Saw Ace the other night at Signature. It’s advertised as a story about planes and war and WWI flying aces and stuff. About 20 minutes into the show I was thinking, “Either we came to the wrong theatre or this sure is a huge frame they’ve put this story in.” It seemed to be set in the 50s, and didn’t have much to do with flying. Well, except the set, which was all metal and riveted, with two enormous metal contraptions on either side of the stage, all set about with doors and lights and flapdoodles.

Turns out it’s really a story of a boy learning about his past. And said past does have not one, but two flying aces in it. And sure, all that the setup is more or less necessary to build up empathy for the characters, but it musta coulda been done quicker. As the story went on, it got much better. The songs tended somewhat toward the insipid, but the book (with the exception of the part where Ace pulled up and flew up to heaven or something) was really very good. Oddly, the book was written by the lyricist and composer. Perhaps I’m just spoiled; not everyone can be Sondheim when it comes to words. Maybe you have to be Joss Whedon (or a close relation) to do that.

So anyway, the show was really quite good, and the performances even better. Angelina Kelly (hah! I remembered her name), the female kid, has a strong note of Alyson Hannigan about her (except for, y’know, all those strong notes — Aly doesn’t sing). I expect to see a lot more of her in the future. The set, however…

I think I’m starting to long for the days of the garage, when the shows were simpler. This set was designed by Walt Spangler, who also did Signature’s Witches of Eastwick. Which had a 20′ tall moon that randomly moved back and forth on the stage all night (because it can!!!), much to my amusement.

So this show, whaddya think? First number about flying, a diamond-shaped platform in the center of the stage rises up, with the singer on it, and dry ice fog pours out underneath. Cool! Clouds, flying. Excellent. Then the platform tilts forward about 30 degrees, with three small sections staying level to stand on. Ooh, that’s nice. Then it tips back level for the next verse. Aaaand… tips forward again for the next chorus. Jenna and I had the same thought: the moon is square tonight. It’s flopping back and forth because they spent a fortune on that thing and by god they’re gonna get their money’s worth!

But even that silliness paled in comparison to the two side-stage edifices when they started moving. Oh yes, they not only rotated to show the back side, they moved and scooted and rumbled around on the stage like two aluminum giants doing the Galley-oh-hoop-hoop dance. Oh yeah, that helped me stay in the moment.

Note to Eric Schaeffer: Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should do it. Note to self: if invited to a PowerPoint presentation by Eric, stay far far away.

Y’know, hydraulics is fine. Gimmicks is even fine, if you understand the difference between “funny once” and “funny always”. But making the whole stage come to life is always going to be part of the show, whether you intend it or not. Somehow I don’t think that’s what he wanted here. Not meaning to pick on Eric; the direction was spectacular as far as the performances went (loved how the adults focused on the letters and diaries, while young Danny watched the action taking place in the past). But that just makes the overproduction of the set even more annoying.

Also, the sound board op was on some other planet. But it was preview week, so okay. Oh, and red lights port and starboard? Sheesh. And Jenna is still annoyed that the letter being simultaneously read on both sides of the sea was on different paper. But again, maybe that’s a preview gaffe.

Well, at least they have the smaller ARK space, where they can’t get all Broadway-flash on us. And as long as they keep bringing us stuff like The Word Begins, I’ll keep subscribing.

We noticed a herd of turkeys in a yard one street over sometime last winter.  Well, we noticed a herd of something, and upon investigation it turned out as turkeys.  So apparently someone around here keeps turkeys.  Much to the amusement of our friends Mark and Eric, who had already decided that we live out in the middle of the country with cows and barb wire and such.

Well, two of ‘em wandered into our yard this morning.  It certainly amused our monorail:

IZ THNKSGIVNG NOW PLZ

We got all the plants in, and ground up as much as we could of a recently removed dead oak branch for mulch, but I think we need a bit more.  Good thing the Behnke sale is still on.

The hostas sure look nice. There's lots of Japanese grasses too, and some ground cover that claims it'll spread real good.

And the only downside is it seems to have become mosquito season all of the sudden.  Which is weird since it’s only just now stopped raining 3 out of every 5 days.

Started with a vision in SketchUp, but y’know, having just a vision’s no solution. Everything depends on execution. You gotta start with a solid foundation.

Flat yard, boring. So we’ll just build up some topography our own selfs. Thanks to the wisdom of the internet tubes, it was pretty easy to find out how to make a dry-stacked stone retaining wall. Without using those cheesy (sorry Becky!) pre-fab, uh, well, cinderblocks really, that they sell at Home Depot and such. Basically, the rules seem to be:

1. Keep it 3 feet tall or less
2. Put the first course below grade
3. Tilt it back 1″ to 2″ per foot of height
4. Stack until done

The rock and topsoil we had delivered. One pallet of rock and 6 yards of topsoil (not enough of either). I assume they forklifted the pallet onto the truck, but the rock came off one piece at a time at our end. Apparently half the industrial revolution passed these guys by.

That's the pile we got. It looks good, but is it enough?

Two courses done (well really three, but the first is underground), and a day gone by. Also, nowhere near enough stone to finish it.

Don't look like much, do it? It's sure enough to wipe out your grip strength for a day, though.

And after the second day’s work (a week later, which gives the ol’ muscles and tendons a chance to regenerate and reattach), we’ve got something approaching a wall. For those paying close attention, yes, we did use a bit of Gorilla Glue. Just a couple spots, though. That was a suggestion from the guy who brought the first load of rock. Actually he said Liquid Nails, but I didn’t have any handy, and GG might actually have a little more give if things shift a bit.

Now it's looking like a wall.

One more day’s work and it’s done. I thought it would take longer!

Ta-daa!

Now we need more topsoil, obviously. That’s coming tomorrow. And plants to put in the soil. And eventually water, and fishes. And bamboo. And more plants. But that’s a long time from now. Right now, we’re just happy to have a wall.

Apropos of this, look what just came up when I used the “look at street view” tool on Google maps! This sort of driving would make sense in Boston, but this scene is Providence.

Aaaand, WP 2.6 ain’t smart enough to put a <break> tag after the left-aligned image, so here’s some lorem ipsum to get the text far enough along so that it all looks good on the main page.

Yeah, WP is okay, but, y’know.  Issues.

WP 2.6, I hope you can upload photos, since I seem to have lost the ability to do that recently.  Let’s see if it works now.  At least the upgrade seems to have gone smoothly.

They had a mess o’ these carts up at the observatory, and charging stations everywhere. I remember being confused that the battery was full when the meter read “0″. That would have been the meter measuring the charging current, of course. I was 9, what can I say. But hey, I got to drive around some. How cool is that?

Also, no grid power, cause y’know, big mountain in the middle of nowhere. So they had a big generator, running at 60Hz cause all the telescope drives were from the US and needed 60Hz. But the wall clocks were all local, and Chile running at a slower pace than the top gear zoom zoom zoom of America, they preferred 50Hz. So pretty much they were never right. Shoulda just unplugged ‘em all so’s they could be right at least twice a day.

And then there were the sidereal clocks, which confused me even further. I should have complained more, but at that age I didn’t understand the greatness of a good Chilean whine.

I spent a month at Cerro Tololo one summer, and it was totally awesome! Mostly because I was 9, and if I fell asleep in the dome it was no problem! And yeah, I think I made it to midnight once or twice.  Actually I was probably up the mountain only a handful of times, but it was so cool I remember it more than staying down in La Serena.  What more could you want: Magellanic Clouds, giant condors eating meat out of your hand, beautiful mountains, electric carts to drive around in, night assistants to develop all the photos I was taking with my box camera (with VP-620 film! Yeah, shooting medium-format at age 9, woo-hoo!) And plenty of Creedence Clearwater Revival in the dome.  A friend had sent my dad a tape of all the CCR albums.  Y’know, a reel-to-reel tape.

And the cocoa made from hot water was the best ever, because the powdered milk down there had fat in it!  Didn’t last forever like the nonfat dry milk they have round these parts, but it tasted like actual milk.  And you haven’t lived until the sun has been blotted out by the shadow of a passing 12-foot-wide bird.  So that was all very cool.

And my dad is still cool, even if he’s gone on to studying scallops. Wait, because he’s gone on to studying scallops.  Apparently science is like joy:  You make your own.

Great show, lots of fun. Right at that edge of small enough to still be Real Music rather than Overblown Spectacle, but large enough to have some nice equipment. Stood there long enough to be basically second row, so great view. Hmm, Terry was playing One Prairie Outpost capo 3, when everything on the internets says its capo 2. Someone on the internet is wrong!

Here’s Jordan signing my shirt. Yeah, just him. Like I care about anyone other than the bass player. He’s got a pretty cool 5-string semi-acoustic upright, that I need. That plus some lessons. Thanks for the photo, Maggie!

Yeah, so Dr. Horrible. Sweet! It ain’t gonna be free much longer, so get it while the gettin’s good. If it’s too late already (and I’m pretty sure it is), you’ll have to pay for it. May as well; you get higher resolution and you support this new media thingy.

So, to review.

What was the first musical Joss Whedon saw while growing up? Company.

What did Joss say after sitting on a panel with Stephen Sondheim at Sondheim’s 75th birthday? I’ve met Stephen Sondheim. I can die now.

So is anyone surprised that it’s not a happy musical? Really surprised? Hey, he’s been doing that thing he does at the end for years, going back to when the Reavers threw that spear at Giles out in the desert. Or maybe I’m a little confused.

Anyway, I loved it. Dr. Horrible, I mean, not Buffy season 6, or Company. I mean I loved them too, but that’s not what I’m reviewing now. Right. So.

The Good

NPH does a spectacular Nathan Fillion throughout. I didn’t know anyone else could do that. Jenna hates gay actors who can’t play straight, so that made her all happy and stuff. That and the eyebrow thing NPH does. He’s got almost a John Belushi kind of thing going, only a little more toned down, and so, y’know, funnier. Plus he’s got a great voice. Johnny Booth was a headstrong fella… Sorry, that was another musical. The one where I found out NPH is in fact awesome. Now he’s all With my freeze-ray I will Stop! the world…

Except. At the climax of Act 3, after Nathan finishes his It’s all about me! superhero song, which though it doesn’t sound like anything from Urinetown, would have fit just fine in that show, and then, with a glorious color change from whichever of the Green family was shooting this (I forget which one it was), we go right into Neil’s “what are you all not looking at?” song, which is pure Sondheim.

Yeah, the music is better than the Buffy musical. Which I loved, but this is just better. Apparently his whole family is talented at the level nobody should be allowed to be. Bastards.

The Bad

Really, nothing.

The Ugly

Bad Horse. Well, not really ugly, he’s a fine horse. But Joss loves him some Western, so the Evil League of Evil is ruled by a horse, of course of course. It is said that one of Bad Horse’s singing deliverymen is Joss’ brother. I’m gonna go with the one with the red mustache.

Moist. Best superpower ever! You need anything dampened?

And, best line of the thing: My penis is the hammer. Gotta find a chance to use that. Was that in the script, or did Nathan make that up on his own? I could go either way on that.

So now all I want to know is what’s next? A sequel? A Broadway musical? Hey, Sondheim’s not gettting any younger, and Jonathan Larsen is dead. We gotta get some new stuff that’s not Abba on the stage, and the Whedons are the people to do it. Just because I can, I’m gonna predict that the next musical thingy Joss does will also include Alex Gemigniani. Anyway, it should. And NPH worked with him in Assasins, so there’s the necessary connection.

So, to sum up: We likes us our Joss!