New faces, new foes
Pedro Pascal as Prince Oberyn Martell – “The Red Viper” from Dorne, south of Westeros. Deeply passionate, dangerous and ravenous for vengeance for the murder of his sister, this Lannister-loather is the wild card of the new season.
Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Lord Mace Tyrell – A ponderous oaf, the father of Margaery Tyrell and Lord of High-garden. This stupid but kind man can still play power politics thanks to his endless supply of gold.
Mark Gatiss as Tycho Nestoris – The Lannisters will be hard-pressed to keep their kneecaps when this “collection agent” from The Iron Bank of Braavos demands back the fortune they owe.
Elisabeth Webster as Fat Walda Frey – Roose Bolton’s new bride. Walder Frey promises Roose his bride’s weight in silver if he will marry one of his granddaughters – so Roose picks the plumpest among them.
Deirdre Monaghan as Morag Craster – A Wildling who’s lukewarm-friendly to the Night’s Watch.
Yuri Kolokolnikov as Styr – A lieutenant of the King Beyond the Wall, this Wildling “Magnar” (Lord) is a deadly fighter who rules with an iron fist.
Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand – The paramour of Prince Oberyn and mother of his children.
Paola Dionisotti as Lady Anya Waynwood – The widowed “Lady of Ironoaks” and head of her house from The Vale.
Marrying the monster
No RSVP needed; you’re invited this season to witness the nuptials of the malevolent brat, King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), to the kindly, wily Lady Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) in what may be the most grandiose, wildest scene ever.
“It’s the best fun to play such a hate-inspiring character,” says Gleeson. “Just to get the reaction out of someone is very satisfying. It’s nice to make people hate you.”
“The totality of [the wedding] is a massive scene which takes up about half the episode,” says the executive producer David Benioff.
What does the “bride” have to say about her big day? “I would find it very hard that I would have a wedding ceremony being replicated like that again in my career,” says Dormer.
Memo to Joffrey: Don’t pin your hopes on a long honeymoon.
Dragons make poor pets
Dany’s adorable little reptilian babies have become a handful. Having dragons in a non-dragon world can make a mama crazy, especially now that they’re huge and have deadly ideas of their own.
“They’re outgrowing the restrictions that she’s placing on them,” says the actress Emilia Clarke. “She’s always feared it – for goodness’ sake, they’re dragons! They’ve killed her enemies; what’s going to stop them from killing anyone?” Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) says bluntly: “They’re dragons, Khaleesi … they can never be tamed.”
Season three in 17 easy pieces
Need a refresher? Here’s what went down last season
1 Samwell survives the White Walkers’ attack; pledges to warn the Seven Kingdoms.
2 Brienne escorts Jaime towards King’s Landing. Locke captures them, chops off Jaime’s sword hand.
3 Sansa confesses to “Queen of Thorns” Olenna that Joffrey’s a “monster”.
4 Tywin cuts his disgraced son Tyrion a break, appoints him Master of Coin for the realm.
5 Bran discovers that he’s a warg, able to enter the minds of animals.
6 The incestuous Craster is slain as Samwell flees with Gilly and her newborn boy.
7 Daenerys temporarily swaps a dragon for an army of 8,000 Unsullied slave soldiers, crisps the snarky slave master and frees the slaves.
8 Theon Greyjoy is tortured and castrated by the warped Ramsay Bolton. Ouch.
9 Tywin forces Tyrion to marry Sansa; Tyrion’s main squeeze Shae is not impressed.
10 Jon Snow struggles to win the Wildlings’ respect, beds the foxy Ygritte, then climbs The Wall with her.
11 Jaime leaps into a pit to rescue Brienne from a bear. Hearts flutter.
12 When a White Walker attacks, Samwell destroys it with a dragonglass dagger.
13 Daenerys takes a shine to Second Sons’ hottie lieutenant Daario in Yunkai. Ser Jorah is not impressed.
14 Little warrior girl Arya Stark is denied her reunion with mother Catelyn, brother Robb and his pregnant wife Talisa when Walder Frey’s men and Roose Bolton slaughter them.
15 Jaime and Brienne make it to King’s Landing; he hurries to his sister Cersei.
16 Love is fickle; Ygritte fires arrows into Jon after he seemingly deserts her, but he somehow escapes.
17 Across the Narrow Sea, the freed slaves of Yunkai hail Daenerys as “Mhysa” (Mother) – and add to her growing army – in her quest to reclaim the Iron Throne.
artslife@thenational.ae
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
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The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
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Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
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Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The biog
Name: Maitha Qambar
Age: 24
Emirate: Abu Dhabi
Education: Master’s Degree
Favourite hobby: Reading
She says: “Everyone has a purpose in life and everyone learns from their experiences”
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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
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Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
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Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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.
More from Armen Sarkissian
Squads
Pakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Babar Azam (vc), Abid Ali, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Hasnain, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz
Sri Lanka: Lahiru Thirimanne (c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Avishka Fernando, Oshada Fernando, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dasun Shanaka, Minod Bhanuka, Angelo Perera, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Isuru Udana, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
