Filling the Gap

As you may or may not know, dear reader, this one has an obsession with the Gap, which started a good ten years ago, when one was only a lowly student in high school. At the time, it was the only affordable source of decent -read, non-jeans- clothes that could be found nearby, not to mention the only ones that catered to sizes bigger than 8. This obsession was greatly helped by one’s mother, who, finding that the clothes were affordable and good quality also shopped there.
Perusing the sales rack at the Gap became a habit, with the odd luxury of a full priced item.

Then the Salary came.

For a long while, this humble sinner did not worship at the altar of her god, under the pretense that more expensive (“better”) clothes could be had. Then I unearthed some pretty things that I’d had for a long time in my closet and despite not fitting them -at the moment-, found that they were quite neat.

Recently, I’d been on a kick to find clothes that could appease my peculiar sense of fashion. None of my other brands yielded anything in the way of tops that could remotely satisfy me.

Last night, I went again to the temple of worship (not the caffeine altar, the other one). Lo and behold! I came away with a treasure trove of cute clothes. Ever since the (RED) initiative, my interest in the GAP has been renewed. Not quite as affordable as before -except when on sale- they are good quality, a nice cut and above all, durable. Even the Gap body line, which I was initially reluctant to try has given me considerable satisfaction.

July 17, 2007. Fashionable. Leave a comment.

Pixelated stolen jewels

stolen lg earrings01

Designers Mile and Maaike created a line of leather jewelry by copying low quality images on Google.

According to their site, they’ve extracted the intensity of the jewelry by stripping away the intricacies of the design.

Sounds like something old school gamers would enjoy. Definitely something you could wear at the next Space Invaders party.

Stolen jewels

[Via Rosenkugel]

June 18, 2007. Fashionable. Leave a comment.

White Stripes album to be sold on USB keys

In a bizarre attempt at collectible status, the new White Stripes album Icky Thump is available on two limited edition USB keys featuring cartoons of the bandmates.

White Stripes Drives

Fans of the musical duo can own their very own Jack and Meg. Only 3333 units of each design will be made, preloaded with the album in AAC format.

Specs are quoted at 512MB of storage space.

Buy one for over 50 USD or the pair for 99.

June 15, 2007. Ars Electronica. Leave a comment.

CuteCircuit Hug shirt

The Hug shirt by Cute Circuit allows wearers to give and recieve hugs by connecting to their Java-enabled cellphone.

Now that’s something I need.

They have been nominated for a Time Best Invention of 2006 award.

June 15, 2007. Ars Electronica, Fashionable, Lab. Leave a comment.

Nab a Second Life Nab

Nabaztag, the ubiquitous wifi rabbit, has now branched off into Second Life, with an API hook to the real deal in your boring First Life.

Like most inventive things in SL, this particular gizmo is the creation of an inventive user who decided that his bunny would be better used doing other things than giving the weather and doing tai-chi.

Whenever an action is performed, the Nabaztag can inform the player of this and read out any messages that have been typed. Sounds pretty cool.

Second Life seems to have become the talk of the e-town, with articles being devoted to it in various women’s mag (I have read no less than 2 in the past month) and a bit of highlight due to various elections.

[Via Nabazta(blo)g]

June 15, 2007. Ars Electronica. Leave a comment.

Active Crystals range fail to shine by design

It seems that all the big names of the digital arena are trying to rope in wannabe fashionistas and non-geeks (read: many, many women) by offering girly accessories that will tempt them into buying the wares.

Sometimes, the brands will deliver the goods in an intelligent way: Prada-branded phones offer touchscreen technology, laptops decorated often have decent spec that make them a worthy buy for a fashion conscious individual looking to equip. Unfortunatly, the vast majority of those so-called fashionable technological items are standard at best, made fashion-y by outer design, taking fashion lovers for brainless cash cows.

The latest the Unhinged has heard of?

Philips and Swarovski are collaborating on a range of headphones and USB keys adorned with crystals called Active Crystals.

philips-swarovski-active-crystal-il01

The first thing that comes to mind is how on Earth are these USB keys going to connect with my computer? Their volume is HUGE. Either they’ll take up multiple spaces -not a particularly welcome idea, or will actually be too bulky to fit in the minute space. Either way, there is the remote possibility of damaging both key and computer at first use.
Overall, absolutely impractical and not even remotely enhanced -other than visually.

Particularly those heart shaped pendants. For the sake of the computers, I sure hope those comes with a USB extender. Now seeing the USB symbol enhanced with crystals would be cool. I admit that they are cute, especially the ones that mimick galuchat with the arrangement of stones but for the price, I would have expected something more.

Priced at 150 euros, it’ll be a resounding pass from yours truly.

It doesn’t help either that the official site’s splash page features an underfed, unhealthy looking model-clone with a dumb expression on her face.

June 14, 2007. Ars Electronica, Unhinged. Comments off.

Get a First job on Second Life

Second Life is definitely the talk of the town these days, with no less than 3 articles devoted to it in print magazines and scores of online articles.

Neojobmeeting is a recruitment initiative on behalf five large companies in France (Consulting firms Unilog & Cap Gemini, cosmetics giant L’Oréal, Alstom, Areva) to branch out into Second Life for their real life recruitment.

Potential candidates are invited to join Second Life and visit the Unilog pavillion on the game and explore career opportunities, much like in any real life trade show.

This comes hot in the footsteps of the French electoral campaign where, after having exhausted all other multimedia venues, some candidates attempted to gain popular approval by hosting events on the game.

It seems that France is definitely starting to take Second Life seriously enough for major economical players to take notice of it.

[Via Unilog recruitment newsletter]

June 12, 2007. Lab. Leave a comment.

Once more, with rabbit

More about Violet’s wifi rabbit:

A French turn-based PHP roleplaying game, Chroniques d’Aëvry, has now hooked into the rabbit’s API, allowing it to give game information in the little rabbit’s robotised voice.

On top of the beautiful interface he coded, the game creator has integrated Nabaztag support to give information about the game: actions played on your character, mana and health.

All the rabbit needs now is a little tunic or elven ears to make the illusion complete!

Full disclosure:

Chroniques d’Aëvry is coded by a buddy.
I’m an administrator and game master there as well, and received a Nabaztag/tag as a present earlier this year.

Chroniques is offered to the public for free, server costs being offset by advertisement.

May 15, 2007. Ars Electronica, Geekful. Leave a comment.

Wearing today – Feb 15, 2007

Clothing
Red INSPI(RED) Gap t-shirt
Black pinstripe Jaeger slacks
Red velvet Repetto ballet flats

Accessories
Turquoise KellyII watch
Tentation Duo Baccarat necklace
Ketylo hairstick in ebony/royal sodalite and silver findings

Products
Hair
Aussie Smooth Mate shampoo (1 day ago)
Face
Chanel HydraMax+ gel
Nails
Givenchy Rouge Interdit
Perfume
Hermes Eau des Merveilles

Bag of the moment
Hermes Bolide in Chèvre Vert Anis

February 15, 2007. Fashionable. Leave a comment.

Wearing Today – Feb 14, 2007

Clothing
Black Petit Bateau T
Black pinstripe Jaeger slacks
Pumas

Accessories
Turquoise KellyII watch

Products
Hair
Aussie Smooth Mate shampoo
Face
Chanel HydraMax+ gel
Nails
Givenchy Rouge Interdit
Perfume
Hermes Hermessence

February 14, 2007. Fashionable. Leave a comment.

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