Metrotypes

"So what is a metrosexual guy?”
“Why a guy who wears a pink shirt, of course!”
“But I thought that was…”

Here we go again, I thought. Why is the average Neanderthal so weary of anything or anyone that deviates a little from the typical male stereotype? Why are everyday Joes always confusing metrosexual with a term that I can't write here?

Metrosexual as defined by the Merriam-Webster English Dictionary is “a usually urban heterosexual male given to enhancing his personal appearance by fastidious grooming, beauty treatments, and fashionable clothes.” But why listen to this gibberish? Neanderthals did precede Merriam-Webster right?

So on doing a little research I found AskMen.com who were a little more generous with words and explained that a metrosexual man was one who is a modern, usually single man in touch with himself and his feminine side. He grooms and buffs from head to toe, and wears fashionable clothing both at work and before heading out to party in the evening.

He has discretionary income to stay up-to-date with the latest hairstyles and fashion. He confuses some guys when it comes to his sexuality but makes these same guys jealous of his success with the ladies - for many metros, to interact with women is to flirt. And he impresses the women who enjoy his company with the details that make the man. And these details include his appreciation for literature, cinema, or other arts, his flair for cooking, his knowledge in choosing the perfect wine and music and his eye for interior design. He is generally a city boy or, if living a commute away from downtown, is still urbane, if not rightly urban and he enjoys reading men's magazines.

Thus why is it that even after such elaborate explanations, the average man's man (often termed as retrosexual, the exact opposite of metros) has such troubles grasping this concept. And why is the average retro so quick to think the stereotypical obvious? There is nothing wrong with knowing that lavender is a shade of purple or that a particular brand of aftershave has moisturizer in it. In fact for the most part, after dealing with centuries of sweaty socks, burping out the alphabet and coming back home from work and putting one's smelly feet on the coffee table; a man who appreciates the cleanliness of his house and laundry or knows who Vermeer is a breath of fresh air. And as far as the pink shirt goes, half of Italy's male population and Donald Trump seem to carry it off just fine.

At the end of the day, stereotypes are just that. Not all blondes are dumb, not all men love sport, and certainly not all metrosexuals wear pink shirts. But for anyone who still needs convincing, know that celebrities like Beckham, Pitt and Clooney to name a few are considered iconic metrosexuals. So what do you have to say to that?

By Tahiat-e-Mahboob

Make your PC run like new

Throw away that permanent frown with these simple PC fixes

A couple of months back and article titled “Keeping your PC smoking” highlighted some helpful tips. PCs over time do get bogged down with clutter. Here’s a few more tips to keep machines performing like new especially for those with old machines.

1. The hard drive partition known as the “C” drive should not be overloaded. Programs such as games should be put into another drive keeping the “C” partition with at least 25 percent free space.

2. Once a week or so, use the Disk Defragment program to clean drives as well as files and folders. Files over time get scattered all over the place and the computer needs more time to search for the fragments. Hence, defragment.

3. Every day around 200 new viruses are launched, so keep your security systems updated. Use any of the antivirus programs bundled with spam-killer, privacy service, and firewall. Perform regular scans of important folders and drives. Also try to use multiple antivirus programs as not all of them can detect all viruses. Some programs may conflict but you will be informed at the time of install.

4. Pages you view on the Internet are stored as temporary internet files or 'cookies'. Once you finish your work online, click the right mouse-button on your web browser (Internet Explorer) \settings\view files. Select all and press delete.

5. Don't keep too many windows open at the same time, such as windows media player and games. It affects the consistency of your system.

6. Avoid installing too many programs at a time as they hang your display. Make sure that you remove a program when you don't need it anymore.

Follow these simple procedures, and you can kiss some of your common PC pains goodbye. Make your PC your ever-lasting friend.

By Fariha Shafi

Our culture and us

"Say right what is right
Say wrong what is wrong”

The above was supposed to be the primary objective, or I should say one of the objectives of education, not only in our country but globally.

As a student I feel that we have somehow failed here. I don't mean everyone, but many of us. As sons of this land, we were supposed to uphold our culture, values and morals and promote our cultural identities. I often ask myself, 'Have I done that?' The answer is often, “No”.

A few days back I was watching a T.V. programme where the famous Bibi Russel was telling the people to promote our cottage and small industries by using Gamcha, buying taat dresses etc. I was inspired to do so for myself and for my country. If we don't promote our culture then who will?

Some may say, “Go do what you want and let us do what we like.” Yes, the new generation is lucky enough to be able to choose. Don't you think, though, that our choices are getting increasingly influenced by Western cultures, courtesy of satellite T.V. channels? Our dress codes, our manners, our behaviors are getting westernized. Now don't get me wrong here. If the change is for good reasons, it's alright. Yet I see most of these trends are irrelevant to our culture. Wearing western clothes, getting eyebrows pierced, and wearing chains to enhance the bhaab (mood) doesn't showcase our culture, does it? I remember one quote from Promoth Chowdhury, “Diseases are infectious, not health.” That's what is happening to our culture as well. Bad things are entering and we are giving up good things! I recently heard that the Deshis were supplying milk to India through the borders to import (!) cigarettes and phensidyl. I wonder how good and intelligent we are!

Now coming to another point we Benglies like to speak English, don't we? Injecting some English word here and there makes us feel better, or should I say cool? The problem is that we can neither speak good Bengali nor English. And Hindi is making its own way. It's like 1 cup of English+ 1 cup of Bangla+ 1cup of Hindi= I am cool! What we wouldn't do to be cool! I saw an interview of Sattyajit Roy on T.V. the other evening and was impressed with his perfect British accent! Knowing English very well didn't have affect his true cultural identity. He wrote wonderful stories in Bengali and made many films which are gems to our culture.

We should always bear in mind that we were once deprived of rights to follow our culture, In 1952, Bangladeshis bled for their mother tongue, not to hear someone say “Ami bhalo Bangla bolte pari na” (I can't speak Bangla well). The British ruled us for almost 200 years. Now the medium has changed, but we remain the followers. We try to follow their culture, their behaviour and what not! Don't we have any self-respect?

Celebrating mere occasions won't make us true Bengalies. Those occasions are now trivial to us. We go, eat, dance and that's it. What good Bengalis we are!

I don't say here, don't listen to English, Hindi music, don't wear western clothes. Listen and wear. But don't let those things rule you. You rule them. Everything we do bears an impact on our younger generations and our culture. We should become a little bit more careful about what image we project to them.

Finally, I would like to quote two lines of a poem, “Bangabani” by Abdul Hakim

“Deshi bhasha biddya jar mone na juae
Nij desh teagi kano bidesh ne jae.”

(Those who don't like their own language and knowledge
Why don't they leave their country and go abroad.)

By M. Faiyak Zaman (Rishad)

beat the heat
Standard Iced Coffee

Steps
1. Step One Brew a pot of fresh coffee using 2 tablespoons of dark-roasted ground coffee per cup.
2. Step Two Transfer the hot coffee to a carafe or pitcher.
3. Step Three Let the coffee stand at room temperature for 3 to 5 hours, or refrigerate it until cold, about 1 1/2 to 3 hours.
4. Step Four Fill a tall glass with ice cubes.
5. Step Five Pour the chilled coffee into the glass.
6. Step Six Stir the coffee to equalize its temperature. Add milk if you like.

Tips & Warnings
Iced coffee is best with darker-roast coffee blends. Experiment to find the one you like best.

Make ice cubes out of room-temperature coffee. Store them in the freezer and make undiluted iced coffee any time.

For a decadent version of iced coffee, stir sweetened condensed milk into warm coffee before pouring it over ice.

Never put a pot of hot coffee directly in the refrigerator. The rapid change in temperature can crack the glass.

By Shehtaz Huq