Stacy Horn

I just took this shot to show my friends my new haircut. I’m wrapped up in a blanket because I’m always wrapped up in a blanket when sitting at my desk because it’s cold!

My new haircut comes courtesy of the fabulous Bumble & Bumble Model Project, where you can get your hair cut and colored for FREE.

I was going to go even shorter but the stylist thought that might not work with my jawline (it was a nice way of saying I’ve aged out of the cut I had in mind).

It was written by my friend Ellen Tarlow, with illustrations by Tomek Bogacki. The best thing I can think of to say is: Ellen has her finger on the pulse of enchantment. She finds it in the world, in movies, and books, and she has brought that magic into her own new book. I think her publisher, Star Bright Books, did a very good job with the book trailer because you get a sense of that charm when watching it. It’s lovely.

If there is a child in your life aged 4 – 7 you can buy it from the publisher or from Amazon (and other places of course).

I’m back from swimming, and I’m still trying to get COLD. Or, at least room temperature. The device that heats the water must have been left on all night. The water in the pool was HOT. The showers were scalding as well. I swam very slowly, hoping to avoid getting over-heated, but here I am, still red as a beet.

Well! On to the Oscars! And the red carpet! And fashion! And, apparently more snow, although I hear perhaps not much. The snow is mostly gone in the city except for ice/blocks/patches and a few ugly mounds of snow like this.

I really don’t get it. For years now I haven’t seen most of the nominated films. I used to go to the movies constantly and I went to pretty much every movie released every year, but for some reason I don’t do that anymore. So for the most part, I am not familiar with the movies people are voting for.

And yet, I love the Oscars. It’s like a holiday. I make sure the house is all clean and fresh and nice. I plan and buy delicious snacks to last from the pre-shows on (in the past that meant onion dip and potato chips, now I go for healthier snacks like carrots and broccoli and olive tapenade). I get all set up on my couch with my laptop, and do my best to lure people on Echo into watching and commenting with me. I’m in a good mood today because the Oscars are on tomorrow. WHY?

A garden/courtyard down an alley and behind a building. Adding to my list of things I want when I am rich (and time is running out for that to happen): a semi-secret garden. If this were my semi-secret garden though, I would make an effort to make the alley you walk through to get to it more enchanting. I would make it like that scene in Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast, when Beauty walks down a long corridor when she first enters the castle — it’s lined with lamps, held out by disembodied hands (sounds scary but it was more magical).

Leaving aside for now the fact that girlchoirs don’t get the same attention, I just heard about a new movie called Boychoir, which has an amazing cast and is about to start filming. I loved the French movie, The Chorus, and the actor who played the director of the chorus, Gérard Jugnot. You don’t have to be a choir person to love this movie! Jugnot will make you weep.

Chorus America recently published a Best Picture Nominees For People Who Love Choral Music, and The Chorus is number 1. I picked Amadeus because of this scene, where Mozart is composing his Requiem. Just watch it. You’ve got to trust me on this. It shows Mozart composing the Confutatis maledictis section, one of the most exciting pieces of music EVER. Although it’s fiction I love how they show him build it piece by piece and then you hear the marvelous whole. Please watch it!

My choir is singing this piece in the spring and we’re working on it now. Our director recently had everyone sing along with the tenors and basses on the Confutatis maledictis. It was thrilling! Lucky tenors and basses to have this to sing. It’s just so magnificent and electric. We were told that only ten sopranos and ten second sopranos and altos will be singing the salve me part. I am the longest of long shots and don’t expect to be picked for this, but a girl can hope.

Back to boychoirs though, I wonder if I have posted about this before, but I love and now own the choir song sung in the movie The Bishop’s Wife. It’s called O Sing to God and it’s sung by the Mitchell Boychoir.

There’s one boy who always gets my attention and I tried to find out who is he, but so far no luck. I haven’t tried that hard really. The movie was made in 1947, and I’m guessing he was 15 years old, except I’m terrible at guessing children’s ages. Maybe he’s a little older. But that would make him 79+ now.

Here’s a screenshot, but you can also see him here. I cued it so when you click on the link it starts at the moment he appears.