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This Week in Lumps
#41 [04/03 - 10/03]

· What is a sure-fire way of getting a story to the front page of Digg these days? Spread a rumour that they are selling out. The most recent effort from this past week talks about how either Google, Microsoft, or two other parties are soon to be tabling a $300 million bid to buy out the social news and networking site.

News of Digg being purchased is old hat, mind you. Way back in January 2006, the original amounts were a mere $30 million, and the source of interest was Yahoo. Back in November of last year, the rumours were that a ‘major media player’ (cough MSNBC) will spend $300 million - $400 million for the company. This latest announcement is just refreshing the page.

Digg’s CEO Jay Adelson was quick to post a blog entry on Friday in response to the growing rumours on the bid being accepted, although Adelson appeared to deny the rumors outright:

“Normally our policy is to not comment about things like this, but this morning’s rumors about a bidding war involving Google and Microsoft have created such a stir we feel compelled to tell you all directly that they are completely inaccurate.

Sorry to burst any drama theories, but they aren’t true. We remain focused on improving Digg and rolling out great features.”

According to CNET News.com, he could just be trying to delay the announcement :

“… Adelson could be acting a bit cagey here. The original report on TechCrunch never mentioned a “bidding war” per se, just that four companies were in the running to acquire the company. The “bidding war” phrase in Adelson’s post could have referred to embellished rumors and speculation that subsequently floated about the Web.”

Which is true when you think about it; Read again, and look at what he didn’t write: ‘We’re not for sale’, ‘we’re not selling to Google, and we’re not selling to anybody else, either.’ So he’s allowing himself plenty of space if this deal does proceed.

TechCrunch, the site that the rumours started from, has some advice to throw the way of Jay, Kevin, et al:

“Perhaps the most recent rumors are true. If they are, I congratulate the Digg team and investors But if the rumors are as true as the previous ones (meaning not at all), then I suggest they hire an investment banker to put together a proper pitch deck, approach the key buyers, and get a real bidding war going. That’s the way to sell a company for an absurd valuation. The slow burn approach does nothing but create a never ending cycle of rumors.”

I still think an acceptable offer has been made, and the Digg big-wigs are hesitating on accepting, maybe waiting for something better. That better offer may be coming in the shape of Google, one would assume, but I’m not sure Kevin and co are ready to sell out just yet. But, of course: $300 million, who would turn that down?

~

· I haven’t talked about music on here in a fair few weeks, and that just won’t do. Sometimes the best conversations can be about music, be it top 10 albums, top 3 songs, comparisons, who is better than who, who you wish reformed, who you think should have split up years ago, if you have an (honest) opinion on music, and a passionate one at that, then you are a friend of mine.

Whilst having these heated debates with close ones, you may hear a word echoed, which, sadly, is one of the more overly used terms in music. This word is ‘icon’; Ask anyone which bands are iconic, which songs, which lead singers, the answers vary from one person to the next, and the word icon was thrown around this week as users of MusicMagpie.co.uk voted on the top 10 most iconic album covers of all time, the winner being Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures.

Here’s the top ten:

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
The Beatles - Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Smiths - Meat is Murder
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Paul Weller - Stanley Road
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks

First off, what you have to digest is that this isn’t meant as a ‘best of’ list, nor is it fair to dismiss an album because it is ugly, or boring. However, iconic album covers must be unique, yet memorable, as well as being a fabulous, thought provoking representation of not just that bands work, but in fact the band itself. Where you may not remember King Crimson, who the band members were, or what their biggest hit was, seeing the album cover for ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’ will instantly hit a chord with your memory, and the same goes for numerous other bands, such as Pink Floyd, Radiohead and even U2.

So, like me, I’m sure you are currently agreeing or disagreeing with those selections. Stanley Road shouldn’t be in there for a start, its apparent iconic-ness cover should be overlooked by the fact that it’s a poor mans version of Exile on Main Street. Not only that, but it’s uninspired, and looks like it was completed in about 5 minutes.

You could argue whether ‘Houses of the Holy’ is iconic or not until the cows come home, for me, it wouldn’t make the list- despite there being other Led Zeppelin albums which are iconic (see my choice below), but in my eyes its not even close to the shortlist by any stretch of the imagination, it even makes Coda look like a masterpiece.

With that in mind, my other 9 (as I agree with Unknown Pleasures) in no particular order:

Tool - Aenima
Prodigy - Fat of the Land
Jane’s Addiction - Nothing’s Shocking
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
Nirvana – Nevermind
The Eagles - Hotel California
The Clash - London Calling
NWA -Straight Outta Compton
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

oh, I cant just limit it to 9, so here’s a tenth:

Supertramp - Breakfast in America

For more album covers to think about, check out this list of 50 of the best. If, like me, you love the album cover, the album itself, even the band, then you may also be interested in this Tee from Threadless.

~

· Currently appearing on the Cracked blog is the 9 films coming soon that really need to be cancelled for the sake of sanity. Some obvious choices in the list, including the upcoming film of The Sims, an, oddly enough, a Monopoly movie (how on Earth can you write a script for these two films? One is a game about life, for those who don’t have one of their own, and the other is full of inanimate objects like shoes and irons?)

Top of the list: The Sex and the City film:

“Despite being one of the worst representations of women in modern culture, it was one of the highest-rated shows on HBO ever, and now all the boyfriends who managed to have a macrame class every Sunday night will have no legitimate excuse for not going (for some reason, “I have testicles and hate you” is not considered a legitimate excuse). And since the movie is a continuation of the series, there’s a good chance your gal’s going to want you to brush up on the show so you’ll know what’s going on.”

Ach, I’d still go see it.

~~~

That was the week in lumps, a week in which: The XBox is getting cheaper, My Morning Jacket will be releasing Evil Urges in June, Cleveland from Family Guy is getting his own show, Apple are on track to sell 10 million iPhones in a year (even I’m considering it), Nine Inch Nails release their new album via BitTorrent, and what to do if your parents add you on Facebook, which spurred the best two posts I’ve ever read on digg, and they are currently the top two:

• by padrebuf
  i’m friends with my mom. i don’t poke her though.
• by Pogojoe
  I did.

Oh, and godspeed to Patrick Swayze, who is recovering from treatment for cancer. I hope he makes a full and speedy recovery.

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