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Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: Sebastián Pratesi on November 04, 2018, 01:17:50 PM
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So, many of us have noticed that the number 137 has appeared a few times recently:
- On the notepad in the fifteenth and final puzzle piece.
- As the URL of the final WordPress page involved in the treasure hunt.
- On the skull in the album cover.
- As the sum of the durations of the 'Song 10 writing session' and 'Album teaser' videos. (Thanks, Atakan!)
- In '91311373', the mirror of Mike's domain. (OK, this one is probably stupid. :P)
- Just as 137 is the 33rd prime number, the band has recently finished their 33rd year of existence. (Thanks, Beatrice!)
I saw a few people here/Reddit say that 137 is also the number of songs already released by the band, and somehow related to the skull scene in Hamlet (which the artwork seems to reference), but I have no idea about those - I haven't checked.
Anyways - I figured there could be a thread about this, so everyone can share other occurrences they find of the number (in case this ends up being an Octavarium-type scenario), or simply to discuss hypothesis.
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Good idea : I have checked page 137 of Hamlet : the scene when the clown throws a skull at Hamlet :
"1 Clown.
[Sings.]
But age, with his stealing steps,
Hath claw'd me in his clutch,
And hath shipp'd me intil the land,
As if I had never been such.
[Throws up a skull.]
Ham.
That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once: how the
knave jowls it to the ground,as if 'twere Cain's jawbone, that
did the first murder! This might be the pate of a politician,..."
The cover seems a reference at Hamlet's hand holding Yorick's skull.
B.Lee
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Maybe they'll finally release the full version of Pull Me Under
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Don’t know anything about 137, but now I’m subscribed to the thread ;D
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Maybe DT is trying to return to the glory nugget days of old?
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From the other thread, it seems to be a reference to how many songs they've officially released up to this point
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The first thing I thought of when I saw the number is the song of the same name by the band Brand New. Here's what a comment says regarding the title of that particular song, but we'll see if there's any connection to the cover:
''The title refers to the radioactive isotope Caesium-137, of which there was no trace in the Earth’s atmosphere or in nature before the first nuclear detonation. Ever since the introduction of nuclear weapons and reactors, trace amounts of the isotope have rapidly spread across the planet.''
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From the other thread, it seems to be a reference to how many songs they've officially released up to this point
The reference to Hamlet and this reference are not mutually exclusive I think. And in fact, it would be really cool if it had more than one explanation.
B.Lee
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From the other thread, it seems to be a reference to how many songs they've officially released up to this point
Actually that’s only true if you don’t count A Change of Seasons which seems absurd. It’s an original song on an official EP.
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WD&DU - 8
I&W - 8
Awake - 11
ACOS - 1
FII - 11
SFAM - 12
SDOIT - 6
TOT - 7
8VM - 8
SC - 7
BC&SL - 6
ADTOE - 9
DT - 9
TA - 34 (137 total)
I have counted both ITPOE and SDOIT as individual songs, so ACOS can be included in that sum... an obvious connection, question is why is their discography numbered on a skull being held by a robot?😂 must be some philosophical/higher meaning to it
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Yes, but the other thread said 136.
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JP: So everyone is agreed on the final version of the cover art?
JR: Yea man, the robot hand holding the skull? To symbolize the drama of evolution and progression?
JLB: Maple Syrup.
JP: So it's done.
JM:.....I got an idea
JP: What's that?
JM: Let's put a totally random, meaningless number on the skull.
JR: Hmmm....why?
JM: To drive our fans crazy to attribute some significance to it. It'll be fun.
JP: CONSIDER IT DONE!
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JP: So everyone is agreed on the final version of the cover art?
JR: Yea man, the robot hand holding the skull? To symbolize the drama of evolution and progression?
JLB: Maple Syrup.
JP: So it's done.
JM:.....I got an idea
JP: What's that?
JM: Let's put a totally random, meaningless number on the skull.
JR: Hmmm....why?
JM: To drive our fans crazy to attribute some significance to it. It'll be fun.
JP: CONSIDER IT DONE!
:rollin
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Maybe they'll finally release the full version of Pull Me Under
Haha, but they did -- it's a hidden track on the Ytse Jams I&W demo release.
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Is Raw Dog not canon?
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Is Raw Dog not canon?
I believe it was shot out of a cannon.
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Is Raw Dog not canon?
Actually looked it up and Tried to listen to that just the other day. Ugh. I hope they got paid some good money for that. Such a blah song.....if you consider it a song.
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Is Raw Dog not canon?
I believe it was shot out of a cannon.
(https://thumbs.gfycat.com/EntireAgileLamprey-size_restricted.gif)
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Yes, but the other thread said 136.
That’s because they counted only the songs on the 13 studio albums released so far. My complete DT playlist has 160 tracks :tup
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I think it's the band's prediction of the number of threads we'll have micro-analyzing every aspect of the album.
I think they're way under personally.
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Yes, but the other thread said 136.
That’s because they counted only the songs on the 13 studio albums released so far. My complete DT playlist has 160 tracks :tup
This is true, because even though you'd count ACOS (being the EP title track), you'd still miss singles like "Raw Dog", and B-Sides that were officially released on singles, like "Eve" and "To Live Forever", as well as a couple of the FII B-Sides that made it out on non-club discs. I guess if the number IS connected to their song count, they only count their 13 studio albums' songs, plus ACOS. I suppose singles are more forgettable these days...
As for the whole 137 thing, it'll be interesting to see if this pans out into anything bigger, or if it's just a tease.
-Marc.
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https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/why-the-number-137-is-one-of-the-greatest-mysteries-in-physics
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I typed "137" into Amazon's search engine, and this toner cartridge was the first result.
https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Original-137-Toner-Cartridge/dp/B00N99DC8Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541424947&sr=8-1&keywords=137
In the item's description, it says "Genuine Canon Toner 137 yields approximately 2,400 pages"
I'm not quite sure how this fits into the puzzle, but I definitely think there's something there.
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The Printer Carries On
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137 songs from the past albums -> the skull
The future -> the robot
Must be the band signaling that they're moving on from their past and speeding (distance over time) into the future.
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137 songs from the past albums -> the skull
The future -> the robot
Must be the band signaling that they're moving on from their past and speeding (distance over time) into the future.
I think they are emphasizing that their careers, but mainly life in general, went by quickly. Before you know it, your'e dead, never knowing what the future holds
In Ferris Bueller's Day off, he says "Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.", and in that movie's 137th section of the script, Ferris is on the float having the time of his life. He's singing "Twist and Shout", a song written by a band that is probably liked by and an influence on the members of Dream Theater.
https://www.idiotsavant.com/bueller/script.htm
So the symbolism on this album cover, obviously, is our future overlords looking at our remains, relishing in the fact that unlike us humans, their time does not move by as quickly. They don't need to stop around and look around once in a while, because they are all knowing. They look into our empty eye sockets, constantly curious of what that feeling must have felt like, wondering whether or not they are truly living.
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But they also did that with the self-titled album.
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137 songs from the past albums -> the skull
The future -> the robot
Must be the band signaling that they're moving on from their past and speeding (distance over time) into the future.
The skull represents the organic, the robot represents the artificial.
I think this 100%, without a single bit of doubt, completely objectively, proves that the band will be moving on to completely digital instruments. No more acoustic drums, or anything. All digital. All synthetic.
Proven. Can't dispute it.
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137 songs from the past albums -> the skull
The future -> the robot
Must be the band signaling that they're moving on from their past and speeding (distance over time) into the future.
The skull represents the organic, the robot represents the artificial.
I think this 100%, without a single bit of doubt, completely objectively, proves that the band will be moving on to completely digital instruments. No more acoustic drums, or anything. All digital. All synthetic.
Proven. Can't dispute it.
Truth
(https://beneathadesertsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/DreamTheater-2017-8306.jpg?189db0)
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In fact, she nice it’s the first few odd numbers in sequence with the number 5 missing... this is proof that the 5 members of Dream Theater all died during the writing sessions and were replaced with exact replicas!
The truth is out there.
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But they also did that with the self-titled album.
With the self titled, I think they were trying to capture the essence of DT in a concise manner.
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Every number in and arrangement of 137 is a prime.
- 1
- 3
- 7
- 13
- 17
- 31
- 37
- 71
- 73
- 137
- 173
- 317
- 371
- 713
- 731
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New album is about Optimus Prime and will only feature digital instruments and is also a copy of Images and Words.
Fact.
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I guess Blob will be heavily involved in the visual stuff then.
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He's singing "Twist and Shout", a song written by a band that is probably liked by and an influence on the members of Dream Theater.
Just a minor detail: the song was not written by a band, but by two composers called Philip Medley and Bertrand Russell Berns, who used to work as a paid writer in the Brill Building.
Every number in and arrangement of 137 is a prime.
'1', and the last three on the list, are not:
- 371 = 7 x 53
- 713 = 23 x 31
- 731 = 17 x 43
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True and true. Disregard.
Forgot the Beatles borrowed that one.
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True and true. Disregard.
Forgot the Beatles borrowed that one.
Sorry - it's like I'm still in 'treasure hunt' mode. :P
Your post brings some cool ideas, anyway.
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When I did my count, I just counted all the songs from the 13 studio albums to date, so A Change of Seasons, or any of the other non-album tracks, are not counted. Six Degrees and In the Presence of Enemies counted as one song each, and all 34 songs from The Astonishing (including the NOMAC tracks) counted, thus arriving at 136. This will make track 1 of Distance Over Time song 137.
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I live off of exit 137 on the Garden State Parkway.
I'm sure it has something to do with it.
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Urbandictionary has it connected to Love and Elite
https://www.google.se/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3fterm=137&=true
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Maybe every song is going to be at 137bpm
😆
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'Beatrice' from Discord has noted that, just as 137 is the 33rd prime number, the band is currently ending their 33rd year of activity. (As in: next May will be the 33rd anniversary of the band's first show.)
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So do we go ahead and move this thread to the Octavarium subforum now, or wait a while?
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Sub-forum activated
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Sub-forum activated
:tup
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Urbandictionary has it connected to Love and Elite
https://www.google.se/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3fterm=137&=true
What do I have to do with this?
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Urbandictionary has it connected to Love and Elite
https://www.google.se/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3fterm=137&=true
What do I have to do with this?
Guess it's their way of saying they love you
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I have counted both ITPOE and SDOIT as individual songs,
In the Presence of Enemies counted as one song
:lol ::)
ACoS it is a studio album song, because is the only original song to be included in a EP and nowhere else..
So 137 it is..
Inb4: "no this again lol"
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Not named here yet, "137" is the name of a Pineapple Thief album.
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Not named here yet, "137" is the name of a Pineapple Thief album.
That is probably why it is on the skull...
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Sub-forum activated
Hey, where did the sub-forum go? :biggrin:
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Sub-forum activated
Hey, where did the sub-forum go? :biggrin:
It's limited to DTF alumni status members only now.
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Sub-forum activated
Hey, where did the sub-forum go? :biggrin:
It's limited to DTF alumni status members only now.
Call that discrimination!
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If you add all their 20+ minute epics together the length comes to almost exactly 137 minutes.. no relevance really, just thought that was a cool coincidence!
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If you add all their 20+ minute epics together the length comes to almost exactly 137 minutes.. no relevance really, just thought that was a cool coincidence!
ACoS 23
SDoIT 42
8V 24
IT 22
Total 111
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If you add all their 20+ minute epics together the length comes to almost exactly 137 minutes.. no relevance really, just thought that was a cool coincidence!
ACoS 23
SDoIT 42
8V 24
IT 22
Total 111
I'm guessing that AboutToCrash is including ItPoE as a single song:
SDoIT 42:02
ItPoE 25:38
8V 24:00
ACoS 23:09
IT 22:17*
TOTAL 137:06
* - If you only consider the song proper and not the little instrumental ditty at the end, it's less than 20 minutes.
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Episode 137 of Dragon Ball Z, part of the Androids Saga, has a character "furiously vow to destroy the androids for humiliating and defeating him".
https://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Last_Ditch_Effort
I'd say if an android was holding a human skull, that would be pretty humiliating!
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The album will revolve around the "Game of Tones" episode of Futurama, which was number 137 of the series.
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Maybe D/T is a double album which in total lasts 137 minutes..
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Maybe D/T is a double album which in total lasts 137 minutes..
After The Astonishing? no way.
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They are covering Pineapple Thief's album 137.
Duh.
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It’s the amount of years that will pass untill JP finally decides record his 2nd solo album...
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Maybe it's how many copies of the album worldwide that they expect to be bought by women.
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Maybe it's how many copies of the album worldwide that they expect to be bought by women.
:rollin
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I'm guessing that AboutToCrash is including ItPoE as a single song
I know he was... And it's wrong..
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I'm guessing that AboutToCrash is including ItPoE as a single song
I know he was... And it's wrong..
No it isn't. It is one song.
But 137 does not refer to the number of DT songs anyway.
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I'm guessing that AboutToCrash is including ItPoE as a single song
I know he was... And it's wrong..
No it isn't. It is one song.
But 137 does not refer to the number of DT songs anyway.
Are you implying that you know exactly what 137 means, or that no logical cherrypicking of DT songs will result in 137?
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I'm saying I know exactly what "137" refers to, and it isn't the number of songs in DT's catalog. At least, it isn't intended to refer to that.
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I'm saying I know exactly what "137" refers to, and it isn't the number of songs in DT's catalog. At least, it isn't intended to refer to that.
It's the number of squats JP does every hour.
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I'm saying I know exactly what "137" refers to, and it isn't the number of songs in DT's catalog. At least, it isn't intended to refer to that.
It’s one hell of a weird coincidence then although I suppose you do have to kind of force SDOIT and ITPOE into single songs to get it to add to 137 but leave A Mind Beside Itself as individual songs so maybe not that much of a coincidence.
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I'm saying I know exactly what "137" refers to, and it isn't the number of songs in DT's catalog. At least, it isn't intended to refer to that.
It’s one hell of a weird coincidence then although I suppose you do have to kind of force SDOIT and ITPOE into single songs to get it to add to 137 but leave A Mind Beside Itself as individual songs so maybe not that much of a coincidence.
It is a neat coincidence. But there is nothing weird about counting SDOIT and ITPOE as single songs because that is exactly what the band has said they are since day 1. And AMBI has never been a song. It has been a suite of 3 songs since day 1. So I'm not sure where the confusion arises on those (well, I can kind of see ITPOE because of the way DT split it, so those who do not know might think it is two songs).
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I do know very well what MP intended to do with ITPoE.. But I also do know very well that the same band have made some mistakes (or contradictions) regarding semantic issues about their songs, so I guess all of these cases are very open to discussion and different interpretations.. After all, that's kind of the point..
But ok, "137" has nothing to do with any of this.. Never mind..
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I'm saying I know exactly what "137" refers to, and it isn't the number of songs in DT's catalog. At least, it isn't intended to refer to that.
It’s one hell of a weird coincidence then although I suppose you do have to kind of force SDOIT and ITPOE into single songs to get it to add to 137 but leave A Mind Beside Itself as individual songs so maybe not that much of a coincidence.
A coincidence indeed, but it's not forcing anything. ITPOE was unquestionably written as a single song that was split into parts (as opposed to the two parts being written separately and then smushed together). By contrast, AMBI was always a suite of individual songs without any intent or pretense that they were a single song. Whether SDOIT is a single song or a collection of eight songs is a debate that will never be settled, but it always was the band's intent that it be regarded as a single song.
Bosk, I assume the significance of the "137" will be made known once the album is released. Oui?
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I'm saying I know exactly what "137" refers to, and it isn't the number of songs in DT's catalog. At least, it isn't intended to refer to that.
It’s one hell of a weird coincidence then although I suppose you do have to kind of force SDOIT and ITPOE into single songs to get it to add to 137 but leave A Mind Beside Itself as individual songs so maybe not that much of a coincidence.
It is a neat coincidence. But there is nothing weird about counting SDOIT and ITPOE as single songs because that is exactly what the band has said they are since day 1. And AMBI has never been a song. It has been a suite of 3 songs since day 1. So I'm not sure where the confusion arises on those (well, I can kind of see ITPOE because of the way DT split it, so those who do not know might think it is two songs).
Not saying it is weird, I consider both to be single songs and was totally convinced that this was the meaning behind 137. Just when you said it wasn’t the case, I thought it was a bit of a freaky coincidence and then thought that we’d maybe cheated a little to get to that number. Like you say though, it’s not really a cheat at all and I’m back to it being one of those strange coincidences.
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Bosk, I assume the significance of the "137" will be made known once the album is released. Oui?
I suspect people will have more than they need to figure it out before the album is out.
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I suspect people will have more than they need to figure it out before the album is out.
Oh, cool! So, the treasure hunt never stops. :)
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Bosk, I assume the significance of the "137" will be made known once the album is released. Oui?
I suspect people will have more than they need to figure it out before the album is out.
I think 137 is pretty obviously the release date for the album. January 37th.
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137 is the 33rd prime number, as of this year the band is 33 years old...
Even though we know 137 doesn't represent their songs I thought it was interesting that you could use the distance over time formula where 137 is distance (or number of songs) and time is 33 (how long they've been making said songs). 137/33 equals 4.15152 which by my estimation is pure gobbledygook.
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137/33 equals 4.15152 which by my estimation is pure gobbledygook.
...or is it? :corn
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137 is the number of bans we mods will have to hand out in the weeks leading up to the release of the album.
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137 is the number of bans we mods will have to hand out in the weeks leading up to the release of the album.
Or the number of people that will be conviced that the 20 seconds snippet posted on RandomUser5894743894437's account on YouTube is a legitimate leak off the new record.
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JP: So everyone is agreed on the final version of the cover art?
JR: Yea man, the robot hand holding the skull? To symbolize the drama of evolution and progression?
JLB: Maple Syrup.
JP: So it's done.
JM:.....I got an idea
JP: What's that?
JM: Let's put a totally random, meaningless number on the skull.
JR: Hmmm....why?
JM: To drive our fans crazy to attribute some significance to it. It'll be fun.
JP: CONSIDER IT DONE!
Pink Floyd actually did this for The Division Bell. There are people still trying to figure out what "Publius Enigma" means 24 years later. It was a joke :lol
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Wasn't a half assed but legitimate contest that had to give an actual prize? your name to a tree or stuff like that, something that people in the label came up with
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137/33 equals 4.15152 which by my estimation is pure gobbledygook.
...or is it? :corn
Maybe adding the "137" was his idea :lol
idk, but i like to think that's coming from Mangini, being him a lot into maths.
Hmm...
[/quote]
I know Bosk has alluded to knowing what 137 is about, but seems there's some hints here to another puzzle solution...
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Track 5 on DoT... "Room 137" .... hmmmmm
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Anyone know what room MM taught in while at Berkeley? Room 137 perhaps?
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Anyone know what room MM taught in while at Berkeley? Room 137 perhaps?
138
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I would love if Room 137 was just James describing the math behind whatever MM is doing and those are all of the lyrics.
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I would love if Room 137 was just James describing the math behind whatever MM is doing and those are all of the lyrics.
Dream Theater meets Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah
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Sounds interesting. Something about a secret time signature that pleases John Petrucci
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Sounds interesting. Something about a secret time signature that pleases John Petrucci
137/13.7
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I'm honestly pretty surprised that apparently nobody knows what Room 137 refers to. It's pretty easily findable.
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I'm honestly pretty surprised that apparently nobody knows what Room 137 refers to. It's pretty easily findable.
Looks like it's gotta mean something since several other artists have already written songs called Room 137.
Shining?
Also it's apparently a gospel song about a hospital or something?
Psalm 137?
How cold am I Bosk?
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http://www.feynman.com/science/the-mysterious-137/
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That has to be it
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Don't know what Room 137 is about, but apparantly Out of Reach refers to Mangini's cymbals for the recording of the album.
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Don't know what Room 137 is about, but apparantly Out of Reach refers to Mangini's cymbals for the recording of the album.
:lol
It did look pretty uncomfortable in the Untethered Angel video
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Don't know what Room 137 is about, but apparantly Out of Reach refers to Mangini's cymbals for the recording of the album.
:lol
It did look pretty uncomfortable in the Untethered Angel video
One of the comments on Youtube said he has to challenge himself... somehow :lol
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http://www.feynman.com/science/the-mysterious-137/
Yeah, that's probably it.
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Sounds interesting. Something about a secret time signature that pleases John Petrucci
137/13.7
It might be the number of time signature changes in the song. Or maybe the number of time signature that Mangini can play at the same time.
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There's Room 237 in The Shining. Room 237 is also a movie itself. But I don't think it is anyhow related to the song.
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There's Room 237 in The Shining. Room 237 is also a movie itself. But I don't think it is anyhow related to the song.
It isn't (as far as I know).
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On the certificate of authenticity for the box set... check out the number!
https://centurymedia.store/product/Y4CDCE219/dream-theater-distance-over-time-collectors-cd-box-set?cp=102832_103046_104294
0137/3500
That is awesome! So... I guess somebody actually will get the 137th one!
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James actually mentions what Room 137 is about according to MM. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_R1Idf0n-U (8:23 for reference)