Cherry Blossom Time

Spring is here and the Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom at Stoner Park in West L.A.

The publisher gave me Friday off, so I decided to go to Sawtelle Blvd. for some relaxing, shopping and eating. I had heard that the cherry blossoms had started to bloom in nearby Stoner Park. It's, more or less, ten blocks west of Sawtelle... so it's in walking distance. Luckily the weather was just right for a walk. Sunny, but mild with a slight breeze.

Cherry blossoms are definitely in bloom. I noticed one in front of the Buddist Church and by some nearby houses. But nothing can compare to seeing a whole bunch of the trees in bloom. These trees are all lined around Stoner Park. So all you see is pink when you stroll around the edges of the park. One of the coolest things is when a breeze blows through the line of trees and the pink petals float down.

Mr. Toast Party

Saturday night was the Mr. Toast Party at Japan L.A. This was Dan's first time having a show there. He's been working on this one since the Hello Kitty Three Apples Show last year. I've mostly gone to Cons or event where he has a booth. or a group show he is part of. Think this is my first time going to one of his solo shows/events.

Dan and Japan L.A. went all out with this Party. The Grilled Cheese Truck was outside serving a special in honor of the event: grilled cheese with egg and bacon bits coating the top (real, not the artificial kind of bacon either). YUMMY! Handpainted goodie bags for the first 100 people with the purchase of $5 or more of a Mr. Toast item. Then there is the Party next door with Mr. Toast himself, which I missed...

It was to start at 7pm and I got there around 6:30pm. A long line had already formed by then, which should be an indicator of how popular Mr. Toast has gotten. There had to be about 75 people in front of me with more people arriving and standing in line behind me. If I had gotten there a few minutes later I would have been standing in the alley. The line moved with a good pace to get people into the store. The inside of Japan L.A. isn't very big, so they had to limit the amount of people going inside. Just before I was going in I saw Buffmonster talking with Dan.

The usual Mr. Toast plush stuff was there, necklaces, t-shirts (some I remember seeing at SDCC), prints, original mini-watercolors and a new tote bag. I picked up one of the last watercolors from the Hello Kitty Three Apples Show. This one had Joe he Egg and Tuxedo Sam. He had another one with Tuxedo Sam at the show that I had seen online, but was too late to get it when I went that night. I also picked up the Dance Party print. Got number 2 of 250! Hung out with Dan for a little bit in between his signing/sketching. Even had him do a sketch in my book. He is just great. One of the nicest guys too.

Went next door to get my goodie bag and check out the Party. There were some Mr. Toast, Joe the Egg and Shakey Bacon decorations hanging from the ceiling. Since Mr. Toast seemed to be taking a break from the dancing, I decided to head out and get my grilled cheese. While I was waiting for my grilled cheese order, I bumped into Brandi (Serial Nerd) and Travis outside. They were waiting in line to get into the store, one of the last few people in the line. Would have hung out with them more, if I wasn't rushing myself to the opening of the Patchwork Show at GR2.

Here's a picture of the two items I purchased. Print and small, framed, original watercolor. The other pic is of the handpainted goodie bag. Forgot to take a pic of the contents, which included: a Clem Lemon plush, Joe the Egg plush, 3 Mr. Toast keychains, a Mr. Toast and Joe the Egg Picnic button, 5 Mr. Toast greeting cards, 2 folded books (Mr. Toast and Gags) and some Japan L.A. postcards.

2002 Ice-Bat

GR2 had their 2002 Ice-Bat release and signing event with Sun-Min Kim and David Horvath on Saturday (3:00pm-5:00pm). This Ice-Bat is modeled after the very first handmade ones that were first sold at Giant Robot back in 2002. These have 2 toes and 5 teeth. Limited edition of 300 and available through Giant Robot.

So glad the rain let up for this. The line for the event wasn't as too bad. I got there a little before 2:30pm, with only 6 or 7 people before me. Michelle started letting people into the store 6 at a time, just a little past 3:00pm. Everyone was limited to purchase 3 Ice-Bats per person. I had bought 3 post-it's from the GR2 Post-It 3 show last year and got them framed. The frame had two smaller areas that were perfectly sized for the smaller post-it's. So I put 2 blank ones there for them to sketch in to complete my frame. Was going to have them sketch something into my book, but I didn't want to hold up the line too much. I'm going to be going to SDCC this year, so I can get a sketch there. I bought my limit of 3, but needed to get 1 more for Justin. Figured I'd wait around outside until the end of the signing to purchase another one, if any were left.

While standing in line I got to catch up with Brandi (serial nerd) and Travis, who were just recently engaged. Finally met Hilda (hch05) and Corey as I was coming out from the store. We seem to always miss each other at these signings. Talked a bit with Eric while standing outside too. He and I were amazed at how many young kids were there.

The turn out was really great. Signing ended at just the right time too... it started to rain.