Neil Gaiman-ia in Manila
so i just wanna rave after meeting neil gaiman last july 11 at his book signing at fully booked gateway mall cubao. i waited 6.5 hours in line. and am not even that huge a fan! i've only read his creepy novel for young adults, coraline (which i love), which i have in first edition, hardbound, and which he signed last monday. he wrote my name there and even drew a rat over his signature. and he HUGGED me! but only cos i asked him to. hahaha! still, it was priceless. he looked sooo tired though, red-rimmed eyes and all. well first i said 'hi neil, how are ya' and he said he was tired but it was great. i said thank you for coming to the philippines and he answered 'you people are so friendly' or something. he looked me straight in the eye, unblinking, and i said, 'oh, you have red eyes' in this 'oh you poor thing, come here' kinda tone.
i read from the neil gaiman in manila yahoo group that he signed for 8 hours at rockwell last saturday, 7 hours at greenhills last sunday, and 6 hours at cubao last monday. was in line in cubao starting at 2pm, and got to the front of the line 830pm. i heard he signed in cubao till 11pm.
the right way to say his name is gay-m'n pala. i thought it was guy-man. he's 44 (but looks young, like late 30's only) and will turn 45 on nov. 10. he's married to an american lady named mary and they have three kids, mike (22), holly (20) and maddy (turning 11 in august). i read up on him again after his visit. if you want, check out neilgaiman.com and go to the journal link there to read his thoughts on the philippines.
he sez he loves calamansi juice and that we're madly enthusiastic and loud to the point that we make the noisy brazilians seem reserved and polite. wish i'd brought him a token like dried mangoes or choc-nut, he was sooo nice and charming and accommodating, even though it was obvious he was tremendously exhausted too. he sez he wants to come back to the philippines. he looked like a rock star! longish curly hair, black armani T-shirt, black jeans, weatherbeaten black leather jacket. when i was inside the store (finally) with about 7 people in front of me, he took a 5-minute break (probably went to the washroom, escorted by bouncers). and when he came back i heard this group of girls outside the store sing to him 'close to you' by the carpenters, this part:
on the day that you were born
the angels got together
and decided to create a dream come true!
it was pretty funny. i took some great pics, and the fully booked people were nice enough to take my digicam inside the store and take pics of neil up close, when i stood outside the cordon outside the store soon after neil arrived (while my sis temporarily took my place in line). it was worth it, despite the mad crowds of comic book geeks, despite some rude bouncers and glitches, it was worth it cos NEIL GAIMAN HUGGED ME! many of the geeks at the front of the line were there as early as 5am. when i got there, nakahiga na yung iba sa lapag. and when i realized the line went all the way from 3/F to G/F and outside the mall, i was shellshocked. 'WTF is this, a star wars movie premiere in the US?! damn geeks!' i kept thinking.
so anyway ipapa-frame ko siguro yung pic ko with neil. before i left i said 'may i have a hug?' and he smiled and held me close with both arms and i hugged him back and said 'awww, thank you!' am still dreamy over the experience. i hope more authors come over.
btw, the office digicam that i brought is crap without a flash and the fully booked staff were like the camera flash police, swooping down on you if you didn't turn off your camera's flash. (which might've hurt neil's eyes, i dunno.) i got 6 great pics and 4 not-so-great ones. sayang di nga nakuhanan when neil hugged me, but it still happened! i know am lucky to have met him. some fans traveled from as far as los baños and mindanao hoping to meet him, but the crowd size was just crazy. and pushing my way into fully booked would've been impossible with the bouncers and all. i would've been thrown out. ;)
i was the 421st person in line last monday. a lot of people were cutting in line, though, it was frustrating. still, i ended up lucky! i didn't have a book signing pass, i didn't buy a gaiman book at fully booked, i just turned up with the book i got in 2003 and still got lucky. neil saves the day!
there was a neil gaiman special section in yesterday's manila bulletin. i spent most of this morning reading it. my work has plummeted since tuesday (the day after the cubao signing); it's like the world stopped for me. i wonder when something this big will happen in manila again.
so i just wanna rave after meeting neil gaiman last july 11 at his book signing at fully booked gateway mall cubao. i waited 6.5 hours in line. and am not even that huge a fan! i've only read his creepy novel for young adults, coraline (which i love), which i have in first edition, hardbound, and which he signed last monday. he wrote my name there and even drew a rat over his signature. and he HUGGED me! but only cos i asked him to. hahaha! still, it was priceless. he looked sooo tired though, red-rimmed eyes and all. well first i said 'hi neil, how are ya' and he said he was tired but it was great. i said thank you for coming to the philippines and he answered 'you people are so friendly' or something. he looked me straight in the eye, unblinking, and i said, 'oh, you have red eyes' in this 'oh you poor thing, come here' kinda tone. i read from the neil gaiman in manila yahoo group that he signed for 8 hours at rockwell last saturday, 7 hours at greenhills last sunday, and 6 hours at cubao last monday. was in line in cubao starting at 2pm, and got to the front of the line 830pm. i heard he signed in cubao till 11pm.
the right way to say his name is gay-m'n pala. i thought it was guy-man. he's 44 (but looks young, like late 30's only) and will turn 45 on nov. 10. he's married to an american lady named mary and they have three kids, mike (22), holly (20) and maddy (turning 11 in august). i read up on him again after his visit. if you want, check out neilgaiman.com and go to the journal link there to read his thoughts on the philippines.
he sez he loves calamansi juice and that we're madly enthusiastic and loud to the point that we make the noisy brazilians seem reserved and polite. wish i'd brought him a token like dried mangoes or choc-nut, he was sooo nice and charming and accommodating, even though it was obvious he was tremendously exhausted too. he sez he wants to come back to the philippines. he looked like a rock star! longish curly hair, black armani T-shirt, black jeans, weatherbeaten black leather jacket. when i was inside the store (finally) with about 7 people in front of me, he took a 5-minute break (probably went to the washroom, escorted by bouncers). and when he came back i heard this group of girls outside the store sing to him 'close to you' by the carpenters, this part:
on the day that you were born
the angels got together
and decided to create a dream come true!
it was pretty funny. i took some great pics, and the fully booked people were nice enough to take my digicam inside the store and take pics of neil up close, when i stood outside the cordon outside the store soon after neil arrived (while my sis temporarily took my place in line). it was worth it, despite the mad crowds of comic book geeks, despite some rude bouncers and glitches, it was worth it cos NEIL GAIMAN HUGGED ME! many of the geeks at the front of the line were there as early as 5am. when i got there, nakahiga na yung iba sa lapag. and when i realized the line went all the way from 3/F to G/F and outside the mall, i was shellshocked. 'WTF is this, a star wars movie premiere in the US?! damn geeks!' i kept thinking.
so anyway ipapa-frame ko siguro yung pic ko with neil. before i left i said 'may i have a hug?' and he smiled and held me close with both arms and i hugged him back and said 'awww, thank you!' am still dreamy over the experience. i hope more authors come over.
btw, the office digicam that i brought is crap without a flash and the fully booked staff were like the camera flash police, swooping down on you if you didn't turn off your camera's flash. (which might've hurt neil's eyes, i dunno.) i got 6 great pics and 4 not-so-great ones. sayang di nga nakuhanan when neil hugged me, but it still happened! i know am lucky to have met him. some fans traveled from as far as los baños and mindanao hoping to meet him, but the crowd size was just crazy. and pushing my way into fully booked would've been impossible with the bouncers and all. i would've been thrown out. ;)
i was the 421st person in line last monday. a lot of people were cutting in line, though, it was frustrating. still, i ended up lucky! i didn't have a book signing pass, i didn't buy a gaiman book at fully booked, i just turned up with the book i got in 2003 and still got lucky. neil saves the day!
there was a neil gaiman special section in yesterday's manila bulletin. i spent most of this morning reading it. my work has plummeted since tuesday (the day after the cubao signing); it's like the world stopped for me. i wonder when something this big will happen in manila again.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home