Music

Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence. The common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (which are sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound). Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and with vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping, and there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike; "art of the Muses"). In its most general form, the activities describing music as an art form include the production of works of music (songs, tunes, symphonies, and so on), the criticism of music, the study of the history of music, and the aesthetic examination of music. Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound."

Music (short story)

"Music" is a short story by Russian American author Vladimir Nabokov originally published in Russian in 1932.

Summary

The story uses third-person narration and tells the story of Victor, a self-conscious man for whom "music he did not know... could be likened to the patter of a conversation in a strange tongue." When Victor arrives at a party, he finds the other guests listening with varying degrees of engagement to a man named Wolfe play the piano. As Victor does not know the song being played, he loses interest. He catches a glimpse of his ex-wife at the party, but cannot look at her. He laments the fact that now he must "start all over" the long task of forgetting her (in a flashback, it's revealed that she left him for another, who may or may not be at the party). Throughout the entire story, Victor views the music as a structure that has him encaged in an awkward situation with his ex-wife; it had seemed to him "a narrow dungeon" until it ends, thus giving his ex-wife the opportunity to leave, which she does. Victor then realizes that the music was not a dungeon, but actually "incredible bliss, a magic glass dome that had embraced and imprisoned him and her," and which allowed him to "breathe the same air as she." After she leaves, another party-goer comments to Victor that he looked immune to the music and that he didn't think such a thing possible. His own inanity is revealed when Victor asks him what was played and he cannot tell whether it was Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata or Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska's rather easy piece, Maiden's Prayer.

Music (Erick Sermon and Marvin Gaye song)

"Music" is a 2001 hit single by Erick Sermon featuring archived vocals from Marvin Gaye.

The song was thought of by Sermon after buying a copy of Gaye's Midnight Love and the Sexual Healing Sessions album, which overlook some of the original album's earlier mixes. After listening to an outtake of Gaye's 1982 album track, "Turn On Some Music" (titled "I've Got My Music" in its initial version), Sermon decided to mix the vocals (done in a cappella) and add it into his own song. The result was similar to Natalie Cole's interpolation of her father, jazz great Nat "King" Cole's hit, "Unforgettable" revisioned as a duet. The hip hop and soul duet featuring the two veteran performers was released as the leading song of the soundtrack to the Martin Lawrence & Danny DeVito comedy, "What's the Worst That Could Happen?" The song became a runaway success rising to #2 on Billboard's R&B chart and was #1 on the rap charts. It also registered at #21 pop giving Sermon his highest-charted single on the pop charts as a solo artist and giving Gaye his first posthumous hit in 10 years following 1991's R&B-charted single, "My Last Chance" also bringing Gaye his 41st top 40 pop hit. There is also a version that's played on Adult R&B stations that removes Erick Sermon's rap verses. The song was featured in the 2011 Matthew McConaughey film The Lincoln Lawyer.

List of Ace Combat characters

The following list is a collection of prominent characters from the Ace Combat series of video games by Namco.

Usean Coup of 1999 (Ace Combat 2)

Unified Forces

Scarface One

The main character of Ace Combat 2, Scarface One is an ace who achieves legendary status through the course of the war. He single-handedly destroys both the coup force Super Powerful Cruise Missiles, the Dragonet class submarine, all of Z.O.E. fighters and the Fortress Intolerance. His fate after the war is unknown.

Kei Nagase

See below for more info.

John Harverd

John is the third member of Scarface Squadron (besides the main character and Nagase), and appears to be of the same ethnicity of Swordsman in AC5 and Keith in AC3. Slash's planes differ from Edge's in that Slash has better attacker aircraft. While not appearing again in any major form in the series storyline, he joins Ouroboros in AC3 according to a newscast. A person with the same name appears in AC04, patrolling over Stonehenge, and it is possible that they are in fact, the same person. One of the crew members of the Arkbird is also, by coincidence, named John Harvard. His hobby appears to be vehicle tuning and his favourite food is the hamburger.

Nemo (American band)

Nemo was an American indie rock band formed in Brooklyn, New York in 2002 by Luke McCartney & Dennis Tyhacz. The band took their name from the character Captain Nemo in the novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

Their debut album Signs of Life was released in June 2004 on Binge Records. The album was notable for its blend of new wave, ethereal acoustic sounds, and inspired indie rock. It was recorded entirely in an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2003 prior to becoming one of the final LP's to be mastered at the Vic Thrill Salon in Brooklyn (shortly before the Salon was closed in 2004). The title track "Signs of Life" was featured in Season 2 of the PBS show Roadtrip Nation in 2005, and several of the songs on "Signs of Life" were also used as the backing music for NPR's Morning Edition show for several years after the album's initial release. McCartney & Tyhacz later recorded in a group in 2006 called The Sound Mirrors, and they released one LP "The Calling" in 2007, also on Binge Records.