We won't comment on the fact that there's a competition ranking the best malls in Dubai. We will, however, gladly report the shock of shopaholics to hear that Mall of the Emirates was voted best shopping mall for a second year. "I don't get it," we heard a shopper complain to her friend. "There's Dubai Mall now, and it's so huge that I still haven't seen it all!" "And it has a Manolo Blahnik," answered the friend. "Any mall that has a Manolo Blahnik should be voted the best."
In total, 68 malls competed. We try not to dwell on the fact that we don't have anywhere near 10 good-enough malls in Abu Dhabi, let alone 68. The journey so far Final-year students of the applied media department at the Higher Colleges of Technology's Abu Dhabi Women's College have been showing their talents this week at the Desert Rose 2009 exhibition. It showcases work produced over three years of college education in graphic design, audio, journalism, multimedia and photography.
"We do a lot of our art for our own personal amusement," says student Anood al Mulla. "An artist has to be unafraid to express herself whenever the urge strikes, and this exhibition is about our expressions." The exhibition, in its eight year, is entitled Out of the... and will run until Thursday at Ghaf Gallery. A hero's welcome The budding footballers who showed up at Dubai's Arsenal Soccer School last Wednesday got the shock of their lives when they saw Cesc Fabregas standing there to welcome them on their first day at the training institute.
Fabregas was not much older than the children when he became Arsenal's youngest ever first-team player in 2003, aged 16 years and 177 days. Dubai's youngsters will be trained to follow in their idol's footsteps, and taught to "play the Arsenal way" at the school, which will be permanently based at The Sevens, Emirates Airline's own sporting venue, offering young people the chance to train with Arsenal's UEFA-licensed coaches.
For Filipinos, a taste of home Any Filipinos hankering for a taste of home should pop along to the Renaissance Hotel in Dubai's Deira district. For the next couple of weeks, a Filipino food festival will offer up such favourites as chicken adobo, oxtail kare-kare, lumpiang shanghai spring rolls and daing na bangus, or fried milk fish. If you still have room after all that, you can gorge on coconut mousse and brazo de mercedes, a cream-filled log cake.
The promotional buffet in Spice Island is priced from Dh169 to Dh289 and runs until June 23. Sit down for some stand-up If you grew up on the anarchic humour of the British comedy improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? in the 1990s, it's time to take a trip down memory lane. The hit TV series has been resurrected for a short run at the Madinat Jumeirah theatre. The live performance will feature several of the original players, including Richard Vranch, Ian Coppinger and Stephen Frost.
Tickets priced at Dh150 are still available for tonight but if you miss them this weekend, you can also catch the comedians from Thursday to Saturday inclusive. * The National
