Batman Sighting!

Recently I went on an adventure with two people who I barely know.  Don't get be wrong- I consider these guys friends- but really, I didn't know them very well.  I met these guys because of the show LOST.

A couple years ago, there was a marketing campaign from the LOST folks to create limited edition art prints to celebrate the show.  I, along with thousands of other fans- chased after these elusive prints- but the prints weren't the only precious things I got from this underground art project.  I got to know some of the other fans of this show- and we've become friends.  We would chat online about the prints, our favorite episodes, our favorite characters.  We would help each other out with print buying if someone needed a hand.  Some of us met up at the LOST Gallery 1988 Art Show for the first time in 2009.  A bunch of us went to Hawaii for the season premier of the 6th and final season of LOST. And last year, a group of us went to the San Diego Comic Con. We are each so different from one another- originating from different places from around the world- but we all came together because of this show.

LOST has been off the air for over 2 years, but we're still online talking to each other- visiting one another whenever we can.  It's pretty awesome.  And since I'm currently unemployed, I was able to jump onto this little adventure with  Chris and Pat.  Someone came up with the name AliceChrisPatapalooza for our trek across San Diego county.  I slept over at Pat's house and met his lovely wife for the first time.  We all went out to dinner the first night. Then the next day me, Chris and Pat went on an adventure.  Pat planned an elborate tour of San Diego county- taking us to the desert in the morning, into the mountains in the afternoon and then to the beach in the evening.  It was a beautiful day- full of amazing sights. We took a lot of pictures but that's not what I want to share with you today.

One of the things I wanted to do while I'm unemployed is to start drawing again. Being creative.  Doing some writing and art.  It's something I haven't done in awhile.  Gonna start carrying around a sketch book with me wherever I go and see if I can start a sketch journal of sorts.

A couple of our favorite artists, Daniel Danger and Olly Moss have done some fun Batman sighting pieces and I thought I would do one of my own.  Unbeknownst to Chris and Pat, I saw Batman hanging out at some of the places we visited that day on our little adventure.  Looks like the dark knight is gearing up for his return to Gotham's streets by first doing some scouting around San Diego. This first sighting was at the Borrego Desert Tower.

I wonder where he'll turn up next?

i am LOST

My obsession with LOST has been in overdrive the last few months.  Those sneaky showrunners slipped me (and 6000 other people) the first clue of their fan appreciation project at this year's San Diego Comic-Con when a guy walked up to the mic and started spouting the name of his website he'd dedicated to fine fan inspired LOST art. He presented to them a velvet painting of Damon, Carlton and a Polar Bear. I was there- and thought nothing of it.  Just another crazy, insane fan, giving them a crappy velvet painting.  Fast forward a few weeks- and a friend of mine at work sends out a link to a video of the "crazy fan".  He's gotten onto the ABC lot and is running around and dumpster diving. He was able to retrieve some shredded LOST script pages.  When I saw this (obviously staged) video, this was my first clue that this was something more than just another crazy fan site.  This was something "REAL". (The crazy fan, by the way, is comedian Paul Scheer.)

I decided to check on this website (DamonCarltonAndAPolarBear.com) a few times a week to see if anything else happened.  And boy did things start happening.  Unfortunately, I missed out on the first event they had.  The event was at a club in Los Angeles with DJ AM and that is where they revealed the first website for the LOST Underground Fan Art Project.  The first LOST print was revealed on actuallyitsketchup.com. A Hurley-centric print entitled, "The Numbers" by artist Tim Doyle.  It was intriguing- with glow in the dark ink- but not something I wanted to drop $50 on.  A few days later a new clue appeared on DCaaPB.com. Immediately I started googling the words- trying to decipher their cryptic meaning...  Each day a new clue would reveal more information until finally a location, date and time was spelled out for the next LOST print website reveal.  Somewhere along the way- I stumbled upon a blog called LostARGS.com.  A place where others (not The Others) like me, were following this white rabbit down the twisty, turny road of fun and discovery.

The second reveal was at a bakery in Boston where limited edition LOST skate decks were handed out to the first 8 people there.  The second print was entitled "Locke's Secret" by artist Olly Moss.  I saw it- and I have to say- I wasn't going to buy it at first- but the more I looked at it- the cooler it got.  And I just had to have it.  Okay, $50 for a limited edition piece of art about my favorite character from my favorite TV show- totally worth it. That was on August 26th, 2009.  It is now November 5th, and I am still neck-deep in this crazy, mad, wonderful adventure.  Every week- a new print has become available- and every week it gets harder and harder to keep up with the momentum that this Fan Appreciation project has built up.  The second print I bought was "The Crash" by artist Eric Tan.  At the time (September 9th) it was the fastest sell-out of all the prints.  Selling out in under an hour, I believe.  I was one of the last people to snag one.

I was able to attend the 7th reveal at Rusty's Discount Pet Center in Studio City, CA.  It was great to meet some fellow LOST fans there and we all got an yellow "I <3 Shih Tzus" t-shirt like the one Hurley wore on the TV show.  I am still kicking myself for not purchasing the print that was revealed there.  At the time I was thinking that the print wouldn't really go with the rest of the prints that I had bought- but after seeing people's close-up shots of the amazing detail of the work, I am sad that I do not own "The Smoke Monster" by artist Ken Taylor.  Maybe one day down the road I will be able to buy one for a reasonable price.

And speaking of reasonable prices- this is where I get into the ugliness of people buying these prints just to turn around and resell them for a profit on eBay.  As this promotion has chugged along, print fanatics who are not even LOST fans are buying these prints.  I guess I can understand if they are a fan of a certain artist and want to buy their work- but the the people who have no love of LOST or of beautifully rendered print art and are blatantly horning in on this promotion make me sad.  Sad for the "real" fans.  Prints have been selling on eBay for up to $500 or more for some.  The latest prints have sold out in under 2 minutes.  Long gone are the days of taking a moment to think about your purchase.  Now it's either buy now or forever hold your peace- and pay up the wazoo on eBay.

This print "flipping" phenomenon seemed to happen right around when the 7th and 8th prints became available.  I was actually standing in line at the DMV when the 8th print entitled, "The Hatch" by Kevin Tong was revealed. Needless to say, I panicked, jumped out of line and drove like a maniac back to work and got there in enough time to buy it. (And for my girlfriend who may be reading this- even if I had stayed in line, I would have had to go back to work before my number was called. I swear!!!)

So there you have it.  I'm obsessed with LOST.  If you read my last post, you probably got that already. But just in case you were wondering... :)  And since the last post, I have finished framing my prints and have even finished cutting a special mat for my white LOST poster that was signed by Damon Lindelof. And yes, I did etch The Numbers on the frame myself. (nerd alert!) Oh, and I had a birthday- and my wonderful girlfriend got me a special Dharma ice cream cake.  (Yeah, my girlfriend totally rules!!! )  Hope you enjoy the pics and my words. Toodles.  Time to get ready for the next print reveal...

He brought his MOM!

I love meeting famous people.  Let me rephrase that-  I love meeting humble, down-to-earth, famous people.  Tonight I went to a comic book store in Sherman Oaks, CA called Earth-2 Comics.  They were hosting a signing by Damon Lindelof, co-creator, executive producer, and writer of LOST.  This in-store signing was to celebrate the release of the hardcover edition of his limited comic book series "Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk".   Me being a huge LOST fan AND a huge Wolverine fan- this was my thing, ya know? 

I got to the store about half an hour early and there were already several people there waiting for Damon to show up.  (I could tell they were waiting for him because they had Dharma Swan Station t-shirts on and this other guy was wearing a Dharma jumpsuit.)  By the time Damon arrived, there was a healthy crowd of about 30 people- all dying to get their books (and LOST stuff) signed.

He arrived quietly, thru the front door and shook hands with the comic book store owner. He looked at the signing table all laid out for him.

The store owner introduced him to us and told us that Damon wanted to say a few things before he got started.  Damon said hello and thanked us all profusely for being here this evening. He pointed out his mom, who was visiting from New Jersey and joked that if anyone could explain Adamantium to her, that person would get a special prize.  This was a dream come true for him- his first comic book signing.  His dad would take him to comic book stores when he was a kid and he never thought he would one day create a series of his own.  He said that he's always been on the other side of the table- and that he's a fanboy just like the rest of us.  "I'm just here to hang out with you guys for the next two hours.  Feel free to ask me anything about LOST or comic books - I'm just here to hang out with you all."

I was the 4th person in line.  The first guy was in a Dharma jumpsuit.  The next guy had a tattoo of the Numbers  (4 8 15 16 23 42) on his right bicep- and Damon loved it so much he took a picture of it with his iPhone.  And the guy also had "Live together, die alone" tatted on the other side of his arm- which Damon also geeked out on and took a picture of.  I had brought my stack of comics for him to sign and I also brought my John Locke toy which he gladly signed "Alice.  Everything happens for a reason.  Best, Damon Lindelof"  and he also signed my LOST The Final Season poster, which he said he had never seen before.  I asked him what episode they were currently writing (episode 7) and how he felt it was going.  "It's going well.  But I have to admit, it's kind of sad that it's ending."  I asked him what he'd be doing next and he replied "I heard someone at comic-con ask James Cameron what he'd be doing after Avatar. And he answered 'That's like asking a woman when's the next time she's going to have a baby when she's in the middle of crowning.'  I liked that.  I think that's how I'm going to start answering that question from now on."  I asked him if he had a favorite character:  "I like Desmond and Locke a lot.  But my favorite is Jack.  I know that's not a popular answer, but I think of him as the glue that holds them all together.  Hopefully more people will come around to that after this last season."

I thanked him for his time and for coming out and hanging with us- and we took a picture together. My last question to him was about the LOST print series.  I asked him who came up with the idea- and he pointed to a woman standing next to me, Noreen.  She quickly said- well, there was a group of us that came up with it.  I asked her if she could divulge what the next print would be of- and she smiled and simply said, "I think you'll like it.  It's one of my favorites."  I tried pressing for more information, but all she would say is "Keep your eyes peeled tomorrow."

This wasn't the first time I've met Damon, but it was my favorite.  Just seeing him there, genuinely happy to be signing books, dvds and whatever else people brought in (someone brought in a giant painting of the Hatch mural for him to sign).

So in conclusion- Damon Lindelof is one cool cat.  And I am proud to be one of his many adoring fans. Can't wait to get LOST for the last time in 2010...

The Secret Blog Begins

I'm doing a secret blog. Congratulations on finding it. I didn't want to advertise it. I don't want to shout "HEY LOOK AT ME! I'M BLOGGING LIKE EVERY OTHER S.O.B. ON PLANET EARTH!" This is just a blog for me- and for whoever finds it. I'll be talking about my every day life, things that I am obsessing over, things that annoy me, and whatever else crosses my little mind. Things that I am currently obsessing over are: LOST, the LOST Underground Posters on DamonCarltonandaPolarBear.com, new fall TV shows, upcoming movies, cool toys/action figures, and funny or interesting things that my "friends" on twitter or facebook put up.

Today I went to Rusty's Discount Pet Center and met up with some other LOST enthusiasts. Rusty's was the spot where they were going to reveal the new website address for the latest Lost Underground Fan Art Project. It was fun meeting other Lost Fans and being one of the first ones to get the info. We even got a snazzy "I <3 class="status-body">You are now part of LostARG history FOREVER!"

Sweet.