Name:matt Country:United States State:Georgia Metro:Columbus Birthday:9/9/1986 Gender:Male
Interests:eh music? sleep? Expertise:I like to think i know a lot about music. Also i am pretty good at academic bowl stuff. Occupation:Supervisory Industry:Business
At the risk of this becoming a blog just for tracking the breakthroughs and highlights in email spam I get, I now write about another message. Today is the dawn of a new era, truly. For today, I checked my hotmail's junk box, and saw this message line on one of the messages:
Dαωn of α Neω Εrα Re:
The message itself was just about Visa credit cards, which isn't that interesting. The, important thing is, spammers have figured out how to use Greek letters. I don't think I've ever seen this before. I think a lot of basic spam filters block mail with certain words or from suspicious addresses. Long ago, as I recall, spam did not used to be a contest of comically rendered misspelled words. The subject line was a correctly spelled sentence or phrase, then those started getting sorted. Each new breakthrough is fresh for a while, then everyone uses it, then it gets sorted out. Of course, this one didn't actually make it to my inbox, either. I guess I just am noticing the spammers' endless creativity in finding ways to try to sneak email messages past filters.
One early spring morning in Manhattan several years ago, I decided to treat myself to a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was looking forward to a quiet Sunday. When I boarded the subway at Chambers Street, I was relieved to find myself alone in the car.
My happiness was short-lived. At Spring Street, a noisy bunch of high-schoolers wearing enormous day packs flooded in, chatting, shoving one another, and plugging away on their electronic devices. I sighed. Why my car? Why couldn’t my morning have just a little more peace and quiet?
Then, without warning, I heard a high-pitched whistle. It took me a minute to place the sound: a pitch pipe. I looked up. The students began to sing — the “Kyrie Eleison” from Mozart’s “Requiem.” I was entranced.
They continued singing, conducting one another with their eyes, all the way up to my stop.
Having done both glee club and university chorus this past semester, I think my singing ability improved quite a lot during that time. So did my powers of musical understanding. One of the most tangible breakthroughs was recognizing and understanding cross-relations. I was studying all night for my math finals, which fell right next to each other on the last day of tests, Differential Equations at 8 AM and Combinatorics at noon. I usually do stay up all night when I have an 8 AM final because I'll feel more awake during it than if I had slept some and then had to get up after 4 hours. (Also it avoids the danger of me just sleeping through the final completely.) So there I was, studying all night in the SLC, getting up periodically to go to the vending machines or walk around the building. I usually hum to myself when I'm working intently, and this night I was going between two songs: "If I Fell" by The Beatles, and a choral piece we did in glee club called "Thou Didst Delight My Eyes." I was savoring one particularly juicy part of the melody in the choral song, and sort of realized something I'd never noticed before about it. In the third verse (beginning "For what wert thou to me?"), the tenor part goes through some particularly wonderful phrases (such as the descending arpeggio on "poured her midnight noon," the large jumps on "sail" and "cheered"), and one part especially was catching my ear: the line, right after that arpeggio, "upon this wrecking sea." I noticed that the syllables wre- and sea sort of "clashed" with each other. (I don't have the music handy, so I can't give note names, which makes the discussion pretty clunky, but oh well.) "Sea" comes right after "wre-" and the intervening "-cking," and is one half step lower. Even though they are not sung simultaneously and could very well have different harmonic functions, the syllable "sea" still sounds like a clash, and takes a certain effort to sing right. Here's the recording of our performance at the fall concert. I assume all the copyright stuff checks out. The cross-relation happens at 1:26 in the song. Now, perhaps it was just coincidence that I had "If I Fell" in mind, or perhaps my brain was associating the two songs with each other because of the cross-relations, but I soon recognized the same trick in the bridge of the Beatles song! "If I Fell" is one of my favorite Beatles songs, for the two part vocal lines in the verse (plus the rhyming which is pretty good as well), but I'd never particularly liked the bridge part. I was singing the second line of it over and over, and noticed the cross-relation where I never had before: "would be sad if our new love was in vain." I probably had never even heard it clearly enough to tell that the pitches were different, but I was singing it and singing it right and suddenly realized that they were different, and it was the same thing going on as in "Thou Didst Delight My Eyes." In this case, the pitches on "our new love" are f-g-f#, so this one actually moves up, but it's the same. When Paul sings the f#, it just sticks out, sounds like a new song or something, elevates the feeling of the whole line to a new intensity. Here, it comes at the end of the bridge, which travels more into minor territory than the verse does. The bridge begins on G, the IV chord of the original key, D major. It shifts to g minor on the words "and I," and staying more of a g-minor scale, runs up d-e-f-g. Then on the word "love," when the harmony goes back to D Major, it resolutely lands on f#. To check whether my suspicion on this song was even correct, I went to Alan Pollack, Beatles music guru, and found confirmation of my theory ("The phrase 'sad if our new love' contains an unusual melodic cross-relation between the F-natural (on the word 'our') and the F# two words later on 'love'"). That half-step change makes all the difference. It really does make the "love" seem new. It happens at 1:09 in this video:
The cross-relation (or false relation, as wikipedia calls it) is a pretty cool little melodic trick, and is perhaps the most tangible one thing I picked up on in music this semester. Ever since I took music theory from Mr. Bishop in 11th grade, my understanding of music has just been growing constantly, and it happens in episodes like this. I remember the first time I heard and understood the use of secondary dominants. I was listening to the song "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones.
I was familiar enough with chords to distinguish basic I-IV-V movement, which in this song would be the chords G, C, and D. At that time of my life, Bob Dylan was almost all that I listened to, and mid-sixties Bob Dylan almost completely limits himself to I-IV-V chords (and that usually in the two keys of G and C). So in the Rolling Stones song, I could hear the movement between G, C, and D, but the second line of the verse had something different, something that did not fit that scheme. I tried it on my guitar, and before long found that the song goes from G up to A major, which then goes to D. It makes a non-harmonic jump to the II chord, which then makes sense once it goes to D: it is the V of V. Once I heard this, I began hearing many more examples of this in popular music (it's a common progression), and also began hearing movements like G-E-Am, for example, or G-B-Em. These sorts of breakthroughs are exciting for me. They happen more often when I'm involved in a singing group, and they enrich the experience of listening to/performing music. Next semester I'll be in the glee club, the vocal group Classic City Jazz, and the early music (as in, renaissance and baroque) group Collegium Musicum. Hopefully I'll be learning many more cool things; maybe I'll report them back here if I do!
NOTIFICATION FROM THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FBI.WASHINGTON DC.
From:
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FBI.WASHINGTON DC. (info@fbi.gov)
Sent:
Mon 11/10/08 6:21 AM
To:
ROBERT MUELLER III EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FBI FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FBI.WASHINGTON DC. Email: fbisafetywatch@federal-bureau-investigations.org FBI SEEKING TO WIRETAP INTERNET
ATTENTION:
We believe this notification meets you in a very good present state of mind and health. We the Federal bureau of investigation (FBI) Washington, DC in conjunction with some other relevant Investigation Agencies here in the United states of America have recently been informed through our Global intelligence monitoring network that you presently have a transaction going on with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as regards to your over-due contract payment which was fully endorsed in your favor accordingly.
We will find a way to fix a schedule for you to come to our head-quarter in Washington DC to enable us advise you on what to do, but meanwhile you are further advised to be contacting us via email for now because we are having various investigations that we are working on now. Keep everything regarding to your transaction confidential for security reasons and note that we have not informed the local FBI department in your state regarding this matter because we want to keep everything secret until your fund is been transferred to you accordingly. We the FBI have purposely create an email in order for us to contact you personally and our phone codes departments are not aware of this new improvement,so don't call our service line regarding this email, soon we will provide you with a line you can call for more information about this contract winning funds.
For the main time we the Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington DC will be helping you to monitor all the transaction with the Central Bank of Nigeria. we want you to have in mind that we are trying to protect you because your inheritance fund that is about to be transferred to you is a large amount of money, and we will advise you not to inform any one about this transaction until the corresponding bank have successfully transferred your inheritance fund.
It might interest you to know that we have taken out time in screening through this project as stipulated on our protocol of operation and have finally confirmed that your contract payment is 100% genuine and hitch free from all facet and of which you have the lawful right to claim your fund without any further delay.Having said all this, we will further advise that you go ahead in dealing with the Central Bank office accordingly as we will be monitoring all their services with you as well as your correspondence at all level.
In addendum, also be informed that we recently had a meeting with the Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in the person of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo and Mr. Kingsley Agwor along with some of the top officials of the Ministry regarding your case and they made us to understand that your file has been held in abase depending on when you personally come for the claim. They also told us that the only problem they are facing right now is that some unscrupulous element are using this project as an avenue to scam innocent people off their hard earned money by impersonating the Executive Governor and the Central Bank office.
We were also made to understand that a lady with name Mrs. Joan C. Bailey from OHIO has already contacted them and also presented to them all the necessary documentations evidencing your claim purported to have been signed personally by you prior to the release of your contract fund valued at about US$8,000,000.00 (Eight million united states dollars), but the Central Bank office did the wise thing by insisting on hearing from you personally before the go ahead on wiring your fund to the Bank information which was forwarded to them by the above named Lady so that was the main reason why they contacted us so as to assist them in making the investigations.
They further informed us that we should warn our dear citizens who must have been informed of the contract payment which was awarded to them from the Central Bank of Nigeria, to be very careful prior to this irregularities so that they don't fall victim to this ugly circumstance. And should in case you are already dealing with anybody or office claiming to be from the Central Bank of Nigeria, you are further advised to STOP further contact with them in your best interest and then contact immediately the real office of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) only with the below information accordingly:
NAME: PROF. CHUKWUMA SOLUDO MR. KINGSLEY AGWOR
OFFICE ADDRESS: Central Bank of Nigeria, Central Business District,Cadastral Zone, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.
NOTE: In your best interest, any message that doesn't come from the above official email address and phone numbers should not be replied to and should be disregarded accordingly for security reasons. Meanwhile, we will advise that you contact the Central Bank office immediately with the above email address and request that they attend to you payment file as directed so as to enable you receive your contract fund accordingly.
Ensure you follow all their procedure as may be required by them as that will further help hasten up the whole procedures as regards to the transfer of your fund to you as designated. Also have in mind that the Central Bank of Nigeria equally have their own protocol of operation as stipulated on their banking terms, so delay could be very dangerous. Once again, we will advise that you contact them with the above email address and make sure you forward to them all the necessary information which they may require from you prior to the release of your fund to you accordingly.
All modalities has already been worked out even before you were contacted and note that we will be monitoring all your dealings with them as you proceed so you don't have anything to worry about. All we require from you henceforth is an update so as to enable us be on track with you and the Central Bank of Nigeria. Without wasting much time, will want you to contact them immediately with the above email address so as to enable them attend to your case accordingly without any further delay as time is already running out.
Should in case you need any more information in regards to this notification, feel free to get back to us so that we can brief you more as we are here to guide you during and after this project has been completely perfected and you have received your contract fund as stated.Thank you very much for your anticipated co-operation in advance as we earnestly await your urgent response to this matter.
Best Regards,
Robert S. Mueller III Federal Bureau of Investigation J. Edgar Hoover Building 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001, USA Email: fbisafetywatch@federal-bureau-investigations.org
Well, I had something of a buying frenzy this past summer on Bob Dylan stuff. I bought the following vinyl albums on ebay:
Live 1966
Biograph
the I'm Not There soundtrack
O excitement! And then look what Bob had to go and do next:
Tell Tale Signs: the Bootleg Series Vol 8
I had a feeling there would be something like this soon. He's gone back through all his unreleased stuff from the 60s through the 80s several times (Bootleg Series Vol 1-3, Biograph, No Direction Home), and on the last one he was really kinda scraping the bottom. So I wondered when we'd hear the treasure trove of unreleased music of his later career. Now we know: October 6. As a premium, they offered to the first 5000 to pre-order a cool-looking poster for his satellite radio show. I went ahead and placed my order as soon as I heard about it (vinyl, of course) to try and get the poster, since I knew I would be buying the album anyway. And then, as the good folks at Columbia Records like to do, there's also a $130 edition with a third disc of even more material, plus a little vinyl single deal, and a "special" deluxe hardcover book, 150 pages, of the covers of his singles from around the world. That's actually a pretty ridiculous thing to tempt people with. Single covers just aren't that impressive; record companies didn't put much time into designing them (especially in the 60s--you can look at the singles of the Beatles on
wikipedia, and I think the whole first wave of them in the US when they
got big had the same photograph on them with different titles), and now no one even cares what the single cover is because no one buys singles, they just go to radio stations. So this book, which adds a lot to the price of the "deluxe" edition just has page after page of poorly designed covers, basically just stock photos of Bob with the title of the song across the top, a lot of them the same. And since it's singles "from around the world" (oooh, how enchanting!), a lot of them appear to be written in gobbledygook. My point is, it seems like they're also running out of good ideas to tempt obsessive fans with. Some will buy this just to have the full collection, but no one I don't think will buy this to actually get enjoyment from the book. Something else all this has made me think of is that I remember a time when, when an album came out, it came out in one edition, and everyone had the same thing. Admittedly, I haven't purchased many albums by current artists lately (or by old ones), but a lot of the things I see now have a "regular" version and a "deluxe" or "special" version. The special one might have some "bonus" material, studio outtakes, remixes, or even added songs, or perhaps a DVD with some music videos, and better packaging. The record company differentiates among buyers, forces them to think about paying more for something else, but really the music world was better I think before they started doing this. When Bob was making Highway 61 Revisited, it came out all over the world in the same version: nine songs, one record, a few pretty pictures and a weird piece of writing on the back. But when Modern Times came out in 2006, there were 3 versions (as with this album): the regular CD, the vinyl, and the "Deluxe" CD--which admittedly I got. It's got a DVD with four music videos I haven't even watched, which I could no doubt find on youtube. (if you're wondering, i don't plan on ever buying a "deluxe" edition again). Frankly, I'm a little surprised he lets Columbia/Sony/whoever is in charge of his music to push him around like this. In interviews, he seems to be the type who places no added value on deluxe packages and that type of stuff, and who is concerned with giving his fans the best value. But columbia seems to be set on making as much money as they can from him--no surprise. He just shouldn't take it, I think. In other news, they've totally redesigned his website, and it looks really cool now, with this purplish color scheme. They've also created this feature called "dylan geo" which shows a globe with a marker for every place he's played a show, and users can add setlists, pictures, and reviews of concerts they were at. It goes all the way back to 1961 or so (can't check now--this computer can't really handle it). I do plan on joining and checking out the one Dylan concert I've been at--one of his Atlanta dates in April 2004. I shall close with this video I stumbled across on youtube, an entrancing Johnny Cash gospel song with some entrancing-isn't-quite-the-word lego animation.
