Thank you to Beverly Crichfield from the Skagit Herald (Skagit County, WA – USA) for writing this article for the Thursday, March 10, 2011 edition. You can subscribe to the Skagit Herald and find local news at http://www.goskagit.com
The article talks about the years I did music and theater in Mount Vernon, WA and Skagit County, USA before moving to Macao, China with Cirque Du Soleil. You can click on the images to enlarge and read.
Below is front page of magazine insert.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2ihkYPpWq4
February 2011 I flew from Hong Kong to visit the USA for a week in Mount Vernon, WA and then a week in Las Vegas. Although I only lived in Mount Vernon, WA for a couple years I consider it “home” because my sister and Mom live in the area. It was also one of my favorite areas to work in doing music and theater shows.
Continue reading “2011 Vacation to Mount Vernon, WA and Las Vegas”
I keep making the same mistake by uploading iMovie videos with the automated “Upload to YouTube” option. The videos uploaded this way look absolutely horrible. I just did a vacation video with a Canon 5D Mark II and Canon lenses at 24fps with great video quality – but the upload looks worse than my old $300 Casio camera.
So convert the iMovie videos first onto your hard drive then upload through your YouTube account. I mean it’s just a boring vacation video but $4,000 of Canon gear should look better than a $300 Casio right?
I just love my Canon 5D Mark II camera that I bought a few months ago. But there are issues with the footage being jerky when using IMovie 09. I haven’t quite had the time to jump into using Final Cut yet, so until then you can use a free program called MPEG Streamclip to fix the video stuttering.
There’s a great article here that will explain exactly what do to:
http://thedigitalstory.com/2009/04/managing_canon_5d_ma.html
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjQwMDU1MzYw.html
Cirque Du Soleil artists from the ZAIA show did a live television promo up in Hunan, China in late January 2011. It featured the acts of Straps, Skate and Hand to Hand.
I don’t know how to embed that link because it’s from a Chinese website – but it’s there if you’d like to watch it. I’ve been told that the spot was seen by several million viewers in mainland China.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGZZDonssnc
Kong Hei Fat Choi from Macau, China! 2011 is the year of the rabbit so that should be fun for all of us. Above is video and photos I shot in Macau on Chinese New Year’s Eve (February 2, 2011). Pictures of Senado Square, Macau Tower fireworks and my personal adventures purchasing rockets and explosives on the Macau waterfront. Good times.
And here is a very fun video from Mr. Kong Macau News. This was my third Chinese New Year living in Macau and this one was the best ever! I gave out my lucky red pocket lai cee cards to all the security guards and even received on myself at work.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAs9t96I3pM
At 44 there seems to still be an endless stream of lessons that I need to learn. The latest is “Content Dictates Form”. I first came across that several times while reading interviews with Stephen Sondheim (part of my endless quest to glean everything I can from Sondheim’s wonderful brilliance).
Orchestrations of Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway Musicals
Continue reading “Orchestrations of Sondheim’s Broadway Musicals”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIR-olTvKjU
Stephen Sondheim discusses the importance of phrasing, accents and brings up one of his biggest “mistakes” in West Side Story.
Just spent three days in Singapore and thought I’d share some of my thoughts on attractions there and on Sentosa Island as of January 2011.
If you want to book Sentosa Island Resorts World visit:
http://www.rwsentosa.com
If you want to book some tours or harbor cruises in Singapore visit:
http://www.dosomethingdifferent.com
(I printed up my vouchers from the DoSomethingDifferent website and called locally to confirm each reservation and had no problems. Very smooth and enjoyable process)