sunset

  • Blindfolded Eating & Cubing and a New Year’s Concert on the Shore

    I haven’t had much time to blog, so here’s a vlog to start the year.  On New Year’s Eve, Roin, Jack & Lucie, the kids at our party, wanted to make a video of me, blindfolded, eating unknown foods that they prepared!  The adults supervised to make sure they didn’t poison or hurt me (Tabasco Sauce on the apple was vetoed), but other that that, the little rugrats had run of the kitchen.  They were nice enough to have the foresight to provide me a barf bag, LOL.  Why I agreed to let them do this, is still a new year’s mystery.  The foods I ate were:

    1) Lettuce, Pickle & Peanut Butter
    2) Apple Juice & Lime Juice
    3) Apple & Salsa
    4) Tztziki & Orange
    5) Sausage, Chocolate & Cranberry

    My worst reaction was to #4.  I really hate white and creamy foods, and it shows!! LOL.  (I suspect that Eva, who knows my disinclination towards anything creamy, had a hand in #4.  Vicious!)

    After that, as it still wasn’t midnight and since they were kids at an adult party, I showed them a bunch of videos of Tyson and Macky solving the Rubik’s Cube, blindfolded and juggling respectively.  They thought it was a trick and didn’t believe that the videos were real. So I sent Tyson, who had just finished ringing in the New Year with friends in Boston, an instant message. He was nice enough to solve the Cube for them on the webcam, in less than 20 seconds. Needless to say, they were amazed. Thanks Tyson! Happy New Year!

    Here are a few more photos from yesterday and today.  The rest can be viewed here.


    Joaquin the little angel


    The first sunset of 2009


    Eva & Patrick in the Jacuzzi at sunset on New Year’s Day


    The Enchanted Forest


    That could almost be a painting behind them!

    Facebook finally has a video embedding option, so here are a few more videos from the past two days.  This first one shows a little musical performance on New Year’s Day, led by 3 year old Patrick.  The second one shows Tom & Cathy’s backyard tonight at sunset when it got very cold and windy!  I’ll compile a few more after I get home.  Does anyone know a free and easy to use alternative to Windows Movie Maker for the PC? 

  • 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

  • Cyber Reunions and Fairy Tales

    Every once in a while I’ll go in to Facebook’s Classmate Search and type the name of my high school and college to see who pops up.  The fact that I graduated from high school in 1983 used to make me the oldest living human on Facebook, but no more.  Yesterday, I found several old friends, some I thought I would never see or hear from again!

     

    Some of the messages we exchanged really made me smile.  The fact that my name came up at Thanksgiving 25 years after high school was a delightful surprise.  I didn’t have a whole lot of friends back then and it wasn’t the happiest time of my life.  These people don’t know how much their friendship meant to me during some very dark days.  It reminded me of this situation with another old high school aquaintance last year.  It just goes to show that you should always treat people nicely and with respect.  You may never know how much it means to them.

    Our long holiday weekend was capped off with a third movie, Australia (good, but too long).  I paid a visit to Hannah for story time and also dropped by to see Arielle who was unusally happy to see me!  Another pretty sunset ended the Thanksgiving weekend.  Have a great week everyone!

     

  • 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.

  • “To the Lighthouse My Friend…”



    “Standing on the most southwesterly point of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Point Vicente Lighthouse has long been one of this area’s jewels. To the landsman, the lighthouse is scenic delight and continual attraction to sightseers, tourists, photographers and painters. To the mariner, the lighthouse is an aid to navigation which marks the northern end of the Catalina Channel on the Pacific coast. It helps him plot his position and warns him to avoid the rocky shoals which surround the nearby shore and, in a heavy fog, its horn will warn him if he gets too close to the dangerous shore”


    Yesterday, after work, Amos picked me up his fancy Porche and we drove 32 miles to Palos Verdes to watch the sun set at one of Los Angeles’ hidden treasures.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.  All but the last one were taken by my little Canon SD850 Point & Shoot.  Amos took the last one with his Canon EOS 40D.  You can see his amazing photos on his Flickr.


    This is my new wallpaper…if anyone wants the full size version (sans watermark), message me your email.


    Me, using Amos’ camera.


    Yikes!


    I laugh in the face of danger!


    We’ll have to go back when there are a few more clouds, but this was beautiful!


    That’s Catalina Island in the background.


    “And thus ends another day…”


    A shining beacon, for all to see…and a lighthouse


    Too bad the moon wasn’t full!


    The sky reflected in the Carrera


    That’s Jupiter above the hood!


    Don’t I make this car look sexy?  LOL


    Amos took this one!


    Best of the rest…

  • A Hymn To Her (and Him I Guess ;-)

     

     
    And she will always carry on, something is lost but something is found.
    They will keep on speaking her name, something’s change, some stay the same.
    The above video doesn’t work on all versions of Firefox, so if it doesn’t play, try Internet Explorer or click here.
     
    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 last year at Virginia Tech.  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.  We were married in a small civil ceremony in 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:

    I met Sabine at Marcelo’s house in Piracicaba Brazil in 1997.  That Christmas many people had converged on Marcelo’s family home; both friends of Marcelo (like me) and friends of his sister Adriana.  Many of us did not know each other, but we all soon became great friends, and began our tradition of traveling together for New Year’s each year.  I was “homeless” at the time, traveling the world with my job, all expenses paid.  One day, we were all sitting by the pool in the backyard eating mangoes, and I was telling this assembled group of new friends my life story.  At the end, Sabine said, “Honey, I should marry you.  What a great life you have!”  To which I responded, “Honey, the only way I would ever marry you, is if we were in Florence Italy, at San Miniato at sunset, overlooking the Ponte Vecchio!”  We all laughed.

    Well, as luck would have it, wouldn’t you know that 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 horizon, we said our “vows“.

    weddparty
     
    LOL, so there you have it.  The story of my phony wedding in Italy.  Today, 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.   So here’s to you Bine, on your wedding day.  I wish I could be there with you in Denmark to celebrate, but as you know I’m in Orlando all next week on business.  I know that you will have a wonderful day.  You always do.  You il always carry on, and I will always love you.  GLY! xoxo
     

  • Captive Photos, Spam Scams & Buh Bye Georgie!

    Here are my photos of the sunset in Santa Monica the other night:


    If you want to see the whole album, it’s at:

    For you non-Mac people, you should definitely download the new Picasa.  It’s leaps and bounds above the old version, and in my humble opinion, the best free photo editing software for the PC.  The collages are really nifty, as is the blemish eraser.  Another excellent offering from Google!


    No paparazzi!

    Vivek’s first time in the Pacific


    Baywatch 2008


    Art by the beach


    Boy in da hood


    Artsy fartsy


    Heart beats


    Hotel on the beach


    Window shopping on the 3rd Street Promenade

    On a related note, I’m still trying to figure out a way to get Flickr Pro for free.  Last year, Yahoo pulled a bait and switch with my photos, and they are now holding more than 5000 of them hostage!!  When I converted from Yahoo Photos to Flickr, I had three free months of Flickr Pro during which time I was going to decide if I wanted to keep it or not.  I decided to switch to SmugMug, but before I did, Flickr locked my photos.  You see, they never told me when the 3 months started.  I assumed it was when I got access to my photos. (which was nearly 3 weeks after I requested the conversion!)  Despite them telling me they sent emails, I did not receive them.  (Perhaps they went to my Spam folder, or perhaps Yahoo/Flickr designed the emails knowing they would go to people’s Spam folders and cause them to miss the 3 month deadline, forcing them to pay for access to their own photos!).  I actually like Flickr, but I refuse to pay them $24.95 ransom to get my photos back!  Does anyone have any ideas?

    yahoo1 yahoo2 yahoo3 yahoo4 yahoo5


    [Flickr] Get more from Flickr!
    1 message


    Flickr Mail
    <donotreply@flickr.com>
    Fri, Sep 6, 2008 at 4:32 PM

    Reply-To:
    donotreply@flickr.com
    To: Carey Anthony


    Hi careyanthony,

    Your Flickr Pro account expired on December 3, 2007. You
    have 5887 photos but you’re now only seeing the last 200!

    Perhaps you’d like to renew your Pro account?

    You’ll even get 3 months free for purchasing before 30
    September 2008! You can learn more here:

    http://flickr.com/yay/comeback/3mo/

    The Flickreenos

    I’ve been getting some interesting SPAM of late.  Namely, this bogus society that just wants my money money money…

    and this Xanga hottie nottie barking up the wrong tree:


    Nice to meet you
    1 message


    Suzee Goodluck
    Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 12:08 PM

    Reply-To:
    suzeegoodluck@yahoo.co.uk
    To:
    suzeegoodluck1@yahoo.co.uk


    Hello,
    How are you and how is your work hope all is moving fine.i seek for honest partner and i meet you on xanga.com, it was interesting and attractive then i drop by to know who this was,
    i will like to know more about you. if you wouldn’t mind you can email
    me at my mail.

    i will be very glad to read your mail with all
    pleasure. it will be nice to meet you and also read from you. please do
    honor my invitation so that we can exchange our pictures and maybe
    become partner.  Remember the distance does not matter what matters is the love we share with each other.

    i wait to hear from you soon.

    kiss regards Miss Suzee

    If
    you’re looking to have a party to celebrate George W. Bush leaving
    office, than this is for you.  Please support my friend Jorge and click
    above to buy a t-shirt, hat or even a complete party kit.  Let’s celebrate the end of this long national nightmare and
    look forward to better days!


    Happy Birthday     to Jad & Jayson tomorrow.  I hope you guys both have a great day!!  I’ll be thinking of you both!

  • Connected in Cannon

    Good news!  The Front Desk clerk at the Blue Gull Inn which is across the street from the house we’re staying in succumbed to my flirtations and gave me their Wi-Fi password!  So we’re wired this weekend.  Here’s the first batch of photos.  Sunset was gorgeous.  Eva & Yolanda arrive tomorrow along with some other friends.  Should be a nice relaxing weekend.  My friends Todd & Laura, whose house we’re staying in, are the absolute greatest people in the world.  Their home is beautiful, and 1/2 a block from the beach.  Thank you guys SO much.  This is really a treat.  GLY!!


    Our home away from home for the next few days!


    We can see Haystack Rock (third tallest monolith in the world) from our living room!


    Footprints in the sand, courtesy of Marcelo.


    Old friends!


    Drew & Carey


    I always get nice silhouette pictures of Drew!  The weather was nicer today though than in November!


    Livin’ it up at The Hotel ToddLaurafornia!


    Click the photo above if you want to see the rest!

  • Civil Twilight – “I Want the Sun Back”


    Carey Anthony

    Re: Dinner Tonight
    4 messages

    On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 8:16 AM, Carey wrote:

    This is just an idea, but what if we got something to
    eat tonight and took it to Laguna Beach and watched the sun set?  Would
    the kids be into that or no?

    Carey

    On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 8:25 AM, Lisa wrote:

    I think that’s a wonderful idea!  I could get
    subway for the boys (and for us too if that’s what you want) &
    I’ll pack a cooler of drinks.  We could put a blanket down on the grass at
    Main beach in Laguna & have a great picnic.  Gosh, every once in a
    while, you come up with some good ones!  See, that’s why you get to make
    all of the decisions!  We could pick up the sandwiches right after
    gymnastics & pick you up at your office…it’s on the way.  What time
    are you off?

    On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 8:28 AM, Carey wrote:

    Sounds great!
    You don’t have to rush though.  Pick me up whenever.  The sun doesn’t even set until 8:03, and civil twilight ends at 8:32!
    http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_pap.pl
    See you later! xoxo

    Carey

    On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 8:30 AM, Lisa wrote:

    Civil twilight?  Did you make that shit
    up??? 


    Who’s your favorite cousin???


    If the video below doesn’t work, click here.


    Laguna Beach Sunset – As the sun disappeared, Andy said, “I want the sun back!” 


    Best of the rest!

  • A Runaway Bride in the Weekend Photoblog.

    Riley woke me up at 8:30 this morning after 3 hours of sleep, by jumping on the couch and licking my face.  Once everyone else woke up, we took him to the beach for a swim then walked to brunch at Tupelo Junction.  We then headed up to the courthouse for some photos.  It was so hot this afternoon, we went to see Prince Caspian/Narnia.  After that we went back to the beach for sunset, then for a nice late dinner at a new Italian restaurant down the street.  Here are some photos:

     

    Best of the rest: