Mimi O'Donnell, centre, the estranged partner of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, comforts her daughter Tallulah, along with daughter Willa, left, and son Cooper, at his funeral on Friday. Jason DeCrow / AP
Mimi O'Donnell, centre, the estranged partner of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, comforts her daughter Tallulah, along with daughter Willa, left, and son Cooper, at his funeral on Friday. JasonShow more

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s funeral draws stars to New York City



Philip Seymour Hoffman's private funeral on Friday drew such stars as Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Ethan Hawke and Amy Adams. Police did not allow anyone to linger on the block outside the church and the media were penned in an area far from the mourners, who also included Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Joaquin Phoenix, Louis C K and Spike Lee. Hoffman, 46, was found dead last Sunday of an apparent heroin overdose in his Manhattan apartment. A larger ­memorial service is being planned for later this month. – AP

A one-legged dance for injured SRK

The Bollywood filmmaker Farah Khan said she's choreographed a special dance number for Shah Rukh Khan, who injured his leg on the set of their new film Happy New Year. "Exciting day ahead! Entire star cast of Happy New Year in a song starting today. Will figure out some one-legged moves for Shah Rukh Khan? It may just start a trend," the director posted on Twitter on Thursday. The action comedy, which co-stars Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani and Sonu Sood, is scheduled for release at Diwali. – The National staff

Leno gave Tonight his farewell

The Tonight Show host Jay Leno ended his run on Thursday with high emotion at concluding what he termed "the greatest 22 years of my life". "You're very kind," Leno told his audience at the start of his last monologue. "I don't like goodbyes. NBC does. I don't care for them." Leno brought his show full circle with Billy Crystal, who was his first guest in May 1992. Oprah Winfrey, Jack Black, Kim Kardashian, Carol Burnett and others did a musical tribute to Leno with a Sound of Music parody. Jimmy Fallon takes over The Tonight Show on February 17. – AP

The X Factor US cancelled

The American edition of The X Factor is ending after three seasons, the show's producers announced on Friday. The reality show's head judge and creator-executive producer Simon Cowell will instead return to the British version of The X Factor later this year. Since its 2011 premiere in the US, The X Factor never won stellar ratings, which continued to dip in last year's third season. It also failed to produce a winner as successful as past champions of its rival American Idol. – AP

Frozen keeps icy grip on charts

The soundtrack of Disney's Frozen kept the top spot on the weekly Billboard 200 album chart. It is the first film soundtrack to spend four weeks at the top of the album chart in a decade, Billboard said. Frozen continued to hold off the official 2014 Grammy Nominees Album, which held steady in second place. Katy Perry's single Dark Horse, which she performed at the Grammys, held the top spot on the Digital Songs chart this week. – Reuters

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE

Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega

Director: Tim Burton

Rating: 3/5

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Turkish Ladies

Various artists, Sony Music Turkey 

Game Of Thrones Season Seven: A Bluffers Guide

Want to sound on message about the biggest show on television without actually watching it? Best not to get locked into the labyrinthine tales of revenge and royalty: as Isaac Hempstead Wright put it, all you really need to know from now on is that there’s going to be a huge fight between humans and the armies of undead White Walkers.

The season ended with a dragon captured by the Night King blowing apart the huge wall of ice that separates the human world from its less appealing counterpart. Not that some of the humans in Westeros have been particularly appealing, either.

Anyway, the White Walkers are now free to cause any kind of havoc they wish, and as Liam Cunningham told us: “Westeros may be zombie land after the Night King has finished.” If the various human factions don’t put aside their differences in season 8, we could be looking at The Walking Dead: The Medieval Years

 

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
The more serious side of specialty coffee

While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.

The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.

Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”

One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.

Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms. 

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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989

Director: Goran Hugo Olsson

Rating: 5/5