Peering into the innermost regions of Eta Carinae and other massive beasts in the Galaxy

Massive stars are rare but essential constituents of a stellar population. Because these stars have a high luminosity, they 
lose mass at an enormous rate through stellar winds and episodic giant eruptions during the unstable Luminous Blue Variable 
(LBV) phase. Shaped by the presence of rapid rotation or a close companion, the circumstellar environment around very 
massive stars is complex and nothing but spherical. In this talk, I will discuss recent efforts to probe the effects of extreme 
mass loss, rotation, and binarity in Eta Carinae and its less-famous but extremely interesting siblings. Special emphasis will 
be given to discuss  results from observations that directly resolve spatial scales comparable to those where mass loss 
originates. I will present how peering into scales as small as a few milli-arcseconds allow us to investigate kinematical effects 
of rotation and binarity in as much detail as ever.