Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
YOUR Wrap Up for Christmas Appeal 2015 (blankets and socks for Syrian refugee families living in tented camps in neighbouring countries) was a great campaign that allowed people to show their kinder side. Well done.
Thankfully, I was able to donate before I travelled away. The staff and kids at Rainbows also gave lots and lots of school bags and items for children to use in the newspaper’s earlier Ramadan Appeal.
A big thank you to DHL Express too for all the work they do flying stuff for free to people in need everywhere.
Christine Hasan, by email.
I enjoyed the ‘Beauty and the piste!’ headline on the TravelWeekly report in last week’s issue. I think the best headline I can recall was published in a newspaper back in the late nineties or early noughties. It read: ‘RUDOLPH HESS STOLE MY TROUSERS’.
It was a front page report about a man’s strange wartime experiences. I would like to claim the credit but it was actually one of my colleagues who came up with it!
Jan Henderson, travel writer, by email.
I usually really enjoy the Film Weekly review every Wednesday but I’m beginning to wonder if columnist Kristian Harrison is playing with a full deck after reading his review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
He gave, in my opinion, this disaster of a movie a glowing review, which I guess makes partial sense since it is radioactively bad. Seriously, this instalment is the worst thing to happen to the world since Justin Bieber.
I, like many others, waited with baited breath to see the film, hoping that not only would it live up to the hype, it would tell a story worthy of the iconic franchise. Sadly, it did not.
I’m quite adept at suspending disbelief for the sake of a film but this one pushed my patience to the limit. I’m willing to believe in space travel, extra-terrestrials and even the fact that humans can understand what Chewy is saying, but what I cannot get my head around is how Rey (with no Jedi training whatsoever) could use ‘the force’.
Am I expected to believe someone with no previous experience suddenly just figured out the Jedi mind trick, telekinesis, and how to use a lightsaber on the spot? Even Luke Skywalker himself needed Obe Wan and Yoda to show him the ropes!
This film is a travesty with the sole purpose of perpetuating a lucrative franchise so that corporations can flog merchandise to children and geeks who still live with their mum.
Shame on you Kristian!
Husain, Saar.
Editor’s note: Kristian is away on holiday and will be back with his Bieber haircut and opinions on the latest film releases next week. In the meantime, chief reporter Mai is sitting in the hot seat.
