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This Week in Lumps
#7 [03/07 - 09/07]

· This Saturday saw our TV screens and sport stadiums all over the world full of the latest series of pop-rock Mega-Gigs, helping raise awareness of global warming. Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, announced the plans for the extravaganza back in February, and it marks the beginning of a three-year plan entitled: ‘Live Earth: Call to Action’, hoping to encourage people to support, follow and stick to the 7-point pledge.

The organizers stated before the events that the stadiums “…will utilize on-site power generation, efficient methods of energy utilization and sustainable facilities management in an effort to minimize environmental impact.” Personally, I didn’t see James Blunt heating a tin of baked beans over a few candles, so I can only assume this information to be fact.

On paper, the Wembley Stadium line-up read more like a ‘who’s available?’ than a ‘who’s who’. Metallica just so happen to be in town (and playing Wembley the next night anyway), Genesis are just off on their first tour in years and years, Madonna, well, Madonna is bloody everywhere anyway, being the big attention whore that she is. If it’s not world hunger its global warming, and if its not 3rd world orphans, its “help my husband, he’s crap at directing“. Most of the performances (such as Paolo Nutini and Razorlight) only seemed to be there to give the youngsters something to clap about. On a personal note, I’m gutted the US got The Police and we didn’t, I’d have liked to have seen that set. Much like most big events of this nature (no pun intended), its not been without its share of criticism, and where did the Daily Mail aim this abuse? Yes, Madonna:

For her 2006 World Tour, she flew by private jet, transporting a team of up to 100 technicians and dancers around the globe. Waiting in the garage at home, she has a Mercedes Maybach, two Range Rovers, an Audi A8 and a Mini Cooper S. Indeed, Madonna’s carbon footprint is dwarfed only by her ego – she has vowed that she will ‘speak to the planet’ at Wembley. In fact, an apology might be in order – for the superstar’s energy consumption is only the tip of the iceberg in this epic vanity-fest.

Muse outspoken frontman Matthew Bellamy also voiced his concerns over the use of private jets for the featured artists, and just how much tonnes of waste would be produced by the 50,000+ attending the Wembley event. Bob Geldof also moaned and whinged about something to anyone within earshot, but as he’s an contemptuous little shit we wont need to voice that here. Luckily Bono seems to have kept his nose out, otherwise I’d have had a good rant about him too.
But when the smoke clears (again, no pun intended), its not about the music, its about the attention it brings, and it should have worked. We should all be looking after our planet, and we all can help in more ways than we realise. For more information about how you can help, click here to go to the official Live Earth website, or check out the BBC website where you can donate money. However if you decided to boycott the shows on Saturday by keeping your television switched off, I think you’ve helped more than you realise, well done you.

Well, Madonna and Geldof ripped to shreds in one lump, I’m proud of that.

~

· Continuing with the music theme, the band who played Wembley Stadium twice over the weekend just so happen to be the Grammy Award-winning US band Metallica. The heavy metal Gods have announced that their ninth studio album should be in the shops by February 2008, after a 5 year studio break. The album, which is currently being recorded, will not include long time producer Bob Rock, who has produced every Metallica album since 1991, but instead “the most important producer of the last 20 years…” Rick Rubin will step in, who known for his work with acts such as Slayer, System of a Down, Slipknot, Beastie Boys, Audioslave, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rage Against the Machine. In an interview last year, James Hetfield said:

“We got Rick Rubin working on the next project and… Rick Rubin’s reputation is true! He’s not showing up everyday at the studio! He’s there when needed. And we are there flying on our own! And that’s very different from our last record. St. Anger was. .. you know, hours and hours of talking, talking about what’s going to go on, what just happened, what’s going to happen! All of that. On this next album we’re pretty much on our own. And it feels free and it feels really nice! It feels good, sometimes a little unfocused. So we got to crack the whip every once in a while and get everyone in there!”

Metallica last released an album in 2003, however St. Anger found itself staring back at bad reviews from hardcore fans and critics alike. Admittedly, although I’ve heard many Metallica songs (Sad but True being a personal favourite), St Anger was their first album in my collection; my plans were to enjoy the new album, then I could then go back and enjoy the classics, and appreciate everything they have accomplished. However, much to my dismay, it never got that far, I could never get into the album even slightly. I never thought I could accuse them of being generic (at best) and I lost the will to add any further albums to my collection. In fact i have since sold St. Anger on eBay. I’ve found out this week that the band have dropped pretty much all of the songs from St. Anger from their latest few sets, which must be a relief to many. On a similar note, the film ‘Some Kind of Monster‘ that was released a year after the album turned out to be a great watch. In its best moments, it highlights the ins-and-outs of making St. Anger, and shows just how a band after so many years can still hold their own, but also showed the band at their most insecure, dealing with rehab, power control and rather expensive therapists. It concludes with the band now united with a new bassist, starting off on a World Tour. Speaking of live gigs, the band recently surprised fans at a show in Lisbon by playing ‘…And Justice for All’ for the first time since Autumn 1989, on the first show of the Sick of the Studio tour. A hint of things to come?

2003 was the year I didn’t immerse myself in Metallica, I hope that 2008 brings something special. I’m quietly confident that with Rick Rubin, it will.

~

· The next time you find yourself out shopping in a big city, say on a Saturday lunchtime, or a Bank Holiday Monday, take a moment to walk past the electronic, mobile phone or the gadget shops, and people watch for a moment. Watch people (mostly men, but not always) glaring lustfully at the selection of widescreen TVs, see them grab and fumble at the mobile phones on the retractable strings, and see them double-take when they see new ‘toys’ on display that they know they’d love to buy, but really shouldn’t. You know you’ve been guilty of that kind of behaviour before. We can’t really afford it, but boy do we fancy it. Just why is it we feel this way? Is it a need to keep up with latest trends and fashions, to ‘keep up with the Joneses’? Is it that we really need the latest model of products because we actually use them to their full potential, and find good use in their individual functions? Or are we just a nation that likes a little too much retail therapy? This BBC.co.uk article seems to suggest that could very well be the case:

Sleek, shiny and singularly desirable. Gadgets are no longer just about functionality, they’re a statement about you; hi-tech jewellery that beckons you to touch, try, buy and stake your place in the Stuff Lust society.

Gadget website ‘I Want One Of Those‘ promotes itself with the tagline “Stuff you don’t need, but you really, really want“. What better way to sell your products; letting you clearly know you’re very silly for visiting in the first place, and having a look what’s on offer, because they know you won’t be able to leave without spending some of your money. Trust me, I’ve been there and done that. Comparisons on this can be directed back to the iPhone release that I mentioned last week, where American’s queued outside for hours to get their hands on the first versions, almost like it was a spiritual journey, hoping to reach the Mecca that is the Apple Store. Were these people guilty of following fashion trends, with the sleek and sexy Apple-branded product? When you study what the iPhone has and doesn’t have, you find that it certainly has its drawbacks, with numerous ‘standard’ features absent and left off. I did mention in my iPhone write up a few weeks back that the market was there for the taking, however it is also full of cheaper, and more importantly, better phones as well. Are people buying it just because it has an Apple sign on it? There is a strong argument to suggest that in some cases, this could be the case.

So, is this a case of ‘see it, must have it?’ I’m not 100% convinced. I mean, there is always a hint of retail therapy involved in big purchases, looking at just how many people in the UK are in debt on credit cards and with banks shows that the majority of us are spending more than we are earning, and a big part of that would have to be put down to what people buy in High Street stores. However, we cannot ignore the other side of the coin; in case anyone’s not noticed, this is 2007; we are surrounded by technology much more than ever before, some things we have in our households and our workplaces we could have only dreamt about 20, even 10 years ago. To say every gadget or gismo we buy is just for fashion, is not the case at all; it would be similar to saying the only reason we have sex is because its bloody good fun, and there’s no sport on the television.

Gadgets may be viewed by many as a flash way of showing off, neatly forgetting that many of these things provide a valuable service to its owner. Those luckily enough to own one, will certainly know why they’ve bought it, and how to use it to its full potential. Everyone else will just have to make do with window shopping, and day-dreaming.

~~~

That was the week in lumps, a week in which: MySpace were given the green light to buy Photobucket, Charles Kennedy becomes the first high profile figure to fall prey to the smoking ban, a man dressed as a tree robbed a bank, and O2 go and prove last weeks news to be a red herring, as it looks like they are now favourite to have the iPhone contract.

That’s enough for one week, so to finish off this week I’m going back to what I started off discussing; The Earth. The new Seven Wonders of the World were voted for worldwide, and the results are in. The new seven are: Chichén Itzá in Mexico, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, The Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu in Peru, Petra in Jordan, The Roman Colloseum in Italy and The Taj Mahal in India. You can see previous lists at this wikipedia link.

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