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I suppose I will follow sadd3j’s format for writing this review. As I recall, the last time I went to Canon/Pantages theatre was to see Wicked, and while the production wasn’t great that night, the theatre was quite comfy and it was still all-round good times. Unlike Wicked, the seats this time were much better, granted we bought them the first day tickets went on sale, so seat selection and dates were not a problem–Sarah and I sat dead centre, front row balcony (AA), so it was a near-perfect view. And as a side bonus, because my glasses prescription is quite up to date, I was able to see things relatively sharp.

The production itself was fairly similar to the original recordings. There wasn’t much deviation on the instrumental side of things (ie: I think it was the second time when we saw it, I’ll Cover You (reprise), the keyboardist put in a few more chords in the chromatic minor opening, this keyboardist didn’t put any extra embellishments. I did pay more attention to the guitarist and bassist this time and noticed they actually changed their guitars midway through songs, which made me wonder what about the songs required changing the whole instrument and not just changing sound patches. Songs like Without You, was particularly excellent because the bass sounded extra smooth and mellow yet the notes were distinct and clear. It made me want to come home and try it out (I’m sure I’ll be disappointed at my own attempts and give up shortly). On the vocalists side of things, the only things I noticed on several occasions was when Roger screamed in (What You Own and Another Day), he would come in at a higher note which almost felt like he was offkey, but then he’d bring it down to the correct register. Not sure if this was a mistake or intentional because I can’t say it was a positive. Overall, no hiccups, no technical issues (re: Mimi’s wireless mic breaking up during the second time we saw it).

For the cast review, I thought of writing all my thoughts down before reviewing what sadd3j had said to see if our findings would be similar or not, but I just lazied out and ended up glancing over the review quickly. I can say my findings are more or less similar.

Mark – Seriously amazing, it was like listening to the original broadway recording (OBR), really couldn’t have asked for more from him. During Seasons of Love, the way he claps and such is very much like from Live from Broadway at the end when they bring out the original cast. I thought that was a nice touch, to see his little mannerisms that make him Mark. its actually him!
Roger – Was he also the original? Either he isn’t and thus explains why it didn’t sound like OBR or it was technical. I think that because of the octive he sings in, being in the same range as the instruments, I found it was hard to hear his voice when the instruments came in hard (Another Day “who do you think you are.. barging in on me and my guitar-those parts were hard to hear as his voice was overpowered by instruments). I kept telling myself that I just need to adjust to him, but I think even by What You Own, it still didn’t feel fully settled.
Collins – He was the same as Live on Broadway, which at first (when I saw Live on Broadway), I thought was not as good as OBR, but I think his voice does grow on you and it was overall very good, he was able to do justice to I’ll Cover You (reprise)
Angel – excellent, no qualms about him
Joanne – Initial impressions was that she wouldn’t live up to OBR, but I think overall not bad, I’d put her on par with Collins and Angel
Mimi – Aside from Mark, Mimi would be my second vote to best voice. The timber of her voice is different from OBR because its not as raspy (maybe that’s what Sam meant by sweeter) but it was still very distinct. She was clear and never overpowered by instruments
Maureen – Again agreed about the piercing-ness, in fact if I didn’t read his review, I’d say the problem with her channel was having too much high end and not enough body to support. This was particularly evident in Take Me or Leave Me, Maureen’s parts weren’t very tolerable because it sounded more like high pitched screams.
Benny – suffice to say that he is no Taye Diggs
Other cast members – the male soloist for Seasons of Love was weak. Voice lacked that presence and command that the song demanded. By comparison, the female soloist was much better than him.

I think one of my goals was to take Sarah to see RENT live at least once to change her negative perception of it and I think this production has now made her to a RENT lover convert.

May as well write down the experience. It’s easy enough to say that it’s the best version I’ve seen.. which in hindsight, isn’t that hard. The first sitting we were too unprepared to really judge it, the second sitting had mr. happyfeet conductor.

The Canon/Pantages theatre has always been one of my favorite theatres, maybe because it feels historic and it’s been around a while. The foyer remains quite grand, although I remember it being even more so when Phantom was there, probably due to the richness of the show itself and being myself being younger and wider-eyed. It does require good seats though, as the cheaper seats are waayyy back there and the stage gets lost under the balcony.

The sound mix was quite excellent, the volume shocks you a bit at the beginning but it calms down as I think Rent is the loudest song. The band was tight and the conductor was great on the timing (my only gripe would be La Vie Bohemme got a little slow in the middle and that seemed to kill a bit of its tumbling-over-itself momentum that it usually has) but it picked up and ended fairly strong. The set (while basic anyway) was pretty impressive and I thought it would be dumbed down more, but it’s the same, except maybe the Christmas tree is a little less 3D than it was at the Nederlander.

Onto (most) of the cast!

Mark – was amazing, it was like listening to the soundtrack.
Roger – not sure if it was his levels? His voice seemed to lack some body (compared to the soundtrack and movie version anyway).. I was a little disappointed, but you can’t help but cheer when they sing Rent and What You Own.
Collins – was fantastic! Same guy as from the “filmed Live on Broadway” version, he was better live.
Angel – also from the “Live on Broadway” version, was great.
Joanne – at first thought it was an understudy, but reading the insert into the programme I think is an actual replacement. Very good as well, great voice.
Mimi – Great voice, fits the role well. Sam said that her voice was “sweeter” sounding than the original Mimi, but overall I thought she was good.
Maureen – easily the weakest, I definitely think she could have been cast better. Her voice was kinda piercing/bordering on annoying and was missing some of that Idina-Menzel-Maureen-machoness? It’s also kinda silly, but she’s too short heh.
Benny – was forgettable, nothing spectacular but was good enough not to stand out as bad.

Anyway, will be interesting to see what jkha thinks after tonight. I’m really glad to have seen this cast and definitely think it was worth it.

It’s been quite a long wait for this bag and finally it is here!

It all started a few months ago, in September, when I started to look for a new camera bag that was small enough that I could take around daily, but not too big (and padded) to the point where it’d be cumbersome. For the past few years, my solution has always been outfitting regular bags (gap canvas messenger, timbuk2 classic messenger, and crumpler considerable embarrassment) with domke padded inserts and then using that to carry a camera and lens.

The problem however, is that these bags tend to become large and bulky with the camera+inserts, so I started to look around for a smaller one. The first obvious choice would be a bag similar to Jon’s, Tamrac Velocity 7, which is a great bag, but in the spirit of trying to not have the same everything, I decided to look around some more. While on my Montreal trip with Sarah, we went to L.L.Lozeau and they had a large selection of crumplers. It basically boiled down to the million dollar home (MDH) series, either the 3, 4, or 5 MDH. The 3MDH was so small that the flap could barely close with the 5d2+24-70. The 5MDH was too big with all the stiff padding, and really fat; I didn’t like how it looked like a blatant camera bag. I almost bought the 4MDH, it could fit the 5d2+24-70 mounted and the 35f2 on the side, but that was tight. Furthermore, if the lenses were reversed, they would not all fit in the bag. So instead of buying on impulse, I held off in hopes of finding the perfect bag.

Fast forward to months of boring work, I started to look into domke’s. As I mentioned before, I have a few inserts by them, and they weren’t all that cheap (around $24USD each), for a bit of foam padding; but they were/are very useful. I also liked the fact that their designs aren’t flashy, nor are they commonly seen, which is an extra plus since I really didn’t want to be another guy with a crumpler MDH (they are good bags, don’t get me wrong, just everybody who owns an SLR seems to also have a MDH). I found a few people on flickr who had it, and found a few reviews, and all the comments on forums seem to confirm that THIS was the bag. It wasn’t too big, nor too small, it fit the right amount of equipment, low profile, not fat, so what’s wrong with it? The price, in canada, where Henry’s and Vistek dominate the camera market, this bag sells for $149+tax.. ridiculous! when at B&H it’s $83USD. So with that I decided it was too expensive to buy… until now! thanks to Sarah for buying this bag as my christmas present! This was not really a review, as I just got the bag tonight, so I’ve not taken it out or anything; time will tell whether this is in fact the perfect bag or not. But I am really excited at the bag’s versatility thanks to the velcro dividers. And now without further blabbering, here are the photos! (with a few different setups):

2. close up of the badge

3. 5d2+24-70 mounted, 70-200f2.8is in the bottom compartment

4. 5d2+50f1.4 mounted, 24-70 with an extra divider on top compartment, bottom compartment can hold the 70-200 or a flash+small lens

5. view of the bottom compartment: 24-70 and 35f2

Edit to add: The bag comes with 2x 3-section dividers, I’m currently only using one divider, which is used as a base to form the top and bottom compartments. Once the flap is opened, the bag has two small front pouches that can hold wallet, phone, CFcards, batteries and sorts. The most I was able to fit was 5d2+24-70 mounted, 70-200f2.8is, and 50f1.4. The quality of the strap is excellent, and the strap actually has grippy rubber sewn into the strap to prevent the bag from sliding on the shoulder. It’s little details like these that tell you it’s a well thought out bag, with little flaws.

LINKS: Here are some of the links to the different forums I checked out for reviews of this bag: flickr photo set , japanese review, korean review (this one is my favourite, because they even do a shower test to see test its water resistance =P) and photog-on-the-net review

This christmas marks the first time (in many years) that I’ve come home for the christmas holidays without a desktop. Due to lack of transport, I was limited to no more than my MEC backpack and my camera bag (which I had to bring). After attempting to play TF with sadd3j the first night, at a whopping 6-7fps (the only class I could play was engineer), and trying my brother’s desktop that had no dedicated video card, I decided, it was time to make things happen. And that meant, going to look for a video card. Because the computer is new (and not so old) I couldn’t use JasonC’s old card that Jon had as it was AGP. So I landed on this 2600XT, it’s the card sadd3j is currently using for in his macpro. Coming in at just under $70, it will be my christmas gift to my brother as he’s bored out of his mind without much to do.

(You’ll have to excuse the crappy iphone quality of the photo)

Anyway, first impression of it, it was definitely a bit step up from having no card. Comparing the performance to my imac is a better comparison. Not having the imac with me, I can only review based on memory. The card is smooth, but only when details are set to around medium, video looks noticeably better in Left4Dead than TF2. There were a few instances last night when TF2 frames dropped to 15, and began to slug down. But I’m not sure if that’s the card’s performance as it maybe more attributed to the 1gig ram in the computer. Perhaps I’ll be able to get better performance if I throw in 2 more gigs. We’ll have to see…

It’s been just about 4 months since I got my iPhone. Really not trying to be Apple-fan-boy-biased, but I can say the experience thus far has been great. It really is the perfect companion, not having data is ok, since there’s WIFI at school and at home so I’m connected most of the time. (side note: shazam, the music tagging application has previously required internet so it sends your recorded tag for analysis immediately, not supports offline in that you can record the clip without internet and it’ll do the song lookup next time you’re connected) So it’s pretty nifty having these apps on the phone, another one being iTalk by Griffin, which can record anything, the quality is surprisingly great straight off the built in mic, no processing and all.

But I digress, the point is that the iPhone has really lived up to all the hype (IMO). With exam studying and what not, I’ve really tried to remove all distractions mainly by not bringing the macbook out. But I do take a break once in a while, sometimes its playing games, other times its the mad texting with sadd3j, but more often than not, the best break is to watch a TV show off the iPhone.

Preface: I have to admit, when I got my new wallet from Sarah, I was hesitant as to whether I’d like it or not. Traditionally, I’ve liked 2-fold wallets more than 3-fold because I don’t like my bills having 2 bends instead of 1. I think my first response when I got it was: “You know I like 2-fold wallets right?”. But the 3-fold wallet was good because it was smaller than my old one, so I just started using it and haven’t switched back since.

So after trying to hold the iPhone while watching a TV show and finding it getting tiring (or when I’m eating) i finally solved it with the perfect iPhone stand: my wallet.

Instructions: 1. Open one flap; 2. Place iPhone in
It’s pretty sweet, theoretically, I’ll always have this stand with me, and the display angle is dead on. haha