Memories, or just a box of random crap?

Still unpacking at the new house. Today I ran across a box that had my old portfolio, the one that got me into grad school, and the speakers from my first new computer, the one I bought at UB Micro in 1997 with the remainder of my scholarship money for the semester. That computer cost something like $2000 at the time and today I could fit the entire contents, including all the music I was discovering back then, on a $10 Raspberry Pi.

La Boheme

I don’t know what’s going on. Tosca last week and La Boheme this week have been so dynamic. I’m getting complaints about it being both too loud and too quiet. Ands of course some people say it’s just right. That’s mostly down to the sound engineer at the Met in New York, but I’m the one getting the complaints. I’m trying to balance out the levels but it’s all over the place.

I wonder if the Behringer can handle it somehow? Can I set it so there’s an upper limit and lower limit? This seems like something the board should be able to handle better and faster than I can.

On the plus side, the scenes from backstage during the intermissions are completely fascinating. It’s competence porn for production people.

National Theatre Live: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Another NTL at the PAC. This is the production from last March with Imelda Staunton as Martha. There were a few video glitches in the first act but I switched to the other recording and everything behaved after that. Other than that it’s fine; great performances, great set, good lighting. The sound is … something.

The vocal performance ranges from quiet introspection to shrieking argument which makes it hard to get a good level for this audience. I did like this thing the production did at the end of the second act – George throws his book and hits the chimes of the doorbell, setting them ringing. When the curtain closed for the short interval, they kept the ringing going, keeping the tension from the end of the act continue through.

Checking my math



A standard HPL 575 lamp produces approximately 16.5k lumens. An FEL 1kw lamp produces, according to every source I can find, produces 27.5k lumens.

But a Source 4 36 degree fixture lights up the stage far brighter than a 30 degree Berkey Colortran fixture. I know this. I’ve seen it. In addition it’s lighter, easier to focus, uses less electricity, and produces a cleaner beam because of the improved optics and reflector. So why am I suddenly so hung up on the initial lumens of the lamps? Replacing a set of Colortrans with a set of Jrs. should be a no-brainer, so why am I hesitating now?

There was an old lady who drove in a shoe

Blueberries are down to $2 a quart for pick your own, and the bushes are dripping with fruit, so I drove out to Northeast to get another three quarts this afternoon.

Look who stopped by just as I was finishing up.

On the drive home I saw a car shaped like an old leather shoe driving the other direction down the thruway. I couldn’t see if the driver was an old lady or not.