Michael Lau in Los Angeles! - A 1UP classic from October 2, 2009

Hello friends, super-busy over here. I will comment on your replies to yesterday's blog on Juri later. Right now I wanted to recap the first day of the Michael Lau exhibition in Los Angeles.

My friend Victor, the webmaster of CrazyToyzLife.com flew in from Canada for the show. Actually he flew to Japan, then Hong Kong and then LA for the show. He was really tired that day but super excited. Here he is pointing out Gardner street.

Victor brought me a present from Hong Kong. A heart-shaped figure that Michael did for the new Jan Lam album. The LA Fat figure on the right was the exclusive figure for the show. It came with a tee shirt and little spray cans. There are 100 in the world and I was lucky enough to score one.

After years of following his work I finally got a chance to meet the man himself. Victor had met Michael at a previous show in Hong Kong. Michael commented that I was really tall. I told him that I get that a lot. He wasn't supposed to sign autographs or make drawings until tonight (Friday) but was kind enough to oblige me with a giant illustration on the inside cover of the hardcover retrospective book. I wonder why people always draw me without a neck?

Here Michael is with that old issue of Ollie where I first discovered his work. Both he and his wife Florance, noted that he looked like a kid back then. I don't think he's aged at all. Okay, maybe some facial hair. On the right I'm hiding behind my illustration and paragraph that appears in the book itself. I'm a published writer and artist now!!!

The figures themselves were dressed in exactly the same clothes that they had 10 years ago. In previous exhibitions Michael had given them wardrobe changes. To celebrate the 10th Anniversary they were back to normal. The amount of detail from the figures was obscene. The photos simply do not do them justice. It was amazing seeing them in person and absorbing all the details. I could spend days just looking them over.

My favorite figures were even better than I remembered them. Michael made sure to include his earliest sketches and illustrations from the pages of East Touch magazine.

The gallery walls were adorned with some new and rare pieces. I even pointed out an unpublished comic that had been faintly superimposed on the back of a page. Michael said I had a very good eye to have caught that.

Could this be a hint as to Michael's next collaboration?

There were a few artists and celebs walking the floor. Here are Joe Hahn of Linkin Park and artist Gary Baseman. I wish you were here! Tomorrow I'm going with the g/f and her daughter to Disneyland. On Sunday she meets my mom. Things should be good. I hope you have a great weekend! Let me know what you are up to. EDIT: I created a fan page dedicated to the Art of Michael Lau in the early 2000's. I let the domain expire in the mid 2010's because I no longer had time, or money to keep it going. Although it will no longer be getting updates I have restored it on my personal server for people that want to find out about the Urban Vinyl movement. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The Street Fighter X Tekken Event Coverage! - A 1UP classic from March 2, 2012

Happy Friday amigos! I hope you have a great weekend planned. On my side I have a long day of work and orchestra rehearsal scheduled for tonight. Our first concert of the season is this Sunday. I'll see about getting some footage for you hopefully in the week ahead. I'd like to talk about the Street Fighter X Tekken event that went down in Los Angeles last night.

As with other Capcom release parties this one had a queue almost a block long at least two hours before the doors opened! If you ever think about going to a release party then make sure to get there early. I was fortunate because work was not too far from there and I could drive down and get in line relatively early. The people at Capcom were trying things slightly different and made sure that people understood it was 21 and over only. They, and the hosts at Majestic Halls did not want any trouble with minors crashing a party that was serving alcohol so they were going through the RSVP list and checking state issued ID's very carefully.

Once inside the building guests received a complimentary tee shirt. This shirt will undoubtedly be fetching a pretty penny on eBay very soon. Sorry but even though the shirt was too small for me does not mean I will be selling it.

Capcom has gotten quite experienced at hosting release parties. Every SF IV release, Marvel VS Capcom 3, Resident Evil and various Comic Cons would testify that they are a very community-oriented company. They had multiple cabinets set up for players to check out the final version of SF X TK. Plus they had free drinks, and a live DJ spinning at the show.

Attendees and sponsors were dressed up for the event.

Capcom spared no expense posting gigantic banners and making guests feel welcome. Goodies were given away at the event and Producer Yoshinori Ono was signing posters for attendees.

The coolest thing at the event was the art show presented by the Tsunami Syndicate. It was a collection of local artists putting forward original pieces and prints for sale of the SF and TK characters.

I would like to say thanks to Capcom, as always, for showing the community much love. They demonstrate time and time again how a publisher should reach out to the fanbase and make them feel like a part each and every release. The studio supports the local and national fighting tournament scenes, even when their games have to share the spotlight with other titles.There aren't many publishers that can claim to do the same thing. Cacpom, unlike several publishers that save their showings to the GDC or E3 make sure to appear at public events including PAX and the Comic Con.

Keeping tabs on community members on forums and sites outside of Capcom-Unity and Facebook makes the company seem more invested in the community than just about any other publisher. This type of reaching out will continue to earn the respect and admiration of the fans. Although I am not a fond of Mr. Ono's direction with the fighting titles I still wish the studio the best. Be sure to check out SF X TK this weekend and let me know what you think.

As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!