Month: October 2008

  • Scary Times & Simpler Times

     


    I took this photo of the Irvine Spectrum out the car window going 65 mph. on the way to dinner.  (Here’s another, two moths later.)

    “There is indeed something mesmerizing about Palin, with her manic beaming and fulsome confidence in her own charm. The force of her personality managed to slightly obscure the insulting emptiness of her answers last night. It’s worth reading the transcript of the encounter, where it becomes clearer how bizarre much of what she said was. Here, for example, is how she responded to Biden’s comments about how the middle class has been short-changed during the Bush administration, and how McCain will continue Bush’s policies:

    Say it ain’t so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. You preferenced [sic] your whole comment with the Bush administration. Now doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I’m glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and god bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right? … My brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher in the year, and here’s a shout-out to all those third graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate.”  Read more…

     I listened to the debate on the radio on the way to my aunt and uncle’s house for dinner last night.  As they’re both in their 80′s, I enjoy visiting with them and hearing about the old days.  Their memories of life back then are remarkably crisp.  (I can’t even remember what I had for dinner two nights ago.)  As the sun set behind the Orange Curtain, I listened to Caribou Barbie (The Spruce Moose) hem and haw her way though the debate like a (more) retarded Barney Fife in drag, and wondered what she was wearing and how she looked.  No, she wasn’t dressed as Wonder Woman (as my straight male Republican friends like to imagine).  As it turns out, she departed from her maverick political style (brightly colored pumps, pricey Valentino jackets, and the alleged use of a tanning bed and tattooed lipliner) and wore an understated, somber black suit. But the governor still managed to weave in some personal pizzazz with a folksy half french braid (the other half was a mish mash of bangs and God knows what else).  And folksy, as it turned out, was also her debate strategy.

    I can only hope that straight men in America tire of her shrill, whiny cackle before election day, because she proved once again how scary it would be if she were even close to the White House.  Even my aunt remarked how absurd she sounded, and my aunt is no Obama fan.  My uncle said that because of Palin, he was leaning towards Obama.  These are people who voted for Franklin Roosevelt.  They’ve seen this country through good times and bad.  I never thought though, in a million years, that my uncle would ever even consider voting for Obama.  Maybe there is a God??  Maybe he will win this election? (Obama, not God…on second thought, are they different?  LOL.)  At any rate, it’s more fodder for the brilliant Tina Fey!

    If you’re like me, you’ve been getting scads of email all week about politics.  I’m glad so many people are engaged in this political drama.  And for every crazy Palin email I get, I also get some ridiculous Obama Muslim emails as well. 

    Bassam even wrote a whole expose on Sarah Palin’s glasses!  LOL

    Palin’s Glasses
    1 message


    From: Bassam Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 10:53 PM
    To: Carey Anthony

    So I discovered something interesting about Palin. Looking at some of her pictures on the web, it appears that he eyeglasses have pretty much no prescription. I think she just started wearing glasses so that she looks more professional. This is easy to see if you look at the pictures. If you look at a picture in which the edge of the face appears, examine the line of that edge inside the lens are and just outside it, there should be “break” in that line. See for example the picture of Paul McCartney in glasses.  Now any amount of prescription, no matter how slight, will cause a little break in the face edge lines.  None of the Sarah Palin pics I was able to find on the web have any breaks in the lines.  So the lenses on her glasses have no correction power. This is how eyeglasses model’s pictures (the ones you see at the optometrists) are usually taken, because it looks better on the models. They are totally cosmetic and not medical.  My guess is that she started wearing glasses at some point her political life so she can look more professional, but the glasses she is wearing are purely cosmetic.  Don’t you think this is blog worthy? :)

    Some other email offerings from the week:


    David Letterman: Top Ten “Things Overheard At Palin Debate Camp”

    10. “Let’s practice your bewildered silence.”

    9. “Can you try saying ‘yes’ instead of ‘you betcha’?”

    8. “Hey, I can see Mexico from here!”

    7. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and there won’t be any questions about Iraq, taxes or healthcare.”

    6. “We’re screwed!”

    5. “Can I just use that lipstick-pit bull thing again?”

    4. “We have to wrap it up for the day — McCain eats dinner at 4:30.”

    3. “Can we get Congress to bail us out of this debate?”

    2. “John Edwards wants to know if you’d like some private tutoring in his van.”

    1. “Any way we can just get Tina Fey to do it?”

    So….after a delicious spaghetti dinner, my aunt dragged out the photo albums from “simpler times”.  I took photos of the photos, and they came out pretty good!


    Aunty LuLu back in the day


    Aunty LuLu and Aunty Gee Gee


    L to R:  Aunty LuLu being held by my Grandma (Nonna/Nona) and Aunty Gee Gee, Nona, LuLu and Geeg, my Grandpa’s (Nonno/Nono) mother.


    Nona and Nono, Nono, Nono holding Aunty LuLu, Nono with the wooden toys he made.


    My Great Grandpa and Great Grandma on Nona’s side.


    Nono in WWI

  • Dreaming Through The Noise


    Tonight we went to the Vienna Teng concert at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood.  The show was great.  What a voice….and her piano playing is simply awe inspiring.  She was accompanied by Alex Wong, an extremely talented musician in his own right, who played some amazing insturments.  If you haven’t heard of Vienna Teng, you can check out her music here or two of my favorites below.  If you like her, please support her.  (Direct link for iTunes users)
     



    She shares her name with the Austrian home of Mozart and Beethoven. And she herself studied classical piano from the age of five. But there’s nothing old-world about the music of Vienna Teng, whose Zoë/RounderRecords debut brings to mind artists as diverse as Tori Amos, Simon & Garfunkel and Radiohead. “People used to ask what kind of music I played and I never knew how to answer that,” says Teng. “I work a lot with classically trained musicians, but most of my influences are from1970s-era folk music. So now I call it chamber folk.” She adds: “I’m always looking for the perfect pop song combined with an unexpected amount of depth; that’s my idea of great music.”


    Alex Wong (percussion, guitar, vocals), co-founder of The Animators, recently released the debut EP for The Paper Raincoat, his project with Amber Rubarth. He also plays in Deadbeat Darling.

    My friend David, in Hamburg, Germany, is also a fan of Vienna.  In fact, he actually saw her in Vienna last year!  When I told her that, she was nice enough to sign this CD for David:


    “For David – Carey & I say hello from L.A.”

    David and his entire family will be coming back to the Hotel Careyfornia next spring…so he’ll get his signed CD then!

    By the way, did you notice my new watermark?  Thanks to Jin, I now have my very own design.  Isn’t it awesome?  He’s such a sweetheart for doing that.  What a nice surprise.  Thank you my friend!