up adj.
1. Working, in order. "The down escalator is up." Oppose down. 2. `bring up': vt. To create a working version and start it. "They brought up a down system." 3. `come up' vi. To become ready for production use.
--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.
"Deadlines are things that we pass through on the way to finishing." - Peter Gabriel
Up is the seventh (eleventh if you count soundtracks) studio album from progressive rocker Peter Gabriel. It was released in September of 2002, ten years after the previous album (two after the last soundtrack).
Up is the culmination of seven years of work, distractions, and side projects in the life of Peter Gabriel. Nearly a hundred song ideas and the work of thirty musicians (not counting production staff) recorded in five countries have all boiled down to ten songs. Numerous offbeat production techniques were used during the making of this album, and it's been completely rerecorded at least once.
In the spring of 1995, PG and Richard Chappell retreated to the French Alps to write music in preparation of RealWorld Recording Week. More songs are begun in October of the same year in Dakar.
In April of the following year, PG performs "Signal to Noise" with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. At this point, a release date in 1996 or 1997 is planned. HAH!
"Old men take a little longer to get 'up'."- Peter Gabriel
In 1998, the album's title was announced. At the time, REM had just announced the name of their album of the same name. Both parties decided to keep their respective names, despite the potential of marketplace confusion. Obviously, such confusion did not occur, because of the incredible delay.
Some very fancy (and expensive) production techniques were used in the making of Up. All manner of new items found their ways into the RealWorld Studio: the Sony Oxford Console digital mixer, which is basically a really big automated mixing desk; Clavia Nord Leads; Akai samplers. One track features fake DJ scratches using magnetic tape. DSP synthesis software shows up in "No Way Out" in the guise of SuperCollider. Mysterious instruments like the Mutator, Firefly, and Bass Pulse show up in the credits. Antique equipment gets its time in the sun, too; "My Head Sounds Like That" features a Mellotron.
Some other studio mysticism is found in "Signal to Noise". Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan passed away during production. The song was not finished at the time of his death, and yet rehearsal and recordings of his voice bring him back from the dead. Please note, this is much better than Free As A Bird.
It's possible that the final version of the album is the one rerecorded with binaural microphones by Tchad Blake, who has since done much work at the Real World studios with The Bad Plus.
"The Barry Williams Show" was released as a single with a radio edit, "My Head Sounds Like That", and "Cloudless".
http://homepages.tesco.net/~david.pye/up.htm and http://up.petergabriel.com
Up may be Peter Gabriel's best solo album. The long time waiting for it was worrisome to me--he had taken 6 years to make Us, and that album often seemed tired and overworked, not to mention not having the production quality of So which preceded it, and I was worried that after 10 it would be hard to sound fresh.
I was wrong. Up is all the good things about Peter Gabriel. The opening track, "Darkness" starts with barely audible percussion, then explodes into loud, distorted, synth bass sounds, and Gabriel, half singing, half growling, his voice often a plaintive cry, singing of childhood fears and adult paranoia.
"Growing Up" has almost a dance beat to it, a dizzying mix of beat, melody, and again Gabriel's voice, world-weary but still true and clear.
"Sky Blue" is a ballad, with The Blind Boys of Alabama doing harmony vocals. This is a beautiful melody, with a rousing chorus. It's haunting and touching. It will bring a tear to your eye the first time you hear it.
"No Way Out" brings loud percussion like his third or fourth albums together with another stunning set of lyrics.
"I Grieve" is a ballad about death and loss. Stunning.
"The Barry Williams Show" is the first single, and most people believe it to be the weakest song of the album. That may be true, but it's a lot better than it seems at first glance. Part of the issue is that the idea of a Jerry Springer-esque talk show isn't as shocking as it would have been in, say, 1997, and thus the lyrics lose a bit of impact, but the song is clever and it's got a great beat. It's the one song on the album that sounds like a conscious effort at a single.
"My Head Sounds Like That" is a Beatlesque song with muted piano and orchestral accompaniment.
"More Than This" is one of those songs that builds and builds. Classic Gabriel in it's reliance on solid drums, a tremendous Tony Levin bass line, and the guitar stylings of David Rhodes.
"Signal To Noise" is a tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan if nothing else.
"The Drop" ends the album with a wisp of a song, a delicate melody over a hint of piano.
You need to listen to this album a few times to get its full impact. Once you do, places in the album will open up for you. Every sound, every silence on this album has a purpose. Let it ride over you, and move you. Gabriel shows no signs of slowing down with age--he's incorporated some sounds and textures that are almost industrial and techno, perhaps borrowing back from those who borrowed from him.
This album has been worth the wait, and is proof that Gabriel is one of the most important forces in popular music, and will be vibrant in the 21st Century.
Up, written as an arrow pointing up, or in ascii as ^ (caret), is a value in combinatorial game theory. By convention, the two players in a combinatorial game are called Left and Right, and Left has a miniscule advantage in a game of value up. Symmetrically, the reverse of up, where Right has the advantage, is called Down, and is denoted by a downward-pointing arrow or a lowercase v.
In a game with value up, Left has a move to a game of value zero, while Right has a move to a game of value star. These must be the unique best moves available for each of the two players.
A simple example occurs in Domineering; the following position has value up:
==== | | ======= | | | ========== | | | ======= | | ====
==== | | ======= | | ==== ==== | | ======= | | ====
==== | | ========== | | | ======= | | ====
On the other hand, if it is Right's turn, there is essentially only one move, which also leaves a corner tromino with value star and a single detached unplayable square.
So this game can be written diagrammatically as {0,*|*}, where the values to the left of the pipe are the values of the positions to which Left can move, while the values to the right are the values of the positions to which Right can move.
It turns out that although 0 and * are confused with one another, and in certain situations one might want to move to a * instead of a 0 position, that one never wants to move to the * from this game. Technically, we say that the option to * reverses out. This means that the unique best move for Left is to a position of value 0, while the unique best move for Right is to a position of value *, so this is in fact up.
Following is a clobber position, also of value up. Here Left's pieces are represented by X and Right's by O. A period denotes an empty square.
..... .XXO. .....
..... .X.X. .....
..... .XO.. .....
Positions of value up also occur in more common games such as chess and go but the analysis can be more complicated. Up also occurs in simple forms in hackenbush and konane.
One final note on up is that the value up is born on day 2, meaning that every option (0 and *) of up was born on or before day 1, and at least one of the options was born on day 1 exactly. This condition merits its own writeup, and will not be discussed further here. Suffice it to say that this makes up a very simple game; there are fewer than 30 games born by day 2.
"A localized convention for orienting the somatic bilateral axis. Where the semicircular canals can detect a local gravitational field, this axis tends to align with a vector orthonormal to some gravitational equipotential surface, with the same sense as the direction of field strength attenuation."
You might merely say "The direction of gravitational field strength attenuation" but this will produce a suboptimal annoyance level in the querent.
Allowing for an alternate definition of "is", you may provide some variety by responding with the name of some celestial body such as Mars; however, you will need to refer to a table of ephemerides to ensure accuracy at the moment of response.
Up (?), adv. [AS. up, upp, p; akin to OFries. up, op, D. op, OS. p, OHG. f, G. auf, Icel. Sw. upp, Dan. op, Goth. iup, and probably to E. over. See Over.]
1.
Aloft; on high; in a direction contrary to that of gravity; toward or in a higher place or position; above; -- the opposite of down.
But up or down, By center or eccentric, hard to tell. Milton.
2. Hence, in many derived uses, specifically: --
(a)
From a lower to a higher position, literally or figuratively; as, from a recumbent or sitting position; from the mouth, toward the source, of a river; from a dependent or inferior condition; from concealment; from younger age; from a quiet state, or the like; -- used with verbs of motion expressed or implied.
But they presumed to go up unto the hilltop. Num. xiv. 44.
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. Ps. lxxxviii. 15.
Up rose the sun, and up rose Emelye. Chaucer.
We have wrought ourselves up into this degree of Christian indifference. Atterbury.
(b)
In a higher place or position, literally or figuratively; in the state of having arisen; in an upright, or nearly upright, position; standing; mounted on a horse; in a condition of elevation, prominence, advance, proficiency, excitement, insurrection, or the like; -- used with verbs of rest, situation, condition, and the like; as, to be up on a hill; the lid of the box was up; prices are up.
And when the sun was up, they were scorched. Matt. xiii. 6.
Those that were up themselves kept others low. Spenser.
Helen was up -- was she? Shak.
Rebels there are up, And put the Englishmen unto the sword. Shak.
His name was up through all the adjoining provinces, even to Italy and Rome; many desiring to see who he was that could withstand so many years the Roman puissance. Milton.
Thou hast fired me; my soul's up in arms. Dryden.
Grief and passion are like floods raised in little brooks by a sudden rain; they are quickly up. Dryden.
A general whisper ran among the country people, that Sir Roger was up. Addison.
Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate. Longfellow.
(c)
To or in a position of equal advance or equality; not short of, back of, less advanced than, away from, or the like; -- usually followed by to or with; as, to be up to the chin in water; to come up with one's companions; to come up with the enemy; to live up to engagements.
As a boar was whetting his teeth, up comes a fox to him. L'Estrange.
(d)
To or in a state of completion; completely; wholly; quite; as, in the phrases to eat up; to drink up; to burn up; to sum up; etc.; to shut up the eyes or the mouth; to sew up a rent.
Some phrases of this kind are now obsolete; as, to spend up (Prov. xxi. 20); to kill up (B. Jonson).
(e)
Aside, so as not to be in use; as, to lay up riches; put up your weapons.
Up is used elliptically for get up, rouse up, etc., expressing a command or exhortation. "Up, and let us be going." Judg. xix. 28.
Up, up, my friend! and quit your books, Or surely you 'll grow double. Wordsworth.
It is all up with him, it is all over with him; he is lost. -- The time is up, the allotted time is past. -- To be up in, to be informed about; to be versed in. "Anxious that their sons should be well up in the superstitions of two thousand years ago." H. Spencer. -- To be up to. (a) To be equal to, or prepared for; as, he is up to the business, or the emergency. [Colloq.] (b) To be engaged in; to purpose, with the idea of doing ill or mischief; as, I don't know what he's up to. [Colloq.] -- To blow up. (a) To inflate; to distend. (b) To destroy by an explosion from beneath. (c) To explode; as, the boiler blew up. (d) To reprove angrily; to scold. [Slang] -- To bring up. See under Bring, v. t. -- To come up with. See under Come, v. i. -- To cut up. See under Cut, v. t. & i. -- To draw up. See under Draw, v. t. -- To grow up, to grow to maturity. -- Up anchor Naut., the order to man the windlass preparatory to hauling up the anchor. -- Up and down. (a) First up, and then down; from one state or position to another. See under Down, adv.
Fortune . . . led him up and down. Chaucer.
(b) Naut. Vertical; perpendicular; -- said of the cable when the anchor is under, or nearly under, the hawse hole, and the cable is taut. Totten. -- Up helm Naut., the order given to move the tiller toward the upper, or windward, side of a vessel. -- Up to snuff. See under Snuff. [Slang] -- What is up? What is going on? [Slang]
© Webster 1913.
Up, prep.
From a lower to a higher place on, upon, or along; at a higher situation upon; at the top of.
In going up a hill, the knees will be most weary; in going down, the thihgs. Bacon.
2.
From the coast towards the interior of, as a country; from the mouth towards the source of, as a stream; as, to journey up the country; to sail up the Hudson.
3.
Upon.
Chaucer.
Up, n.
The state of being up or above; a state of elevation, prosperity, or the like; -- rarely occurring except in the phrase ups and downs.
Ups and downs, alternate states of elevation and depression, or of prosperity and the contrary. [Colloq.]
They had their ups and downs of fortune. Thackeray.
Up, a.
Inclining up; tending or going up; upward; as, an up look; an up grade; the up train.
printable version chaos
Everything2 Help
