The LOST Comic Con Experience Part 2 10

This is part 2 of the Comic Con article, read part 1 here

Comic Con

In a way it is a shame that we were going to Comic Con, I could have quite easily spent the four days just chatting with everyone and hanging out at the barracks. However tickets had been bought and we needed to attend.

All over the San Diego Convention Center and Gaslamp quarter LOST actors, directors, writer and producers were in attendance, most in new roles on new shows.

I have to admit my Thursday at the Con was a bit of a disappointment, I missed nearly everything that I wanted to see and to make it worse I got tweets from everyone else saying they had found and met lots of cool people. Thursday evening got a lot better when my wife and I attended W00tstock 3.0 with Will Wheaton and a cast of assorted musicians and comedians, but that’s another story.

All over the four days of Comic Con I saw people walking round with LOST t-shirts and other related items. On the day of the EW LOST panel I was in line for Ballroom 20 and saw a guy a few rows in front had a DHARMA jumpsuit on. I went over and asked if he was going to the panel and he said he didn’t realise there was one, he was just there in the jumpsuit as he liked LOST.

This photo is of the end of the line when we were "near" the front at around 2000 people mark.

So on Friday after getting into Ballroom 20, queuing from early in the morning (after 4 hours sleep), I managed to see some of the panels I wanted to. I then took the decision to leave and go to the room where the LOST panel was going to be held to try and guarantee a good seat. Some of the barracks residents were already there and at that time there was no problem in getting a seat and trying to save some seats for other people.

Unfortunately the guests in the panel room before the LOST panel were not altogether sure if people were there for them or for some other reason. I did learn a lot about the Bone series of comics, a Portuguese comic artist who didn’t speak any English and an award winning British Comic artist.


Anyway the preceding panels were finished and throughout this time the room was filling up. Just before the EW panel started I got up and looked around. I recognised so many faces and said hello to several of them. People came up to me and said hello, introducing themselves with their online names from LOSTARGs. One other LOST related name in the room, just sat in a seat like us ordinary people was Michael Giacchino, as soon as people realised who he was there was a bit of stampede to go over, get photographs and generally just say hello.

Someone even came up and handed me a bundle of cash, it was explained that the readers of the LOSTARGS.com blog had taken a collection for me during the DCaaPB campaign to try and purchase a Transmission poster. After a year of trying it hadn’t happened so the opportunity was taken to get the money to me directly.

I am still flabbergasted by the generosity and friendship you have all provided and have to say thank you again for all everyone here has done and continues to do.

A banner that had been hanging in the barracks was transported to Comic Con and hung on the panel table to add to the atmosphere. The EW panel started, and to be honest the start was a bit of a blur for me, there are some videos online if you want to find them, and I won’t go into too much detail but after a brief exchange a Star Wars Stormtrooper marched down the central aisle. Removing the helmet it turned out to be Carlton Cuse. Next into the room wearing a DHARMA jumpsuit and a Bobba Fett helmet turned out to be Damon Lindelof.

I told you at the start that Surreal is the word to remember !

So after an exchange between Carlton and Damon we got to find out what the Marbled Rye is and if you haven’t seen the film yet then please do yourself a favour and watch it. You may have to search on You Tube for it as it doesn't seem to be available on the ABC site at the moment.

After that a short question and answer session took place with the people asking the questions getting a special poster, created by JJ Harrison, from Damon and Carlton. Why the panel was so special and the poster giveaway was fantastic is another completely amazing and heart warming story which shows again that LOST has become more than just a TV show. Click here to read more about the reason the posters were so special and where the storm trooper armour came from.

On a side note the process of getting Carlton Cuse out of the Storm Trooper armour was another moment that I wouldn’t have missed for all the world and couldn’t have been funnier if it had been arranged this way.

Some of the early questions in the Q&A session were about specific plot points that people wanted clearing up, and Damon and Carlton made it clear that they would not be answering anything that specific.

One final observation about the LOST panel was the final question, asked by one of the barracks residents, and the question contained that word again – Surreal.

So the panel finished with so many people wanting to talk to Damon and Carlton, get signatures etc., but not being able to as the organisers needed to set up for the next panel in the room. I did sneak in and get Carlton to sign my LOST lighthouse t-shirt, but I guess I’ll have to try and track Damon down some other time to get his signature as well.

After a brief period of beaming smiles and not quite believing what had just happened the barracks residents eventually went off for a meal in the Gaslamp quarter to dissect the events of the day and spend some time together. We even had some other LOST fans join us and cause total confusion for the waitress by asking for an extra chair.

After the EW LOST panel

The end of the EW panel was not the last LOST related item as there was a Jay and Jack meetup that night and a panel the next day. During the Jay and Jack meetup I turned round and saw Superman challenging a mere mortal to a push up contest, Superman won of course. I told you surreal was the word to remember !

However the rest of Comic Con went by relatively peacefully, with the barracks residents flying in and out to the various events. World Premieres were attended, huge lines negotiated and lots of posters, swag and other assorted goodies were obtained, just run of the mill Comic Con stuff :-)

I found out a little later that there were people arriving and staying at the barracks that I didn’t get to meet. The need to queue early in the morning in order to get in to a panel in the afternoon is one of the really frustrating things about Comic Con in my experience.

My favourite non-LOST panel was the Fringe panel and the actors producers and writers had a real chemistry and delight in being there. This was followed by a screening of the new JJ Abrams led show Alcatraz and a short panel with Jorge Garcia, Elizabeth Sarnoff and Jack Bender in attendance. A lot of the questions asked were LOST related so it seems it is going to take a very long time for people to forget about LOST.

Throughout the four days the main thing that kept us all in contact was Twitter, we could all access the internet in some form or other so Twitter was an ideal medium to stay in touch. During the Sunday morning Hall H line I found someone else I wanted to meet who was a few rows away. We only spent a few minutes talking but we would never have found each other if it wasn’t for Twitter.

After Comic Con

You may have thought that Comic Con was the end of the fun, but no not quite. Although the barracks was emptied on Monday morning it was time to take the show on the road.

The first stop was the Disney and ABC studios in LA, a kind lostie who works at the Disney studios offered to give some of us a tour of the studios. On the way packed into three cars we again used Twitter to try and negotiate our way around the LA traffic and all arrived at approximately the same time.

The LOST highlights of the tour were seeing building 23 where the production offices were located, many photographs were taken and some impromptu planking took place. The people sat in the reception of the building must have wondered who the bunch of weirdo’s were, but we didn’t get escorted out by security just yet.

In one building I suddenly noticed a lot of activity around the bottom of a set of stairs, lots of pointing and photograph taking. It turned out to be a list of the building offices and who occupies them and Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were listed. A brief plan to go upstairs and burst into the office were drawn up and then rejected as being slightly too stalkerish !

The rest of the tour was fantastic with lots to see and wonder at in the animation studios. After the tour we then moved on to Venice beach where that evening a final meal with the majority of people together was held. A final chance to talk about everything that had happened and how much fun the whole week had been. Even more people arrived, partners, sisters and others, all had a great time and it was a delightful evening.

After the meal it was time to say a lot of goodbyes and farewells. A smaller group of losties were off to Hawaii to take in some of the sights and places. Some of us had a quick trip around LA to view the Hollywood sign and some simply left for home.

I don’t think it needs saying that we were all again using Twitter to track each other and find out where we were all heading and what we were all doing.


Home

Another week later and some have not fully got over the jet lag yet, some have only just returned home, but I think all are already wishing that we could arrange another trip to the barracks wherever it is next located.

Throughout the trip people kept telling me that the reason everyone was there was because of me, although I take a little bit of responsibility for creating the starting point for people to gather online I am definitely not the person responsible for the success of The Barracks. A presentation was held at the party for one special person and hopefully they know how much we appreciate their efforts.

I can’t give enough thanks to everyone that made the effort to come from all corners of the globe, or even just round the corner and made my wife and I feel so at home.

I said at the top that the word to bear in mind was surreal, after creating this short (!) write-up of the some of the events of the last few weeks that word seems even more appropriate. I am in denial that I was there, only some of the photographs have convinced me that I was truly in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Monterey Bay, Paso Robles, San Diego, and LA over the last few weeks with some of the best people I have ever met.

I hope to do it again someday and if I didn’t say hi at Comic Con then I hope to say hi in person sometime in the future.

By the way the competition I mentioned in the first part of the article will be coming in the next day or so, it is mainly for you people that were not lucky enough to go to San Diego.

The LOST Comic Con Experience Part 1 10

I am writing this a couple of weeks after Comic Con, and the scope of what happened is still struggling to sink in. This article may be quite long, but I’m not going to apologise for that as I need to describe all that happened. The bonus for having to endure the long article is that there is a competition at the end.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been trying to remember how all this started, I think it stemmed from reading many times of all the fun people were having at Comic Con via all the online posts on the various social media and here on LOSTARGs in the past.

The word to bear in mind when you read this is Surreal, the whole experience from start to finish feels like a surreal dream that may or may not have existed.

Tickets

I personally decided that I wanted to try for tickets to San Diego Comic Con this year, but had no idea if I could make it across to the US at the time. In the end the process of getting tickets was a bit of a nightmare as those of you who tried for tickets will know. At one stage I had one ticket for me but not for my wife, which could have been slightly awkward ! After discussing things we had decided that we would take our main holiday this year so that we would be in the US at the time of Comic Con.

The process of obtaining tickets was made easier by several LOSTARGs members. At the designated time we got together on Skype and Twitter to encourage, give support and generally commiserate when things went wrong. In the end the first couple of times tickets were for sale it seemed that nobody got tickets, the purchasing process was just too swamped with too many people trying to purchase them. The third time I remember trying I managed to get through, and book 1 ticket. Completely frustrating as I needed 2 tickets for my wife and I and then the registration closed before I could get a second ticket.

At this time, when a few of us got tickets, it was mooted that if there were enough of us going it might be sensible to try and share some accommodation, partly to try and save some costs but mainly because it would be cool to meet up with people that have chatted online over the years.

So the next time they went up for sale we all got back together online and tried our best to get tickets. Because of the way the ticketing system now worked if you got through the first stage you could pass your ticket request onto someone else to purchase the actual ticket. Someone managed to get me a ticket request for my wife and we eventually managed to get the actual ticket for her.

I didn’t stop there and neither did several others, we kept on trying for other people that wanted to go, and in the end I managed to get a ticket request for someone else and a successful ticket purchase followed.

That wasn’t the end of the ticketing story, and lots of kind LOST fans helped each other so that as many people as possible that wanted to go got tickets.

The Build Up

Now people had tickets the hard work really started !

The talked about accommodation plan gathered coherence and one very kind person took on the task of organising this. Not an insignificant task given the number of people coming from all over the USA and all over the world.

A place was found for us and booked, two linked holiday homes in the Mission Bay Beach area of San Diego. At this point the accommodation was dubbed “The Barracks” and the thought of what was about to happen started to hit home.

During the build up to Comic Con lots of information flew around and most importantly plans for a party at The Barracks were drawn up. I shouldn’t have to tell you what the theme of the party would be, and if I do have to please stop reading this article now !

Information gathered from Twitter and other sources suggested that several people were planning surprises for the party, I also had a few things that I wanted to do.

In the end many people sent DHARMA pallet drops to the one person who was a San Diego resident, from all accounts the post office and courier services had worn a groove in the drive by the time Comic Con arrived.

Arrival

The time was nearly upon us and the week before we were due to arrive at The Barracks my wife and I left for our holiday. We flew in to Las Vegas, went up to San Francisco and made our way down over a few days to San Diego.

All along this journey we had reports from everyone else of where they were and what they were doing. At this point although I knew people were in the same general part of the same country it still seemed like that we could have been anywhere in the world as we were still using the same online communication methods that we had always used.

Finally on Tuesday, after a long drive down the coast and through some of the LA traffic we arrived. Actually finding The Barracks was quite an achievement in itself as the streets in this area are only slightly wider than one car and they are mostly one way so if you missed a turning you had to go a considerable distance to get back to where you needed to be.

We got the car parked and were led up to the first apartment block. I went through so many thoughts on the journey down about how I would feel when I got there that I didn’t know what to think. In the end I walked in and felt instantly at home, a cold beer was pressed into my hand and some welcome food was offered.

I put names to the faces and just sat back and tried to take it all in, and just when I thought I was managing to do so I started noticing things about The Barracks. Everywhere I turned in both apartment blocks there was something LOST related. Whether it was the DHARMA labelled food, Oceanic Airlines flags, the posters and paintings on the wall, the large polar bear in the corner (cardboard cut out), the paper LOST figures on the bathroom mirror, or the giant window cling with the LOST numbers on.

The giant window cling is something I am especially pleased with as I designed it, but someone else had the vision to get it supersized and printed out that size. It turns out that some of the other residents of the apartments in the immediate vicinity of the barracks were almost convinced that we were setting up a cult after seeing the cling and other decorations being displayed.

If there was ever a place for LOST fans to be this was it.



The Party

Wednesday morning came and it was the day of the party, I feel slightly guilty looking back that I didn’t do more to help that day, but I was assured that everything was in hand.

Three of us went off to see the USS Midway which is moored permanently in San Diego harbour as a floating museum. Some went food shopping and some made even more preparations for The Barracks party.

When we returned from the Midway things were looking even more LOST related and it was hard to keep up with what was being added to the mix. One of the biggest things was the Swan Station which was bought over for the evening by Scott Adams (aka Mego Scott) You can read a lot more about this and the other LOST Mego projects at Scotts blog lostmego.blogspot.com

Several of us then went off again to collect our Comic Con badges and despite the very large queues and rumours that the second room we had to enter was actually the gateway to the underworld, we managed to get them.

It emerged that a couple of our number that were further up in the queue had Zachary Levi from Chuck pop his head out of the door and do some impromptu web casting, one of us also gave him a LOST wristband to wear as he thought it was cool.

So badges obtained we went back to the barracks to join the party. Some people were off to the Comic Con Preview night and we got messages back at the barracks about the fun they were having, a large stay puft marshmallow man model was one of the main talking points.

Burgers and sausages were cooked on the BBQ, burritos were formed, salad, chips (crisps), cheese and all manner of goodies were available to eat. Not all of us being there at the same time caused a few concerns but in the end we just started eating the large volumes of food as hunger took us.

Eventually everyone was back and in the party mood, we had other people arrive just for the party and I lost track of everyone that attended, but I am very glad that so many people came and said hello as meeting everyone had been a long time coming.

The party itself had lots of LOST related activities, the episodes were playing we had a Hurley Golf tournament, which I came second in after being beaten in the playoff. We even had an invitation to be recruited into the DHARMA initiative, by watching a short orientation film and then taking part in some psychological experiments. You can watch the orientation film created for us http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NittfNTVAAw that was directed by Ben Murphy, who wasn’t able to attend but was there in spirit.

One special guest was Jo Garfein, who you may know as Jopinionated, she was at Comic Con to cover some of the new shows that will be airing soon, including Alcatraz which stars Jorge Garcia. Jo gave us a LOST quiz in which the questions ranged from the very simple to the Son of a Bitch category which were almost (but not for some) impossible. If you ever get to go to a event with Jo as the host I thoroughly recommend you do so as she entertained us in style and handed out some great prizes.

The other reason I need to mention Jo is that she was being very inscrutable about one aspect of Comic Con. Throughout the day Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof had been trading Twitter messages about something, what that something was we had no idea about at the time. One of the final tweets gave us a code word “Marbled Rye”. All of us at the party knew that there was a Comic Con panel that would be hosted by EW’s Doc Jensen, set up to discuss LOST one year after it had finished. However there was no more information and certainly no indication that anyone else would be attending. We asked Jo if she had any inside information about the tweets and the panel and all she would do is smile and say that the panel was a must see.


You must remember that when we started planning this get together there was no clue that there would be anything LOST related at this year’s Comic Con. The inclusion of any panel with the word LOST on it was a bonus in itself.

All too soon the party ended and those of us staying at the barracks went to bed happy with the LOSTness of it all. I don’t think I’ve seen so many DHARMA labelled products or LOST related items in one place and to be honest it was quite overwhelming what had been achieved by everyone that attended.

There was quite a bit of food left over from the party and each day at Comic Con I was able to take some DHARMA food and drink in. It gave me great pleasure to sit in a panel and unwrap a DHARMA chocolate bar or eat a DHARMA apple.

(Pictures courtesy of Bonnie Green LOST_4815162342 and Rob Perrin)

End of part 1 - Next we get to the con...

LOSTARGS @ Comic-Con 26

So tomorrow (5th of Feb) is hopefully the day that you will be able to purchase your San Diego Comic-Con 2011 tickets. After several attempts the organisers have a solution which should work for the large volume of people that want to purchase tickets. Click here for the details

As you may know several LOSTARGs regulars have already purchased tickets and we will all try and meet up during Comic-Con to swap stories about LOST, Damon Carlon and a Polar Bear and everything else that has happened over the last few years.

Now as there are many people heading off to San Diego it seemed logical to create some LOSTARGs merchandise for people to wear and show their support for LOST even if it isn't currently in production (Well we can always hope !)

Edited - As Cafe Press have decided they do not like what we created (please feel free to let them know what you think !) all we can really do is give you the artwork and let you choose where you want to create your merchandise.

The only conditions are that you don't alter the artwork without permission and that you don't try and make any money with it (although I have no idea how you would !)

Click on each image for the large version which is a .PNG file.

A large desgin with a white background suitable for a t-shirt

The same design as above but half the size

Could be used for a pocket logo.

A stretched out version of the logo sized for a t-shirt

The same design above but smaller, suitable for a mug.

This is an inverse logo with a transparent background suitable for a black or other coloured item of clothing.

This is a large (suitable for t-shirt) logo with partial transparency.

The Bagua sections are transparent and the main background but the number 42 is white.

The Third ARG ? 54

First we had the Lost University, then we had Mysteries of the Universe, now it seems that there is a third strand to the campaign to promote Lost into the stratosphere.

The jury is still out on the ARG'ness of all of this and we are not 100% sure if this third strand is an official ABC generated thing or not, however the organisation of it seems to be quite complex for something fan generated.

So to the plot, from what I can piece together from comments / other websites and reports from Comic Con, as this appears to be where this started.

At Comic-Con 2009 in the Lost panel as reported by Scoutpost on the Comic-Con 2009 Blog

"The first guy was really weird and gave Darlton a black velvet "painting" of them with a polar bear!"

From other reports this just seemed like a fan being a fan and doing something fun, however this has now seemingly turned into something more interesting.

The person at Comic-Con was comedian Paul Scheer, and he told everyone to go to the site DamonCarltonAndAPolarBear.com it is a blog style site that has been posted to since July 20th. It has lots of Lost related posts, some about the creation of the painting leading up to and following Comic Con.

On the 3rd of August several people in the media seem to have received a packet in the post with a print of the painting and a letter from Paul :



The posts on the DamonCarltonAndAPolarBear.com site have recently been talking about Paul receiving threatening phone calls from a company called 'Ronie Midfew Arts' who say that their intellectual property is being breached. On the SlashFilm.Com website, this post, is from someone that knows Paul and has been sent the picture and letter from Paul and a letter from Ronie Midfew Arts :



This then leads us on to a web site for Ronie Midfew Arts which has a static picture telling us that 15 Will be lost The 16th Will be Found.



Is it a coincidence that Ronie Midfew Arts is an anagram of Widmore Fine Arts and that a widmorefinearts.com website has appeared ?

As always any help in understanding what is happening in the commments will be appreciated. Thanks to Mike in the comments for the first post about this.

Comic-Con 2009 5

Comic-Con 2009 is due to start in the next few days - will there be any announcement about an ARG ?

Personally I've no idea, and I won't find out as I'm not lucky enough to be going, however Maven and Scoutpost from The Lost Community are going and will be posting information when they can to a Comic Con 2009 Blog. Check it out to see if there are any announcements.

High-Quality Dharma Test and RuckusGuy Videos 190

The ODI has video of Hans Van Eegan and the Lost panel. You can see a better quality version of the Test Montage below:



ABC.com has two new high-quality videos from Comic-Con:

Test Montage is the Dharma Volunteer Assessment Test, with some responses from those who took it at Comic-con.

• What three words describe you?
• What animal do you identify with?
• Describe your first kiss in three words.
• Who is your constant?
• What would you sacrifice to stay alive?
• What makes you cry?
• You just stole a sick child's toy. Why?
• Why does the female Black Widow spider eat the male after mating?
• A tortoise is on its back in the sun. You're not helping. Why?
• What does terror sound like?

Secret Candle is the RuckusGuy / Pierre Chang video shown during the Lost panel.



Here are a couple of the "static" audio clips. I can't make anything out, but maybe you can...

Static 1:

Static 2:

Thanks to Zort here's the name Pierre Chang calls when the baby is crying. What do you hear; Stanislar, Stanislav, Dammit Laura, or maybe something else?

Forward:

Reverse:

DuaneIsInsane Predicts Dan Bronson at Comic-Con 54

A SpoilerTV forum member named DuaneIsInsane posted an urgent message about Comic-con, three days before the Lost panel. He correctly predicted that Dan Bronson would be at Comic-con, and that Dan Bronson is RuckusGuy:

In regards to Global Octagon Recruiting [sic], does the name Dan Bronson mean anything to anyone?
...
It may be closely related to the person who's going by the name RuckusGuy.
Dan Bronson will be at Comic Con
....
I had to wait until 12:18 to post.
I can't say why, but RuckusGuy has been hacking into Global Octagon Recruiting and I have reason to believe his real name is Dan Bronson.

After Dan's live (on tape) appearance at the Lost panel, Duane posted again:

He's done it.
Dan Bronson has done what he said he would do in his email.
I hope some of you are there to witness his accomplishment.
...
I can also tell you that Dan Bronson does background work.
...
I've worked alongside Dan Bronson for 2 years.
...
Dan Bronson does indeed go by the alias RuckusGuy.
What's also of great importance is that "Dan Bronson" is his 2nd alias.

Since Duane is claiming to have worked with Dan, he must also be "in-game". Or is Duane just insane?

FWIW, Tresbien over at InsideTheExperience found the actor who plays Dan Bronson - Jesse Heiman

* Thanks to Capcom for emailing me about this!

Introducing The LOST ARGs Podcast 74

Join hosts David A Dein and Steve 'The Goog' Guglich as they unpack the Lost Comic-Con panel, and tease the brand new Lost ARG with the premiere of their brand new Podcast THE DO OR DIE CAST (aka the Lost Community Podcast #49, aka the Lost ARGs podcast ;)

Listen now:


Download (right-click, save as)

To leave a message for the next podcast, please contact TLCpodcast@gmail.com, or leave a voice mail at (206) 202-3512.

Lost Videos From Comic-Con 153

Comic Con 2008 Dharma Video (warning explicit language used).

Straight from Tapdawg at Comic Con comes video of today's Lost Q&A panel with a few added surprises. You can watch all four parts at DocArtz.com and audio of the panel can be download or streamed at The Transmission. Part 1 and Part 2 of the video features an appearance from Hans Van Eeghen of Octagon Global Recruiting, who calls the testing results "abysmal" and "truly pathetic". He brings a "few" candidates to the stage that did excel at the tests. Could one of them be RuckusGuy? He encourages people to continue taking the tests Saturday and Sunday and then proceed to dharmawantsyou.com on Monday to register. Also from Tapdawg comes this Dharma video featuring a message from the man formerly known as Dr. Marvin Candle, with a plea to "save" them and "change the past". Could this be our new mission?

UPDATE 7/27: I typed up a transcript of what I could make out in the Pierre Chang/Marvin Candle video (click the image to view it clearly/larger). I think it's pretty close, but you can point out anything I missed or that should be changed in comments:

*Thanks to Memphish and Sayid's Girl for edits.

RuckusGuy Bluetooth Video From Dharma Booth 29

This morning there are loads of videos and lots of information from Comic-Con floating around the Internet. Yesterday was a busy day at the convention with the Entertainment Weekly Panel, followed by Damon, Carlton, and Jeff (Doc) Jensen taking the Dharma recruitment tests. Damon and Carlton both took the Io tests and Doc Jensen took Europa. Tapdawg at DocArtz.com has once again pulled through and gotten some great video footage and interviews with the guys as they left the testing area.

Ryan and Jen at The Transmission, have the audio of the entire Entertainment Weekly panel up for your enjoyment and you can download or stream it at their blog.

Finally, ODI has video of the RuckusGuy bluetooth hack from outside the Dharma booth. The Video is posted at Dark UFO and The ODI's blog. Also, there are caps of each individual screen at Dark UFO and Dharma Dummies.

Photo/video source: The ODI via Dark UFO and thanks to Sayid's Girl for e-mailing additional screen shots of the video.

UPDATE 7/26: Simone in comments found the stock photo used for the Little Red Riding Hood image (above) at superstock.co.uk.

Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project Tests 50

The first accounts of the "tests" at the Dharma booth at Comic-Con are rolling in. Lucky recruits are required to enter a booth where they are asked to choose a test, and then answer some questions aloud.

Ryan and Jen from The Transmission, have an interview with an early test taker, and also have taken it themselves. Jen took the Ganymede test and Ryan took Amalthea.

The questions for the latter were:
1. What was your first live concert?
2. What is the sound of terror?
3. What was the first album you bought?
4. Who is your constant?
5. What is the sound of red?
6. When were you last truly happy?

Word association photos:
1. A tree-lined road at night.
2. Skeletons.
3. A child in a sprinkler.
4. Little Red Riding Hood in bed with the wolf.
*Thanks Memphish for posting this in comments.

Tapdawg took the Callisto test and also managed to get a camera in the booth. You can see his video at DocArtz.com. His questions (posted at DocArtz.com) were:
1. State your name while holding up a number (they give you the number when you take the test).
2. Repeat the word Continuum three times, louder each time.
3. How are you feeling right now?
4. What animal do you relate to the most?
5. What 3 words best describe you?
6. What's your first memory?
7. Who is your constant?
8. Something like, if anything can happen does that mean that nothing can happen too?
9. Do polar bears make good pets?

Word association photos:
1. A Young boy is squirting a hose onto a young girl.
2. A sign posted an a tree said 'surprise?'
3. A picture of a single lane road in the dark woods.
4. A skeletal side view of the teeth and jaw.

The names of the tests, in order are: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Amalthea, Himalia, Elara, and Leda, based on screen shots from Comic-Con Live. They are all moons of Jupiter, and also tied to Greek mythology.

*Thanks Maven for pointing that out in comments.

Dharma Wants You 24

A new email from Octagon Global Recruiting reveals the website DharmaWantsYou.com (coming soon). According to the email, the head of Dharma recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, will be personally assessing the "brightest minds" in San Diego at Comic-con 2008. Anyone not attending Comic-con will be able to take the eligibility assessment test on the Dharma Wants You website beginning July 28th.

Click here to read the full email text...

ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
DHARMA HEAD OF RECRUITING TO ATTEND LAUNCH

Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, is pleased to announce that Dharma's Head of Recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, has confirmed his availability for the launch of our latest recruiting drive at Comic-Con 2008.

"My colleagues at Octagon Global Recruiting assure me that Comic-con hosts some of the brightest minds in the country," said Mr. Van Eeghen. "As Head of Recruiting it is my intention to personally assess the very best of this talent in the hope that they may join us."

The Dharma Initiative will be conducting eligibility assessments at Booth 3529 at Comic-Con, San Diego between July 24th - 27th.

If you are attending Comic-Con and would like to submit your name for a randomly selected drawing to secure one of ten (10) pre-release appointments with one of our recruiting officers, please click here.

The volunteer eligibility assessment will be available online from July 28th for a limited time at www.dharmawantsyou.com

The Dharma Initiative hopes you will spread the word. Invite your friends to join the team at www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com

If you can't view the images in this email please click here

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION OF THE DHARMA INITIATIVE:
This message and its attachments are confidential and may contain information which is protected by copyright. It is intended solely for the named addressee. If you are not the authorized recipient (or responsible for delivery of the message to the authorized recipient), you must not use, disclose, print, copy or deliver this message or its attachments to anyone. If you receive this email in error, please contact the sender immediately and permanently delete this message and its attachments from your system. Any content of this message and its attachments that does not relate to the official business of the Dharma Initiative or its subsidiaries must be taken not to have been sent or endorsed by any of them. No representation is made that this email or its attachments are without defect or that the contents express views other than those of the sender.

Anyone attending Comic-con should enter in the drawing to secure one of 10 "pre-release appointments". You must be registered with OGR to enter, but you don't need the email to sign up, just go to http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/site/register_attendance.php?register= and put your email after the = in the address bar. Good luck! BTW, even if you are not going to Comic-con, I would encourage you to sign up, and if you win we can pass the invitation along to one of our own.

Once again, there is a little something extra hidden in the source code of the email - this time a message from someone named RuckusGuy.

<!--
…If you’re reading this, wanna hear something cool?
I’ve got intel about his little “recruitment drive.”
They’re doing some kind’ve personality/IQ testing or something down in SD for ComicCon.
Buddy of mine works down there and has the approvals for their “booth,” he says once you go in no one knows what happens inside and you need an appointment to get in. He also said to make sure you’ve got your Bluetooth on and visible – he’s rigged up a little something.
-->

<!--
The whole thing sounds like elitist B.S., doesn’t it?
Well, I’m getting in that booth and taking the test.
As many times as I have to before I “pass” (whatever that means?)
And then…
If I can?
I’m gonna tape it so EVERYONE can see what these idiots are up to.
Should be fun, right?
See ya in SD. RuckusGuy OUT.
-->

It looks likes trouble is already brewing for Mr. Van Eeghen.

* Thanks to Ange for emailing me about this!

Dharma Initiative at Comic-Con 3

The complete schedule has been released for Comic-Con 2008, the nexus of the new Lost ARG, involving the Dharma Initiative and Octagon Global Recruiting.

The LOST-related activities include:

• FRIDAY 1:45-2:45 Entertainment Weekly’s The Visionaries: Showrunners— Carlton Cuse (Lost), Damon Lindelof (Lost), more ...
  Josh Schwartz (Chuck, Gossip Girl), Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies), and Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) are the television producers who are changing the face of television with deeply immersive entertainments marked by distinctive, cutting edge storytelling. They have also been at the forefront of bringing "genre programming" or "cult TV" to the mainstream. Prepare for a candid conversation about creative integrity in a commercial medium and the future of broadcast TV in an increasingly digital world. Spoiler Alert! Upcoming plot developments may be teased. Moderated by Entertainment Weekly senior writer Jeff Jensen. Room 6CDEF
• FRIDAY 6:00-7:00 Exceeding Expectations and Exploring New Worlds: Feature Effects for the Small Screen more ...
  Zoic Studios moderates a discussion with VFX supervisors on their passion for creating narrative enhancing, eye-popping effects for television. Some of the best in the business discuss future trends as well as their contribution to the television series Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, The Middleman, Lost, Eureka, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Smallville, and the new fall show Fringe. Room 32AB
• SATURDAY 12:00-1:00 Lost more ...
  If the most recent season finale was any indication of things to come, you will not want to miss this panel. Co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse will discuss season 4 of Lost, leading up to the season finale. They will answer your questions and maybe even offer up some surprises of their own. Hall H
• SATURDAY 4:00-5:00 Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack more ...
  Jay Glatfelter and Jack Glatfelter have one of the oldest and biggest podcasts dedicated to ABC'S Lost with The Lost Podcast. Learn about the huge, dedicated online community for TV's most mind twisting drama. Join Jay and Jack for this special interview and Q&A session! Room 24A

The most important panel will be the LOST panel on Saturday at 12:00, where an appearance by the DI/OGR is expected. Also, the DI is listed as one of the exhibitors on the show floor. DarkUFO has some inside information as to how this may play out:

Click Here For Comic-Con Spoilers

1. At the OGR recruitment booth there will be actors who will playing members of OGR recruiters.
2. They are there to promote and make us sign up to an "online recruiting game". The recruiters will stand next to computer terminals that are connected to the fake site, in order to help users create profiles and to guide them through a fake questionnaire.
3. A second group of individuals (3-4 actors) that are NOT the recruiters will also be at SDCC. No confirmation if they will be on the floor or at the booth yet, but most likely just the LOST Panel.
4. OGR will also be a part of the LOST Panel. There will be 4 members of OGR.
5. As of today, no cast members confirmed to appear and the only word so far is that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse will of course be there.
6. At the panel, the OGR recruiters will make a LIVE "performance" to recruit new members of Dharma.
7. The second group of individuals will make an appearance at some point during the performance to "throw a wrench" into the OGR's plans.

Sounds like a lot of fun - I wish I could be there. If you can't make it to San Diego either, we'll be covering everything here LIVE as news breaks. And if you are planning to be at Comic-Con, please send us any updates, news, websites, etc, to tips@LostARGs.com. Thanks!

Also, if you are going to Comic-Con, FOX will be screening JJ Abrams' new Sci-Fi drama FRINGE on Wednesday night at 6:00 pm and 7:30 pm, plus there will be other FRINGE related panels. For more information, please visit my FRINGE Blog at FringeTV.blogspot.com.