Ever heard of Nadia Elena Comăneci? Well, every single time I found myself watching a women gymnastic event at any of the Olympics, I have unfailingly been reminded of her by my dad who was a huge fan of this Romanian athlete who along with her five gold medal haul was the first one to be awarded a perfect score of 10 at an Olympiad. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] 30th July 1980: Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.
Photo: Central Press/Getty Images[/caption] Guess what? We have got a Nadia Comăneci for our generation now! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Stunning performance: Simone Biles, one fifth of the Fierce Five, competes on the floor during the women's qualifications.
Photo: Reuters[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Biles performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's qualification.
Photo: AP[/caption] Remember Usain Bolt, well he is so last Olympics now. We have got a new poster athlete for these games and it’s a woman – let’s just pretend that the timeless Michael Phelps does not exist at all. Not just gymnastics, standing at four feet nine inches tall, American Simone Biles is arguably destined to be one of the greatest ‘Olympian’ ever in the history of the quadrennial event. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] The gymnast, pictured, even has her own move - The Biles - a double flip with a half twist which she lands blind.
Photo: AFP/Getty[/caption] The pocket rocket from Columbus, Ohio, produced a stunning performance to win the women’s all-around event in Rio. This was her second Olympic medal following her dominating performance to win gold for team USA in women’s team all-around. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] United States' Simone Biles bites her gold medal for the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016.
Photo: AP/Dmitri Lovetsky[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] United States' Simone Biles performs on the floor during the artistic gymnastics women's qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Photo: AP[/caption] She landed the best vault, beam and floor routines, leading the US quintuple to win by a huge margin of more than eight points. It was the largest margin of victory since the “Perfect 10” scoring system was replaced by the current open-ended scoring method in 2006. Today’s Olympic scoring system is hugely different, as gymnasts now start with a maximum number of points based on the difficulty of their routines, then face deductions from an execution score based on any mistakes the judges find in their performances. The final score for each apparatus is the sum of the execution and difficulty scores. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] United States' Simone Biles performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's qualification.
Photo: AP[/caption] Biles is already the most successful woman in the history of the world championships with 10 gold medals in the last three years and with a possibility of total five at Olympics ’16 she is already on her way to sporting immortality. But current-gender biasness aside, is Simone actually better than Nadia? [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] United States' Simone Biles performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016.
Photo: AP/Dmitri Lovetsky[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] The 19-year-old did lose top spot momentarily after her second rotation on the uneven bars.
Photo: AFP/ Getty[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] The 4ft 8ins gymnast scored an incredible 62.198 points and blew her competition away
Photo: Getty Images[/caption] So while the American acrobat might not be able to match the Romanian superstar’s perfect 10 (largely owing to the reformed scoring system) she is definitely at par with her as far as performance is concerned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkLBWy1t2yk While Comăneci dazzled with her graceful movements in Montreal, it’s the power Biles brings to the sport that’s been driving the crowds crazy in Rio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWeecKjJb6s Biles’s signature event is the floor routine, a supreme display of her strength and stamina. But what makes the pocked sized dynamo a-once-in-a-lifetime gymnast is that she’s not just superior on the floor, her acrobatic prowess on the balance beam and the vault is also matchless. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] United States' Simone Biles performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016.
Photo: AP/Rebecca Blackwell[/caption] But what’s most impressive about Biles is the fact that for the past three years, she’s consistently lived up to her hype. She’s gone out and won every all-around competition she’s entered. Simone Biles is one of the greatest athletes this world will ever see. If you have not seen her already you should be thankful you have got a few more chances to see that greatness in action later this week. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] USA's Simone Biles won the gold medal in the women's individual all-round gymnastics final.
Photo: Getty Images[/caption] The best of things truly come in the smallest of packages. https://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/763812747968733188 https://twitter.com/SamuelLJackson/status/762452181786107904 https://twitter.com/tamronhall/status/763848088314322946 https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/763873378897985536

Oh my god! What have they done? Why would anyone in their right mind go about screwing with a universal classic? But you can’t really talk sense with Hollywood, now can you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLJdzky63BA You can instantly tell how bad a remake is if one of the action sequences replicated from its 50s version is not even half as good as its predecessor. Heck! Even the one gracing the 20s variant was light years ahead of the current monstrosity. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Toby Kebbell and Pilou Asbæk
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Jack Huston
Photo: IMDb[/caption] Grandeur, miracles, spirituality, poetic revenge, homoeroticism, and horses that are trying to run the frick out of each other! Yes, I am talking about Ben-Hur, and double yes, I am bashing its 2016 reincarnation, which is anything but. Despite being made more than half a century after the previous one, it’s quite a feat that the recently released edition manages to look something straight out of the Stone Ages as a cinematic experience. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Morgan Freeman and Jack Huston
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Jack Huston and Nazanin Boniadi
Photo: IMDb[/caption] There aren’t many surprises in the new Ben-Hur. It’s loud but yet dull and considering the spiritual nature of the source material, thoroughly soulless. Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, one of the 19^th century’s biggest best-sellers, has been the basis for two classic Hollywood films. But it’s a case of ‘third time unlucky’ with this year’s production. Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston) is a wealthy Jewish prince who lives in Roman-occupied Jerusalem with his mother, sister and crush. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Jack Huston
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Toby Kebbell
Photo: IMDb[/caption] Following a spat with his childhood friend and adoptive brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), now a fancy Roman tribune, Judah is falsely accused of treason and is sentenced to a life of slavery aboard a ship. The narrative torturously meanders along until our protagonist gets a chance to avenge his torment in a dangerous, high-stakes chariot race against the foe turned friend. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Rodrigo Santoro and Jack Huston
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Morgan Freeman and Jack Huston
Photo: IMDb[/caption] Length is a major issue. Ben-Hur should have been a sprawling epic of two adopted brothers divided by culture and politics with Jesus’s life and death as fascinating backdrop. However, the filmmakers tried to cram as much of the book as possible into about two hours. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Rodrigo Santoro
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Pilou Asbæk
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Toby Kebbell
Photo: IMDb[/caption] This was a story that was meant to stimulate readers and audiences in a metaphysical and spiritual way, but what the studio have done is that they took away that crucial ingredient, and just left it with an idiotically simple hard-luck story, set against the background of first century Judean politics. Oh, but they did manage to incorporate the horse-drawn contest, if it’s any consolation. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Toby Kebbell and Jack Huston
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Toby Kebbell and Jack Huston
Photo: IMDb[/caption] Long story short, the movie was simply bereft of any soul whatsoever. The actors rarely rise above what they were provided with, and that includes Morgan Freeman as an African sheikh who was probably forced to work in the film at gunpoint. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Morgan Freeman
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Toby Kebbell and Jack Huston
Photo: IMDb[/caption] Director Bekmambetov has argued that the 1959 version is out-dated and his edition would provide us with fresh insights. If he truly believes that, I would certify him officially insane if it were up to me. Take my advice; skip the new theatrical adaptation and download the classic instead. Despite having a 57 years difference the old one is 57 times better.

Para-   (parə/), prefix.     Beside; Beyond. For me personally, the Paralympic Games, that kickstarted last week on Wednesday, promise to be an even greater celebration of sporting excellence than the Olympics itself. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Brazilian Paralympic swimmer Clodoaldo Silva lights the flame during the opening ceremony at 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Photo: Reuters[/caption] The event as the name suggests takes place ‘beside’ the Olympic Games, but as far as I am concerned it goes ‘beyond’ them, considering what the particular group of participating athletes achieve during the course of this quadrennial contest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi6Cnw1GjUg With the sort of world we live in, the Paralympians, in all likelihood, would have been laughed at, mocked or at worst bullied by their peers at any one point in their life, but Paralympics have highlighted what these gifted individuals can do rather than what they cannot. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] German paralympic long jumper Markus Rehm aka 'Blade Jumper' ready for Rio defence
Photo: AFP[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] A performer interacts with a robotic arm during the opening ceremony, at 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Photo: Sergio Moraes, Reuters[/caption] Since 1988, the Games have taken place in the same city as the Olympics, and I was fortunate enough to watch the very first edition. It was merely an hour long highlights show from the day’s proceedings, but boy, was I spellbound throughout those 60 minutes every single day. What I saw were, imperfect humans to some but super humans to my young self. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vflrs688L8 [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Members of the Brazilian athletic delegation participate in the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Photo: EPA[/caption] These were athletes that contemporary society had patronised, insulted, and made to feel inferior. However they rose above and ‘beyond’ this mind-set to leave lasting imprints on a kid’s mind [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Brazilian Paralympic runner Marcia Malsar falls while carrying the torch as rain falls during the opening ceremony at 2016 Rio Paralympics
Photo: Ueslei Marcelino, Reuters[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Brazilian Paralympic runner Marcia Malsar falls while carrying the torch as rain falls during the opening ceremony at 2016 Rio Paralympics
Photo: Ueslei Marcelino, Reuters[/caption] Now fast forward to 2016 and this celebration of human spirit has taken us to Rio. A couple of weeks ago, there were concerns that only 12% or 300,000 of the tickets were sold, but the organising committee has seen a huge surge in sales as it approached the games, with an average of 40,000 seats sold per day since then. The organisers expect the total number of tickets to surpass the 1.8 million sold at the Beijing Paralympics. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] South African athletes cheer as they take part in the opening ceremony at 2016 Rio Paralympics,
Photo: Ueslei Marcelino, Reuters[/caption] The lack of ticket sales wasn’t just the only concern that the games had to endure. Venues shutting down or the fact that several countries lacked the required funding to send athletes to Rio were also major obstacles standing in the way of organisers. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Track and field athletes chase Canada's first medal of Rio Paralympics.
Photo: Yahoo Sports Canada[/caption] The dire situation even lead Sir Philip Craven, the president of the International Paralympic Committee, to share his apprehensions with the reporters at the time.

 “Never before in the 56-year history of the Paralympic Games have we faced circumstances like this.”

Even with a summer full of riveting international soccer contests with the Euro and the Olympics, being a Liverpool fan, nothing beats the good old start to the English Premier League (EPL). And if EPL is the cake then UEFA Champions League is surely the cherry atop this delicious offering. Unfortunately for me, this year is yet another in the long list of seasons this past decade that I would have to do without this particular footballing condiment. But hey, counting your blessings and all that shizz, I still get to cheer on former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and his band of merry men at Barca. And cheer I did when La Blaugrana thrashed Celtic 7-0 at Camp Nou. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Lionel Messi celebrates one of his three goals as Barcelona recorded its largest Champions League victory when thrashing Celtic 7-0 at Camp Nou.
Photo: Getty[/caption] The lethal trio of Messi and Neymar combined with El Pistolero to wreak havoc on the Scottish champions. Lionel Messi bagged a hat-trick while his partners in crime, Suarez and Neymar got a brace and a goal respectively. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] The Argentinian forward broke another Champions League record with his sixth hat-trick.
Photo: BPI[/caption] Most astonishingly, ever since Suarez joined from the Mighty Reds in July 2014, the holy trinity of MSN have scored 266 competitive goals for Barca. Their arch-rivals on the other hand didn’t have it all their way. Holders Real Madrid were two minutes from losing at The Bernabeu to Sporting Lisbon in their opening group game before staging a later than late comeback to win 2-1. And it was none other than a former sporting forward who spoiled the visitor’s party. Yes, you guessed it right! Cristiano Ronaldo finally scored a free-kick for a late leveller before Alvaro Morata snatched a winner deep into injury time. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Álvaro Morata finds space between two Sporting Lisbon defenders to head Real Madrid’s winner.
Photo: Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images[/caption] The English quadruple had a mix matchday one, with Manchester City and defending champions Leicester City coasting to easy victories over rivals. While Kevin De Bruyne was scintillating in the Manchester derby at the weekend, it was Sergio Aguero who stole the plaudits on Wednesday against Borussia Mönchengladbach as he scored his second hat-trick of the season to help The Citizens emerge 4-0 victorious in their delayed Champions League Group C opener. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Manchester City’s Sergio Agüero celebrates his hat-trick against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Photo: Martin Rickett / PA[/caption] Kelechi Iheanacho also got in on the act as City served up a sumptuous footballing treat to their supporters in order to make up for the lost time after torrential rain washed out the first attempt to play the fixture on Tuesday. It was yet another fascinating performance by the Blues, as they grabbed their seventh successive win under new manager Pep Guardiola. Defending English League champion Leicester City’s maiden voyage in Champions League took them to “Venice of the North” and they made a huge splash by sinking Club Brugge in a 0-3 score line. Marc Albrighton scored with the Foxes’ first shot and Riyad Mahrez curled in an exquisite free kick, to double their lead in the first half. The English player of the year was at it again when he smashed in a third from the penalty spot to add another chapter to the Leicester City fairy tale. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3MX6lUoIpA Things however weren’t that great as far as the two North London clubs were concerned with both Arsenal and Tottenham failing to achieve maximum from their fixtures. Spurs’ European crusade began in disappointment as even an English club-record home crowd at Wembley failed to prevent them falling 2-1 at the hands of Monaco. The 85,011 crowd was the largest home attendance in any English club’s history, beating the 84,467 that saw Manchester City play Stoke in the FA Cup in 1934. Their North London didn’t fare too well either as they failed to beat a lacklustre Paris Saint-Germain side and ending up drawing the contest 1-1. While it’s early days in the competition there is no escaping the fact that this season again would be roller coaster as far as the supreme European club contest is concerned. [poll id="682"]

How do you break a woman who has the audacity to have a spine to stand up for herself? What does it take to knock her down if she has the gall and gumption to fight against all that’s wrong? How do you shut a girl who has the temerity to have a rational mouth on her? Well, you can’t! And B-Town has finally manifested the point in all its cinematic mightiness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL2TShb6fFs In the prevailing culture of putrid patriarchy, if a female refuses to submit, it is considered as an attack on the male ego. You label her a slut, whore, or in archetypal desi lingo, a r***i, but every so often this spirited female behaviour also serves as a prelude to dire consequences as severe as verbal abuse, physical violence, and in extreme cases, rape. These repercussions make me sick in the pit of my stomach and on the evidence of this profound visual piece, the bowels of the filmmakers too. Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s court room drama, Pink, shows us the horrors that any sister, mother, daughter, girlfriend – yours as well as mine – can face at any point in their subjugated life cycle. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] The three female protagonists of Pink are your regular young urbane women. The troika of Minal (Taapsee Pannu), Falak (Kirti Kulhari) and Andrea (Andrea Tariang) share a flat in a ‘posh’ South Delhi locality. Their night out at a rock concert ends in them accepting an after-party invitation from Rajveer (Angad Bedi), nephew of a powerful politician and two of his chums, which consequently sets off a terrifying chain of events. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Angad Bedi
Photo: Twitter[/caption] The typical trident of desi boys who think a ‘drinking, smoking, rock concert-attending girl’ is someone who asks for it, then proceed with subtle sexual advances throughout the night. Clearly oblivious of the term ‘consent’, Rajveer tries to force himself on Minal despite a categorical ‘no’ from her side and ends up getting smashed by a glass bottle. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Taapsee Pannu
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] While guys rush to the hospital to get the gash fixed, girls flee the scene only to realise next morning that Minal has been slapped with an attempt-to-murder charge. This is where the gripping, but yet, a not-so-glitzy crime-thriller goes mainstream as Amitabh Bachchan – a retired lawyer suffering from bipolar disorder, gives the movie a massive dose of exposure by stepping in as the girls’ court-room saviour. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Amitabh Bachchan
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Taapsee Pannu and Andrea Tariang
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] The premise is simple: A “no” means “no”. Means “no”. Means “frikking NO”. It should never and I repeat, never ever, like ever, be taken as a “hmmmm, maybe.” The first-half of Pink, resolute in its refusal to either show the incident or even let us hear the account, is built on awkward silences, reflective subtexts, and all that lies between the lines. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Andrea Tariang
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] The sharp screenplay and edgy narrative puts the girls, and, by extension, the audience through the metaphorical wringer. The girls are first-rate. Pannu has the film on her shoulders while her figurative partners-in-crime, despite not being high profile actors, still manage to hit all the right notes. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Andrea Tariang
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] Big B is still the ‘Big Daddy of Bollywood.’ He towers through Pink and imbues his character with a tragic splendour. It is a role that goes from saying nothing to talking too much, and that gear-shift is managed remarkably by Mr Bachchan, who brings to the table an almost righteous rage. His fervent defence of these brave women is both heart-wrenching and inspiring. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Taapsee Pannu
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] In an era when feminists are roundly dismissed as ‘feminazis’, Pink is a brutal indictment of our times shackling women in stereotypes. Characters cannot be determined by the clothes they wear, the time they come back home, the fact that they drink or smoke, hell, not even their promiscuous sexual history. Most importantly, women should not have to bear the brunt of male rage for these flawed perceptions. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Taapsee Pannu and Andrea Tariang
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang
Photo: Screenshot[/caption] Way back in 88, Hollywood tried to make the same point through Jodi Foster’s The Accused in which her character is gang-raped in a bar: because she wears a short skirt and has been drinking, she is made out to be a woman who is game for casual sex. It took Indian cinema almost 30 years to catch up but Pink nevertheless is a belatedly exceptional case of ‘better late than never.’ [poll id="683"]

The stage was set, popcorn ready and the browser switched to the right streaming website. This after all was supposed to be a momentous night, a date when I would watch history being re-written, and a day when arguably the greatest football club on planet earth would add another feather to the cap. But sixth placed Villareal clearly failed to read the script. The Yellow Submarine came to the Bernabeu with ‘Mission: Damage Limitation’ against the leaders but left the capital with Real Madrid’s dreams sunk. Zinedine Zidane’s men had equalled the previous best of 16 – a feat achieved by Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2010-11 – in their previous match against Espanyol, but a 1-1 draw on Wednesday completely extinguished the hopes of surpassing the league record and extending that run. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Ronaldo was largely starved of service and was penalised for a foul when getting on the end of a Marcelo centre before firing an ambitious long-range effort off target in the 32nd minute.
Photo: Twitter[/caption] Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale were back in the starting XI for their tilt at history, but the pair had little joy during the first half that saw Bruno Soriano scoring from the spot to put the visitors ahead. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Ronaldo upset again
Photo: Twitter[/caption] Skipper Sergio Ramos was both the villain and the hero for the home side. It was he who gave away the penalty when he used his hand to block a shot from the opponents, although he redeemed himself immediately after the break by powering a header through to the back of the net to level the score. From here on out the onus was on the triumvirate of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema to make magic happen, but Los Blancos failed to find a winner, despite a late onslaught. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Ramos salvages draw for Zidane's men
Photo: Getty[/caption] Post-match coach Zinedine Zidane refused to blame the players for the heartbreak.

“I am happy with my players,” he said. “I’m not going to talk about records. We are going to rest and think about the next match.”

“We can’t always play well from the first minute. It can happen and, in fact, it did happen the first 45 minutes.”

I will be embarrassingly honest here. I actually do not remember exactly the last time I properly stood up while our national anthem was played. If I recall correctly, I am more the less left sidetracked by the juggling of placing my over-tipping popcorn into the holder and scouring the grubby cinema chair. Where else these days do we get to listen to our qaumi tarana (national anthem) other than the big screen? I for one am past the age of going to school and standing in an assembly every morning, loudly chanting Pak sar zameen shaad baad… So, it didn’t come as a surprise to me when a while back I read how a San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knowingly shrouded himself into a stormy controversy by not standing up to The Star-Spangled Banner. Why is he protesting? He is obviously not distracted by popcorn I bet! His kneeling down represented standing up for all the wrongdoings against the African Americans and other minorities in the United States of America (pun intended). His decision to not stand up during the anthem before the start of the game in late August sparked a national debate on racial and social inequality. More importantly, it highlighted the police’s brutality against the black Americans which indisputably has exposed the differences between forces and the coloured communities in the United States. In a country torn by racial violence between the so-called protectors of the innocent and the coloured public, this is not something totally new. The Americans and us Twitteratis are often used to waking up to the news of black men being shot by the law enforcement agents. It hasn’t been long since the shooting of unarmed Trayvon Martin in Florida. I distinctively recall how for weeks if not months, all I could hear and read on the American publications, was the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old kid by a neighbourhood watch volunteer. Couple of years down the road, the nation again went into frenzy after the Ferguson killing and the subsequent riots, when another teenager Michael Brown was shot dead by the police. And yes, let me tell you. Both the shooters were white. And the victims, black. The Americans had stirred up another civil rights movement. Kaepernick is not the only athlete who has voiced his opinions against the violent tendencies of the police force. In recent past, NBA’s LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul have all vociferously used their fame and eminence to bring to light the social injustice affecting the minorities in Unites States. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul
Photo: Zimbio[/caption] Similarly, former Denver Nuggets star Chris Johnson, whom we now know more as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf after his conversion to Islam, fuelled another wrangle when he candidly cited the American flag as a symbol of oppression. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
Photo: Denver Nuggets Club[/caption] Right after the preseason game, which his side lost, Kaepernick explained his actions and said,

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.”

“There’s people being murdered unjustly and not being held accountable. That’s not right. That’s not right by anyone’s standards.”

It was a weekend worthy of a roller coaster ride for me – in sports that is. Liverpool came from behind to win in the dying minutes of the match at the Liberty Stadium. The high-fives, punches in the air and the roars were all evidence of my elevated levels of ecstasy. It is a different sense of euphoria altogether when your team wins a match it had trailed in the beginning. However, my joy was cut short soon after when I read about the death of a young Scottish boxer online. Mike Towell died Friday night after being critically injured in the nationally televised bout. The 25-year-old welterweight boxer lost in the fifth round to the Welsh boxer Dale Evans in a fight in Glasgow, Scotland held a day earlier. Also known as “Iron Mike Towell”, the father of one suffered severe bleeding and swelling to his brain, and 12 hours after being pulled from life support, he died. A few weeks leading up to the fight, he had complained of headaches, which he took as migraine resulting from stressful routine for the fights. According to a Facebook post by Towell’s partner of eight years, Chloe Ross, he,

“Fought right to the end”. “I’m absolutely heartbroken to say my annoying best friend passed away tonight at 11:02 very peacefully,” Ross wrote. “It has been the longest 24 hours of our lives. My baby has lost his daddy. But he will be so so proud of his dad in what he achieved.”

 “I’m absolutely devastated. It is like one of my own family members has passed.” “I put him down with a shot in the fifth round but he recovered. There was no celebrating once I saw the condition Mike was in. We were devastated when we heard the news.” “I feel like I am responsible because we are the ones punching each other - and this is something I have to live with now.”

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

What’s nearly as good as reading an Urdu poem? Simple! Hearing it sung. This might sound ridiculous to many of you out there, and if the poet in question is the legendary Faiz Ahmed Faiz, even blasphemous, but here me out. When was the last time you allowed yourself to indulge in written Urdu kalaam? Get my point? So, when we get to hear relatively obscure work of these literary maestros, since we seem to be so averse to the idea of actually reading them, I believe it’s something to be valued rather than being ridiculed. This brings me to ‘Kuttay‘, a somewhat unknown nazm penned by the iconic leftist poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. We might have had our fair share of Faiz’s “Mujhse Pehli Si Mohabbat”, “Hum Dekhaingay” and “Gulon Mein Rang Bhare” over the years but Kuttay is another undiscovered gem that we can now experience – courtesy of Nishtar Park, a Karachi-based rock band. The band mates previously called ‘EMB’ started jamming together back in 2010 during their time at St Patrick’s High School. In December 2015, they shuffled their pack and renamed the band to ‘Nishtar Park’. Nishtar Park’s music can be best described as a fusion of indie and rock n’ roll. Kuttay was penned by Faiz as part of his first book, Naqsh-e-Faryadi, which was published in 1941. The nazm is an extension of his usual criticism of the sleeping middle class and allegorical parallels have been drawn between them and dogs. There is something peculiarly profound about this poem which mainly stands out due to his plain choice of words and apt metaphors. As for the crooned version, while the composition keeps the sound very Eastern, the arrangement on the whole leans towards a more Western influence. Long story short, ‘Kuttay’ is unleashed and we don’t care if this is the way they are let out! [poll id="685"]

And here we go again.  Or not go, to be precise in this particular case. The Kabaddi World Cup was just a couple of days away from kickstarting and yesterday the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) announced that Pakistan has been barred from competing in the event. Do I need to mention the reason? Well, for those living on Mars and completely oblivious to what is happening in their neighbouring planet, the on-going escalation in the tension between the Asian neighbours, Pakistan and India, has resulted in this unfortunate exclusion of our national team. A major event for the sport, the World Cup will take place in Ahmedabad, India from October 7^th for a fortnight. It will include teams from Australia, Iran, South Korea, India, England, Poland, Kenya, Argentina and the newbies, United State of America. The International Kabaddi Federation announced,

“This is not the right time to engage with Pakistan”.

“Pakistan is a valuable member of the IKF but looking at the current scenario and in the best interest of both the nations, we decided that Pakistan must be refrained from the championship.”

“We have called a meeting to discuss this issue but let me tell you that a Kabaddi World Cup is no world cup without Pakistan,” said Rana Muhammad Sarwar. “This is just like a football world cup without Brazil.”

I have no qualms in admitting that there have only been two players ever that I have feared facing as an opponent going into a Liverpool match. One of them was the Welsh wizard, Gareth Bale from his Tottenham Hotspur days and the other is a certain Wayne Mark Rooney. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Wayne Mark Rooney (left) and Gareth Bale (right)[/caption] The golden boy of English football, he was a footballing force of nature during his peak. Rooney wasn’t just all pace or power like an archetypal English player, he also had the technique and flair of a Brazilian footballer and his presence as the poster child for Nike’s Joga Bonito campaign prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup should attest to the fact. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU23bn28Z7A But that was then and what happened on Saturday night at Wembley is now. While The Three Lions started another new era with interim manager Gareth Southgate opening his account against 176^th ranked Malta, it seemed like a long-winded end for his captain Wayne Rooney. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBY-jGbPo18 Rooney didn’t just face the embarrassment of being nutmegged in the first half by the Maltese right back he also had to suffer the humiliation of being booed by his own fans when he shot wildly off target near the end of the match. https://twitter.com/Lawrence_KC/status/784797279492247552 https://twitter.com/MarkOgden_/status/785453995200479236 https://twitter.com/weston75/status/784797480705724416 https://twitter.com/archiegriggs1/status/784797308940582912 https://twitter.com/CanGunn444/status/784797389018243072 https://twitter.com/grahamruthven/status/785454049332170752 https://twitter.com/Ben_The_Gooner/status/784797351588270080 https://twitter.com/KArjun_/status/784797369837707264 Southgate sympathised with his skipper and admitted he could not understand the audible frustration of England’s fans. He said,

“It’s fascinating to get an insight into his world over the last 10 days. Every debate seems to focus on him. The onus on him is enormous, the criticism of him is, at times, unfair and yet he ploughs on and plays with pride and represents his country with pride.”

“I don’t understand, but that seems to be the landscape. I have no idea how that is supposed to help.”

In a country where you would be hard pressed to find men footballers who ply their trade in a foreign league, I was actually quite surprised when I was first told of Shahlyla Baloch. A woman soccer player who hailed from Balochistan, demonstrating her skills in Maldives. Boy, was I impressed! My astonishment didn’t just stop here; news came in that Shahlyla then went on to grab herself a hat-trick during her stint in Maldives. Woah, this girl is going places. Unfortunately, this precocious talent is no more amongst us. Shahlyla Ahmadzai Baloch died in a car crash in Karachi late Wednesday night. According to close family sources, Baloch was sitting in the passenger seat when the car struck against a pole in Karachi’s DHA Phase VIII area. Her body will be taken to Kalat for burial. Shahlyla had a rich footballing pedigree. Born in 1996, the 20-year-old played for the Balochistan United FC as a forward on the domestic front. Her older sister, Raheela Zarmeen, also a former player is now associated with the national women football team as a manager. Their mother, Senator Rubina Irfan, has been the chairperson of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Women’s Wing. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Shahlyla Ahmadzai Baloch
Photo: Instagram[/caption] Shahlyla started playing football at the tender age of seven and immediately received FIFA’s youngest player award. Ever since then, she did not back down. Winning the best player trophy thrice (2009, 2011 and 2013), she was simply a phenomenon. Tariq Lutfi, a former coach, in his condolence message said,

“Shahlyla was the best female football player Pakistan has ever produced and her death was a great loss to Pakistan women’s football.”

If you are like me, someone who swears at anything and everything under the sun, there are times when the repertoire of your favourite curse words is simply not enough for the occasion. For these very times, your love for foreign cinema comes in really handy. The first season of Narcos – being a cracker of a show aside – was a must-watch for those like me who swear by their swear words. So you can imagine the level of excitement I had for the second season. I was dying to add a few more Spanish expletives to my everyday offensive lexicon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkOKkS7mKfY Oh, and speaking of dying, there was this small matter of experiencing the uber-fascinating, Escobar too! Narcos, the gangster show rolled out by Netflix last year, chronicles the ascent of Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria from a small-town smuggler to one of the world’s most notorious multi-billionaire cocaine kingpin. At one point during the late 80s, he was worth more than the entire GDP of our country. His shot to notoriety: solely responsible for the introduction of cocaine in Uncle Sam’s land of the pure. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura)
Photo: IMDb[/caption] The manic season one covers the first 15 years of Pablo’s magnificent lifestyle. It ends at his spectacular escape from the La Catedral, the glorified palatial prison camp where he was locked up – or not, considering he continued to run his drug cartel from there too. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Agents Javier Peña (Pedro Pascal) and Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook)
Photo: IMDb[/caption] Come season two and we are thrown in a cat and mouse chase between Escobar, (played brilliantly by (Wagner Moura) and the Colombian authorities, assisted by the DEA duo Agents Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook) and Javier Peña (Pedro Pascal), who are daringly attempting to curb the enormous appetite of the drug in his own backyard. Pablo has run aground in his hometown Medellín, and the Paisas (locals of Medellín) are doing everything in their power to keep their very own Robin Hood safe. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Wagner Moura, Diego Cataño, Leynar Gomez
Photo: IMDb[/caption] Although the first season was more perceptibly complex, I found season two an impressive step forward in sublimely portraying the darker and grittier approach to the dirty war on drugs. How can I not forget Pablo calmly crooning opera in the shower while his gunmen line up and shoot the Medellín wh***s – straight in their heads. Puta madre! The comical yet expressionless face of Escobar still haunts me. While his trusted few unleash a bloodbath in the busy Colombian capital market, Pablo delicately romanticises with his wife Tata (Paulina Gaitan) in the kitchen of their latest hideaway. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) and Tata Escobar (Paulina Gaitan)
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Tata Escobar (Paulina Gaitan) and Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura)
Photo: IMDb[/caption] Well I have to give it to this man. If he wants something, he will eventually get it. But he still hasn’t forgotten his manners, he will even politely offer money at first. Plata O Plomo. Silver or lead. Bullet or money. Simple! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura)
Photo: IMDb[/caption] This multi-faceted second season pivots on the Colombian government’s plan to capture him, more dead than alive. The show also continues to keep up the suspense and drama with numerous subplots from Agent Peña’s furtive allegiance with the Los Pepes to Tata’s vain attempts to convince Pablo to give in, for the sake of the junior Escobars. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Tata Escobar (Paulina Gaitan), Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura)
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Tata Escobar (Paulina Gaitan)
Photo: IMDb[/caption] The return of the coldblooded General Carrillo was a personal highlight for me. With his brutal killing of the young spotter, he crosses all sorts of moral boundaries to let Pablo know he has arrived and means business. But Pablo always had a way to get back at his adversaries, so does he? Come mierda! [poll id="689"] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Agents Javier Peña (Pedro Pascal) and Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook)
Photo: IMDb[/caption] I vaguely remember the first time I heard about Pablo Escobar. I was in my pre-teens and growing up in one of the oil rich Gulf state. CNN was our door to the big outside world and many a headlines had Escobar blasted in it (pun intended). Little did I know then that one day or a night in this particular matter, I will be binge-watching Pablo’s mad rise to an equally mad, if not madder, fall as the greatest drug baron of all time, while also adding a few new fancy words to my Spanish! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura)
Photo: IMDb[/caption] Putas, Drugs, Stashes, Kills. And those long deafening silences. That is Pablo for you my friends! [poll id="690"]

Peculiarity at its uber best! That, my readers, is Tim Burton for you. I don’t need to introduce him; a pure genius oddball, period. Maestro of everything that is bizarre, crazy and wonderfully strange, all at the very same time. My first ever Burton experience was the quirkily magical Edward Scissorhands (1990). It is only Burton who in this bittersweet flick could have infested every possible human emotion in an entertaining eerie -esque way. Since then, I never missed any of his ventures, though there have many hits and misses in between. And this time round too, I was enthusiastically yet warily waiting for a mind twist by his latest gaggle of eccentricity in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV_IhWE4LP0 Adapted from Ransom Riggs’s popular trilogy of the adult bestseller, the first of a hopeful franchise, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a typical Tim Burton fantasia, not at all short on the weirdness and the nuttiness which he is fêted for. It is adapted by Jane Goldman, more known for her share of fame in Kick-Ass (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011) and Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014). A bit complex, I must add, which is nothing new if you are an avid Burton follower, the plot revolves around a dorky teen Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield) who grew up listening to the childhood fables relived by his grandfather Abraham (Terence Stamp). These stories involve a bunch of mutated kids with some unusual and peculiar super powers. After witnessing his grandfather’s sudden and mysterious murder by an unknown creature, Jake is left traumatised and seeks therapy to clear his head. He then stumbles upon some bizarre palimpsest further clueing his decision to visit the isolated island associated with his grandpa’s tales. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Eva Green
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Asa Butterfield, Ella Purnell, Pixie Davies, Raffiella Chapman, Finlay MacMillan, Milo Parker, Lauren McCrostie, Hayden Keeler-Stone, Cameron King, Georgia Pemberton, Thomas Odwell, Joseph Odwell
Photo: IMDb[/caption] He finally hunts down the home of these mysterious children, run by the falcon-transforming Miss Peregrine played by Eva Green. The house is nothing ordinary to say the least, trapped in a time loop on a one fine madding day in 1943. The younger charges of Miss Peregrine aptly known as “the peculiars” are all but odd. These children have quite intriguing magical powers à la our X-Men super heroes, such as invisibility and weightlessness to the grotesque power to host bees inside the belly! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Eva Green, Asa Butterfield and Georgia Pemberton
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Ella Purnell, Pixie Davies, Lauren McCrostie, Cameron King, Thomas Odwell, Joseph Odwell
Photo: IMDb[/caption] However, I felt Burton could have spent some more time on developing these somewhat empty characters, but once he frantically gets to that point,  the stimulating story and the commendably strong performance of Eva Green takes over. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Eva Green
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Asa Butterfield and Ella Purnell
Photo: IMDb[/caption] Although I found the movie filled with many fascinating visual awes, I couldn’t hold on to much of the plot till the half mark until the introduction of the monstrous eye feeding villain Barron, wonderfully played by Samuel L Jackson, leading the team of “peculiars” gone bad. The prolonged pace of the movie did test my patience to be honest, but it never bored me with its unique characters and the dark but captivating storyline. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Judi Dench
Photo: IMDb[/caption] I wouldn’t dare divulge more to spoil the movie for you, but for those diehard Burton fans, all I can say is that the movie is a fitting blend of Burton’s whimsically aesthetic directing and the eccentric storyline of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Ella Purnell, Pixie Davies, Raffiella Chapman, Finlay MacMillan, Milo Parker, Lauren McCrostie, Cameron King, Georgia Pemberton, Thomas Odwell, Joseph Odwell
Photo: IMDb[/caption] [poll id="691"]  

And it all started so well! Well that’s the life of a football manager. Last Tuesday’s result in Trnava means the Scots despite thumping Malta 5-1 in their first FIFA world cup qualifier have taken just four points from their first three matches and within this short span, boss Gordon Strachan is under increasing pressure to retain his position as chief of Scotland football team. There is a prevalent understanding that the 59-year-old will be forced out of the job if his players do not return from the November 11 encounter against England with a victory. But Strachan is not one to shy away from a fight and he still appears pretty bullish about his team’s chances even after the harrowing 3-0 loss in Slovakia. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Gordon Strachan is under increasing pressure to retain his position as chief of Scotland football team.
Photo: PA[/caption]

“At the moment I just think I am the best man to go down there with the group and get a result,” Strachan insisted.

“Do I fear the sack? No, I don’t fear the sack because I’m 59, I’m all right, I’ve got loads to do in my life. I have absolutely no fear of the sack because life is good for me. I live in a good world. The only thing I want to do is make people happy.”

“I’ve not got a problem with it. I don’t sit here indignant and think people shouldn’t talk about me. Of course they should. That’s the nature of the game. We’d all like it to be in a manner that is civil.”

During the 90’s, a sure shot way to figure out a wannabe was to ask a simple question involving the identity of their favorite Hollywood actor. The acid test usually yielded a cringe worthy Tom Cruise or a Brad Pitt. Every now and then you also get a wise-ass girl pseudo-retorting with an, ‘Apnay aap ko Tom Cruise samajhtay ho kya?’ (Do you think you’re Tom Cruise?) type of lousy comeback line. Even then I would be all ‘heck no!  I’d rather frikkin be a Bobby De Niro than the overrated Cruise’. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016).
Photo: Imdb[/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="403"] Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It (1992).
Photo: Imdb[/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="455"] Robert De Niro.
Photo: Imdb[/caption] Don’t get me wrong I am still a big fan of a couple of his flicks, Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia to name a couple. But me being impressed had more to do with the directorial wizardry of Stanley Kubrick and Paul Thomas Anderson than anything that Nicole Kidman’s ex had to offer. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut.
Photo: Imdb[/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="404"] Tom Cruise in Magnolia.
Photo: Imdb[/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="397"] Stanley Kubrick.
Photo: Imdb[/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="393"] Paul Thomas Anthony.
Photo: Imdb[/caption] [poll id="693"] And you know what? Tommy boy still hasn’t changed one bit. Unfortunately for Tom Cruise, he is no longer Hollywood’s Golden Boy and audience and critics wouldn’t go easy on him for his latest drab as they would have in the past. Now, before we actually delve into the matter of critically deconstructing Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, how about I put this on record that despite Cruise’s (now waning) box-office pull, he arguably was the worst choice to play the titular character. Tom Cruise has absolutely nothing in common physically with author Lee Child’s crime-solving ex-military drifter. The 54-year-old at 5’6 is infamously a foot shorter than Reacher. So you automatically take out the one group – the die-hard fans of the book series –that probably could have turned out to be your cinematic saviour. All that’s left for Tom Cruise to exert his charms is the response from pretentious middle aged aunties, who are still stuck with misguided nostalgia. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Tom Cruise and Lee Child in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016).
Photo: Imdb[/caption] So anyway, the sequel of Cruise’s B grade Mission: Impossible franchise, the series he acts in while he’s killing time kicks off with him heading back to Virginia to finally meet Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), the army major who replaces Reacher. He finds that she’s been arrested for espionage, and being the protagonist, our hero sets out to save the day to prove her innocence – it helps that she is conventionally beautiful too – whilst kicking the back sides of the baddies. Also, in a totally unnecessary subplot meant to humanise a character that isn’t particularly human in the first place, we meet a teenage girl (Danika Yarosh) who may or may not be Reacher’s daughter. She exists mostly to be captured so that Reacher can save her. These three are thrust together by necessity, and must contend with a series of bad guys to prolong the dreary narrative along with our collective miseries. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Cobie Smulders in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016).
Photo: Imdb[/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Danika Yarosh in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016).
Photo: Imdb[/caption] I don’t know if you have come across an extended supercut of ‘Tom Cruise running in all of his movies’ video hitting the social media in the past week or so. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8Q2MgdMskQ Seen together, all of them seem like an aimless runabout. But I am fairly certain, as repetitive as it may seem, most of the clips would have had a context in the grand scheme of their respective movie plots. Jack Reacher on the other hand, even without the excuse of being a complete film, is exactly like the comically long viral video, ie, Tom Cruise darting and dashing around for no reason whatsoever. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Tom Cruise and Cobie Smulders in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016).
Photo: Imdb[/caption] For the last decade and a half, Cruise has been desperately clinging onto whatever youth he has left, playing the action hero in so many big studio productions, it’s difficult to keep track. It’s high time he takes a cue from the title of his latest offering and never goes back to the increasingly tedious genre that he has found himself stuck in and reinvents himself or else even my female acquaintances of yore will have a hard time owning him. [poll id="694"]

News flash just in: Oxford dictionary has added a new meaning to the word push-up.

“A grave national security threat”.

“It would have been better if the players offered nawafil (special prayers) instead of doing press-ups on the victory.”

“Who were Misbahul Haq and other players giving a message to by doing push-ups?” asked PML-N, MNA, Rana Muhammad Afzal.

“That was my promise to the army guys.”

Anyone who knows me knows my love for ‘The Joker’. So whether you are Heath Ledger or Jared Leto or even Jack Nicholson for that matter, my admiration for your eccentric-self increased the moment you signed up to play the Clown Prince of Crime. Such is my fascination with the character that it transcends the confines of cineverse, so whether you are cosplaying for a comic-con or simply dressing up as Gotham’s favourite Jester for Halloween, I like you, period! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Lewis Hamilton walked in to Heidi Klum’s annual Halloween bash of dressed up as Heath Ledger’s version of The Joker.
Photo: ESPN[/caption] So when F1’s World Champion Lewis Hamilton walked in to the annual Halloween bash of supermodel Heidi Klum, dressed up as Heath Ledger’s version of  The Joker, I instantly knew the identity of the driver I am rooting for, as far as this year’s F1 championship is concerned. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] F1 world champion, Lewis Hamilton.
Photo: Pinterest[/caption] Just 24 hours after racing to victory in Mexico, the British driver swapped his Mercedes overalls for a purple suit and a green wig to party into the early hours with tennis ace Serena Williams. And party he should, considering the fact that in the short space of two weeks, Hamilton has managed to cut down a 33-point championship lead for fellow Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg to 19 points with convincing back-to-back wins in the US and Mexico. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Hamilton has managed to cut down a 33-point championship lead for fellow Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg to 19 points.
Photo: AFP[/caption] The latter brought the 31-year-old his 51st career Grand Prix win, putting him level in second place on the all-time winners’ list with the great Alain Prost, with only the legendary Michael Schumacher ahead of them. But more importantly for the Brit, this weekend’s triumph has kept this year’s – once doomed – title chase alive. You wouldn’t be wrong to say that Hamilton would be leading the championship now, had his engine not failed while he was dictating the Malaysian Grand Prix last month. The engine failures in qualifying in China and Russia early in the year also contributed to his current predicament. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Hamilton at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Photo: AFP[/caption] With two Grands Prix to go, a 19-point deficit will be tough to surmount but if anyone can do it, it’s him. Make no mistake; it’s going to be tough, since Nico Rosberg can still clinch the title by finishing second and third even if Hamilton wins both races. But credit to the champion who is still defiantly defending his throne from the usurper,

“I’m trying to claw it back” Lewis Hamilton said. “It is feeling pretty late this charge, but in the past it has shown it is never too late and that is why I have to keep on trying to do what I have done this weekend.”

A dream 108 frikkin long years in the making. A yearning held by millions across numerous generations for 1,296 lengthy months. A craving that hundred thousand others never got to satiate because they perished during the intervening 39,420 days. After the longest win-less championship drought in major league baseball history, Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 8-7 at Progressive Field in Cleveland to end a 108-year wait for a title and in doing so banished the ‘billy goat curse’ once and for all. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Chicago Cubs players celebrate on the field after defeating the Cleveland Indians in game seven of the 2016 World Series at Progressive Field.
Photo: Reuters[/caption] In 1945, the last time the Cubs contested a World Series, a local bar owner, Billy Sianis, and his pet goat were allegedly removed from their home park, Wrigley Field, because of the animal’s foul smell.

“Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more,” a fumingly livid Sianis supposedly declared, giving birth to the curse of the billy goat.

‘Any team can have a bad century’.

I am a bonafide self-proclaimed cumber*****, or as Ben would like it, a cumberbabe, or in my case, a cumberdude. So having Dr Strange hit the screens this week, before Sherlock comes to town by the end of the year, was like Christmas, Diwali, Eid and an unexpected hartal all rolled into one for all us Benedict Cumberbatch fans the world over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWRUNTLisPo Throw in the uber talented duo of Tilda Swinton and Mads Mikkelsen – to add to the already inflated nerd-crush quotient – along with the occasionally brilliant pair of Rachel McAdams and Chiwetel Ejiofor to the mix and you have got a sure shot cinematic winner. Right? Well regrettably, not actually! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Mads Mikkelsen in Doctor Strange (2016).
Photo: IMDB[/caption] In addition to an Oscar pedigree star cast, Dr Strange has the attitude of Iron Man, the faux-spirituality of The Matrix, the absolute mind-twist visuals of Inception, and the oriental tinged back story of Batman Begins, but what it does not have is a cerebrally clever narrative backbone to carry it all. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Rachel McAdams and Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange (2016).
Photo. IMDB[/caption] Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a rock-star neurosurgeon who is simply Dr House in disguise by being a cocky genius. His life, however, does a complete 180 when he badly crashes his flashy car and ruins his million-dollar surgeon hands. Desperate to restore them, Strange exhausts all medical possibilities before heading across the world to meet a – gender-flipped from the original comics – mystical healer in Nepal called the ‘Ancient One’ (Tilda Swinton). [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Tilda Swinton and Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange (2016).
Photo: IMDB[/caption] The Ancient One turns out to be the Sorcerer Supreme who, along with her gang of occult masters, including Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is keeping the universe safe from “unseen dark forces” led by a former protégé Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Chiwetel Ejiofor in Doctor Strange (2016).
Photo: IMDB[/caption] Dr Strange who was simply there to get his hands fixed, somehow ends up being tasked with protecting the earth from total annihilation by using spells as shields and out-of-body wizardry to bend time and space. I’m not sure if I can sit through any more of these superhero origin stories because all of them are so bloody similar. It is a story that feels like it has been told only a million times before. Despite the presence of a stellar cast it’s only Cumberbatch and Swinton who, as characters, stay with you long after this CGIfest ends. Also the action set-pieces might have looked tremendously unique if Christopher Nolan’s Inception never existed and it would have definitely helped had the director not vigorously rubbed this very fact by cueing up one of these mind-benders every 15 minutes for a complete over-kill. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Chiwetel Ejiofor and Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange (2016).
Photo: IMDB[/caption] There are a couple of genuinely wow moments, but those aside, the movie at no point gives you the impression that you are watching a cinematic masterpiece. You end up feeling this pang of regret that you have yet again fallen victim to the relentless Hollywood marketing con. Every single time they somehow manage to hook you in; if it’s not the dazzling trailer, it’s an interesting casting choice. But the end result is usually the same these days. They rake in money by the bucket load and cinema aficionados are left disappointed. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange (2016).
Photo: IMDB[/caption] With Benedict Cumberbatch already roped in as the protagonist, the ultra fascinating character of Dr Strange could have been a real (infinity) gem in the crown of Marvel. But alas this latest installment from the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) simply ends being, ermm, strangely standard. [poll id="700"]