Stacy Horn

Glee has been losing me lately. I keep watching because I love the music and the actors, but the storylines they’re given. Ugh! But this week’s episode was so sweet, and the music so spectacular. In a way, the music from West Side Story is so fail-proof you could croak it out and still recognize its beauty. (Written by the wonderful, but rhythmically sadistic Leonard Bernstein.) But of course they did better than croak it out.

The whole reason I’m bringing this up though is to talk about the kid who sang the lead in the Warbler’s rendition of Uptown Girl. He is so charismatic it was like a talent explosion. It reminded me of when we were first introduced to Darren Criss, he had that same breath-takingly dazzling effect. His name is Curt Mega. Make him a main character, please!

I loved what they did with Uptown Girl, I watched it three times, but there was something missing from the soundtrack. I can’t put my finger on it. It’s not an issue with the singing, it just felt thin, or hollow or something, I don’t know. But my ear was expecting something that just wasn’t there.

This is looking in the window of the relatively recently opened Jimmy Choo store on Bleecker. I couldn’t wear any of these (or afford them) but every shoe in that window is a work of art. I would like to go back and take shots from inside, because the pictures I got don’t capture the gorgeosity of these shoes. Those ones on the upper left for instance, you are not getting the subtlety and range of the colors, or really seeing the embellishments.

Once Upon a Time got a little better. There was a lot less of the unscary and annoying evil queen, and more Snow and Emma. I’m also enjoying the chemistry between Snow and Charming. I just wish the show was funnier. A serious missed opportunity with the trolls, for instance. They weren’t scary, as per usual, so they should have tried for funny. Come on. Monty Python? I’m still enjoying Grimm a lot more, although I hate to say it, I think Once Upon a Time has stronger actors, and I wish I liked the main character of Grimm more.

Update: Once Upon a Time is continuing to get better, while Grimm, which hasn’t been on in a while, was starting to lose me a little. Now I’m wish Grimm had more sidekicks, like the Buffy scooby gang.

Earlier Grimm vs Once Upon a Time report.

Look at Finney hugging that old iBook. The minute I bring it out he’s up on the desk, throwing his body across the keyboard. (It’s very warm.)

The first and second place women’s winners. Sometimes people would run by with news cameras following them and I could never figure out or recognize who they were soon enough. I later learned that Apollo Ohno and Ethan Zohn were running, so two of the times it was them.

Someone who loves Liz. So sweet. I would have felt like I died and went to heaven if I was running and someone held up a sign like that for me. Oh, that second sign is for her too. Nice.

These girls were across the street from me. Every girl but two has a phone in her hand. I don’t think I ever saw them cheering. But they might have. I wouldn’t have noticed once it really got going.

Because it’s me, I also noticed the pigeons. Who were watching too. One spent some time on the track/road, and he kept inching perilously close to the runners. I was afraid he’d eventually go splat, and I wanted to ask one of the cops to shoo him away, but then I was afraid the cop would be insulted at the implication that it was his job to shoo away pigeons.

My step-mother lost her youngest child, a daughter who was only 41. I don’t want to go into any specific detail or name names because not everyone loves to talk about their lives to the whole world as I apparently do and I don’t know where they stand on this.

I wasn’t close to her daughter. I was already away at college when my father remarried, and we’ve never lived near each other. But I was always charmed by her. Some people just seem more present, more alive, and she was one of those people. I remember one summer she swam until her hair turned green and she kept on swimming. I love people who get so into and enjoy what they’re doing like that. She was full of mischief and humor, so I’m sure she was a handful, but again, I enjoyed this about her. I don’t really need condolences, but her mother and her brother and sister and husband and children (and all her friends and family) do. RIP, step-sister.

A picture I took on Bleecker Street.

Like most people, marathons move me to tears. Why are they so affecting? Yes, the striving and the trying, but still. It’s running a long distance. As far as accomplishments go that has to be pretty much at the bottom, with curing cancer and other life (or planet)-saving efforts at the top. Maybe because it’s a personal achievable thing, and it’s taking place right in front of us in real-time? Unlike say, lab work or crunching numbers to come up with some useful statistics.

I went to my first marathon in Boston, in the 70’s, and for some reason I stopped going to them a couple of years ago. Why? Even though I can’t explain it, it’s still one of the most feel-good things out there, and for those of us watching, it’s effortless. We only have to show up, stand there, cheer and bask.

Maybe I will go.

This woman’s outfit caught my attention. I like it overall, but what caught my eye were the scarves she tied around her wrists. I’ve never seen that before. That’s her thing. (Someone is going to come along and say, “What are you crazy? Everyone is doing that now.” I can be quite oblivious.)