TWP: Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies

Luke's comments about the sequel to Phantom of the Opera:

I saw Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre on July 15, 2011. I wanted to see this musical not only because of my musical theatre interests/background, but also because it is the sequel to one of my favorite musicals, Phantom of the Opera.I arrived at the theatre 5 minutes late due to forgetting which Tube stop to go to, but I only missed the first scene. 

One of the first thing I noticed is that the Adelphi Theatre is much larger than the Garrick Theatre. That's to be expected because the scale as well as the cast of Love Never Dies is much larger than Pygmalion. Also the presence of choreography and large, complex set pieces requires a bigger stage. 

I was impressed with how the cast and crew incorporated aspects of theatre in ways that I haven't seen before. They used the lighting to make a glass door look and behave like a mirror so the Phantom could have a really cool entrance. They also used transparent screens to project images and videos onstage for scene transitions. The cast also incorporated pyrotechnics into their performance. The use of pyrotechnics was very clever for some of the scenes; but for other more dramatic scenes, pyrotechnics are essential in order to achieve the desired effect.

This musical takes the audience on an emotional roller coaster ride. It tells a dark story of revenge and desperation while taking you inside the disturbing mind of a physically deformed composer.

I highly recommend this musical to anyone who wants to know what happens next in the Phantom of the Opera. This musical has made my top five list of musicals. Love Never Dies will make you laugh and cry, but it will leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

TWP: Science Museum

Luke's Tourist With a Purpose write up:

On July 11, 2011, I went to the Science museum to see the Medical Exhibit on the top floor. When I arrived at the museum, I was naturally drawn towards the biotechnology section of the exhibit. I was very impressed how many items were on display. 

Everything from early spread-plating techniques and old vaccine syringes to one of the first chromatography columns and complex electron scanning microscopes. I knew that biotech research and applications have been around since Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA in 1953 and the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928. What I didn't know was how quickly the biotech industry grew or how the design of certain machines like syringes and chromatography columns evolved and improved over time.

The main reason I wanted to visit this exhibit is because I would like to have a career in the biotech industry, specifically the upstream (fermentation) process. I have taken many classes on bioreactor fermentation as well as a few microbial bioseparation courses. I did expect to see a bioreactor on display in the exhibit somewhere, but unfortunately there wasn't one. Although I was disappointed with the absence of a bioreactor, seeing one of the earliest chromatography columns helped me realize exactly how far we have come with biotechnology.

I highly recommend this exhibit to any one who is interested in biotechnology or who's major is influenced by biotechnology.