Steve Holden's Blog

Some Recommendations For Headphones

I am pretty happy with my Sennheiser HD202 headphones that I use at work, my Sony MDR-XD-200 that I use at home, and my travel  audio-technica Quiet-Point ATA-ANC7.  

I picked each one specific to issues I was trying to resolve where I use headphones.  The HD202 cover my ears very comfortably, but aren't so noise reducing that if someone knocked on my office door I would still hear them.  The MDR-XD-200 were 50% off, have excel sound quality, and are something you can wear for hours without much fatigue which is great for movies and audio editing.  The Quiet Points were cheaper than the Bose that I had before the were stolen, and fold up pretty well in thier protected case for travel.

Even though I'm content, I find it very interesting to get other folks opinions, suggestions, recommendations, etc. on headphones.

A recent This Week In Google (TWIG) [#234] recommended the following after discussing the recent ad during the Super Bowl for Beats:

• @kevinmarks: Sennheiser 280 Pro (~$90)
• +leolaporate: AKG K240 MK II Studio Headphones (~$115)
• +jeffjarvis: Beats Studio (~$280)
• Alex/John:  ATH-M50 (~$150)
• The Wirecutter: Bose QuietComfort (~$299)

Leo also mentioned that Headroom was a good site with more info.  And the Home Theater Geeks podcast have several very detailed podcasts in their library about headphones.  If you want to get very technical on headphones (and even some ear buds) these podcasts are highly recommended.

So ... do you have a favorite headphone? And why?

 

Theatre Review "In This Corner" About Joe Louis & Max Schmeling

Unfortunately, this review is coming after "In This Corner" written by Steven Drukman has finished playing at the San Diego's The Old Globe theater.  But it is such a very good play, that I believe it will produced in other locations, so if you get a chance to see it, you should.

The play was extremely well done, and production was in the Cassius Carter Centre Stage (aka theater-in-the-round) so it was very interactive.

The story is about boxers Joe Louis played by Dion Graham and Max Schmeling played by Rufus Collins.  Both actor's are extremely talented and give outstanding performances.  The time frame for the story is from 1930 - 1970, and the boxing ring stage is supported by several great roles: Announcer, Trainer, Reporter, Nurse, and other Boxers.

As someone who knew very little details about Joe Lewis and Max Schmeling it was great to learn more via the engaging theater experience. 

So, if this show comes to your area or back to San Diego, I highly recommend you attend.

Multi-Topic Update: San Diego Fires, Jersey Boys, Technology

The last week or so has been extremely crazy and busy. 

First up the San Diego Wild Fires (aka FireStorm 2007) have been all consuming, and I'm happy to report that my immediate & extended family, friends, and co-workers in the San Diego area have been spared major hardships.  But our hearts go out to those who lost love ones or their homes.  The fire fighters and public safety folks have been outstanding and they deserve a ton of credit & praise.  Thanks!

The weirdest thing about the fires, was that during the whole time it was going on, Christy and I have been in Jersey Boys heaven.  They have released a new Jersey Boys Book, Frankie Valli has an excellent new album out called "Romancing the 60's", the touring cast is in San Diego, and we traveled to New York City (NYC) / New Jersey (NJ) on Sat. 10/20 returning Tue. 10/23 for the Fan Tribute and to interview Tommy DeVito. And did we mention we've seen the musical three times in six days: Fri. 10/19 (Opening Night in San Diego), Sun. 10/21 (Broadway), and Wed. 10/24 (Cast Talk Back in San Diego).  Yes ... we are crazy.

Lastly a quick update on some technology stuff.  Things are still going on over at TechNewsRadio but a little slower than I'd like.  My fellow FriendsInTech members have put together another new Halloween special called "It's The Great Server Chuck and Kreg."

Other quick tech mentions:

I recently upgraded from a Cingular 8125 to an AT&T Tilt and I'm really loving the new phone with high speed 3G/UMTS/HSDPA connectivity plus Windows Mobile 6 and integrated GPS.  The camera is also a big improvement, as is the keyboard/button interfaces.

A couple of weeks ago I did upgrade my 8-GB 2nd Gen Apple iPod Nano to an 8-GB 3rd Gen Apple iPod Nano.  I have some unboxing pictures posted to Google.  I like the video option a great deal. I used it to watch dozens of video podcasts recently on the trip back to NYC/NJ.  I have also been using it a lot at home sitting in bed or by my computer using a DIY  Lego stand.

I have also picked up a copy of Apple's new OS X via Amazon.  I hope it gets here soon so I can rebuild my old G4 iBook for Christy and finally get her off of Windows XP and spare her the horror of Vista.

Jersey Boys San Diego Ticket & Dining Deal

There is a special deal for folks who are interested in attending Jersey Boys* when it comes to San Diego from Oct. 19 - Nov. 11, 2007:

San Diego Cohn Restaurants' Jersey Boys Ticket & Dining Deal!

This is a deal that I was able to get permission for the Jersey Boys Podcast to promote. This is not a paid advertisement.  It is just one fan helping others get a good deal, and see one of the best musicals I've ever seen.

In semi-related news, Frankie Valli discusses his new album "Romancing the 60's" on the Jersey Boys Podcast #049.

* Authentic, Profane,  Jersey Vocabulary is used in this production.

Wild Idea Gets Some Traction: 'Personal Movie Place'

A while back on one of my runs I had this 'wild' idea that centered around a geographical social networking site that linked movie buffs to each other by enabling them to come together and watch movies that they were very passionate about in a high-end but personal cinema environment.

One of the high-level use cases was:

Sandra goes online to mypersonalmovieplace.com and signs up to "host" her favorite movie "Blade Runner" on Friday night at 8 p.m.  Other fans of "Blade Runner" in her area would be notified and then they could reserve their spots in the 10-20 seat mini-theater.  Once some minimum is met, the room is reserved, and confirmations are sent out.

This movie establishment could have 10-20 of these mini theaters in standard footprint.  The scheduling and collaboration software would be the core glue to bring it all together.  I by no means think something like this is easy to do, the legal issues are probably enough to make most people go crazy.  But when I talk to folks about it, I always get a generally favorable response.

Well ... this idea has some traction no thanks to me.  Mark Cuban and his excellent team at Landmark Theatres is doing something similar at their $20 million multiplex in West LA near Beverly Hills.

They call their rooms - Living Rooms - where a few dozen people can watch a movie in their own personal screen room with access to bar, food, concierge services, and other treats.  The tickets per seat are $11.  There are also plans for slightly bigger rooms like for 60 people that would rent out for $1500 a show.

There is no indication that you can order up the movie of your choice, but I'm sure that is something that would be doable.

The source of the information for Mark Cuban's effort was from an article in the Union-Tribune published on July 22, 2007.

If you like this idea, please feel free to use it (it is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License).  You do have to compete with the likes of Mark Cuban.  Good luck with that.

Recommended - Hersehey Felder as George Gershwin Alone

Christy and I got to have dinner last night at our favorite Chinese food restaurant Szechwan Mandarin (San Diego), and see The Old Globe's production of Hershey Felder as George Gershwin Alone.  It was great!  Mr. Felder is extremely talented and passionate about his work.  It runs through Oct. 22, 2006.

I noticed on Archive.org a few George Gershwin works available for sampling.  Also this 'official site' has a great deal of content, and Wikipedia is a good source also.

[SDH - Archive.org search seems a little unresponsive at the time of this post.]

ZHIVAGO - La Jolla Playhouse - HIGHLY RECCOMENDED!

The 2006 Season at the La Jolla Playhouse is in full swing with the musical ZHIVAGO playing May 10 through June 25, 2006.

Christy and I saw the musical last night, and it was an amazingly good adaptation of the book more than the movie.  We both enjoyed it a great deal.  The music, singing, acting, movements, and stage presentation were top notch. 

If you get a chance, I highly recommend seeing ZHIVAGO.

BTW ... I noticed a lot of The Company of ZHIVAGO have personal websites:

• Mattbogart.com
• SandyCampbell
• RyanDrummond.com
• JasonHeil.com
• GrahamRowat.com
• RenaStrober.com
• BibiValderrama.com
• cdbaby.com/cd/mvds