Stacy Horn

I’ve been missing because I’ve been online and on the phone trying to find doctors who take my insurance, and then my printer broke, but I can’t really replace it with what I want without upgrading the operating system of my computer and won’t that be fun, and Bleecker might be sick, and I had some problems installing a new webserver on Echo and removing some old ones, and what is hell is going on with my ear?? I just want to work on my new book.

The picture below is of the choir before a performance of the off-Broadway play The Events. That’s the back of the lovely and charming music director Magnus Gilljam. There’s a different choir for every performance and it occurred to me that is must be quite the trick wrangling all new people who you’ve never worked with before, night after night. I’m with the house choir, we fill in on nights where they don’t have a choir so we’re the one group he has worked with before. I’ve sung for this play twice now. A bright spot in my stressed-out weeks.

The play has only two actors, Clifford Samuel and Neve McIntosh, both of whom were amazing. Clifford went back and forth between scaring me, making me laugh, and finally evoking compassion. He’s very charismatic. He moves around a lot on the stage, and I kept wanting him to move by me, which he did one night. Sat right next to me. I was terrified. (You’ll have to see the play to understand.)

The New York Times loved it by the way, “a solemn, searching and ultimately very moving play about a faith-shattering act of violence.”

Neve had me riveted because I’ve struggled with all these questions (again, you’ll have to see the play, but 9/11, Sandy Hook, Boko Haram, Isis, and on and fucking endlessly on). She portrays conflict exquisitely. In every section there is always at least two emotions present in her face and demeanor. And openness. This was important because in certain key moments in the play I didn’t know where she would end up or what she was going to do.

I only recently found out Neve McIntosh plays the Silurian detective Madame Vastra on “Doctor Who,” a character I love on a show that I adore. When she stood by me on Thursday night the whole time I was thinking, ‘Holy Shit! Madame Vastra is listening to me sing!’ Also, ‘God damnit, how can I get a picture of this??’

Madefire Studios is going to sell J. Dakota Powell and Mitch Gettleman’s animated graphic novel series Sire (art and animation by JDP). Here is a link to the prologue. Although the developers say it’s better on an iPad.

Some screen shots from the prologue. It’s pretty intense right from the start, and moving. I would watch it on an iPad if you can. You don’t want anything to get in the way of the emotion in the work. Congratulations Sire creators!! This is a well-deserved development.

I mentioned that I’m part of a choir that will be singing in a play called The Events. My personal debut is this afternoon!! I meant to buy new eyeliner yesterday, but the cute animals I came across along the way made me forget. Damn you cute animals! No matter, really. AND, The New York Times loved the play!!

“An agitated anguish beats against the walls of ritual in “The Events,” a solemn, searching and ultimately very moving play about a faith-shattering act of violence. This gutsy work by the Scottish dramatist David Greig, which opened on Thursday night at New York Theater Workshop, sets the restless pain of a mass-shooting survivor against the stolid, consoling presence of a community choir.” (The full review is here.)

Dog walking in the snow with One World Trade Center in the background.

I stopped into a Best Friends adoption event just now, at 22 Little West 12th Street. It’s going on until 7pm tonight, and tomorrow at I’m guessing the same time, 11am – 7pm. You can adopt a pet at the rock bottom cost of $10. Whenever a pet was adopted they’d make a big deal about it, with lots of hooping and hollering and ringing of bells. Wait, why do we call it hooping? It’s more like whooping and woo-hooing.

Here is a shot of a dog who was adopted while I was there. That woman sobbing was a Best Friends worker (or volunteer). I’m sure she must be very happy for the dog. But maybe she’s also going to miss him?

I was browsing through 19th century issues of The Churchman, an Episcopal church related publication. What got me were the incredible engravings. These aren’t even necessarily the best, but at certain points I’d think, “I should be taking pictures,” and these were the ones I was looking at when that occurred to me.

I would like to convince the Diocese to do a show of these engravings. I’d love to research the artists. A lot were unsigned, but far from all.

The last one here, of the birds, didn’t come out well. But what really got me was how mean the birds looked. The expression in their eyes, you could really feel the intent to harm! I just googled the artist of that one, Hector Giacomelli. Ah, he is well known for his engravings of birds.