claudio

  • The Death of the Easter Bunny

    It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that Easter has been canceled, due to Chazz’s brutal maiming of the Easter Bunny today.  The attack was caught on film…cover the children’s eyes:


    Click below to play the chilling video:

        

    Life must go on however, so we had a wonderful Brazilian barbecue, and  even gave Chazz a bath.  I’m off to bed as I have to wake up early to pick up my aunt and head over to Jenn’s to watch the kids hunt for eggs.  Cheers!


    Chazz with his Easter basket, before the attack


    Claudio made pao de queijo


    Sleeping on his kill


    Best of the rest…

     

  • Sarah Palin Hates Retards

    Yeah, you read that right.  Backwoods Barbie is at it again, this time jumping on the bandwagon criticizing Obama’s “Special Olympics” gaffe.  For the record, here’s my take on it, since John and a few other of my Republican friends have asked:

    Yes, Obama apologized and has even managed to spin it in his favor.  But Sarah Palin and her retarded baby* (who is the uncle to her bastard grandson) has the gall to reject stimulus money that would have been used to fund, among other things, SPECIAL EDUCATION.  Nice family values Sarah. 

    The biggest single chunk of stimulus money that Palin is turning down is $160 million for education. There’s also $17 million in Department of Labor funds (vocational rehabilitation services, unemployment services, etc.), about $9 million for Health and Social Services and about $7 million for Public Safety.

    *By the way, there’s no need to educate me about the fact that Trigg has Down’s Syndrome or that “retard” is an offensive term.  I’m not an idiot.  I’m just venting.  It’s my blog goddamnit and Sarah Palin is more offensive to me than any words I can put on this page.  She’s vile, reprehensible and evil incarnate.  For the record, I put myself through college partly by working at group homes for the developmentally disabled and partly by babysitting over 50 kids.  I have attended and worked my fair share of Special Olympics over the years.  All people are “precious and unique” Sarah, not just your white trash baby and illegitimate grandson. 

    Now that I have that out of my system, here are some pictures from tonight.  Claudio & Ryan are back with Chazz and we had a nice dinner at home and watched movies.  Tomorrow we’re heading to Santa Barbara.


    Joelle’s enjoying all the amenities the H.C. has to offer


    Claudio always has to get a sneer in!


    Chazztastic!


    Ryan was asleep before the movie started!

  • “Beautiful Wonderful Creatures of Value”

    Chazz and I were lucky enough to run into the Oscar winning screenwriter of Milk, Dustin Lance Black yesterday.  For those of you who don’t know, he’s the young man who spoke so poignantly at the Academy Awards this year.

    “I want to thank my mom, who has always loved me for who I am even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he’d want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by the government or by their families; that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, God, for giving us Harvey Milk.”


    When Dustin met Chazz it was like watching history being made.  A new Hollywood power couple was born.  Move over Brangelina….meet “Chazzlance Black“.

    Coincidentally I heard from a filmmaker this weekend who is doing a documentary about Proposition 8.  He had seen some of my blog entries and videos about the protests and emailed me to ask if he could use my video footage for his documentary:

    Gmail Carey Anthony
    Great Prop 8 Footage!
    14 messages
    From: YouTube Service Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 12:22 AM
    To: careygly


    YouTube help center | e-mail options | report spam
    Great Prop 8 Footage!
    Hi Carey,

    My name is David McCoy, I’m a photographer/filmmaker. I’m working on a documentary and a photo book about the battle to overturn Prop 8.

    I’ve been shooting stills of all the Prop 8 events since Nov. 6th, however I didn’t start shooting video until December 20th, so I’m looking for video of events prior to that. From what I’ve seen in your youtube posts it looks like you’ve got some really good footage. Is there any way I might be able to get a copy and use it in my documentary? It would be a huge help!

    Unfortunately I totally missed out on Nov. 5th’s rally, so your footage from that would be particularly helpful.  I’d offer some compensation for the footage, but I currently don’t have any funding and the project is being made on a volunteer basis.

    I don’t have any video up yet, but I do have some stills posted in my Facebook group, Love = Love (Challenge Prop 8), if you’d like to see a little bit of what I have shot...

    From: Carey Anthony Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 12:57 PM
    Reply-To: careygly
    To: David McCoy

    David,

    I finally found the original video files.  There are 27 of them.  All unedited.  I’m in the process of zipping them up now and then I’ll FTP them to you.  Sorry for the long delay.  –Carey

    From: David McCoy Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 4:57 AM
    To: careygly

    Thank you so much!  There’s actually something really cool, and something that’s really helpful to me in clip 9337.  Around the 7 second to 11 second area of in the clip there are two guys in the middle of the shot.  One is a tall blond with a light blue shirt, the other is a shorter guy with dark hair and gray t-shirt.  They are two of the guys I’m following for my documentary.
    They are co-founders of a group called The Equal Roots Coalition.  This video is before I met them and before they started the coalition.  In some ways this is very much a “before they were famous” sort of moment.  I can’t tell you how awesome it is to have this!  Thank you so much!  Let me know if I can help you with something at some point.  Also, if you ever want to get involved in the battle to over turn prop 8 or any other gay rights issue let me know.  There’s tons of ways, big and small, to get in involved, and by all means if you hear another protest outside, which you very well may in the next few months, feel free to jump out with your camera again.  Sorry I babble when I get excited, thank you.  =)

    ~~David

    Claudio and Ryan went back home today, but they’ll be back with Chazz next weekend to drop him off before heading up the coast for spring break.  Joelle is also coming on Thursday, so it will be another busy week at the Hotel Careyfornia.  Cheers!

  • Star Studded Weekend

    It has been a crazy weekend, but a lot of fun.  It’s after 2 AM and I just have a few minutes to post these pictures and then I have to get ready for my trip tomorrow morning (this morning).  I still have laundry to do and I have to clean the house as Luis & David will be staying here while I’m out of town.  (The Hotel Careyfornia is even busy when I’m not here!)  Claudio’s Brazilian BBQ was a hit yesterday, and he even made feijoada.  Yum!  Chazz is still growing like a weed.  Afterwards I headed up to Santa Barbara to see Tom & Cathy and little Patrick.  Bassam hosted a great party last night and we all had a great time.  Today I came back to LA in time for two Oscar parties.  I thought the ceremony was fantastic this year…the best in a long time, maybe ever!  I got 19 out of 24 predictions right, and won the pool for the 2nd year in a row!  On the way home I walked down DeLongpre because I knew that one of the locks on the garage door of  the Sunset Plaza Hotel is busted.  I was able to sneak in to the hotel and take the elevator up to Sunset Blvd. next to where the Vanity Fair Oscar party was being held.  There were people who had been waiting there all day and I just walked out the hotel door and started snapping photos, LOL.  The LAPD were being assholes though, and it was really hard to get good pictures.  I had to get home but I hung out for about 45 minutes and got to see Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz, Mickey Rourke, Meryl Streep, Amy Adams Frank Langella, Anne Hathaway, Jon Voight, Robert Pattinson, Gwen Stefani,  and that awesome Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto guy, hoisting his Oscar and waving to the crowd!     I don’t have time to go through all of the photos now, but here’s a sampling:


    The Vanity Fair party 2 blocks from my house


    Jon Voight


    That’s Mickey Rourke in the white coat and hat


    If you look closely, you can see Kate Winslet holding her Oscar


    Kate Winslet again


    I’ll have to through the rest of these later!


    Let’s hear it for the boys (and Daisy, LOL)


    Eva & Patrick


    Breakfast with Patick


    Ryan being butch


    Click here for the best of the rest…


    I took this out the sun roof on the way home from Santa Barbara

  • Driving Miss Daisy Crazy

    Claudio & Ryan came up with Chazz on Friday.  It’s only been 3 weeks since I last saw him (when he “read” my animal books), and my how he’s grown!  I’m still dog-sitting for Daisy through the end of the month.  Daisy is 9 years old and I’m sure the last thing she wanted to do all weekend was contend with a playful rambunctious puppy.  She was a trooper though, despite her impatience at times.  I think they secretly had crushes on each other.  Just look how they were sleeping in bed with me when I woke up yesterday morning.  Luckily I had my camera by my side:

    Admittedly though, they needed a few time outs:

    Claudio & Chazz

    Yesterday we went to the beach at Santa Monica:

     


    We almost dropped to our deaths in this parking garage elevator….then noticed the permit expired in 2002!


    I need to add the words, “& Pet Motel” to the Hotel Careyfornia sign above!


    Tuckered out after a long day at the beach


    Best of the rest…

  • Happy 40th Lorenzo…

    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

  • Carey’s Hollywood Roundup & Canine Cajones

    Oscar season is in full swing and we saw 7 movies this week!  (Today was a triple feature.  We walked to The Grove (to avoid parking fees for 7 hours) and saw three in a row!  Haven’t done that in a long time, but it was fun.)  Slumdog Millionaire is still my favorite of the year, but here’s a roundup of this week’s films.  I still have to see Gran Torino & Revolutionary Road.

    Speaking of Marley & Me, the best scene in the film was when Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson were taking Marley to be neutered.  He jumped halfway out of the car window and walked on his two front legs as the car drove down a busy street.  Coincidentally, we got Chazz neutered on Friday.  He was too small to reenact that scene from the movie, so this is the best I could do:

    Chazz came through the operation like a trooper.  And no, we didn’t get him Neuticles!!  What are Neuticles you ask??

    “Neuticles” are fake testicles for dogs.  I love this quote from their website:

    Neuticles allow your pet to retain his natural look, self esteem and aid in the trauma associated with neutering.

    With Neuticles – It’s like nothing ever changed!

    neuticles

    I wonder how many Beverly Hills pooches actually have these?  LOL  Anyway, here are some photos of Chazz’s recovery and the rest of our holiday weekend!


    A toast to Chazz’s last night of virility!


    The famous Thai Elvis at Palms Thai


    Poor puppy!


    Downtown LA from my roof


    We had a pretty sunset last night


    The Hotel Careyfornia Christmas Tree


    Carey & Mica before Benjamin Button

  • Christmastime at the Careyfornia

    As promised, there will be lots of photos of my new nephew, Chazz this week! Claudio & Ryan arrived Friday and Chazz quickly acclimated to the West Hollywood lifestyle.  By today, he was getting good at dodging the paparazzi and hobnobbing with all the celebrity dogs at the dog park.    Eva came Saturday for her annual tree trimming sojourn, and the decorating of the official Careyfornia Christmas Tree was underway.  Ryan and I picked out an nice 7 foot tree for $25 at Home Depot and we strung 2200 lights, before hanging over 350 ornaments,  (Rockefeller Center, eat your heart out!)  Claudio, aka, “The Grinch” didn’t help much, but he did manage to put the top on the tree without knocking it over, as this video will attest.  I had to redo it though.

    The day in pictures… (I’ll post more of Chazz on Wednesday.  We’re going to see Frost/Nixon now.)

     
    I tried to dress Christmas-sy, but the shorts gave it away!


    Notice the Hollywood sign above Ryan’s head!

     


    Joy to the f*&*%*g world!

     


    Deck the halls with Chazz


    He looks like the Grinch’s dog here….wait, he is!

     

     

     

     

  • I’m An Uncle

    When Claudio & Ryan moved here last summer and bought a big house with a big yard, I encouraged them to get a dog.  They weren’t sure at first, because they wanted to be able to travel unimpeded.  I assured them however, that I would take care of the dog whenever and for however long they needed me to.  I mentioned the idea again a few weeks ago, and one thing led to another.  Since Ryan’s birthday and Christmas were coming up, Claudio and I secretly strategized, and earlier this week, a puppy was sent into the front door of their house (as a surprise) with a big bow around his neck.  Meet my new nephew, Chazz!


    Vicious Disclaimer, I know!  Sorry Ryan! 

    Rest assured you will be seeing many more pictures of this dog on this blog in the years to come.  I sent Claudio & Ryan this email the other day.  (Warning, it’s not for the faint of heart!)

    Gmail Carey Anthony
    Don’t Teach Chazz This
    2 messages
    From: Carey Anthony Sun, Dec 7, 2008 at 10:48 PM
    To: Ryan, Claudio


    The Masturbating Dog
    From: Ryan Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 7:46 AM
    To: Carey Anthony

    oh i am speechless.

    Lil Chazz was in my lab watching as well, I had to cover his gorgeous eyes and earmuff that clip.
    I’m now going to have to put a parental lock on youtube so I can filter what the new love of my life is being exposed to.

    P.S. Cougars (i.e. Claudio) and puppies don’t mix – I’m AFRAID to let little Chazz out of my site.  What if he tries to steal a lick or two from ‘ol coug’s saucer of milk?? He could be lunch! Oh the worries and woes of parenting!!!

    Finally, you may have seen this heartbreaking storty of the “hero” dog from Santiago, Chile all over the news today.  Oreo, would have been proud!!

  • Best in Show & Best Shows

    Yesterday I took Roscoe to Runyon Canyon and he had a blast.  It was a picture perfect sunset.  Doesn’t he look handsome?

    Later that evening, Claudio & Ryan drove down and we went to see “Milk” and then had dinner.  The reviews are right, it was really well done and we all enjoyed it.  This review from slate.com, particularly resonated:

    Few reviewers will miss the opportunity to point out—the parallels are hard to ignore—that Harvey Milk was the Barack Obama of his day, a minority candidate who represented change, opposed the party machine, and preached a gospel of hope. Milk’s stump speech was dubbed the Hope Speech, and the last line of his recorded will, which also closes the film, was: “You gotta give them hope.” Milk was also, in essence, a community organizer, a grassroots populist with a gift for reaching out across San Francisco’s patchwork of minorities. After Prop 8 passed, some gay activists were all too eager to blame blacks and Latinos (two groups in which majorities voted “yes”) and to define the problem along racial lines. Milk’s impassioned rhetoric of inclusivity—he called his hodgepodge coalition, which ran from Asians to seniors to blacks to labor unions, “the us-es”—is helpful to keep in mind in light of the recent finger-pointing.
    Viewed in a post-Prop 8 environment, Milk might well suggest strategies for the culture wars to come. But had it appeared earlier, could this particular battle have been won? While it’s naive to presume that movies can swing electorates—just ask Michael Moore—those what-if questions are hard to dismiss, not least for the filmmakers. Interviewed by the San Francisco Bay Guardian recently, Van Sant conceded, “Harvey would have opened it in October.”
    That the question of timing and impact is being raised says something about where Milk falls on the spectrum of gay cinema. In one sense, it belongs with the AIDS melodrama Philadelphia and the closet weepie Brokeback Mountain in the relatively small group of serious gay-themed Hollywood movies that, partly because of their scarcity, still exist as consciousness-raising vehicles or as markers of social progress. (Milk is all but guaranteed a good night at the Oscars, given that many members of the Academy are likely to see a vote for Milk as a vote against Prop 8, not to mention a way to make up for giving the Oscar that was thought a lock for Brokeback Mountain, also a Focus release, to the odious Crash.)  Read more…

    So Milk and Slumdog Millionaire are clearly my two early Oscar favorites.  Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks so.  This chart from the LA Times compiles several critics early pics.  Slumdog is the one consistent Best Picture pick across the board.  

    “Slumdog Millionaire” is truly the top dog in our latest round of Oscar pundits’ predix. It’s the only contender in the best picture race that gets a vote from all six of us pundits, who include Anthony Breznican (USA Today), Edward Douglas (ComingSoon.net), Peter Howell (Toronto Star), Steve Pond, author, “The Big Show“) and Kris Tapley (InContention.com).

    BEST PICTURE Breznican Douglas Howell O’Neil Pond Tapley
    ‘Benjamin Button’

    X

      

    X

    X

    X

    X
    ‘Dark Knight’

    X

    X

    X

     

    X

    		  
    ‘Frost/Nixon’

    X

    X

     

    X

     

    X
    ‘Gran Torino’

     X

      

    		  

     

     

     
    ‘Milk’

     

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X
    ‘The Reader’    

     

    		      
    ‘Revolutionary Road’

     

    X 

    X

    X

    X

    X
    ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X

    BEST ACTOR Breznican Douglas Howell O’Neil Pond Tapley
    Leo DiCaprio, ‘Revolutionary Road    

     

    X

    X

    X
    Clint Eastwood, ‘Gran Torino’

    X

     

    X

    X

     

    X
    Richard Jenkins, ‘The Visitor’

    X

    X

     

     

     

     
    Frank Langella, ‘Frost/Nixon’

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X
    Sean Penn, ‘Milk’

     

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X
    Brad Pitt, ‘Benjamin Button’

    X

    X

    X

     

    X

     
    Mickey Rourke, ‘The Wrestler’

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X

    BEST ACTRESS Breznican Douglas Howell O’Neil Pond Tapley
    Kate Beckinsale, ‘Nothing But the Truth’  

    X

    		        
    Anne Hathaway, ‘Rachel Getting Married’

    X 

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X
    Sally Hawkins, ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’

     

     

     

    X

     

    		  
    Angelina Jolie, ‘Changeling’

    X

     

    X

    X 

    X

    X
    Nicole Kidman, ‘Australia’  

    X

     

    		        
    Meryl Streep, ‘Doubt’

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X
    Kristin Scott Thomas, ‘I’ve Loved You So Long’

     

    X

    X

     

    X

    X
    Kate Winslet, ‘Revolutionary Road’

    X

    X

    X

     

    X

    X
    Kate Winslet, ‘The Reader’      

    X

    		    

    After the movie, we came back to the Careyfornia for some leftover cherry pie.  Life is good.