PLANET RS
Apparently Shakira was right when she said, “Hips don't lie”. Or so Orin would have us believe. Luckily for us, we no longer have to lie in person. It is so much easier to lie on paper. But in order to do that, we need sources to cut-paste from. With Wiki going dark, life was looking very bleak for online aatels. Thankfully, SOPA has been put on hold. Here's to being goodie two shoes on the outside and evil downloaders on the inside.
-- Kazim Ibn Sadique, RS Sub-editor
Horsepower songs
RS Playlist when you're out riding. Disclaimer: Don't dance and drive
For those who don't know, in simple terms, horsepower is the measure of the power your car's engine produces. So what are horsepower songs?
These are songs you'll hear blaring out of speakers in “modiphieed” cars as they blaze through the crowded and cut-up streets of Dhanmondi. Experimentally proven and field tested, these horsepower songs are like a shot of nitrous (NOSZZZZZ to the cool people) or a glorious blast of boost from a hypothetical turbocharger. If these songs come on, you have no other choice but to tilt your seat back, put on shades, and step on it, while steering with one hand, obviously.
So what are some of these songs, and how much horsepower do they add?
1) “How We Roll” by Don Omar, Busta Rhymes (+ 10 HP): One of the OSTs of the latest Fast and Furious movie, this song has credibility and is worthy of being a driving song of your modiphieed car.
2) “Rock Star” by Chamillionaire feat. Lil Wayne (+12 HP): A sick beat, bro. With an annoying part in the middle with Lil Wayne saying some stuff.
3) “Roots” by Flo Rida (+12 HP): See above. Repeat. Only this time, thankfully without Lil Wayne anywhere.
4) “Still D.R.E.” by Dr. Dre (+0 HP): This doesn't add horsepower, but it deserves a spot here. Play this when you're stuck in between rickshaws and you need to let everyone know that you think your Toyota Corolla X Assista 1.3 is a Bentley Continental or a Rolls Royce Phantom on 28 inch rims/spinners. Perfect song for cruising the hood (the lean mean streets of Dhanmondi road no. 4).
5) “Knights of Cydonia” by Muse (+25 HP): It builds slowly, but when it reaches the peak, it will provide about two and a half minutes worth of acceleration bliss. If you have friends along for the ride, sing along, the chorus is pretty simple. The drumming and the guitar-work isn't though; they're amazing.
6) “Helicopter” by Bloc Party (+25 HP): A little taste of Brit indie rock, and a good alternative to “Song 2” by Blur (which seems to add about +2000 HP if played).
7) “Radar Love” by Golden Earring (+10 HP): A left field choice, this one. Most young people won't take this up, but still a great song, bringing on visions of mid 70's American muscle cars barrelling down the Nevada desert highway. If you like this, try “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin (+10000 HP).
8) “I Want It All” by Queen (+100 HP): It's Queen. 'Nuff said.
Yes, we know we've left out the classics, like Deep Purple's “Highway Star” or Velvet Revolver's “Big Machine”, and Lenny Kravitz, Kid Rock, Jet, U2, Springsteen, Hendrix and even The Who, but forgive us. Lack of space means the playlist ends here.
By Shaer Reaz
Totally Non-Random Facts
Words don't mean much:
The study behind body language
According to a study done by Wharton University, the percentages of information taken in by the different senses are at: Eyes 82%, Ears 11%, Other senses 7%. Much of the world that we perceive is dependent on our eyes. That's probably why poets have spent so much paper waxing eloquently about the beauty of the two tiny globes of gelatine set on either side of our nose.
While we are on the subject, our eyes apparently stay the same size our whole life. On the other hand, our nose and ears keep growing. Also, Ostriches have larger eyes than brains. No wonder they stick their head under the sand when threatened and like to imagine everything is fine and dandy.
According to Albert H Mehrabian, a scientist who conducted his research in the time of Pink Floyd's glory ['60s and '70s], words account for only 7% of our communication. Tone of voice counts for 35% and body language is the king at 55%.
Six gestures and facial expressions are considered to be universal: Happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust, anger and fear.
According to experts, people can have as many as 700,000 signs and gestures and one person is capable of making more than 250,000 facial expressions and has around 5,000 gestures of the hand. Your average human knows about 10000-20000 words. Not really comparable since the different combination of those words can result in a huge number. Hey, we never said it'd be totally make-sense facts.
Source: The thing that SOPA is looking to shut down
Some snippets from our emails, Facebook rants and random eavesdropping. If you have something to rant about, mail us at ds.risingstars@gmail.com or go shout it out on Facebook at www.faceboook.com/
DSRisingstars.
First there was love:
Syed Tahsin
If Salvador Dali's 'The Persistence of Memory' could be expressed in words, 'A Hollow Heart' would be a good candidate.
Phiba Mondal
Opened the Rising Stars, first page reads - The Hollow Heart - hmmm, is this Tareq's? Finished reading and Tareq's writing it was!
Siham Sarawat
I really loved Message from the mothership. It seemed like poetry to me.
And then some righteous anger:
Mustabeen Qazi
SOPA is a wakeup call for us netizens, proving once again how dependent we are on the US. They can just pass a random act barring us from our right to information whenever they like. What we need now is more large-scale websites hosted from outside US, or even an alternative to internet itself
And then there was this:
Jonayed Nasir Anik
The article on Kolaveri Di was fabulous, had quite a laugh reading it
....Which devolved into a long comment chain which included cats, dogs and cakes. Hit our Facebook page to see the madness. If you're under 2 years old, take a parents permission.
Azhar Usman At Naveed's
Comedy Club
Russel Peters has done heaps for Indian comics. Gabriel Iglesias has taken “fluffy” comedy to new heights. Lewis Black has cussed out the US government more than enough times. But where is the Muslim comic everyone has been looking for? Why, he's here in Dhaka.
Azhar Usman, dubbed “America's funniest Muslim” by CNN, is going to be performing for Naveed's Comedy Club on January 28th at Amazon Club. If you want to attend, the tickets are priced at Tk 1000 and are available at The Bench, Bittersweet and Zone Zero. For more info, you can log on to Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/nccdhaka or call 01730-327000.
