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This Week in Lumps
#14 [21/08 - 27/08]

· You may not have realised it at the time, but at some point during your youthful, carefree days of detention at school and long summer holidays, you subconsciously picked and decided on certain social free-time paths to go down. It may be influenced by friends, parents or role models of the time. My example would be football, purely by chance, and totally influenced by friends, but it could also be music, or films, sports, or literature. This area becomes something you want to surround your life with, something you may wish to consider yourself an expert in. With these specific aspects active in your life, they get your undivided attention. However, every once in a while you may overhear conversations between your friends of certain genres that were not on your leisure-time shortlist; untapped genres that passed you by while your attention was elsewhere. They’ve heard an amazing new band that are going to be the next big thing, or they’ve seen the new film which is totally funnier than the last. You’re not an expert in this area, but knowing about it will mean you wont be shunned or looked down upon for asking “um..who?” or “whats that then?”

One of these untapped genres may be the weird and wonderful world of video games and consoles. If this is the case, you may not be aware that a game was released last week of epic proportions. 2K Games’ new M-rated shooter/survival horror/adventure/RPG title BioShock is set to become the undisputed game of 2007, and knowing about it (and just how great it is) will certainly win you a few friends from those different social paths.

The game is set in the early 60’s and follows your character ‘Jack’, a plane crash survivor, who discovers a rusted bathysphere and descends down into Rapture, a city hidden beneath the sea. Rapture was designed as an idealistic society for a hand picked group of scientists, artists and industrialists, however the idealism didn’t last long. As you start the game, you learn that the city is now littered with corpses, mechanical drones and mutated beings, while little girls loot the dead, and genetically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn.

As for reviews and critical disection, its hard to find out slipping under 95%, and the only negative press coming out seems to be from PS fanboys who are gutted that its not coming out under the Sony brand. MSNBC explain why its a possible game of the year candidate:

“Why? Because “Bioshock” combines several genres with amazing results. Then there’s the smooth gameplay, mixed with gorgeous graphics and some of the best sound direction in ages. What’s more, “BioShock” brings with it a fresh energy and intelligence from the opening moments to the ending.

BioShock (released on the XBox 360 and PC) is out now in all good shops, and possibly a few crappy ones too.

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· A discussion topic appeared on the BBC website last week which instantly grabbed my attention. It was discussing the recent story from Wednesday where a man was arrested after using someone else’s unsecured wireless connection. The 39 year old man was spotted allegedly sitting in a street with a laptop, and admitted what he was doing when questioned by police. Det Con Mark Roberts said:

“This arrest should act as a warning to anyone who thinks it is acceptable to illegally use other people’s broadband connections.”

I’ve talked about this with friends and co-workers, and they mirrored the discussions that appeared on the BBC website. They both involved a lot of questions: Is it stealing? Is it illegal, or just immoral? Is it really worth arresting people over? Firstly, I need to refer to the law: The Communications Act 2003 says a “person who (a) dishonestly obtains an electronic communications service, and (b) does so with intent to avoid payment of a charge applicable to the provision of that service, is guilty of an offence”. This pretty much settles the argument that what the gentleman has done means he is guilty. However, is this law as clear as it could be?

Let me be the first to openly admit that I have used other people’s wireless connections in the past, and may continue to do so in the future, if and when needed. Now, before the police start ringing my doorbell, and I’m oxtered from my flat, I’d like to argue my corner. The times when I am using a different wireless connection other than my own, is either a) my own wireless connection has been unavailable (or in the case of moving flats, when my ISP had not yet set up my account), or b) I have been elsewhere away from my own connection. In these sporadic occasions, I have only used the ‘illegal’ method to check email, its safe to say I am not using other peoples wireless Internet to download huge amounts of movies and songs, and I doubt the arrested gentleman was either. There is no ’significant loss’ in this scenario; it would be different if the thief had broken in through your front door, and stolen your television, now that is theft (and well as B&E), and this is what the police should be spending their time preventing. For hypothetical purposes, this is more like a thief wandering in through an unlocked and open front door, sitting down on your sofa and watching half an hour of television, whilst eating some of your biscuits, before departing and leaving everything as he or she left it

Far be it from me to argue that this law is unclear or unnecessary, but a quick glance at the amount of wi-fi connections my laptop is currently picking up, 3 of the 5 (including mine) is password protected, meaning nobody other than the people who know the pass-key can get access to that connection. The bottom line of this argument is that if you choose not to protect something you don’t want to share, don’t be surprised when you log on to find half the street using it.

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· American alternative rock-band REM are currently working on their 14th studio album, set to be released later this year, however this week will see the 20th anniversary of the release of one of their best albums, and certainly the best from the IRS years: Document.

Recorded between March and May of 1987, Document became the 5th studio album released by the band since they began in 1980, and with it, the band began a decade-long relationship with producer Scott Litt, a partnership that would continue on with future albums such as Green, Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster, and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. The finished album was littered with Stipe’s honest, heartfelt lyrics about the political environment within America at the time, apparent in songs such as ‘Welcome to the Occupation’ and ‘Exhuming McCarthy. With the songs ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’ and ‘The One I Love’ becoming successful singles in North America, Canada and the UK, it was to become the foundation for a fruitful string of future albums and tours.

Even after 20 years, the songs and structure still seem ageless, faultless and, overall, classic. A must-own album for anyone who even slightly enjoys R.E.M., but sadly not a sound that they will ever reach again.

Document is currently sitting at under a fiver on Amazon.co.uk. If your taste buds are crying out for something more recent, as of October you’ll be able to pick up a 2xCD/DVD combo of a Live R.E.M. tour, recorded at the Point Theatre, Dublin on February 26 and 27, 2005. It is slated for release on October 16, 2007.

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That was the week in lumps, a week in which: BBC One became the channel of the year, Heroes star Hayden Panettiere turned 18, and also starred in a new ‘Got Milk’ Ad, YouTube started looking a lot like Digg, with a user rated comment scheme, and speaking of Digg: a big re-design was let loose on the public on Monday.

and I leave this week (still wondering where the Bank Holiday weekend vanished to) with a reminder that on Tuesday 27th you will be able to see a total lunar eclipse for the second time this year, however its not visible in any of Asia or Europe. I will not let this stand in our way, so here is the link to the live web cast on the NASA website. Enjoy!

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