My houseguests finally ended their star studded weekend at the H.C. and returned to Phoenix.  (Actually, the only star we saw this weekend was Tito Jackson driving his Rolls Royce on Rodeo Drive yesterday, LOL.  Cameron Diaz was at The Getty while we were there Saturday, see below.)  Yesterday we had breakfast at the famous Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles, then traipsed about Beverly Hills before heading to the Hollywood Bowl with Amos to see Gilberto Gil. For those of you unfamiliar with Brazilian music, Gilberto Gil is anational treasure there.  He’s akin to John Lennon here, and nowtravels the world as Brazil’s Minister of Culture, reporting directly to the president.  That’s all for now.  Tonight I’m having dinner with someone even more famous than Cameron Diaz and Tito Jackson combined! 

Roscoe’s famous Chicken & Waffle House

Tori, channeling Ashleee Simpson, plastic surgery and all.

 
At first I thought the driver of thisRolls was Al Cowlings.  Come to find out, it’s Tito Jackson, Michael’sbrother.  There was a homeless guy in a wheelchair who asked him formoney at the stop light, and Tito saw that I had my camera, and gavethe man money.  It was the homeless guy who told us it was Tito.  LOL

Where’s LaToya?

Gianni, we hardly knew ya!

 
Tori, Daniel & Amos at the Hollywood Bowl

You can just barely make out the Hollywood sign in this picture.  Amos got some great ones that I’ll post tomorrow.

Best of the rest…

If you’ve never been to the HollywoodBowl, here’s a short video to show you what it’s like.  It was prettydark when I shot this, but you can barely make out the Hollywood signat the end, and Amos taking pictures of the crowd.  The first thevideos in this set are of Gilberto Gil, and the last one is of DevandraBanhart who opened for him.  At the end he says “Muito Obrigado” orthank you very much.

Here’s a quick photoblog.  We started the day with brunch on the Sunset Strip, and then headed to Book Soup.  The Getty Center was next on the agenda, and it couldn’t have been a more perfect day for that.  Deep blues skies, a nice breeze and 80°.  For dinner we headed to historic Chinatown for its 70th Anniversary party and had a great time.  Tomorrow we’re off to the beach.  Now, I’ll sleep. 

Best of the rest

The Hotel Careyfornia checked in four more guests today.  2 humans, and 2 more canines, making for a total of four dogs and three people in a 900 square foot condo.  (That’s OK, we once slept 21 here!)  My best friend Daniel and his daughter Tori arrived tonight for their annual visit.  For dinner we went to the grand opening of a new “interactive” restaurant at Hollywood & Highland called uWink.  They had a red carpet there that Tori got to walk, which was neat for her.  The celebrities were minor though, to say the least.  The owner of the place is the guy who invented Atari, Nolan Bushnell.  The restaurant lets you order from touch screen kiosks at your table and play interactive games with other tables.  It also features a 12 ft long interactive multi-touch bar that literally brings the bar top to life, letting customers use fingers, hands and drink glasses to conjure up digital flora and fauna, digitally paint the bar top, play a game of pong and ultimately order food and drinks from a digital menu. 

Tori & Dad on the Red Carpet

Interactive touch screen at our table.

Look Ma, I can use a touch screen.

The inventor of Atari

Garbo, Ruby, Abbie, Nina & Daniel

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
“There was an interesting study released today which says that people
who live here in the state of California are less convinced that there
is a God than the people of any other state in the country. On an
unrelated note, more than 800 wildfires here in California are
currently burning out of control.  They were started by a series of freak lightning storms last weekend.”  –Jimmy Kimmel

Last night I walked with the dogs to go pick up my new rental car.  Honda of Hollywood finally did the right thing and agreed to pay for everything (after I called the President/Owner (who’s apparently quite a big wig in Hollywood) and told him that if he Googled “Honda of Hollywood Customer Service”, that my blog entry would be the 54th hit…and climbing!).  After I got my car, we stopped at this new smoothie place that opened up next to Enterprise Car Rental on Santa Monica Blvd. across from the big gay gym.  It’s called The Body Factory, and apparently it’s the latest craze with celebrity Hollywood. 

Here’s the thing though; their “signature” smoothie, costs $6.00!  It supposedly contains like 32 grams of protein and 3 years servings of fruits and vegetables.    When the owner saw Garbo & Ruby he went gaga and brought them into the place.  He had a stash of expensive dog treats that he promptly fed them, and he gave me a “free membership”, which made my smoothies from here on out only $5.00.  What a deal!  LOL.  Apparently he lost two of his dogs recently, and he was still reeling from the tragedy.  While he was on the floor playing with Garbo and Ruby his cell phone rang and he answered it “Hi Halle” (Coincidence?  I think not!)

Later, I was sitting outside with the dogs savoring my $6.00 smoothie when this Italian woman walked by and started making a huge fuss over how cute the dogs were.  She had a very thick Italian accent, and was hard to understand, but the more she talked the more entertained I was.  Come to find out she used to own an Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills in the 1960′s, where she cooked for the likes of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.  She regaled me with tales of old Hollywood, all the while gesticulating wildly just like my own Italian relatives do.  When I told her that I was Italian and the my “Nonna” (grandmother) made amazing gnocchis and mostaccioli, she hugged me like I was family.  After 20 minutes, we bid her “ciao bella” and went on our way. 

During our conversation I secretly videotaped her with my cell phone.  It’s really poor quality, and I was trying to be discreet, but you’ll get the idea.  My Windows Movie Maker software is not working so I downloaded some other video editing software to try out, but it puts this damn watermark right in the middle of the movie.  Can anyone recommend some decent free movie editing software for a PC?

Here’s a photo I secretly snapped too, while she was describing how she once danced with Fred Astaire:

Just another day in La La Land!  Tonight I had dinner with Darlene at Pei Wei, and believe it or not, when I opened my fortune cookie, it was EMPTY!!!  Which, if you’re superstitious might lead you to believe I’m going to die soon!  Here’s hoping I live to blog another day.  If not, GLY!  –Carey

In bed?

It’s summer, and the busy season at the Hotel Careyfornia is in full swing.  Daniel & Tori are coming next weekend, and possibly Donna too.  Claudio & Ryan were nice enough to pay us a visit this past weekend.  Tomorrow they’re leaving for Brazil for a month in hopes that Claudio will get his visa to teach at the University of California in the fall.  They will be leaving their car here (apparently the Valet Parking rates at the Hotel Careyfornia are a bit cheaper than LAX), so if Claudio doesn’t get a visa, I guess I’ll finally have a car.    I hope he gets it though; I would hate to see him end up like poor little Elian Gonzalez!

By the way, speaking of “little” Elian, he’s 16 now and just joined the Communist Party last week.  He’s also affecting the Obama campaign!

The trademark Claudio sneer that he developed in the early 90′s as we traveled through Europe together and I constantly asked him to pose for pictures.  It has since become legend!

---

My “footprints” (that show who came to my site) had two rather odd Google searches this week (actually one was Yahoo) that returned my blog as a hit.  Someone from Singapore was searching for “sperm + toilet” and was directed to my entry from August 3, 2007 entitled:

Designer Sperm, Toilet Dining, Self Gifting & Rental Goats

and someone from Iran searched for “woman + picture” and ended up here:

Picture Perfect LA, Repulsive Women Drivers, A GLY Visitor and iPhone schmyPhone!

Considering the “woman” in the “picture” in that post was one on the most repulsive I’ve ever seen, Yahoo probably didn’t do much to foster Iranian/American relations.  LOL.

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 offas I took the picture and gave her the most disgusted look I couldmuster.  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.

No clues as to why the person in Singapore was searching for sperm + toilet!  (My guess is they were looking for this:  http://www.dearcupid.org/question/can-you-get-pregnant-from-sperm-on-toilet.html) If you’re reading this Mr. (Ms.??) Singapore, don’t be a stranger. 

When Amos and I were told we could not take photographs on “private property” at the Pacific Design Center the other night; the more I thought about it, the angrier I became.  So I did a little research, and as it turns out, I’m not the only one who’s angry or confused.  And even after reading all of this information, I’m still not clear as to whether I have a right to photograph Garbo & Ruby at the Pacific Design Center, or the lawn of Beverly Hills City Hall (another place I was kicked out of by the police for taking pictures without a permit a few years ago.  If you really want to be shocked, take a look at what the city charges for a permit!!), or the subway, or the Port of Los Angeles.  If anyone is interested in reading up on this, here are a few links:

You Can’t Photograph That!!
Taking pictures on LA’s Red Line violates the “9/11 Law”
Orwellian Los Angeles
Two FBI agents just showed up at my door… (I think I’m being investigated)
This is Broken – Anti Photo Policies
Photographer grills security guard about dumb policy
Photography and the Law:  Know Your Rights
Your Rights and Remedies When Stopped or Confronted for Photography

Yet, according to this article in USA Today, “You can take photos any place that’s open to the public, whether or not
it’s private property. A mall, for example, is open to the public. So
are most office buildings (at least the lobbies). You don’t need
permission; if you have permission to enter, you have permission to
shoot.” 

Amos isn’t even allowed to bring his zoom lens to sporting events!  So, if he wanted to get a closeup of David Beckham’s package like this:

He’s have to work for Getty Images!!  (Or Armani:)

Gratuitous Beckham shot that has nothing to do with this post.

So which is it?  Can I photograph the dogs at the PDC or not?  It seems that in just the past week I’ve broken many laws, like:

Photographing the elevated train tracks in Chicago.  Is that REALLY an iPod ad??

Photographing the Port of Los Angeles from the air.  Is that a nuclear submarine??

Fraternizing with known drug users!  (I didn’t inhale during this photo.)

If I don’t blog tomorrow, you’ll know the FBI arrested me, and whisked me off to Guantanamo.  (I hope I can share a cell with Harold & Kumar!).  Do you think Guantanamo has wi-fi?  Before I go however, I’m going to post these illegal photos that Amos took with his penis envy lens.

Even though that’s my watermark, Amos actually took these, and gets full credit.

The watermark goes on automatically when I shrink these for the blog.  The actual photos were about 9 MB each as .jpgs and even bigger in RAW format, but they look amazing.  It’s hard to tell when they’re this small.

Another illegal photograph I took at the PDC in February, of Roscoe.

I’ll end with this photo I secretly took today from my balcony (is that illegal??).  This guy was walking his dog in my front yard, and the dog has a TATTOO!!!!  If you look closely you’ll see a red heart on the dog’s hip.  I’ve heard of tattoos of dogs, but tattoos ON dogs??  I swear, only in LA.  LOL

I started dog-sitting Garbo & Ruby today for the next two weeks while their parents head back east.  Amos came over tonight to show off his new toy and to try to convince me to upgrade to digital SLR like his.  He’s really amazing.  He just took up photography six months ago, and he’s already taken these shots and many more:

I’ve been taking pictures since before he was born and I’ve never gotten shots like these!  Kids these days!

We went out for sushi, and I got to play with his camera a bit.  All I can say is WOW!    The following photos were all taken with my little SD850.  Amos will have to convert the RAW files we took with his camera and send them to me later.  I must admit, getting a camera like that is tempting.  Maybe I should sell my old EOS Elan IIE and AE1 Program?  Then again, judging from my luck with cameras this past year, maybe not!

Amos showed up in his new car, rubbing in the fact I still don’t have mine!

 
Size queen?

We went to the Pacific Design Center to take some photos with Amos’ camera, and after a few shots, the security guards told us that we would need a license to take photos on the property!  When I told them that I had taken many photos there over the years, they told us it was a new policy.  I let them know how utterly ridiculous and greedy this was, and made sure that Garbo & Ruby were partially touching the grass for this shot.  How annoying!

Three months ago, I had a car accident.  It was not my fault, and the girl who caused the accident had insurance that was supposed to pay for everything.  As of today, I still don’t have my car back!!  Listen to this message I got from Honda of Hollywood yesterday.  It’s basically the same message I’ve gotten from them the every week for two months:

Does that really look like damage that would take 3 months to fix??  I don’t have time to go into the entire sordid story now, but I did want to post this to tell people NOT to patronize any of these companies, because all three of them have been negligent in dealing with this situation.  Had they totaled my car like they should have after the accident, I would have a new car by now.  But these greedy corporate bastards who bleed every cent they can out of innocent consumers, are cheap money grubbing whores who don’t deserve your business:

AAA Insurance – My insurance company, who I will NOT be renewing with, as they have not been very helpful in fighting Safeco for rental reimbursement.

Safeco Insurance – They stopped paying for my rental a month ago, even though their insured caused the accident.

 
Honda of Hollywood – 3 months to fix that kind of damage??  Really??  Seriously??

I’m including the links above, only to increase Google traffic to my site when people search for these companies and their customer service (i.e. Honda of Hollywood Customer Service).  To this day I get hits on my site all the time when people Google companies whose horrible customer service I have blogged about, like efax and United Airlines.

It’s funny to think that back on March 26th, I wrote this and now, nearly three months later my wounds have healed but my car has not.

3/26/08 – I
still don’t have my car back and they’re telling me the repairs will
take another month and $10,000.  Luckily, the girl who hit me’s
insurance company is paying for everything.  I’m feeling much better
from the accident, but my left hand and my right wrist are still
bothering me, so I went to the doctor this afternoon.  Last year if
you’ll recall, I fired my doctor for caving in to big money conglomerate medicine.  Luckily, I rarely get sick, so besides the occasional asthma problem or psoriasis flare-up,
I’m pretty lucky.  When my insurance changed in January, I got a new
primary care physician in the Cedars-Sinai group.  The doctor I ended
up getting was this CRAZY old Jew, who is the most antagonistic person
I’ve ever met.  When he walked in the room I was pretending to text,
but had my camera phone ready and snapped this picture of him:

On a separate note, this gay marriage thing has been quite a boon for the state of California.  As I stated last week however, I hope it doesn’t hurt the Democrats in November.  Though Jon Stewart summed the whole thing up excellently yesterday:

My cousin’s graduation party in Iron Mountain, MI went off without a hitch, save for a flash thunderstorm that hardly dampened spirits, but did keep us huddled under tents for about 15 minutes until the sun shone again.  The weather before and after the storm was brilliant, and the thunder and lighting took the place of fireworks I suppose!  After the party, we headed to my aunt’s cottage on the lake in Spread Eagle, WI.  During the car ride up I was telling my brother’s girlfriend about the town of Spread Eagle and how it supposedly got its name due to the fact that, from the air, the lake looks like an eagle with its wings spread.  Throughout the conversation, we all chuckled, and my eleven year old niece kept asking what was so funny.  The explanation, “It’s just a funny name”, didn’t seem to pass muster, so I told her we were laughing at the thought of butter (margarine or spread) made from eagles.  Her response:  “I still don’t get why it’s so funny”.  Hopefully when she’s a little older, she’ll read this post and laugh and her refreshing innocence!  Later that evening, we went to see Sex & The City (I liked it) and finally retired after a long day of too much delicious Italian food.  On Father’s Day we drove back down to Chicago to meet my Dad who was flying in from Houston.  We all had a few hours together before I had to fly back to California.  All in all, it was a great trip.  Some business, some pleasure and lots of friends and family.

You thought I was kidding?

More weekend photos from my Picasa web album

My Grandma had 11 brothers and sisters (born from 1902 to 1926).  My Aunt Olympia is the middle child, and she’s now 94.  My cousin Sami is the one who just graduated and is heading to Michigan Tech, my father’s alma mater in the fall.

It was a gorgeous sunny day until, in typical Midwest fashion, the skies opened up.

With clouds like these, you can see where the flash thunderstorm came from!

Gucci & Beeker!


Who’s a good dog?

The church my Father was baptized in, where my aunts still attend.  My grandmother attended this church for 99 years!

Father’s Day at O’Hare airport with my niece, my brother and his girlfriend, me and my Dad.

I stopped by my cousin’s hotel to use the Wi-Fi and upload these pictures.  Heading to the graduation party now.  More later!  Ciao!