I’m a tripper. Invisible cracks in the sidewalk, errant candy wrappers, delicate leaves, you name it — I only recently stopped blaming the horrible conditions of the sidewalks in Sao Paulo for my clumsiness that oftentimes results in my arms flailing and legs akimbo; butt sometimes making contact with the cement. But when walking through one of the metro stations yesterday it wasn’t only me who almost lost their breath. I stepped right into a skate bowl but remained on terra firma. As part of the publicity campaign for the upcoming Guarana Antarctica Street Festival in Sao Paulo that counts in skaters like Bob Burnquist and Sandro Dias and bands like Bad Religion. Brazilian firm DM9DDB designed a giant adhesive that created the perfect illusion of a skate bowl in the middle of a busy thoroughfare. It was a convincing visual trick, even if you didn’t know what you were stepping into until after. Not a bad way of promoting another method of transport.

Photo: Marketando

Need a new backpack for school or an Arctic journey? Which ever is your current challenge Fjällräven bags have you covered.They’ve been making bags for 50+ years in Sweden (in Swedish design years they have the expertise of a 200 year old company). Despite having their inherent natural Swedish high quality design skills, the founder of the company was a hiker who frequented the Arctic treks. So when they dumb down their bags enough for you to pack them full of books while ordering a latte, remember that this bag could be saving your life in the Arctic. As for the kid in the picture, he goes along with the company’s advertising history and we just couldn’t pass it up.

What do you get when you cross “America’s Favorite Serial Killer” with America’s favorite literary periodical? Conventional wisdom would say you get one very well read sociopath…or perhaps one devilishly clever ad campaign. Readying the launch of it’s promotional push for the premiere of Dexter’s third season on September 28th, Showtime has concocted their own mock cover of The New Yorker, replacing the usual masthead to trumpet “New Dexter,” accompanied by a wonderful cartoon likeness of the smiley slayer portrayed by Michael C. Hall. It’s quite the fiendish display, but we like it anyway.

We haven’t been quiet about our belief in Takashi Murakami as one of the future art legends and neither has Kanye West. Murakami did the cover art for Kanye’s latest album Graduation and now you can see his animated music video for the song “Graduation.” The video stars Murakami’s character he created for Kanye’s album, a little teddy bear with colorful eyes, as he wakes up late for his graduation from hip hop university. He rushes through a future city full of colorful subways and flying cars to make a dramatic entrance just in time. To all of you who started back to school this week, take note this is exactly what you should do for your graduation.

So Polaroid is closing up shop — they just couldn’t swing with the digital camera. So sad, but Nicole Kenny and KS Rives are giving the camera company a swan song by taking portraits and asking people “What do you want to do before you die.” The person writes their goal on the white space and presto, a whole website full of goals. Ambitions range from living in other countries, to singing on Broadway, fame, family goals and my personal goal of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Check out the book that coincides with the project, where countless grainy faces type out tiny sentences of hope. It makes for an interesting way to spend your Wednesday.

We don’t have a Polaroid, but we do have a comment section: what do you want to do before you die?

Increasingly, I’m seeing collaborations happening in threes that bring together seemingly disparate entities for great results. Case in point: contemporary artist Dalek, urban lifestyle company Triumvir and hardcore band, Internal Affairs melding minds to create a range of T-shirts, colored vinyl and album art. Limited to 500 pressings each, the albums are available in blue (Internal Affairs version), green (Dalek version), clear (Triumvir version) and black (general release). Limited edition shirts (including a Space Monkey design) are also available. As for how the collab actually came about, Dalek mentions trading toys for records, and Triumvir’s Brandon Cheng attributes his positive working relationship with Internal Affair’s Corey Williams to a mutual appreciation for the word “fuck.”

Arts and culture magazine, Juxtapoz, has teamed up with urban lifestyle company, Upper Playground, and purveyors of canned, caffeinated alcohol Sparks, to present the second annual Ignite What’s Next Art Tour. Three different venues will showcase live painting by three of the top artists from the world of contemporary art in a multi-city tour. Sam Flores, Alex Pardee and N8 Van Dyke will collaborate on live painting amidst DJ’d tunes for a mash-up of art, music, and culture. The guys will be hitting up Lenny’s Bar in Atlanta on September 13th, Underground Snowboards in Boston on September 20th and The Marquee Theatre on October 3rd and 4th. Juxtapoz understands the diversity of the contemporary art audience and suggests you “mark your calendar, program your Blackberry, or spray paint it on your wall: Ignite What’s Next is back!”