WANTED: Dharma Composer

As if the Lost panel at San Diego Comic Con wasn't exciting enough, ABC has decided to kick it up a notch this year. Surround yourself with mangos, ranch dressing and four-toed statues to get those creative juices flowing if you have to. They want a Lost theme song.

Here's what ABC has to say:

A call to all Dharma Bassists, Bassoonists, Bandurists, Bouzouki players, Cellists, Clarinetists, Drummers, Electronic Musicians, Flautists, Guitarists, Harpists, Hornists, Keyboardists, Oboists, Pianists, Percussionists, Saxophonists, Sawists, Sitarists, Trombonists, Trumpeters, Tubists, Violinists, and any and all alike....

For this year's Comic-Con panel, our theme is about giving back to YOU...the fans!!! It is because of you that we are celebrating our 5th year at Comic-Con, and we would love to incorporate your astounding creativity. We'd like to feature YOUR ideal version of what you think a LOST title song would be (if the show had one). Over the years, we've been witness to your incredibly innovative pieces on LOST, and would love to hear your fetchy melody for LOST which you were waiting to share!

Awesome!! Except, lots of people have already done that.

It's still a fun idea. So what does the winner(s) get? Well, they've taken a page out of The Nerdy Bird contest book and have offered basically, not much. According to the official rules:

The prize for the individual or group that submits the winning Theme Music (“Winner”) is to have the winning Theme Music played back for the audience (possibly synchronized with video clips of the Program in a mock main title sequence) at the Lost Comic-Con panel in Hall H, Saturday, July 25, 2009. No substitution allowed except, at Sponsor’s sole discretion, a prize of equal or greater value may be substituted. Sponsor has no obligation to use the winning Theme Music in any actual main title sequence, soundtrack, or otherwise in connection with the Program.

I hope they at least give them Dharma related products or action figures or SOMETHING tangible for the win. Hey, they could give away a Benjamin Linus bobblehead!

DoubleDCoverage #15

I'm back with this week's installment of DoubleDCoverage at the Girls Entertainment Network!

I interrupt GEN’s regularly scheduled (and awe-inspiring) Eisner Awards feature to bring you your regularly scheduled dose of DC Comic reviews. What is the Green Lantern Corps without it’s greatest symbol and what is the Justice League without it’s emerald-shaded members? Reviews for Green Lantern Corps #38 and Justice League: Cry for Justice #1 are ahead, also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last Wednesday!

Click here to check out DoubleDCoverage #15.

And don't forget that our very special Eisner Awards feature is in full swing! Comment on any of the articles to be put in the running for an Eisner prize pack! Here's what's been posted so far:

Best Short Story

Best Continuing Series

Best Limited Series

Best New Series

Best Digital Comic and Best Writer should be up by the time most of you are reading this aswell. Remember you can access all of the Eisner articles through our handy hub! Thanks to everyone who's been spreading the word and commenting so far. Keep it up!!

Worth it's weight in gold?

In a world where video games can be downloaded straight to your console...and children don't know the agony of having to "start over"...one man made it his mission to show the world just how much one old school Nintendo game meant to him. It meant a lot. $17,500 to be exact.

"I don't think it's working. Blow in it."

The game in question is the "holy grail" for collectors - Nintendo World Championships Gold. Originally created for the 1990 video game competition, it only contains 6 minutes and 21 seconds of gameplay (segments of Super Mario Brothers, Rad Racer and Tetris). Only 26 were ever made. Now, JJ Hendricks can shout from the rooftops he is one of the lucky few to possess the rare item.

So how did Hendricks wind up with the game? He found it on ebay of course. At VideoGamePriceCharts.com he tells his story, "I gave [the seller] an offer of $17,500, which was quite a bit lower than his asking price of $25,000. He said he would think about it but wanted more for the game so he was going to wait for some more offers." Other offers did come but all of them fell through eventually. The real drama began when the seller agreed to sell to Hendricks and he sent off his payment:

A FedEx tracking number is emailed to me that night. I get really excited, "I'm finally going to get the game". About 10 minutes later an email comes from FedEx - "Shipment Cancelled". The next day the seller tells me it finally shipped and gives me the address he sent it to. THE ADDRESS IS WRONG. It is my neighbors place. I call him to see about changing the address and he tells me "Sorry, I've decided not to sell it. I love the game too much."

Luckily (and legally I guess) the seller did not back out of the deal and Hendricks finally had his happy ending:

The next morning at 7:30AM the FedEx man comes to the door. I'm holding my 7 week old baby, probably have a ridiculously big smile on my face, and sign for the package. I quickly open everything up half expecting some other problem. Nintendo World Championships Gold is neatly packaged inside with a custom built display case and looks just as good as I imagined it would. I have the "Holy Grail of Gaming" and the emotional ride is finally over.

You can read the entire, very dramatic story on the blog but damn, who knew the world of video game collecting could be so scary? I would have been shitting my pants if I had payed someone an egregious amount of money for something and they told me they had changed their minds.

My first reaction upon reading this story was, "I can't believe someone paid $17,500 for a video game," but then I realized it doesn't really matter what it was, collecting is serious business. Hell, I shelled out a pretty penny once for a movie prop because I wanted it more than anything. It doesn't matter if people think I wasted my money on it because it holds a great value for me personally. I didn't buy it to sell down the road for more money (although that is some peoples aim), I bought it because it made me happy.

For some people it's classic art or antiques, for others comic books and video games. Granted, we should all be so fortunate to have that kind of money lying around to spend on something we "want" versus something we "need," but in a perfect world what item would you pay good money to own if you could?

And the winner is...

One month ago I decided I'd had enough of my crappy creative ability and put a call out to the masses. I was looking for talented artists to come up with a sign I could proudly display on my scooter at the San Diego Comic Con to promote my blog. Many fantastic entries later, one has finally made the cut. Drum-roll please...Congratulations to Kristopher Carpenter!

Whether Kris realized I had a fondness for warrior women or not, I couldn't help but fall in love with his kick-ass depiction of me. We might make a few tweaks between now and SDCC but this is basically what the sold-out crowd will be viewing for 5 days. I predict several walking accidents. I am not responsible for you knocking over an expensive display of Cybermen while staring at my signage ok?

A HUGE thank you goes out to all the artists to participated. This really wasn't an easy decision. It made me so happy you took the time to make something for me and I hope you had just as much fun as I did getting to see them all.

Thank you again to:

• Rob Kelly - Entry 1
• Zech Browning - Entry 2A, B
• Wesley Zane - Entry 3A, B
• Cathe Jones - Entry 4
• Jennifer Rude - Entry 5
• Brian Beardsley - Entry 7
• Ami B - Entry 8A, B, C
• Carolyn Belefsky - Entry 9

GEN Presents: Eisners 2009

Something very cool is happening next week at the Girls Entertainment Network, which you all know by now I write comic reviews for. Here's the deal: For one exciting week in July, the GEN comics team reviews over fifty books nominated for the 2009 Eisner Awards! Below is our official press release.

In celebration of the 2009 Eisner Awards, the Girls Entertainment Network comics team will be presenting a week-long feature event focusing on a select ten nomination categories: Best Short Story, Best Continuing Series, Best Limited Series, Best New Series, Best Digital Comic, Best Writer, Best Writer/Artist, Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team, Best Cover Artist, and Best Coloring. The articles—released two at a time for a total of ten articles—will be written by the five comics staff members and focus on one category at a time, highlighting each of the nominees.

This upcoming event will help to promote comics at the Girls Entertainment Network and build a better interactive community of readers and fans. To facilitate this process and strengthen the overall outcome, three winners will be randomly chosen from a pool of commenters during the event week. The winners will be announced and contacted by the Comics Editor, Stephanie “WITA” Carmichael, at the end of the contest, and each will be awarded a custom Eisner-nominated prize pack featuring a congratulatory note from the GEN comics girls!

The Eisner review feature is the biggest undertaking from the GEN comics section yet and results from the collaboration of dozens of publishers and creators—including Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and many more! The event and contest will begin Monday, July 6th and end Friday, July 10th.

-About the Girls Entertainment Network:

Forget sugar and spice – The Girls Entertainment Network is redefining what girls are made of. Spearheaded by a female staff, GEN fosters a dedicated and diverse group of ladies who are, first and foremost, fans. Readers who frequent the site can expect content written by individuals whose knowledge of the greater enthusiast culture is on par with their own.

Although GEN’s primary focus is to offer a platform to females, everyone – male and female alike – is encouraged to participate in the latest conversations pertaining to video games, comics, anime, gadgets, and cosplay as well as join our growing community of friendship and support.

GEN stands out among tech culture websites by breaking down gender stereotypes and showing the world that today’s ladies are taking control of the controller and digging through your comic collection.

So there you have it folks. The GEN comics team has been rolling out outstanding work for a while now but this is our official "coming out" party if you will. We're really hoping to get a larger comic crowd (not just girls!) to our site on a more regular basis so if you haven't already please take two minutes to sign up, one, so you'll be able to comment on our awesome reviews/articles in the future but also of course so you can comment on our Eisner feature and put yourself in the running for the prizes!

Come Monday we are going to be promoting this like MAD so please help us out by spreading the word if you've got your own blog/twitter/myspace/facebook/tv station, whatever! Anything will do and the entire team, including myself, would really appreciate it. Last but not least, ENJOY! We really did put an enormous amount of work into this event and although I'm biased because I wrote ten of the reviews, it really has turned out top-notch.

Enjoy your holiday weekend and hope to see you on GEN on Monday!

The Nerdy Bird Adores - Dirty JSA'ers

Now, I know I have a dirty mind but this stuff just writes itself.

"The Morning After"

That is, in fact, "What SHE said." Not to mention she said it looking in the general direction of Atom Smasher's WANG. Priceless. Unfortunately, Stargirl will probably never get the chance to really mean those words the way I took them if Alan Scott, Jay Garrick and Ted Grant keep cockblocking her like they have the last few years. See Justice Society of America #28 for the latest interference if you don't believe me.

Luckily this also gave me the chance to post another classic oops! moment in JSA history.

"Can you see anything, Doc?" "Why no Jakeem, but I think Maxine should get a mammogram."

Blind my ass. I bet Pieter has been faking it for years. This was from a few issues back during the "Thy Kingdom Come" Gog storyline but I'm glad I saved it to show you guys the pair. The pair. Ha Ha. Get it?

I'm going to hell aren't I?

DoubleDCoverage #14

I'm back with this week's installment of DoubleDCoverage at the Girls Entertainment Network!

Watch out fellas, Gotham belongs to the ladies now. Reviews for Detective Comics #854 and Gotham City Sirens #1 are ahead, also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last Wednesday!

Click here to check out DoubleDCoverage #14.