I’m still here.

Or am I?

Written by Dave Feinberg, as seen in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three.
The three is all that’s good and right.
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign?
I wish instead I were a nine,
For nine could thwart this evil trick
with just some quick arithmetic.
I know I’ll never see the sun
As 1.7321.
Such is my reality,
A sad irrationality.
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by.
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer.
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands.
Our square root signs become unglued:
Your love for me has been renewed.

The MAs at York have a mini-conference coming up. Here’s my abstract and bio. I should get on to writing the paper, you think?

Rajaton: A Cappella Ensembles in Today’s Musical Culture

From origins in Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony, the role of a cappella music has changed greatly. In the twentieth century, music for unaccompanied voices continued in the style of the previous choral tradition and also spawned new genres: barbershop, doo wop, R&B, and vocal jazz. Outside of these styles other groups combined features of classical and popular music, employing both centuries-old techniques of choral singing as well as new vocal methods. In this field, the success of small secular ensembles such as The Swingle Singers and the King’s Singers paved the way for current groups such as The Real Group and Rajaton.

The Finnish vocal group Rajaton is a model of a modern a cappella group in today’s musical culture. The group consists of six mixed voices and has been acclaimed by both choral and popular music listeners. Their style utilized techniques common in both classical and non-classical styles. Did their style emerge from choral music influenced by popular methods or was it the other way around? Rajaton is also known for its progressive as well as expert performances. They have been financially successful with many of their CDs achieving platinum sales. While these successes have been both commercial and artistic, is the motivation profit or musical excellence? Finally, as is increasingly the case with modern music, categorizing Rajaton’s music into common genres is no simple task: their music unmistakably encompasses aspects of classical, pop, jazz, and world music. Can this music be classified into one category? And does it matter?

Laura Kishimoto is from Toronto, Canada, and is currently completing her Masters in Vocal Studies with John Potter at the University of York. Her academic and performance experience spans both choral and solo works within the early and contemporary eras, and she particularly enjoys performing with small a cappella ensembles. In the spring of 2006 she graduated with a Bachelor of Music Honours degree in theory and early music performance from the University of Western Ontario.

Please send all feedback to Laura Kishimoto (lk516) and Amy Slevin (acs121)
or join the Music Board of Studies group at Facebook.

Sure, the flash blips and beeps are as annoying as hell, and it doesn’t work 95% of the time, but if you’re patient - like I was - you, too, can get a Simpson version of yourself! Introducing Simpsonize Me, brought to you by the greasy folks at Burger King.

Upload a decently-large photo (not too large, as it doesn’t like that) of your mug, indicate a few settings, and then go watch a movie. Be prepared to wait a good 15-20 minutes for it to process. “But what about the countdown? It only says 20 seconds!” you say. Fool. This countdown will keep resetting itself to higher and higher numbers. But what do you care, you’re watching a movie! Patience, young padawan. You will soon be rewarded with a “tweak mode”, allowing you to make your character perfect. Yay!