Owning clusters of diamonds and a miniature dog named Tinkerbell sounds appealing, but one’s unaffordable and the other will do its business inside your vintage handbag. The Socialite is house-trained, stylish and custom-designed to block out the sounds of chasing paparazzi and teen boy band members.

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These awesome pieces by Sinta Werner and Markus Wuste are like core samples taken from modern life, implying fragmented moments.

This vitriolic rant by author and screenwriter Harlan Ellison (from the upcoming documentary about him called Dreams With Sharp Teeth) really hit a nerve with me. As someone who works in creative fields, I’ve encountered countless people/employers who think because I enjoy art and writing, I will be happy to do it for free. A friend of mine who I showed this to said, “I work on children’s cartoons. People think I work in a puffy cloud where bunnies do the work for me.” In a post-2.0 media landscape, companies think that anyone can write, make films, draw pictures, and do graphic design, so they are less willing to pay for quality work. I’ve known some web publishing companies that, when the recession hit, cut their editorial staff before anyone else, assuming that editing and writing aren’t real work, and not vital to a publishing company. I’ve also known videographers who used to make a living doing internal corporate videos but now can hardly find such work as YouTube has convinced companies that they can easily produce videos themselves. Any of you creative types encounter the same sorts of frustration?

Wearing this print will not only geek the fashionistas at their own game, but also guarantee inner peace at the bitter end. Or maybe not. But it will strike fear into the hearts of psychiatrists around the world, and you just never know when that might come in dead handy.

People have drawn comparisons between Virus and Talking Heads. The Norwegian trio surely incorporates a lot of jazz, experimental, and metal (the band is a supergroup of sorts with ties to bands like Satyricon, Aura Noir, and Inferno) elements, but their distinct gothic rock sound has very little connection to David Byrne and company. That’s not to say that it doesn’t rule.

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Titled You’re Far Taller and A Much Nicer Person Than I, this silkscreen print by Sydney-based artist Kate Banazi comes in an edition of 50 and ships rolled in a tube.

Really digging the grotesque, zombie-like sculptures and images of Chicago-based artist Rachel Niffeneggar. The materiality of Niffeneggar’s work is as vital to the interpretation of each piece as the aggregate images, bringing up high-concept ideas that transcend mere horror movie worship.

We’re not shy about our love of all things 80s, and Goldfrapp’s Rocket clip has taken us right back to a cloudy pastel world of big hair, synth optimism and glittering disco. We might just stay here for a while. Who’s in?

El Bolson is a beautiful village located in a fertil valley at The Comarca Andina, near Bariloche in Argentina. Close to national parks and Los Andes is a perfect place to stay and then start a trekking trough lakes, rivers and the mountains. In the town you can enjoy good music, handicraft market in Plaza Pagano, delicious local ice-creams and the view of Piltry Mountain.

The city is a small refuge of hippie souls and if you wanna try this atmosphere a good way is camp near the Quemquemtreu river. If you like organic food and to sleep in the forest Carlota and Mario can offer you a nice place to stay (Ni Nada Camp) and learn more about organic farm. Music is always present in the village and you can go all nights to listen local bands. If you love beer, February is your time.

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These rings are handmade in Italy by Ashanti Raffaele Cinzio and come in a set of three, shaped flat and polished in a brushed finish. One sterling silver, one yellow bronze and one rose bronze. The rings individually measure 2mm height on the thin side and raise gradually around the ring to a height of 50mm to the feature side. As a set, the total band width consistently measures 7mm.

Acrylics was formed by Jason Klauber and Molly Shea in 2008 and evolved into a trio. Their debut album All of the Fire was produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear at his church-studio in Brooklyn, Terrible Studios. They kicked off their Secret Playlist with the Bobbie Gentry song, Reunion [listen below]: ‘Most famous for her hits, Ode to Billie Joe, and the unstoppable Mississippi Delta, Bobbie Gentry is a sultry-voiced country singer who wrote and produced her own music in a time when it was rare for both women and country singers. Gentry talk-sings the part of a young girl at a large family reunion in this track off her Delta Sweetie album. We first heard it the day after Halloween while driving back to New York from upstate and it made our ride. Starting off with a seductively sparse hand-clap rhythmic figure, Gentry’s Mississippian belle rap, ‘mama can I huh’ enters next. More and more voices and sounds enter the party until we reach a cacophonous fever-pitch. The result sounds like a Charles Mingus arrangement of I Want Candy in a southern baptist church. The song quickly fades back to a whisper before the three minute mark’. Read the rest of Acrylics’ Secret Playlist.

One inspiring article a day featuring the best, well-hidden creatives out there. The site welcomes interaction where readers can ‘love’ or ‘don’t love’ each post, and is curated by a bunch of international contributors. A great place for a daily dose of a new video, photograph and other mediums.

Boston-based artist Corey Corcoran synthesizes neo-primitivist visions out of found materials, fabrics, and a rusty palette of paints and pigments.

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French unisex customized army jackets, each one is slightly different and unique. Embroidered by hand in Berlin with hands and microphone lead logo. As worn by Pixie Geldof. Yup! It is.

It seems anything is a canvas these days, even dirty greenbacks. On the Defaced Presidents Flickr page, artists from all over have submitted an eye-popping assortment of notes redecorated to look a little more artsy. Clever, indeed.

Exovault is a small artist-run company. The aluminum EXOvault case is lightweight and durable, and fits the iPhone 3G or 3GS like a glove. The EXOvault case is machined from solid metal stock in two pieces. Your iPhone will not rattle around or move within the case. And the case will not scratch your iPhone. Handmade in Brooklyn.

A visually stunning short 3D-animated film directed by Antoine Perez, Celine Desrumaux, Francois Pons and Gary Levesque. Yankee Gal took a year to complete and was produced at the always formidable French computer graphics school, Supinfocom.

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Sam Wolfe Connelly has a great illustrative style that has some graphic novel influences, but doesn’t seem overly rooted in any particular genre. He also manages to breath new life into cliched imagery when he hasn’t avoided cliches altogether.

The Gossip are the three-piece punk rock electro band from Olympia, Washington’s underground scene who broke through in the UK in spectacular style in 2006 with the single and album Standing In The Way Of Control. Lead by the unlikely rock star, lesbian, feminist, fashion icon and ‘cool’ person Beth Ditto, the trio have just released their third album, Music For Men. The title comes from a night when Beth was at a gig watching a friend’s band, which had a female member, and observed the male audience members’ reaction to it. The Gossip’s drummer Hannah Blilie recalls ‘and those words popped up in her mind. Music for men. This is music for men, and it just kinda stuck. It’s tongue in cheek, it’s not serious. It is their first studio effort for a major label since leaving indie legends Kill Rock Stars for Sony in 2008. And it’s every bit as good as their last one.

Jason Hernandez draws from medieval religious art and classical European images to create grotesque yet vibrant images laden with contemporary social criticism. The punk-metalhead in me can’t get enough of this stuff.