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Live Earth: Madonna to the Rescue |
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Live Earth
Madonna to the rescue.
7/13/2007
Here’s an inconvenient truth for you, said Vinay Menon in the Toronto Star: Al Gore’s much ballyhooed Live Earth “ecopalooza” last weekend ended up hurting the planet in the name of saving it. The former vice president, now a crusader against global warming, arranged for 150 musical acts, including Madonna, the Police, and the Dave Matthews Band, to stage seven simultaneous rock concerts around the world, thus raising the planet’s eco-consciousness. Or something. Rock concerts devoted to good causes such as African orphans, world peace, and, now, reduced greenhouse-gas emissions have become “wretched clichés.” So it’s hard to see why it was worth burning a “sickening amount of fossil fuel” to fly rock stars between continents just so Gore could lecture us again on the importance of energy-efficient light bulbs and comedian Chris Rock could urge us all to drive “smaller-a** cars.”
Live Earth was not only pointless and hypocritical, said Roy Spencer in the New York Post. It was unscientific. Gore exhorted the crowds to sign a seven-point eco-pledge, including promises to plant trees, improve the energy efficiency of their homes, and lobby their governments to cut carbon emissions. By these simple acts, Gore assured us, we could prevent the release of some 100 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere. What he failed to mention, somehow, was that “that’s enough to prevent future warming by one thousandth of a degree.” To really make a difference, scientists estimate America would have to slash carbon emissions by about 90 percent, said David Freddoso in National Review Online. “Short of killing everyone,” the only way to get anywhere near that goal would be to remove every car from the road, ground every plane, “and shut down most of our electrical grid.”
You cynics are both missing the point, said Joan Anderman in The Boston Globe. The rock stars may have wasted a lot of fuel arriving on private jets, but they weren’t there to be role models. “They were there to deliver a global audience—2 billion strong if estimates are accurate.” The goal of Live Earth was not to “solve the problem in a day” but to focus the attention of a third of the world on a very real threat to our survival. That was accomplished, as evidenced by the drunken middle-aged man I personally watched “toss his beer bottle in a recycling bin for the first time” in his life. “Multiply that by 2 billion,” and you’ve got measurable results. Not enough to stop global warming in its track, perhaps, but “we’ve got to start somewhere.”
emo lol burning_eyes
 johndoe061 · Thu Jul 19, 2007 @ 05:07pm · 0 Comments |
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JKR Harry Potter Secret Let Out Onto the Web |
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J.K. Rowling implores fans to keep Potter secret
J.K. Rowling has just posted this short message in the diary section of her official web site:
We are almost there! As launch night looms, let's all, please, ignore the misinformation popping up on the web and in the press on the plot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'd like to ask everyone who calls themselves a Potter fan to help preserve the secrecy of the plot for all those who are looking forward to reading the book at the same time on publication day. In a very short time you will know EVERYTHING!
johndoe061 · Wed Jul 18, 2007 @ 10:39pm · 0 Comments |
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Royal Mail Releases Harry Potter Stamps |
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Royal Mail Releases Harry Potter Stamps
Tuesday, July 17, 2007 2:00 PM EDT
The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Britain issued a series of seven postage stamps depicting the covers of the best-selling Harry Potter books Tuesday, days before the final volume in the series goes on sale.
The Royal Mail said about 340,000 people had pre-ordered the stamps — breaking the record of 300,000 pre-orders set by a series of Beatles stamps released in January.
The Royal Mail also released five stamps featuring the crests of the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and its houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Online, fans can personalize the stamps, placing their picture alongside the crest of their favorite house.
The stamps will be on sale at 40,000 British post offices for the next month and online for a year.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final book in the series, goes on sale in Britain at midnight Saturday.
Rowling's fantasy series about a boy wizard has sold more than 325 million copies worldwide. She has said two major characters will die in "Deathly Hallows," which is being released under tight security. 4laugh
johndoe061 · Tue Jul 17, 2007 @ 09:43pm · 0 Comments |
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Fall Out Boy Bio as Published by AOL Music |
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The four members of Chicago's Fall Out Boy came together in suburban Wilmette around 2001. Vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist/lyricist Pete Wentz, drummer Andrew Hurley, and guitarist Joe Trohman had all been in and out of various units connected to Chicago's underground hardcore scene. Most notably, Hurley drummed for Racetraitor, the furiously political metalcore outfit whose brief output was both a rallying point and sticking point within the hardcore community. As Fall Out Boy, the quartet used the unbridled intensity of hardcore as a foundation for melody-drenched pop-punk with a heavy debt to the emo scene. They debuted with a self-released demo in 2001, following it up in May 2002 with a split LP on Uprising that also featured Project Rocket (for which Hurley also drummed). The band returned on the label in January with the mini-LP Fall Out Boy's Evening Out with Your Girl, but by this point a bidding war of sorts was already in full swing.
Fall Out Boy eventually signed a deal with Gainesville, FL's Fueled by Ramen, the label co-owned by Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie Fiorello, but also received an advance from Island Records to record their proper debut. The advance came with a right of first refusal for Island on Fall Out Boy's next album, but it also financed the recording of Take This to Your Grave, which occurred at Butch Vig's Smart Studios compound in Madison, WI, with Sean O'Keefe (Lucky Boys Confusion, Motion City Soundtrack) at the helm. Take This to Your Grave appeared in May 2003, and Fall Out Boy garnered positive reviews for their gigs at South by Southwest and numerous tour appearances. Their breakout album, the ambitious From Under the Cork Tree, followed in spring 2005, quickly reaching the Top Ten of Billboard's album chart and spawning two Top Ten hits with "Sugar We're Going Down" and the furiously upbeat "Dance, Dance." The album went double platinum, and earned the guys a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
Fall Out Boy's star status in the underground -- driven by the especially extroverted Wentz, who also gained exposure with his clothing line and Decaydance imprint (of Fueled by Ramen) -- had boiled over into the mainstream. They toured extensively behind the album, both at home and abroad, including spring 2006 arena dates, in addition to appearing on TRL, late-night television, and music award shows. Without taking a break, the guys eventually hunkered down to work on their follow-up record with From Under the Cork Tree producer Neil Avron and, somewhat surprisingly, Babyface. Infinity on High, whose title was taken from a line in one of Van Gogh's personal letters, appeared in early February 2007, spearheaded by the hit single "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race." The album continued Fall Out Boy's streak, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts and going platinum about a month later. ~ Johnny Loftus & Corey Apar, All Music Guide
johndoe061 · Mon Jul 16, 2007 @ 05:20pm · 0 Comments |
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