Talk:Poster
Facebook chat between Jo and James, transcribed
Weds 15/11/17
Jo: I can't find any embedded links in the poster. All I can see is some 18th c. astronomer, maybe Halley, in rainbow football boots, riding a flying car. There's some potentially interesting stained glass imagery - angels holding something... and of course the coloured strips with letters etc. that have no meaning for me.
James: Do you think the writing on the left is referring to Verse 2 Lines 3-4 of something? The car looks like a specific Messerschmitt bubble car, i.e. this one: [1]
Also the medal the guy is wearing looks very like a French Légion d'honneur medal, although it's not a perfect match: [2]
Well I'm certain about the car, so that identifies one element, but no clue as yet about the code of the colour bands - hex codes? RGB values? and the guy - is it Halley? looks a bit like Anders Celsius maybe??
Jo: Ooooh, excellent sleuthing - smart find on the car!!! And yes, v2, lines 3-4 of something... I don't know what. And then presumably the crossed out letters indicate 'remove RR, replace with SS' or something? I also thought images of Celsius looked about right (better than Halley or Flamsteed) - I googled 18th c astronomers, tried to find some with medals etc. Could be Leg. de H. but not sure, as you say - not a perfect match! Oscar said he'll set up a wiki so when he's done that we can brainstorm on there. The rainbow football boots are amusing me but god knows what it means!!
James: Apparently also the bubble car came in a version with 'comet tail' trim, and there was a Messerschmitt ME163 'Komet' rocket-powered airplane in WW2...
Hervé Faye studied comets and got the Legion d'Honneur - [3]
But maybe more likely is Charles Messier [4]
The car was modified to reference the Me-109 airplane, and the list of Messier Objects includes the M109 [5]
Something to try playing (from the windows in the image) on your new piano? [6]
What do the colours mean in Google Image Search results? [7]
Also there is a range of Messi football boots, after the famous footballer.
Jo: Have been scouring the online bibles for v2 ll3-4 with 'merr' in them... to get 'mess'?!) Messier is definitely the dude - really looks like the image you linked to!
James: Hmm good idea - or a christmas carol? Lots of 'merry's...
Thurs 16/11/17
Jo: Quick thought about that music colour scale - there's a purple and then there's a pale lilac, what note would be the lilac?! If I can transcribe it I'll try to play it!
James: This is probably a better music/colour scale (and it is Newton's, which seems more in keeping...) Just not sure yet how to convert the colours/string lengths into piano notes. [8] Sorry meant to say, see Figure 2 on that page.
James: OK I think this is the conversion (top line), with each of the seven colours representing an interval in an octave.
Jo: Thank you! I tried out the simplest interpretation, it didn't remind me of anything! Shall play around with it tomorrow... Anyway, those colours look more like the poster, so thank you!
James: Exciting! Might be worth trying reversing the scale (bottom row of the figure) if the first ordering doesn't make sense. Do you think the heights of the coloured sections of the windows represent the duration of each note? Measuring them and getting the size ratios might enable translation into minims, crotchets, quavers, breves, etc. [9]
Fri 17/11/17
Jo: I did interpret the band widths as note lengths; will try the second scale later! PS - this guy's a Mess... composer, thought I'd approach the problem from the other direction! [10] Noted for Christmassy tunes, too 🙂
James: Good idea - there's also Olivier Messiaen and Handel's Messiah. Tempting to think of a play on words messier comet - messiah cometh...??
Jo: Ooh, I like that!
