THE BASICS Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald - named after the author of the US national anthem, who was a distant cousin - is acclaimed as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. He wrote novels and short stories, coined the term "Jazz Age", and was a celebrated member of the "Lost Generation" of American expats in Europe in the 1920s. He died, a broken man, in Hollywood on December 21, 1940.
THE BEGINNINGS Fitzgerald grew up in St Paul, Minnesota. His first published writing was a detective story in the school newspaper when he was 13. He went on to Princeton University, but on academic probation and unlikely to graduate, joined the army in 1917. Charles Scribner's Sons twice rejected his novel The Romantic Egotist, but the editor Maxwell Perkins accepted it in 1919 as the rewritten This Side of Paradise.
THE SOUTHERN BELLE The 1920 publication of his novel won Fitzgerald his wife. He had courted Zelda Sayre, the prototypical Southern belle, in 1918 when he was stationed at Camp Sheridan in Alabama. But she refused to live on the pittance he earned in the advertising business after his army discharge, and broke off their engagement. In late 1919, however, he had begun to make money from his short stories in The Saturday Evening Post and The Smart Set magazines, and he married his "golden girl" a week after his book launch cemented his success.
THE ROARING TWENTIES The couple epitomised the highs - young love, wealth, fame and riotous living - and the lows - alcoholism, failure, madness and early death - of the American Dream. But, ah, the highs! Manhattan, Long Island, the French Riviera, Paris, Rome, flappers, cocktails, the Charleston - above all, unfettered optimism and unbounded joie de vivre. And, oh, the lows, notably Zelda's descent into schizophrenia and the crushing debt her hospital stays and medical bills saddled her husband with.
THE STELLAR ACHIEVEMENT Fitzgerald followed Paradise with another autobiographical novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922). But his masterpiece was The Great Gatsby (1925), a sombre and lyrical study of aspiration. Its sales were low, but it is now a literary classic. The eyes of Dr TJ Eckleburg, the valley of ashes, the green light at the end of the dock - the Instant Expert challenges you to posit a more brilliant use of symbols in one work of fiction.
THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS After Tender Is the Night (1934) earned mixed reviews and tepid sales, Fitzgerald spent much of the last half of the 1930s demeaningly doing script work in Hollywood. Estranged from Zelda, he fell in love with the gossip columnist Sheila Graham, in whose flat he died of a heart attack at the age of 44. His Hollywood novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon (1941), was published posthumously.
A SOUL LAID BARE The Crack-Up (1945), also published posthumously, is a collection of previously unpublished letters and notes and three essays written for and published in Esquire magazine in 1936. The essays - The Crack-Up, Pasting It Together and Handle with Care - are the revelations about his nervous breakdown by a bloodied but unbowed man of character. The psychological agony is heart-wrenching.
SUMMING UP Almost no one came to a visitation for Fitzgerald at a funeral home in Hollywood. One who did, the writer and friend Dorothy Parker, looked at the corpse, crying, and - echoing a line from Gatsby about Gatsby - murmured: "The poor son of a bitch".
THE DISSENTING OPINION Yes, much of Fitzgerald's early work was juvenile, slick and commercial. But he was an insightful artist and the peerless chronicler of the Jazz Age. And as Don Birnam, the protagonist of Charles Jackson's The Lost Weekend, says to himself, referring to Gatsby: "There's no such thing... as a flawless novel. But if there is, this is it."
Gatsby on screen
Leonardo DiCaprio has the title role as Jay Gatsby in the fifth film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, which began shooting in the Australian director Baz Luhrmann's homeland this month. The earlier versions were:
1926 A lost film, meaning no copies are known to exist. A Paramount Pictures silent, it was based on a stage play adapted from the novel, and starred Warner Baxter as Gatsby, Lois Wilson as Daisy Buchanan and Neil Hamilton as Nick Carraway.
1949 Based on both the book and the stage adaptation, this second version was made by Paramount as a vehicle for its star Alan Ladd. It got the full lush treatment, including costumes by Edith Head.
1974 Paramount's third pass was praised for its interpretation of the story and for being faithful to it, but criticised for lacking any true emotion. There certainly is no chemistry between Robert Redford as Gatsby and the miscast Mia Farrow as Daisy. Truman Capote, Francis Ford Coppola, Vladimir Nabokov and Philip Roth all contributed to the screenplay.
2000 This TV film starred Toby Stephens, Mira Sorvino and Paul Rudd.
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Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Bangladesh tour of Pakistan
January 24 – First T20, Lahore
January 25 – Second T20, Lahore
January 27 – Third T20, Lahore
February 7-11 – First Test, Rawalpindi
April 3 – One-off ODI, Karachi
April 5-9 – Second Test, Karachi
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
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6.35pm Graduate Stakes – Conditions (TB) $100,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.10pm Al Khail Trophy – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 2,810m
7.45pm UAE 1000 Guineas – Listed (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m
8.20pm Zabeel Turf – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 2,000m
8.55pm Downtown Dubai Cup – Rated Conditions (TB) $80,000 (D) 1,400m
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Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
The specs
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Power: 310hp
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Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
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SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
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Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
If you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals. A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com. Good guidebooks include the Lonely Planet guides to Northern California and Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.