Tête-à-tête

Hey People!
Well, it's been a rainy weekend…a nice way to end what has been, for me, a most terrible week. Now I can finally catch up on my reading. Just finished with Paolo Coelho's "The Alchemist"a brilliant book, two thumbs up and now I'm working my way through Sophie Kinsella's "Can you keep a secret?" and Mitch Albom "Five people you meet in heaven", both of which are really good. In fact, people who liked Bridget Jones will love Kinsella's book. It's a believable romance. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

Speaking of reading, RS is all about books and reading this week. We've taken you to some of our libraries and a few well-known bookstores around Dhaka, and one in Chittagong. Hope it inspires those couch potatoes and cyber-junkies out there to try picking up the habit. You'll thank us later. Whether you're preparing for your O/A levels, cramming for your SAT's, or getting ready for TOEFLs, IELTs and GRE, no amount of strategizing can ever equal the benefits you can gain from a healthy reading habit.

Well, with that bit of Granny-next-door advice doled out… I got into a debate with a co-worker over whether or not anime like Pokémon, and Dragon Ball Z can be considered as cartoons. Can they? I mean, they are shown on Cartoon Network, but then there are some that argue that anime is a genre of its own. What do the readers think? Send us your thoughts, and help us settle this matter.

Well, I'm signing off now. Take care, and stay dry!

Send your polls, opinions, and queries to thegirlnextdoor1@hotmail.com

By The Girl Next Doo

Ponder

Where did it come from?

During the recent Athens Olympic Games' nauguration programme a question has indeed hit my mind. That is: where did the water on the stadium come from? I've inquired much to get the answer of this question from many people. And now, here I am, to present you the result of the inquiry. Here it goes:

The Intellectual: Hmm, let me think…water? Yes, yes, water…hey, give me a week's time. I'll certainly bring the right answer to you. (That Intellectual has been missing from that day.)

The Nerd: water? What's that? (Oops! Wrong person.)

The Physicist: well, you've to understand that. They've forced the soil and thus water has risen from the ground level. Want a practical class for that? (911, I'm in danger).

The chemist: that's so simple. The soil contained so much H2 that it reacted with the O2 in the air and produced H2O. Let me explain how… (let me escape first!)

The mathematician: Huh! You couldn't solve this easy equation (?!). First subtract the grass, then multiply the smoothness of the soil and finally add the water on the soil. And thus you can get the imminent value of water… (Hopeless case).

The Computer Scientist: Oh! Don't you know? It wasn't water actually. It was only a graphical trick played by the 'Tricky Software'. And you know what; I was also involved in making this software. I was the one who first said that the stadium can be flooded by flood-water and hearing my words they made this software. So I hope you can understand my contribution to the world's IT sector. But the government doesn't even seem to listen… (Phew! Thanks for your valuable lecture. Now leave me alone, my honourable contributor, & oblige me thereby).

The poet: wow, water in the field/ I wanna build/ a piece of poem / which will enlighten… no, not matching. Let me go home. In a week I'll present you a perfect poem about it completely written by me! (What was the question, by the way?)

The Psychologist: Hmm, the psychological term says that water has an inner desire to enter the field. That's why every year our fields are being flooded by water. (Wow, cool philosophy. At last we've found out why every year flood is occurred.)

The Economist: Uf! Again those waters have flooded the fields. How can the economical status of a country improve if there's no fertile land available for cultivation? (Excuse me; I was talking about Olympic Games in Athens).

The Farmer: Oh noooooo, the fields have been flooded again. Where should I go? How should I live? How should I support my family? What a disaster (Oh noooooo, please don't cry. It's not a matter of fact. It's in Athens, not in Bangladesh. Flood water has gone a few days ago!)

The sportsmen: Uf! Don't disturb me. I'm busy with Olympic Games now. No matter if the stadium is covered with water…what? Water in the stadium? Oh, no, then where should the 1000 metres race occur? My gold medal…oh no… (Applause to the player who has lost before playing the game).

The Baby: Mum! I wanna drink muuummm. Give me mum, you've taken it to Athens. You're the culprit who has stolen my mum and provided it to the Greek.

Ahem! At last I have been blamed to do this! None can do any noble work in this country peacefully. I'm going to Brazil. I'll let you know about my research works from there later. Till then, adios.

By Fahmina Nahid

Word Power

Enhance your word-power

1. garrulous adj - A: gruesome. B: talkative. C: unusual. D: dramatic.
2. naive adj - A: innocent. B: artful. C: mischeivous. D: thoughtful.
3. callophobia is the fear of - A: disease.; B: cats. C: crowds. D: beauty.
4. feline adj- A: piglike. B: wolflike. C: catlike. D: horselike.
5. seminal adj - A: temporary. B: original. C: widespread. D: thoughtful.
6. happenstance n - A: explanation. B: chance. C: a historic incident. D: an unexpected situation.
7. sunder v - A: separate. B: betray. C: modify. D: flatter.
Answers:
1. garrulous adj - B: talkative. The word is derived from Latin garrio, to chatter. A garrulous talker always chatters away like a monkey.
2. naive adj - A: innocent. To call someone naive infers that he's yet to,learn the ways of the world, and therefore is idealistic and trusting beyond the point of safety.
3. callophobia is the fear of - D: beauty.
4. feline adj - C: catlike. When we speak of a feline temperament (insultingly) we mean that the person's 'catty'. The word is derived from felis, the Latin for cat.
5. seminal adj - B: original. The word is derived from the Latin semen, seed.
6. happenstance n - B: chance ( or, accidental happenings). The word is derived from happen and (circum)stance.
7. sunder v - A: separate. The word is derived from the old English sundrian.
Taking one point for every correct answer, your result:
0-2: You've got four legs and two horns, right?
3-4: Good.
5-6: Cool.
7 : Ah... well.... Today's issue was much easier!!

By Peter Parker

To-do list

This month

Make-up for college: "Make-up looks best when it seems like you're not wearing any!" It's time to make this sentence come into life and save all the alluring plus overpowering eye shadows and peach or rose like lipstick for exceptional occasions. How else are you supposed to look extra gorgeous at a wedding party if most people have already seen you with make-up on throughout the entire year?

It's smart to keep it simple and safe when wearing make-up to classes. Apply a thin line of eyeliner to highlight the shape of your eyes. Use mascara and if you can't live without using some eye shadows then choose a colour slightly darker to your skin tone. Using a colour lighter to your skin complexion will invite too much attention sometimes making you look a little ill with all the sweat and tiredness at the end of the school day. As for lips, use lip gloss but once again make sure that you don't apply too much of it because it ends up looking like you're under some sort of medication for your lips (trust me I know someone who was insulted by this). Face powder or foundation is a no-no. After all as they say, you're attending your classes, not a beauty contest!

Sunshades for guys: It seems like the heat will be sticking around for a while so why not put on a pair of dazzling sunglasses to accessories with your outfit?

While it's possible to find sunglasses of almost every colour, it is also possible that only a few of those will actually suit you. For guys with lighter complexion the range to choose from varies more than those with darker skin colour. Fairer lads can easily slip on crimson or green coloured sunglasses whereas boys with darker skin tone should stick more with either orange or brown ones. Most of the time it's better to wear sunshades that have darker frames but if you are unable to decide which colour suits you most then simply stick to black ones. It looks plain yet smart and it goes with everything!

For guys who have to wear glasses twenty four hours a day, you maybe want to change your frames because as it seems everyone you know happens to wear those same old boring black bordered glasses. It's time to get a different colour or better yet it's possible to get glasses with no frames at all! If people have been telling you to get contacts, ditch them! Wearing glasses are "in" because it composes three different personalities starting with the letter "I". Intellectuality, Innocence and I-Smartness (!)

By Shayera Moula

Ringtones on the web

If you have a Nokia, Sony, Ericsson and Panassonic cell phone and are tired of the same boring ringtones, there's a cool new website where you can get some rocking ringtones absolutely free.

That's right. Just point your browser towards www.toneandstar.tk and you're all set.

Pros: The site is relatively easy to navigate through, and for those who have programmed new ringtones into their mobile phones before, following the instructions and getting the ringers are a breeze.

Cons: The repetitive background music that's played on each page might get to you after a while.

The site, which also features desktop wallpapers of popular hindi filmstars, was developed by Syed Anwar Hossain, a young student of Computer Science & Engineering. Anwar hopes to include stuff for users of Siemens phones and lots more very soon. It has also launched two sections in English & Tamil for Nokia.

So you will find English, Bangla & Hindi tone for Sony, Ericsson, Panassonic & English, Bangla, Tamil & Hindi for Nokia.

Here all the new sections are opened only on the request of the thousand of users of this site & all the new section's tones sent in by the users. Also you can place your advertisement on the site so check it out at www.toneandstar.tk

By Sabrina F Ahmad

Corrigendum

The article "This filmi life", printed in our Scribbles page last week was written by Ms Sonam. The write-up was not intended for the Rising Stars. We regret the inconvenience caused.
Note to the writer from RS Desk:
We asked you to email us your name. However, we did not receive it and again could not print your surname. We will not print another corrigendum for it.