Making "The Singing of the Cyborgs", a Robot Musical

Robots invade Spotify

2009-11-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

The world's first robot musical is now available on Spotify.

"The Singing of the Cyborgs" by S.C.H. was made available yesterday.

This continues Spotify's good work in making musical soundtracks available online for free.

Other hit musicals (various casts) on Spotify include "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", "The King and I", "Fiddler on the roof" and "The Sound of Music".

Physical CD vs. MP3. Pros and Cons for You and Us.

2009-11-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

So, our album "The Singing of the Cyborgs" is on Amazon both as a CD and as a downloadable MP3.

But what are the benefits and bad points of each format?

The MP3 is cheaper to buy, and gives more profit to the artist, as the cost is lower.

The MP3 can be downloaded now, not having to wait a few days for the post. (Though waiting for your presents can be good - every day is like Christmas!)

The MP3 album is better for the environment as no plastic /ink was required in its production.

But, a CD looks, smells, feels great. It makes you feel like you really own the music.

The choice is yours.

Getting on iTunes

2009-09-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

We just found out that our album is available on iTunes.

Do a search for "Cyborgs" or "S.C.H" at the iTunes store and our robot musical "The Singing of the Cyborgs" by S.C.H. will be among the top results.

Cherry pick the single "DiscoTechnology" or get the whole album to follow one robot slave's quest for freedom (and revenge).

Looks like the hard work (mostly charly's reprogramming of the tracks!) is starting to get results.

Official Music Video - DiscoTechnology

2009-09-06T07:56:00.001-07:00

The Official video for "DiscoTechnology", taken from the upcoming album "The Singing of the Cyborgs".

The Singing of the Cyborgs - DiscoTechnology Music Video

First Music Video for "Cyborgs" coming in 2 days

2009-08-29T01:16:00.001-07:00

The music video for first single, "DiscoTechnology" will be available in 48 hours.

It features footage from 1950s TV show "Here comes Tobor".

The images have been re-edited, giving the illusion that the mighty Tobor is dancing along to the tune.

The music on this release is the new produced version of DiscoTechnology, so you may notice a few tweaks from the Popcuts download version of the track.

S.C.H. Interview - Writing a robot musical

2009-08-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

Interview with S.C.H., describing the writing process for "The Singing of the Cyborgs":

What inspired you to make a robot musical?

We love sci fi movies, and fun musicals such as 'Little Shop of Horrors'. As for robots, we are still wondering why robot butlers have not been invented yet.

Describe your music-making process?

We individually sketched out the ideas for the main story. We split this story into songs, each song having a different theme and emotion. Stu wrote lyrics and Charly wrote music – completely separate. We played them together and made changes, rewriting lyrics to fit. Then we rewrote, and rewrote. Lots of rewrites and improvements

What has been your biggest challenge?

Setting up the recording booth was tough, we soundproofed using all the mattresses in the house!

How has your music evolved?

Over the course of this album, we have learned much more about the mastering process, the last 5% of polish that really makes the difference.

What genre does your music fit in to?

Electronica, though each song has its own feel. “Terminate or Die” has an irish shanty feel to it, where “DiscoTechnology” is quite funky.

The band's name is S.C.H. What does this stand for?

Superhuman Chocolate Hamsters

Save Cory Haim

Silk Clothes Hangers

Super Cool Hornets

Tell me about your instruments.

We used 2 mics to record the main vocals then fed them though a vocoder. Music was played using a keyboard. Additional samples (for laser guns, explosions, drills) were found on royalty free websites.

Do you have any upcoming shows?

We are working on a short format for the album, but also a full-length musical that schools can run themselves.

What’s next?

A feature length movie of an extended version of the album. Musically we are working on something involving ninjas and zombies.

Any advice for new bands?

Write, Rewrite, Rewrite. Record, Rerecord, Rerecord.

How can people hear your music?

The Album is released on September 1^st. It should be available at the usual places: Amazon.com, iTunes, Popcuts. Preview tracks can be heard at Last.fm (http://www.last.fm/music/S.C.H.) or you can play along to them at Jamlegend.com

What song would you love to cover?

A robot version of “two little boys” would be fun.

Best movie Taglines, Quiz and Poll

2009-08-15T01:59:00.000-07:00

Movie tagline quiz and choose the tag line for the album.

A tagline is usually used in movie advertising. It fleshes out the story of the film, if the title does not nail this.

For example, the movie title "A Clockwork Orange" does not explain what the setting or plot might be about.

The tagline for this movie was "Being the adventures of a young man ... who couldn't resist pretty girls ... or a bit of the old ultra-violence ... went to jail, was re-conditioned ... and came out a different young man ... or was he ?" which really maps out what to expect.

Some other movie taglines, can you guess what film they were used from? (answers at bottom of this post)

1. Murder. Blackmail. Temptation. Redemption. It's been a busy week.

2. It will tear your soul apart.

3. Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire.

4. The Only Thing More Terrifying Than The Last 12 Minutes Of This Film Are The First 92.

5. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

We think that The Singing of the Cyborgs needs a tagline. Although it is an album rather than a film, it has a story, setting and charactors.

Please cast your vote on this one question, surveydaddy poll.

Which Tag line is best for "The Singing of the Cyborgs"(opinion)

(answers to taglines: 1.Gigli 2. Hellraiser 3. The Lost Boys 4.Suspiria 5. Jaws 2)

Imdb Poll: Which robot would you like to own?

2009-08-08T01:48:00.000-07:00

The fantastic internet movie database had a poll to see the best robot to have around the house.

The top 3 were voted to be R2-D2 from Star Wars, WALL-E, and the evil liquid Terminator.

R2 and Wall-e are cute, but who voted for the T1000? He would be a great bodyguard / tool of revenge.

We voted for Johnny 5 (from Short Circuit), who finished 7th in the chart.

Full details are available at
IMDB.com - Robot poll

Robot Musicians

2009-08-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

Robots are not great musicians. Here is a run down of 5 of the current robot pop idols.

Toyota's robot can play the violin, but is not as good as a human player.

The Trons, a kiwi robot band are a bit better.

Also from New Zealand, Peter Jackson has his own robot band.

If you like obscure Japanese traditional music, you'll love Harpbot.

The most promsining young robot has to be Slashbot, who is more of a guitar hero:

New Site Discovered: Popcuts.com

2009-07-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

Just found new website/business. Popcuts is an iTunes-ish site for downloading music. But the twist is that you get paid for buying tunes.

Confused? When you buy a song / album you get a cut of future sales of that song.

If you are one of the first people to buy a new album, you get a larger slice of the pie than the last minute Lukes.

So the first-in get rewarded. Seems a bit like how pyramid schemes work!

They even have a section for the top 10 pop pickers.

It is nice to get a little bit back, will it catch on as a business model?

What is "Tobor" backwards?

2009-07-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

Review of "Here comes Tobor" a 1957 TV show pilot about a boy and his droid.

24 minutes of fun, "Here comes Tobor" is an unseen classic.

Tobor is a robot who is controlled by a boy with mental powers.

They live in a military base, for some reason.

The boy's uncle is a computer genius in a wheelchair and a flat-cap.

So that's the setting, this is the plot.

An atomic submarine has been located. When 4 planes go to investigate, they get shot down.

The scientists decide to send Tobor in a missile to check it out.
Unfortunately, the boy gets locked inside the missile with the robot.

(This was the 1950s, before health and safety.)

The uncle seems a bit upside at the news that his nephew is expected dead, but seems to forget all about it.

Phew! Tobor has acted like a robot seat belt and the young lad is okay!

We won't reveal the rest, it involves robot malfunction and fights with pirates.

Enjoy.

As it is US public domain, it is free to watch:

http://www.archive.org/details/tobor01

40th Aniversary of Moon Landings

2009-07-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

It was 40 years ago today that we first landed on the Moon.

Seems a lot longer - it was all black and white in them days.

A real achievement, but a shame that nothing else moon related has really been done since.

We need a new cold war to kickstart a new space race.

Or someone needs to invent really cheap rocket fuel.

Then we could all pop up there on a long weekend.

Interview with Dr Dennis M. Hope - the man who owns the Moon.

2009-07-18T02:02:00.000-07:00

In this candid interview, Dr. Dennis M. Hope shares his future plans for the Moon. He reveals a problem with moon golf, names the first Lunar city, and shows you how to deal with high energy bills!

-------------------
Dennis, thank you for sparing time for this interview.

You are best known for being the entrepreneur behind the product which allows people to own an acre of the Moon.

It is available to buy at many gift websites (such as http://www.needapresent.com/gifts/acre-of-the-moon), or your own website (http://www.lunarembassy.com/)

As the current landlord of the moon, you are perhaps in the best position to answer these 10 moon-based questions:

1. How much spare acreage is left on the Moon?

We have sold just over 543,000,000 acres. There is just under 945,000,000,000 acres on the Moon.

2. Where is the hottest real estate area on the moon? Where all the
Moon Celebrities will have their Condos.

We never share direct information with the general public with respect to where the property is that someone else owns.
All areas of the Moon are represented as equal in their respective areas. We do not believe that any one area is more spectacular than any other property.

3. What will happen when you have sold it all?

By that time we will have started building the first city on the Moon. The name of the city is "New Hope City."

We actually believe we will be on the Moon of Earth in late 2011 starting this project.

Actually I do not believe we will sell all of the property on the Moon of Earth during my lifetime. We are currently averaging on a daily basis approximately 1,500 acres per day, globally, with all the efforts of our 5 Ambassadors and our 28 reselling agents.

4. If it were possible, would you live on the Moon?

I think the reality of the harshness of the Moon of Earth would prohibit anyone from living on the Moon full time. I will visit and have a place there but I will only visit there and not live permanently

5. What is the best use for the moon? E.g. Prison colony, Exclusive
resort, Weapons testing.

In 2004, the Galactic Government put its constitution on line for our property owners to vote yes or no for ratification.

We had 3.7 million property owners at the time and we had a 99.9% in favor vote for ratification.

In that Constitution, there are no weapons allowed.
We think the Moon of Earth would be a great place to house the Galactic Government, Lunar Embassy, Lunar Business Systems, the first off planet banking center (not accessible to any Earth based government), and a wonderful pyramid city.

The entire pyramid for New Hope City will be 3 kilometers by 3 kilometers at the base and 3 kilometers in height.

There will be agriculture, livestock, retail, transportation, housing, restaurants, condos, luxury condos, theatres, recreation, and the headquarters for all Earth based governments as well as the Lunar Embassy and the Galactic Government.

We do have plans top build a prison on the back side of the Moon. This will be for the most heinous of human criminals.

6. Why hasn’t work started on building a moon-base yet?

Expense! NASA wants a $ Billion to do a soft lander on the Moon. Russia wants $43 million.

The Galactic Government has just created its own currency called the "Delta." We are the only modern government to back its currency with anything of value.

We have placed in the Galactic Government treasury $3 Quadrillion US dollars worth of helium3 reserves for the backing of our currency. We will use these funds to build the first city on the Moon.

7. What track is in the iPod when the tourist-rocket leaves Earth?
Maybe REM: Man on the Moon or something off Pink Floyd’s Dark Side
of the Moon

I am not sure what you are asking me and I truly do not know how to respond to this question, sorry.

8. Coolest Moon sport? e.g. the super-long drives of moon golf or the
high dunks of moon-basketball

In 1997 we sold a 1,777.58 acre parcel to a sports group out of Sweden who wanted to build the first golf course.

The problem with golf on the Moon is, if you have a club with a pitch higher than one degree you could place the ball into orbit. It was our request of the sports group that they build the first inside golf course and use the walls and ceiling to help with the game.

I am sure there will be other games played on the Moon, I am just not sure which of Earth's games are the best. Time will tell what works and what does not.

9. In TV shows set in space, everyone wears the same uniform. Who
would you get to design your moon-base’s outfits?

Since the ratification of the Constitution for the Galactic Government, we will open it up to our citizens to determine the type of uniform, or clothing that will be representative of the life style on the Moon

10. What future ideas do you have in the pipeline? I have a couple for
you: Selling an acre of land on the sun (“Hot Weather
Guaranteed”), Selling black holes (“Perfect for garbage disposal”).

All good ideas. Unfortunately my claim of ownership is for the Moon of Earth and the other eight planets and their moons.

Since I do not own the Sun (Virigilu Pop of the UK claimed ownership of the Sun in 1999. He then sent me a bill for $30 Million dollars for the energy put out by his property. I responded to him that we had conferred with our property owners and had decided not to use his energy, please turn it off... To date he has not) or any black holes it would not be legal to offer them at all.

We do have some projects in the works currently but we are not at liberty to discuss them here.

-------------

Coming Soon: Interview with the Man who owns the Moon

2009-07-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hopefully the next post will be an interview with Dr. Dennis Hope.

He sells the acre of moon gift packs. His website, the lunar embassy, gives you the opportunity to be in intergalactic real estate.

In the interview he shares some of his big plans for the moon community.

Should make for some cracking content. It will provide a different perspective to the moonbase depicted in our musical.

Wow, a banner ad

2009-07-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

Below is the first banner ad for the new album.

It even animates after about 5 seconds. By animate, what we really mean is that the picture changes.

Still it is a start, and a 2 frame banner is a easier to deign than a flash cartoon.

Speaking of cartoons, we are currently testing out animations for the videos of the songs.

For 2d animation we are using Toon Boom animation studio.

For the 3d tests we have used the excellent EX edition of iclone

Michael Jackson as a robot.

2009-07-09T12:50:00.001-07:00

Very sad about the whole story of MJ's passing.

From some of his output we guess he was a big a robot fan as we are.

A story at the register reported that he wanted to build a 5 ft robot in Vegas.

He morphed into a robot at the end of Moonwalker. The effects in this scene were so ahead of the time.

And he also danced the robot in some live shows.

How amazing a robot version of thriller would have been.

Respect to the legend.

Complete Cast of Characters

2009-07-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

Below is the complete list of featured characters in this robot musical.

They are accompanied by a choir of voices on some songs (such as the fight song "Terminate or Die").

As mentioned on a previous post, we wanted each person to have a different nationality of name. This reflects the Star Trek idea of many nations working together.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

MACHINES

JUNICHI - Cyborg Dreamer with potential.
MARIETTA - the loveliest Ladybot on the whole Moon.
FOGHLAIDH - Bully, and Marietta’s current boyfriend.
PINCHAS - Junichi’s best friend. Well programmed.
WANAHTON - Boss of East Crater’s construction site
CADOMEDD - Cowardly henchman
GWALA - Police Enforcer unit

HUMANS
ALEC - American Astronaut. Highly Strung
KAROL - Polish Astronaut on a difficult mission

Free Download of Track 8

2009-07-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

Track 8 is complete.

"Reprogramming" is a pivotal track.

Our Hero, Junichi, has broken the ultimate robot taboo. He has fallen in love.

The robot police send him to have his memory erased (Defragged?).

It is now available as a MP3 download, if you join the mailing list. Bung it on your ipod, computer or whatever, it is DRM free.

Put your details box the "Get Track 8 Free" box at the top left of this screen.

As a member of the mailing list you will get other freebies (from time to time) and we'll let you know when the album is ready to buy.

We promise not to bombard members with emails - it annoys us when people do this. Maybe some big news every 3 to 4 weeks.

Cool Trash Films

2009-06-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Stu:

Here is a video I did a while ago. I showcase some brilliant movies that helped inspire the musical, and my previous film "Horror!"

Facebook Application

2009-06-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

The Singing of the Cyborgs is now a Facebook application.

Search the applications for "Cyborg gifts" and you can send Artwork from Cyborgs to your friends, family, boss.

Lots more gifts to be added, more robot related.

It was very simple to build this type of Facebook application.

To make your own you will need to add the "Developer" Application.

It is an official Facebook program, and you feel like a fully qualified programmer when you get this!

Don't read though the instructions just yet (very complex). Install go and install the excellent "Application Builder" add-on from the applications screen.

This takes you through making your own program. Make sure you have lots of content to add. With this software you can build a Quiz, a Fan page, or a selection of Facebook gifts.

Great fun, and quick to implement.

Perfect Running Times - Analysing the Beatles

2009-06-22T11:37:00.001-07:00

We are big fans of the Beatles. We can't wait until the new Beatles Rock Star comes out in September.

Which is the best Beatles album? This is greatly debated and of course is a matter of opinion.

Where we can bring in numbers is running length. The longest Beatles studio album is "The Beatles" (aka the white album). Although this is a double album, it clocks in at 93 minutes and 35 seconds. The shortest album is "A Hard Day's Night".

As you can see from the graph, there is not much difference in the album lengths (with the exception of the white album).

This may be explained by the limiting factor of the number of minutes that you can fit onto a vinyl record. However, these albums are still ranked as among the best in the world so these "ideal" running times are still valid.

Currently, our album is timed at around 36 minutes. This fits in with the majority of those early beatles records.

Comparing ourselves to the genius of Lennon/McCartney/Starr & Harrison? Very vain!

Merchandising, Merchandising, Merchandising.

2009-06-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

Random spin-off merchandise appears throughout Mel Brook's comedy "Space Balls".

Space Balls(TM) - the toilet paper, Space Balls (TM) - the Duvet cover, Space Balls(TM) - the Flamethrower, all feature at some point.

The joke is a reference to Star Wars merchandising, already a gigantic industry at the film's release in 1987.

Merchandise is a good way for films and bands to get a bit more return on their investment.

For start up bands playing a gig, the venue owner will take the door money. The T Shirt sales are their main source of income (so support your local band and buy their stuff!).

Back to films, chances are that you have some spin off product lying in the attic.

What are some of the strangest products out there? An air horn for your car that plays the Star Trek theme, An E.T. finger light, or the High School Musical time-telling musical toothbrush.

With that build up, we are happy to announce our own 'merch' is available.

The most fitting is the stainless steel travel mug.

The Singing of The Cyborgs - Moon Mug by rawenergy
Browse more Robot Mugs

Perfect for a robot slave on the moon. If they ever got a coffee break!

50 Robot Websites

2009-06-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

You love robots, we love robots.

Here are 50 websites dedicated to all sorts of robot-related revelry.

From Angelina Jolie to RatBots, there is plenty of good stuff here.

http://robotmusical.blogspot.com/

Making of the scifi musical “the Singing of the cyborgs”

https://www.createspace.com/1766443

E store of The singing of the cyborgs.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/trivia

Trivia about The Terminator

http://www.myspace.com/daftpunkelectroma

Daft Punks robot movie, electroma

http://www.communistrobot.com/

Communist robot shows videos of real robots reacting with humans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht96HJ01SE4

Queen's greatest song performed by old computer parts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2JChnwv2Ws

Robot band, the trons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8K90hX4PrE&feature=channel

Scary robots in this daft punk video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAoBKagWQA

Bjork's robot music video

http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=43

Robot fighting events.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106639/

Cyborg 2 details. Angelina Jolie's 2^nd feature film.

http://www.sickipedia.org/search.php?q=robot

Sick Robot Jokes

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/japanfan/b8d5/

Remote control mini robots

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/b696/

Build your own robotic arm

http://www.gearcrave.com/2009-01-12/the-history-of-the-robot-voice-from-kraftwerk-to-kanye/

The history of the robot voice. From Sparky to Kanye.

http://www.gotfuturama.com/Information/CharacterBios/bender.dhtml

Futurama's hero robot, Bender. “Bite my shiny metal...

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/02/xkcd-inspired-r/

Robot makes sandwich

http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Robots-Cookbook-Recipes-Earth/dp/1440401209/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245102654&sr=8-3

Yummy robot recommended cookery

http://digg.com/d1trYU

Robots made from trash

http://digg.com/d1ngME

OMG a fire-breathing robot takes Tokyo!

http://www.robotspodcast.com/

Podcast for news on robots

http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/games/dexter/runawayrobot/

Find dexter's robot in this game from the cartoon network

http://robotics.megagiant.com/robotfun.html

Robot laboratory

http://mindstorms.lego.com/eng/Egypt_dest/Default.aspx

Lego's revolutionary robotic kits

http://prime.jsc.nasa.gov/ROV/

NASA's robot experiments

http://world.honda.com/ASIMO/

ASIMO, the walking human sized robot.

http://www.androidworld.com/index.htm

This site may look messy, but it is loaded with great stuff. Go explore.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1234721/

Watch this space for news on a RoboCop remake.

http://www.wowwee.com/en/products/toys/robots/robotics/robosapiens:robosapien

RoboSapien, the cool robot that you just need the excuse to buy.

http://www.wowweerobots.eu/index.php?request=product_cat&jump_categ=B1A2&product_info=91467

Realistic looking panda cub – it's a robot.

http://robotics.eas.asu.edu/

Arizona State University matches human needs to robot solutions.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article2133609.ece

The Times chooses it favourite 50 robots from the movies. My fave is no. 43

http://www.amazon.com/Tetsuo-II-Hammer-Tomoo-Asada/dp/6305477728/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1245271433&sr=8-1

Probably the most intense film ever made. It tastes like caffeine!

http://www.amazon.com/Unidentified-Flying-Oddball-Dennis-Dugan/dp/B0001I55UG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1245271564&sr=1-1

Unidentified Flying Oddball. Great kids movie about one man and his robot twin. With a time machine.

http://blogoscoped.com/googlerobot/

Are Google robots overrunning the Earth?

http://www.reallyfunarcade.com/play/other/build-a-robot/

Build a robot in this online game.

http://www.robotclips.com/

Collection of robot videos

http://www.thinkgeek.com/books/humor/8edf/

Book about how to survive when the robots inevitable take over.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/afff/

What time is it Mr Robot? It's Killing time.

http://www.robotliving.com/

Beautifully designed blog.

http://www.squidoo.com/meccano-spykee

Your very own robot spy. Mwha ha ha

http://www.squidoo.com/Robotics--BigDog

BigDog, an important step in robot stability (think of Ed209)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ROBOTIC-VACUUM-CLEANER-HOOVER-BAGLESS/dp/B001AZ8COK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1245441492&sr=8-1

The robot vacuum cleaner. Also available are a robot lawnmower and gutter cleaner.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/127954.html

Details the first robot Birdwatcher.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/133399.html

Robots are playing poker right now. And beating you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdT4yG8wczQ

The first “robot”, the Turk played chess. It apparently played (and beat) Napoleon and Ben Franklin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YJ3BTKMILw

An internet classic. The best robot dancer ever.

http://www.iroc.org/game.html

The robot Olympics. Will they pass the drugs test?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1961798.stm

Rat bots. Real rats are wired up to a remote control. Here Boy!

Plantinum Blue - Musical Goodness Analyser

2009-06-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

Ever Heard of Platinum Blue?

It is a top musical industry secret. A computer program has discovered the secret to a hit song.

It has a database of all of the hits of the last 50 years. It analyses key parts of the song, and calculates the key area that make up the success of those songs.

New songs are loaded up, and matched against this "Classic Song" template.

It has a success rate of over 70%. This is exceptional when you consider the industry average hits-to-misses is only 10%.

For full details please read the New Yorker article. The article also covers a similar software for creating the perfect movie screenplay.

See how our track, DiscoTechology fared when analysed by the Platinum Blue software:

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