the (mis)adventures of spangley in the city.

art history dork.

2008-03-28T11:31:00.001-07:00

i've been meaning to blog about this for a while but i always remember when i'm like, on the bus without access to the internets. anywaaaaaays, is it just me or does the vampire weekend album cover totally remind you of the william eggleston photo of the red room/lightbulb that always makes me think that something sinister is going on in the rest of the room and therefore the lightbulb was the only thing appropriate to photograph? YES! i wonder if they did that on purpose....

william eggleston; greenwood, mississippi 1973

vampire weekend album cover.

*and in case you haven't noticed, i've been bloggin' up a storm (or at least daily) over on my tumblr page. clickity click on over!

exception?

2008-02-22T11:33:00.001-08:00

i saw this super sweet mixtape wallet on etsy today & i kind of want to buy it:

i am thinking it would be an acceptable purchase because it's handmade. and...cute. also, per the description it fits "both US and non-US currency". it's international! so chic.

fact: staying in on a saturday night might lead to impossibly long-winded & reflective blog posts.

2008-02-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

i don't make resolutions because i feel like i'm setting myself up for failure...ha. but, i did make a semiconscious effort to not partake of one of my most superficially-rewarding activities for the duration of january: shopping. this was partially because i am perpetually broke. also partially because i feel pangs of guilt when i purchase $20 babydoll dresses from forever 21 that will last all of 3 months and/or 12 8 wearings (both due to quality & my fashion fickleness/short attention span) and whose manufacturing & inevitable elimination from my wardrobe only add to my environmental impact in these trying ecological times.

*i will say, however, that i am a clothes (w)hor(e)der & also rarely throw anything away, instead donating it or bringing my castoffs to our semi-regular clothing swap. so i guess i'm not as horrible as i could be.

so, last month i decided not to buy any clothing - after all, i received a few goodies for christmas and really, do i need any more clothes? probably not, but i do love the fashion. baby steps here people! i was almost successful too - save one minor purchase which was a product of a severe fashion emergency (jess's going away dinner & party last weekend). hey, desperate times call for fashionable measures. and i justified it threefold: a) it was on super sale b) it was from a local boutique so i was supporting a small business owner (who happens to be a woman - lookin' out for the laaaadies) and c) it is seasonally versatile & i can wear it pretty much year round in SF - layered with tights & long sleeves in the winter, on it's own on the two days out of the year it's actually warm enough to go bare armed & legged.

so january was a successful experiment, in my book.

and now, inspired by natalie's 2008 decision to follow the compact movement (and her new blog documenting her progress), i think i'm going to try to keep up with curtailing my shopping. also, when i do shop, i'm going straight vintage/used in the clothing department (hello, ebay wonderland!) - except for things like undergarments, duh. i will also aspire to purchase only used items in other shopping categories when warranted & possible.

in other, related news, i signed up for mint.com and have been tracking my spending trends and boy do i spend a nice chunk of change on coffee. i already know this, and it's an extravagance i allow myself to indulge thankyouverymuch, BUT it also got me thinking - that's a lot of disposable coffee cups i go through! for shame! even though i recycle them, it's just a little ridonkadonk to be that wasteful. so tomorrow i have decided to invest in a travel mug. and yes, i will probably buy a NEW one, but i'm justifying that purchase by knowing i will no longer be discarding to go cups at an alarming rate. go me.

i'd promise regular updates on my progress with this non-resolution but we all know i'm a sporadic blogger these days. maybe rectifying that situation will be next on my list...

----------------
Now playing: The Helio Sequence - Can't Say No
via FoxyTunes

what YOU should be doing friday night!

2008-01-31T17:31:00.000-08:00

nevermind the rain, it's time to ROCK! come one, come all - celebrate bagel radio's 5th birthday with a few hundred of your rock n roll friends!

get your tickets here - and see you tomorrow, yes?!?

who sucked out the feeeeeeeeliiiiin'?

2008-01-30T11:36:00.000-08:00

last week after our trivia win (as per usual), the gang headed down to the bigfoot for celebratory drinks (as per usual). dj iPod was churnin' out the hits of the 90's and with nearly every song we were all "oooooooh my gawwwwwd, i love this song!" & "this reminds me of the summer of '95" & "i had a huge crush on evan dando! remember that month when was the 'cute boy alert' in sassy?" - i'll let you deduce who said the last one. heh.

one particular song came on and incited a flurry of "who is this? WHO IS THIS? i know this band...ummmm, this song is awesome! crap. ryan, look it up on your iPhone NOW!" - after 30 seconds of surfing the intarwebz via handheld mobile device we got our answer: it was superdrag - "sucked out"!

unfortunately, even though manlio texted me the name of the song & the band AND ryan emailed me the link, i accidentally deleted the text and the url didn't work when i tried to utilize it this week...ack! as you know, these unanswered musical questions are unacceptable to me. i had to figure it out or there would be a hole in my heart that could only be filled by tracking down this very important information!

luckily, after some diligent research on ryan's part (again. what would i do without the ryan king?!?), my prayers were answered and this gem popped up in my inbox this morning. yay!

i can't believe this song is twelve years old. wow. and remember 120 minutes? matt pinfield, i miss you! someone needs to do a web show in that format. (wait - maybe *i* should do it...don't steal my idea!) in any event, i was so inspired by discovering this little nugget of ear-joy that i bought the whole album and will be revisting the rock of my adolescence this afternoon. huzzah!

good story, huh? ;)

i feel it all.

2008-01-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

"wild card inside, wild card inside"

the trifecta of feist videos is complete! ha. this was my theme song of 2007 - last year was all about FEELIN'. IT. ALL. yes.

this year is about...um, well, i'm not sure. haven't picked out my theme song quite yet, but of course i will let you know when i do.

happy new year...a week late.

2008-01-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

it's obvious that i have become a blogging slacker, so i'm going to try a new experiment...i'm going to try to use my tumblr blog more frequently. what's a tumblr? well, it's a lazy way to post things to the internets with minimal effort*. PERFECT!

it's automatically updated with my flickr & last.fm accounts and also this blog...so if you want to photo and audio-stalk me with ease, i'd suggest you add spangley.tumblr.com to your feed. i'll also be adding links to interesting (i.e. music-related!) articles and other fun stuff. this is the plan at least.

this doesn't mean i'm giving up on blogging 'round these parts, but i figured i'd give my loyal (five) readers something to look at instead of two blog posts every three months. you're welcome!

*obvs this is my definition, and not tumblr's official mission statement. ;)

i don't get it.

2007-12-05T16:02:00.000-08:00

there is something that's been bothering me for years, and that i need to get off my chest: clear straps for bras. are ugly. and should be outlawed.

(for the record, the above pun? totally intended.)

here's the thing. they are NOT INVISIBLE. no matter what they try to tell you - you can STILL SEE THEM. so, what. is. the. point? it looks tacky and we all know you're wearing a bra. por ejemplo:

this is NOT CUTE. okay? get it? the above photo is that of a well-known hollywood party girl, and i don't mean lilo (ahem, tara reid, ahem). you don't want to be like tara reid do you? i didn't think so. it's a slippery slope to $75 public appearances in australian bars, don't go there. i just don't get why people are buying and WEARING these things!

in conclusion: get a strapless bra, let your bra straps show & be all punk rocky, or just go braless and fancy free. just don't subject anyone to icky plastic bra straps - it's a crime against fashion. thank you.

a (fashion) discovery.

2007-11-26T19:15:00.000-08:00

so today i am catching up on my gossip blogs (as per usual) and was reading pink is the new blog and what do i spy in the photos of lindsay lohan but MY SCARF! looks like lilo shops at h&m too! everyone likes a bargain! i can also attest to it's comfiness. soft!

lilo, you stole my scarf! (screenshot from pink is the new blog.)
i realize that this isn't very exciting to YOU, but as a gossip & fashion dork it was quite a glorious discovery. that is all.

song of MY year.

2007-11-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

the wombats are teh awesome. their album isn't out here yet but BAGeL ted clued us into their supreme rocktasticness & "moving to new york" has been my anthem ever since. not that i'm moving to new york. it's just, you know, i like the song.

the video version of the song is a bit different (more polished?) and personally i think the original version is better (b/c duh, it rocks) and i hope that they don't go and change all of their songs for the US release because that would be lame. did you hear that wombats? don't change for the MAN! stay true to the ROCK! yeah!

uh, anyway. watch this video and try to get the extreme catchiness of this song out of your head. i DARE you! hee.

target remix.

2007-11-09T14:16:00.000-08:00

(stereogum just beat me to posting about this but i swear that i was meaning to post this for the past few days...i'm slow)

so the other night whilst watching some random television program i was in the kitchen during the commercial break (because i don't have tivo - le sigh), making some dinner, and i heard a song that was suspiciously familiar to me...however i wasn't quick enough to make it into the living room to hear the whole thing. this bugged me because, as you know, i have a neurotic need to identify any song in any circumstance. it makes me feel better about myself. yes.

luckily at the next advertising interlude the same commercial came on - it was the target holiday commercial (hellooooo?!? it's not even thanksgiving yet!) and i was certain that i knew the melody of the song and kept humming it to myself over and over. wtf was the song?!? I KNOW THIS SONG! ahhhhh! i typed in some lyrics ("we're counting down/we're coun-ting dooooown") and thanks be to g00g a result popped up that informed me that the song was actually jim noir's "my patch" but i guess they got him to rewrite the lyrics to be more cheerful & holiday-like. okay!

what's funny is that the original song is pretty dark ("if you ever step on my patch/i'll bring you down/bring you down"), so the fact that it's being used in a commercial celebrating the joys of the season is funny to me.

here's the target commercial, for your reference:

and the original song (with a giant chicken!):

also, good work target for getting me to blog about you. tricky tricksters! incidentally, i actually need to go to target this weekend. coincidence?!?

always a bridesmaid...

2007-11-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

don't worry - this is not me lamenting that i'm always a bridesmaid and never a bride. i don't need to be a bride. i am happy with my current arrangement, as it were, thankyouverymuch. seriously. not that weddings and marriages are great and all...i'm just sayin'. not for me. right now. ANYWAY...

the reason i'm even bringing this up is that the lovely meryd, my BFF from days of yore at camp cayuga in the majestic pocono moutains, has asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding to the fabulous jay in may! YAAAAAY! that rhymed! heh. i am so excited and honored to be included in this joyous event. i was planning on going to the wedding anyway, but as i told meryd on saturday, "now i guess i really have to go"! time to looks up flights to philly!

i've already seen the dress i am to don and it's actually quite cute and totally re-wearable - score! not that i doubted meryd's taste but you know, bridesmaid dresses can be a bit - shall we say - unflattering? sometimes. although i can't complain, every wedding i've been in had super cute dresses so i've lucked out.

so that's the exciting news for today. although technically this happened on saturday while mike was forcing me to sit through cartoons, as has become a new tradition. (and can i just say, as an aside, that the cartoons available for today's youth are totally sucky compared to what we had as children? where are the care bears? and smurfs? and SNORKS for god's sake. sheesh. /rant.) anyway, the fact that i'm blogging about it five days later goes to show you that i am a slacker. sowwwwry. and now, to bring it back around to the purpose of this post, i leave you with a photo of meryd & i drinking margaritas in NYC last summer. ah, good times.

misty & ted's rock of love.

2007-10-22T21:39:00.001-07:00

misty & ted were joined in matrimonial bliss this past weekend at the great american music hall - how very rock 'n roll and AWESOME, huh? best. wedding evarrrr.

i'll post a more detailed account of the festivities soon. i'm trying to watch heroes now though & it demands a lot of attention. hi, nerd.

YES! married!! woohoo!
Originally uploaded by Willo.

josh + stereogum!

2007-10-19T00:04:00.000-07:00

i realize i should be blogging about my fabulous life but the reason i have no time to blog about my fabulous life is because i've been supa dupa swamped at work. i shall try to post something more personal soon, but in the meantime please celebrate josh ritter's inclusion on the gum mix on stereogum with me! w00t!

and here's the accompanying article. so yeah, THIS is why i am so freakin' busy. like, "oh my god can i please not think about work for two minutes" busy. but it's an overall good busy.

and hey, have you bought the new album yet? you should, kiddies! i've also been helping with our new webstore - ch-ch-check it out! please, help support josh & in turn my rock 'n roll lifestyle. and also make me feel like all my long hours of merchandise wrangling/ordering/ consulting/calculating/shipping/etc. are worth it. ah thank ya.

wuv, twuuu wuuuv.

2007-10-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

today is my parent's (mom & stepdad) sixteenth wedding anniversary. hard to believe it's been sixteen years, but it also feels like they've been together forever. weird!

i was twelve, my step brother luke was eleven, and little j baby was a young & mischievous five years old. check out the little ham during the ceremony...haha!

peek-a-boo!
my mom wore a jessica mcclintock gown and i wore a dress that my "second mother" & former babysitter, sharon, made. i picked out the pattern & the color. peach? really?!? haha. i also remember this was the first time i ever really wore high heels & was scared i'd trip - both my brother & i walked my mom down the aisle.

here comes the bride - and kids!
i feel so very lucky & blessed to have such a wonderful example of a loving, respectful, and fun relationship in my life. i love you guys! i'm glad you decided to get hitched , all those many years ago! xoxo

i want your blood inside my head...

2007-10-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

...not as morbid as you might think. or maybe it is, but division day are such cutie pocket rockers that it doesn't matter. watch this. i love them.

division day - tigers
their album, beartrap island, is in stores today! wheeeee! buy it!

too many cooks in the kitchen...

2007-09-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

...but not in a bad way! tuesday night 10 of us gathered at an amazing victorian home in pacific heights for a cooking class (suggested by manlio, and organized by our very own "cruise ship director" aubs) - and it was a blast. jess's mom, heidi, who is in town visiting even joined us! yay!

our gracious host & instructor, emily, was so approachable and kind and patient - it was a truly delightful experience. not to mention delicious. food is so awesome, i love it. hee.

our unanimously voted upon menu (called "elegance with ease") consisted of:

- pumpkin & chevre filled herb crepes
- pomegranate glazed shrimp
- pistachio crusted seabass
- pear & almond tart

uh, i just now noticed the alliteration that proliferated the menu - p p p p - hahaha. d'oh!

everything was actually pretty easy to make - the tart was a little more labor intensive but still totally recreatable. uh, that's not a word but whatevs. but dudes, it was honestly AMAZING...just thinking about it now is making me hungry. it was good times overall - i made crepes! i dredged fish! i mixed goat cheese & pumpkin! it was awesome!

emily provides recipes to take home & of course many of us were taking notes (nerds). i learned a bit about kitchen equipment too - it's not like i don't know how to cook, it's just the motivation & perceived lack of time that gets in the way. anyway, we discussed trying to throw a dinner party in a few weeks to try to recreate the magic which should be interesting. huzzah!

an open letter to MUNI...

2007-09-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

i meant to write about this yesterday but got distracted by my cooking class (!!!) & a few glasses of wine...which meant i went to bed immediately upon arriving home last night.

anyway, so i am really impressed/excited about SF MUNI deciding to incorporate new electric hybrid buses into the lines that don't run solely on electricity - including the 27, which is what i take to and from work every day. the buses are nicer, cleaner (at least for now), and generally the ride is smoother which is great for me & my crossword puzzle-doing ways. NERD.

oh, and they're like, better for the environment and all that jazz. hippies unite! haha.

i do, however, have two complaints about these new buses:

1) the top part of the windows that actually opens up & allows air in is way too high to do any good. the interior of the bus is slightly different on these hybrid buses in that the front part is lower than the standard MUNI bus, and then there is a second tier that sits higher - so only the back of the bus gets good ventilation. this is lame. and slightly claustrophobic. (or as paris says "causterphobic". heh.)

2) the exit door system is whack. there are apparently sensors in the door that you just have to touch to get it to open, but they don't seem to work very well. (for the non-SF, non-MUNI riders out there, on the other buses you either step down on a sensor to get the door to open or push one of the metal poles affixed to the doors.) i have seen, more often than not, people push the door - as directed on a sticker in both english and español right on the door - and then nothing happens. and then they holler at the driver "back door!" and then the driver yells back "push the door!" and of course they're all "i did!" and disgruntled mumbling/swearing/chaos ensues. bah! this seems to be way too much trouble just to exit the bus. and trust me, this has also happened to me and i think i am a fairly intelligent person who knows how to operate things like a car and a computer and am also able to post things on the internets. i'm no dummy!

anyway, that is my review/rant about the new buses. i can't believe that the manufacturer of these motorized public transport vehicles did not notice that these would be issues. but who i am to judge, i listen to music all day and order tee shirts and troll the internets for a living. heh heh.

it's so dang hard being FABULOUS.

2007-09-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

this weekend consisted of me staying in on friday night (two late nights in a row during the week is enough for this girl) and perhaps watching (one of my) guilty tv pleasures, the jennifer love hewitt hour long drama/thriller, the ghost whisperer. what?!? she has great hair! and her tv hubby is adorbs. I AM NOT ASHAMED!

saturday i got up earlyish and went swimming, but it was a pretty frustrating trip because there were a ton of people there, only two lanes, and also people swimming in the "fast" lane that probably shouldn't have been. i mean, i'm all about a's for effort but you should NOT be in the fast lap lane if you are going to do elementary backstroke or sidestroke. and with that, apparently i have become a swimming beyotch. oh wells.

saturday night the first stop was bronwyn's birthday celebration at gestalt, where i found out that they do indeed have vegan sausages...too bad i ate before we went in anticipation of it not being veggie-friendly. d'oh! after a couple of rounds of brews, a triumphant display of my knowledge of yuengling, and a pool game & bet in which i lost (and would have even more miserably had mike not gotten one of my balls in by mistake and not-so-accidentally knocked another one in. cheating is acceptable when it for MY benefit, i suppose), we headed over to ryan's for a house party of epic proportions. there was dancing and singing and more dancing and dancing and "sit down! I'M DANCIN'!" until 4:00 am. ouch! i should know better than to think i can stay out that late. but it was SO MUCH FUN! ryan king throws the best parties. this, among many things, is why i lurve him.

one of my fave photos from saturday night - awww, fanny!
sunday was spent recovering from sat night until it was time for JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE!!! zomg, so awesome. totally deserves it's own blogpost but i can't even get into it now. the fashions alone deserve their own post. 'twas quite the spectacle. i bought a tee shirt. oh, and apparently my first ever celebrity sighting in CA, sean penn, was there too...'nuff said.

and now i will leave you w/ the requisite photo linkage:

willo's photos from aubs & daisy's party on weds, jess's birthday thursday, and ryan's party on saturday.
aubs's photos from weds.
my crappy cameraphone pics from j.timberlake (to tide you over)

i can see us holding hands, walkin' on the beach our toes in the sand...

2007-09-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

oh yes, that's right. all you need to know is that i'm going to see JUSTIN EFF'N TIMBERLAKE tonight. of course you know i loves me some JT. aka mr. timberlake. my aka my boyfriend (sorry jessica biel. and my 200 other imaginary boyfriends. and mike. heh heh).

OMG THIS IS GOING TO MAKE MY LIFE. thanks be to jordan for thinking of me whilst needing someone to take his extra ticket (long story, but aubs, thanks be to you & your birthday & your new job for also providing this most wonderous of events). this is going to rule.

le sigh.

if we wait too long, it'll be too late.

2007-09-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

tacks, the boy disaster's EP oh, beatrice has been in heavy rotation on buddy 2.0* & my iTunes for the past few months & this track, "frozen feet", is my fave on the album. austin is like the canada of the united states. uh wait, that didn't make sense. see what i was going for was that austin is as prolific at producing kick ass rock music as the entire nation of canada. but...uhhhhh...yeah. so, this video is great! heh heh.

*buddy 2.0 is the name i've given the iPod i got for my birthday this year, replacing buddy (my first iPod - hence 1.0 after the fact). my shuffle is li'l buddy. they're all my buddies! hee.

sugar to the kool aid.

2007-09-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

i was chatting with my buddy matt today & somehow we started talking about what a social whirlwind i'm involved in here in SF - that i always have something going on, whether it be a rock show or a costume party or a fabulous dinner (like last night's birthday dinner for jess - super funtastic!) or trivia night or...you get the idea. i'm kind of a big deal. heh.

matt summed up what he thought my function is in all of this - he said that i'm like the "sugar to the kool aid" that is our little posse. haha! i thought that was an awesome way to put it. because i'm sweet. and hyper. and delicious. duh. i also like the kool aid aspect in that it goes well with the whole psuedo-cult thing the mcleods are doing. don't drink the kool aid! huzzah!

anyway, thanks matty! that's like the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me. awwwww.

yarrrrr!

2007-09-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

today be international talk like a pirate day, so of course me post 'or today be in pirate speak. me apologies if ye can't understand me lingo...i shall return to me regular vernacular t'morrow!

i have nary a thing t' post about today for postin' about the russian river weekend in pirate speak seems like it'd be a heavy task indeed. argh. thar not be much else happenin' other than me job and the like. and that 'tis not as excitin' as swashbucklin' adventures, aye?!?

oh, me did procure a new ship (er, couch) on which to set sail (sit & watch tv on) - 'tis a beaut & is sure to serve me well. and any of ye land lubbers who need a place to rest ye weary head at my abode now have a fine bunk (sofabed) to drop yer anchor.

yeah, you try to figure that out. yarrrrrrrrr!

it be almost time to imbibe in celebratory grog in honor of me fine wenches aubrey & daisy, so i best be finishin' up me chores and sailin' over to the treasure chest for some merry making.

i have no idea what i just said. haha! this would be a good place to stop. tah tah!

planet unicorn, heyyyyy.

2007-09-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

this past weekend at misty's bachelorette party derek introduced me to the most fabulous thing i have ever seen on the youtubes...thus far. give it up for planet unicorn!

i cannot stop watching it! and i've had the theme song stuck in my head for three days. and i love that one of the unicorns is named tom cruise! so awesome.

you can watch the rest of the episodes on the official planet unicorn website. i have a feeling that leslie is going to love these, just sayin'. hee hee. i am trying really hard not to get the ringtone (as i am still quite partial to my current, flight of the conchords theme song ringtone - my loves! heh). anyway, watch & lurve my friends. watch & luuuuurve.

heyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

blah blah blah. and blah.

2007-09-17T23:18:00.000-07:00

sometimes listening to yourself is annoying. necessary, but holy crap there's often a lot going on up there in the noggin. especially when you're an overthinker like myself. having a giant brain is HARD.

and that would be my lame post for today. sorry suckers! too much jumbly jumble going on to make sense. and i've already said too much yadda yadda yadda already. but i had to remain true to my monthly goal. so, there you have it! mondays rule.