Seal recently put out a "Live in Paris" disk that in Canada at least, comes with a companion DVD. Here are my thoughts on the disk.

The disk packaging is... well... small. It comes in the CD format even though there is a full DVD inside, which means you will want to get another case for the DVD. Was it the price of a CD plus a DVD? No. I paid $29 CAD at an airport, so you could get it cheaper for sure, but still it was worth it even at the airport price - I have no issue with the value.

The selection of songs was really good. Old and new from all of the albums. Interestingly there is a version of 'Hey Joe' (yes - Seal does Hendrix) on the DVD disc, and there are interviews and other such things one would expect to find on the DVD.

Sound quality of the CD is good, and the DVD comes with a DTS 5.1 track that is (pardon the pun) Killer.

The Band with Seal is... well... adequate. This is my gripe on this product. The guitarist and the drummer both must have had small breakfasts or something. The keyboardist was OK, and the other fellow that alternated guiter and bass was really good. Seal was... Seal. He worked the croud, and they loved it. He sang like that guy you've heard sing all his hits - but in a live setting. Maybe better than you would expect, actually.

If you like Seal and haven't seen him before - this is a great value.

On the train back from the annual Sales Kickoff meeting I ended up sitting next to Kabir. He was already sitting and when I got there there weren't too many seats left in the "Sun" car. My guess was that he probably would have preferred someone other than me sit there, but that's just my impression.

Here is someone that is the consummate professional. Always dresses well, always looks good. Soft spoken, likeable, very knowledgeable in the Sun software products he helps customers with and really, really smart. I have seen him in action over the years at Sun and I have no issue saying that while there are lots of really smart people at Sun, I had almost been intimidated by him.

We had some pleasant chit chat as the train pulled out of Montreal covering his work (Identity Management) and mine (Sun Rays, Tarantella, JDS...) and some how ended up talking about home sound systems which led to home theatre discussions. I told him about Bay Bloor Radio's Home Theatre School, and how it was one of the best audio investments of my life (45 minutes - no cost!). If you live within 2 hours of Toronto, the trip for the 'school' is highly worthwhile if you are thinking of putting in a theatre, or something less grandious. I told him about my setup in the basement and he told me about his screens too. But then...

We started into musical tastes.

Satriani, Van Halen (with Diamond Dave), Killers (thanks again, Norm), really old Supertramp and Genesis, the Tubes, and Living Colour. Can you get too much Living Colour? No, we thought not. So we have decided to trade some impossibly hard to get stuff and broaden each other's ecclectic tastes a little - within the confines of our pre-existing tastes, of course. Not too likely that Kabir and I will get into either of the other musical genres: Country or Western.

Here's to learning new things.