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It was like love at first sight. The matte black. The sleek body. The coiled cord you could play with.

I’ve been eyeing these TMA-1 headphones for several months now and had debated over whether to buy them. Expensive, not exactly — but I definitely had to put money away for them and save up (plight of the poor student).

What probably sold me was 1.) The website design and 2.) The name, TMA-1:

• The design, tma-1.com: The pattern in the back is the logo for the company, Denmark-based AIAIAI. Mouse-over any of the links and the background changes colors. Yup, this isn’t the only site that does that, but with an all-black headphone, black links and a black logo, the colorful touch was not just refreshing — it was invigorating. (Hence, why I spent my money.)
• The name, TMA-1: Arthur C. Clarke wrote in Space Odyssey about extraterrestrial species — unseen to the human eye — who would build advanced machines. These machines, or monoliths were eventually discovered by humans and they propagated human evolution. Humans started using tools after finding the first monolith, or Tycho Magnetic Anomaly 1 (TMA-1).

Cool, huh? Good origins for headphones — especially after it’s been tested by Boys Noize, Hot Chip and RJD2. I really like it so far. Comfortable fit, impeccable sound. A good time overall.

Kid Cudi – Pursuit Of Happiness (Steve Aoki RMX) [Dirty] from Deejay Callen on Vimeo.

Chiaki Kuriyama, Nobuyoshi Araki

MagCloud, AKA magazines on iPad.

J. Crew‘s home page design. I like it.

See the story. See the details. Prezi.

The PEN story. One’s life in pictures.

Perrier by Dita. Suave, sexy, stunning.

Just a heads up, this is going to be one of those posts with many pretty pictures. If you’re nervous about shiny things and talk about loving life, don’t read it or you’ll surely die from cuteness.

I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve been to more places in the last couple weeks than I have over the course of any 6-month period within the last few years that I’ve lived on my own. I visited Versailles, took a train down to Perpignan and Canet in the south of France, travelled to Spain, stormed through the streets of Paris, got drunk off whiskey and rum (like everyone should at some point), went to a dinosaur expo and hung out at beaches all day long. Life is good. Here’s how it all went down:

VERSAILLES

I’m just happy to have a roof over my head, but the Château de Versailles takes fancy-schmancy living to the next level.

Deets, according to Lord Wiki:

• Floor space: 67,000 square meters
• Rooms: 700
• Staircases: 67
• Paintings: 6,123
• Drawings: 1,500
• Sculptures: 2,102
• Engravings: 15,034
• Pieces of furniture and objets d’art: 5,210

SOUTH OF FRANCE

Dad and I packed a couple bags, loaded up on Perrier and took the train down to Perpignan, where my great-aunt Nhu lived with her husband and son, Vinh. The family owned an Asian restaurant and lived minutes near the Canet beachfront (they don’t live in Perpignan, they live in Canet). It was extremely hot down there, but there was usually a sea breeze that kept me comfortable. What I really liked about the area though is unlike St. Tropez and Nice, there were few tourists (save for vacationers from Paris and travelers from Spain). There were few crowds and I could basically do whatever I wanted without getting harassed about where I came from and where my hotel was (sketchiness — it happens).

SPAIN

I started in Roses. Much busier than Perpignan and Canet for sure, but the beaches weren’t as nice. Too many pebbles. The shopping was really fun though, because there were some really neat styles on display and the prices were (surprisingly) reasonable. I stocked up. I also made my way through the Salvador Dali Museum. Good stuff. My kind of vacation.

SETTLING DOWN

Despite the happy travels, I ended up stressing out over finding an apartment to live in. It was tough — so much paperwork was necessary and I had to get stuff sent from the states. I had to get an attestation. I had to open a bank account.

I cheated and ended up hiring an agency, Paristay, to do the work instead. The results were wonderful. The agency found me a small studio in a century-old villa on Avenue Breteuil.

What’s even better, though, is that my friend Arianna is staying with me until she returns to England and then to the states for school. So strange, how we met. I will definitely have to think a little and then write up a blog post about how we met and how we ended up in Paris together.

Photos on the new humble abode to come!

Here’s a pretty captivating time-lapse video of Eyjafjallaôkull by Sean Stiegemeier.

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull – May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

I honestly don’t think you could just watch the video once and take in all the details. Very tasteful selection of angles to shoot from, as well as bits and pieces of the eruption and aftermath. It got me thinking about the event in a different way and subsequently, on a deeper level.

A video like this brings dimension to the storytelling. The artistic visual stimulation draws us in and gives us just that little nudge, urging us to learn more about what’s going on.

Like many, I first learned of the eruption through the news. For me, it was The Seattle Times and then various blogs later on. But seeing this video now — while I’m a little late to the game — got me thinking about it a little bit more.

You tell me. Where would you go online to find answers for the following questions:

• What was my high-school prom limo driver’s name?
• How is salt-water taffy made?

Just something I’ve been thinking about after learning about Facebook’s launch of Facebook Questions today. I’m interested in seeing how this pans out — especially after seeing so much evolution on social media platforms.

As far as I understand, FB Questions work almost as a status update:

The upside: A sort-of categorization of content we, as user, produce on Facebook. Other than the obvious question mark that most of us use, we have a better grasp of which “update” is a question for others and which is your average update. The nice part about that is that when we want to go back and view the questions we’ve asked, we can do that without having to dig through all our updates. Think about the links you’ve posted on your wall, along with your updates — which could be a lot for some of us.

Nice. But even more obvious — and appealing — is how Facebook uses the knowledge our friends have of us and our experiences, as well as that of experts, to make FB Questions work. I can’t help but notice questions are only asked on Facebook when:

1. The answer can’t be found on a search engine.
2. When users feel their friends would be the most accurate and reliable resources.
3. We information is sought in a timely manner and we choose to not go through the trouble of phoning a friend.

Emphasis on the word “friend.” Get the picture? Familiarity seems to be what’s being sold on FB Questions. And for the record, Skip is the name of limo driver for my high-school prom — which I found out via Facebook update from my friend Laura.

But hold the phone. What about questions that are more factual or in-depth, that extend beyond day-to-day human knowledge, let alone social experience?

How is salt-water taffy made?

Certainly a question for some expert — which is why I see the justification for Facebook to enlist subject experts into FB Questions. Maybe I’ll be able to get a response from someone who owns a salt-water taffy shop. (I vote for someone from Long Beach. Taffy is so yummy there.)

But really: How about just using a search engine? For example, like this:

Done. I’m given choices of sources I know and sources I bear some level of trust for, such as eHow. With a search engine, I could cross-reference information with another site if I wanted to as well.

So that leads me to think: What if I ask a question on FB Questions and then someone gives me a link to a page they were referred to from a search engine? Does FB Questions really serve a purpose then, or is it just another step I am putting myself through to get some answers?

I still have faith that FB Questions will be useful for some. It lies in familiar territory for Facebook users and bears the seal of friend-oriented discussion. But by bringing in experts that may or may not be entirely trusted by users, the feature may just be another, if not a more complicated version of already existing platforms that seek to answer all our questions.

Very interesting video from Current on mail-order brides and their husbands. Can’t say I’m not surprised with the limited protections granted to women from abroad and immunity from local laws for European men. What I learned, however, was how much better being a mail-order bride is from any other option. The lesser of two evils?

I made it! The first few days in Paris have been busy, but exciting and engaging. Drove around Paris to see all the monuments briefly the first night, then started heading out on foot the next day. So far, I’ve made it through about a third of the city. Posting pics of my visit to Le Louvre et Parvis-Notre-Dame, as well as Le Palais du Justice. Aside from the Latin Quarter, I’m really liking this area in terms of housing. Apartment/Condo hunting starts tomorrow!

Have you ever been to Paris? Share your story

Took a lot of metros. Some stations were clean. Most were not. But it was still fun.

Very warm weather here, so all the lovers were out. I miss mine!

La Pyramide du Louvre. Inside, where it was nice and cool.

Le Palais du Justice was closed when I got there, but it was still nice to walk around outside. Definitely coming back!

Made it to Notre Dame, but I took so many pictures, I don't know which to choose from. But for now, this is the outside.

I’ve landed in Paris, France and am taking a few days to settle in. Will be updating soon with photos of crazy Parisians and my adventures!

-V

This will make you feel better.

I’m not a designer, but I still like this game anyway.

The premise: You are a designer. Your clients make outlandish requests for combined ecommerce and email marketing, you have 1,000+ unread emails (including spam, of course) and you’re running out of time.

Frustrated? Take it out on Web Invaders presented by Adobe Business Catalyst, AKA circa 1979 Star Invaders Galactica for web designers.

Shoot the databases. Shoot the reports. Take down the emails.

See the clock? Zap it for more time. Slowwwww everything down. Pick up Dreamweaver, for it will provide much assistance.

You shall be victorious. Now get back to work.

Hand-written emails? No way!

A look at the hipster fashion cycle.

It’s hot outside. Not cool — but these Cool Beans are.

Lula Magazine also has a timelessly feminine scrapbook.

A look at cities people are swarming to and staying the hell away from.