Saturday, September 30, 2006
hand in the sand (with slims stamp faded from the night before)
Last Sunday a ton of us headed up to Marin for Buzz & Courtney's Birthday Beach Party and it was so fun!
I've finally posted all my photos, but there's a ton more (of course):
- Courtney's
- Aubrey's
- Felix's
At some point I will get around to posting the hilarious videos I shot, too! stay tooooned.
aubs & the birthday girl: jess!
Originally uploaded by Willo.
How lucky am I to have such beautiful, loving, fun, kick ass girlfriends!? So lucky! *group hug!*
The above photo is one I snapped at Jess's Lucky 13 birthday party a few weeks ago & finally posted on Flickr. Aren't they adorable!? :)
Seriously though... my girlfriends have been my absolute LIFELINE lately. I've found that in all the stress and overwhelm *life* can bring, I find such solace & extreme (often shrilling :p) happiness when I'm amongst my kick ass girlfriends. Thank you girls! xoxo
p.s. Check out Tantek's photos from her bday, too!
phoenix @ slims 3
Originally uploaded by Willo.
Possibly one of my favorite shows of the year. SO GOOD! I wasn't a huge fan of Phoenix's first release, Alphabetical
, but honestly I think it was more due to who gave it to me that I didn't give it a fair listen. That said, their latest release, It's Never Been Like That has quickly become one of my favorite albums of the year. Most notably, the song 'Napolean Says'. LOVE IT!!! Seriously in my Top 5* songs of this year. #1 being Hospital Beds by Cold War Kids, in case you're wondering.
*That is if I actually get around to posting my lists... often they just tumble around in my head.
But anyway - thing is I was really stoked to see this show, and completely prepared to wait the entire set in order to hear my favorite song. But what did they do? They played it FIRST!! ak! I screamed & turned around to Ali & exclaimed, "OMG! Premature ejaculation!" hahaa. I freaked out, and loved every minute of it. The best part though? They encored with a little sample of it, too! Double O! haha!
*le sigh, frenchies* you put on a kick ass show. xoxo
View all the photos from this show.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
IMG_6626
Originally uploaded by tantek.
Ali & I after the Emily Haines show last Friday night. Her blog post about it sums up my thoughts exactly!
check out my latest release: powered by gin & soda w/ extra lime
IMG_6549
Originally uploaded by tantek.
hehee. this is a photo from jess's fun bday party. i have a ton of photos to upload, but thought i'd post a few that other people have posted.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
ug.... this is so true:
"In a month that will bring all sorts of hidden feelings to the surface, a number of confrontations may come up, too - by month's end you may feel wrung out..."
thankfully it then says this:
"While this sounds ominous, all this month will bring is a set of tests, albeit quite a number of them. On the upside, you will get them done all at once. October should be lively and productive, and November will be extraordinarily happy. December should be downright glorious."
"Realize that the planets in these orbits will test the strength of your relationship, your contentment with your career, and your commitment to family. If any of these areas are weak you will be challenged to fix things or leave altogether. You want to live a strong, robust life, dear Gemini, with no weak links. The universe agrees, and is trying to help you!"
I know some of you don't believe in all this astrology stuff as much as I do - and who knows, maybe I'm looking to it more lately because I'm feeling in serious need of some GUIDANCE - but personally I love reading my horoscope on
astrology zone at the beginning of the month and then again at the end. And looking back on it today, it's pretty right on: This month has been tough in a lot of ways.
For those of you close to me, I think you've been hearing me question a lot about my business and career. I'm feeling a little unsatisfied and unsure about what I'm doing. I sometimes wish someone else would just make a decision for me, as sometimes it can all feel so huge and looming, but as hard as it can feel, I am grateful that I get to make choices in my life. I know that if I commit to looking at what makes me happy, I can get work through this and get to where I want to be.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
After seeing
Misty &
Hez's I couldn't resist:
Your Life Path Number is 3
You are a creative and artistic person with an interesting view on life.
Witty and outgoing, you enjoy sharing your crazy ideas with anyone who will listen.
A total social butterfly, you're the life of any party.
In love, you inspire and enchant your partner. You are often an object of fantasy and desire.
While you are very talented, you sometimes lack the ambition to put your talents in play.
And while your wit carries you a long way, you occasionally use it to mask your true feelings.
Your natural abilities can bring you all the success in the world ... if you let them.
- What Is Your Life Path Number?
If you all like this, I highly recommend you get Dan Millman's
The Life You Were Born to Live. Or just come over to my house & read your number. It's amazingly accurate & insightful.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Wow, lucky me! I got a surprise package in the mail from
ATO Records the other day! For those of you that don't know, a few ATO label bands you might recognize are My Morning Jacket, Ben Kweller, Gomez & Mike Doughty... awesome!
So I get this package with no note, nothing... and three advance CD's - aww yaa! Well,
Ben Kweller was just released yesterday, so essentially I got it the day before it was released... but seriously - how did they know I heart the BK SOO MUCH!?!? :) I'm going to see him Sunday & I can't even tell you how stoked I am to have the CD now so I can be front row swooning & crooning right along with the curly hair'd boy wonder. yay!
The other two CDs are bands I wasn't familiar with but I have a feeling I am going to like them. The first one is a band called
The Whigs, out of Athens, GA. Heard of em? I'm listening to em now & like what I hear. Somewhat similar to MMJ in that you can hear (and therefore appreciate) the lyrics, it's melodic, and slightly poppy with a hint of Southern twang. I like it! Oh & the album title: Give 'Em All A Big Fat Lip. haha. Right up there with
I Am Not Afraid Of You and I Will Beat Your Ass. haha. Are video games & violent movies to blame for this corruption of our innocent rockstars? :p
The second one is a band called
Rodrigo y Gabriela, who I haven't listened to yet, but just seeing their CD artwork I honestly think I would have never picked them up on my own (could use some work IMHO - aka design snobery). However, after reading even the first paragraph about them I am very intrigued & stoked to take a listen:
"Rodrigo (Sanchez) and Gabriela (Quintero) are two fast-fingered, Dublin-based, Mexicans with a unique sound created on acoustic guitars. Their music is difficult to define, straddling both world and rock, and often imbued with timeless Hispano--classical influences. The fire in it comes from their life-long passion for metal music. This spring, Rodrigo y Gabriela beat both the Arctic Monkeys AND Johnny Cash to number one in the Irish charts."
Wow, sounds good right?
Now who out there send this to me!? I'd love to know who that lil' music fairy is... but either way, THANK YOU!! You made my day & I'm really stoked to check these bands out!
And Ben, baby, I'll be seein you Sunday night! wooo!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Just read this & it's almost* exactly how reply to this comment:
"Motivation. I often hear the comment, "I could NEVER be self-employed! You must be so disciplined!" I don't think that I'm any more disciplined than the next person, and my answer is usually something along the lines of, "There's nothing more motivating than bills to pay." I think that there is a misconception that artists have to wait until there is a 'muse' who will inspire them towards creativity and industry. Nah. You work until 'it' comes, and THEN you ride the wave."
- beetlegrass blog post on 17 things she's learned being a freelancer for the last 17 years.
*Except I often say something like "I don't really have a choice! I'm the only one that can get the job done!"
I'm not always motivated by money... but I am motivated by making my clients happy. And although I have the good ol' artist struggle from time to time, I agree that you basically have to work until 'it' comes... and then it's usually smooth sailing from there.
- Via
WorkHappy.net. < More great links/tips for Freelancers.
Monday, September 18, 2006
As you can see from the past couple posts in a row, I spent a good couple hours today catching up on the last few weeks of photos. I was so behind! So below are links into three different albums. I recommend using the 'Slide Show' feature. ;)
Starting from way back at the beginning of September, I've finally posted
photos from Ted & Misty's super fun dinner party they had on Labor Day weekend. I didn't take the camera out until late in the night after we'd had plenty to drink, can you tell? :p
die hard party animals
::::::
The very next night we all had tix to Hijack the Disco & Cloud Cult @ Bottom of the Hill. Excellent show, not only because these are two of my favorite bands, but we also had a huge crew of friends there and that made it extra fun!
Matt, who I met at SXSW, is here from the UK. Isn't he adorable? :)
View photo album from the Hijack the Disco/Cloud Cult show.
::::::
The following weekend was Misty's Birthday! yay! We started @ Lucky 13 where we exchanged gifts & in general took over with our fabulousness. Then it was Cold War Kids time - we love them!!! Then back to Lucky 13 for more fun, because that's what we do best. awww yaaa!
mirror shot w/ the birthday girl @ lucky 13
Happy Birthday, Misty!! We love you! xoxo
View the photo album from Misty's Cold War Bday. And here's her post & photos, too!
As a continuation of my
previous post on Print Gocco and summary about the fun day Kevin & I had, I have now finally uploaded
all of my photos from that Sunday!
Me, Becca, Adam & Kevin enjoy mamosas pre-brunch @ Universal Cafe
Becca's camera took a good one of all of us, too.
Kazoo likes Kevin! so cute!
One of the final Octohug Gocco prints
View
full album of photos.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
I pretty much holed up all week, so it felt good to get out & enjoy some time with my friends lastnight!
Jim made us some AMAZING food and we all drank many glasses of wine and even played cards!
Lucky ladies Jim made dinner for: Hez, Lyne & I
After Jim's dinner party it was still early so I headed over to the Haight where I met up with Ali, Jesse and some others @ Persian Aub Zam Zam... and Mario & Ryan showed up too! yay!
Ryan's life does NOT suck at all :p
View
full album from Saturday night!
UPDATE: Here's
Hez's album from Jim's dinner party.
It was SUCH a beautiful day here today, I had to get out & go on a hike!
Ryan & I had talked about it the day before and I called
Lulu last minute and she was down - so off we went! yay! We stopped at Progressive Grounds, up on Cortland, afterwards for yummy smoothies, too.
View
all the photos from today.
For those of you who have been sending your positive healing thoughts to my kitty, thank you!! You've been doing such a great job that my fuzzy lil' boy's tail has been healing lightspeed fast!
Some of you may have heard about how ~5 days after
Kazoo got stitches I noticed they had come out and the flap of skin they had tried to stitch on, was hanging off exposing the deep wound (
photo). So I called the vet & by the time we talked, 24 hours later, I noticed it was scabbing up pretty good. So we decided, instead of the chaos of bringing him in again, we'd just extend the antibiotics Rx & keep a close an eye on it. The flap fell off about 24 hours later, and since then the scab has just been getting smaller and smaller (
photo from today < not that gross).
my fuzzy buddy & his "designer" tail :p
can I go outside yet, momma?
Thanks again to all my friends who have expressed concern & keep checking back in with me about how he's doing. You're the best! xoxo
I did a little photoshoot of my handsome buddy today. They can be seen in the
September 2006 album!
These prickly lil f*rs are NOT allowed in my salad. So I pick em out...
A few more photos of prickly icky frisee, Kazoobie, Miss Ali & I at lunch last week, Ryan & (the other) Ali who stopped by on Saturday, etc. all can be found in the
September 2006 album.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Delight! Yay! Cheer!
Originally uploaded by kev/null.
I cannot believe it's taken me so long to blog about this, but I've been pretty busy working all week, and in general holing up into my home sweet home (aka hermiting... and loving it).
I'm way behind on photos, but luckily my awesome documenter friend Kevin isn't, because he posted a great set of photos he snapped from last Sunday when we broke out my Print Gocco for the first time!
What's a GOCCO you ask? It's basically a way to do photo emulsion screenprinting right in your own home! For more information, visit Gocco.com, and most importantly, visit SaveGocco.com, as right now they've stopped manufacturing the main units until they can find a new investor. Honestly I think (hope) someone will develop something similar in the next few years, as it's just too awesome of a little contraption to not keep producing!
Anyway... after a super fun day of breakfast @ Universal Cafe, hitting SFZineFest, coming back here & getting the artwork ready, going to make copies (need copies for the carbon to transfer to the screens) and a yummy impromptu sushi dinner, we came back here & busted into my Gocco for the first time.
Check out the full photo set here, or if you do nothing else, click on the photo above & see the hilarious animated gif Kevin did of me (more specifically, the expressions on my face) as I exposed my first screen. It makes me laugh every time. I guess I was pretty nervous about messing it up. haha!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
...but it is down right SCARY how few of
these I can place.
How'd you do?
Saturday, September 09, 2006
I made an awesome dinner for myself lastnight:
Balsamic Chicken w/
Asparagus (see recipe). I had some frozen asparagus in the fridge, but thought I'd look online for a quick recipe, and happened upon that one (on Target.com of all places!?). I love water chestnuts! It was yumm. But for the record I am NEVER buying frozen asparagus again... it's automatically predisposed to being limp and stringy with all that water in it! Fresh from now on! Oh, it's worth noting that I also came across
this page that has some great info about Asparagus, including why it makes your pee smell (bottom left)! I love that "Asparagus Pee" is even part of the page title. ha!
In other news: This weekend is
SFZineFest, you should go - it's FREE!
Friday, September 08, 2006
OMG. I'm watching
Million Dollar Baby right now and it's SOOOO GOOD!! I'm in my house hootin' & hollering: YESS!!! GET HER!! haha. SO good! Rent it.
update: WOW. Seriously ties for the best movie I've seen this year (the other one being Walk the Line). Any movie that not only makes me laugh & yell out in joy, but that can leave me with a knot in my chest in a lump in my throat like that has my vote! Truly amazing and worth every Oscar & award they received for it! BRAVO.
Cinco de CTTP
Originally uploaded by tantek.
We had a whole crew at one point @ Coffee to the People today! From left to right: Kevin Burton, Kevin Cheng, Matt, Tantek, me & Eran. And, after Tantek & Eran had left, Nick even stopped by! aww yaa... I was surrounded by geekyfantastic boys all day AND I got a lot of work done! yay!
p.s. This photo's funny because Tantek insisted we simply look 'as we were' - all busy working. :p But I actually do wish we'd taken one where we were all looking! Still very fun, as if you'd walked in the cafe, this is the view you'd have seen of our lil' geek posse.
p.s.s. Matt snapped a few as well, so I'll link to them after he's posted em. Here's Matt's! Taken with his awesome wide angle no less. hott!
Flash Mob: The Office
Originally uploaded by mbiddulph.
This is from an email I just received from
MoveOn.org. I felt it was important enough to completely repost:
"In a little over 48 hours, ABC will air a five-hour "docudrama" on the 9/11 attacks. The movie was written and produced by a right-wing activist who fabricated key scenes to blame Democrats and defend Republicans. It's so partisan that even Rush Limbaugh was surprised ABC decided to air it. And an FBI agent who was brought in to consult on the docudrama quit because, he said, "they were making things up."
Public outrage is mounting across the country, and Variety reports that ABC is now "mulling the idea of yanking the mini altogether." But we only have a little time to act. We'll start delivering this petition to ABC headquarters tomorrow at noon and continue as more signatures come in. So we're looking for 200,000 signatures TODAY.
Please click here & sign. Then please pass on this message to folks you know who can help.
The Path to 9/11 appears to be part of a coordinated push - including speeches by President Bush and millions of dollars in advertising - to exploit the five-year anniversary of 9/11 for political gain. That's not acceptable from anyone - especially not a news organization like ABC.
It's not just that ABC's movie is slanted. Big parts of it are simply untrue. The producer himself even admitted to simply improvising a key scene which depicts the Clinton administration letting bin Laden go when they had him in their sights - a complete fabrication. Last night, the movie's star, Harvey Keitel, said "It turned out not all the facts were correct."
It's really pretty simple: ABC shouldn't have any role in the political exploitation of 9/11. But this docudrama is designed to do just that - spreading a false message to millions of viewers across the country.
Sign the petition to tell ABC not to air partisan propaganda on 9/11."
Note I took out the source citations that they had on their original email... but they were there & can probably be found on their site.
Happy Friday, everyone! It's about damn time I post another one of these, eh? Sorry for the delay. Also sorry my answers aren't along with it, but I thought I'd give you all a head start. :)
"If you could time travel back to 1987, and were in charge of programming an outdoor one-day music fest consisting of seven bands/acts that you have never seen but were performing during that era, who would you choose?"
OK! List our your magical seven in the comments and feel free to link to your own blog post about it, too.
::::
Related posts:
music snob question #1 |
music snob question #2
Thursday, September 07, 2006
This is a powerful and amazing statement which appeared on Al-Jazeera television:
watch video (on YouTube) or
read transcript
The woman in the video is
Wafa Sultan, an Arab-American psychologist from Los Angeles.
Thanks to my friend Steve for emailing me this.
p.s. This statement is particularly hitting home to me right now because I'm almost finished with the book
Ishmael. Any of you ever read that?
Hey voters! Please visit the new
NoOn85 website and get informed about the very important Proposition we'll be seeing on the ballots in a few weeks!
In fact, did anyone catch the Pro-Choice/Pro-Life episode of
30 Days? I'm loving that show lately.
Morgan Spurlock does a great job of juxtaposing two opposing worlds to really make you think. Or, similar to what he did in
Super Size ME, in the 30 Days episode where he himself goes to prison - and the other episode where him & his girlfriend live on minimum wage for a month - it gives you a great window into the systems that are in place in our country, how they came to be and most importantly makes you question if they're really working in our favor today.
Anyway, the Pro-Choice/Pro-Life one was great, as it's obviously a VERY heated debate in our country. Spurlock's show did a great job at showing us the facts and one that was really alarming to me was just how many states are changing their laws state by state, and the amount of abortion clinics are dwindling. I should probably state here that I don't think abortion is the greatest thing ever or anything, nor do I think it should be used as a form of birth control by any means... but I do very much think we need to fight for our right to CHOOSE. The 30 Days episode's main character, Jennifer, was placed in a home where they help mothers have their babies, which is really wonderful for those in need. But the part I think was so hard for Jennifer, as it was for myself, is that it was also so religious that they couldn't see past their conviction into the realities of today. Every woman is in a different situation and no one should be *forced* to have a child, especially considering the population concerns, and the mere fact that it's not like the government or these Pro-Life campaigners are doing anything in the realm of Contraceptives Education!
OK, I'm sure you've all heard me rant on this before... it's definitely one of the political debates that fires me up the most. I'll stop here, but please visit that site and/or be sure to vote and spread the word with others to vote no on Prop 85! Thank you!!!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Willo & Misty
Originally uploaded by bagelradio.
A big thanks to my awesome friends Ted & Misty for hosting a kick ass dinner party Sunday night! I have some photos I still need to download & post, but I love this photo Ted took of Misty & I (above).
Check out Ted's full set & read Misty's post & view her photos from the night... there's some really funny ones. Hi! Can you say 12 bottles of wine!? :p
Saturday, September 02, 2006
A bunch of us took Aubrey up on her gracious offer of joining her (aka sneaking us on) the Google Hornblower Cruise, and we had a blast! Free drinks & apps = we were feelin the Aubrey/Google love. :)
Afterwards Mario & I impulsively decided to check out Ripley's Believe it or Not (I had never been) before heading over to our 8:30 reservations at the Franciscan, which is an amazing seafood restaurant right on the water. We indulged in a 5 course tasting menu (thanks Mario!) before heading over to 111 Minna to check out the last night of the Fecal Face show. We ran into Nick Douglas there & dragged him along to go surprise Ali @ the Bigfoot Lounge where she was having a drink with Sean. Super fun night!!
Check out the photo album from the night & I even posted a few videos, too!
kazoo and his conehead
Originally uploaded by Willo.
As I mentioned in the previous post, he didn't last long with the cone on, but here you can see just how sad (but kinda cute) it was... and his little poodle-ish tail where they shaved a part for the stitches. :( So sad.
There's a few photos here (sorry some are a little gross), and I uploaded a few videos, too.
UPDATE: Please see
this post for an update on Kazoo and some recent photos. He's healing up good!
Friday, September 01, 2006
My poor baby kitty had to go to the vet today (more details in the
previous post), and after picking him up I saw they had done what we (mateo, my kitty daddy & I) had feared: put a cone on him! awww! :( However, being the stubborn fella that he is, within the first 90 minutes or so at home he was so fed up bumping into everything and not being able to do the simplest things - like eat a piece of food off the floor - he yanked his way out of it. Oy. They said it was supposed to stay on all week, but there was no way I was going to put either of us through the torture of trying to put it back on him... especially when he'll just rip it off again AND the first time he about strangled himself getting out of it. And god forbid that happen in the middle of the night or something. So this kitty momma says it stays off. Honestly I think it's so sore at this point he won't dare lick it for awhile anyway.
You should see his little shaved tail (well part of it)... he looks like a poodle or something. Super furry tail, then a big space, and then the fluff at the end. But now that the hair around it is gone I can see the wound is really bad. It's a good thing I took him in... he could have lost part of his tail to infection or something!! :( poor baby.
The worst part though has been seeing him so drugged up & out of tonite. He'll try to jump up on the table & he can't make it... and then if he does, he's so wobbly he's fallen off a few times. :( When he first came home he was so hungry - but it's like his motor functions weren't working, so he'd try to eat, but he was just slobbering all over the food and every once & awhile one would make it in. Every time I pick him up he's just a limp snuggly baby in my arms. I'm sure he's just so happy to be home now... and I'm glad I didn't have any plans tonite, so I could be here with him.
I know this is the worst of it, but it's still been a pretty traumatic day for both of us. I'll be giving him antibiotics every day and keeping him inside for awhile (which he is going to hate), but if you're a kitty lover, please send some loving thoughts our way that he heals up OK.
UPDATE: There's
a few photos here (sorry some are a little gross of the stitches) and I uploaded
a few videos, too.
My poor lil' buddy has to go to the vet today. Seems he got in a fight at some point over the last few days & he has a little scratch under his nose and a really bad owie on his tail that he won't let me get near at all. His tail sways up in the air like normal, but at that spot it's a little crooked, like it hurts him to raise it any further than that point. :( poor buddy!!
Thing is he HATES the vet... so I think they're going to need to sedate him to even look at him. oy. I've already apologized in advance for the trauma that's coming.
After I drop him off there I think I might meet a friend at Ritual for a few hours.. oh & I think I'll probably post music snob q #3... who's excited? :)
happy friday everyone! UPDATE: Ugg... so NOT a happy Friday. Taking Kazoo to the vet was stressful to say the least... They put him under in order to fix up his tail. She said it was a pretty deep cut & she might have to do some stitches or staples, and then they'll give him antibiotics, etc. I pick him up at 6 tonite... poor buddy. And poor kitty momma: the vet bill is going to be around $400. :( August has been really crappy in the way of money & bills. I sure hope Sept. is better.
No music snob q - after several hours at the vet & dealing with some other things, I need to focus on work for awhile. blah.
