Dot Com Pho – The Sort of Cinematic Edition

Dot Com Pho has always been a low budget, low production value weekly mish mash of the dumb things that we do while eating Vietnamese Noodles. While we’ve always talked about doing a proper higher production value podcast or show, the actual effort to make something like that happen just doesn’t seem to register in our somewhat easy going Dot Com Lifestyles. This week at Dot Com Pho, I decided to introduce a new piece of gear that could possibly bring up the quality of the show while still maintaining the genuinely idiotic things we do and say at this weekly gathering.

The JAG35PRO is a 35mm DOF (depth of field) adapter. What this thing does is allow you to take advantage of the high quality lenses used in CANON and NIKON DSLRs. The folks at JAG35 sent me one of their units adapted to a NIKON mount so that I could try it out and give it a review for Futurelooks. As part of my ongoing testing, I decided to debut it at this week’s Dot Com Pho which features the return of Michael Kwan from the middle of absolutely nowhere, John Chow’s joy over the new shirt he got for free, and Ed Lau’s Yoga bumb fetish that we did not know about.

Products featured this week include the Poken Social Media Token, every man’s favourite Yoga Teacher App for the iPhone and of course the JAG35Pro adapter which films this week’s episode, giving it a very high production value look…

While the JAG35Pro provided some pretty stunning results similar to what you would see in a big blockbuster movie, the device is somewhat cumbersome in tight spaces. The 50mm lens was far to long and the fact that I was filming and manually focusing a flipped around picture (due to the JAG35 having no prism) was a challenge to say the least.

Some grading was done using Red Giant Software’s Magic Bullet Looks, but I have yet to find a good piece of conversion software that will allow me to convert the AVCHD files into an easy to edit format while simultaneously flipping the picture. Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 really didn’t like having to turn the picture 180 degrees, and then having to render adjustments on top of that.

Look for a review of the the JAG35Pro at Futurelooks sometimes in the next while!

PS: We’re also giving away a 128GB Patriot USB Flash Memory Drive worth $359 US over at Futurelooks. Check out the contest details here.

Another Seemingly Random Set of Updates for Stephen Fung

I was cruising by my blog the other day and realized that I haven’t updated here in over a month. I’m sorry for the lack of updates. It appears that Twitter has ruined me due to the instant gratification provided by a simple tweet out to my followers. I’ve also been quite busy with Futurelooks. As you may have noticed, there is a ton of new content over there and I hope you have a chance to head there and enjoy it. I will try to update here a little more often.

Yes, the picture above is me once again taking down something that is too large for a regular human being. They call it “Bob’s Big Burger”. I had it at some weird eatery that I’ve forgotten the name of while in Fort Saskatchewan for Fragapalooza. The menu”Dared Me to Finish It” so of course I finished it. There is apparently a bigger burger at some dinner which I will need to try next year.

Here are a few noteworthy points about what I’ve been up to in the last while…

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An Evening of Fine Dining at DB Bistro Moderne Vancouver

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to check out the new DB Bistro Moderne Restaurant. If the location looks familiar, that’s because this used to be Feenies Restaurant home of the famous Feenie Burger and Iron Chef Slayer, Rob Feenie. Rob had a falling out with his partners a little while ago and as a result, he was out and ended up slinging food at the Cactus Club. Although this may seem like a fall from the culinary heavens, it seems that he’s quite happy at Cactus Club but it’s gotta hurt to lose your signature restaurant, Lumiere.

At any rate, someone had to takeover and so they hired world famous Daniel Boulud to revamp Feenies and Lumiere. Although Lumiere is mostly unchanged, the restaurant formerly known as Feenies has been totally redesigned. There’s a patio for the Summer and they’ve really turned the place upscale to match Lumiere. The concept for food however will still be towards affordable fine dining like Rob originally envisioned for that space.

Here’s a look at one of their new menus that I had a chance to sample with John Chow and members of the SIP Social Club. You may want to bring a bib because this video is savoury…

The funny thing about this menu is that it was supposed to be offered to us upstairs at Lumiere. The club had booked Lumiere, but a last minute change sent us packing back downstairs to DB Bistro Moderne as John mentioned in the video.

The food was OK as some of the dishes were definitely not up to par according to the group and myself. We all felt that the Coq Au Vin was merely mediocre, but the Slow Baked Halibut was pretty awesome. No one had the vegetarian option that I’m aware of. Of course, that didn’t stop me from eating everything, but that’s just the way I am. I even had a chance to sample their version of a a high end “Jumbo Mixed Grill” which they called the Alsatian Choucroute Royale. It was definitely smaller than the Kam Do Mixed Grill, but everything is smaller than the Kam Do Mixed Grill.

When it came time for dessert, everyone had mixed feelings but no one raved about anything. I had the Alsatian Apple Tart, but that really didn’t do it for me. The Citrus Lime Floating Island was totally unfulfilling. I guess we really missed Rob Feenie’s famous Creme Brulee.

Overall though, if I saw this menu at Lumiere, I’d be pretty disappointed because I’d expect way better. But since we had it down at DB, I can’t be as harsh because it fit this restaurant. However, the $55 price tag per person was a little high for the quality of what we had. Keep tweaking Daniel and company.