Update: Just got back from Chicago and I hope to be back on Xanga this winter. In the meantime, friend/follow me on facebook, Twitter, Google + or tumblr. Latest photos can always be found here. I’ve applied to be on the Xanga Product Council, so if that happens maybe some of my ideas will be implemented. Thanks! –Carey
June 13, 2011 6:37 PM I’m sorry I’ve been so neglectful of my humble Xanga. Each time I would think of updating, it just seemed to be too much to fit in one post; but of course the less I update, the more things kept happening. For the past month, every time I wanted to blog about Sarah Palin or Armageddon (or the lack thereof) or the Dream Act or Xangan visits or road trips or reconnecting with old friends or birthday parties or frat parties or Rio or Chazz or celebrity sightings or customer service or red carpet events or holidays or fill in the ______; it seemed that it was easier and faster to just upload photos to Facebook with brief captions or write a short Tumblr (I know…traitor!) post or tweet a photo or two. That’s the thing about Xanga that I’m conflicted about. I don’t want it to ever be Tumblr or Facebook, but I wish it was a little more adaptive to the times…so my blog here could evolve and not just languish. (Xanga’s new sign in options for comments should help!) Oh well, I’m still a proud Xangan…even if lately I’ve only had time for proper updates once a month. In the meantime, here’s what’s been happening the past few weeks:
That’s it for now. For more frequent updates, friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter or Tumblr. Have a great summer everyone!
It’s been a busy few weeks at The Hotel Careyfornia. Lots of visitors…lots of great meals and very little sleep. If you’re thinking of visiting Southern California, make your reservations soon; as we’re getting quite full for the summer, LOL! I’m getting great use out of my new camera. Here are some shots from the past two weeks:
No, I WILL NOT fix your computer! LOL Click above for video
We were driving home from the Hollywood Sign last night when the Twitterverse exploded with the news. I was with these guys on 9/11 and the year after in NYC. We all watched the President’s speech together last night. Now THAT’S what I call “mission accomplished” GW!
I often write about my hometown, Chicago, being the most beautiful city in America. Over the years, I’ve lived in or spent a great deal of time in New York City, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Washington D.C., but I’ve always considered Chicago home. When I moved to Los Angeles 9 years ago, I never expected to like it as much as I do. L.A. isn’t exactly known for its beauty. It is urban sprawl defined and I could never live here if I had to drive every day. But if you take the time to explore, there’s a lot of hidden beauty in the City of Angels. With sweeping mountain vistas and lush beaches, it’s hard to compete with such natural beauty. Couple that with world class cultural venues and the glamor of Tinseltown; and Southern California really shines. I might even say it has become “homey”. Here’s some recent proof. All photos by me, for use under a Creative Commons license:
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s “Urban Light” exhibit is one of my favorite places to take photographs in L.A. It’s even better with a spectacular sunset, like this one last month. Click here for more photos.
Nestled in the heart of a dead end lot in one of the most notorious neighborhoods of Los Angeles, lie the Watts Towers; a 34 year labor of love by an eccentric artist named Simon Rodia. Reminiscent of Gaudi’s, Sagrada Familia in Barcelona or Niki de Saint Phalle’s, Il Giardino Dei Tarocchi in Italy; these towering structures made of discarded glass and steel are a must see treasure off the beaten path. I’ve been meaning to visit here since I moved to L.A., and finally made the trek a few weeks ago. Truly a site to behold. Click here for more photos.
My friends tease me for the sheer amount of sunset and cloud photos I take…but like snowflakes, they’re never the same. Here’s one example from Venice Beach. Click here for more photos.
You might expect to find a lighthouse like this in coastal Maine or maybe the Pacific Northwest; but the Point Vicente Lighthouse in Palos Verdes is truly a hidden gem along the Southern California coastline. It’s the perfect place for a first date at sunset! Click here for more photos.
L.A. isn’t know for its skyline…save for buildings being blown up in Hollywood action movies. But when the light is right, the city sparkles!
Though not technically in Los Angeles, Disneyland will forever be associated with La La land!
Who ever said there’s no nature in the big city? This hummingbird is guarding her nest on my cousin’s front porch last week. Click here for more photos.
I couldn’t leave Chazz & Rio out of a photoblog dedicated to the beauty of Southern California. Here they are walking the beach with Claudio yesterday. Click here for more photos.
Even something as simple as a dandelion can make someplace seem beautiful. This was shot on the grounds of the above mentioned Watts Towers. Click here for more photos.
Animal Planet is interested in your video for television!
Julie Cresswell here, with Animal Planet’s television show, “America’s Cutest Dog.” A team of us are currently searching for the cutest dog videos worldwide to air on our second special. I came across the following videos during my search and absolutely loved them .
Your videos are really amazing, and perfect for our show.
I wanted to reach out and see if you would be interested in submitting your video for “America’s Cutest Dog II”. Maybe you have other clips too! Submitting is easy, and can be done online in just a few minutes. Our show will feature the best videos of dogs and puppies doing the most amazing, hilarious and just plain adorable things, and we’d love to have your clips in the line up.
If interested, please email my Production Assistant Heather Scudellari at hscudellari@xxxxxxxx.net with the information below. 1. Please title your email ‘America’s Cutest Dog II’ (Attn: Heather) 2. Please include: • Your full name • The name of the video(s) • The web link(s) of each video • Your dog’s name • Whether or not you own the rights to the video
We will reply to your email with instructions on how to upload your video to our server. Thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely, Julie Cresswell
This wasn’t Chazz’s first brush with fame. Last year at the dog park he was approached by an agent who wanted him to come in for a screen test, LOL:
Exactly 20 years ago, one of my favorite bands Midnight Oil; played a half hour concert in front of the Exxon building in New York City:
“Performing on a flatbed truck beneath a banner declaring “Midnight Oil makes you dance, Exxon oil makes us sick,” the ever-politicized Australian band delivered an inspired set protesting the Exxon Valdez oil spill. You can watch the entire 30-minute performance, along with interview footage, here.” For those who may not remember, the Exxon Valdez dumped some 11 million gallons of oil in six hours, just a few miles from the Alaskan shore. (Had Sarah Palin been there, she would no doubt have seen Russia reflected off its shiny black surface.) While other causes were initially blamed, the Valdez disaster was primarily caused by Exxon’s cost-cutting negligence in regard to the ship’s radar. Already downgraded in the ’80s, it had eventually broken down entirely, and the company decided to save money by not fixing it. Fast-forward two decades to the current Gulf oil spill, which had executives from BP, Transocean and Halliburton shifting the blame back and forth during this month’s Senate hearings. Ironically, Dick Cheney’s Halliburton is intimately involved in both the current spill and our two current wars. Something worth remembering this Memorial Day. “We’re a small screaming voice,” says Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett toward the documentary’s end. “But we’ll keep speaking. If they don’t listen now, someone will be listening tomorrow.” We can only hope.” Source: CS Independent.
Who’s going to save us?
And 40 years ago, the oil spill that spawned the modern environment movement, happened right here on the coast of Santa Barbara, where we visited this weekend. As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald:
For it was another undersea oil well that 40 years ago spawned the modern day, highly effective environmental movement on the US West Coast and the core of US government environment protection policy. Compared with the volume of oil spewing into the Gulf every day, what happened five miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, in January 1969, was minuscule. But its aftermath was vast. An explosion of natural gas at Platform Alpha, operated by the Union Oil company, caused a blowout – releasing an undersea oil gusher. It would be 11 days before the blowout was brought under control. About 3 million gallons of oil escaped, much of into the pristine and ecologically diverse Santa Barbara channel waters, coating the nearby shoreline.
The damage was enormous. About 4000 dead sea birds and large numbers of seals and dolphins fatally poisoned. The oil also killed innumerable fish and ruined kelp beds. But then something unexpected happened; tens of thousands of people arrived to help with the clean-up. They laid out mountains of straw to soak up the oil, carted away tonnes of contaminated sand and gathered up the dead and injured wildlife. They were of all ages and affiliations, causing then president Richard Nixon to remark: “The Santa Barbara incident has frankly touched the conscience of the American people.” The Santa Barbara spill fully awakened the West Coast environmental movement and led directly to the declaration of the first Earth Day in November, 1969, the founding of the US Environmental Defence Centre and the first university Environmental Studies Program. Offshore drilling was banned for the next 16 years – until the Reagan administration came to office. Read more…
It took Santa Barbara decades to recover. We may not be so lucky this time…and poor BP, just wants their old life back! Suffice it to say if Sarah Palin ever becomes president, the number of disasters like this would increase ten fold. Speaking of Santa Barbara, here are my photos from this weekend.
“Tonight, we answered the call of history as so many generations of Americans have before us. When faced with crisis, we did not shrink from our challenge — we overcame it. We did not avoid our responsibility — we embraced it. We did not fear our future — we shaped it.” President Barack Obama
We got home from Santa Barbara last night just as the President was finishing his remarks. Though the debate rages on via my Facebook page (thanks to both the Davids); real reform is on its way. After this vile display last week, it’s pretty clear that the Republicans and the racist teabaggers really thought this was all about welfare:
Sunset in Santa Barbara last night
Anyway, we had a great weekend with very little sleep. Bine and Lindsay arrived Friday night along with Carolina, Eva, Vonda, Nate, Bianca and Julia. We had 9 people sleeping in my little condo, so it was similar to this. Saturday we went to Claudio & Ryan’s for a Brazilian barbecue. Sunday we spent a hazy day at the beach in Santa Barbara before dropping Marcelo off at the airport. Two hours later, I got a text that there had been a small plane crash in Santa Barbara, and Marcelo was being shuttled to LAX. So off to the airport again I went, and we had him for another night! Everyone woke up at 5 this morning, and we were on our way back to the airport at 5:30 AM. Next weekend, Bassam, Bine and I will head up to Tom & Cathy’s in San Francisco to see little Patrick and Youenn (who I haven’t seen since we traversed the Alps last summer!) and Mariana. Should be another great weekend! Here are this past weekend’s photos:
Who knew Chazz was part giraffe and part Scooby Doo?
After ringing in the New Year in grand style, we took the weekend to relax a bit. Home Depot has this great kid’s workshop the first Saturday of every month, so Cathy & I took Patrick. I wasn’t much help building, but as always I took the photos. The sunset was spectacular on Saturday and on Sunday I drove the six hours home to get here in time for Ryan’s birthday party. Lorenzo & Adam flew in from DC, and we all celebrated at Palms Thai. I’m currently curled up on the couch with Chazz, eating popcorn and relaxing for the first time since before Christmas. Here are some of my favorite photos and two videos from the past few days. Have a great week everyone! Happy New Year.
Patrick in his living room
The first sunset of 2010
He didn’t get his nailing ability from Uncle Carey
The Home Depot Kid’s Workshop is a great program, and it’s free!
Such a good builder!
No caption necessary!
4 against 1! No fair!
Joaquin feeding me kiwi
We celebrated New Year’s first with the kids at 8:23, because we forgot to at 8:00. They didn’t know the difference!
Ryan’s sister Renea was in town with her boyfriend Matt this weekend, so I headed up to Oxnard for a barbecue. After dinner, we went to see Julie & Julia, which I loved. Meryl Streep can do no wrong! The movie has some great lines about the narcissism of bloggers. Claudio kept elbowing me the whole movie. LOL. Then this morning we took Chazz to the beach and he had a great time playing with some little kids who loved him. On the drive home I listened to the Evita movie soundtrack which I haven’t heard in ages. The more I listened to it, the more parallels to Sarah Palin I drew. After all, Eva Peron was a self obsessed demagogue who impassioned weak minded fools into supporting her. If you listed to Tim Rice’s brilliant lyrics and substitute “Sarah” for “Eva” it’s uncanny how well most of the songs fit Caribou Barbie:
(Children:) Please, gentle Sarah, will you bless a little child? For I love you, tell Heaven I’m doing my best I’m praying for you, even though you’re already blessed
Please, mother Sarah, will you look upon me as your own? Make me special, be my angel Be my everything wonderful perfect and true And I’ll try to be exactly like you
Please, holy Sarah, will you feed a hungry child? For I love you, tell Heaven I’m doing my best I’m praying for you, even though you’re already blessed
(Workers:) Santa Santa Palina Madre de todos los ninos De los tiranizados, de los descamisados De los trabajadores, de la Argentina
And the money kept rolling in from every side Sarah’s pretty hands reached out and they reached wide Now you may feel it should have been a voluntary cause But that’s not the point my friends When the money keeps rolling in, you don’t ask how Think of all the people guaranteed a good time now Sarah’s called the hungry to her, open up the doors Never been a fund like the foundation Sarah Palin.
Would you like to try a college education? Own your landlord’s house, take the family on vacation? Sarah and her blessed fund can make your dreams come true Here’s all you have to do my friends Write your name and your dream on a card or a pad or a ticket Throw it high in the air and should our lady pick it She will change your way of life for a week or even two Name me anyone who cares as much as Sarah Palin.
And the money kept rolling out in all directions To the poor, to the weak, to the destitute of all complexions Now cynics claim a little of the cash has gone astray But that’s not the point my friends When the money keeps rolling out you don’t keep books You can tell you’ve done well by the happy grateful looks Accountants only slow things down, figures get in the way Never been a lady loved as much as Sarah Palin.
I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites (“the heart of America is on display”) and realized Bush’s speechwriters were writing her — not McCain’s — speeches. I heard her tell George Bush’s lies — not McCain’s — to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners — this is Rove-Cheney’s enthusiastic S and M, not McCain’s, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit –but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain.
Then I saw and heard more. Palin is embracing lawlessness in defying Alaskan Legislature subpoenas –this is what Rove-Cheney, and not McCain, believe in doing. She uses mafia tactics against critics, like the police commissioner who was railroaded for opposing handguns in Alaskan battered women’s shelters — Rove’s style, not McCain’s. I realized what I was seeing.
Of course, Sarah Palin is so fucking stupid and self serving that she probably doesn’t even know who Eva Peron is. Even the sometimes infuriating Maureen Dowd pointed out in the Times today:
It’s also interesting to read the chapter on “Palinmania” and remember how serene Sarah Palin was before she became unhinged by fame and her fixation with her reviews, especially from conspiratorial and gossipy bloggers [CareyGLY??] The same McCain advisers who later turned against Palin were impressed with her at first, when she earned adjectives like unruffled, self-confident, tough-minded and self-assured.
From Bill Ayers to Reverend Wright, “Sarahcuda” was ready to bite, telling rallies, “The heels are on, the gloves are off.” But by the end, after Tina Fey, Katie Couric and the shopping spree, Palin had lost confidence. She became erratic. [Just like Evita in Europe!] “During a campaign trip in October to New Hampshire, she balked at sharing the stage with former congressman Jeb Bradley because they differed on abortion and drilling in the Arctic wilderness,” the authors wrote. “That same day, she was reluctant to join Bradley and Senator John Sununu for conversation aboard her campaign bus and had to be coaxed out of the back of the bus to talk to them, according to a McCain adviser.”
Palin is still obsessed with the blogosphere, which recently lit up with a rumor started by a fellow mavericky Alaskan, who also no longer has his job — that she and Todd were Splitsville. She sarcastically told Mike Allen of Politico that she loved finding out “what’s goin’ on in my life from the news.” She deserted her post as governor to write her book about the “pioneering spirit,” as she told Allen. The contradiction seems lost on her.
And, as Talking Points Memo reported on Friday, she put up a demented, fact-free Facebook rant trashing the president’s health care plan: “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.” Do we sometimes drive ’em downright crazy? You betcha!
So don’t cry for Sarah. I’m sure we’ll see her on Broadway someday soon! Maybe she could even test her chops as the witch in Wicked? Now, on to the weekend photos and video:
Ryan, Chazz, Claudio, Me, Renea & Matt
Another delicious meal at the C&R Churrascaria…Chazz was content!
Update: I made it to Rome, but sadly, someone on the plane didn’t. They had a heart attack in flight. When we landed we had to wait on the plane for medics to come on board. Bine, Eva, Alan & Lindsay met me at the airport and we headed towards the coast. More when I get my Internet SIM card….
Update: I’m in the Washington airport waiting for my connection to Rome. The flight was uneventful. I played with Dave Grohl from Nirvana and the Foo Fighters daughter. What a cutie she was! Just catching up on email now thanks to the Red Carpet Room. See you all on the other side! Ciao.
P.S. I’ve set up a Google account for this trip. I may not be blogging much, but I’ll try to post all the photos at:
It’s 1 AM and I have to wake up at 5 and head to the airport to catch my flight to Rome. If you need me for the next two weeks, I’ll be at the “B” below…for beach:
Claudio & Chazz came down tonight to “help me” pack and get ready. This was them 3 hours ago: LOL
I hope to be updating my blog from our Tuscan villa. David was nice enough to send me a European phone and an air card that I can tether to the phone from the remote Italian countryside. Trust me, it’s not easy dealing with Italian bureaucracy. I even needed to get a taxpayer ID number to get a SIM card in Italy. And today, after DHL arrived with my international shipment, I discovered that my laptop didn’t have a PCMCIA slot. It had one of the newer slots that wasn’t compatible. Since there was no time to order an adapter (and they’re hellishly expensive), Seth was kind enough to swap laptops with me for 2 weeks. So…if all goes well, I’ll be connected. It’s been a comedy of errors so far though, so if you don’t hear from me for a while, you know why. I hope everyone in the States has a Happy 4th. It’s my least favorite holiday, so I’m happy to spend it abroad.
Here’s where we’ll be staying. I’m not sure where we’re all going to sleep. There will be 25 of our friends from all over the world. Should be fun! I best get to bed. Luckily I’m flying first class. Thank goodness for frequent flyer miles! Ciao Bello! –Carey
Earlier today, while the rest of the world focused on MJ’s funeral plans, (some are saying up to a million mourners could pour into Los Angeles, making it bigger than Elvis and Princess Diana…I sure am glad I’m leaving for Italy Thursday!!) Farrah Fawcett was remembered in a private funeral mass downtown. I was in the 6th grade and had just turned 11 years old on September 22, 1976 when Charlie’s Angels premiered on television. I was instantly smitten with all of the “Angels” and Farrah Fawcett held a special fascination for my prepubescent self. Perhaps it was the diva in her that attracted me, but nevertheless in that Bicentennial year, it was all “Angels” all the time for me and much of America. I collected photos and clippings from every magazine I could find, and kept them in a special box that I made that looked like this:
Hubba Hubba Baby Doll!
I had actually forgotten about that box until recently when I opened a childhood safe that my brother recently came across and delivered to me from Chicago! Taylor was nice enough to film the big event:
Here are some other photos from the weekend. Claudio & Ryan are coming tomorrow with Chazz. Claudio will take me to the airport Thursday morning to catch my flight to Rome. Ciao Bello!
It’s also interesting to read the chapter on “Palinmania” and remember how serene Sarah Palin was before she became unhinged by fame and her fixation with her reviews, especially from conspiratorial and gossipy bloggers [CareyGLY??] The same McCain advisers who later turned against Palin were impressed with her at first, when she earned adjectives like unruffled, self-confident, tough-minded and self-assured.
