Live Circle Jerk

"We are in a transition time in history when the only way we can get to where we need to be is by starting from where we are."

Read that again.

One more time.

That was Algore, the greatest intellectual of the modern era, speaking in Bushism about why it was necessary to fly rock stars around the world for some sort of awareness concert that was held this weekend.

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I watched the live feed for about half an hour. I caught the tail end of a mildly entertaining Brazilian act, got up and took a shit during a short film they showed, then nearly threw up when Fall Out Boy appeared at Giants Stadium and started playing that one song they do. Nothing inspires me to change my consumption habits more than Fall Out Boy.

I didn't even realize this was going on until my buddy Jason told me about it last week. (Then again, apparently no one did. Oh wait, never mind, people knew about, but we're just chalking up the poor attendance to global warming.) I asked him today if he watched it; predictably, he said he enjoyed most of it. He told me he even started unplugging everything at his house - excepting the refrigerator and alarm clock - when he wasn't using them. If I didn't like him so much, I would officially de-friend him.

I'm always simultaneously angered, saddened, and sickened that masses of people lack enough principle and moral perspective that for them one the most "important" causes they can focus their conviction on is fucking climate change. Christ Almighty. As if 1.3 million babies weren't aborted in the U.S. alone last year. You really reach the lower throes of depression when you are forced to watch young people try to get worked up for a cause this asinine, just so they can pat themselves on the back and say "I helped!"

All this to say nothing of the fact that there is nothing in the world more annoying than a singer or actor getting off their political jollies. (Of course, Ahnold is the one exception to this because HE'S FUCKING CONAN.) Seriously though, SHUT UP. I want to like you Kanye West - you fucking rock - but you're also a fucking idiot, and it's hard to disassociate that inconvenient truth (zing) when I am listening to your music. Et tu, Bloc Party?? Fuck me.

Further reading:

The Daily Mail gives us the lowdown and lays the smack down on Live Earth's carbon footprint, among other aspects of the event -

The total carbon footprint of the event, taking into account the artists’ and spectators’ travel to the concert, and the energy consumption on the day, is likely to be at least 31,500 tonnes of carbon emissions, according to John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com, who specialises in such calculations.

Throw in the television audience and it comes to a staggering 74,500 tonnes. In comparison, the average Briton produces ten tonnes in a year.

Go fucking figure.

Also, Mark Hemingway at NRO gives us live blogging action, entitled "Living Through Live Earth... Or testing the limits of human awareness." It's thoroughly entertaining, plus he forms a sharp Tipper conspiracy theory.