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This Week in Lumps
#53 [17/06 - 23/06]

· After a 2 week absence, I’ve been reunited with my mended laptop, and I return to a smorgasbord of news and fun stuff. In the fortnight away (which is actually 4 weeks since you last heard from me), amongst other things, I managed to complete the story mode of GTA IV (and despite being a good game, failed to win me over, and convince me it was a great game- the missions far too repetitive, no emotional attachment to any of the characters, weak ending… and I’m not alone in thinking it could have been so much better), also; a new iPhone has been announced (one that immediately sounds much more reasonable than the last effort, and one that I’m sure I’ll invest in), and surprise surprise, Chris Martin is still a twat. Some things never change.

Lets get straight back into it, shall we…

~

· When NCS finally succumbed to the inevitable and closed its support for Navigator back in March of this year, many were mourning the death of an Internet forefather. Once upon a time, more than 9/10ths of people online were using it, and became synonymous with the 1990′s buzz word ‘surfing’. However time, progression and unforgiving competitors had eroded it down to a shadow of its former self, and with the gradual but predicted rise in popularity of open source browsers, by the time of its closure that figure had dropped to just 0.6% of the market.

A new generation of web users had either branched out by themselves, or been blinkered by larger companies into using alternatives, notably Microsoft, which capitalised on Netscape’s success and began to bundle it’s own browser IE with its Windows operating systems. Although this led to legal arguments over anti-competitive behaviour, IE now dominates the browser landscape with an 80% market share. The browser wars looked over before it had even started.

However, not everyone was happy with letting Microsoft roll over and win; like last words on its tech deathbed, Netscape recommended that users upgrade their browser to either Firefox or Flock, which are both built on the same underlying technologies as Navigator, and both, along with Safari and Opera, are the main rivals for IE’s throne. The forerunner of the pack is Mozilla’s effort, and this past week they’ve taken a giant step towards conquering their Goliath.

Mitchell Baker, who was one of the first employees at Netscape way back in 1994, and is now the chair person of the Mozilla Corporation, was one of the first to champion the web browser pioneers on helping start the successful boom of the Internet. In a frank chat with the BBC, she said:

“I think we represent the hope that was of Netscape, we have picked up many of the things that Netscape launched but we’ve taken them further in terms of openness and public participation.”

But it was something else that Baker said that may make Microsoft sit up and take notice:

“Competition is what brings quality”

So that brings me onto the big news this week: Firefox 3. Download day has been and gone, and with it have all doubts over Firefox ever failing to break the current hierarchy with regards to browsing. Beforehand, goals of 5 million were muttered under breath, and despite teething trouble in the first couple of hours, it had reached 1 million before the launch party had even begun. 24 after it was released, a ballpark figure of 8.3 million was announced, a possible world record. Another 24 hours later, it was up to 12 million, and (as of Sunday afternoon) currently sits at 16 million, exceeding all of its goals triumphantly. Staff for techblog Ars Technica were at the launch party, and had some fitting words to add:

“It’s further confirmation that the Firefox web browser is rapidly becoming mainstream; it has long since ceased being a niche product confined to early adopters and enthusiasts. Firefox has had a profound impact on the web and will likely continue to play a central role in shaping the future of the Internet.”

First impressions are very impressive indeed, despite not all of the add-ons I had working yet; the speed improvements for both a wireless connection (in my flat), and wired connection (at work) are very noticeable, as is the amount of memory it takes to run, as seen in this screenshot I took whilst browsing the same webpage on both browsers. It’s got to the stage now where I have so much faith in FF that I’ve removed IE7 completely from my system, with only Flock as my backup browser. In what has been a great first 10 years for Mozilla, I think the next 10 will be even better.

I will be looking at Flock 2.0 over the next week or so, and giving a run down on its potential. Until IE8 comes out, I’d strongly recommend any frequent Internet users to download and try FF3. When IE8 does come out, it has a lot of work to do to get people to leave Firefox, and I’m sure that some of that 80% market share has taken a hit. And, if Mitchell Baker is correct in that ‘competition is what brings quality’, then FF can only get better and better. Lets hope IE and Microsoft can keep up with the pace.

~

· I’ve always had mixed feelings towards Weezer; a band whom I’ve felt have always been one step away from greatness, or one step away from that perfect album, but worse than never taking that leap, have never really figured out what they should be in the grand scheme of things. I first heard them when ‘Buddy Holly’ was plastered all over the radio, the TV and even the Windows 95 installation CD, but it wasn’t until around the same time that Jimmy Eat World were touring in support of their Bleed American album that I started to notice them again. At this time, Weezer were coming back from their 4 year hiatus, and were touring in support of their 3rd album, the Green Album, which, coupled with Bleed American and a few other albums, made 2001 a great great year for music.

Now, 7 years on, where have Weezer taken us? 2002′s Maladroit received generally positive reviews, but wasn’t for me, whilst 2005′s Make Believe was way too mainstream to be taken seriously. So here we are, 3 years later again, with another self titled album, this time known as the Red Album, and despite including the first rock song to have the word ‘booya’ crammed into it, still isn’t the Weezer that everyone thinks Weezer could be.

The LP kicks off with Troublemaker, which is a good a start as any, but isn’t too different from what we’ve already heard in ‘Beverly Hills’. Sadly, the next track ‘The Greatest Man That Ever Lived’ is so bad that even the dog would leave the room and hide under the stairs. It’s a disappointing, scrappy, mess-riddled excuse for a song that makes you wonder about the quality of tracks they turned down at the final cut. We have about 6 different styles of music crammed into just under 6 minutes, and much like if someone had left a child with a dressing up box and some make-up, the end result becomes a right state. Luckily, Pork & Beans kicks in, but despite loving it as a single, it does nothing but recover the album back out of the negative, and would have sounded better straight after Troublemaker.

‘Everybody Get Dangerous’ takes us back into the negative, with a formula we’ve already decided doesn’t work on a Weezer record, ‘Heart Songs’ is a good effort, but doesn’t really go anywhere, whereas ‘Dreamin’ is the killer amongst all the filler, thankfully. It’s a brief yet welcome reminder that this is the same band that can create such great singalong songs such as ‘Holiday’ and have you shouting “Heeaaarrrt beeeeat” at the top of your lungs.

After ‘Dreamin’, the album tries alternating main vocal and songwriting duties between Weezer’s three other members. Guitarist Brian Bell’s Southern drawl ballad ‘Thought I Knew’ goes by quite daintily, and although it hardly sounds like a normal, recognizable Weezer song, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact the other two songs from drummer Patrick Wilson and bassist Scott Shriner fall under the same bracket, like Rivers had gone “Boys, I’m bored, you try something this afternoon”; ‘Cold Dark World’ takes us back down the horrible rails, and leaves you wondering where the promise of the album disappeared to. It starts to flicker back into life by the time ‘Automatic’ begins, and it eventually becomes the best of a bad trio with its no frills and surprisingly pleasing vocals, a refreshing change from Cuomo; if only they had the balls to do half the album with Wilson taking the songs. We can but hope for album number 7.

The Red album is definitely going to please some people; its by no means offensively bad, but for me, it’s an album with no warmth, no TLC, no passion. It’s an album that, on second and third listen, still feels colder than the other side of the pillow. Sure, many reviews I’ve read have shown this album in a much brighter light, much like NME’s effort, which praise the band’s “songwriting genius”, or even to a lesser extent Pitchfork Media, who say that the album:

“…relies on a high quantity of short-lived pretty good ideas to distract from a shortage of great ones.”

Tiny Mix Tapes weren’t exactly full of praise either, as well as saying that ‘Everybody Gets Dangerous’ sounds like Limp Bizkit after a late night Maroon 5 binge, their summary sums it all up:

“Will diehard Weezer fans dig it? Undoubtedly. And they should, because nothing has changed.”

…and therein lies the reason why I had, and still have, mixed feelings towards this band. Just take that step lads, that one step that’ll blow us all away. Sadly, this album isn’t it.

~

· You can’t really move in Hollywood right now for comic-related superhero films; fresh off the success of massively popular names like Spiderman, The Fantastic Four and The X-Men, the wheel kept turning, and before you knew it, Daredevil, The Incredible Hulk, a new Batman franchise, Hellboy, the list goes on and on. Suffice to say, if you’re working in movies, suggesting a relatively unknown superhero with untapped potential at one of your ‘creative session’ meetings, and you could find yourself employee of the month.

The latest off the fantasy shelf is Hancock, except this isn’t from the fantasy shelf – Hancock is a comic superhero… who has never been in a comic book. The story was actually written by Vincent Ngo in 1996 and had languished in Hollywood for some time. Originally titled ‘Tonight, He Comes, it wasn’t until October 2006 that Director Peter Berg was attached. Berg, who also directed the awesomely great Friday Night Lights, and last years underrated flick The Kingdom, has gained many fans around the west coast, and is set for bigger things.

Hancock is played by “the most powerful man in Hollywood” Will Smith, who stars as a despised superhero– courtesy of the trail of disaster he leaves in his path. Why? Well, here’s the twist- Hancock has super powers, but he’s reluctant to use them. Because he’s grumpy, homeless, and a bit of an alcoholic. Luckily, he finds some friends, as he bumps into Michael Bluth, sorry, Jason Bateman, and his hot wife Britt Ekland, sorry, Charlize Theron. And so the movie unfolds.

For a film with no history, it still has the potential of being the best “comic book movie” of the summer, but it faces stiff competition. It is released nationwide on July 2nd.

~~~

That was the last few weeks in lumps, in which: it turned out that working in Silicon Valley isn’t as great as you’d think, Top Gear is exported to the US, the new hydrogen car sounds quite impressive (but I still have doubts over the short term success rate, progression in this field with take decades), McDonalds ditch the burgers and fries-style advertising, and opt for lettuces growing on a billboard, if your death is imminent, make sure your last words have the same level of greatness as these, Stockholm is the place to girl for the most attractive women, And silence please, for the worst book ever written.

next Tuesdays TWiL will be a ever-so-slightly slimmer version, because on Monday there will be a special ‘post Euro 2008 Championships’ entry covering the fallout of the tournament, the stand out players, the winners, the losers, and much more. It’ll be posted sometime around 3pm on Monday 1st. Booya.

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