Concert review: Fusion Fest

A concert was held back on 20th September at ISD Bashundhara. The concert featured well-known bands like Aurthohin and Cryptic Fate as well as underground bands like Breach and Sellout. It was a charity concert, drawings from which were donated to DAWC.

First to come on stage was Breach. The band did a couple of cover numbers. Korn's "Blinded" and Rage Against The Machine's "Killing in the name of" really blew the audience away. They also did two of their own numbers. Breach is an upcoming alternative band. With decent players and a great vocal, the band is well-known for doing good Pearl Jam covers. Breach will be featured in upcoming mixed albums from G-Series in the Eid season.

Next to come was Sellout. This band was really weird. There were two vocals; both were jumping around and headbanging continuously. One of them was half-naked and even though he was sweating like the river Nile, there seemed to be no end to his vigorous jumps and other acrobatics. The guitarist and the bassist were jumping around too. There's nothing much I can say about this band since I couldn't recognise any of the numbers they were covering, nor did most of the other people at the concert.

Next to come was Canopy. I'd expected them to cover rock and metal numbers since I'd once seem them covering Dream Theater and Iron Maiden. This time though, they covered all alternative numbers. they covered numbers by Incubus, Three Doors Down and The Dave Matthews Band. The drummer of Canopy is Jonathan, who also plays for Breach and was in fact the organiser of this concert.

People were really looking forward to seeing Ajob perform, known for doing fusion music in the underground arena. Unfortunately, they couldn't perform since their guitarist hadn't come. So Cryptic Fate came on stage. They really rocked the audience, with great covers like Pearl Jam's "Animal", Tool's "Schism" and Iron Maiden's "Revelations". They were the only ones to do heavy numbers in the entire concert. They also some of their own popular songs, like "Cholo Bangladesh" and "Bhoboghure", with a new and improved guitar solo.

Finally came Aurthohin. It was disappointing to see such a senior band performing in front of a really small audience because a huge part of the audience left the auditorium as soon as Aurthohin came on stage. They did a large number of songs from all their albums. Popular songs like "Odhbut Shei Cheleti" and "Guti" were
sang in chorus.

The concert was an enjoyable one though the turnout was disappointing. The sound was awesome. Underground concerts usually have faulty and irritating sound systems while as this one was nearly perfect. The organisers did quite a good job. Charity concerts like this one should be held more often.

By Hamdan Kabir (Safir)

The Hours

THE HOURS, by Michael Cunningham, begins with the gifted author, poet and visionary Virginia Woolf drowning herself rather than facing another period of madness. The subsequent text entwines three narrative paths: Virginia Woolf as she writes Mrs. Dalloway during the 1920s; California housewife Mrs. Laura Brown whose favorite book is Mrs. Dalloway during the 1940s; and book editor Mrs. Clarissa Vaughan, nicknamed "Mrs. Dalloway" in the 1950s. Three women, three different timeframes, all bound together in a shimmering conclusion that is destined to haunt the reader long after the last page is turned.

As said before, Cunningham intertwines three storylines: a
day in the life of Virginia Woolf as she is at work on Mrs. Dalloway; a day in the life of Laura Brown, a pregnant suburban Los Angeles mother with a three year old son, a war hero husband, and a desperate longing to escape her suffocating life; and a day in the life of Clarissa Vaughn, a middle aged lesbian book editor in Greenwich Village who is planning a party for her friend and former lover Richard, who is dying of AIDs but has just won a prestigious poetry prize.Ê Both Clarissa and his Mother are central characters in Richard's poetry and his novel, the release to all his sufferings and visions. The thing that keeps a reader enchanted the most long after finishing the book is the realization of the characters. Though they seem scattered all throughout, in the end it is quite hard to imagine one's existence without the other. The most cunning effect is Cunningham's minute details: the sculpture on the handle of a bowl, the way Clarissa steps into an elevator, the flaws in the icing of a cake… almost exactly like Hemmingway, tough not quite.

Beyond the fact that they are all gay and suicidal, these are simply not characters that think and behave obviously. They all struggle to find more meaning to their life, to fragments of hours that make up their life. The textÊbrilliantly exposes their psyches, capturing the subtle nuances and flavors with a graceful pen; thereby exploring the contradictions and compromises that create our existence; deftly detailing fluidity of time and existence.

'But there are still the hours, aren't there?ÊOne and then another, and you get through that one and then, my god, there's another.'

While mass-market readers may be a bit baffled by THE HOURS, literary scholars and classics lovers will adore it. Readers who bring a through knowledge of Virginia Woolf, a love of her novel MRS DALLOWAY, and an appreciation of the poetry of language will discover an amazing gift of beauty within this finely woven novel. In addition, admirers of the beauty of language will be stunned by Cunningham's ability to capture Woolf's voice and style in her sections, to flavor it with his own voice in the Clarissa Dalloway's sections, and then to exhibit his own unique voice and style in the Laura Brown's sections. It is indeed a memorable novel to treasure.

By Farzana Yasmeen

Campus News

Basketball Tournament

The Interschool Basketball Tournament 2003 began on the 20th of September in the Dhanmondi Indoor Basketball Gymnasium. This year there are twelve schools playing for the boys' group and six schools have entered for the girls' tournament. Bangladesh Basketball Federation has organized the tournament. South Breeze School and Transcom Beverages Ltd have jointly sponsored this event.

On the opening day the Education minister Dr M. Osman Farooq inaugurated the tournament and the Principal of South Breeze School, Ms Zeenat Chowdhury was present as special guest. South Breeze was to play against Scholastica on the first day in the girls' division. This year the South Breeze squad consisted of 5 players with 7 substitutes . Our school won the Runners Up Trophy last February, so this time we were determined to be actual winners. All our players started practising enthusiastically under the instructions of our Basketball coach Mr Luthfur Kabir a few days before the tournament. This year's South Breeze girls' squad consists of students from classes six, seven, eight and ten. Our captain is Turfa Tasnim from class ten.

On the first day the 12 players went to the Dhanmondi gym with the Basketball coach, Volleyball coach Mr Sayeduzzaman and our karate and games teacher Mr Shamsul Alam.

As the team walked into the court nervously in their black and white jerseys, the entire South Breeze supporters cheered for them heartily. Though they were quite assured by the Principal's presence, they still looked a bit scared before the match. But once the match started, they showed great confidence and skill with the ball. Scholastica was playing equally well. The first half ended with 13 points for both the teams.The players were encouraged to do better and after the break they went back to play with higher spirits. Again they displayed immense talent and this time they played better than before, even though one of our best players was injured. The day ended with a victory for South Breeze over Scholastica by a single point. At the end of the match the scoreboard showed 28 points for Scholastica and 29 points for South Breeze. It was a spectacular match and all of us were thrilled.

As the exhausted players left the court, we all shouted with joy. The players would have to start practising again from the next day. So after we all had done enough shouting, we left the gymnasium, wishing our South Breeze team all the best for the next matches, and also hoping that this time our school would turn out to be luckier than it had been at last February's final match.

By Shamsun Nahar

Campus news: Sports fete at Sir John Wilson's School

On Wednesday, September 24, 2003, Sir John Wilson School observed their Annual Sports Day at the school premises in Gulshan.The teachers and students alike received a much-needed hiatus from the daily humdrum of school life, in a day filled with fun and games. In the spirit of the occasion, the school had been decorated with balloons and posters. They even had a stand with commentators to keep the audience tuned into the events that were taking place.

From Playgroup to Class 7, all the children participated in a myriad of unusual events like "Chocolate Race", "Frog-hopping Race" and "Marble Race", amongst others, for the younger groups, and "50-meter dash", "Walkathon" and "Tied-up leg race" for the older groups. There were also the Faculty games, with "Musical Chairs" for the female teachers and "War" (a game involving two sides attacking each other with sticks and clay pots) for the male teachers. Even the support staffs were included in the fun as they had a racing event to themselves.

The games concluded with a prize-giving ceremony, and then there were snacks for everyone. Even the mild rain-shower during the morning hours couldn't dampen the merry mood that prevailed in the school throughout this remarkable occasion. It was definitely a day to remember.

By Amina Ramzi and Sarah F. Ahmad

Children's Day At B.I.T

B.I.T. celebrated Children's Day recently, a fun day that was enjoyed by most of the people. The principal has designed this day to make it a different experience for all the students of the school. The class nine students get full control of the school, starting from assemblies, to taking classes, and the maintenance of the school. The younger students enjoyed themselves too, trying to freak the new teachers out.

Each ninth grader represented one real teacher, including the principal Mrs. Lubna Choudhury herself. The headmaster and the junior headmistress took the assembly. The rest of the 'teachers' ensured all the students went to their classes properly. The classes began with completely different stories at different places. Some of the classes created the highest amount of havoc from the very beginning. Some were rather 'nerdy', and listened to each word the teachers spoke. Some light-hearted teachers (real ones) joined in as students too. Lessons were taken sincerely and the seniors really tried to help the students in their ways, telling them about their O-Levels too. By the end of the day, however, the strictness almost disappeared. The seniors and the juniors had fun together in most of the last period classes, trying to conclude the day in an enjoyable way. I personally remember taking a WWE-based class, giving them homework to watch "Raw" and "Smackdown!" regularly.
The experience of a teacher was the most different. It not only allowed us to realize the toil that teachers go through, but it also gave us a completely different feeling. The feeling of having power, authority and showing the according responsibility. It was a small, split-second's glance into the adult life. The students of B.I.T. received a significant gift from the adult world on Children's Day, and they are undoubtedly grateful for it.

By Azhar Chowdhury & Zia Ashraf

Movie day at CEPHALON

For the middle class people of Bangladesh, going to a theatre to watch a movie is a very rare event. The quality of the movies and the atmosphere at the halls leave a lot to desire, though it has started to change for the better, as recent happenings will suggest.

Our school shows us movies, twice every year, using a projector and a big screen. The "movie day" last week was all fun as it always is on such days. Our teachers select the movies beforehand and they are always of the top draw.

This time around, the juniors watched Cody Banks. Cody Banks (Muniz) looks and behaves like your average American teenager accomplished at school, passionate about skateboards and painfully shy around girls. However, Cody harbours a dark secret he is actually part of a top secret CIA young agent programme, operating under the aegis of handler, Ronica Miles (Harmon). It's a winning combination and the affable young actor is incredibly appealing, blundering through certain sections of his mission as he desperately attempts to put his CIA training into practice. The action sequences are briskly paced with unobtrusive use of computer generated special effects to ensure plenty of thrills and spills. Agent Cody Banks is clean, undemanding fun with a keen understanding of a teen audience.

A half an hour break was followed by the entry of the senior students. For some reason or the other, the class-XI students were absent. The movie selected was I-spy. Fists fly and the fighting gets down and dirty when undefeated middle-weight champion Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy) finally meets his match, Bureau of National Security super-agent Alex Scott (Owen Wilson) in the hilarious adventure. It is hate at first sight when Scott is unwittingly paired up with Robinson to track down the Air Force's missing stealth bomber, the country's new top secret weapon. The fate of the free world is in their hands (as it always is on such movies). Now if they can only stop fighting with one another long enough to track down the real enemy.

Eddie is at his best and Owen Wilson does not seem to be missing Jacqui Chan. It is a movie for both comedy and action lovers.

The day ended with the senior students requesting the concerned teachers for Bangla movies( the ones that have captured the eyes of everyone) next time around, and thanking them for the excellent evening.

By Mabroor Wassey