So the James Jean signing happened last Saturday and it was great.
I asked my youngest brother Andre' to tag along, and he was kind enough to put up with me for an entire day. Haha! We left the house around 9AM. Initially, I wasn't too happy with the weather. It was drizzling, and I thought making the trip to faraway Bonifacio High Street was going to be a hassle.
Thankfully, the skies cleared and the sun came out by the time we reached South Super. We dropped by the office to get my books and the books Roy left to be signed. From Tower, we headed to Fully Booked. I got excited once again upon seeing the huge billboard of "Hare."
When we reached FB, there were already a number of people waiting. And it was only 11AM. Registration was at 12NN. I let Andre wander around the bookstore first and I headed to the health section and got some books on yoga.
I really like Fully Booked, primarily because of the diverse range of book titles. It just sucks that they don't have a section for LGBT titles. If I had the money, I would put up a small bookstore a la A Different Light and bring here the works of Noel Alumit, Michael Thomas Ford, Timothy James Beck, Alex Sanchez and other really good LGBT writers. Mr. Daez, you have a market here, so please, please have an LGBT section. Powerbooks used to carry several titles. So did NBS. I dunno what happened. I'm quite sure I'm not the only buyer of the titles.
Anyway, 15 minutes before 12 NN, Andre' and I met up again at the ground floor. People were starting to line up and we already got in line. The guys before us were the grandkids of the late Pres. Cory Aquino, I think. They were sporting the Ninoy kind of eyeglasses.
I looked around and I'm probably the only person there who went because of Prada. I could hear the people talking about James Jean's work for Fable, among others. No one mentioned Prada. Haha! I was afraid to mention it because I might get the look from the die-hard JJ fans. But hey, his work for Prada is legit and I'm sure it had a significant impact on his career as an artist.
I also noticed that there were a lot of CDGs. No, not Comme des Garcons. I mean cute dorky type of guys. Haha! There's something about the eyeglasses and slightly unpolished look that I found really cute. Hahaha!
There was one guy who looked a lot like this DJ I have a crush on, but I wasn't able to talk to him because someone with purer intentions called his attention ahead of me. Haha! Add to that the fact that I was with my youngest brother.
Moving on, Andre' and I got numbers 13 and 14. We headed out of Fully Booked after reg and walked to Market Market. With almost six hours to kill, we decided to catch 2012. The movie ran for almost three hours so that took care of half of the wait time. The other three hours we spent for lunch and hanging out at Starbucks, where we prepped the books for signing.
I also asked Andre' to play with the camera so he can be familiar with it. Obviously, the other reason why I dragged him to the signing was so that he can take photos of my "Fans Kita" moment. Haha! The entire thing was also a good opportunity to hang out with my youngest brother. We rarely see each other because of my work and because of his school.
Hay, my feelings for Market Market are the same as my feelings for Trinoma. I hate it. I hate it because it's really crowded and the lighting is just terrible and I don't like the cinemas and I hate the fact that I had to go out of the cinema to go to the restroom and I can keep going on. Haha! But I don't want to write about that now.
The movie ended fifteen minutes past five. Even before the end credits rolled, I already asked Andre’ that we already go and head back to FB. There was already a small crowd gathering at the ground floor. Excitement and anticipation were in the air. I like it.
The signing was supposed to start at six, but James met his fans around 6:30. I think he was giving interviews upstairs. I kept my cool the whole time. One of my biggest pet peeves is anything late, but for the guy who did the design for Prada’s Spring/Summer ’08 collection, I tried very hard to keep my cool. I just smiled and checked out the crowd. There were more CDGs that night. Woohoo!
When James finally arrived, he went straight to his seat and the signing started. I dunno if that was really the plan, but it would have been great to hear him say a few words.
Anyway, I felt nervous as my turn to meet him neared. When it was finally my number, I went up to him and said hi. I stood by his side and watched him sign books, while Andre' took photos. Good job, lil bro. Afterwards, I said thanks and then I gave him small souvenirs from Team Manila - a keychain and a coin purse.
The whole thing was rather quick. One of my favorite moments though was when I asked him to sign the "Hare" print on Kindling with the message, "I'm so PRADA you." Jaime Daez said chuckled and said, "That's funny." In my head, I'm like, "At least, I made Jaime Daez laugh." Haha!
I stayed a bit and then watched the other James Jean fans. The crowd went wild every time the girls asked for a hug and a kiss on the cheek from James. He really is some kind of a celebrity, huh. There were also those who gave him a blank page and he just drew on it. He's fast, man. He can sketch something in less than five minutes. He is so good his doodle can even be considered art. Haha!
I wanted to stay a bit but I had to leave after getting a phone call from a former colleague. The birthday of her daughter was that night. I thought it was scheduled Sunday night, and had she not called, I would be looking stupid at Bubba Gump on a Sunday night looking for the dinner party for Phoenix.
It was still a good James Jean event. Thank you, Fully Booked, for bringing James to Manila. I may not have gotten anything from the Mrs. Prada’s Spring/Summer ‘08 collection, but getting to meet the guy behind all the fantastic whimsical artwork behind the collection is a much better experience. Woohoo!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment