interest in him when he was a child was primarily drawn to his chess ability. They ignored his less charming attributes — his lack of curiosity about others, his sense of entitlement, his tendency to cry and sulk when he lost — because he displayed such promise at moving pieces around the board. His chess coach as a teenager was a man named Jack Collins, who gave Fischer free tuition. Yet when Collins became popular with other young players, as a result of Fischer’s successes, his star student resented Collins’ financial gain. For the rest of his life, he remained ever vigilant to exploitation. As Brady writes: “He hated the idea of
A SMILING FISCHER LEAVES AN UNDERGROUND ARCADE IN MANHATTAN IN 1962
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people making money off his name.” And all the time, he just got better and better. He became a chess master at 13, and the same year he defeated Donald Byrne, one of America’s strongest players, with such magnificent precision that it became known as the “game of the century”. Two months before his 15th birthday, he became the youngest-ever US champion. He played in, and won, a further seven US championships — once achieving the remarkable feat of a perfect score — 11 wins and no losses. Yet partly owing to his withdrawal from international competition in the mid-1960s in protest at what he claimed (probably correctly) was the collusion of Soviet players, it would not be until 1972 that he challenged for the world title. The showdown between Fischer and Boris Spassky, the reigning world champion, in Reykjavik in 1972 was promoted as if it were an intellectual third world war, with chess pieces standing in for tactical nuclear weapons. If that sounds ridiculous, it’s worth noting that when Fischer looked like pulling out of the match on the eve of the tournament, the phone call that persuaded him to go came from Henry Kissinger, the US national security adviser. This was the era of the cold war and, in popular terms, Spassky represented the Soviet subsidised system that had ruled international chess for decades, while Fischer embodied the spirit of American free market individualism standing up to communist collective might. In fact, each man would in the years to come renounce his nation’s citizenship
and ideology, but at the time the symbolism of their roles fired the world’s imagination.
His match against Spassky in 1972 was the most dramatic chess game in history, set against the Cold War
And there was no shortage of drama. First of all, Fischer, spooked by the media and his impending moment of truth, went to ground in New York, forcing the organisers to postpone the starting date of the competition in Iceland. He hid at his friend and fellow chess player Anthony Saidy’s
parents’ house, unconcerned by the fact that Saidy’s father was dying. When he finally got to Reykjavik, he arrived late for the first game and lost, making an inexplicable blunder during the endgame. He forfeited the second game by not turning up and refused to continue unless the match was moved from a public hall to a private room. Amazingly, the organisers gave into his demands and he started to win. It was then Spassky’s turn to complain of a mysterious contraption hidden in the room that was sapping his energy. The furniture and light fittings were disassembled to mollify Spassky. All that was found were two dead flies. Were these all psychological ploys? Fischer once said: “I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.” No one prepared harder or longer in
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contemplation of those moves than Fischer. But chess is not just a game of the mind. It’s also the ultimate mind game. The confidence with which chess players speak of themselves and the condescension they display to their opponents illustrate how much of the action takes place away from the board. “The greatest pleasure,” Fischer told the talkshow host Dick Cavett when asked what he relished most about winning, “is when you break his ego — that’s where it’s at.” Spassky’s ego was broken in Iceland. Fischer accelerated away to the title, playing some of the most sublime chess ever witnessed in championship competition. In Bobby Fischer Against The World , Saidy refers to game six, the most celebrated of the match, as “a symphony of placid beauty”. “The thing that strikes me about Fischer’s chess,” Saidy says, “is that it’s very clear. There are no mysterious rook moves or obscure manoeuvrings. He’s very direct. There’s a great deal of logic to the chess. It’s not as though it’s not incredibly difficult — it is incredibly difficult. It’s just that when you look at it you can understand it — afterwards. He just makes chess look very easy, which it isn’t.” Making the supremely difficult look easy may be one definition of genius. One category of social dysfunction is making the easy look supremely difficult. Fischer possessed both traits. Short, who has played 12 world champions, never met Fischer, but he’s read widely about him, including Brady’s new book. He thinks that before Reykjavik Fischer showed some eccentricities but that “no fair
FISCHER ARRIVES FOR A MATCH AGAINST SPASSKY IN ICELAND IN 1972
person would say that he was crazy”. That is true, yet there were visible signs of growing unease. There is footage online of a crew-cut 15-yearold Fischer taking part in the US quiz show I’ve Got A Secret. He looks alert, engaged, open to the world. At one point, as the panel tries to guess his achievement (becoming the youngest US chess champion), he’s asked if it made people happy, to which he quips: “It made me happy!” and breaks into a big smile. Fourteen years later, in the interview with Cavett, he gives nervous, laconic answers that put me in mind of Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter. His leg moves in anxious spasms. He looks edgy rather than alienated. Wearing a sharp blue suit, he cuts a handsome, athletic figure, uncomfortable but not unappealing. His triumph in Iceland was the culmination of 23 years’ relentless work. When questioned about the effect of this monomania, he replied, looking disturbed at the thought: “Well, it would have been better if it had been a little more balanced, a little more rounded. But what can you do?” Yet on finally winning the crown, Fischer announced: “My goal now is
to play a lot more chess. I feel I haven’t played enough chess.” He never played another competitive game again, except for one strange match in 1992 against a fading Spassky. After Reykjavik, he was offered, and turned down, millions of dollars of sponsorship. There was a $5m deal on the table to defend his title against the Soviet challenger, Anatoly Karpov. Fischer insisted that Fide, the world chess federation, change the format of the final. Fide went nearly all the way to meeting his demands, but not far enough for Fischer. He resigned his title in June 1974. Saidy, like Kasparov, believes that a fear of losing lay behind the decision, even though Fischer would almost certainly have triumphed. Karpov, who became world champion by default, put it another way: “I think he couldn’t cope with his own invincibility.” And so began what have become known as the wilderness years and what Kasparov has called “one of the greatest known bouts of psychoanalysis in absentia the world has ever seen”. Fischer donated a large percentage of his Reykjavik winnings to the Worldwide Church of God. 75
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In 1975, after the no-show of the second Christ that the church had been promising, he abandoned the sect, believing it to be part of “a satanical secret world government”. By this time, he was living in a small basement apartment in Pasadena, near Los Angeles. His elegant wardrobe and fitness regime were things of the past. He cut off his phone, played chess on his own and spurned the friends who visited him. He started quoting the infamous antisemitic fabrication “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, even at dinner with his sister, her Jewish husband and children. “It was as if he was at war with himself,” says Saidy, who told him that if he didn’t play chess, he’d be forgotten. Fischer was so upset at the idea that he never spoke to him again. Well aware of chess’ baleful reputation in matters of psychiatric health, Short notes that it was when Morphy and Fischer stopped playing competitive chess that their mental conditions deteriorated. “So,” he says, “there is a counterargument that chess keeps people, or certain obsessive people, sane.” None the less, he acknowledges that the game can inflict mental damage. He draws an analogy with sport, where players pick up physical injuries as a result of constant strain. High-level competitive chess can also take its toll, only not on the physique. “I don’t think outsiders understand the levels of stress involved,” says Short. “If you’re in time trouble, your heart rate can easily double during a game. Normally when your heart rate is doubling you should be physically moving — so in chess there is no outlet for this stress. I think what happens is that people are getting 76
some sort of mental injuries that are not necessarily detected. Whereas a sportsman with a hamstring problem will receive immediate treatment, you can develop neurotic ideas in chess and they’re just never treated.” Fischer didn’t believe in doctors, much less psychiatrists. His neuroses were left to the media to diagnose and Fischer had even less time for the media than he did for shrinks. Brady records Fischer’s slide down the Los Angeles housing ladder, from the Pasadena basement to a MacArthur Park flophouse. He was reduced to living off his mother’s social security cheques. By 1990, he was a halfforgotten, penniless paranoiac.
High-level competitive chess can take its toll on the mind. Heart rate can double and mental injuries are not detected
That’s when he received a letter, via the United States Chess Federation, from a 17-year-old female chess player from Hungary called Zita Rajcsányi. She told him that he was “the Mozart of chess”. He entered into a correspondence with the teenager and she persuaded him to play chess once more. In 1992, a $5m match against Spassky was set up in wartorn Yugoslavia. There was a UN embargo in place and Fischer was warned in writing by the American government that his participation would contravene US law. He spat on the letter at a press conference. After a sticky start, in which Spassky seemed to take pity on his
plight, Fischer easily won the series. But the match exposed his decline as a player and, more conspicuously, as a person. He was also now an outlaw, facing a potential prison sentence should he return to America. With two Serbian bodyguards in tow, he moved to Budapest, where he drew heavily on the hospitality of Hungary’s leading chess families, the Polgars and Lilienthals, both of whom were Jewish. They put up with his antisemitic tirades because his company — or legend — was still prized within the Hungarian and international chess communities. It was Fischer who eventually turned his back on them, citing, as ever, real or imagined betrayals. Fischer lived a leisurely but dislocated life in Budapest. His money problems were behind him, but he didn’t speak the language and he alienated anyone who came close. Even Rajcsányi fell out with him after he refused to accept that she wanted to marry someone else. “I’ve won from worse positions than this,” he told her. He spent his time reading Holocaust-denial literature and watching American films. In 2000, Fischer relocated to the Far East, splitting his time between Japan, where he formed a romantic relationship with Miyoko Watai, the head of the Japanese Chess Association, and the Philippines. In Japan, by all accounts, he lived an almost normal, settled married life. But in the Philippines, he revelled in an ageing playboy lifestyle common to many wealthy Westerners in the poorer areas of east Asia. There were several girlfriends, including one, Marilyn Young, who claimed to have given birth to Fischer’s daughter.
HIS PASSPORT IN JAPAN 2004, WITH DAVID FROST IN 1972, AND AWAITING SPASSKY IN MONTENGRO IN 1992
The beginning of the end of this double life came on September 12 2001, when Fischer gave an interview to a Philippines radio station praising the previous day’s terrorist attacks on America. In so doing he realerted the US government to his fugitive status. It took a while, but in 2004 the consequences caught up with him when he was imprisoned in Japan
over alleged visa irregularities, pending extradition to America. The case dragged on for eight months and Fischer was only saved from American justice by the decision of Iceland, scene of his greatest triumph, to grant him citizenship. Fischer died on January 17 2008 of renal failure in a Reykjavik hospital, having declined medical treatment.
He was 64 — one year, as was duly observed, for each square of the chess board. What is Fischer’s legacy? Rather as John McEnroe’s antics helped raise the profile of tennis, so did Fischer’s uncompromising outlook revitalise chess. There are now around 600 million chess players in the world and Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess remains one of the bestselling chess books. He also demanded, and got, a huge increase in prize money, which attracted more competitors to the game and improved conditions for the players who followed him. “I doubt I would have been a professional had it not been for Bobby Fischer,” says Short. Fischer made chess seem dangerous, a board game fit for armchair warriors. Much of this was to do with the backdrop of the cold war, but there was also Fischer’s personality — driven, arrogant, ultracompetitive. He introduced physical fitness to a game that involved sitting down for five hours. There was also the dazzling quality of his chess. “For me,” says Short, “Kasparov was the greatest player of all time. But I think Fischer burned brighter than anyone else. The difference is he burned brighter for a shorter period.” Ultimately, this may prove the lasting image of Fischer, the brilliant but unstable star who blazed with such intensity that he imploded. But eventually all that will live on is the chess. As former US chess champion Larry Evans says. “That’s his monument — his games.”
Andrew Anthony is a writer for The Observer Bobby Fischer Against The World is out now 77
ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY’S EPIC TALE OF INNOCENCE, LOVE AND LOSS AFTER A PILOT CRASH LANDS IN THE DESERT
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THE LITTLE PRINCE
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o I lived my life alone, without anyone that I could really talk to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara, six years ago. Something was broken in my engine. And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers, I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone. It was a question of life or death for me: I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week. The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, a thousand miles from any human habitation. I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Thus you can imagine my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by an odd little voice. It said: “If you please, draw me a sheep!” “What!” “Draw me a sheep!” I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck. I blinked my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most extraordinary small person, who stood there examining me with great seriousness. Now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting out of my head in astonishment. Remember, I had crashed in the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region. And yet my little man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands, nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear. Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert, a thousand miles from any human habitation. When at last I was able to speak, I said to him: “But — what are you doing here?” 80
And in answer he repeated, very slowly, as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence: “If you please — draw me a sheep ...” When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey. Absurd as it might seem to me, a thousand miles from any human habitation and in danger of death, I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain-pen. But then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography, history, arithmetic and grammar, and I told the little chap (a little crossly, too) that I did not know how to draw. He answered me: “That doesn’t matter. Draw me a sheep ...” But I had never drawn a sheep. So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often. It was that of the boa constrictor from the outside. And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with, “No, no, no! I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature, and an elephant is very cumbersome. Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep.” So then I made a drawing. He looked at it carefully, then he said: “No. This sheep is already very sickly. Make me another.” So I made another drawing. My friend smiled gently and indulgently. “You see yourself,” he said, “that this is not a sheep. This is a ram. It has horns.” So then I did my drawing over once more. But it was rejected too, just like the others. “This one is too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time.” By this time my patience was exhausted, because I was in a hurry
to start taking my engine apart. So I tossed off [a drawing of a box]. “This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside.” I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge: “That is exactly the way I wanted it! Do you think that this sheep will have to have a great deal of grass?” “Why?” “Because where I live everything is very small” “There will surely be enough grass for him,” I said. “It is a very small sheep that I have given you.” He bent his head over the drawing. “Not so small that — Look! He has gone to sleep …” And that is how I made the acquaintance of the little prince. It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little, everything was revealed to me. The first time he saw my airplane, for instance (I shall not draw my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me), he asked me: “What is that object?” “That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane.” And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly. He cried out, then: “What! You dropped down from the sky?” “Yes,” I answered, modestly. “Oh! That is funny!” And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously. Then he added: “So you, too, come from the sky! Which is your planet?” At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable 81
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mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly: “Do you come from another planet?” But he did not reply. “It is true that on that you can’t have come from very far away…”. And he sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time. Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure. You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-confidence about the “other planets.” I made a great effort, therefore, to find out more on this subject. “My little man, where do you come from? What is this ‘where I live,’ of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?” He answered: “The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house.” “That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string, too, so that you can tie him during the day, and a post to tie him to.” But the little prince seemed shocked by this: “Tie him!
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What a queer idea!” “But if you don’t tie him,” I said, “he will wander off somewhere, and get lost.” My friend broke into another peal of laughter: “But where do you think he would go?” “Anywhere. Straight ahead of him.” Then the little prince said, earnestly: “That doesn’t matter. Where I live, everything is so small!” And, with perhaps a hint of sadness, he added: “Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far …” On the fifth day, again, as always, it was thanks to the sheep, the secret of the little prince’s life was revealed to me. Abruptly, without anything to lead up to it, and as if the question had been born of long and silent meditation on his problem, he demanded: “A sheep — if it eats little bushes, does it eat flowers, too?” “A sheep,” I answered, “eats anything it finds in its reach.” “Even flowers that have thorns?” “Yes, even flowers that have thorns.” “Then the thorns — what use
are they?” I did not know. At that moment I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had got stuck in my engine. I was very much worried, for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious. And I had so little drinkingwater left that I had to fear for the worst. “The thorns — what use are they?” The little prince never let go of a question, once he had asked it. As for me, I was upset over that bolt. And I answered with the first thing that came into my head: “The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite!” “Oh!” There was a moment of complete silence. Then the little prince flashed back at me, with a kind of resentfulness: “I don’t believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are naïve. They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons…” At that instant I was saying to myself: “If this bolt still won’t turn, I am going
to knock it out with the hammer.” Again the little prince disturbed my thoughts: “And you actually believe that the flowers...” “Oh, no!” I cried. “No, no, no! I don’t believe anything. I answered you with the first thing that came into my head. Don’t you see — I am very busy with matters of consequence!” He stared at me, thunderstruck. “Matters of consequence!” He looked at me there, with my hammer in my hand, my fingers black with engine-grease, bending down over an object which seemed to him extremely ugly ... “You talk just like the grown-ups!” That made me a little ashamed. But he went on, relentlessly: “You mix everything up together... You confuse everything ...” He was really very angry. He tossed his golden curls in the breeze. “I know a planet where there is a certain red-faced gentleman. He has never smelled a flower. He has never looked at a star. He
has never loved any one. He has never done anything in his life but add up figures. And all day he says over and over, just like you: ‘I am busy with matters of consequence!’ And that makes him swell up with pride. But he is not a man — he is a mushroom!” “A what?” “A mushroom!” The little prince was now white with rage. “The flowers have been growing thorns for millions of years. For millions of years the sheep have been eating them just the same. And is it not a matter of consequence to try to understand why the flowers go to so much trouble to grow thorns which are never of any use to them? Is the warfare between the sheep and the flowers not important? Is this not of more consequence than a fat red-faced gentleman’s sums? And if I know — I, myself — one flower which is unique in the world, which grows nowhere but on my planet, but which one little sheep
can destroy in a single bite some morning, without even noticing what he is doing — Oh! You think that is not important!” His face turned from white to red as he continued: “If some one loves a flower, of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars. He can say to himself, ‘Somewhere, my flower is there… But if the sheep eats the flower, in one moment all his stars will be darkened… And you think that is not important!” He could not say anything more. His words were choked by sobbing. The night had fallen. I had let my tools drop from my hands. Of what moment now was my hammer, my bolt, or thirst, or death? On one star, one planet, my planet, the Earth, there was a little prince to be comforted. I took him in my arms, and rocked him. I said to him: “The flower that you love is not in danger. I will draw you a muzzle for
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your sheep. I will draw you a railing to put around your flower. I will ...” I did not know what to say to him. I felt awkward and blundering. I did not know how I could reach him, where I could overtake him and go on hand in hand with him once more. It is such a secret place, the land of tears. I soon learned to know this flower better. On the little prince’s planet the flowers had always been very simple. They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all; they were a trouble to nobody. One morning they would appear in the grass, and by night they would have faded peacefully away. But one day, from a seed blown from no one knew where, a new flower had come up; and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet. It might, you see, have been a new kind of baobab. The shrub soon stopped growing, and began to get ready to produce a flower. 84
The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it. But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber. She chose her colours with the greatest care. She dressed herself slowly. She adjusted her petals one by one. She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies. It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear. Oh, yes! She was a coquettish creature! And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days. Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself. And, after working with all this painstaking precision, she yawned and said: “Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all disarranged …” But the little prince could not
restrain his admiration: “Oh! How beautiful you are!” “Am I not?” the flower responded, sweetly. “And I was born at the same moment as the sun…” The little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest — but how moving — and exciting — she was! “I think it is time for breakfast,” she added an instant later. “If you would have the kindness to think of my needs”. And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water. So, he tended the flower. So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity — which was, if the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with. One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince: “Let the tigers come with their claws!” “There are no tigers on my planet,” the little prince objected. “And,
anyway, tigers do not eat weeds.” “I am not a weed,” the flower replied, sweetly. “I am not at all afraid of tigers,” she went on, “but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you wouldn’t have a screen for me?” “A horror of drafts — that is bad luck, for a plant,” remarked the little prince, and added to himself, “This flower is a very complex creature…” “At night I want you to put me under a glass globe. It is very cold where you live. In the place I came from... ” But she interrupted herself at that point. She had come in the form of a seed. She could not have known anything of any other worlds Embarassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naïve untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong. “The screen?” “I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me…” So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love, had soon come to doubt her. He had taken seriously words which were without importance, and it made him very unhappy. “I ought not to have listened to her,” he confided to me one day. “One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. “But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity. “The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her
radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her… Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her…” I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds. On the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order. He carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes. He possessed two active volcanoes; and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning. He also had one volcano that was extinct. But, as he said, “One never knows!” So he cleaned out the extinct volcano, too. If they are well cleaned out, volcanoes burn slowly and steadily, without any
One ought never to listen to the flowers, but simply look at them and breathe their fragrance
eruptions. Volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney. The little prince also pulled up, with a certain sense of dejection, the last little shoots of the baobabs. He believed that he would never want to return. But on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him. And when he watered the flower for the last time, and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe, he realised that he was very close to tears. “Goodbye,” he said to the flower. But she made no answer. “Goodbye,” he said again. The flower coughed. But it was not because she had a cold. “I have been silly,” she said to him, at last. “I ask your forgiveness. Try
to be happy…” He was surprised by this absence of reproaches. He stood there all bewildered, the glass globe held arrested in mid-air. He did not understand this quiet sweetness. “Of course I love you,” the flower said to him. “It is my fault that you have not known it all the while. That is of no importance. But you — you have been just as foolish as I. Try to be happy … Let the glass globe be. I don’t want it any more.” “But the wind ...” “My cold is not so bad as all that ... The cool night air will do me good. I am a flower.” “But the animals... ” “Well, I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. And if not the butterflies — and the caterpillars — who will call upon me? You will be far away… As for the large animals — I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws.” Then she added: “Don’t linger like this. You have decided to go away. Now go!” For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower. He found himself in the neighbourhood of the asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330. He began, therefore, by visiting them, in order to add to his knowledge. The first of them was inhabited by a king. Clad in royal purple and ermine, he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic. “Ah! Here is a subject,” exclaimed the king, when he saw the little prince coming. And the little prince asked himself: “How could he recognise me when he had never seen me before?” He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them, all men are subjects. 85
“Approach, so that I may see you better,” said the king, who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over somebody. The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down; but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the king’s magnificent ermine robe. So he remained standing upright, and, since he was tired, he yawned. “It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king,” the monarch said to him. “I forbid you to do so.” “I can’t help it. I can’t stop myself,” replied the little prince, thoroughly embarrassed. “ “Ah, then,” the king said. “I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning. Yawns, to me, are objects of curiosity. Come, now! Yawn again! It is an order.” “That frightens me… I cannot, any more…” murmured the little prince, now completely abashed. “Hum! Hum!” replied the king. “Then I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to ...”He sputtered a little, and seemed vexed. For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected. He tolerated no disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But, because he was a very good man, he made his orders reasonable. “If I ordered a general,” he would say, by way of example, “if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not obey me, that wouldn’t be the fault of the general. It would be my fault.” “May I sit down?” came now a timid inquiry from the little prince. “I order you to do so,” the king answered him. But the little prince was wondering… The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule? 86
ILLUSTRATION: ALEX ANDREYEV | WWW.ALEXANDREEV.COM
THE LITTLE PRINCE
“Sire,” he said to him, “I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question ...” “I order you to ask me a question,” the king hastened to assure him. “Sire — over what do you rule?” “Over everything,” said the king. “Over everything?” The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all the stars. “Over all that?” asked the little prince. “Over all that,” the king answered. For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal. “And the stars obey you?” “They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination.” Such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at. If he had been master of such complete authority, he would have been able to watch the sunset, not 44 times in one day, but 72, or even 100, or even 200 times, without ever having to move his chair. And because he felt a bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken, he plucked up his courage to ask the king a favour: “I should like to see a sunset… Do me that kindness…Order the sun to set …” “If I ordered a general to fly from one flower to another like a butterfly, or to write a tragic drama, or to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not carry out the order that he had received, which one of us would be in the wrong?” the king demanded. “The general, or myself?” “You,” said the little prince firmly. “Exactly. One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform,” the king went on. “Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they
would rise up in revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable.” “Then my sunset?” the little prince reminded him: for he never forgot a question once he had asked it. “You shall have your sunset. I shall command it. But, according to my science of government, I shall wait until conditions are favourable.” “When will that be?” inquired the little prince. “Hum! Hum!” replied the king and consulted a bulky almanac.
If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, you are indeed a man of true wisdom
“Hum! Hum! That will be about — about that will be this evening about twenty minutes to eight. And you will see how well I am obeyed!” The little prince yawned. He was regretting his lost sunset. And then, too, he was already beginning to be a little bored. “I have nothing more to do here,” he said to the king. “So I shall set out on my way again.” “Do not go,” said the king, who was very proud of having a subject. “Do not go. I will make you a Minister!” “Minister of what?” “Minster of Justice!” “But there is nobody here to judge!” “We do not know that,” the king said. “I have not yet made a complete tour of my kingdom. I am very old. There is no room here for a carriage. And it tires me to walk.” “Oh, but I have looked already!” said the little prince, turning around to give one more glance to the other side
of the planet. On that side, as on this, there was nobody at all… “Then you shall judge yourself,” the king answered. “that is the most difficult thing of all. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.” “Yes,” said the little prince, “but I can judge myself anywhere. I do not need to live on this planet. “Hum! Hum!” said the king. “I have good reason to believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old rat. I hear him at night. You can judge this old rat. From time to time you will condemn him to death. Thus his life will depend on your justice. But you will pardon him on each occasion; for he must be treated thriftily. He is the only one we have.” “I,” replied the little prince, “do not like to condemn anyone to death. “And now I think I will go on my way.” “No,” said the king. “If Your Majesty wishes to be promptly obeyed,” he said, “he should be able to give me a reasonable order. “He should be able, for example, to order me to be gone by the end of one minute. It seems to me that conditions are favourable…” As the king made no answer, the little prince hesitated a moment. Then, with a sigh, he took his leave. “I make you my Ambassador,” the king called out, hastily. “The grown-ups are very strange,” the little prince said to himself, as he continued on his journey.
The Little Prince was published in 1943 and has sold more than 80 million copies. It is currently available on BN Publishing. 87
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G LO V E STO RY Onlookers, including families of the fighters and monks from the temple, cheer on the fighters at a Muay Thai tournament at a temple in Bangkok. The boys from the 96 Penang Gym in Klong Toei, a particularly tough part of Bangkok, take part. The gym is located between an expressway and a shipping yard and has a reputation for producing champion fighters.
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY BERNIE DECHAUNT //WWW.BERNIEDECHAUNT.COM
READY Rubbed with liniment oil, a young fighter from the 96 Penang Gym, his shorts emblazoned with the name of his gym, stands prepared to fight. Showing a determination that belies his tender age (11), this young fighter has already fought competitively 65 times.
TH E W ALL Glossy photos from magazines, newspaper clippings and photos of past champions adorn the walls of the 96 Penang Gym, a testament to the pedigree of the strong fighters that have come from Klong Toei.
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P RA CT I CE , P E R F E CT The young fighters hone their skills from a very early age, displaying incredible finesse and determination. The trainers are all ex-fighters themselves, so know what these young would-be champions are going through.
T H E CA L M B E FO R E A young fighter stands alone in his corner, awaiting his match in the Wat Mai Songkarat temple in Bang Pakong, a Bangkok suburb.
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FINAL WORDS A young fighter receives a final blessing from his trainer. Wai Kru is an ancient Thai custom and a demonstration of the respect and gratitude of the fighter towards the trainer.
TO O L S O F T H E T RA D E Muay Thai shorts with the 96 Penang Gym logo sewn in. The shorts are similar to a football team’s jersey, in that they represent the gym’s colours and identity. The shorts are extremely lightweight with a high waist to enable flexibility.
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R E SP I T E Young fighters take time out from training at the 96 Penang Gym. The gym is a place where local children find love, self respect, confidence and a sense of meaning in a world where drugs, violence and death are a fact of life. www.jasonness.com
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ILLUSTRATION: FLORIAN MUELLER
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WWW.BEHANCE.NET/FLORIAN_MUELLER
STYLE • MAPPED NORBERT (LEFT) AND PSYCHO R ABBIT SHOW OFF THEIR RELAXED, SPORTS CASUAL STYLE
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BRIEFING ÖÕÙ º
P. 106 º wolgan valley
P. ÖÖ× º route map
DANISH DELIGHTAILY
EW D EMIRATES’ N IC V SER E TO EN STARTS COPENHAG
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EMIRATES NEWS
COPENHAGEN
TOP ATTRACTIONS
With Emirates launching Copenhagen as a new destination from 1 August, here is our mini guide to the Danish capital. THE LITTLE MERMAID: The statue, based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, was presented at Langelinie waterfront in August 1913 as a gift to the city. TIVOLI GARDENS: Opened in 1843, Tivoli is one of the world’s oldest amusement parks. STRØGET: Copenhagen’s largest shopping area is a must for shopaholics. NYHAVN: The harbour decorated with colourful
FACTS POPULATION:
1,200,000 in the greater metropolitan area
LANGUAGES:
Danish (but other Scandinavian languages and English are widely spoken)
slanted quayside houses in Nyhavn are on display at every post card stand –a popular summer hangout. CURRENCY:
Danish Kroner (DKK)
ROSENBORG CASTLE:
CONVERSION:
US$1 to 5.5Kroner
The castle was used as a royal residence
COST OF 5-STAR HOTEL: US$520 TIPPING:
Uncommon
DANISH PHRASES YES / NO:
Ja / Nej
PLEASED TO MEET YOU: Det glaeder mig at traffe Dem THANK YOU:
Tak
I’M SORRY, I DON’T SPEAK DANISH: Undskyld, jeg kan ikke tale dansk EXCUSE ME:
Undskyld mig
up until 1720, now it is a museum celebrating the Danish monarchy. THE ROUND TOWER: The Round Tower is the oldest functioning observatory in Europe, and stars have been watched here since 1642.
PLEASE SPEAK MORE SLOWLY: Vil du tale lidt langsommere THIS GENTLEMAN WILL PAY FOR EVERYTHING: Denne here betaler MY HOVERCRAFT IS FULL OF EELS: Mit luftpudefartoj er fyldt med al
T H I N G S Y O U H AV E T O D O Rent a bike and cycle around the lanes and parks of what is considered to be one of the world’s most bike-friendly cities.
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Book a table at Noma — recently hailed as the world’s best restaurant with its reinterpretation of traditional Nordic cuisine.
Eat a traditional Danish Smørrebrød, which consists of sliced rye bread topped with cold meats, smoked fish, cheese or paté.
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EMIRATES NEWS
The Modern Crew A COMMON MISCONCEPTION OF CABIN crew is the outdated ‘trolley dolly’ persona that is associated with it. In truth this stereotyping has little relevance to the Emirates cabin crew of today. “We undergo six and a half weeks of thorough training before even starting the job,” explains Laura Gregory, a senior Emirates cabin crew. “Naturally, service is an important aspect of what we do but a lot of our training focuses on passenger safety, and also includes several aspects that people would not expect, for example we are taught medical procedures such as CPR and how to deliver a baby.” Sitting down with the impeccably dressed Gregory, 28, she recounts being offered the job over five years ago, “I snapped it up without hesitating, and within two weeks I was moving over to Dubai”. It’s a similar story for most of the 13,000 Emirates cabin crew, and with the cabin crew population set to grow by more than 2,500 this year, it is clearly a coveted job. “The perks of working for Emirates are great,” explains Gregory. “There is a good tax-free salary, free accommodation, plenty of opportunity for career development, and of course the travel. Out of the 58 different countries I’ve been to my favourite destinations have to be Lebanon and Italy for the music and culture,” says opera fan, Gregory. Although she admits that while the travel is an excellent perk of the job,
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I try to psyche myself up two days before, adapting my sleep pattern for the flight
it creates some unique problems. “One of the hardest parts of my job is having to constantly manipulate my sleeping pattern, so my body clock is adjusted for the next flight” she says. It is a process that involves more than just adjusting your alarm clock. “I try to psyche myself up two days before. adapting my sleep pattern to the times that I’ll need to be awake for the flight. For instance, for a morning flight, I will normally go to bed in the afternoon the day before,” she says. “I also make sure that I abstain from things that stimulate the mind, like caffeine and sugar. I try to stay away from extensive exercise and try to wind-down my body and mind - I drink a lot of chamomile tea!” Currently, around 133 different nationalities are represented by the Emirates cabin crew and although English is the official working language, between them more than 80 languages are spoken.
“Sometimes on a flight, we have more languages spoken by the crew than we actually have crew on board,” explains Gregory. One of the most noticeable things about the Emirates crew is how immaculate their appearance is. “We have to abide by Emirates grooming standards,” says Gregory, sitting with her hair neatly tied back in a French Roll, with Emirates’ trademark bright red lipstick, which she informs “is a must”. “The grooming standards are in place to make sure that we all look and compose ourselves in a professional manner.” So while they still remain perfectly-mannered and groomed, the fact that the modern day Emirates cabin crew speak a multitude of languages and are trained in emergency security and medical procedures, clearly shows just how far away they are from the traditional stereotype.
50%
EMIRATES NEWS
ION THE AVIATRGET TO TA ’S Y R INDUST CE THEIR REDU ISSIONS CARBON EM50 BY 20
WOLGAN VALLEY LEADING THE WAY NESTLED WITHIN AUSTRALIA’S BLUE Mountains, the Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa does more than just offer an eco-focused retreat for visitors. Over the past year, Wolgan Valley has teamed up with the University of Western Sydney (UWS), allowing its facilities to be used for field research to assist in the escalating problem of mange - a disease that has been threatening the valley’s population of Australian native wombats. In recent years the wombat, an animal unique to Australia and one of its
AERO W.ENVIRO. SOURCE: WW
national icons, has been threatened with rising cases of mange. However, due to the research trials conducted by the UWS, there is now strong evidence that soon it will be possible to not only cure mange in wombats, but also to make them immune to it. The award-winning Wolgan Valley conservation resort is carbon-neutral, and was recently recertified with a carbonNZero certificate celebrating that fact. The certification is reviewed every three years to ensure standards are kept.
THE FUEL-CELL SYSTEM AIRBUS HAS BEGUN RESEARCH TESTS ON developing hydrogen fuel cells as a greener alternative source of power for their ground operations. Fuel cell technology looks to generate electricity from energy contained in hydrogen and oxygen, instead of a relying on traditional jet fuel. The potential energy created could offer a good way to provide emission-free electric power for planes on the ground. Recent tests have already shown that an airliner fitted with a fuel cell-powered nose wheel, can taxi from its stand to the end of the runway without using its engines. Currently, on-ground electronics, such as the cabin lighting and the air-conditioning systems, are powered by APUs (auxiliary power units) that run on jet fuel. Emirates focuses on using ground source power, over fuel, for aircraft waiting at stands in Dubai. GLOBAL CONSUMERS WHO WOULD BUY FROM
FLY YOUR IDEAS
MC FUEL
GREEN URBANISATION FOR ABU DHABI
China’s Team Wings of
McDonald’s in the
Recent reports have
Abu Dhabi, plans that
highlighted that
adhere to stringent
60%
city planning and
eco-principles, include
CHINESE CONSUMERS WILLING TO SPEND 10
competition. Their idea cooking oil into fuel
the managing of
factors such as efficient
of a ground-based wind for their trucks. To do
urbanisation is crucial
public transport systems
95%
ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE COMPANIES
Phoenix, won this years UAE is looking into Airbus’ Fly Your Ideas
converting their used
power generator beat
this the company has
to the environmental
and urban electricity
out the other entrants.
announced it plans
impact of new urban
grids, which are essential
Emirates was a panel
to build a biodiesel
areas. In places such
components in lowering
judge in the awards.
production plant.
as Masdar City, in
its impact.
IMAGEPOWER GLOBAL GREEN BRANDS STUDY
PERCENT EXTRA ON GREEN PRODUCTS
IMAGEPOWER GLOBAL GREEN BRANDS STUDY
106
About Malaysia Geographically, Malaysia is as diverse as its culture. From cool hideaways in the highlands to warm, sandy beaches and rich humid mangroves, the capital city of Kuala Lumpur also offers a lively nightlife scene and a fascinating art and performance culture, which blends contemporary and traditional styles from many backgrounds. One of Malaysia's key attractions is its extreme contrasts. Towering skyscrapers look down upon traditional wooden houses built on stilts, and five-star hotels sit several meters away from ancient reefs.
About Prince Court Medical Centre Prince Court Medical Centre is a 300 bed private medical facility located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Born of a Malaysian vision to be the forerunner in the provision of clinical services and patient care delivery, we are internationally accredited by Joint Commission International (JCI). We aim to be the leading healthcare provider in Asia. We provide a comprehensive range of family-centred healthcare services.
International Business Lounge Prince Court Medical Centre is fast becoming a hospital of choice for our international patients. Over the years, we have seen a steady increase in patients coming from all over the world. Our International Business Center is specifically designed to ensure all the needs of our international patients are met. A dedicated team has been appointed to respond to requests, co-ordinate with agents, arrange the admission and discharge of patients and follow up post-discharge to ensure our services are of the highest possible standards. Services for interpreters and visa extension can also be arranged on the patient’s behalf.
We are here for you It’s difficult to decide when it comes to your health as there can be no compromise. Latest technology and modern procedure will save your life but it can’t bring a human touch to your heart. You may see us as just another hospital that provides services for you and loved ones. You may also see us as just another hospital that only invests latest technology. This is where Prince Court Medical Centre is different from the rest. We invest in the latest technology so you can be assured of the best result. We incorporate our Asian hospitality to ensure you and loved ones feel at home in a foreign land.
24 Hours Toll FREE :1-800-88-PCMC email: ibl@princecourt.com website: www.princecourt.com Prince Court Medical Centre 39 Jalan Kia Peng 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: +(60)3 2160 0000 Direct line: +(60)3 2160 0124 Fax: +(60)3 2160 0010 Services -
. ONCOLOGY . HEART & LUNG . WOMEN & CHILDREN . PLASTIC RECONSTRUCTIVE, DERMATOLOGY & BURNS CENTRE . UROLOGY, NEPHROLOGY, MEN’S HEALTH AND WELLNESS . EMERGENCY ROOM . EXECUTIVE HEALTH SCREENING . RADIOLOGY & NUCLEAR MEDICINE . DIGESTIVE DISEASE UNIT . PHYSICAL & REHABILITATION MEDICINE . LIFESTYLE MODIFICATION CENTRE . PATHOLOGY . MEDICAL SPECIALTIES . SURGICAL SPECIALTIES Managed by VAMED and Collaboration with Medical University of Vienna International
Joint Commission International Accreditation 2008
Malaysian Society For Quality in healthcare 2010
Asian Society for Quality in Healthcare
Winner Best Brands Wellness Hospital 2009 - 2010
Frost & Sullivan Healthcare Services Provider of the Year 2010
Member of Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia
Member of Medical Tourism Association
Halal certification for Food & Beverage Category
EMIRATES NEWS
BEFORE YOU R JOU R N EY CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE TRAVELLING IF YOU HAVE ANY MEDICAL CONCERNS ABOUT MAKING A LONG JOURNEY, OR IF YOU SUFFER FROM A RESPIRATORY OR
IN THE AIR
CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITION. PLAN FOR THE DESTINATION – WILL
TO HELP YOU ARRIVE AT YOUR destination feeling relaxed and refreshed, Emirates has developed this collection of helpful travel tips. Regardless of whether you need to
rejuvenate for your holiday or be effective at achieving your goals on a business trip, these simple tips will help you to enjoy your journey and time on board with Emirates today.
GET A GOOD NIGHT’S REST BEFORE THE FLIGHT. EAT LIGHTLY AND SENSIBLY.
AT TH E AI R PORT
SMART TRAVELLER DRINK PLENTY OF WATER
YOU NEED ANY VACCINATIONS OR SPECIAL MEDICATIONS?
ALLOW YOURSELF PLENTY OF TIME FOR CHECK-IN.
TRAVEL LIGHTLY
AVOID CARRYING HEAVY BAGS THROUGH THE AIRPORT AND ONTO THE FLIGHT AS THIS CAN PLACE THE BODY UNDER CONSIDERABLE STRESS. ONCE THROUGH TO DEPARTURES TRY AND RELAX AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
REHYDRATE WITH WATER OR JUICES FREQUENTLY.
CARRY ONLY THE ESSENTIAL ITEMS THAT
DRINK TEA AND COFFEE IN MODERATION.
YOU WILL NEED DURING YOUR FLIGHT.
DU R ING THE FLIGHT SUCKING AND SWALLOWING WILL
MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE
HELP EQUALISE YOUR EAR PRESSURE
KEEP MOVING
DURING ASCENT AND DESCENT. BABIES AND YOUNG PASSENGERS MAY SUFFER MORE ACUTELY WITH POPPING EARS, THEREFORE CONSIDER PROVIDING A DUMMY.
LOOSEN CLOTHING, REMOVE JACKET AND
EXERCISE YOUR LOWER LEGS AND CALF
GET AS COMFORTABLE AS
AVOID ANYTHING PRESSING AGAINST YOUR BODY.
MUSCLES. THIS ENCOURAGES BLOOD FLOW.
POSSIBLE WHEN RESTING AND TURN FREQUENTLY.
WEAR GLASSES
USE SKIN MOISTURISER
AVOID SLEEPING FOR LONG PERIODS IN THE SAME POSITION.
W H EN YOU ARR IV E TRY SOME LIGHT EXERCISE OR READ IF YOU CAN’T SLEEP AFTER ARRIVAL.
CABIN AIR IS DRIER THAN NORMAL THEREFORE
APPLY A GOOD QUALITY MOISTURISER TO
SWAP YOUR CONTACT LENSES FOR GLASSES.
ENSURE YOUR SKIN DOESN’T DRY OUT.
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CABIN L BE CREW WIL LP HE HAPPY TO D E IF YOU NE
EMIRATES NEWS
E C N A T S I S S A PLETING COM THE FORMS
TO US CUSTOMS & IMMIGRATION FORMS WHETHER YOU’RE TRAVELLING TO, OR THROUGH, THE UNITED States today, this simple guide to completing the US customs and immigration forms will help to ensure that your journey
is as hassle free as possible. The Cabin Crew will offer you two forms when you are nearing your destination. We provide guidelines below, so you can correctly complete the forms.
CUSTOMS DECLAR ATION FORM
IMMIGR ATION FORM
All passengers arriving into the US need to complete a CUSTOMS DECLARATION FORM. If you are travelling as a family this should be completed by one member only. The form must be completed in English, in capital letters, and must be signed where indicated.
The IMMIGRATION FORM I-94 (Arrival / Departure Record) should be completed if you are a non-US citizen in possession of a valid US visa and your final destination is the US or if you are in transit to a country outside the US. A separate form must be completed for each person, including children travelling on their parents’ passport. The form includes a Departure Record which must be kept safe and given to your airline when you leave the US. If you hold a US or Canadian passport, US Alien Resident Visa (Green Card), US Immigrant Visa or a valid ESTA (right), you are not required to complete an immigration form.
110
ELECTRONIC SYSTEM FOR
WILL EXPIRE ALONG WITH
TRAVEL AUTHORISATION (ESTA)
YOUR PASSPORT.
IF YOU ARE AN INTERNATIONAL
APPLY ONLINE AT WWW.CBP.GOV/ESTA
TRAVELLER WISHING TO ENTER THE UNITED STATES UNDER THE
NATIONALITIES ELIGIBLE
VISA WAIVER PROGRAMME,
FOR THE VISA WAIVER *:
YOU MUST APPLY FOR
ANDORRA, AUSTRALIA,
ELECTRONIC AUTHORISATION
AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, BRUNEI,
(ESTA) UP TO 72 HOURS PRIOR
CZECH REPUBLIC, DENMARK,
TO YOUR DEPARTURE.
ESTONIA, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, HUNGARY, ICELAND,
ESTA FACTS:
IRELAND, ITALY, JAPAN, LATVIA,
CHILDREN AND
LIECHTENSTEIN, LITHUANIA,
INFANTS REQUIRE AN
LUXEMBURG, MALTA, MONACO,
INDIVIDUAL ESTA.
THE NETHERLANDS, NEW
THE ONLINE ESTA SYSTEM
ZEALAND, NORWAY, PORTUGAL,
WILL INFORM YOU WHETHER
SAN MARINO, SINGAPORE,
YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN
SLOVAKIA, SLOVENIA, SOUTH
AUTHORISED, NOT AUTHORISED
KOREA, SPAIN, SWEDEN,
OR IF AUTHORISATION
SWITZERLAND AND THE
IS PENDING.
UNITED KINGDOM**.
A SUCCESSFUL ESTA
*
APPLICATION IS VALID
** ONLY BRITISH CITIZENS QUALIFY UNDER THE VISA WAIVER PROGRAMME.
FOR TWO YEARS, HOWEVER
AD
80 mm wide x 224 mm high
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
THIS MAY BE REVOKED OR
THE NUMBER OF CONSECUTIVE YEARS THAT ICE HAS WON WORLD’S BEST INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT AT THE SKYTRAX WORLD AIRLINE AWARDS.
7 1987
THE YEAR OF EMIRATES FIRST SPORTS SPONSORSHIP, THE FIRST POWERBOAT RACE HELD IN DUBAI.
111
EMIRATES NEWS
112
113
EMIRATES NEWS
114
AD 115
THE FLOENETTAINS
C OUR FLEET ADE 157 PLANESS. SMENGER PA UP OF 148 D9 PLANES AN ANES CARGO PL
For more information: www.emirates.com/ourf leet
FLEET GUIDE
Boeing 777-300ER Number of Aircraft: 57 Capacity: 354-442 Range: 14,594km Length: 73.9m Wingspan: 64.8m
Boeing 777-300 Number of Aircraft: 12 Capacity: 364 Range: 11,029km Length: 73.9m Wingspan: 60.9m
Boeing 777-200LR Number of Aircraft: 10 Capacity: 266 Range: 17,446km Length: 63.7m Wingspan: 64.8m Boeing 777F Number of Aircraft: 3 Range 9,260km Length: 63.7m Wingspan: 64.8m
Boeing 777-200 Number of Aircraft: 9 Capacity: 274-346 Range: 9,649km Length: 63.7m Wingspan: 60.9m
Boeing 747-400F/747-ERF Number of Aircraft: 4/2 Range 8,232km/9,204km Length: 70.6m Wingspan: 64.4m 118
Airbus A380-800 Number of Aircraft: 15 Capacity: 489-517 Range: 15,000km Length: 72.7m Wingspan: 79.8m
Airbus A340-500 Number of Aircraft: 10 Capacity: 258 Range: 16,050km Length: 67.9m Wingspan: 63.4m
Airbus A340-300 Number of Aircraft: 8 Capacity: 267 Range: 13,350km Length: 63.6m Wingspan: 60.3m
Airbus A330-200 Number of Aircraft: 27 Capacity: 237-278 Range: 12,200km Length: 58.8m Wingspan: 60.3m 119
H
as the fashion world imploded? We look at the scandals that have hit the world of haute couture in next month’s Style issue, with a cover story you won’t want to miss. We head to Hong Kong and discover some of the city’s secret tailors in a few unexpected places. We gorge on some delectable cupcakes from New York’s hottest bakery and we pick up some very stylish booty from Istanbul. We feature a photo essay from one of fashion’s most renowned photographers and we map out Milan, a city bursting with élan. As Yves Saint Laurent said: “Fashion fades, style is eternal.” We couldn't agree more. If you want to take a second look at style, check out September’s issue.
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