ThisNext Blog

Face it, carrying your precious belongings around with you is a fact of life. It’s 2007, and it seems like we’re carrying around more junk now than ever before. You’ve got your computer, iPod, camera, books, magazines, PDA, cell phone, pens, notebooks, and anything else you can cram into it. Plus, if you’re a woman, don’t get me started on the second bag you’ll need for all that stuff. I thank my lucky stars every day that I don’t have to deal with bras, makeup, and stuff. Where would I put all of it?

 This is the UDG Producer Bag, and in case you’re wondering, the UDG stands for “Ultimate DJ Gear” … which I didn’t know when I got this bag. I’m not really much of a DJ, unless you count changing playlists on my iPod, but the bag promised to hold everything I could throw at it, and then some. But could it really? Would I look like the Ultimate DJ, or just a dork with a big backpack? I decided to load this thing up like I was the head papparazzo in search of exclusive Lindsay Lohan photos and put it to the test.

 Okay, in all honesty I wish I had been hunting for Lohan (which sounds like a new reality show on FOX), but I was really heading down to Comic-Con International in San Diego in order to cover all of the movie events for my day job. So, I seriously had to make this thing a roving studio. I loaded it with: my laptop (15” MacBook Pro), a Zoom H4 audio recorder, a Sanya Xacti H2 high-definitiion camcorder, an Olympus WS-100 audio recorder, an HP R9727 digital camera, tons of small junk like pens and papers, and about 100 miles worth of cords and chargers for all the equipment. Oh, and some DVDs in that special sleeve, in case I had any downtime, which I did on the train. One unzip later, I was watching season two of Weeds on my computer. Not too shabby.

So, the bag earned my respect … plus the gratitude of my back. I lugged all of that junk over every square inch of the San Diego Convention Center, and I was still able to feel my legs when I was done. It has a lot of nice little touches, like tons of mesh storage for small items, pen loops, iPod holder with headphone passthrough, a phone or camera case that can snap off whenever you need it, hidden storage areas, and it’ll stand up all by itself. No more “kerflumps” as your bag slams over during a quiet moment. Plus, you can tilt the thing on it’s side and attach the shoulder strap and bingo … you’ve got a messenger bag. While I might not have been scratchin’ out the latest beatz (yeah, I’m hip yo), UDG assures me it can hold all the DJ gear you’ll need to get the dance floor bouncing. As far as I’m concerned, it’s totally geek-worthy as well.