The Scene Around: This Is A Crazy Planets 2 Book-Signing Event

10/20/2013 1:33:20 PM

He’s back. He’s furious. And it may be a Saturday, but it was the day when the Lourd said for the second time around, “Let there be a second book!” And presto, Summit Books just produced another hell-of-a-book that consists of compilation of selected essays from that SPOT.ph blog “This Is A Crazy Planets.”

Yes, “The Best of This Is A Crazy Planets Book 2” was already in the circulation of the bookstores. And as per National Book Store’s list of bestsellers for Philippine Publication last month (September 2013), Lourd’s latest book was placed on the 8^th spot.

So the stage was set on that National Book Store branch inside SM North EDSA, and that Saturday afternoon turned out to be a satirical one, as the man himself went up to his stage and desk, spoke a little about his latest read, and joked about the latest news on Freddie Aguilar.

Along the way, the first – and so far, the latest episode – from his latest show on TV5 titled History (Tsismis Noon, Kasaysayan Ngayon), and selected clips from his interstitial Word Of The Lourd (which also airs on TV5 and its sister news channel AksyonTV 41) were playing from the wide screen.

On the widescreen: Premier episode of History with Lourd (TV5)

On the widescreen: one of the episodes from Word Of The Lourd

Of all the approximately 124 people who joined in the event, yours truly was the 49^th man there.

As I approach Mr. de Veyra, perhaps he was surprised when I brought the book that he already signed during his first installment's book-signing event last year. I even had a shot of the drink that he had at the moment (unfortunately, I has yet to do my research about it) plus peanuts as pulutan, of course. Perhaps it was more casual the second time around considering the fist bumps and the hi-fives. And that time around, my eyes were not closed when the photographer clicked my camera for a shot.

I can even recall a series of short conversations with the idol himself.

L: 'Oy! SLICKMASTER! (As he sees my name written in that post-it note, pronouncing that with some kind of sounding hip-hop.)
M: 'Yan po kasi pen name ko sa mga blogs.
L: Ah, talaga?

Another thing was when he offered me a shot of drink.

M: Ubusin ko ba, sir?
L: Sige, ito pulutan. (it was a small cup full of peanuts actually. I took two pieces to eat them).

And when I show his first book he signed two years ago, he went nuts like "tangina!"

Well, I decide to put a different name on my copy. Instead of using my real identity, I used my blog pseudonym instead. Well...  that’s the least I can do if I want to flaunt the books that he signed on.

He signed that on my copy of his first book of This Is A Crazy Planets
(in girl voice: "oh, I love you too! LOL!")

And this one, was the signature on my copy of his latest installment of This Is A Crazy Planets
(Inuman ba? ANYTIME, IDOL! HAHA!)

On my way out, I had a brief encounter with the website’s art director Warren Espejo. That guy was also the man behind the cover design and all of the illustration on Lourd’s blog articles as well. I got a chance to talk to him regarding all the stuff and wonders on his artworks. He even signed my copies of This Is A Crazy Planets.

Opo, ipagpapatuloy ko po... dahil nagbabayad ako ng buwis. Haha!

Haha, pagkamalan ba 'kong food pronographer?

All I can say was.... “wow, what a day.” I managed to meet my idol again. Believe me; I don’t have the first copy of This Is A Crazy Planets 2 with me prior to this event. Yes, I purchased another one for the sake of his signature and stamp. And I can give that copy away as long as I own one.

Nah, time’s up for being a fan boy mode. Get back to reading.

(The author took all of the photographs used in this article. You can check out his Tumblr site on http://theslickmaster28.tumblr.com/ to see all the other pictures of the book-signing event.)

Author: slickmaster | (c) 2013 september twenty-eight productions