Lord Vader Gets His Portrait

At 1:00 PM on April 2, 2005, exactly forty-six days and ten hours before the premiere of Revenge of the Sith on May 19th (factoring in Daylight Savings Time), 259 registered members of LiningUp.net began logging hours in their over 6-week line-up for the final Star Wars movie at the world-famous Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California while raising money for the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. Being a die-hard Star Wars fan and having been too young to participate in the lines for the previous two prequels, I knew I wouldn't miss the last opportunity to be a part of the ultimate act of Star Wars fandom. Come midnight of May 19th, we finally got to see the movie, albiet not where we initially intended to, and we succeeded in raising over $33,000 for the charity. After being in countless radio shows, news and magazine interviews, a few documentaries, and even MTV and Jimmy Kimmel Live, I logged in a grand total of 1001 hours and 45 minutes, making me first in line.

Here, caricature artist Bobby Ras airbrushes a commissioned Star Wars T-shirt design as Darth Vader looks on.