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Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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People of Walmart - Hollywood Edition
So yesterday, I'm walking down Santa Monica Blvd. with Heather & Brian's son who's 7 years old. While I'm holding his hand I reach into my pocket for my camera and discreetly take this photo while trying to distract him with conversation. I wasn't sure if he had even noticed this person on the bike or that the "person" had a beard; but after we passed the bike, this wide eyed little boy looked up at me and said, "Well that was embarrassing!" I responded that yes, indeed it was. He asked why someone would dress like that. I told him that it was probably for attention. He asked "Why?", to which I replied that the person on the bike probably didn't have a mommy and daddy who paid a lot of attention to them, and that they probably liked to shock people to get attention. I told him he was lucky to have so many people in his life that love him. He looked up at me and said, "That makes sense."
Recently my friend Doug sent me a link to this website:
It's a site where you can submit photos similar to this. As described on their website:WHAT IS PEOPLE OF WALMART.COM?
You know that creature you spot every time you go shopping at certain chain department stores? That’s People of Walmart. It’s like spotting the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot except, since it’s Walmart, way more common. Take a picture of it then tell us about your creature and your spotting.
HOW DO I KNOW IF MY PICTURE IS APPROPRIATE?
If you think the person would be classified as “a Walmart shopper” then chances are good it works. Funny looking people, crazy outfits, the creepiest of the creepy, and the ugliest of the ugly will do. HOWEVER, we do not wish to poke fun at people who, through no fault of their own, are handicapped. Absolutely NO pictures of someone mentally or physically handicapped will be added to the Website.
So...I submitted my photo. The prize is a $100 Walmart gift card, which I guess would allow me to take more pictures of "creatures". LOL It's going to be hard to beat some of these past winners! I'll let you guys know if I win!!
In the meantime here are the rest of my weekend photos. After our run in with the Fairy Godmonster, we headed up to Claudio & Ryan's for a barbecue. A good time was had by all. Tomorrow we're going to the Jay Leno show, so watch for us on TV!
The kids and I cuddling on Sunday morning
Nathaniel living the Hollywood life
Another beautiful day at The Hotel Careyfornia!
Eva & Chazz, together again!
Claudio manning the grill
Chazz, Bine, Bassam, Eva, Ryan, Claudio, Alex, Danny & Steven
Who's a good dog?
The whole gang together again!
Click here for the best of the rest...
Sunday, 08 November 2009
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My Big Fake Italian Wedding
Updated Photos Below...
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 two years ago when she attended Virginia Tech during the shootings. 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. I've told this story before, but it bears repeating. We were "married" in a small civil ceremony in Florence, 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, 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 Tuscan sky, we said our "vows". They even made a marriage certificate which you can see reproduced above.
LOL, so there you have it. The story of my phony wedding in Italy. Just this past summer, as you may remember, 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, LOL. So in July I traveled back to Italy where we celebrated her "real wedding" for a week in a beautiful Tuscan villa. Last night, Sabine arrived for a 2 week stay at The Hotel Careyfornia. Eva and I picked her up at the airport. Today our friends Heather & Brian arrived with their two adorable kids. Tomorrow we'll head up to Claudio & Ryan's for a barbecue. We'll also spend some time up in Santa Barbara with Bassam. More pictures to follow, but here are a few from so far this weekend:
Welcome back to The Hotel Careyfornia Sabine!
We headed to one of our favorite Thai restaurants to see Thai Elvis
Click here for the best of the rest...
I was sad to learn that both of the shooters from the recent tragedies yesterday and today, went to Virginia Tech. The last time Bine was here, it was because of another tragedy, at Virginia Tech; one she witnessed first hand (as the above accounts detail). Virginia has some of the most lenient gun laws in the country. Let's hope President Obama is successful in passing stricter gun control. Anyone who thinks the "right to bear arms" should include assault weapons is truly ignorant.
Sunday, 01 November 2009
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Halloween in Hollywood
It was a hot Halloween in West Hollywood this year. The temperature reached 93° (34° C). This morning I walked to Pavilions to buy my balloon for my costume. Claudio, Ryan & Chazz showed up later and I took Chazz up to the roof for sunset. There was almost a full moon and the sky was beautiful:
Chazz on the roof with downtown LA as a backdropLisa sent this picture of Andy in his costume. Cute huh?
On Halloween night every year, West Hollywood stages perhaps the most extravagant Halloween party anywhere. The City of West Hollywood calls the Costume Carnaval the largest adult outdoor Halloween event in the world. Santa Monica Boulevard, one of the busies streets in Los Angeles, is converted into a pedestrian only zone between Doheny and La Cienega Boulevards.
So, when it got dark, it was time to hit Santa Monica Blvd. where 500,000 costumed revelers flooded the streets for the Annual Halloween Carnaval. I took some "before" pictures this morning, to compare to what it looked like tonight:
The most popular costumes this year were Lady Gaga and "Where the Wild Things Are". Of course there were a lot of Michael Jacksons, and several "Balloon Boys", though the were all older than me. LOL
Me, as Balloon Boy's Dad amidst a sea of balloons. And yes, I'm holding a Tupperware barf bucket for the Balloon Boy(s) to puke in, just like he did on national TV! I'm also wearing ABC Wife Swap credentials!
Chazz was Balloon Dog!
"Friend in my head", Levi Johnston was even there with his manager Tank Jones!
That's LaToya Jackson (Michael's sister) in the orange wig
Pregnant Dorothy
This was my favorite costume of the night...from "Up"
Wild Things!
So there you have it another Halloween has come and gone! Here's the best of the rest...
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
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Yes We Did - Get Over It (Levi Johnston Reads my Blog)
9 PM: UPDATE to the UPDATE: Levi Johnston just posted my blog on his Twitter page and I got like 300 hits in 30 minutes! Which means that right now, Levi Johnston is sitting in a hotel room in New York looking at picture of Chazz! LOL!! Then I got a message on my phone from him that said this:
Thanks Levi! I appreciate the help! If my blog can change one person's mind about ever voting for Sarah Palin again, I'll have done my job.
And Levi, I know you "dated" Kathy Griffin, but did you know she also loves my dog Chazz?? And Chazz knows President Obama, so it's like 3 degrees of separation! The four of us should do lunch next time you're in LA!
7 PM: UPDATE: Well, Sarah Palin's daughter's baby daddy, Levi Johnston, confirmed today, what I blogged about months ago: Sarah Palin hates retards! Now I just need him to confirm that she's the mother of Michael Jackson's son, Blanket! LOL. I just started following him on Twitter, so hopefully he will follow me and read all of my posts about his whack job, almost monster in law: He's actually a pretty funny kid. He just sent this tweet from New York:
Clever, right? Of course, 5 minutes later he tweeted this:
LMAO!! Sarah must be SO LIVID!! Actually, she's already slamming him for "selling his body to Playgirl". And he slammed right back with a tweet about her selling her soul!!! LOL. Keep up the good fight Levi!!
1 AM THIS MORNING: 1 year ago today, I wrote a post called "Yes We Will - Count On It". It was a exactly one week before the presidential election and I had a conversation with someone who could not fathom a black man in the White House. This week that same person had the unmitigated gall to send me one of those ignorant emails that spread racism and hate (that I refuse to repost here), telling me I can't deny "history" and espousing the same disgusting "we're the greatest country on earth" blah blah blah rhetoric that angry white men like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh puke out (because an 'uppity negro' in power obviously makes them sick to their stomachs). Guess what? Racism is still alive and well in America one year later. I am looking forward to this documentary on HBO next week though (almost as much as I'm looking forward to Levi Johnston's revelations about Sarah Palin tomorrow). Check out the kid in the beginning and end of the clip. His name is Lorenzo. He's nine years old and he's priceless:
Because of copyright, this video only plays in the U.S., so here's a news piece about the documentary that shows the kid I was referring to and some other nice scenes of the President with his kids and reflecting on his accomplishment.
Meanwhile, George W. Bush is giving boring speeches, charging $4.95 admission fee. Oh, and the lecture series is being arranged by a former drug dealer. LOL, what a buffoon. Clinton is rescuing people from North Korea and W is resigned to meet and greets in Wal-Mart parking lots!The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c George W. Bush's Motivational Speech
The documentary looks good, right? It's so amazing to think that a year ago 
today, no one knew for sure that Obama would/could win. It was also around this time last year that I went to the pumpkin patch with Hannah and Arielle. Since this is Chazz's first Halloween, I took him there on Sunday. When we arrived, there were a ton of paparazzi snapping away as Christina Aguilera was just leaving. Of course, once we got there, they fixed their long lenses on Chazz, and how great he looked against the backdrop of orange pumpkins and crimson sky:
If you look closely you can see that as Christina Aguilera exited the pumpkin patch to the stars, the paparazzi waited for the perfect shot of Chazz!
He even went on a hay ride!
He also got to hang out with his pal Roscoe while Ann & Arielle look on
On the way home, LA Lakers star Ron Artest was making milkshakes, and Chazz had to try one! Just another day in Hollywood for a famous dog who has met the president and written his own children's book!
Click here for the best of the rest...
Saturday, 24 October 2009
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The Easiest Halloween Costume Ever!
Halloween is a week away and I've been far too busy these past few weeks to come up with a costume. I keep thinking it will be hard to top last year when I dressed as a moose in a bulletproof vest, trying to avoid all of the Sarah Palins with guns! I got shot twelve times that night:
West Hollywood always has a huge Halloween carnival where they close off Santa Monica Blvd. and host hundreds of thousands of costumed revelers. It's just at the bottom of my street and I've never gone without a costume. Then laying in bed last night, I had an epiphany. I thought of the easiest, cheapest, most low maintenance costume possible. All I need to do is: - Wear a cream colored shirt
- Carry a clear Tupperware container
- Get a silver foil balloon
- Maybe pop some Jiffy Pop popcorn
- Walk up to every cute Asian "boy" (mind you, they will all be of age) on Santa Monica Blvd and ask him to take a picture with me while fake puking into my Tupperware container and holding the balloon. After all, I've never had a problem taking pictures with cute Asian boys:
I wonder how many "Balloon Boys" I'll see on Santa Monica Blvd. this year? I bet there will be a lot of Susan Boyle drag queens too. LOL
So there you have it. The easiest costume in history. I'll be the Balloon Boy's father, Richard Heene. I guess I'll have to shave the goatee. Oh well, I'm tired of people telling me it's gray, a fact I'm quite aware of. Even if people think my costume is lame, it will be a great way to meet new friends and add to the collage below! LOL.
Click to enlarge and click again to enlarge even more...
There's quite a few Xangans on here...recognize any?Maybe I'll even put these 3 videos on an iPod and have that playing. I call this the Balloon Boy Trifecta. Watch all three! Warning, the songs are quite catchy!
Speaking of cute kids, I went to see "Where the Wild Things Are" tonight, on Jech's recommendation and I loved it! The book was always a favorite of mine as a kid, and I feared they might ruin it, but it was just delightful. Here are a few photos from the theater and one of me and Aunty LuLu last night for Thursday Spaghetti.
The famous Cinerama Dome on Sunset Blvd., where we watched "Wild Things"
Looking west on Sunset Blvd.
Downtown Los Angeles in the distance
I snapped this while driving...not as bad as this dumb broad, but I hope she burns her calves!
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