Saving the music industry and the planet with shiny objects

“50 years from now what will they say about us here?Did we care for the water and the fragile atmosphere?”So sings Prince in the title song of his new album, free yes FREE with a certain British “newspaper”. Do all their readers like Prince? Is Prince caring “for the water and the fragile atmosphere”? Or responsible for the production of 2.9 million plastic disks, many of which will inevitably end up in landfills?But perhaps they are new special magic biodegradable CDs - that aspect doesn’t seem to have been touched on much, amongst the debate about whether Prince has single-handedly destroyed or saved the Music Industry. As if that was the most important problem facing us all.

Spar Live update

The latest jingle accompanying your purchase of frozen peas from Spar (selected branches only) is:”Love life - Love Spar!”.W.T. F…??!!

Jeremy Parcelstring wants to be your friend

One might think that lurkers who want to be “friends” (that’s online “friendship”, rather than anything of the same name traditionally associated with giving a flying one about anybody other than yourself) would be content to solicit complete strangers for attention on the consistently gauche Myspace - but it seems that the urge to boast in excess of 10,000 “friends” can be seen in action every bit as much on rival networking sites. What kind of person would send a “friends request” to complete strangers and unknown bands the instant they set foot (that is, register an account - without even having had the chance to provide any information at all!) in the “community”? Perhaps it’s the same sort of person that indiscriminately sends out requests for “record deals” to organisations that have already made it plain that they don’t - that is, self-absorbed nincompoops? Or maybe not. Maybe they’re just being friendly.

You must be entertained

More music! Across the nation! With Spar Live!- urges the pre-recorded female voice across the shop’s speaker system, in a tone that combines the rapture of corporate employees flattering the boss with the reassuring cheer of a parent telling a timid child about a surprise trip to Disneyland. The somnolent singing of Amy Winehouse follows… More music! More music! How could you stand to buy your baked beans without the accompaniment of golden oldies, new tunes in an oldie style, and lots of smug jingles reminding you where you are, you idiot?Whilst some shoppers might prefer the constant honking of horns by clowns riding up and down the aisles on unicycles, radio remains a much more cost-effective way to really piss people off.

“Our eagerness to deal with climate change”

The Observer got some flak today by way of feedback from some of its readers for its article ‘After the Deluge, Let’s have Action‘. One action it suggests should be undertaken is the provision of “bigger drains”. Somehow the Flash advertisement for the newspaper’s travel shop, promoting air travel, seems more worthy of attention.Environmental issues tend to be hidden away as much as possible, year after year, decade after decade, until they become unavoidable - by which point, putting your used copies of The Observer and empty packets of Shreddies in a separate collection box from your other waste might be a little late in the day, and not really a convincing example of taking the bull by the horns in “our eagerness to deal with climate change”.