In a quite humorous viral stunt to promote the new Spicy Buffalo sandwich, Carl’s Jr. enlisted what appears to be your classic blonde centerfold, middle American girl in cowboy boots, wearing a short denim skirt and belly shirt to push fast food. I wouldn’t normally write about Carl’s Jr. unless it was to share the news that they went organic or decided to promote free trade (wouldn’t that be nice?)– but this fun microsite was just too funny to pass up on sharing! The site allows you to send a very customized lunch date invitation through the blonde bomb shell to your friends. You can choose for her to appear to your friend licking a lollipop, doing the sprinkler, robot, and so on. The customizable features are spot on and actually very impressive, and naturally the viral tell a friend effect is huge. If you accept the lunch invite it gives you a certificate towards that fairly grotesque looking sandwhich!

Julien Canavezes hails from Paris, and I have to admit– I’m a little disappointed I don’t know how to read French, because his website is full of great content, and I just can’t decipher the text portion. Besides being an insane freelance illustrator, animator, and flash guru, Julien also makes these stuffed toys that I’m strangely in love with. The reason I say “strangely” is that all of his characters (he has 10 different ones) have these pissed off or sad expressions on their faces. That may mean I have a thing for morbid humor, or it may mean I just really like the design and creativity behind these things– I’m not quite sure. At any rate, you must check out Julien’s work; if you know French, that’ll definitely work to your advantage with this lead.

The socially-minded crew at Akomplice are about to drop season six of their hip-hop inspired menswear, and after checking out the merchandise I’m happy to report that things are looking pretty incredible for this coming spring/summer. As always, Akomplice has done a great job weaving subtle but powerful political messages into their designs, resulting in awesome looking tees and hoodies that address important issues without being overbearing in the slightest. I’m loving this Class Act reversible hoodie, highlights of which are a delicious gold silk lining and a funny yet serious gun/booze screen print, and the tribute to Steve Irwin limited edition tee (I advise you vigilantly site-stalk until the season’s debut if you want to pay homage to the Crocodile Hunter; there’s only making 380, and it’s killer).

Christopher Cox, friend and fellow Spear Collective member recently launched his new portfolio and once again our hats are off– it’s very slick (don’t worry, it’s not nearly as hard to navigate as his desk, shown here). His new site features tons more of his work to better exhibit his talent in print, illustration, typography, motion, web and the most impressive and surprising to us– apparel. Pop by his site, have a look around and be sure to drop into his online shop to see some of his designs on t-shirts, hoodies, etc. Congrats Chris!

Now in its 10th year of existence, I feel a deep sense of pride to have been privy to the very first Gin Weekend back in 1997. This year promises to be the most robustly and widely celebrated Gin Weekend yet, as the word continues to proliferate across the globe. If you’re unfamiliar with the holiday, it began as a simple idea amongst a group of like-minded friends, still in high school and just coming into their own as drinkers, made the vow to drink only gin for an entire weekend. The result was an epic weekend of such dramatically drunken proportions that the echos of their revelry still haunt the corridors of the Crested Butte Academy to this day. It soon became obvious that, if the holiday was to spread to the masses at large, the requirements of participation would have to be slightly relaxed. Not everyone can handle an entire weekend of only gin, and the purpose was to spread the ideals, if not the strict practices, of appreciation, fellowship, and, ultimately, inebriation. Orthodox followers still stick to the idea of consuming only gin-based cocktails during this time, but consumption of at least one gin-based cocktail during the weekend is all that is required for proper observance by the lay person. This year, I have concocted a gin drink that should warm the rookies out there up to the holiday pretty quickly– I’m calling it the “Gin-Pure”– it consists of equal parts Hendrick’s Scottish Gin and G Pure Energy Drink, shaken and served martini style. Both are amazing by themselves, and should prove to be even more formidable as a pair. I hope you will join us in next weekend’s festivities– the 2007 Gin Weekend Document of Notification is after the jump…

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Time for a little Tuesday giveaway for you loyal JoshSpear.com readers. We have some great prizes this time. Sign up for our mailing list on or before this Sunday, March 11th at midnight EST, and you’ll be entered into the ‘hat’ from which we’ll draw two winners. The Grand Prize is going to be a Paul Frank watch, a Fujiya & Miyagi CD, and a Foreign Islands CD (both being released by Deaf, Dumb, + Blind Communications). The runner up will get a Foreign Islands vinyl 7″ and an autographed Fujiya & Miyagi vinyl single. We very much appreciate you, our readers, so this is just a little mid-week icing on the cake. Good luck!

I’m getting quite a kick this morning out of Bald Guy Greeting Cards. They have that morbid sense of humor that I have come to respect and love, and the design work isn’t too shabby either. When you go to their website, and read the history of how Ian and Sean dreamt up the company, you’re sure to laugh. For instance, you’ll learn that their first sale was made in San Francisco in December of 2005… 10 Christmas cards to a Jewish guy; or that if you buy 1000 cards from them, you have the chance of being added to their ‘history page’ by virtue of being the first person to buy 1000 cards. These guys and their cards reek of comedy, and I hope that someday I can have dinner with them and brainstorm some new card ideas. They have a retail locator on the site and also sell directly from the site– cards are $3. You should understand that the true magic of the cards are in the inside– so I’ve included a few of my favorites after the jump…
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