LOTR and Star Wars are little more than pretty versions of Mahler and Wagner, unfortunately. I'm not trying to be an elitist. I can't deny that the music is catchy and appeals to a broad spectrum. But so do museums.

I admit I'm completely biased. I'm a composer and I know first hand that bigger audiences are drawn to tonal music. It's the catch-22 of modern orchestras. In order to stay in business they have to play the same old things over and over. But many/most of the players get bored with that repertoire.

*sigh* It's also partly due to my attitude about art. To me, art isn't interesting unless it is challenging us to think about our world in different ways. Hearing Mario Bros on Bassoon just doesn't do it for me, sorry.

Ultimately - this is the wrong thing for orchestras to do, unless they want to continue to be the museums of the musical world. What's interesting about game music isn't the traditional notions of melody and harmony, and when this music is reduced to those elements, it reveals itself as far less interesting (IMHO, of course).

The music is interesting in its interactiveness - it's ability to change with the action, and in its timbral qualities. Otherwise these are campy arrangements, not unlike pressing the demo button on a Casio keyboard.

I published an analysis of a piece of electronic music (The sea darkens... by Joji Yuasa) in which major sections and even individual sonic events are seemingly organized around the Golden Mean. Yuasa says that he wasn't trying to use the GM (or Golden Section) as an organizational tool but there were some remarkable moments.

Poeme electronique by Edgard Varese is reported to have been organized similarly (it was performed inside the Philips Pavilion, designed by Le Corbusier, who is well known to have made use of the GM/GS in his architecture).

It works well for musicians as it is not in the "normal" 1/2 or 1/3 proportion that most metrical music is written in.

I think the date on the San Francisco Chronicle story is incorrect. By 1979 Woodward and Bernstein were well-known and celebrated for having broken the Watergate story 5 years earlier!

As former Drum Major of the Mighty Sound of Maryland, I must say that none of this is nearly as cool as our Cartoon Tribute, in which I was fortunate to conduct our rendition of the Johnny Quest theme.
/nerd mode off

Not fake and not breaking the sound barrier. The Blue Angels routinely fy close to the speed of sound very low as it generates a wake and small rooster tail over the water. What you see is the Prandtl-Glauert condensation cloud, something that you can see on any airplane at any altitude. It helps greatly if it is humid out, and if there is a fairly significant pressure differential, so you are likely to see it from military aircraft in a steep turn or at a high rate of speed, or from your local airliner coming in to land (with the flaps down). It also has a tendency to "flash" - appearing and disappearing very quickly.

First - yes, I share Twombly's last name. We are likely remotely related but I've never met the man.

This woman did deface the art. Anyone who has seen a Rauschenberg White Painting knows what I'm talking about. However - Rauschenberg, who Twombly traveled with in Rome in the 50's - erased a Dekoonig to great effect. Duchamp's great work "The Bride Stripped Bare by her
Bachelors" was broken during shipping and Duchamp left it in that state.

Have we heard from Twombly yet?

This went around last week - sent by a trumpeting friend. Everything about it, the costume, the trumpet playing, the hair, the musical arrangement...everything is god-awful!

That was awesome! I knew what was going to happen as soon as they started and yet I couldn't stop watching! I could watch that stuff all day long.

Also - a clip from that would make a great Geico ad (you know those ones about a better way to spend 15 minutes?)

I don't know what it is....but I want one!

I suppose you could call those "brakes." Essentially he turns some of the wheels sideways, like an ice skater. The trails are from him either digging part of his suit into the road or from the wheels turning sideways.

I wasn't sure how fast he was going until he caught and passed those motorcyclists.

:-O

I loved it, it was much better than Cats....

I wish I could remember the show that it was on, but there was a modern version of your experiment #1 - with fairly similar results!

I'm sorry, I just can't let this go yet. I decided to click through and see what else was on the website. Here is the description of 2006:

"In an update to the 2006 average annual temperature for the contiguous U.S., NCDC scientists report that 2006 was the 2nd warmest year on record and nearly identical to the record set in 1998. Seven months in 2006 were much warmer than average, including December, which ended as the eighth warmest December since records began in 1895."

And:

"The top 25 warmest years on record from both data sets are shown below. Both data sets reflect the unusually warm conditions in the contiguous U.S. during both 1998 and 2006. Both data sets also show that the past nine years have all been among the 25 warmest years on record for the contiguous U.S., a streak which is unprecedented in the historical record."

These quotes are not from any armchair internet complainers, but from the US Govt. Seriously, you can sit back and continue to keep your eyes closed, or you can do the prudent thing and at least take small steps to reduce the negative impact upon our environment...

Yeah, y'all armchair scientists MUST be correct....I mean, I believe you before I'll trust anyone in a white suit.

Sheesh, the spin machine has really done a number on the public. I wonder if the heat is also affecting brain cells, as I've recently read that an unfortunately large number of Americans don't believe in evolution as well.