sunset

Some Dizzy Whore, 1804

It was a crazy day weatherwise in LA today. It started out warm and sunny. I’m still dog-sitting, so I took the pups on a long walk this morning. We sat at a cafe for a while, and I read some more about my new camera. It certainly has a lot of hidden features…though not quite this many:

Anyway, here are some shots I took of Garbo & Ruby, and of the storm front that moved through Los Angeles this afternoon. Being close to St. Patrick’s Day, I was hoping for a rainbow, or at least a pot of gold.

A dreaded sunny day
So I meet you at the cemetery gates
Keats and Yeats are on your side

A dreaded sunny day
So I meet you at the cemetery gates
Keats and Yeats are on your side
While Wilde is on mine

So we go inside and we gravely read the stones
All those people all those lives
Where are they now?
With the loves and hates
And passions just like mine
They were born
And then they lived and then they died
Seems so unfair
And I want to cry

You say: “ere thrice the sun done salutation to the dawn”
And you claim these words as your own
But I’ve read well, and I’ve heard them said
A hundred times, maybe less, maybe more

If you must write prose and poems
The words you use should be your own
Don’t plagiarise or take “on loans”
There’s always someone, somewhere
With a big nose, who knows
And who trips you up and laughs
When you fall
Who’ll trip you up and laugh
When you fall

You say: “ere long done do does did”
Words which could only be your own
And then you then produce the text
From whence was ripped some dizzy whore, 1804

A dreaded sunny day
So let’s go where we’re happy
And I meet you at the cemetery gates
Oh Keats and Yeats are on your side

A dreaded sunny day
So let’s go where we’re wanted
And I meet you at the cemetery gates
Keats and Yeats are on your side
But you lose because Wilde is on mine
New Year’s Eve Eve

It was a beautiful, bright, clear day in San Francisco today. We’re watching a movie now, so I’ll just let the pictures and video do the talking. Happy New Year! –Carey

The best of the rest

Patrick and Carey in the “back yard”.
How the Pimp Stole Christmas & What a Difference a Month Makes

I went to my first Christmas party of the season tonight. For reasons that will be revealed in a week or two, one of the guests was dressed as, well, see for yourself. Before the party started though, I snapped a few photos of the the gorgeous sunset. For comparison, the first photo is one I took a month ago during the fires. I took the second picture tonight in the same location. The sky is still pretty, but luckily not smoke filled.

It rained today in Los Angeles for the first
time in what seemed like years. Though the rain was quite
welcome, it also caused a lot of trouble in the burn areas from last
month. It was nice though for a change.

My brother David and his girlfriend
Rebecca arrived today for a short stay. We went to Hollywood
tonight for dinner and a movie. We were going to see “Hitman”
at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, but when we found out it only got a 14 on
Rotten Tomatoes, we asked for our money back! (I
had bought the tickets online, before checking.
Dumb.) We instead opted for dinner at Hollywood & Highland, as I had a
$25 gift certificate. Hollywood after a good rain, is a
different place. Everything shines a little
brighter. It was as if I was photographing some
things for the first time. After coming home, we watched the
latest two episodes of Nip/Tuck. I think this season is
as good as the second one. They never cease to amaze me with
the storylines they come up with. That’s it, short entry, as I still
haven’t caught up on my sleep from Portland. Have a good
weekend.

Everybody comes to
Hollywood,

They want to make it in the
neighborhood.

They like the smell of it in
Hollywood,

How can it hurt you when it looks so
good?

Song of
the day. (It was either this or the Jonas Brothers, Christine!!)
Parades & BBQ’s – What a Difference a Week Makes

My lungs are finally starting to clear from the fire smoke. Today was a picture perfect day in Santa Barbara. We started the morning by taking Patrick to the State Street Halloween Parade. The costumes were great and the kids were adorable. After that we had brunch, and then enjoyed a lazy afternoon until we retired to Tom & Cathy’s for good food, with good friends. All in all a delightful Halloween weekend. Lots of pictures to share…these are my favorites, and the rest are in the slideshow below. Boo!

Patrick & friend

Shrek

Patrick, Cathy & Snoopy

Superman, meet…

Spiderman!

Scooby, Velma & Shaggy

Peter Pan

Alice in Wonderland

Dragonslayer

Eva calling Cathy on a land line

The ocean, from Bassam’s living room

There’s still residual smoke from the fires, so the sunset was awesome.

Chariot of Fire

Is he not the cutest?

Bassam being gangsta

Getting tired

This isn’t what it looks like! I don’t drink!! I actually fell off the balcony though. LOL We were talking politics, and I was getting animated, and it was dark, and… Honestly though…I was stone cold sober!! (And no, that’s not a pun!) I’m just a dork.

This is where I fell from. My butt is still sore!

The best of the rest!

Nuclear Winter

Update: There’s a new interactive fire map below. Drag & Click.

smokey

OK, the title may be a bit extreme, but it’s pretty strange driving through L.A. when it’s 85 degrees and snowing…..ash. I had to go down to Southern Orange County today, and it was like going to another planet. I thought that the air in Hollywood was bad yesterday. It was much much worse when I got past the Orange Curtain today. I knew that driving down was a bad idea. My cousins warned me first thing this morning:

Smokey
3 messages

From Jennifer

Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 8:30 AM

To: Carey

Carey, it’s TERRIBLE at my house. We walk the kids to school every morning (and have been all this week). There was NO WAY I would let them walk today. I drove them to school. When I got there, there were parents FREAKING out that teachers weren’t there with their classrooms open (so some kids were waiting outside for their teacher to show up to the class). Our nanny) has been home all week, and I’m making her stay home again today. She has degenerative lung disease and has been in and out of the ER for breathing treatments. I have 2 employees that live in SD County, and both can’t get to work today. One of them has been home all week due to involuntary evacuations and fearing that it might be mandatory at any time. Rob and I have good friends that have been evacuated from their home (2 families in San Diego county and one family in Santiago Canyon) – and don’t know when they can get back. Carey – I’m surprised you’re coming down here. With your asthma, you should stay clear of it down here!!!!!

From: Lisa
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 8:31 AM
To: Carey
Subject: Smokey

Carey, I’m not sure how it is at my mom’s house (I suspect the same) but it is extremely smoky here. We woke up this morning to a nice layer of smoke in the house. It’s just horrible outside. If I had a mask, I would have made Tommy wear it this morning but instead I made him hold a wet paper towel over his face while walking to the bus. The bus driver asked if we were going to be evacuated today (not sure where that came from??)?!?! I’m volunteering at his school this morning (which is only blocks away from my mom’s house) so I’ll see how bad it is there. Hopefully not this bad, but I have a feeling it will be. I haven’t talked to Jenn yet this morning either, but I’m sure she has it bad too. I just can’t believe how much worse it is today from yesterday. Yesterday I could hardly smell it. Call me on your way down. I should be on my cell. If I don’t answer, it just means I’m probably in Tommy’s class but they only need me for about 1/2 hour so I won’t be long. Lisa

From: Jennifer
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:05 AM
To: Carey
Subject: Smokey

Carey – I realize that I’m south of your office by a bit (in San Juan Capistrano)…but I have to say that it is dark brown/orange outside and the smoke is VERY detectible inside my office (the air conditioning does not begin to mask it). My building borders the 5 freeway, and it’s the air is same color as far as I can see to the north. I’m sure your office can give you a better idea of what it’s like in Lake Forest than I can. But honestly, the smoke is getting thicker as the day progresses. I REALLY think you should stay home.

Yesterday it was pretty clear – I guess the wind was blowing in a different direction and the fire wasn’t as bad. Today is a whole different story. My nanny was going to come to work today – but with her lung condition, we made her stay home. I don’t want her (or you) having to go to the ER for breathing treatments again.

All that aside, I’m glad I went because I got some great pictures. The color of the sky was like nothing I’ve ever seen. The ash was literally falling like snow as you can see in these photos I took this afternoon. The kids didn’t seem to mind…their lungs are a lot better than mine. I have to be down here again tomorrow so I’m staying with my cousin tonight. The winds have died down a bit, so hopefully the fires will stop spreading so much. Enjoy the photos!

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I took this from my sunroof driving south on I-5 near Irvine

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One thing about the fires, the create the most amazing sunsets

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I came outside after a few hours and there was this much ash on my car

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My message to the fire

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These 2 ASSHOLES were smoking! As if there wasn’t enough smoke in the air! They gave me the finger after I took their pic. FUCK YOU, FILTHY DISGUSTING SMOKERS!!

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See how red and puffy my eyes are? It’s SO dry here too.

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I think this picture looks like the surface of Mars

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All of the splotches in these pictures are ash falling from the sky

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This tree was completely charred

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This cactus barely survived

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These are actually burnt cacti, not piles of wood

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This snail didn’t make it

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Nearly full moon rising

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Tommy didn’t seem to mind the smoke

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Nor did Andy

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Carey & Andy

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The moon

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This almost looks like a movie set…the color was just surreal

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Andy laughing in the sand

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He was imitating me

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Just another day in Southern California

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Jennifer sent this one from by her office today. It’s the parking lot of the Oakley Sunglasses Corporate Headquarters.

View Larger Map

Old Friends

Song of the day

We had a great time this weekend. It was the first time that Daniel and I got to spend any quality time together in a long time. His wife and 3 other kids were in Illinois visiting relatives, so Tori, his 14 year old came along for the ride (from Phoenix) with their two dogs Niña and Abby. Tori’s current crush is Peter Wentz from Fallout Boy, so we basically did the Peter Wentz tour of LA. Peter’s favorite cupcakes, his home in the Hollywood Hills, his (future) star on the Walk of Fame, his billboards, etc. We also went to Venice Beach to take in another gorgeous LA sunset. We drove past the “Kwik E Mart” but the line to get in was over 2 hours long! Saw Transformers last night. I hated it…Tori loved it. (Probably because of Shia LeBeouf, who actually did a good job). I just put all the photos in a slide show on yesterday’s entry and am posting some of my favorites here. I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Boy at Grauman’s Chinese Theater

Daniel’s in the nerd gang

A relatively clear day in Los Angeles

An LA institution, Thai Elvis at The Palms

Beverly Hills

Caligula?

The guy in the middle is named Musashi. He’s a famous Japanese fighter who was getting stopped everywhere by Japanese tourists. Thanks to Kim85 for the ID!

Harry Winston diamonds are two girls best friend

A not so comforting sign when taking the dogs to the off leash dog park!

Abby the devil dog, LOL
Photo of the Week

I took this at the rooftop pool of The Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles with my Canon SD 800. The wide angle lens really makes a difference here. I’m so glad I held out for this model. The camera was set to manual with a 1600 ISO and a 1 second shutter speed. I set the camera literally at the edge of the rooftop pool, creating the infinity effect. I then turned on the 2 second delay and pressed the shutter. I experimented with a couple of different ISO’s but this one looked the best. The sky was already pretty dark in the east, but this photo was taken looking west, and obviously the winds were calm.