An upgrade to a new version of Movable Type motivated me to make a Compassionate Curmudgeon 2.0. A new design for a new era.

The archives of the old blog are still available here.

So visit the redesigned Compassionate Curmudgeon 2.0.

When James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim first discussed a collaboration on a musical, they wanted to do some sort of theme and variation. The show that resulted, Sunday in the Park with George, uses that concept both textually and musically.

But I doubt that most viewers get many of the connections, so I thought it would be fun to put together a video that highlights some, but by no means all, of the variations on a theme. In particular, I left out most of the love music, since I finished a separate video of that yesterday. (See previous blog post.)

Also, it's worth pointing out that I didn't find all these connections by myself. I relied on Mark Eden Horowitz's excellent Sondheim on Music and Stephen Banfield's somewhat more specialized Sondheim's Broadway Musicals for ideas, although I did come up with a few of my own.

Note that I saved the best for last. As Sondheim describes it in the Horowitz book, even Mandy Patinkin, who had been singing the two songs for a year and a half, didn't realize that X and Y were the same melody. I'll leave the discovery of those two songs as a, one hopes pleasant, exercise for the viewer.

One more word about Horowitz's Sondheim on Music; it's a fascinating and quite accessible interview with Sondheim. Although it's filled with musical examples, one doesn't need to be a music expert to enjoy it. For example, Sondheim's description (too long to quote here) about Seurat's work habits and the true nature of the Grande Jatte painting should be must reading.

In Craig Zadan's book Sondheim & Co., Stephen Sondheim is quoted on the subject of the music in Sunday in the Park with George:

The way the score was constructed was based on the relationship of the two central characters. Theirs is a continuous and continuing love song that isn't completed until the end of the show. In the song "Sunday in the Park with George", Dot, in one section, begins a lyrical theme, which is her affection and her love for George. This is picked up later in "Color and Light", and it develops and starts to reach a climax, and just at that point, they break off and they speak.



Then in "We Do Not Belong Together" it's picked up and further developed as if it's almost where they left off, and ends with an unrhymed line where she sings, "I have to move on." And when their love is finally consummated, which is the end of the second act, it all comes together and becomes a completed song in "Move On". "Move On" is a combination of all the themes involving their relationship, including every harmony and every accompaniment; it's where everything culminates. Only it's over a period of four major scenes covering a hundred years. It's one way of threading the theme through time.

I thought it would be fun to edit those parts together. I ran into some problems because of the Youtube limit of ten minutes, so some material that I would have liked to include is cut, but here is the Love Music of George and Dot.

Last Wednesday I went to see the wonderful revival of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George. Here are some random thoughts that I previously sent to the Sondheim list.

This production of Sunday is every bit as good as the original, not better, just different, using state of the art technology to wonderful effect. The two leads are truly wonderful, and the rest of the cast hold their own.

At intermission I heard some people singing/humming "Sunday". I also overheard this bit of conversation:

"This music is unbelievably difficult. There's not a single tune, not one half of a tune, that you can hold onto."

Is it just me or does Ed Dixon in the second act (playing the Texas curator) bear a distinct resemblance to Sondheim? And doesn't Daniel Evans in the second act (sans beard and toupee) look a lot like Rob Corddry (at least from the middle Mezzanine)?

I was dismayed to find a group of several dozen teenagers in the audience, presumably this was some sort of high school outing. But they turned out to be quite attentive to the play, and I actually enjoyed hearing their gasps at the technical wizardry. (But I didn't appreciate the supposedly mature woman to my left rear who was loudly whispering through "Beautiful". )

What a thrill it was to hear Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell give a full-throated rendition of "Move On".

One minor complaint: Daniel Evans burying his head in his hands and sobbing on the line "Sorry Marie" in "Lesson #8". It seemed too over-the-top.

Did I hear him correctly? In the second act did George say that the Chromolume was commissioned in 1983 and not completed until *three* years later? I hope I misheard the line, because it makes nonsense of the timeline. If Marie is 98 in 1986, then she wouldn't have been born until 1888, when we all know that she was born in 1886 just before Dot and Louie sailed for America. It also raises questions about George's age; if it takes him three years to invent a new Chromolume and this is his seventh, how long has be been making them?

This was the day that I saw Chris Noth.

My pedometer logged a total of 93 minutes of aerobic walking while in the city...

Later I learned that Stephen Sondheim and Bernadette Peters attended the evening performance that Wednesday. Huh.

I'm a big fan of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, so I've been impatiently anticipating its sequel.

It looks like the wait is almost over! It has just premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival, and it's being released on April 25.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

I go through tons of AA and AAA batteries each year, what with all my remote controls, wireless mice, self-setting clocks, and miscellaneous other gizmos.

While browsing at Amazon.com, I discovered they have a great battery promotion. You can get two 16-count packages of Duracell AA or AAA batteries for $21.40; that's like 67 cents each.

But that's not all. Order two sets to bring your Duracell product purchase to over 39 bucks and there is a special offer to instantly save another $10; just enter the code DURA0308 at checkout.

That reduces the total price to $32.80, bringing the individual battery cost down to about 51 cents.

Offer is good until March 31, 2008.

Here ends the battery commercial. BTW, stored properly in a cool, dry environment, batteries have a shelf life of up to six years.

I would just like to go on the record and say that what consenting adults do to, with, and/or for each other, whether or not money changes hands, is their own business.

I would also like to go on record and say that I'm really disappointed in Eliot Spitzer, not because he's slept with women who were not his wife for money, but because he's a fricking hypocrite!

NB: I use the term "fricking" because this is a family-friendly site.

And for the record, nothing that Eliot Spitzer has done is even remotely comparable to the crimes of President Junior and Darth Cheney. Impeach George Bush Junior. Impeach Prick Cheney. Impeach them now! And convict them and remove them from office!

And yes, The Wire series finale absolutely lived up to expectations.

It tied up most of the loose ends, gave an indication of what was happening with each character, and did it without sacrificing its credibility.

I was very happy to see that Bubbles was given a hopeful fate. But I have to say, I didn't see where Michael was headed; I got that one completely wrong.

I just listened to the most recent This Week in Tech episode (number 135), and oddly enough, I agreed with practically everything that Jerry Pournelle had to say. Must be a first.

Among other things he had some sensible things to say about the new Apple iPhone SDK, the Amazon Kindle, and human nature.

"The free market will eventually drive itself to selling children in the marketplace. Slavery. [...] I mean without regulation, the market will do anything. [...] If you offer a billion dollars, there is nothing that somebody won't do."

Yep. Take that, Michael Shermer! LOL

During a day trip to New York City, I found myself at the Apple store around noon. At the corner of 58th and Fifth there was a small crowd that was surrounded by yet another crowd that was gawking and taking pictures. I joined the picture takers and finally realized that hidden behind the umbrellas was Chris Noth.

I snapped a few pictures, but I couldn't really get close enough, so you'll have to take my word that that is Chris Noth.

Several people asked me (why me?) what the fuss was about, but when I explained that it was Chris Noth of Law and Order:CI, they didn't seem to understand who he was. I guess that's why they asked.

There are only two episodes left of The Wire, and if this season is like the others, the penultimate episode is where all the fireworks will occur, while the final episode will clean up the pieces.

No doubt about it, this is the best show on television.

Meanwhile, I've about given up on HBO's In Treatment, which has got to be the most annoying show ever. What were they thinking?

In the current episode of Scientific American's Science Talk podcast, Steve Mirsky gives Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, and Chris Matthews a free lesson in critical thinking.

Oh, and it also has some fascinating stuff about spiders (a typical house may have between five and ten different species of spiders), as well as presenting a theory that war and altruism may have evolved in conjunction with each other (hint: you need to have altruistic feelings for your buddies in order to go out and die for them on the battlefield).

If you are just tuning in for the critical thinking lesson, that comes near the end of the show:

Arachnophilia! And War...What Was It Good For (In Human Evolution)

George Hrab, who is guilty of creating the Geologic Podcast, is also responsible for this:

It is 66 degrees F in Philadelphia and I have my windows open.