David Seow's Blog, page 32

Books

For the passengers and crew of MH17 and their families

There are no words for this tragic event today. Prayers for the passengers and crew and their families. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Red Carpet

This Saturday my friend Ray and I headed down to Shaw Centre for the Red Carpet of the Guardians of the Galaxy red carpet event. Well 2014 seems to be the year of the big movie red carpet events. At the end of March there was the Spiderman 2 red carpet event at Marina Bay Sands, in May there was the X-Men: Days of Future Past movie premiere and just this Saturday, Guardians of the Galaxy had a red carpet event at the Shaw Centre.

I attempted to sketch a portrait of the stunning Zoe Saldana but it didn't turn out quite as I would have hoped, but I brought it along with me in the hopes of getting it autographed.



The event set up was similar to the  X-Men event and I arrived at around 12:30 for a good spot a long the red carpet. Ray told me he wanted to be near the start of the red carpet as for the X-Men event we were about half way down and the stars were hurried along. We missed getting Peter Dinklage!

By 3pm, there still weren't that many fans along the red carpet so I found a spot near the start of the red carpet. Ray arrived shortly thereafter with the Guardians of the Galaxy poster I ordered.

Then it was time to wait it out. The emcees of the event played a couple of games with fans who were near the stage and then by 7pm the stars started arriving.  We were told that they would start arriving in 10 minute intervals.



First up was Dave Bautista or Batitsta as he's known to WWE fans. I saw him when he was here for a WWE event about 7 years ago, but I didn't get to meet him. It was pandemonium when he arrived and I wanted to pass him a copy of A Day with the Duchess but things were so crazy that I missed the opportunity and security whisked him away. He did, however, very kindly sign my poster.


Dave Bastita signs for fans.

Dave Bautista autograph



Next up was the film's director James Gunn.  He dove straight in and started signing for fans from the start. This time I gave him a copy of the Duchess straight off and his assistant was pictured holding it for him while he signed away. He signed my poster for me!!



Gunn's assistant holds the book while he signs. Photo: Yahoo News
Finally after waiting another ten minutes or so, the beautiful Zoe Salandana arrived looking absolutely stunning. People began to push and shove. Pens and promotional photos shot up in the air, everyone clamouring to get her attention.




The ever gracious leading lady smiled, posed for selfies and signed autographs. Ray kept on blocking me with hisposter, which did tick me off more than once. I held out my portrait for her to sign and she very, very kindly said that it was lovely and then I gave her a copy of A Day with the Duchess and I told her that I wrote it.




She then kindly signed my poster as well. I got two autographs! And she signed her name in full!



With that I had to dash off in a cab for a birthday party and I made it just in time! All in all it was a pretty awesome day.

A Weekend at the Bookstores

I spent most of my weekend visiting bookstores around Singapore. Thanks to Bookaburra, Times Centrepoint and Playdate for hosting my visits. Also a big thanks to my distributors Denise and Kelvin from Closetful of Books for arranging my in-store appearances.

Michael Owen in Singapore

After 13 years, World Cup '98 hero and England, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Real Madrid Striker was back in town for a series of personal appearances for Wisma Atria. I first met him back in 2001, when he was in town for a promotional tour with Liverpool. He was nice and incredibly down to earth back then and he still is. Now that he's a dad of four, I took the opportunity to give him a copy of A Day with the Duchess for his youngest daughter.

Here are some photos from yesterday.

Xandy makes his official debut in the next Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di book: The Lion Dance

L to R: Bonnie the Dog, Sebbie, Sam, a cat, Di-Di-Di and Xandy 

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SATURDAY NIGHT BOOK DISCUSSION: SHINE

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So last night we met for our regular Saturday night book club and the book of the month was Candy Gourlay's Shine. I wish I could write half as well as Candy. She's a fantastic story teller. Now, people, go buy her book! And if you haven't bought her other book, Tall Story, buy that too!

A Morning at NEXUS

 Last week Denise, Kelvin and I were invited to Nexus for a school visit and we spent about three hours in the library doing book readings and activities. As you can see, I was pretty pooped by the end of the morning. Thank you, Nexus for a fun morning.

Eva Longoria in Singapore

Guess who I spotted in Singapore?! Eva Longoria! Well, I spotted her about three weeks ago, but I didn't have time to blog about it. I have to say she was extremely friendly even though her minders were rushing her. She was in town to promote a line of jewelry by Damiani.





Eva Longoria autographed DVD

Epigram Sales Conference

On Friday June 6, 2014 Epigram Books held its Annual Sales Conference at the Arts House. At the sales conference, Epigram pitches their forthcoming books to bookstore buyers and the press.

Mr Epigram himself, Edmund Wee, started things kicked things off before he had to dart off for a meeting.




First book off the starting blocks was Girl Overboard by my brilliant long-suffering editor Sheri Tan and illustrated by her husband Fernando Hierro. Now Sheri is not only my editor but the competition as well! :)



Red Dot Award winners AJ Low aka Adan Jimenez and Felicia Low Jimenez discussed their eighth book in the Sherlock Sam series Sherlock Sam and the Cloaked Classmate in MacRitchie.




Jason Eric Lundberg and Patrick Yee discussed their fourth Bo Bo and Cha Cha book: Bo Bo and Cha Cha  Cook Up a Storm.




Multiple-award winner Emily Lim talked about her second book in the Tibby the Tiger Bunny series, Tibby and Duckie.  After which, talked about the Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di books and the latest story, The Lion Dance.



Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di was originally written back in the '90s and after the series was well underway my youngest nephew was born. The publishers at the time did not want to incorporate him into the story, but Epigram has done a great job of introducing him to the stories by including him in the illustrations in Sebbie's First Day of School and A Day with the Duchess. And Xandy will be the central character in the Lion Dance.



We ended the day with muffins, cucumber sandwiches and champagne!


Rough sketches for the Lion Dance