This image was lost some time after publication.

Perhaps the only thing that could make importing a hipster-tinged-irony-o-thon staring competition from NY more delightfully pointless would be star-fuckering the whole thing up with the inclusion of MTV cameras and a band very recently cursed with a Best New Artist Grammy. (Of course, if we were facing off against Walken [warning, ancient blog self-promotion], we're talking a whole, new, dry-eyed ballgame.) A Defamer operative files this report from last night's Staremaster event at Cinespace, where the guys responsible for The OC's theme song squared off against a band with a number in its name:

Last night brought out some of LA's greatest "ocular warriors" to Cinespace in what could be touted as the "Indie Special Olympics" or something equally retarded. Apparently MTV was shooting a random event (never heard of it before) called Staremaster and held a competition between everyone's favorite Best New Artist Grammy winners, Maroon5, and their old tour buddies/"friends" they left in the dust/OC-fame grasping, Phantom Planet. What kind of a competition you ask exactly is "Staremaster"? Oh, you know, your everyday run—of-the-mill staring contest!

Each band's team consisted of 4 people. For some reason they left out the drummer of Maroon5 since Phantom Planet now only consists of 4 people due to its ever-changing line-up (movie careers and photography really are stealing our nation's rockers!). Each band member competed against their own band mates to see who would represent their band in the final "stare-off." In the end it came down to James Valentine (guitarist for Maroon5) and Sam Farrar (bassist for Phantom Planet). The best part came after 30 seconds of prep-time..the "Dry Eye Death Round" (where no blinking of any kind or laughing was allowed), followed by cheesy songs such as "can't take my eyes off of you," "eye of the tiger," and even a melody of Phantom Planet & Maroon5 songs were played in order to distract the stare-ers.

After what seemed to be hours of watching D-list celebs stare at each other (and thankfully round after round of X-rated liqueur, some Grapefruit version of Hypnotiq they gave out for free) the winner turned out to be Sam Farrar of Phantom Planet.

Exciting, right? If only the audience had participated more in heckling and distracting the competitors like they were asked to. Too many chances were lost at heckling Maroon5 about winning "best new artist" oh, you know, 2-3 years after the release of their album in 2002 in my opinion. Next time? More free booze.