The week in re(ar)view

Costly spoons
Election Commission (EC) Secretariat holds parties that must top the list for glitter and wow. It allocated 2 crore taka for purchasing crockery (you know, like spoons and stuff) for entertaining journalists, foreign delegates and politicians who visit the EC. This was published June 1 based on EC documents.

We always have opinions and explanations whether it is needed or not. This time we have two. Firstly the expensive crockery must have been made of gold and given to all visitors as a gift. Wonder what they say when they give these gifts. Please have a spoon and think of us when you stir the sugar in your tea. Wonder how we get invited.

Another opinion and this is more scientifically logical. We believe these spoons are magical like Cinderella's pumpkin. These are actually cars and electronics in disguise of crockeries. The crockeries turn to expensive bribe items at the stroke of midnight.

As a side note, EC has received 59.87 crore for preparing the voter list and only 9.70 crore has been wasted so far. Oops, we meant 'spent' and not 'wasted'.

To err is human
Further news about the voter list is that we have this week's best quote from Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice MA Aziz. June 1 he told reporters that “to err is human”. Sure it is. A simple erring is all that happened to account for a couple of crore of fake voters presented in the voter list. That's not much. Everyone errs and gets away with it. Somebody we all know erred about finding weapons of mass destruction. It happens.

Playboy site at 3 paisa per minute
Great news for students who want to browse the Net. The post and telecommunications ministry has decided to provide special facilities for students by allowing them to use internet for as low as 3 paisa per minute. Of course, before you get all excited, when have we ever provided only good news? The bad news is that this facility can only be availed at the educational premises. What this means is that Playboy.com will have an all time high record of being visited by school authorities. Oops, did we say something wrong again?

Flyover tourist spot
Prime Minister unveils a plaque for yet another tourist spot in the country. Yep she jumpstarted the project for the Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover at a present amount of 700 crore that is expected (by you and us) to go up. Wonder how they are getting the money this time because it is being done through private investment and not government fund or foreign loans. Construction will end in 3 years (also expected to increase). As soon as it happens people can go there for walking, enjoying the fresh high altitude air and having picnics like they do on the other two flyovers.

By Gokhra and Mood Dude

Now that the world cup is on, you'll (probably?) want to check up on your favorite teams to know every last detail and stuff. If the pages after pages of the Sports section in our newspaper don't satisfy you, you'll have to check out all the blogs and news sites throughout the net for more details and stuff.

Head over to http://www.worldcup blog.org/ for all the juiciest unofficial coverage. The site combines together 34 football blogs reporting daily on every detail of “the world's greatest sporting event.” It's pretty neat, really. Blogs like these are the ones that can really pump excitement in your veins. You don't need boring articles from Reuters or BBC when blogs like these gives you headlines like “Get your Bribes Ready, Here are your World Cup Referees” or “Winning the First World Cup Match is Really Darn Important”. Okay, the last one isn't that interesting, and I searched the entire site for a better sounding headline in vain, but you get the point.

If you'd like something more traditional and newsy, Yahoo's page on the World Cup at http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/ or BBC's at www.news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi /football/world_cup_2006/ would be more suitable. Of course, there's always Google for finding about every tiny detail about any team, player or whatever.

Moving on, ask yourself, just how much do you know about this year's world cup? If you didn't know random useless facts like “2006 will have the most first time nations since the first one in 1930, with seven playing in their first World Cup,” head over to Wikipedia and their detailed articles on, well, everything. The link to the main entry is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_World_Cup_2006. Wikipedia also has recorded every bit of details about previous World Cup tournaments too. You'll just have to search for it.

You wouldn't want to miss out the official World Cup 2006 site at wm2006.deutschla nd.de/EN/. I think the previously mentioned Yahoo page is also an official page. Anyway, check out Fifa.com too, if you're still looking for more.

Videos and highlights of the matches will make their way on video-sharing sites like YouTube.com and video.google.com too, but it wouldn't be of use for the most of us anyway. We're better off watching the matches on the TVs. Still, if you have a blazing fast connection, you might want to check these sites out. Sometimes they've got some really cool stuff.

By Niloy

When I was told to write
A poem for the World Cup
I really didn't know what to write,
So I asked around, and the only thing
I heard from every girl I know,
“Ahhh! The World Cup is here,
Hot and cute guys everywhere!”
Well, it's certainly not just about
The ball that gets kicked around.
Let's start with a minute of silence
For Andres Eskober, and pray that
None gives his own goal; for he who does shall die.
Let's start with a minute of awe
For Gerard Muller, for the fourteen goals he gave,
Ronaldo, the golden boot, catching up with eleven,
Oliver Kahn, the player of the last World Cup,
Shevchenko and Ronaldinho for their amazing form
And thousands of 'wannabe' wives; poor guy.
1930 to start it all
Uruguay to win the first
Brazil holding the record
The Penta-World Cup champions.
Yellow and Red; the warnings in color
Hope no-one opens his Jersey
To show off his sweaty chest
Or else a yellow blame awaits his fate
With girls' eyes drooling all over.
Beckham's hairstyle certainly was a fuss
Too bad he is bald now;
Messi, eighteen with a wife
And a kid to come,
He should be all pumped up;
Whereas the injured Inzaghi
Back to form, and Nistleroy
All hyped up to show
Manchester United what he is made of.
The game, a color of noise
With banners and flags brought along,
And a banquet of songs
Where did Ricky Martin go this time?
Now excuse this faulty poet
Football and verse are hard to find
Nonetheless, this is enough.
All eyes on Germany, the lights are lit
Let the FIFA 2006 World Cup begin!

By Adnan M. S. Fakir

I was a happy lad,
Who tried to enjoy every second of life.
I never seemed to lack anything,
Nor did I cry for what I didn't get.
But I only kept on looking for love,
And love at its best.
I fell in love once upon a time,
But it faded away like drops of rain.
I don't feel sad or sorry,
Nor do I cry,
As I know that,
It was all written in my books of fate.
But now I feel a change in me.
I don't feel that I am the same old me.
I feel different, I feel sad now and then.
At first, I failed to identify the reasons,
But now, the reasons behind,
Are all clear like crystal.
My heart is seeking for thee,
Who will love me eternally.
I seek for thee, who has a heart,
Which will feel, dream and think about me.
God has given me the power to dream,
So I began dreaming about things like these,
From the day I felt a change inside me.

By Saad Billah