Sabine (a founding member of the GLY Gang), left for Germany today by way of Boston (to visit Youenn).  It  was so nice having her here these last two weeks.  I miss her already.  (She just called to tell me that she saw Lauren Bacall in the airport after I dropped her off; who was in LA over the weekend to receive an honorary Oscar.  It was Bine's first star sighting this trip and a fitting end to two weeks in LaLa Land!)  The past couple of   days have been jam packed with fun.  On Monday, we went to see the movie "Precious".  Though I thought most of the performances were quite good; the movie left me rather disturbed.  Sadly, I fear that the situations portrayed in the film are not all that uncommon.  It's worth seeing, but it's definitely not the feel good movie of the year!  Last night we went to The Jay Leno Show.  Tyra Banks was supposed to be there, but she got stuck in NYC, so Kevin Nealon was the guest.  Bine and I got separated while  being seated, but I managed to smuggle my camera in and take a couple of shots before a mean security guard confiscated it.  He told me I had to delete the pictures, but I had already removed the memory card and discreetly slipped it in my pocket.  I told him the camera was "out of film".  He pondered that for a minute while looking at the camera and realized I was fucking with him.  LOL.  Then I told him I was just using the camera for the telephoto lens!  I'm sure he didn't buy that story, but there was no way I was giving him my memory card!  He finally got tired of arguing with me and walked away defeated.  During the commercial break, Sabine got to sing with Jay's band.  The problem was, she didn't know the words to Stevie Wonder's, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered"!  After the show, we headed to the Los Angeles Film School for a special free screening of the movie "In The Loop".  It was fantastic!!  The best way to describe it would be "as if Jane Austen and Monty Python collaborated on an episode of "The West Wing".  It's probably the funniest movie I saw all year.  Afterward, we sat in on a panel with the director and some of the cast.  What a great night! 

I completely reorganized my Facebook page the other night. I categorized all of my  friends by the labels you see on the left.  This makes it so much easier to use Facebook.  If I just want to see what my Xanga friends are up to, there's a category for that...same with family, casual acquaintances, people I'm "following" (like Twitter), and so on.  I also deleted a bunch of "friends" that I never talk to.  I added them all originally with good intentions; so if I deleted you by mistake, I apologize, just add me again.  Another big accomplishment was with my photos, all 6,223 photos in 141 albums (which is only 19% of the 32,720 photos on my hard drive).  I got them all categorized correctly and presented in my Photo Albums tab on Facebook.  You have to be a Facebook member to view the albums below, but I don't think you have to be my friend.  I also recently set up a Tumblr.  I'm warming up to microblogging more and more, and I think Tumblr just might be the next big thing.  Time will tell.

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. 

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!