cornexo

This morning I received my usual email blast from Sotheby’s announcing the upcoming Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale. I’ll admit I signed up for it, no complaints about spam. But I get too much email and I want to unsubscribe. Thankfully they provided a nice unsubscribe link in the email. Kudos!

Out of the woods right? Simple form, email address and submit. Wrong. Unceremoniously I am informed that my email address does not appear on the list. (??) Wait! How did I come to receive the aforementioned email?!?! Ok, I get it. They have poor list management software which doesn’t talk properly with their outsourced provider. Regardless, error messages shouldn’t be brutal but helpful and informative. It qualifies as informative.

Ok, no big deal. It happens. Their site also has a Contact Us link. A little hidden, but it’s there. Miserably small input fields make me cranky. No issues filling out the form and submitting it.

Problem solved. Back to dealing with my overloaded inbox. Inbox Zero, here I come, again.

5 minutes later, blam, what should appear in my inbox?


The original message was received at Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:04:44 -0400 (EDT)
from route2.ny.sothebys.com [192.168.1.2]

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----

(reason: 552 … User exceeds storage quota)

—– Transcript of session follows —–
… while talking to mxpool2.postoffice.net.:
DATA
<<< 552 … User exceeds storage quota
554 5.0.0 Service unavailable
<<< 503 Need RCPT first.
Reporting-MTA: dns; adm2.ny.sothebys.com
Received-From-MTA: DNS; route2.ny.sothebys.com
Arrival-Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:04:44 -0400 (EDT)

Final-Recipient: RFC822; enquiries@sothebyshelp.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.2.2
Remote-MTA: DNS; mxpool2.postoffice.net
Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 552 … User exceeds storage quota
Last-Attempt-Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:04:45 -0400 (EDT)

From:
From: xxx@xxx.xxx
Date: June 18, 2008 11:03:42 AM EDT
To: enquiries@sothebyshelp.com
Subject: Bugs/Technical Problems from Sotheby’s Web Site

Please unsubscribe me from your email list. I tried using your unsubscribe link from an email I just received. It tells me my email address is not part of that list which is funny because I just received an email for Sotheby’s Private View: Impressionist and Modern Art, London.

Thanks.

Jeff


They must have a tremendous demand causing the inquiries mailbox to overflow. Then again, maybe the person responsible simply went on vacation.

If anyone from Sotheby’s is listening. Please unsubscribe me! Thanks.

Apple is at it again with their Insomnia film contest. The goal is for students — high school or college — to create a 3 minute movie in a 24 hour timespan using some components given out at when the starting gun goes off. Other than enduring fame, the prizes are reason enough to enter.

I hope the kids from Lighthouse get some teams together and make a go of it. The Virginia Film Festival has a similarly named Adrenaline Project where the teams have 72 hours to complete their masterpiece. Lighthouse has fielded teams in the past and fared quite well. You can view last year’s entries.

Yes, you heard me right. Baseball Opera.

Yesterday the WSJ carried an article (sorry, login required) about Daniel Sonenberg’s opera The Summer King based on the life of long-forgotten baseball great Josh Gibson.

What is exciting about this production is that it is truly modern, and very American. One of the largest barriers that opera faces in these modern iPod-times is interest from young listeners. Viewed as stuffy, elitist, foreign, and downright boring, opera is in desperate need of some updating. The themes, music, and settings are extremely familiar to the average American.

This depiction of life in the not-so-distant past will ring authentic and delight audiences of all ages. Think I’m crazy? They are doing these productions on the street, with no more stage than concrete stoops in Brooklyn and a keyboard for music. That is what I call Urban Opera.

In case the iPhone-enabled generation can’t make it outside, a portion is on YouTube. Check it out.

Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007)

Not sure who he was? Check it out on YouTube or do yourself a favor and buy Turandot: Nessum dorma! on iTMS or the whole CD, the old fashioned way, via Amazon.com.