Guy Farley wrote the lovely music for this Vodafone advert

It must be a wonderful thing to be able to write a lively piece of music that expresses a thought or idea to match something happening on screen, and for it to fit that film while be pleasing to the ear. And to last for only a minute. Delightful economy :)

I'm not one who switches over during adverts as there's always the hope I'll hear a nice bit of music (I've previously blithered on about wonderful music in adverts on more than one occasion - see below) and although I might not be paying much initial attention to an ad, after a few incidences of exposure to it I start to notice it.

There's a bit in the TV version of this advert where some trumpets make a very pleasing sound, in the example below (which is longer) it's delayed a little bit but still there. I just found that I kept noticing this advert and looking up at it every time I heard it. I've now found out that it's written by Guy Farley, so hooray for him and his composering skills :)

I did ask Vodafone who composed the piece and they replied that it was "composed by our agency". Well... no, Guy Farley did it, why on earth not give him credit (or even give the agency credit and I'd have contacted them).


Vodafone 4G - Lost in Entertainment from GUY FARLEY on Vimeo.

Edit 2 September 2016: I think he won (in 2014) an award for this advert (he certainly won one for his music for an M&S ad)

Recently I went along to hear Clint Mansell talk about his work in film composing - he was interviewed at the BFI by someone from BAFTA, an excellent interview. The interviewer introduced the event by highlighting that in the world of film often the directors and actors get to talk about their involvement but BAFTA want to make it easier for people to hear from screenwriters, costume and wardrobe folk, sound designers and composers - I've been to a few BAFTA events and enjoyed many talks from composers, so I am hugely behind this.

Anyway, hooray for Guy Farley - this is his unofficial website. I'm afraid I'd never heard of him before today but will now look out for his films etc.

Edit... later that same day
I'm watching Downton Abbey and the advert appeared. I'd forgotten I had subtitles on (don't need them, just like them) and looked up to see it explain what the music was doing :)

The subtitles (which I actually picked up on 14 February 2014) are "suspenseful strings" as the ad (this is the 30s version, not the one above) starts, then "epic soundtrack builds" and finally "triumphant fanfare". Hats off to the subtitlers.

Edit 24 December 2013
I have just found this lovely ~4m video showing the recording of the music used in a drinks commercial from a few years ago. It looks like it's recorded in the beautiful Lyndhurst Hall at Air Studios, annoyingly not open to the public ;) I'd never heard of the studios until this year.  I follow on Twitter the people who write the music for the television series Sherlock and they occasionally post photos of the place.



 

More on adverts and music

• Music that I discovered from adverts (19 May 2003)
• Jonathan Glazer makes amazing adverts (4 November 2012)
• Car adverts - they're usually pretty good on the music front (29 August 2012)

Advertising Standards Authority adjudications, sanctions and UK Passport Net

This morning on Radio 4's Moneybox I heard about a website (uk-passport.net) which comes up prominently when people search for anything to do with getting or renewing a UK passport.

The site helps people fill in a passport form and charges them around £40 for doing so, however this money doesn't go towards the cost of getting a passport. In short it's much cheaper just to go to the Post Office or be more careful when searching online and make sure you use the official GOV.UK website.

While the service isn't illegal or anything like that, after all it's perfectly OK to pay someone to help you with something such as getting an accountant to help you manage your finances, the issue with this website - and which led to 14 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) resulting in an adjudication - is that it implied that it was official and people believed it.

The programme spoke to consumers who'd fallen foul of the website and who handed over money that they needn't have, it also spoke to the communications director at the ASA who outlined what could be done to prevent other consumers from being misled.

Skeptic bloggers often blog about the websites or other marketing materials of organisations that have made claims that may be misleading. Part of the reason for this is that it provides an alternative view that (hopefully) people searching for relevant keywords will come across. The intention is to mildly alter the Google landscape a little bit.

The ASA spokesperson was challenged that there didn't seem to be that much that they could do that would actually solve the problem. The ASA does have quite a few options, but it can be a drawn-out process.

They said that they'd asked UK Passport Net to remove the term 'official' and at time of recording this hadn't been done (I checked, it's still there) despite the sanction being published two months ago (see link above). There are a number of companies that dig their heels and in and don't respond to the ASA's requests, to the point that the ASA has a special page of "non-compliant online advertisers" which lists the repeat offenders. People involved in the alternative therapy world are often reluctant to co-operate with the ASA, or Trading Standards, and some have even tried to band together to fight this - arguing that the ASA has no particular mandate to tell them what they can and can't say.

Here's what steps the ASA can and does take - firstly, work with the advertiser to try and resolve the matter. If that doesn't work they can add the advertiser to the non-compliant list. This seems to show up prominently in Google search results (or perhaps it's just on mine). If there's still no joy then they can do several of the following (a) take out an advert themselves flagging up the misbehaviour (b) work with search engines to remove paid-for adverts (c) report the company to Trading Standards.

See more at Online Sanctions.

All of these take time and effort - at the time of writing Google still hasn't removed UK Passport Net's listing but it may well do so soon. If the company removes 'official' from their ad then it can remain.

In the meantime, blogging about stuff in the hope that it might show up in Google's search results is perhaps a decent strategy.

Also, here's the official GOV.UK site to access passport information
https://www.gov.uk/browse/abroad


See also 
These websites discuss concerning behaviour from a cancer clinic in Texas which has recently had its inspection reports published, it really doesn't look very good. So far there appear to have been no legal sanctions but through the blogging efforts of doctors, scientists and skeptics anyone searching for information about the clinic now will most definitely find pages that are critical of the clinic's activities.

FDA Releases Burzynski Clinic Inspection Notes
"The information and its implications, should they hold up, are absolutely damning for the Burzynski Clinic and especially for the lead researcher, Stanislaw Burzynski. Those of us who have been researching this topic have known about these findings for a long time, from almost the moment it could be requested through a Freedom of Information Act request (6 months before it appeared on the FDA website), but we have been careful to not release it through blogs. We wanted to see that it got as high profile a release as possible. Of course, the cat is out of the bag in a big way, and so I want to let you know what these documents say."

Writing About Houston Cancer Quack Dr. Burzynski’s Antineoplastons
"Skeptics can do many things to naturally boost the Google ranking of good information so that it arrives in the hands of people who need it, patients and their families."

Nice things said in an academic journal article about David Arnold's scores for James Bond - quite right too

Edit 3 December 2013
I bet London-based readers of this page will also be interested in: David Arnold's introducing You Only Live Twice at BFI in January 2014 - you need to be a BFI member or have an Amex card, and apply for free tickets - details in the post.

---

In the past year I've been to hear about 10 'screen composers' (those lovely people that write music for film and television, which seems like a magical thing to do) talk about their work, or about film music more generally. I have also been hoovering up journal articles about film music - much of it is quite beyond me, especially when it goes into music theory, but my favourite journal is Music, Sound, and the Moving Image which is the most readable for an outsider.

I recently read this article by Dr Miguel Mera which has nice things to say about David Arnold's work in scoring some of the James Bond films. Both Miguel and David are in the 10 composers I've heard talk so it was nice to read one praising the work of another.

• Miguel's website and academic staff page. 
• David's website seems to be offline at the moment, but he's on Twitter at @DavidGArnold

Miguel Mera (2009) Invention/Re-invention Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, Volume 3, Issue 1, Spring, pp. 1-20  (abstract only)

"Recurrent motives such as the silhouetted opening title graphics, evil megalomaniacal villains with evil megalomaniacal sidekicks, exotic locations, fast cars, Bond girls, gadgets, and extraordinary stunts, are all recognisable Bond clichés. The way Bond manages to overcome insurmountable odds and almost certain death (deadly lasers, poisonous snakes, planes about to crash into mountains, and so on) is what is so beguiling. The mythical idea of Bond that has accrued since the 1950s is much more important than whichever actor is portraying him at a particular point in history. This principle also pervades the repeated  use of music throughout the film series, as Jeff Smith has observed: ‘The almost Pavlovian association of music and character has been a key to the series’ success in both domestic and international markets’ (2003: 119).

David Arnold’s accomplishment in scoring the Bond films in recent years is due as much to his respectful acknowledgement of John Barry’s 1960s sound and Monty Norman’s original Bond theme, as to the new elements brought to the franchise. Arnold’s music represents an elegant integration of broad orchestral statements, big-band inspired brass, electronica, and exotic percussion. Arnold has also consistently been involved in the creation of title songs, incorporating their elements into his scores. He references the established Bond motives and gestures and, consequently, the scores sound like the contemporary continuation of a tradition. In short, Arnold fulfilled many of the unwritten rules of the Bond scores.

... ... ... ... ...

...Arnold upheld the basic principles of consistency and change that have shaped the Bond series’ success for over fifty years..."

Having recently heard him sing 'The World is Not Enough' (he wrote the music, Don Black wrote the lyrics I think) at Southbank* I can't help thinking he should be singing the Bond themes as well as scoring the films! Very nice voice.

*It was for Don Black's "A life in song" event that was hosted by Michael Grade with the BBC Concert Orchestra and recorded. They said it would be broadcast around Christmas.


See also - David Arnold saying nice things about John Barry's arrangement of Monty Norman's Bond theme :)
John Barry invented the spy movie score: Unique arrangements ushered in a new genre of films from Variety, 2008

"Barry’s arrangement of the Bond theme for “Dr. No” in 1962 started it all. “You have the bebop-swing vibe coupled with that vicious, dark, distorted electric guitar, definitely an instrument of rock ‘n’ roll,” Arnold says. “Sound-wise, it represented everything about the character you would want: It was cocky, swaggering, confident, dark, dangerous, suggestive, sexy, unstoppable. And he did it in two minutes.”"

See also also
Were it feasible I would go and hear film / TV composer David Arnold talk at this thing in Edinburgh (18 August 2013) - on this blog

More strangeness to come from 'What Doctors Don't Tell You'

Being not very good at setting health information in its proper context and struggling with critically appraising medical articles is one thing but conspiracy theories are a new strange for WDDTY. I spotted this earlier today.

I'm scratching my head a bit at this one to be honest. Most of the computer-related glitches mentioned can just as easily be explained by successful phishing attempts (where you click on a rogue site that looks like a genuine one, it asks for your password, you supply it and your password is used to open and compromise your real account). These are commonplace on Twitter for example - often a compromised account is used to send a message with a link in it to that person's friends... who click on it, hand over their password... and so on.

In fact it's so common that Twitter has pretty much blocked people from sending links* via Direct Messages. It also provides information on what to do if your account's been compromised https://support.twitter.com/articles/31796-my-account-has-been-compromised#

Most 'hacking' is probably 'phishing' as far as I'm aware.

Visiting iffy websites (unwittingly, when clicking on a link from a friend whose account's been compromised) could also explain the viruses.

I've never heard of any skeptic collecting someone's data but fair enough I really don't know what this refers to. Any website with Google Analytics collects some information about every visitor (time of visit, length of visit, type of web browser, what keywords they used to search Google to reach the site) - this is commonly used on pretty much ALL websites and hasn't got anything to do with skepticism. The opportunities to use this for 'evil purposes' are pretty limited to be honest.

I've been burgled, the burglar left a pair of socks - the Police were fairly puzzled too. Since burglary is not a rare crime and not particularly associated with skepticism my assumption is that the burglars were ordinary burglars and not in the pay of Big Pharma. I wonder if the gold watches were dropped in error by the burglars who'd pinched them from another property.

We skeptics should certainly try not to be rude though, no disagreement there. It's perfectly possible to disagree and remain on civil terms, although people calling us thieves doesn't make it easy.

*It's possible that this is a glitch though.

Ought we to be writing to the local newspapers that wrote about #Burzynski fundraising efforts

There is recent news on the Burzynski Cancer Clinic based in Texas and it is not good.

Yesterday saw the publication of two documents from the FDA (the US Food & Drug Administration) which reported on an audit of the clinic. They noted that the clinic failed to take proper medical care of the patients and failed to keep appropriate medical records. This is serious because of the harm that can be done to patients when they are taken an unproven cancer treatment but is also worrying from the point of view of 'governance' (ie are the people running the show behaving in a competent way).

"Reports published by the FDA show unrecorded adverse events, failure to obtain proper informed consent, failure to disclose additional costs and systematic destruction of the very patient records that might establish whether the treatment works or not."
Source: WWDDTYDTY blog - Breaking: Burzynski inspection reports

Some of the larger newspapers have written about the clinic, some have reported on fundraising attempts and some have written about the controversial treatment at this clinic. As far as I'm aware a reasonable number of local newspapers have also written stories about families who are trying to raise funds to send family members with inoperable brain tumours to the clinic. My impression (and it might be wrong) is that local newspapers have written more favourably about the clinic.

Generally when doctors, scientists, skeptic bloggers or anyone else has been critical of the clinic's unconventional methods⁽¹⁾ - often in the comments section of favourable newspaper articles - people who've undergone treatment or are thinking of doing so feel threatened. That's understandable, though there can be no criticism of anyone who wants to try everything to save their life or that of someone else, only of the clinic itself.

I wonder if there's a list of all the local newspapers that have reported uncritically about the clinic and if we might write to them with this new information that makes it clear why the clinic's activities are a cause for concern.

The treatment is delivered in liquid form which includes a great deal of salt, raising the level of sodium in the blood (hypernatraemia). This can be fatal though is treatable, however it appears from the information in the FDA's records that there was a failure to treat this effectively, which is harmful.

"You failed to monitor as required by Section 1 6 of your Monitoring Plan. The investigator did not report adverse events (AEs) experienced by study subjects, including 18 cases of hypernatremia."
Source: FDA reports, cited in: WWDDTYDTY blog - Breaking: Burzynski inspection reports

Thanks to @harpistkat and @dianthusmed for comments on Twitter too.

For an uncritical report on Burzynski's methods and other people playing at helping people with cancer you might enjoy this article from the comedy health magazine 'What Doctors Don't Tell You' which Google has cached here: The new soldiers of the cancer war

Sadly that magazine has not exactly covered itself in glory where Burzynski is concerned and has reported his activities uncritically in other articles too. This is an example of the poor information in the magazines that have led both Waitrose and Sainsbury's to stop stocking this title (and to go on record stating that fact) in their stores in the UK, however you can still take out a subscription to the magazine on their website.

Notes
⁽¹⁾ For one, charging patients large sums to participate in what the clinic calls 'clinical trials' (but didn't seem to keep records for) is a fairly unusual situation. In some cases trial participants may actually receive a (usually small) payment for expenses and inconvenience.