Author: Stacy Horn

Someone put all these bouquets around the WWI statue in Abingdon Square. This is a tiny park near where I live, although I just read that in the early 20th century 4,000 people would regularly come to this park to hear concerts. I don’t know how they managed that. Seriously, it’s the tiniest patch of green.

From the Parks & Rec. website about the statue: “The monument was a gift of the Jefferson Democratic Club, whose headquarters once stood opposite this statue on the site now occupied by the residential high rise at 299 West 12th Street.” Philip Martiny is the sculptor and it was dedicated in 1921.

I looked closer and saw that all the flowers were artificial. This made me a little sad, but maybe the person who did it doesn’t like the idea of cutting live flowers. Or, maybe artificial flowers are less expensive and this allowed them to do it in the first place. Perhaps they laid flowers like this at every war memorial in the City.

This park is also where the Adrienne Shelley Memorial Garden is located. She lived and worked in a building along the park. I just looked her up the other day. I wanted to know how her daughter was doing (very well as far as I could tell).

See this movie. I implore you. I don’t know why it didn’t win tons of awards or why the writer/director Lorene Scafaria isn’t as well known as some of her contemporaries. I saw it a couple of years ago and loved it. Last night it moved up to favorite movies status, to be watched and re-watched as needed. I don’t even want to describe what an “as needed” occasion might be, because that could possibly give something away. I’m also going to keep my favorite lines to myself, to avoid any chance of spoilage. Like a great book that gets better with subsequent readings, now that I had the overall picture I saw the movie differently this time. I could sink into and truly appreciate every line, expression, piece of action. By the final third of the movie … I want to say I was breathless, but it was like I had more air, like I could breath even stronger and bigger than before.

It’s about the end of the world, and that’s really all you need to know. But see this movie. It’s not just heart-warming, it’s heart-saving.

Here’s a great line from Roger Ebert’s review at the time, and I can’t put it in context for you because again, it would give something away. “That’s when I realized what I would do if I knew the world was ending. I would find a homeless mother dog with puppies and be calmed by her optimism.” That’s sad to read now. I wonder if he had a dog at the end.

I leave you with Bleecker’s belly, who is sleeping at the moment and therefore the house is calm. Nothing is being broken, no cats are being harassed. I don’t have to guard my coffee cup from being sent flying.

I watched the video of Elliot Rodger. I couldn’t help feeling compassion for the kid, even though he hated women (especially blondes) and was a mass murderer. Never mind girlfriends, he didn’t have friends period. Where were his parents when he was growing up without friends? Perhaps they did everything they could to address this though.

Some guy who was interviewed in the Times talked about how in high school they once taped Elliot’s head to a desk while he slept, apparently unaware that he and the other tapers come across as complete dicks. (I’d forgive the guy if he expressed some remorse, he was just a kid at the time.)

Note: For the record, my compassion is not meant to excuse his behavior.

On the news the gun control guys talk about how getting rid of guns is impossible, and they try to put the blame elsewhere. They says “lets talk about other solutions,” while at the same time refusing to compromise in any way shape or form. Gabby Gifford’s moderate bill didn’t pass. Getting rid of guns, by the way, it do-able. Australia did it. Japan did it. It worked. I remember Rob Borbidge, former premiere of Queensland, Australia, talking about how voting for gun control destroyed his political career but it was worth it.

For God’s sake, Elliot Rodger bought guns legally at three stores. Which reminds me. Do Background Checks Work to Keep Disturbed People From Getting Guns? Fuck yes.

Gun owners should be licensed like car drivers, and getting that license should be as hard as it is to get a driver’s license. They should have to take tests and get background checks. It is not unreasonable to ask people to demonstrate some semblance of sanity and responsibility before giving them something so dangerous. We don’t just give anyone a car and set them loose, we should at least do the same for gun owners. Oh, and they should also have to buy insurance.

A photo shoot on a Sunday on a holiday weekend. I took this an hour ago.

Out my window last night. I didn’t realize until someone just emailed me to have a nice holiday weekend that this is Memorial Day weekend!

What are everyone’s plans?? Clearly I don’t have any. I must make some!

Do I know how to post the hard news or what? Like most writers these days, I have to be a very very careful spender. So when my sunglasses broke in several places and could not be repaired I worried about finding an affordable pair to replace them. I need prescription glasses so cheap pharmacy glasses were out of the question.

Warby Parker to the rescue. I got these for $150. A great thing about Warby Parker, for every pair of glasses sold they donate a pair to someone in need! How can they afford to do that, and what a wonderful thing. I’ll post pictures of them in action when I have them.

About the picture below. There are a number of stores in my neighborhood which sell insanely high priced handbags and display them like works of art, which many of them are actually. They’re just incredibly beautiful. I don’t like to carry bags actually, so I’m never tempted. But like a painting in a museum I know I will never possess, I still like to look!

I took this picture because this handbag store was a gallery previously! And before that a firehouse, after sitting abandoned for a long time. Except, maybe people were living in there at the time, I don’t know.

How much do you think those two bags in the window cost? Should we all make a guess and I’ll find out later and see how we did? I honestly don’t have a clue. I’m going to say … $500.