Stacy Horn

One of my favorite shows, So You Think You Can Dance, has been scaled down from two shows a week to one. They’re canceling the results show that normally airs on Thursdays.

To be brutally honest, I fast forwarded through most of the results shows. I loved the group dance in the beginning and that’s pretty much it. I rarely enjoyed the guest artists, except when they were other dancers. Stringing out who was in the bottom three throughout the show was not entertaining. It only got interesting again at the very end, when sometimes you’d get an explanation as to why one person was going home over another.

That said, I’m afraid that by combining the shows the number of minutes devoted to dance routines will be cut. I don’t want to lose even one second of dancing. Therefore I hope that the process of elimination is done extremely quickly, although I just realized they’re in a no-win situation here. If they do the elimination at the beginning it starts the show off on a sad note. If they do it at the end, people will be wondering all throughout the show which dancers are going home. I think they have to do it at the beginning and get it out of the way, and do it as graciously and positively as possible, which they can manage. They’re good at that.

But what about the group number at the beginning of the results shows?? I’m going through the show in my mind, thinking about what they can cut to accommodate both the elimination and the group number.

Oh God, I can’t think of anything! The show with the routines is very tight. It’s dancing and critiques, none of which I want cut. Wait, is this when they give background on the dancers? Except that’s needed too, although that is one area that could use serious improvement. Sometimes we get meaningful information, but most of the time it’s goofy things the dancers say about each other and it’s almost never witty, smart or funny.

I don’t see anything that can be cut in order to incorporate the results and a group dance. I don’t suppose Fox would consider a compromise, giving them an hour and a half?? Please!!

I browsed this wonderful thrift store in Brooklyn yesterday. Some things made me sad though, like this pile of snapshots for sale. Upstairs, I pulled out a painting of what looked like a WWI pilot. On the back it said “To Grandpa, Love John,” and a date. Grandpa must have died, and all of his things were dumped, including the lovingly executed painting I held in my hands.

I never make resolutions because I’m always already doing everything possible to be the best person I can be, and live the best life I can. Which is not to say there isn’t more I could do, but if I had it in me I’d be doing whatever it was already.

The best thing I did this year was start swimming. Of all the various forms of exercise I’ve tried in the past five years, swimming tops them all. I love that rush when you kick off from each side to start a lap, and then the wonderful, almost liberating feeling of flying through the water. There’s also the meditative sense of peace and happiness, which must be from the endorphins, but I’ve never gotten this from any other exercise. It’s the strongest when I’m doing the breast stroke.

Also, of all the things I’ve tried it gives the most complete full-body workout. You just feel like you’re working every muscle in your body, and it’s a great cardio workout. So thank you New York City for providing a pool I can afford!

I hope you all found something or someone to love in 2011, but if you didn’t, here’s to 2012. As I say to myself when I’ve had a disappointment (and I’ve had plenty in 2011) better luck next year!

I took this on Hudson Street last night in the early evening. It was so warm people could sit outside, as you can see.

The BBC made a great short film about the book I helped fact check, New York Diaries: 1609-2009, which is coming out in a matter of days!! It was interesting seeing the entries they chose to highlight. I’m going pick some of my own next week.

Bloggers are the 21st century diarists, or I should say, early 21st century. Something else is bound to replace blogs soon. Sadly, I doubt the blogs of today will be tucked into virtual attics somehow and be found a hundred years later the way diaries are.

A memorial for someone named Claude Rolls on West 22nd Street. I thought he must have been a dog walker, all the signs had pictures of dogs. But it turns out that among his many fine qualities he was good with people’s dogs. He died on December 14th, the day he bought a new van which he was very excited about. The article says he wanted to die in that van, and he did!

I was at the movies with a friend the other day, and Brian Eno came up briefly. Eno has an a cappella group that he sings with regularly. I knew this, and in fact I have an Eno quote about singing in the beginning of my book. I wondered how my friend knew about Eno’s singing group and he said he loves Brian Eno and reads everything about him.

But it got me to thinking, I should go back and read my book and try to see it through Brian Eno’s eyes. When I’m done with a book I usually go back and read each chapter and ask, “Would I be proud or humiliated if this chapter appeared in the pages of the New Yorker?” (My pinnacle of writing and writers.) I’d like this book to be compelling for non-singers, but I’d also like it to be something someone like Brian Eno couldn’t put down.

A church on 10th Avenue (I think, I can never trust my memory).

I started this post yesterday, was interrupted, and then I never got back to it. The same thing is about to happen and so I feel I need to say something, anything at all, even if it is not much!

I had an incredible Christmas, so many wonderful gifts, some of which I plan to photograph later. But now I must swim! Lucky, lucky me, that I get to have a life with enough leisure to swim!

How was everyone else’s holiday?

I took this on Christmas eve, at Petco, where Kittykind, a cat rescue organization, has cats for adoption. Even on Christmas Eve, the volunteers were hard at work taking care of the cats (and people were there checking out the cats).