Various Artists
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
(Republic / Island)
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When fantasy novels morph into movies, a soundtrack studded with tunes by rock and indie acts has become de rigueur. Paramount Pictures turned to music by the likes of Muse and Thom Yorke for film adaptations of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga, and Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is similarly wise to the audience-broadening appeal of popular sounds.
An adaptation of the second book in the American author Suzanne Collins’s adored trilogy about the teenager Katniss Everdeen’s adventures in the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, the film also has a “proper” orchestral score by the veteran composer James Newton Howard. One wonders how he feels about Coldplay, The National, Christina Aguilera and the rest gatecrashing his gig.
It’s interesting, too, to note that the British singer Ed Sheeran wrote three songs especially for Catching Fire, all of which were rejected by Lionsgate. When placing one tune in a major movie can earn an artist upwards of US$300,000 (Dh1.1 million) – and help them tap a new demographic – everybody wants to muscle in.
If there’s a welcome shoo-in here, it’s the gifted New Zealand singer and songwriter Lorde. At 17, she has a strength and tangible independence that chimes with that of Everdeen and her sombre take on Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World does have something of the post-apocalyptic about it.
Capital Letter, a rolling acoustic guitar-driven affair by the very commanding Patti Smith is also striking and together with The Lumineers’ fine dust-bowl ballad Gale Song, it harks back to the more traditionalist-sounding tracks of The Hunger Games, the film adaptation of the first book in Collins’s trilogy, where the songs were vetted by the music producer T-Bone Burnett.
In Catching Fire, Coldplay are instantly recognisable as themselves on the decent piano ballad Atlas. Elsewhere, Christina Aguilera’s voice still sounds impressively Olympian on We Remain, but the song is no classic. The envelope-pushing, such as it is, falls mostly to Las Vegas’s Imagine Dragons, whose tribal, percussion-heavy backing track on Who We Are conjures the production on (fairly) recent records by Beyoncé.
Having watched the film, you could argue that the Lumineers’ track aside, none of the songs seem especially synonymous with the scenes they accompany and that kind of dovetailing is surely what effective music placement should be about. However, as a stand-alone music collection, Catching Fire works well enough.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Business Insights
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Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
The specs
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Toyota land Cruiser 2020 5.7L VXR
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Torque: 530Nm
Price: Dh329,000 (base model 4.0L EXR Dh215,900)
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Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
RESULT
Arsenal 2
Sokratis Papastathopoulos 45 4'
Eddie Ntkeiah 51'
Portsmouth 0
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