Stacy Horn

Every day, all day long, these double decker tourist buses drive around Manhattan, with some guy on the top with a microphone explaining the sites.  It’s kinda weird.  Anything having to do with 9/11 gets a lot of attention.  They especially like the corner across from St. Vincent’s Hospital (where they waited to treat the survivors who never came).  People started putting up tiles on a fence to honor the victims and now the fence is packed with tiles. 

I have to admit I always feel a little self-conscious when they go by and I’m in my crappy gym outfit.  I almost want to explain.  “I can look better than this.  Really.”

Here is the Incredible Hulk (Edward Norton, why??) protecting the visitors.  “Don’t hurt them, poorly attired New Yorkers!  Roar!”

Not bad.  This was out my window and that helicopter was pretty far away, relatively speaking.  But what is that thing on the front??

I love helicopters.  Too bad they seem less forgiving when it comes to crashes.

Today:  More camera learn-age, writing a behind-the-scenes type thing for my publisher, gym, house-cleaning, Olympics-watching, spending way too much time online doing nothing terribly important.  Oh life.  Am I squandering you?  Maybe I should start looking at the music my choir is going to be doing this season?

There was a guy on the roof next door talking on the phone and eyeing me warily as I took pictures.  Probably making drug deals. (More likely complaining about his roommate where they couldn’t hear.)

This is a picture of artist/filmmaker Julian Schnabel’s building.  I was admiring it the other night at the party, and everyone else was saying the pink was ugly, but you couldn’t tell at night.  I agree that the pink is not as nice during the day, but I still love it.  I think it’s one of the prettiest buildings in my part of town.

The pictures this camera takes are astounding, but I don’t think you can tell after I’ve shrunk them down in size and resolution for the web.

Also, I didn’t like the exposure it was choosing for a lot of shots, although I could see why it chose what it did. But I have to learn how to control everything manually.  It’s interesting that the better the quality, the more I can tell what I don’t like.  This camera may have been over-kill if all I do is shoot for the web and shrink them down.

Here’s another shot of the Schnabel building, which gives a more accurate representation of the distance between us.  I wish I could remember what people were saying about it, something along the lines of he’s been importing it brick by brick from some place in Italy, a la William Randolph Hearst and San Simeon.

Mark asked me in email to take more pictures of the place where I live, so from now on every day I will take a picture of something or other as I walk around New York.

Today I went to the Circuit City in Union Square to get a memory card for this new camera. So here is a quick shot of Union Square. I noticed a new building going up. With the Empire State Building right there for inspiration, that’s the best they can do?? I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know what the building is to the right, but it’s pretty.  I should have taken a shot that showed more people.

Here’s some people.  As I went in to get memory, all these people were lining up.  “What are you lining up for?” “Shwayze is going to be there to sign their new album.” Never heard of them.  I just googled them.  Not for me.

I also picked up the drawings Craig McPherson did of me (many years ago), all gorgeously framed. I agonized about where to put them, I mean, I am naked after all. But me aside, they are beautiful drawings—the frames alone are works of art. I was so astounded at how exquisitely the frames came out the guy took me down to where the frames were made to show me how they hand applied and burnished the gold leaf. This is the same outfit that does the framing for the Metropolitan Museum of Art to give you an idea of who we’re talking about here. They are Gerlach Frames, Inc., 309 Nassau Avenue, 718-486-8836, in case you want to get the absolute best frames out there.

I decided these drawings must be hung where they will be seen, so in the living room they went. My first picture with my new camera shows the spot I chose. (It’s also one of Buddy’s favorite places to hang out.) This picture, obviously, doesn’t do justice to Craig’s drawings. I posted a better shot of one of them here. And for more about Craig McPherson, you can go to his website here.

It also doesn’t do justice to what the camera can do, but I’ve just begun exploring.