Carey Anthony

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Happy Birthday to Claudio :)
2 messages

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From: Marcelo	Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 11:13 PM
To: Carey & The GLY Gang
Greetings, amigos! Today, September 2nd, is Claudio’s birthday, as I am sure many of you know.  I wanted to get more ideas about his new professorial life and, bingo, found some delightful quotes at RatemyProfessor.com.  Here are some highlights, in my view… “He is very knowledgeable in the subject matter, and even if he is sometimes slightly unclear with his initial explanations,…” “His accent can be amusing at times, but in a good way. He is perfectly comprehensible.” “Dr. P. is a world class professor.” “One of the best professor [sic] I have ever taken in my life.” (lovely insinuating were it not for the obvious sign of poor grammar…my favorite quote in the group) “This man is helpful, knowledgable [sic] and is willing to help you in whatever way possible.” (Do tell, Dr. World Class!) “He really knows what he is talking about,…” (Ha!  This one had me rolling on the ground) Happy birthday to you, old friend! I am looking forward to seeing you all in a few days!  Luisao, any chance you can plan a last minute trip to SoCal this weekend?!  Claudao, nao se preocupe que vamos falar mal de voce esse final de semana, com aquele carinho de sempre. Abracos, m

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From: Carey Anthony	Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 11:18 PM
To: Marcelo Cc: The GLY Gang
Many of you don’t remember that back in the early 90′s, before the Internet or ratemyprofessor.com, I used to collect Claudio’s evaluations from when he was a T.A at University of Illinois, because he spent summers in Brazil.  My all time favorite went something like this:  Q:  Did you learn a lot in Professor P’s class? A:  I didn’t learn a thing.  I was too busy looking at his dreamy eyes! 15 years later, the eyes are more cloudy than dreamy and we won’t talk about the hair… Feliz Anniversario my friend!! Claudio & Oreo circa 1990 It’s amazing what 20 years can do! I was looking through my old diaries last night, and found this and sent it to Claudio.  He wrote this in my calendar in 1991:  “Birthday of the nicest Brazilian ever”.  I’m sure Marcelo might have something to say about that my dear! His reply: From: Claudio Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 9:23 AM To: Carey Anthony THANK YOU!!!! The scheduler was funny! To imagine you still had hair to cut…  good times!!   :)   Ugh, Vicious!!   From: Carey Anthony Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 9:39 AM To: Claudio Ugh!  You want to talk about hair!!??  Be careful darling.  It may be YOUR birthday, but my old calendars hold lots of other secrets as well.  Feliz Anniversario

The fires did make for amazing sunsets all last week:

Whenever I need to smile I’ll just look at this picture of Buster!

Joel and I went to see District 9 over the weekend and we both enjoyed the movie.  It was about 1/2 hour too long, but entertaining.  Kind of a cross between Close Encounters and The Fly!  There were a lot of blatant racial parallels that I won’t go into now.  As someone who has been to Johannesburg though, it was a sadly appropriate setting for that movie.

I’m SO excited for this show to start next week!!

Dinner last night before I headed back to LA for the first time in 9 days.

Click for best of the rest…

The fires are far enough away that my home isn’t in any danger, but they’re still too close for comfort:

On the way home last night this is what I saw from the car.  I’m surprised there weren’t more accidents on the freeway from people looking.  It was an amazing sight to see:

The air today was an eerie, quiet yellow making the sky look like Dijon mustard.  About 6:00 tonight I went up to my roof and shot this photo.

After taking this, I went back inside with my mask!

Here’s a good time lapse video of the fire.  The smoke clouds are amazing as these LA Times photos show:

And finally, I got some very sad news today from Margie:

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From: Margie
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 6:34 AM
To: Carey
Subject: Daisy

I had to have Daisy put down today.  I am very sad.  She fell off the bed & broke whatever was misplaced in her back.  When I picked her up she immediately lost her bowels & her head started rolling to the side.  When I took her outside she tried to stand but could not.  Later I will pick her up – couldn’t bear to be with her when they put her down – and bury her on the farm.  Can’t stop crying every time I think about it, so I’m going to try not to think about it.

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Daisy, if you remember, spent a month here with me last spring.  In fact I recently posted this video of her getting harassed by Chazz.  I know how terribly painful it is to lose a treasured friend.  We’ll miss you lazy Daisy!!

Click for larger view

I’ve got a bunch of good friends flying in for the weekend starting Thursday.  It’s going to be non stop.  We’re going to the Hollywood Bowl for my 44th birthday Sunday.  I’ll try to post as I have time.  Have a good week everyone!

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
“The state of California is $30 billion in debt, and there’s no way we can pay it back, so what we’ve decided to do is set it on fire and collect the insurance.” – Jimmy Kimmel

These videos sum up my feelings on the two big domestic news stories of the week:  Sarah Palin’s resignation and The Beer Summit.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Quitter
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

The Colbert Report	Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word – He Who Smelt It, Dealt It
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Tasers

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In other news, we celebrated Arielle’s 4th birthday this weekend, and I met a lot of new friends: 

 

 

 

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Vonda’s checking into The HC tomorrow with a car load of teenage girls.  Another busy week! 

Tony (generasianx) was nice enough to invite Albert (owbert) and me to a showing of “The Secret Life of Bees” on Sunday night.  After the movie, there was a panel discussion with the director, Gina Prince Bythewood, and one of the stars of the movie, Dakota Fanning.  (They were also joined by Dr. Barbara Rico, an English professor from Loyola Marymount who discussed some of the central literary & multicultural themes in the movie.)  Dakota Fanning, who’s not even 15 yet, blew us all away.  She is a remarkably poised young woman, seemingly unaffected by the spotlight and the falseness that permeates this town.  Her performance in the movie was riveting.  She kept pace with her fellow actresses Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson.  Quite frankly, I’m surprised the movie didn’t get more buzz (pun intended).  Roger Ebert writes:

I have some video of the panel discussion if anyone’s interested, I’ll post it on YouTube.  If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s worth watching.  If you don’t like it, I’ll pay you double.

BFF’s!, Carey & Dakota.   She reminds me a lot of Jodie Foster

The Three Xangateers:  Carey, Albert & Tony

I think Tony wants to cast Dakota in his next movie!  Brokeback Bounty II??

14 going on 15…but she acts like she’s in her 20′s


Rev. Kim Dorr, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Dakota Fanning & Dr. Barbara Roche Rico

Outside the church in Bel Air where the movie was screened

The San Fernando Valley on a rainy evening in Bel Air.  More pics here…

Before the movie, we celebrated my Uncle’s 81st birthday and my cousin Cody’s 17th birthday.  The whole family turned out and a good time was had by all:

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Last night we celebrated Michele’s 40th birthday, 70′s style.  I thankfully don’t own any of my clothes from that era, but I do have a groovy Lacoste shirt and some vintage Adidas shoes.  So  yesterday I went to this great Hollywood thrift store called Jet Rag and found a classic 70′s padded vest, similar to the one Ashton Kutcher used to wear on “That 70′s Show“.  Remarkably, it was only $6.00!  Then I got a matching headband and sweat bands from Sport Chalet (first time I’ve ever been in that store…surprise surprise) and also found an old pair of long tube socks. 

I was going to wear some coduroys, but it was in the upper 80′s (not 70′s, LOL) here yesterday, and I thought it would be too hot.  So I took an old pair of nylon shorts and cut them in to short shorts, a la Daisy Duke.  (Never mind that I have the whitest legs west of the Mississippi.)  To put a modern twist on my outfit, I downloaded a “Pong Clock” onto my iPod Touch.  It basically plays an endless game of retro Pong, and doubles as a clock.  Since the party was down in Mission Viejo, I stopped at Dar’s house where all of the kids were having a sleepover.  Dar was nice enough to sew a velcro patch on my vest, and I stuck my iPod to the vest and voila!  Ashton Kutcher eat your heart out!

The Great White Hope

It pays to have a Nana who works at Disneyland. Andy gets dwarf etched apples!

Lisa & Jenn making me feel groovy!


The guest of honor, looking gorgeous!

My endless Pong game clock was a hit!

Even Elvis made an appearance before leaving the building.

 
Of course, I had to go out and play with (the other) Elvis & Charlie.

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And finally, what 70′s party would be complete without cheesy 70′s karaoke?  Yes, there was Journey, yes, there was Abba, but mine and Jenn’s rendition of Elton John and KiKi Dee (if you haven’t seen that video,click the link for all it’s cheesy deliciousness) had everyone scrambling for ear plugs!

What’s your secret to looking so young at 40 Lorenzo??  Oh wait, I remember:

It takes a village

I’m sure the butt massages help keep things firm too:

Or do they??

Before Claudio & Ryan jet off to DC to celebrate with you (while I’m stuck here babysitting!), we thought we’d have a little celebration here in L.A. in your honor tonight.  When Claudio & Chazz found out how old you were, they were shocked!

“40?? That’s not what Facebook says?  Wait, what’s Facebook?”

We all had a nice birthday dinner though, in your honor:

Happy birthday from Alex, Dan, Ryan, Carey, Chazz & Claudio

Chazz was in full celebration mode, and by the end of the evening, he could’t walk a straight line:

And soon Ryan followed suit:

Here’s hoping your 32nd is as memorable as you are!  GLY! xoxo

Labor Day Weekend, 2001.  Claudio and I celebrated our birthdays in Chicago, as we had many times before.  It was a beautiful weekend…one of the last good ones of summer.  After that I flew to New York for a few days, and then to Portland, Oregon on September 10, 2001. 

I was going through some old papers from work the other day, and found this.  It was posted in the elevator of my hotel in Portland on the morning of September 11th. 

The following year, I returned to New York City for the one year anniversary.  I spent the morning alone, in Times Square and in Battery Park taking
pictures.  It was a bittersweet anniversary.  On one hand the city was
still grieving immensely.  On the other, they had reached the one year
mark and survived.  Everyone was on edge though.  Diane, Hugo and I
were having lunch outside at Cafe St. Bart’s.  It was an extremely
windy day.  At one point, the wind picked up a huge pile of pamphlets
from an open window of a fairly tall building and they went flying through the air like shrapnel.  A few people in the
crowded cafe started screaming and that’s all it took to start pandemonium.  People began
running and leaping under tables.  It only lasted a few seconds, but it still
gives me goose bumps to think about.  Imagine….simple paper flying through
the air!  Later that afternoon Cindy and I tried to keep it light by
attending a matinee of Hairspray.  After the show, Harvey Fierstein and
the rest of the cast related their stories about that day.  There were
many notables in the audience (Larry King and his wife were directly in
front of us), and suddenly this huge Broadway theater filled with
strangers, some famous, some not, became an intimate storytelling
venue.  It connected us all.  The images from that day were moving:

I took the center photo in the summer of 1997 while sailing around the island of Manhattan in my boss’s boat.  It was a picture perfect New York day.  One I’ll never forget. 

On a cheerier note, tonight we went to see another musical.  This time it was the preview of 9 to 5 before it heads to Broadway.  It starred Allison Janney (from The West Wing) in the Lily Tomlin role, and while she was pretty good, the show itself needs work before it opens in New York.  (Funny coincidence.  I saw Hairspray in NYC on 9/11/02 and few years later, saw it with Mike & Marcelo in LA, and Bradley Whitford from the West Wing was there.)  The gal who played Doralee was the spitting image of Dolly Parton, both in looks and voice.  It was almost too much of an imitation though.  There was nothing really original in any of the performances aside from a few modern cultural references for humor.  I was a bit disappointed overall, but I got special tickets for only $20 and it was worth seeing for that price.  (Plus it was Vivek’s first musical!!)  The acoustics were terrible and they had some technical problems and had to close the curtain for ten minutes.  (The same thing happened on opening night I read, but that night Dolly Parton was there, and got up and gave an impromptu concert!)  The dialogue was very difficult to hear, and the cast needed work on their staging.  The set was pretty cool though.  There were definitely a few standout songs, but I wish I could have heard the words better.  In addition, the girl next to us was SO drunk (or worse) that she really ruined the whole first act for me.  At one point, she needed to leave because she was going to be sick.  She got up on her chair, hiked her skirt up to her underwear and climbed over the seats!  A real class act.  (Whoever said LA isn’t a theater town?  LOL.)  It kind of put me in a bad mood for the remainder of the show (even though she missed half the first act!).  Here are a few photos from tonight, and a video of the title song from the closing number, “9 to 5“.  Sorry for the poor video quality.  We were up in the nosebleed section !

Note the applause at about 1:10 when the actors are describing their characters lives 30 years in the future and Doralee calls George W. Bush, a sexist, egotistical, lying hypocrite (just like Franklin Hart).

The long holiday weekend began with Claudio and Ryan arriving Friday evening, and us heading to Hollywood & Highland for the Jimmy Kimmel Live show to celebrate Claudio’s big 4-0.  I somehow managed to smuggle my camera into the studio despite the metal detectors and three security guards.  When they caught me taking photos however, they confiscated my camera until the end of the show.  At least I got one decent shot of Jimmy.

The guests that night were pretty lame.  Lauren Conrad (sorry Christine, she was SO dumb), Tyrese Gibson, (who invited the entire audience to his movie Death Race, that was playing across the street at Grauman’s Chinese Theater.  The movie looked really bad.  Even the clip he brought for the show, sucked.  We opted out!) and former Beach Boy and “Rhinestone Cowboy“, Glenn Campbell, who appeared drunk and flubbed his words.  Still, we had a good time, and celebrated Claudio’s birthday afterwards with a great dinner before we had to get him back to his nursing home!

Saturday we headed to Disneyland but I’ll blog about that later in the week, as this entry is going to already be too bandwidth intensive.  On Sunday we drove up to Santa Barbara to enjoy the beautiful coastline and visit Bassam, who’s been in Amman, Jordan for the past two months.  It was great to catch up with Bassam and last night’s sunset was picture perfect, as was all of the local scenery in the American Riviera.

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http://picasaweb.google.com/CareyAnthonyGLY/ClaudioRyan
http://picasaweb.google.com/CareyGLY/SantaBarbaraWVivekBassam

 
Pehaps my last entry should have been called “One of Those Weeks”.  Continuing my streak of bad luck this week (I didn’t even mention in the previous post that my camera broke again…long sandy story), the rental car had a flat tire when I left work today!  Since Enterprise was closed already, I called AAA.  (No, I don’t change flat tires.  That’s what AAA is for!)  Lisa’s husband graciously offered to come, but AAA got there in less than 15 minutes which was great.  It could have been better though…  As he was changing the tire, I texted Lisa:

Talk about your flat tires!

On a brighter note, I went to two birthday parties yesterday!  The first was for my friend Luciana’s 2 year old daughter Amanda.  Luci lives in São Paulo, Brazil and we’ve been friends since 1991.  The last time I saw her, was the night of my attack in 2002.  It was so wonderful to see her and her husband Mateus under much better circumstances!  I had not met her children, Amanda and Lucas, and even though they didn’t speak English (and my Portuguese is limited), we became fast friends!

Lucas and I spoke the language of peek a boo!

And soon we were melhores amigos!

The birthday girl with mamã…

and paizinho.

Eu te amo você ama-me

If you’re interested in the rest, click the photo above.

From one pizza party at noon to another at 4:00, LOL.  Cole & Tressa’s party was at the pool, and a good time was had by all.  The shark cake was a big hit!

Doing the limbo.

This was a $200 cake that Jennifer got for free when a friend of the baker’s called to say they had an extra cake!!  The “sand” was brown sugar and the shells were white chocolate.

The rest of the photos can be viewed by clicking the above photo.

Speaking of multiple birthdays…or births…Diane sent this photo of the boys last night.  Isn’t it the greatest?

Cole, Trey, Jaden, Tyler & Carter

My friend Diane is a remarkable woman.  A little more than a year after giving birth to her first set of twin boys Cole & Carter, Trey & Tyler were born in 2002.  Add big brother Jaden to the mix, and well, see for yourself.  Happy birthday boys!