This Week in Lumps
#13 [14/08 - 20/08]
· Bruce Parry is back on our television screens this evening with the 3rd (and last) series of Tribe. Bruce, a former British Royal Marine instructor, documents and commentates 
on his trips to a number of tribes in very remote locations, such as Ethiopia, Venezuela, Gabon, The Himalayas, Mongolia and West Papua. His unique way of being accepted amongst the tribe is by sleeping, working and eating with them, becoming, as the blurb at the beginning of the show states “one of the tribe” for one month. In the first two series, where a total of 9 tribes were visited, we were lucky enough to see how Bruce interacts and communicates with these people, sometimes with just body language, eye contact, and simple friendliness. On occasions, visiting the groups and being accepted means taking part in rituals and ceremonies to ‘induct’ him as an honorary member. He would sometimes have to make animal sacrifices, help out with physical labour and, in two unforgettable episodes, endure a mild-altering drug trip, and have his penis forced back up into his body.
When asked in a recent Q&A session on the BBC website about how these tribes react to his visits, Bruce remembered an occasion where one member of the Suri tribe had talked to him about some ‘photo-happy’ tourists who sometimes forget the level of intrusion a camera may have on the local people:
“We hate some people who come to visit us. We let them in as they bring goods and cash, but we feel that they look down on us and just want to take photographs and leave. They seldom interact. But you: ……You live with us. You sleep with us. You drink blood with us. This is what we want. This is good.”
He replied to another question, which asked if he envied their way of life:
“I do envy much of what I see in these communities. Their family values and community spirits are especially appealing to any visitor, yet I try not to do so in too romantic or patronising a way. I used to have a very rose tinted view of life in such places, but that was in the days when I just used to visit such peoples. Nowadays, having actually lived their lives I have seen how hard that can often be, I am less romantic. Of course I am generalising here and each community I visit is very different, but the sad truth is that I would never be able, nor want, to swap my life for theirs.”
For anyone who may have missed the previous two series, I urge you to start watching tonight. Bruce is a pleasure to watch, he has such insatiable curiosity towards each community, his guts and determination, coupled with the ability to be accepted and interact with the people for the duration of his stay makes you feel like you’ve visited these people with him. I’m convinced that if anyone else were to try to document these peoples lives, it would neither be as honest, nor as entertaining on the levels that Tribe reaches.
Tribe starts tonight at 9pm on BBC2. A book accompanying the series, titled ‘Tribe: Adventures in a Changing World’ is due out next month.
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· As much as you may daydream that you could travel to some exotic and remote places as seen in Tribe, the harsh reality is that sometimes you have to put up with Bognor Regis, or Blackpool Tower instead of Botswana. As Brits, we’re brought up to believe that the best holidays are the ones in your own country; ask any British person about the holidays from their childhood and they’ll tell you about rain-drenched vacations to Great Yarmouth, or the 6-hour car journey to Weston Super Mare. The truth is, there’s nothing wrong with these places, per se, its just our pessimistic attitudes as children shine though, in a time where we’d rather be doing what we want to do, when we want to do it, and a weekend in Llandudno isn’t it. However now it seems that this attitude has followed us into adult life, as a survey of 1000 Brits recently revealed that tourist sports such as Lands End and Stonehenge are among the most disappointing in the world, along with places like The Eiffel Tower, The Statue of Liberty, Times Square and the Pyramids.
The report, commissioned by Virgin Travel Insurance, found that many of the world’s most iconic attractions often led to a sense of anticlimax when seen in real life, spoilt by crowds and hawkers. The Eiffel Tower topped the list of disappointing spots worldwide followed by the Louvre and Times Square. Stonehenge, the Angel of the North and the Blackpool Tower were named the most disappointing in the UK.
What is there to be disappointed about? When these people visited Stonehenge, what were they expecting, flashing neon lights and a gift shop? Stonehenge is pre-historic, it wasn’t built for 21st century tourism, and just because it doesn’t have a Disney badge on it, or a TV hut nearby, people are driven away in disappointment. These landmarks that this survey mentions are all incredible, as long as you take the time to look at and consider them properly. If people find them to be an anticlimax, it is because of their own blinkered ignorance, I find.
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· Stepping away from traveling, and back into to gaming for a moment, as just weeks after Microsoft announced to the US market that it will be lowering the price of the XBox 360, the Europe market now sees a similar price drop, to £249.99, active as of later this week. This is a big step for anyone still considering which console to buy (which I could maybe include myself in that bracket). Although last month Sony announced US price cuts for the PS3 of around $100 in the US, the EU market got stuck with a ‘starter pack’ with free games and a few extra controllers, something that European gamers weren’t exactly bowled over by. The announcement comes just in time for the autumn markets, these price drops will definitely interest all those early Xmas bargain hunters. The stats for overall sales currently stand: 1st XBox360 (12million est units), Wii (10million est units), and PS3 (4.5million est units). For me, there is still no valid outstanding reason to buy a PS3, even for Christmas. Maybe I’m a fool to myself for holding out for one.
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That was the week in lumps, a week in which: Bruce Lee’s classic Enter the Dragon is set to be remade, a new Sony Bravia advert has been filmed in New York, some photos of The Dark Knight have been leaked (but the studio have asked all sites to remove them) and Facebook now allows you to message non-Facebook members through the site.
The last thing to mention this week, the BBC news website last week had this headline: Rescuers are called to bat phone. I was so sorely disappointed.
ttfn
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