4/24/15

Better Living 3 X A Day

What started out as an epic two day year-ender event of 2014.
Then ended up to becoming the very first event of 2015.
Enter the three day mega event: BLTX VI!
Again, nothing wrong with the event. The date changes were mainly due to circumstances beyond our control like I dunno....the fucking uncooperative weather, the papal visit and even more bad weather. Let's take a moment and just blame Typhoon Ruby for all her fucked-up fuckery.
Well, we're glad that's over, on with the news!

It was actually a good thing because after all our safety was top priority and the organizers and the venue made sure of just that. And if you think about it, it was actually beneficial on our part to be selling this many times within the same month. You wanted more events, then consider your request granted. A three day event filled with selling, reading and book launches. Fun times ahead aboard the BLTX party bus!

BLTX VI: 1st Day
Back to back with Reading Comics 6.

We arrived late,
but you already know that!
But still, we arrived just a little bit earlier than the usual. And we set-up our booth like so.
We also shared our table with Carlorozy & Zel
right next to the Electrolychee table.
Various pictures from the event:

And hey, 
we were actually part of that night's line-up!
Sweeeeeeet!
Worth mentioning is that the hosting duties for that night were carried of by the ever capable hands of Josel Nicolas.
As such, we started the night with a reading from his now famous Windmills : Je Suis Charlie strip.
And his very playful PIKO entry: Benjo Bato.
 An interactive comic filled with scenes like this:
Making for a perfect bonding experience for both the young and the young at heart.
Moving on with the next reader, It's Danielle Rina!
 As many might have noticed, I'm not exactly that much of a Danielle Rina fan(bear with me here) and here's why:
Daaah, scary!
Well , all those squiggly lines....I could handle that but all those characters with strange lips and broken teeth...not so much. And up until recently, this is actually referred to as Odontophobia or in layman's term : a dental fear. So it actually is a legitimate fear of something, add that to my Trypophobia and yes I am indeed such a pussy. But it takes a real man to admit to these weaknesses so SUCK IT!
But then again, I might be the only person having these issues with her artwork so please do carry on.
And one thing we did notice however is as to how our fears were instantaneously calmed by her gentle and semi-awkward voice.
So as selfish as this might sound but the only way we could get over our fear of Daniellerinaism is thru Danille Rina's soothing voice. So with that in mind, we sure do hope she comes up with some audio books pretty soon.
Again nothing against her art. I just need a lil' bit more exposure to it, I guess?
and the D'awwww moment of the night goes to this portion of her reading.
And before we continue here are some weird phenomena from the event:
Teleporting AJ.
Diving Noel.
666s.

Next up, it's Trizha!
Or was it simply Josel's turn again?
Channeling her inner Betty Bologna,
the reading was made even funnier with Josel's falsetto voice and Trizha's trademark art style.
Moving right along with the next reader, it's Marcushiro Nada!
with his more than epic reading of The Story Of A Lifeless Paper (TSOALP).
Complete with appropriate music,
and acapella vocal sound effects!
Much to the delight of the audience members as much to the delight of the artist himself.
 His second set was then devoted to the rereading of Ang Alamat Ng Tsismis.
THIS particular scene still gets me all the time!
Well, what can I say? Deadly martial arts weapons were indeed an excellent source of comedy.

Moving right along, it's Fabo!
with
AUKPGNK was indeed an unconventional komix tailor made for this reading.
The narrative was later on followed by a random imagery.
 The reveal was such a thrill, it's like opening a Kinder Surprise egg.
 Most of the situations were a callback to a previous scenario making this a laugh trip from start to finish.
Best characters from this reading : Melden and his deadly KATAM and Alien T-Tyko.
Followed immediately by Miles Fabonan.
and his reading of....
 Partnered with some ambient ocean sounds and chirping birds.
Followed by the legendary Kikiam Master, Sir Michael David and with some assistance by Sir Sonni.
On a reading of a yet unreleased Kikiam strip compilation entitled : The Score.
Which could be read online at the link below:
http://www.kuborikikiam.com/komiks-popup.php?cat=30&oid=525&num=01&ht=900&wd=1600
And now it's our turn to read us so good ol' komiks.
Our book of choice was of course the NoChaDT mega-hit : Kuyugun-Z.
And surprisingly enough, there were no pictures available.
But wait, there is but ONE....
Courtesy of our good pal, Julius Villanueva
And that's about it!
But wait, there's more!
As advertised and hyped on facebook.
It's the release of the beast,
the launch of the conch,
Ladies and germs...
Enter Noel Pascual's  
The Pretender.
Complete with shadows on certain people's faces,
 Cursings,
 Scammers,
 and appropriate language/behaviors for pretty little girls.
So basically it's a fake reading with genuine laughter!
How about that?
I'm happy, you're happy,
Everyone gets a free nuru massage!
Day 2 of BLTSIX!!! MEGA-THRUSTERS ARE GO!!!
With food.
and even more food,
alright, too much foods!
 Ample lighting.
Friends and familiar faces.
 (Hey, he bought the last copy. Hurray!!!!)
Adequate elbow spaces.
Lampara talks with Ched.
Davao indecisions.
Kick Fighters.
And last but not the least, serious talk
with serious people.
As Adam discusses plans for BLTX DAVAO. And how VI would temporarily be the last BLTX held here in Manila.
Based on experience, we did much better selling indoors as opposed to outdoors.
We have no idea as to what causes this phenomena but such is the case. And with that in mind, we cap off Day 2 with an impromptu Street Fighter IV tournament courtesy of James Austria laptop + arcade stick.
Complete with convincing game faces,
Evil winning.
and conclusive/ definitive victories.
Day 3 of BLTX6: ONCE MORE WITH FEELINGS!!!
 
Day 3 was made even awesomer with 2 launches and 1 impromptu roundtable discussion.

4PM - a group of new and young writers calling themselves Charging Station are launching their zine IN SEARCH OF DESIRE!

Afterwhich we get an intermission where in we were asked to introduce ourselves and our product.
530PM - UPLB-based writing journal The Cabinet is relaunching a new collection of new unpublished works!
Ang Sayawan ni Pat at Ruth by Marvin Angelo Oloris.
Voluntary by Tilde Acuna and Andrew S. Aguinaldo. (as read by Karize)
And with special reading/participation of Dark Chapel of SSM! (Hey, that's us!)
Loki: A Love Story by Dark Chapel 
We did okay!
But again, no picture from the actual reading/performance available. But we do have this sweet photo of the crowd just to prove our point.
Mula sa Melismas by Marlon Hacla.
Moments later, Josel arrives with an extremely wet dick.
Ok, a signage of a wet dick to be exact.
I guess showing you an image of the said "dick" would've been better at this point.
THERE YOU GO!
It was so wet, that he needed to air it out in public and on the expense of Ed's personal space.
Puns and shenanigans aside....
7PM - READERCON/READERPRO: a roundtable discussion about #saveliterature, the casual reader, and creating new audiences via the small independent press machinery!
Day 3 Friends and Customers.
Thus concludes our review of the BLTX VI trilogy.
And now for some GOOD NEWS:
This event also saw the rerelease of :
Of Love And Other Lemons by Mam Katrina Stuart Santiago
As lovingly edited by Adam David 
All of my submissions did appear on the book.
Hence, all the more reason as to why you should BUY IT!

Proof:
Sold all our FAKE ID + SALAWIKAINS away.  

Ohh Yeah! 
Thank you, Mam Ina!
Went home with even more INDIE KOMIKS!

 Unwillingly acquired this new high concept book called TARA.

As modeled here by AJ Bernardo.
And last but not the least, 
got paid from the fruits of hard labor courtesy of Adam David and Mam Chingbee.
Thank you ulit and thank you, DAVAO
Most especially Alleycat Tea House.
Taga-Davao nga ba si Ricky Davao?
Ewan, hahahaha....

No comments:

Post a Comment