George Clooney in Houston May 2012

melbert wrote:Lakin, to get rid of the spaces, after you've copied what you want, just use your "backspace" or "delete" button to clear out the empty lines. Hope that helps.

it's me wrote:on May 3?
sooooo near to his bd!

m4rose wrote:I wish I could tell you guys everything but I can't type that fast and I'm tired and must sleep only to dream about George. The best line of the night was when he was asked what his motto was and he said, "be the man your dog thinks you are." He was da bomb. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet him but it sure felt like I did.

it's me wrote:look!

he sings!
(no, non è vero...
cioè.... NON LO SO!)

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it's me wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Clooney earns ovation from crowd at Wortham

Maggie Galehous, Houston Chronicle

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Despite decades in TV and film, despite being voted Sexiest Man Alive (twice), and despite his very public protests of the government in Sudan, George Clooney really doesn't want to talk about himself.

The 50-year-old actor and director, who turns 51 on Sunday, got a standing ovation Thursday evening when he appeared onstage with Lynn Wyatt as part of the Brilliant Lecture Series, a nonprofit founded by Scott Brogan.

Wyatt asked the actor about his childhood, career, politics, dreams, hopes, fears and more, and Clooney replied with self-deprecating humor when he could but got serious when necessary.

Asked if he had a motto, Clooney said: "Be the person that your dog thinks you are."

When asked to cite his greatest achievement, he said: "My children," with a sentimental look. (He doesn't have any.)

When Wyatt asked what he learned from his parents, he said: "My father taught me never to mix grain with grape."

Clooney also told the crowd: "You can't get in trouble if you get arrested with your father."

He and his father, Nick, and several others were arrested March 16 for protesting outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. They accused President Omar al-Bashir of blocking aid and food from hundreds of thousands of civilians stranded near the border between Sudan and South Sudan, a region locked in an ongoing conflict.

Clooney told the crowd at the Wortham Center - and a woman from Darfur who rose to ask a question - that he's trying to raise awareness about Sudan by filming what's happening there and testifying before Congress about the killings of innocent men, women and children.

But when Wyatt suggested he had risked his own life when by visiting Sudan, Clooney shrugged it off with a quip: "I was in 'Batman & Robin.' That was risking my life. I almost killed a franchise."

The evening ended with a trumpeter playing "Happy Birthday" to Clooney onstage. Afterward, Clooney attended a private dinner at the home of John and Becca Cason Thrash.


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George Clooney unplugged: 10 things Hollywood's hottest star taught us during his Brilliant visit

By Clifford Pugh

05.03.12 | 11:39 pm

George Clooney isn't a god, but it might have seemed that way Thursday night at the Brilliant Lecture series because the set of the Wortham Center stage resembled a gigantic cross, which the actor/activist walked through to greet an adoring, near-capacity audience, heavily populated with voluptous women in skin-tight cocktail dresses.

During an interview and question-and-answer session that lasted just under an hour, Clooney was everything the predominately female audience hoped for — funny, charming, self-deprecating and dreamy. Just days before his 51st birthday on Sunday — the audience sang an early "Happy Birthday" to him — he seems more like a mischievious bad boy than infallible human being, which makes him that much more appealing.

His personal motto is a good one: "Be the person that your dog thinks you are," he said.

While there wasn't a lot of new territory uncovered — most fans already know about his passionate advocacy of the Sudan, his mansion in Italy and his fabulous life — Clooney revealed a few things we didn't realize about him and confirmed a few things we did.

1. He's refreshing normal
At every opportunity thoughout his evening in Houston, Clooney seemed to strive to break through his "movie star" confinement and make connections with everyday people. He hugged a Sudanese refugee living in Houston onstage, asked her what life in Houston was like for her, and appeared genuinely interested. (She replied through an interpreter that for the first time in her life, she was allowed to go to school).

During a short question-and-answer session, a St. Thomas University student asked him to choose three words to describe himself. After he rattled off "confused," "intimidated," and "gray — unfortunately," he good-naturedly turned the tables on her.

"What three words basically describe you?" he asked her.

"Seriously?" she said and seemed stunned that he would care.

Then she quickly regained her poise and responded, "Blessed," "energetic" and "happy."

Later in the evening, in the midst of a frenzy to meet him at the home of John and Becca Cason Thrash during a dinner where guests paid $2,500 each to attend, he reached out to CultureMap photographer Michelle Watson to see if she was OK.

"Are you getting trampled?" he asked.

When she said she was fine, he smiled.

She melted.

At the Wortham, when interviewer Lynn Wyatt asked him, "What's it like to be George Clooney?" he responded, "I have a fairly normal life, believe it or not," listing a home, a family and dog.

And we believed him.

2. Fame came to him late in life

Part of Clooney's balanced philospophy comes because he came a big success relatively late in life. He was 33 — really old by Hollywood standards — when he became an "overnight" star in the hit television series, ER. Prior to that he had appeared in 13 failed TV pilots and seven other TV series (including the Facts of Life and Sisters).

"Having failed a lot, you get a much better perspective," he said.

3. He can't sing

When he was filming the 2000 movie, Brother, O Where Art Thou?, everyone assumed Clooney could sing because his aunt was the great singer Rosemary Clooney. (She died in 2002.) They soon learned otherwise, he explained, once he opened his mouth.

4. As a child, he wasn't particularly close to his famous aunt

Before moving to Los Angeles at age 20 to seek an acting career, he had only seen his famous aunt "five or 10" times in his life, he said. "I always envied my cousins in LA," said Clooney, who grew up in Kentucky, where his father was a news anchorman.

5. He adores his parents

Clooney said he directed and starrted in the 2005 movie, Good Night, Good Luck, which pays homage to broadcast great Edward R. Murrow, as a tribute to his father, Nick Clooney, who adhered to the highest standard of journalism during his career. When the movie premiered at the New York Film Festival, his parents attended and a spotlight shone on them at the end of the movie, which Clooney said was one of the magic moments of his life.

"You can't get in trouble if you get arrested with your father," he told the Houston audience to loud laughter and applause.

In March, Clooney and his father were arrested at a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington to draw attention to the plight of the African nation. "You can't get in trouble if you get arrested with your father," he told the Houston audience to loud laughter and applause.

6. He's missing two talents

Clooney said he wishes he had learned a foreign language and to play a musical instrument. "If you learn these these two things, you can learn other versions of these things," he explained.

Right now he is having a heck of a time trying to master Italian. He's so bad that his instructor has given up on him, he said.

7. He wishes he were taller

Asked, "What is something about you no one would guess?," Clooney replied, "I'm 6-feet, 7-inches."

Actually he's 5-11, he said. But he was the center on his high school basketball team. There were 23 people in his graduating class.

8. His personal motto is a good one

"Be the person that your dog thinks you are," he said.

9. He used subterfuge to land his best friend

He scoured the Internet for a dog and fell in love with a photo of a cocker spaniel mix. When he called the pound, without identifying himself, the person answering the phone told Clooney she would bring the dog over, but the pooch had veto power over an adoption.

"What if this dog doesn't like me?" Clooney fretted. "I can't explain I'm the two-time sexiest man alive."
"What if this dog doesn't like me?" Clooney fretted. "I can't explain I'm the two-time sexiest man alive."

So he took two meatballs and rubbed them on his legs. When the dog arrived, he raced to Clooney and wouldn't stop licking him.

"I've never seen him act like that," the handler told Clooney.

Einstein is now a pampered member of the Clooney family.

10. And if you haven't already figure it out by now, he's wickedly funny

"How do you make it look so easy?" he was asked.

"I drink," he replied.

And his greatest achievement?

"My kids," said the notoriously-never-married-and-childless Clooney. "Little George, he's going to be president one day."

it's me wrote:Little George who?




you liar


I think he is really good in Italian speaking

but
for some (...) reasons
he doesn't want to admit

No, does not speak Italian well enough to understand but when you talk about all the wrong tense but his voice is so sexy that it's okay!

MyGirlKylie wrote:We all hope to see Little George in public office one day! LoL

Thanks for all the pics! Looking good Mr. C!

bellybaby wrote:@m4rose - in the 7th picture (from the ones that Katie posted from Henway) he looks like he's looking for you!!!!!!!!