Just a quick update with some Thanksgiving photos.  My turkey hat was a big hit!! Happy Thanksgiving!

A passive aggressive Thanksgiving!

Best of the rest!

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Giving Thanks for Redneck Philistines:

This week, Americans are preparing to celebrate their Thanksgiving holiday.  This  year, we have much to be thankful for; a new president, a renewed sense of hope for our tattered worldwide reputation and the fact that Sarah Palin’s supporters are as imbecilic and doltish as she is (hopefully ensuring she will never be elected to anything again). 

“I don’t know how to figure out which one is the evil twin. Let’s destroy them both!!”

Watching this video is definitely worth 8 minutes of your time.  It shows Caribou Barbie’s redneck fans gathered outside a “Going Rogue” book signing event in Columbus, Ohio.  When they’re presented with basic questions about her policy positions, hilarity ensues.  Some might argue that this phenomenon is not limited to Palin supporters; but after watching it a few times, I’m inclined to disagree (as are my Facebook friends to the right).  Granted, there are idiots on both sides of the aisle; but these right wing, bible thumping nutjobs take philistinism to a completely different stratosphere.  Nice job Ohio: 

And to think a year ago today Sarah Palin was pardoning the Alaska Thanksgiving turkey, while behind her, live turkeys were being fed into an apparatus to kill them and bleed them out.  Classy. 

On a cheerier note, last Thanksgiving, I was lucky enough to participate in a truly memorable and worthwhile project.  My friend Seth, owner of Garbo & Ruby, wrote a song about peace on earth and shot a cross cultural video (starring me) that you may remember.  Hannah steals the show at about 32 seconds, and I make my first cheesy appearance at 39 seconds.  Take a look, but be warned, the song will stick in your head!

The parts I’m in were filmed on the roof of the Hotel Careyfonia.  Here are some “Behind the Scenes” photos that might just show up on VH-1′s “Behind the Music” someday after I come out of rehab for the 5th time following my meteoric rise to the top of the Hollywood elite.

Anyway, I hope that everyone stateside has a happy Thanksgiving!  Here are a few recent photos that I posted on  Facebook but forgot to post here.  Gobble gobble!

Dinner at The Standard

The bar at The Standard

The Arclight

Thursday dinner

I don’t think he’ll get his 2 front teeth for Christmas


Kissing cousins

Tommy

Oreo II named after The Gandhi of Dogs

Andy

I saw this in a store window walking home yesterday and thought it was pretty

Sabine (a founding member of the GLY Gang), left for Germany today by way of Boston (to visit Youenn).  It  was so nice having her here these last two weeks.  I miss her already.  (She just called to tell me that she saw Lauren Bacall in the airport after I dropped her off; who was in LA over the weekend to receive an honorary Oscar.  It was Bine’s first star sighting this trip and a fitting end to two weeks in LaLa Land!)  The past couple of   days have been jam packed with fun.  On Monday, we went to see the movie “Precious“.  Though I thought most of the performances were quite good; the movie left me rather disturbed.  Sadly, I fear that the situations portrayed in the film are not all that uncommon.  It’s worth seeing, but it’s definitely not the feel good movie of the year!  Last night we went to The Jay Leno Show.  Tyra Banks was supposed to be there, but she got stuck in NYC, so Kevin Nealon was the guest.  Bine and I got separated while  being seated, but I managed to smuggle my camera in and take a couple of shots before a mean security guard confiscated it.  He told me I had to delete the pictures, but I had already removed the memory card and discreetly slipped it in my pocket.  I told him the camera was “out of film”.  He pondered that for a minute while looking at the camera and realized I was fucking with him.  LOL.  Then I told him I was just using the camera for the telephoto lens!  I’m sure he didn’t buy that story, but there was no way I was giving him my memory card!  He finally got tired of arguing with me and walked away defeated.  During the commercial break, Sabine got to sing with Jay’s band.  The problem was, she didn’t know the words to Stevie Wonder’s, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered“!  After the show, we headed to the Los Angeles Film School for a special free screening of the movie “In The Loop“.  It was fantastic!!  The best way to describe it would be “as if Jane Austen and Monty Python collaborated on an episode of “The West Wing”.  It’s probably the funniest movie I saw all year.  Afterward, we sat in on a panel with the director and some of the cast.  What a great night! 

Sabine’s 15 seconds of fame on Jay Leno last night!

LaLa Land

Jay came out to warm up the crowd before the show began

The monologue

Interviewing Kevin Nealon

Outside NBC studios in Burbank

After her failed signing performance

Bye Jay!

On the roof of the LA Film School

A star in her city

The director and cast of “In the Loop”.  From L to R, Armando Iannucci, Mimi Kennedy (Dharma’s Mom) and Peter Capaldi.

Hooray for Hollywood!

Sad to leave The Hotel Careyfornia, but she’ll be back next May!

Update:  Thanks to all of you who wrote me about the Chocolate Lab, “D”, who we found over the weekend, and became Chazz’s best friend. 
The owner replied to the Craigslist ad, and I got these texts from Claudio & Ryan last night:

Even though, Chazz was sad to see her go, I’m glad the owner got her dog back. I can’t imagine losing a dog!  It turns out she was 2 years old and hadn’t been spayed.  I wonder if she’ll have puppies now??

What a weekend!  Too bad it had to end, because today the Sarah Palin media blitz began. 
I’ll get to that waste  of brain matter in a minute, but here’s a quick recap of the weekend:

• Drove up to Santa Barbara…managed to avoid a speeding ticket despite a few close calls.
• Eva, Bine & I hung out with Rob & August all day Saturday; enjoying:
• Beach volleyball (I was the photographer).
• A beached sea lion that had been attacked by a Great White Shark (we were told).
• Swimming with dolphins….when Bine saw them she immediately ran into the water and swam to them, even getting bruised by a dorsal fin in the process.
• Another spectacular Santa Barbara sunset.
• A Filipino barbecue courtesy of grillmaster Rob, who has been a “friend in my head” for years and is now the real thing!
• I caught a cold Saturday night as the temperature in Eva’s house was about 20° cooler than I keep The Hotel Careyfornia.
• Claudio & Ryan found a Chocolate Lab on the street in Oxnard Saturday.  She and Chazz became best of friends.  We’re calling her “D” (for dog) for now, and searching for the owner, but it’s been 2 days.  Story developing…
• Claudio & Ryan drove up to Santa Barbara with aforementioned new dog and Chazz, and we had dinner on the beach to yet another breathtaking sunset
• Drove home and have been drinking lots of hot liquids.
• Tonight, Bine & I are going to go see the movie Precious.
• Tomorrow Carolina is coming for lunch and then Bine & I are going to The Jay Leno Show(we were supposed to go last week, but changed the tickets).  Tyra Banks will be the guest.

Here are my favorite photos from the past 2 days:

That’s Bine, swimming towards the dolphins…she eventually caught up with them…and loved it!

Gross, but pretty cool, huh?  They said it was from a Great White, but Joelle said that the bite looked small for a Great White and why didn’t it eat the whole thing??

A crowd gathered around the departed seal

Father & Daughter (with bird hat)

Rob congratulating Bine after she swam with the dolphins


The winning shot??  Nope!

The full size photo is even more vivid

Bine was freezing as she was still wet from swimming with dolphins

Best friends

August brought the Filipino pork from Carson and Rob grilled it up perfectly!

Bine, Eva, Rob, August, Thine & Puneeth

I woke up Sunday with a bad cold

I love the back turtle’s legs

State Street, Santa Barbara, CA

Sunny Breakfast

 
In front of the courthouse…and a Tibetan Terrier


Real trials are still held in this room…but Rob & August are innocent

The hills of Santa Barbara and the infamous Tea Fire

August, Riley & Me

Who’s a good dog?

Our “new” Chocolate Lab, “D” with Ryan & Chazz

A great end to a great weekend

The beautiful Santa Barbara seafront

Click here for the best of the rest…

Max Blumenthal: How Sarah Palin Made Herself Indispensable While Destroying the Republican Party If Palin is indeed a cancer on the GOP, why can’t the Republican establishment retire her to a quiet life of moose hunting in the political wilderness? Why won’t she listen to, or abide by, conventional political wisdom?

Geoffrey Dunn: Schmidt Calls Palin’s Memoirs “Total Fiction” Steve Schmidt now joins a host of former McCain staffers who have challenged the veracity of Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue, even before it hits the streets on Tuesday.

Mike Elk: Liberal Elitism Will Make Sarah Palin President – How Only Union Organizing Can Stop It The experiences of liberal elites are so outside of the mainstream that, very often, they just don’t understand the working class. Very few have any experience living with or knowing working-class people.

Geoffrey Dunn: Palin’s Bob & Mark Show Shame Palin’s mention of Alaska “personalities” Bob & Mark for her upcoming book tour conjures up a truly shameless moment from Palin’s past.

Shannyn Moore: Sarah Palin: Rogue Republican or Democratic Operative? If the Republican Party had half a mind, they would look at Palin’s history of party divisiveness, polarization and destruction and take heed.

Geoffrey Dunn: Going Rouge Skewers Palin One thing is certain: You will read far more about the real Sarah Palin in Going Rouge than you ever will in her own memoirs, being published by (who else?) Rupert Murdoch.

Alex Remington: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: A Half-Baked Tale That Leaves a Good Story Untold Jennifer 8. Lee’s recent book The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is a bit like her subject matter: slightly enjoyable, but mostly bland, trite, and unworthy of the meal it evokes.

Jeanne Devon (“AKMuckraker”): The Ugly Irony of Sarah Palin’s Book Title Perhaps the title is meant to encapsulate Sarah Palin’s fierce, independent spirit. But there are many here in Alaska who heard Going Rogue, and were horrified by the ugly irony of her book title.

Joe Peyronnin: Going Rogue: Gotcha! Never underestimate how much shear chutzpah, ambition and attractiveness can get a person in this day and age. Try at least $1.2 million.

Jeanne Devon (“AKMuckraker”): Alaska Governor Snubs the President and the Troops In what Alaskans hope is not becoming a longstanding tradition, the new governor just dissed the President of the United States.

Jacob Heilbrunn: Sarah Palin’s Slap Shot The truth is that Sarah Palin’s current and most immediate struggle isn’t against President Obama or the Democratic party or even liberals. It’s against the GOP itself.

Beth Armogida: My Review of Sarah Palin’s New Book Going Rogue Without Actually Having Read It If anything, Going Rogue shows how a woman from a small town in Alaska can go from burning books to writing them.

I completely reorganized my Facebook page the other night. I categorized all of my  friends by the labels you see on the left.  This makes it so much easier to use Facebook.  If I just want to see what my Xanga friends are up to, there’s a category for that…same with family, casual acquaintances, people I’m “following” (like Twitter), and so on.  I also deleted a bunch of “friends” that I never talk to.  I added them all originally with good intentions; so if I deleted you by mistake, I apologize, just add me again.  Another big accomplishment was with my photos, all 6,223 photos in 141 albums (which is only 19% of the 32,720 photos on my hard drive).  I got them all categorized correctly and presented in my Photo Albums tab on Facebook.  You have to be a Facebook member to view the albums below, but I don’t think you have to be my friend.  I also recently set up a Tumblr.  I’m warming up to microblogging more and more, and I think Tumblr just might be the next big thing.  Time will tell.

By clicking on my Photo Albums tab in Facebook you get the following: 

Trips Lugano, Switzerland & Mostly Europe Sep ’09 61 photos   World Cup 2006, Germany Jan ’07 60 photos   Australia, NYC, Argentina, Rome, Paris, London, New Zealand, May ’01 59 photos   South Africa and More Random Photos From All over the world Mar ’07 60 photos   Brazil Jan ’07 27 photos   San Francisco / Pacifica – GLY Reunion Apr ’08 60 photos   San Diego Jan ’09 27 photos   Manila, Philippines, Hong Kong and More Random Photos From All Over the World Feb ’09 59 photos   Oreo’s Travels – A Storied Life Jan ’09 59 photos   Santa Barbara Sep ’08 27 photos   New Year’s 07 Jan ’08 59 photos   Sundance 2009 Jan ’09 55 photos   Oceans & Forests Jan ’09 53 photos   Mexico Sep ’08 52 photos   Germany – World Cup 2006 Part 2 Jan ’07 60 photos   NYE 2008 GLY Pacifica Dec ’08 46 photos   Santa Barbara with Cris & Valesca Oct ’08 60 photos   San Diego Feb ’09 35 photos   Orlando Sep ’08 34 photos   Coronado Sep ’08 51 photos   NYC Oct ’08 60 photos   Italy  2009 Part 1 Jul ’09 195 photos   Europe 2009 Jul ’09 194 photos   San Diego Sep ’09 11 photos

So that’s just the “Travel Album”!  There are hundreds more on Facebook.  One of these days I need to start scanning my pre-digital photos.  I have over 30,000 of those too!  I guess I have something to look forward to when I retire!  We’re off to Santa Barbara for the weekend (to take more photos!)  Happy Friday!

So yesterday, I’m walking down Santa Monica Blvd. with Heather & Brian’s son who’s 7 years old. While I’m holding his hand I reach into my pocket for my camera and discreetly take this photo while trying to distract him with conversation. I wasn’t sure if he had even noticed this person on the bike or that the “person” had a beard; but after we passed the bike, this wide eyed little boy looked up at me and said, “Well that was embarrassing!” I responded that yes, indeed it was. He asked why someone would dress like that. I told him that it was probably for attention. He asked “Why?”, to which I replied that the person on the bike probably didn’t have a mommy and daddy who paid a lot of attention to them, and that they probably liked to shock people to get attention. I told him he was lucky to have so many people in his life that love him. He looked up at me and said, “That makes sense.” (I didn’t tell him that the person has their own facebook page and Twitter feed and goes by “WeHo Tranny on a Bike”. I’ll wait until he’s 10 for that. More power to Tranny though. She says her calling is to spread joy and acceptance.

Recently my friend Doug sent me a link to this website:

  

It’s a site where you can submit photos similar to this.  As described on their website:

WHAT IS PEOPLE OF WALMART.COM?
You know that creature you spot every time you go shopping at certain chain department stores? That’s People of Walmart.  It’s like spotting the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot except, since it’s Walmart, way more common.  Take a picture of it then tell us about your creature and your spotting.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY PICTURE IS APPROPRIATE?
If you think the person would be classified as “a Walmart shopper” then chances are good it works.  Funny looking people, crazy outfits, the creepiest of the creepy, and the ugliest of the ugly will do. HOWEVER, we do not wish to poke fun at people who, through no fault of their own, are handicapped. Absolutely NO pictures of someone mentally or physically handicapped will be added to the Website.

  

So…I submitted my photo.  The prize is a $100 Walmart gift card, which I guess would allow me to take more pictures of “creatures”.  LOL  It’s going to be hard to beat some of these past winners!  I’ll let you guys know if I win!!

In the meantime here are the rest of my weekend photos.  After our run in with the Fairy Godmonster, we headed up to Claudio & Ryan’s for a barbecue.  A good time was had by all.  Tomorrow we’re going to the Jay Leno show, so watch for us on TV!

Cuddling on Sunday morning


Living the Hollywood life

Another beautiful day at The Hotel Careyfornia!

Eva & Chazz, together again!


Claudio manning the grill


Chazz, Bine, Bassam, Eva, Ryan, Claudio, Alex, Danny & Steven

Who’s a good dog?

The whole gang together again!

Click here for the best of the rest…

Regular readers of this space know my friend Sabine, or Bine for short.  You know about her resilience, her charm and her joie de vivre.  You might also remember what a tough time she had two years ago when she attended Virginia Tech during the shootings.  You know that her inimitable style and always positive attitude have gotten her, and indeed our entire group of friends, through the best and the worst of times.  She is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise polluted world.  She approaches everything she does with passion and fervor, and is the glue that bonds our international family of friends together. 

What you may not know however, is that she is my wife!  Yes, it’s true.  I’ve told this story before, but it bears repeating.  We were “married” in a small civil ceremony in Florence, Italy on August 19, 2000.  The ceremony was officiated by the great great grandniece of the Red Baron.  Her name was Baroness Andrea Von Richthofen (no kidding!).  Mick was the maid of honor, Miggl the best man and Eva the flower girl.  Now, some background:

Well, as luck would have it, three years later we all found ourselves in Florence, Italy at San Miniato at sunset, overlooking the Ponte Vecchio.  Our friends had bought some truly rinky dink rings on that same famous bridge earlier that day, and as the sun sank into the Tuscan sky, we said our “vows“.  They even made a marriage certificate which you can see reproduced above.

 
For more wedding photos, click here.

LOL, so there you have it.  The story of my phony wedding in Italy.  Just this past summer, as you may remember, Sabine, the two timing tramp, got married to Alan.  In all honesty though, I can’t say that I’ve been entirely faithful in this marriage, LOL.  So in July I traveled back to Italy where we celebrated her “real wedding” for a week in a beautiful Tuscan villa.  Last night, Sabine arrived for a 2 week stay at The Hotel Careyfornia.  Eva and I picked her up at the airport.  Today our friends Heather & Brian arrived with their two adorable kids.  Tomorrow we’ll head up to Claudio & Ryan’s for a barbecue.  We’ll also spend some time up in Santa Barbara with Bassam.  More pictures to follow, but here are a  few from so far this weekend:

Welcome back to The Hotel Careyfornia Sabine!

We headed to one of our favorite Thai restaurants to see Thai Elvis

Click here for the best of the rest…


I was sad to learn that both of the shooters from the recent tragedies yesterday and today, went to Virginia Tech.  The last time Bine was here, it was because of another tragedy, at Virginia Tech; one she witnessed first hand (as the above accounts detail).  Virginia has some of the most lenient gun laws in the country.  Let’s hope President Obama is successful in passing stricter gun control.  Anyone who thinks the “right to bear arms” should include assault weapons is truly ignorant.

It was a hot Halloween in West Hollywood this year.  The temperature reached 93° (34° C).  This morning I walked to Pavilions to buy my balloon for my costume.  Claudio, Ryan & Chazz showed up later and I took Chazz up to the roof for sunset.  There was almost a full moon and the sky was beautiful:

Chazz on the roof with downtown LA as a backdrop

Lisa sent this picture of Andy in his costume.  Cute huh?

On Halloween night every year, West Hollywood stages perhaps the most extravagant Halloween party anywhere. The City of West Hollywood calls the Costume Carnaval the largest adult outdoor Halloween event in the world. Santa Monica Boulevard, one of the busies streets in Los Angeles, is converted into a pedestrian only zone between Doheny and La Cienega Boulevards.

So, when it got dark, it was time to hit Santa Monica Blvd. where 500,000 costumed revelers flooded the streets for the Annual Halloween Carnaval.  I took some “before” pictures this morning, to compare to what it looked like tonight:

The most popular costumes this year were Lady Gaga and “Where the Wild Things Are“.  Of course there were a lot of Michael Jacksons, and several “Balloon Boys“, though the were all older than me.  LOL

Me, as Balloon Boy’s Dad amidst a sea of balloons.  And yes, I’m holding a Tupperware barf bucket for the Balloon Boy(s) to puke in, just like he did on national TV!  I’m also wearing ABC Wife Swap credentials!

Chazz was Balloon Dog!

“Friend in my head”, Levi Johnston was even there with his manager Tank Jones!

   

 

That’s LaToya Jackson (Michael’s sister) in the orange wig

 

Pregnant Dorothy

This was my favorite costume of the night…from “Up“

Wild Things!

So there you have it another Halloween has come and gone!  Here’s the best of the rest…

A slideshow of all the photos from today.  Happy Halloween!

Paparazzi – Lady GaGa

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

For Halloween, President Obama wore chinos, a white button-down shirt & crewneck sweater. So Obama went as the whitest president in US history. -Conan O’Brien