Check out Fruitcake’s new t-shirt. What do you guys think?

~Mike

The split. Yes, I had a bit of a falling out with Mike beforehand. But it was a pretty clean split. He went his way, I went mine. I won’t lie. The split has definitely affected me. But I’ve tried to channel it as inspiration for my art. I just caught up with some reporters from ARTMagazine to give them a preview of my most recent creations. This collection is called, “The Art of Splitting”. The idea behind it is this. When you split with someone (a co-worker, a best friend, a partner), there could be different ways for it all to go down. Is it a clean, simple split with both sides being equal (like slicing a lemon in half)? Or do you split over and over again, leaving your guts in many pieces (like with an orange)? And do you divide your stuff like separating different colored grapes? I’ve wondered about some of these questions and have expressed that in my artwork. I’ll keep the split collection under wraps for now until I make a plan for its official debut. But here’s a look at a few pieces from my Power of Fruit collection. We may never look at fruit the same way again. Now fruit candy is another story. I can never get enough of MIKE AND IKE®. ~ Ike

As I write this my bulldog, Fruitcake, is sitting by my feet. What a dog. I mean…bulldogs are the best. I’ve had Fruitcake for almost 7 years now. Best friend I ever had. He’s such a chill dog too – wants to eat nonstop, but doesn’t get into too much trouble. I named him Fruitcake ‘cause, well, you know… fruit has always been my thing. And he’s got lots of layers to his personality like one of those cakes that stacks up high with all the layers. He’s a little crazy like that. So it seemed to fit. There’s something about a name. It’s gotta fit the dog’s personality and click with the owner too. I like to think that coming up with the right name is an art, really. The name Fruitcake is in a class of its own – but here is my list of Top Ten Bulldog Names: Bud, Rigby, Scully, Bella, Coco Chanel, Red, Brutus, Meatball, Ginger, Ramon. OK, I admit, some names are Fruitcake’s celebrity dog friends from walking the beaches in Santa Monica. Enough bulldog talk. Onto more serious stuff like film school. I’m heading to NYC to check out NYU Tisch and Columbia. Will visit some friends while I’m there too. Good thing Fruitcake travels well. He’s coming with me. Bring it, NYC!

Lovin’ all this free time I have now. Also recently saw She Wants Me. Rad movie! I admit, I only wanted to see it because when I saw the trailer I immediately identified with Josh Gad who plays a writer and filmmaker. Well, that and because Hilary Duff is in it. I always liked her. Mike would argue that he deserves credit for turning me on to her, but he didn’t. Anyway, unlike Sam (Josh Gad), I don’t have a girlfriend right now and I’m “playing the field as they say” so I’d jump at the opportunity to have Hilary star in my movie. But for real, this movie was well worth seeing. Even Charlie Sheen was entertaining #winningagain. It also pumped me up for my upcoming visits to film schools. Plan to visit the American Film Institute and University of So Cal. Also working on setting up time in NY to visit Tish and Columbia U. Can’t wait! More 411 on that soon! ~ Ike

I know it’s hard to believe, but yes – Mike and I split. It is what it is. We just couldn’t agree on stuff anymore. Some call it creative differences? Whatever. The guy is awesome, if you don’t count that he’s color blind. Lime is green dude! Cherry is red, not purple. Get it? Go write some songs since that seems to be where your focus is right now. The packaging? OK, I admit I started it. I mean, if he wasn’t going to agree on my new design, then what was I gonna do? I actually think it’s funny (can’t say the same for our guys in the factory — sorry man!) Like any artist, I felt the need to express, so I did. So now that I’ve busted out, I’ll be allowing my creativity to explode. I’m about art, film, color. Definitely a lot of color. Hanging with my cool, artsy friends. I’ve already been painting much more (fruit candy is still my favorite subject). My friend Eden Sher from The Middle (one of my favorite TV shows) thinks I should go to film school and learn fruit candy animation. I didn’t even know they had that. I’ll keep you all updated here on my blog, so be sure to check back often. Art knows no strangers! Yeah Mike, art knows no strangers man! ~ Ike

Just got back from seeing the Hunger Games movie and it was awesome! Costumes had sweet colors. Fruit candy color. Makes me want to paint and tag for the Games. Loved the set design and special effects – they nailed it! Not enough MIKE AND IKE® candy in the movie though. OK, I didn’t see any, but I guess I’ll let it go this time. The buzz is that this movie may be bigger than Twilight. Who knows? All I can say is this: Hunger Games rocks, so grab a box of MIKE AND IKE® candy and hit the theaters this weekend! Then leave me a comment here and tell me what you think. Mike probably won’t even see it. Gotta get that guy looking at the colors. ~ Ike