We’re firm believers in the power of collaboration — especially when it involves our neighbo(u)rs in the far north. Toronto-based artist collective Well and Good have come together with LA based t-shirt designers Blood is The New Black to create a kick ass line of tees for Spring of ‘08. To celebrate the release of the new tees, they’ll also be collaborating on It Never Happened, an art show launch party on April 12th in Los Angeles featuring live music and art work from both Blood Is the New Black artists such as Dan Monick and Demonbabes, as well as a few from the Well and Good stable, including site favorite Talia Shipman. So if you want hear some dope tunes and check out sweet art, we recommend making it to INH…even if just to say you know it did.

Everybody loves a bargain. Christmas Tree Shops taught us that. But, if that bargain were to, say, be a ridiculous sale of overstocked clothes by John Varvatos, Dolce & Gabbana, Paul Stuart, Hugo Boss, Earnest Sewn, Rag & Bone, and Hickey, instead of NASCAR ornaments, all the better. Once you become a member of the Gilt Groupe they’ll ping your inbox about 30 seconds before the start of the sale, making it crucial to turn off your spam filter and memorize your credit card pin. Since you also need a referral, you’re going to have to sign up through Thrillist. But hey, for cheap luxe threads, some sacrifices have to be made.

There are things in Brazil — like favelas, the horrible degree of traffic in Sao Paulo, and some of the bum sizes I’ve seen — that I don’t think will ever cease to amaze me even if I live here for the rest of my life. The other one is the rock-strong music tradition that still sees adolescent grandkids singing the same samba songs as their grandparents, word for word and beat by beat. I kid you not, to see it in real life can give you the warm, flush fuzzies. On my quest for more cozy feelings I found Loronix, one of those few MP3 blogs out there still big-upping Brazilian classics well after the resurge of tropicalia from a few years ago. It features rare Brazilian music from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s in categories spanning mandolin (yes!) to samba, an artist a day with lovingly detailed description and not just one song but often the whole shebang of the album. It’s one of the most valuable resources I’ve seen yet on the subject. Moreover, it’s actually written in English, so get to it!

Bruno Borges‘ designs are destined immediately for tees as soon as they’re realized, and we’re talking about every single one of them being cotton-worthy. The Sao Paulo graphic design artist has done some incredibly good font treatments that have made it onto the fronts of chests but also into the glossy pages of magazines. With illustrations of phrases saying “One Day Closer to Death” and “Don’t Get Any Big Ideas, They Are Not Gonna Happen,” Borges apparently isn’t afraid of putting a cynical bent to his work, a slant that gives it even more attitude without losing its appeal. One of his biggest clients so far is renowned Brazilian designer Alexandre Herchcovitch, in which he designed a special edition stamp for the brand and is a sure sign he’s on the up. This designer might be crossing into international waters soon.

When we first introduced you to Desktoptopia it was an exclusive Mac-only service that aimed to adorn your desktop by sharing a large library of unique designs by artists from around the world at the cost of $20 per single license. Yes, for a small fee you could have a sweet hi-res image on your laptop to make your friends jealous for eternity, or until they coughed the cash for the same one so that you wouldn’t feel original anymore. Well, the times have a changed and Desktoptopia has made some improvements with Desktoptopia 1.5. No, the desktop background manager that automatically loads and displays designer desktops on your monitor hasn’t come up with a plan to prevent your friends from trying to make you look bad, but they have dropped that pesky fee and made it available for PCs. In other words, Desktoptopia 1.5 is FREE and ANYONE can get it. Rejoice!