Said Abd El Gawad

Branden Otto's Candidates print features a series of wonderful portraits of characters from LOST. The centerpiece of the print is a fantastic depiction of Smocke, probably my favourite capture of TOQ to date. Ben is all about asymmetry, which is reflected well here. Likeness is a little off, but not bad. Wise-cracking Miles Straume. Too bad he's had so little to do in Season 6. It will be interesting to find out what he, Richard, and Ben have been up to since parting ways with Jack's team. Sad, longing Sun. Hasn't been re-united with Jin yet. One of my favourites on the poster. Love how Kate is all Ms. 45. Lots of energy. Good likeness of Hurley. I very much like the Jack portrait. Reminds me of his "I was stupid enough to think The Island could save me" moment. Pretty good Jin. Sawyer in anguish. Plenty of emotion projecting from this portrait. I like how the artist has captured Zombie Sayid's state of mind here. Another of my favs from this poste...

My daughter had a birthday recently and look who showed up for cake that day! Looks a bit like Kate is searching for a candle to light. I also enjoy the way Hurley seems to be wistfully (and hungrily?) staring at the icing. Oh, I almost forgot -- Vincent was there too. Sideways Vincent, by the looks of him. Here's a clearer shot of the cake.

Branden Otto released a fantastic pair of matched Lost prints in early 2010 -- Candidates and Just Progress . Candidates was released first, shortly after the Season 6 reveal of names on the ceiling of Jacob's cave. It features a series of portraits of characters central to the Season 6 arc. I particularly like Flocke, Kate, Richard, Widmore, and Sayid. Creepy Claire is rendered effectively...creepy...as well. Nice composition on this print too, with Man In Black and Jacob in the top third of the piece lording over our all-too-human cast of characters slogging it out below. I was very excited to realize that I am the only person on the planet to have TWO of The Numbers in their edition number -- four and eight! Thanks Branden for that extra bonus! Following the release of Candidates Branden announced that it was actually the first of a diptych. I of course ordered the follow-up print, Just Progress , when it was available. It again features some fine work, especially Desmond, C...

We Have To Go Back is a magical little print by Jimmy Goose. It instantly transports my consciousness to the day in 2007 when my mind was blown by the flash forward reveal near the end of the season 3 finale. Perhaps my favourite moment and perhaps my favourite line of the series. With effortless simplicity this piece captures the experience for me. This is a 15x9 print, laser printed on coated paper. I have #35 of the 42-print run. I haven't found a good frame yet, so for now I have it perched atop my copy of 'The Crash'. They actually make a pretty nice pair. Looks like there may still be a few copies left here .

Back in January I won a Dharma beer koozie in one of Erika Olson's monthly giveaway contests. A few days later I won a Locke Lives T-shirt in a separate contest put on by Erika and DarkUFO. My lucky streak ended there, however -- the shirt arrived in the mail a few days later but the koozie did not arrive. No doubt the MIB was involved in the MIA koozie. Either that or a postal employee saw the word 'beer' on the package and brought it home for the weekend. I let Erika know that the koozie didn't arrive. She was sympathetic but noted that she had just sent out the last of them. I was happy enough with the T-shirt, so moved forward with an expectation of koozielessness. (Not a word, Mr. Spellcheck? REALLY?) In early April I received an email from Erika. She had uncovered a few more koozies and offered to send one if mine had still not arrived. It hadn't so I gratefully accepted her offer. As a bonus, when it arrived it included a note from Erika written o...