Event: A Book Launch for Papa Jack

Well it was just a matter of time before Papa Jack entered the publishing industry; and after the success of Chico, Delamar, and Gino’s The Morning Rush Top 10 compilation, it makes sense that another popular radio disc jockey would get his chance at releasing his own compilation.

Last Sunday, February 17, Summit Books invited a few press people and bloggers for an intimate launch with radio disc jockey Papa Jack. And from the point of view of someone covering the event, I liked this one better because it was more quiet than the last event I went to–which was the launch for The Morning Rush Top 10 Book 2.

The event itself was short, which was good. And as an inteview subject, Papa Jack was honest and to the point–which is how he is even in his radio show. But why waste time trying to describe how he was, when you can just watch him here–

After the Q&A, Papa Jack signed autographs for the present press people, and answered a few more questions in one-on-one interviews, before the event fully gave way to the fans who were early for their 2 p.m. autograph signing session.

And because I don’t like seeing good press releases go to waste, here’s the one Summit Book gave:

This month of hearts, Summit Books launched Papa Jack of 90.7 Love Radio’s new book, Everything I Learned About Love I Learned from Papa Jack, at Bestsellers in Robinsons Galleria. Last February 17, 2013, the Papa ng Bayan met with the press and his kabisyo fans to eagerly talk and answer questions about his book, and met each one to sign their copies.

With a compilation of 365 love quotations from his hit programs True Love Confessions and Wild Confessions, this book is definitely a must read for the entire year–one quote a day really keeps the heartache away! Everything I Learned About Love I Learned From Papa Jack will really teach you years worth of wisdom whether you are single, dating, in a relationship, “it’s complicated,” or heartbroken.

This book will take you on a journey as you ride with Papa Jack to 6 stopovers in the subject that is mostly-complicated, sometimes-”oh-so-sweet:” LOVE — from courtship, to healing that broken heart, to learning to love again. You will surely laugh and cry with the stories of the most memorable callers on Papa Jack’s radio program. This book will surely teach you to love better, not just to your significant other, but most importantly, to love yourself even more.

Everything I Learned About Love I Learned from Papa Jack is out now in bookstores everywhere, and costs a cool Php 143. And by cool, I mean figuratively. I love how a compilation of quotes about love costs Php 143. Points for Summit Books.

If you want to meet Papa Jack in the flesh, you can catch him on March 3 at SM Naga, on March 17 at SM Manila, and on April 7 at SM Gaisano Davao.

Event: The Morning Rush Book Launch

And almost one month after the said event, I am finally here to blog about it.

First off, I would like to thank Summit Books for being gracious enough to invite me. And I also apologize for being a bad blogger, since it might have looked like I abandoned the blog. I haven’t. I just found it harder to take a break from all the deadlines I had to meet. But that’s all been said and done now, so let’s move on to the actual event.

The “book launch” for the The Morning Rush’s Top 10 compilation isn’t really a launch, per se. The book was already widely distributed, and at the time of the event, it was already in the bestseller’s list of National Bookstore. But still, Summit Books decided to invite some media people, as well as a few bloggers, for an intimate reading and Q&A session with the hosts of the Morning Rush; with the event being hosted by their current third co-host Gino Boy.

At the “launch”, DJs Chico and Delamar shared a few behind-the-scenes stories about the Morning Rush’s Top 10 segment–as well as how the compilation came about. Short story made shorter, Summit approached them. But if you want to hear most of the story, it’s in the video I’ve embedded in this post.

Also in the video are a couple of snippets from the readings they did. I managed to capture a lot, but thought better to include all of them in the video. If you want the funnies, you can buy the book–it’s not expensive at all, and it’s available in bookstores everywhere. In Manila anyway. I’m not completely sure if it is as widely circulated in other parts of the country though.

I’m keeping my reactions to the compilation for another post. And with that, I leave you with my video coverage of The Mornng Rush Top 10 “book launch”.

Event: Trese 4 Book Launch

October 8, 2011–who knew it would be that big? Well, we had an inkling. And I’m sure creators Budjette Tan and KaJO Baldisimo knew that it was going to be swamped. But for people like me, who have been to launches that were either populated by family and friends, or attended launches that had crickets in the audience, we had no idea it could be that big.

I’ve been exposed to Trese since college years since my days as a writer/producer for an entertainment website (why pretend I’m younger than I am? Haha,) but it took last year’s Filipino Horror challenge in this blog to actually turn me into a fan. After reading the first three volumes (especially the third one), I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next book. And then Cadena de Amor came out online. Then, earlier this year, I got a copy of The Fight of the Year–with a note saying that Trese 4 was coming out very soon. And after a few more months of waiting, a friend tweeted about the a date that writer/creator Budjette Tan was teasing Trese fans with. Sure enough, it was the date of the fourth volume’s launch.

Of course I made sure I’d be there.

As usual, I went to the event venue early. I do this to case the joint, and then grab a bite to eat before settling down for a long wait. But when I got to the venue an hour before the event was supposed to start, people were already occupying seats. Mr. Budjette Tan and Mr. KaJO Baldisimo themselves were already mingling with the early attendees. Or their friends. Who are also fans of their work, and not just there because they’re friends. Obviously, I didn’t bother with my launch-ritual of going somewhere else to eat first. I grabbed the nearest seat to the makeshift stage and I waited.

I didn’t have to wait long. After the lengthy interview by TV5, the program proper started. Host Jiggy Cruz made small talk, revealed the Trese-fied iPad that National Bookstore is raffling off to the luckiest Trese fan, before getting on with the grilling of the creators. A short question-and-answer with the fans followed, some of which gets touched upon in the embedded video below.

An apology to the quality of the video coverage. This is only the second time I’ve done this, and since you haven’t seen the first one–it was obviously a failure. The background music’s a bit louder than intended, and some of the anecdotes/answers were cut out to keep the video short. But hey, it’s something new! Going back to the event…

The place was packed. Packed! But it wasn’t until the autograph-signing session that I actually saw how many people came out to support the launch of Trese 4. There were two lines of people snaking throughout the loft of Bestsellers’, with the people in each line hoping they were the ones in the right line. Both were, actually. The Bestsellers’ people thought to let the lines stay, with the lines merging somewhere in the middle–prior to reaching the creators’ table.

Do I even need to say that the event was very successful?

Event: Popped Too Book Launch

Okay, so I want to apologize for not being a very active blogger for the last couple of weeks. Work things piled up, and since that’s where I get the money to buy the books (and the DVDs, and the movie tickets, etc.) I had to make that my top priority. Well, that and I enjoy my work. But you’re not really here to read about what I do for a living, so let’s skip that and go straight to:

The Popped Too book launch!

It was held last Wednesday, September 21, at the Subspace Coffee House at F. Ortigas Jr. Road (aka Emerald Road)–not an easy place to find for someone like me. Good thing my meeting finished early and I was able to spend (close to) an hour just to look for the place.

Now, to be quite frank, the only reason I attended was because I wanted to support the local book scene. Also, I felt guilty for having to bail out on the The Best of This is a Crazy Planets book launch because of the weather (and work).

I knew nothing about the book being launched–I didn’t even know that it was the launch for the sequel. But things became quite clear as soon as I stepped inside the quaint Korean-inspired coffee shop. Well, that and Charlie (the Summit Media person-in-charge)’s first question: “Do you like K-Pop?”

Yeah, no. Not really. I’m familiar with some Korean pop songs, since I work in the entertainment industry and all, but I can’t say I like it. Well, maybe some songs. But I don’t see myself becoming a fan. Ever. But that shouldn’t stop me from enjoying a good book regardless of the topic, right? I’m not a fan of basketball and I enjoyed reading Pacific Rims.

I have to admit though, that question hung around me the whole time I was there. I’m not a fan of K-Pop and I’m attending a launch for a book inspired by it. And they’re screening Korean music videos (with Thai subtitles) while we waited for the launch to start. I was starting to doubt my decision to come. But I steeled myself. I made a promise to support local literature. So I stayed and braved through the family, the friends–and the fan girls.

Chinggay Labrador, the author, was very nice. Although, I don’t think she has this author-with-fans thing down pat yet. She seemed uneasy about having to stand in front of so many people, reading from the book she had published, and answering questions about her personal life that–well, she must’ve expected, seeing as the book(s) were loosely based around her own love for Korean pop culture.

The event didn’t take long though. After a short Q&A about the books (yes, there are plans for a third, fourth and a fifth Popped books) and raffle, it was all over. Now I have two more books to read, one given (Popped Too) and one I bought (Popped). And I’ll write my reaction to them as soon as I finish reading the books.

Here’s the press release Summit Media made for Popped Too:

“K-Pop fans everywhere loved the highly-popular novel, and National Book Store bestseller, Popped released by Summit Books last year. Now, author Chinggay Labrador returns with the much-awaited sequel entitled Popped Too.

Popped Too follows the story of Andie, as she embarks on an unforgettable journey to Seoul, Korea with her friends. Together, the fangirls fulfill their Seoul wish list, which includes bumping into their favorite K-Pop celebrity crushes, falling head-over-heels with a Korean boy, and more!

Labrador, a self-confessed K-Pop fanatic, says, “I was inspired by how funny and absurd K-Pop gossip can be, by my trip to Korea last February, my friends who continue to love K-Pop no matter what, by the friends I made, and places we visited while traveling together.” Andie’s adventures in the motherland of all things K-Pop are all inspired by Chinggay’s own misadventures with her friends.

Will Andie and her friends fulfill their K-Pop dreams? Get your K-Pop fix and find out by grabbing your copy of Popped Too, available in bookstores, newsstands,  and supermarkets nationwide for only P175.“

And that’s it for me for now.

My next blog post will once again be for Doctor Who, and then I’m going to be writing abuot the three Quantum Prophecy novels, an oldish sort-of graphic novel from Arnold Arre, and I got a review request for an e-book that I’ve yet to read. So that’s what’s coming up. Until then, see ya!