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Friday

Yeah. I’ve got nothing.

Saturday

Saturday! Now Saturday I actually did some shit. In an effort to expand my capabilities at Bugs & Cranks I learned how to create an animated GIF, which is a digital image that moves. For example, this is a GIF (I pronounce it gif, like gift, but other weirdos say jif. Freaks). It is also how I felt after accomplishing my feat.

Courtesy of twistedsifter.com

Seriously, I was that excited. You can find that post here.

As I previewed on Thursday, Orange County artist Sam Carter’s DUOS pop art gallery opened. My wife and I met Sam, his bride and a few friends at the Velvet Lounge (VLVT) in the Santa Ana Arts District. It’s a gay bar/lounge and night club with some damn fine food and a kick-ass happy hour. I threw down three $3 whiskey/Cokes. As my first gay bar experience, I can say that the only noticeable difference was that the number of glory hole jokes spiked drastically.

DUOS at F+ Gallery

Over at F+ Gallery a food truck parked outside what looked like a condo or loft with an open garage stuffed with Sam’s DUOS art, a crowd and some more booze. Dos Equis in the green bottle for just a tip? Don’t mind if I have three. The pop art collection adorned the walls and I picked up this piece, from my favorite movie Pulp Fiction.

Jules and Vincent, DUOS by Sam Carter.

From there we met friends at the Irvine Improv to catch Jay Mohr’s 9 p.m. comedy show. He killed it. I love it when comedians go up there without a plan, and just let the crowd drive them. My lame-ass started nodding off in the middle of a long bit about how Mohr hates musicians talking during concerts. WHO DOES THAT? IT’S A LIVE COMEDY SHOW, AND IT’S FUNNY, AND I CAN’T KEEP MY EYES OPEN. F me.

Jay Mohr too close to my wife.

Our friends and my wife grabbed some pictures with Mohr while I secured a patio table at the Yard House. Naturally I was wide awake to split a pastrami sandwich. I hate me.

Sunday

Mark Trumbo homered. Angels lost. Photo by Matt Brown/Angels Baseball LP.

My buddy Ian and I sat through the Angels’ third straight loss to the Houston Astros. For those of you that don’t realize that magnitude of shittiness this means, let me spell it out. The Astros are the worst team in the American League. The only other team in baseball worse than the Astros is the Miami Marlins. And the only reason they’re worse is because they have the worst owner in baseball, traded all but one of their good players to the Toronto Blue Jays and pretty much field a Triple-A minor league team.

Yet the Angels are off losing three in a row to the FUCCCKKKINNNNGG Astros. It’s the Astros. I will put it in perspective for those of you that watched Dancing With the Stars. The Angels are like gold-medal winning Olympic gymnast Alexandra Raisman. She had all the tools to win but couldn’t put it together. And she’s a sexy competitor. But she finished fourth. The Astros are like Wynonna Judd. Pure country, completely boring and no skill. Now, imagine Wynonna beating Ali head-to-head in a ballroom dancing competition. Okay, expand that brain-cramping exercise to three-straight wins. STAY WITH ME. Don’t fall out of your chair. This is the domain I live in. And the Astros will likely win tonight to make it four in a row. Fmylife.com.

Gold member, baby.

We walked around Angel Stadium to grab some sandwiches and came across the season seat holder wall (unofficial title). We are now gold members. Which has absolutely zero perks. In 2032 we’ll be promoted to the next level. Hopefully one with a wheelchair ramp.

mother hell

I’m typing this on Sunday night. My wife from an alternate universe just Tweeted this:

Holy Mother of F. I have nothing quippy or cool to say re: Game of Thrones. I’m shattered. #GoT

— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) June 3, 2013

Fifteen minutes later my buddy Brandon IM’d me that it was the greatest Game of Thrones episode of all time.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!! If you haven’t watched Sunday’s episode, don’t read beyond this GIF. Stop here, enjoy the dragons, watch the episode and then come back and read the rest.

Courtesy of gameofgifs.tumblr.com/

Game of Thrones Shiznit

I’ve never played chess, but bring me those awesome pieces the Starks used to strategize and I will Bobby Fischer your shit, sir.
I really need a bigger TV. This 32-incher ain’t cutting it (that’s what she said…if she was a blue whale).
I also want my own wolf.
Oh shit John Snow left his ginger.
Ever feel like watching this show is like watching a hockey game? Petyr Baelish (Little Finger, the shady guy that counsels the King and runs a brothel) might as well be a defensemen for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And when they start fighting, it’s as hard as tracking a puck. Who’s who? Let’s mix it up, shirts and skins, or green vs hot pink?
That Stark relative (again, no idea on a name) forced to marry won the medieval Powerball compared to his bride’s sisters.
A sword needs a sheath. Best euphemism.
And wtfffffff is with the bedding ceremony custom? Really? Congrats on getting married, now have sex with everyone at the party? YES, IT IS STRANGE, ROB STARK! Make a new tradition. OF NOT DOING THAT.
Holyyyyyyyyyy ambush ohhhhhhh shiittttttt that just happened?? OHHHH SHITTTTTT.

I jumped online immediately after the episode to discuss with Brandon.

Seth: finished watching it
Brandon: Nice day…for a red wedding?
Seth: fucking brutal
Brandon: Surprised my wife didn’t get all butt hurt
Brandon: I thought it was awesome. What made The Wire awesome.
Brandon: No one…safe…ever.
Brandon: No matter how central they seemed
Seth: yes
Brandon: Pretty bummed we never got to see Jeyne naked but once.
Brandon: I enjoyed it the only time!
Seth: I’m so bad with the names. Which is Jeyne?
Brandon: Robb Stark’s wife
Seth: I thought we did
Brandon: Only one time
Brandon: I wanted more
Seth: greedy bastard
Seth: stop shaving so you can end up looking like that wildling with the big red beard
Brandon: Unfortunately
Brandon: I am clean shaven
Brandon: I shaved a couple weeks ago
Seth: That’s what I’m saying
Seth: I told you to stop shaving.
Brandon: 9.5 years
Brandon: Clean shaven now

Actress Emilia Clarke plays Daenerys Targaryen.

Brandon: Also

Brandon: Emilia Clarke
Brandon: Should be naked each and every episode
Brandon: And I will do my best to not be bitter that Seth McFarlane bangs her
Seth: yeah it’s bullshit when she’s not
Seth: And I have a fair offer: dragons or nekkid. I’ll take one or the other.
Brandon: That is my ONLY gripe of the show
Brandon: Is that we go 2-3 episodes
Seth: At least some Seth is getting her.
Brandon: Without seeing characters
Seth: My only gripe is not enough draggons.
Seth: and going one episode without b00bz
Brandon: My wife downloaded the books tonight
Brandon: So she will be a spoiler nerd now
Brandon: Yeah I think this is the 2nd episode this season without boobs
Seth: way too many
Brandon: Last time the next episode had lots of boobage though

You get the gist. Remember…men are pigs.

To know Orange County artist Sam Carter is to know funny. It’s in his DNA. His father, Samuel Carter III, boasts a cold, calculating wit. If there is a line he won’t cross, it’s buried in the sand. Think the late George Carlin without the raspy voice. Sam inherited the same levity. Toss in the influences of Caddy Shack, Saturday Night Live and The Jerky Boys along with years of listening to movies and television in the background while drawing as a single child growing up in Orange and a pop culture satirical monster is born.

Carter, Director of the Design Studio at USC Auxiliary Services and formerly an art specialist at Disney’s Art Department, started drawing about age 4 or 5. He drew Garfield in elementary school and became frustrated when other kids couldn’t match his skill. When he was 9 created elaborate maps of imaginary amusement parks filled with minute detail.

In high school he started a line of T-shirts entitled Dismal with the iconic Disney “D”. One shirt featured a creepy one-eyed, one-eared Mickey Mouse while another set many Disney characters in a pool hall. While not yet defined at the time, Carter was creating pop surrealism, an underground art movement mash-up of Surrealism and popular culture created simply to entertain.The phrase originated at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in 1998 for an exhibit of the same name (and book in 1999 which covered the exhibit) and is sometimes referred to as lowbrow art. It’s often filled with humor and sometimes a sarcastic comment on society.

Pop Surrealism at its Lowest Brow

Carter’s first solo art show “DUOS” exemplifies the pop culture influences from his youth. Hosted at Santa Ana’s F+ Gallery, his collection depicts “pop culture’s most notorious, obvious, famous, ambiguous and dynamic duos.” The Blues Brothers Jake and Elwood, Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction and Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie are some of the 69 (of course) twosomes on exhibit starting Saturday, June 1. The themed show will run through July 10.

“I liked the idea of DUOS, it’s almost endless,” Carter said. “So picking my favorites would be fun. That’s what this type of art is all about. Nothing too serious or heavy in my stuff.”

Carter, who uses the tagline “Pop Surrealism at its Lowest Brow” on his website, began working on DUOS in January. He sketches a piece with a Wacom tablet and then creates shapes on top of it with Adobe Illustrator. He said this project forced him to learn how to simplify his designs.

All 69 DUOS, by Sam Carter

“I usually work my art to death and not realize I should have walked away a long time ago,” he said. “This was a good learning process as an artist to only give myself a limited amount of time for each person in the duo.”

“My fucking wrist hurts from it,” he added.

Amy Kaplan, manager at F+ Gallery, first met Carter, a Cal State Fullerton art grad, at a bi-monthly life drawing group at Dr. Sketchy’s, an anti-art school in Anaheim. Kaplain said the gallery normally features fine art, but her and owner Micah Kersh have always wanted to mix in pop art, and she thought Carter was the perfect fit.

“I’ve always been a fan of his work,” Kaplan said, “and have wanted to feature him in one way or the other.”

A huge Back to the Future fan, Carter said his favorite pieces are Doc and Marty or movie maker Kevin Smith’s characters Jay and Silent Bob.

Blues Brothers Jake and Elwood, DUOS, by Sam Carter.

“It’s fun to have an art show where you can have someone like Jay in a piece giving the finger,” Carter said. “A simple gesture is so true to his character.” Each duo can be purchased as limited editions on opening night.

Attack of Pop Art Rages On

Carter said he sees himself expanding the DUOS collection in the future. He hopes to hit 100 total tandems and feature them on his website at samcarterart.com.

In August, Carter and a group of artists under the moniker Popzilla will put on a themed art show called Mega Mouse, which takes a look at what would happen if Disney continues to buy up creative properties, like they have with Star Wars and Marvel. Popzilla’s first show, Rat Trap, was a celebrity roast of Disneyland and earlier this year Rothick Art Haus hosted SteamPOP, which covered all things pop culture seen through “steam punk” goggles. Carter said the group is always looking for “awesome, nerdy new artists” to join his crew.

For More Information:

F+ Gallery

samcarterart.com

Popzilla on Facebook

Smiling Through Tearz

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