I would be remiss not to write about the news today about Virginia Tech.

After months of investigation into the shootings at Virginia Tech, Gov. Tom Kaine of Virginia released a much anticipated report this morning by a panel of experts he convened.

The bottom line: The killer, Seung Hui Cho, had been mentally ill since childhood. Over the years, his family and others had gotten him help — including counseling and medication. But when Cho arrived at Virginia Tech, the systems failed. Read more…

Bassam and I talked about this tonight.  My take on it was basically, why did they have to commission a study and spend all that money just to conclude what everyone knew the day it happened?  Of course the university should have responded sooner.  Of course the “system” should have recognized the extent of Cho’s mental illness and gotten him the help he so desperately needed.  And of course, he should not have been able to obtain a gun.  I wish they would have spent the money figuring out a plan to send text messages instantly to every student and faculty member, warning them of any potential danger.  That shouldn’t be too hard to figure out in the 21st Century!

Never Forget

Virginia Tech Days 1-3

Virginia Tech Days 4-7

Virginia Tech Week 2

We Are One

One need only read my friend Sabine’s first hand accounts of that fateful morning, and look at the timestamps on the emails, to realize that the university was quite late in responding to the shootings.  Had systemwide emails gone out, and if even 1 out of 20 students had received the emails telling them to stay inside where they were and lock the doors, word would have spread, and lives may have been saved.

Unfortunately, today’s news also brought out the right wing nutjobs who continue to insist that, had the other students been allowed to carry concealed weapons, that the death toll never would have been so high.  This kind of moronic logic absolutely boggles my mind.

So again, we pay tribute to those who lost their lives, and those they left behind.  Rest in Peace.

My new computer came last week.  I’m not sure if I like it.  It’s smaller than I thought it would be and it doesn’t have the high gloss screen I thought I had ordered.  One of the keys was half off when I opened it, so I think I might just use that as an excuse to return it and not pay a restocking fee.  (What is up with that by the way??  How utterly ridiculous and annoying.  Like putting a computer back on a shelf for them to resell is worth 15% of my purchase price!  I hope someone starts a class action suit!)  Anyway, I do like the inegrated webcam, and Dell is a good brand, but I’m thinking of getting this HP from Best Buy the next time it goes on sale, even though HP isn’t my favorite brand.  Any suggestions?

Anyway, to make room for the new laptop in my home office, I had to move the desktop PC to my other desk.  Now I have two laptops (my work laptop and my play laptop) on one desk and my Desktop PC on my other desktop.  Get it?  LOL.  Here’s how my new office space looks:

I haven’t written here in nearly a week.  I needed a bit of a break, and I’ve been really busy with work.  The holiday weekend started at 5:00 today for me though, when I went to pick up Bassam from the airport.  He’s been in Amman, Jordan, London & New York the past few weeks, and tomorrow I’m taking the day off, and we’re driving to Santa Barbara and spending the weekend with Eva.  I’m looking forward to our mini GLY reunion.

Today was a picture perfect day in L.A.  I snapped this photo at the end of my street while walking home from lunch this afternoon.

On the way home from the airport tonight, we saw this obnoxious Hollywood wombat, driving with her foot out the window, while smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone!  Are you fu**ing kidding me!!??  She barely noticed my flash going off as I took the picture and gave her the most disgusted look I could muster.  This girl symbolizes nearly everything I hate in life!  And yes, I know I’m being sexist, but let’s face it, would you ever see a man doing this?  I thought not.

Tonight, we ate at the Newsroom Cafe.  There was a cute little dog tied up outside the whole time we were there.  Dinner was great, and the conversation even better.  Later, back at home, I played with Bassam’s iPhone a lot.

Paging Al Bundy, Al Bundy to Electronics

Ever hear of the sun Carey? Ugh

I must admit, the interface is really cool.  I love what it can do with pictures.  I’ll be damned if I ever go back to AT&T though.  So I’m just going to have to wait.  The camera on the iPhone isn’t really that great.  I actually think my phone takes better photos.  Here are a few I took with my phone the other day at Amos’ new apartment in Century City:

And you may remember these camera phone pictures from a few weeks ago:

So who needs an iPhone anyway!?  Unless it really does all this:

I will be taking a few days off.  See you guys all next week.

Carey Anthony<careygly@gmail.com>

Carey, my friend!  I sent this same message to yourblog.  I don’t know if I did it right.  So I am sending it again to youthis way…I would like you to post this message on your blog…With thatsame loving hug, marcelo

Sweet Carey!

It’s just past 8 o’clock on Wednesday evening. Emily is in theorange hammock we hung in the front porch, typing away at her laptop.And now you just called! Carey, my good friend, I will never be able toexpress my gratitude to you for the most loving gift a person like mecould receive, at least not to the extent that I would like. Yourtribute, you, managed to capture the most sublime feelings of beinghuman that I have experienced in my blessed 40 years of life. I think Iknow what you would reply to the comment I am about to make :) Butplease take the time to stop and reflect on the many layers I am tryingto express when I say that I am humbled by this tribute. I live well. Isay that in the sense that I am so very content with the life I havelived, for what I have tried to become as a human speck living at theend of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries. But I am far fromthe person I would like to be. There is so much I would like to improveabout myself, so much I would like to do to make my little contributionto a future that is more gentle to more people. But I also carry asense of how insignificant my life is in relation to history and thesheer magnitude of humanity. And know that I sense my insignificancewithout a drop of sadness. It is just a feeling of “perspectivizing.”It is within this perspective that this gift has taken an overwhelmingmeaning of a life well-lived. The effort and, above all, thethoughtfulness in the making of this gift has rubbed the core of myself-awareness and unleashed a sudden torrent of delicious emotions.Friendship, oh what a lovely feeling it is! And then there was theavalanche of heat-warming birthday messages that your gift evoked! Ihave felt so much love that I feel like I could burst into a flame ofraw happiness! It was a gift of love that spawned yet more love. Godlove you, my friend! You have brought me closer to my dearest friendsthrough your pictures and now witty blogging. You have been able to usetechnology to remind me of some of my favorite moments in life. Youhave captured the beauty I felt in my wedding, in images that I returnto often and with the utmost delight. You have included my parents andsister in parts of my life they would have never known, were it not foryour now much appreciated click-addiction. We have been together inmany parts of this world, and you have made my memories of our worldlyfriendship so sweet through your photographic attitude. May life treatyou with the kindness you deserve…May I live long enough to returnhalf of the kindness you have demonstrated to me…Forever grateful,forever in awe that I have been worth the trouble, forever yours,

Marcelo

This afternoon at about 4:45 I was sitting at my desk (I work from home) and I smelled smoke.  I went outside and saw helicopters dropping water just west of my house.  So I got the dogs and walked down Santa Monica Blvd.  The building that was on fire was Micky’s, the most popular gay bar in West Hollywood, giving new meaning to the term “flaming queens”.  As you can imagine, cell phones were ringing all over town, with gossipy queens spreading the news of the demise of their favorite watering hole. No word yet on how the fire started, but the news said the building was a total loss, due to water and structural damage.  Buster & Roxy (who I’m dog-sitting for) have never seen so much excitement.  They normally live in a gated retirement community.  Now they’re walking down the middle of Santa Monica Blvd, and mingling with drag queens and Dobermans.  LOL

Santa Monica Blvd. was closed to all traffic.

Apparently there wasn’t enough smoke in the air for these two Hollywood bitches.

The official flags of the city of West Hollywood

Buster & Roxy in the middle of Santa Monica Blvd.

I was the only photographer who got close enough to take this picture.

No, Buster did not lose his eye in the fire.  He had an infection as a pup.

Even the firemen were taken pictures.

A nice tribute to the firefighters in NYC who lost their lives on 9/11

No free drinks today!

The dogs were getting bored apparently.

This kid was 11, and he said the lens cost $15,000.  Surely he was joking??

Oh well, Mickey’s burned down, it’s time to pick a new favorite gay bar!  Aren’t queens resourceful?  I took this picture not even realizing that was my friend Enrique in the middle.  He actually bartends at Mickey’s (or used to).

Just another day in West Hollywood.

The detritus.

That’s foam falling off the back of the building.

Oh, and this is the crew from Mickey’s in happier (queerer?) days.  Ironic???  You be the judge:

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a few days.  I have had my hands full, as you can see:

Also, I was in Hawaii all weekend.  I finally decided to bury the hatchet with my arch enemy George W. Bush.  We had a relaxing weekend together, as this video will attest.  Aloha!  

I’m having a nice quiet weekend for once.  I have a couple of friends visiting, but they’re not staying with me, which makes a big difference.  And even if they wanted to, I have a full house right now.  I started dog-sitting for Garbo & Ruby on Thursday.  And today, I’m dog-sitting for my cousin’s two dogs, Buster & Roxy.  So yes, I have 4 dogs here, all under about 5 lbs.  And to think, I’m the guy who likes big dogs.  Imagine the site of me walking down Santa Monica Blvd. with these 4.  I might as well be Liberace.  LOL

Poor one eyed, snaggletoothed Buster, really stands out in a crowd doesn’t he? 

I’ll post some pictures of all 4 of them later if they ever sit still.  It’s been so bloody hot, we haven’t been able to go outside for very long stretches. 

Intelligence and war are games, perhaps the only meaningful games left. If any player becomes too proficient, the game is threatened with termination.  William S. Burroughs

Saw a fantastic movie last night, and it’s one I never would have gone to if Mark hadn’t wanted to go.  It was called “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” and it was a hilarious documentary about 2 guys obsessed with scoring the world record for Donkey Kong.  “Billy”, the real guy who set the Donkey Kong world record in 1982 and Steve, a self professed loser nerd out to break the record.  The war between the two is brutal to say the least and the story ends up being an allegory, for the decline of western civilization, including how “anti-ethical” thinking will still cause men to go to war.  It was clever and very funny.  Indeed, it was a metaphor for life itself.

Here a couple of photos Lisa sent of the boys at the museum last week when I wasn’t feeling well.

And last but certainly not least,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KURT!

Song of the day

Last night we went to a DVD signing for Margaret Cho’s latest movie.  It’s called Bam Bam & Celeste.  I just bought it yesterday, so haven’t seen it yet, but it looks interesting.  Margaret was very nice and funny, and you might recognize the actress next to her, Jane Lynch,  from The 40 Year Old Virgin, A Mighty Wind, or several TV shows including The Practice. 

If you’re not familiar with Margaret Cho’s stand up, here’s a taste:

And speaking of George Bush, Monday had to have been one of the best days ever in this administration.

Karl Rove, the evil Svengali, exits with his “usual M.O.: delusional, fanatical and deceptive”.  The Guardian said it best:

In the end, though, Mr Rove has failed. He has failed because he was only interested in winning 51% of the votes. Having won them, he wanted Mr Bush to govern America (and even the world) with pure self-interest. For a while that is what Mr Bush did. Everything about the federal government was politicized, boosted by the post-9/11 mood. But the mounting evidence of failure in Iraq, a succession of partisan scandals and the administration’s indifference to Hurricane Katrina wrecked Mr Bush’s standing among non-aligned voters and alarmed the dwindling minority of liberal Republican voters. The electorate revolted. Mr Rove became the Democrats’ hate figure. After the 2006 elections, the whole Rove strategy of engineering a paradigm shift towards hegemonic conservative government appears in ruins.  Read more…

So good riddance to 1/3 of the most evil American Politburo that ever existed.

Here are a couple of photos of dinner with Laura and Sarah:

Song of the day

Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me…

Why have I reproduced these Beatle’s lyrics?  Because this song happened to be the #1 song the day I was born.  While hardly scientific, everyone I know who’s gone to this website to figure out “their” #1 birth song has found it telling in some way (Except for Lloyd, whose song was “I’m Too Sexy”.  LOL j/k).   I’m going to be 42 in a few weeks, and the older I get the more I realize how much help I need, and that I can’t do it all.  I’m sure this isn’t a big revelation to anyone who’s not in their teens or twenties, but as cliche as it is, it’s true.

I got a call today from Billy.  He had spent quite some time composing a response to my “Godless Sodomites” post from a few days ago.  Unfortunately, as several of my friends outside of Xanga have reported, they have left comments only to find them lost in the Xangaverse.  Just a reminder, if you don’t have a Xanga account (which is free and doesn’t require anything besides an email address, no blogging necessary), the way to post comments is:

• Click on ”Give eProps or Post a Comment” at the end of the entry
• Choose “Anonymous”
• Fill in your name, real or fake, no last names necessary if you prefer
• Fill in your email.  No one will see it but me, and if you don’t want me knowing it, make up a fake one
• If you have a website you can fill that in, it’s optional
• Leave your comment (It’s a good idea to “copy” it, just in case something goes wrong, you can always paste it into an email or something.  My email address is careygly@gmail.com
• Type in the “Code You See Below” If you get it wrong, it will give you another chance.  This is to prevent SPAM comments
• Click “Submit”.  Remember to copy your comments before your submit, in case it doesn’t work for some reason.

The gay Pope in his Prada slippers (boyfriend not pictured)

Anyway, Bill called to relay his comments to me directly.  As always, his points were well taken.  It is easy to pick on anyone with extreme views, be they evangelical Christians or radical right wing activists.  As he is a devout Catholic, he urged me to investigate my claims about the Catholic church and the Pope’s recent proclamation.  Here’s what Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George wrote recently in the Catholic New World News:

The Catholic Church understands herself as enjoying, only through Jesus’ own will and love, all the gifts that he left for his people. Other Churches and faith communities enjoy most or some of these gifts, depending on their history and their own self-understanding. We should try to understand people as they understand themselves. Many sincere followers of Jesus Christ reject the Catholic Church’s understanding of who the Church is. Some think Catholics are not even Christian; others say the Pope is the anti-Christ. They don’t want to be Catholic, and that should be respected. But the Catholic understanding of Church should also be respected. It has a two thousand year history. It seems somewhat strange that only the Catholic Church’s self-understanding should be a matter of public indignation.

Finally, the recent statement of the Holy See says nothing about any individual’s eternal salvation. The linkage of the Church’s self-understanding about her visible gifts to conclusions about the invisible gift of an individual’s salvation is a different question. Nor does the Church’s teaching about her objective gifts draw any conclusions about an individual’s subjective holiness. One can be baptized and still sin; one can be ordained and still betray the Lord. Nevertheless, both baptism and ordination remain sacramental means of holiness.  Read more…

My cousin wrote me today about a family in her neighborhood.  They have 3 beautiful children, who I took picture of at Dave’s memorial service a couple of weeks ago.  The father was recently laid off of his job due to the slowing local housing economy.  A few weeks later he was diagnosed with bladder cancer.  His kidney’s are infected and he will need them both to withstand the chemotherapy. 

We all need help.  Whether you believe in prayer, Karma, the power of positive thought, the “Golden Rule” or even “The Secret“, there is much sadness in this world, but love is still the strongest force we know, and for my cousin right now, ”Love Thy Neighbor” takes on an especially poignant meaning.  I like how Lewis sums up religion, as the “pole that supports the soul”.

Finally a shout out to Sabine, who, after a terribly trying year academically and emotionally, is submitting her Master’s Thesis tomorrow.  She’s been burning the midnight oil for weeks now, and starting tomorrow she’ll be able to get some rest and concentrate on her upcoming nuptials.  Let me be the first to congratulate her, and let her know how very proud our entire group of friends is of her.  Congratulations Bine, on a job well done!  GLY!  This will be you in a week:

And this will be you, once you finally (it’s about time), get a job in the real world and stop being a perpetual student.  I still don’t know the name of your degree, I just know you’ll be standing around in rivers a lot!  Have fun!!

So in honor of Bine, here’s the Song of the Day, appropriately titled “Rivers Run Red” by the even more appropriately titled band “Midnight Oil”.  Congrats!

Finally, if you haven’t already seen this, it is amazing and well worth the next 8 minutes of your time: