Gilamon's Lefty Kam Says Zombies Can Save The World Too!

After stories relating to vampires and werewolves became more mainstream in novels and TV/ movies, it was only time that their not so pretty, undead cousins - the Zombies - would be enjoying their fair share of the limelight.

The 2009 "Zombieland" comedy movie about finding a family in the midst of a zombie apocalypse received critical reviews and soon after, cable channel AMC found a hit zombie TV series based on Image Comics' "The Walking Dead" graphic novels.

Red Dot Diva thinks zombies are wayyyyyy disgusting. She is sure they are fetid too, but it doesn't mean she is unable to relish slabs of entertaining stories. Even if the subject matter is putrefyingly hungry for brains.

With a rather smart twist to the usual zombie storyline, Gilamon Studio - a Malaysian-based independent comics production company - has churned out a series of graphic novels called "Major Zombie" that mashes up superhero into the mix of the undead.

HBO Asia's "Game Of Thrones" Premiere - Diva Seized The Iron Throne

So........ Red Dot Diva just had to ask....

Dear Asian fans who have been waiting this long for the premiere of HBO series "Game of Thrones", was it as good for you on Sunday night as it was for Red Dot Diva?

Prior to the actual telecast 28th August, Sunday night on the HBO Asia channel, a bunch of local geek/ pop-culture bloggers (including Red Dot Diva) was specially invited to a "Game of Thrones" media preview by the very lovely ladies of the HBO publicity team.

The event was held on 18th August at the very swanky ION SKY, an indoor observatory on Level 55 / 56 of Ion Orchard, with a breath-taking 360-degree view of the Orchard Road area and beyond.

STGCC 2011 - Diva Stalking The Artists

2011 is the year that Red Dot Diva has been "feeling the graphic arts".

Ever since the art show at Wilkie Edge with Harvey Tolibao at the start of 2011, she has been increasing her social circle of friends who appreciate the art form, and counts herself fortunate to get to know many talented artists in recent months.

She cannot always afford getting sketches and commissions, but she made sure that she put in her few cents of support that hopefully pays forward.

Because of the many geeky friends she's got to know this year, stalking the Artists' Alley at this year's STGCC felt like hanging out in a bohemian geeks' village. Artists' Alley was also where she acquired most of her convention booty!

Here's a rundown of who she stalked:

STGCC 2011 - Diva Stalking The Toy Shops

At this year's STGCC, Red Dot Diva got her eyes massaged by the many sexy display booths at the exhibition hall. She was also seduced by the pretty good range of toys available at the exhibition hall.

To her surprise, there were actually a lot more enticing toys compared to last year's offerings.

She noticed that the toy shops were having rather brisk sales during the two days. One store selling Transformers toys had a crowd milling around the booth almost all the time!

Firstly, Red Dot Diva is not going to even mention those exclusive hot Hot Toys figurines again. If she had more ka-ch$ng ka-ch$ng, she would be the owner of three (or more) of them by now - all promptly carted home that same morning by an entourage of beefy minions.

STGCC 2011 - Diva Stalking The Exhibition Hall

Red Dot Diva's schedule for STGCC 2011 was "comfortably-busy", but she managed to take snippets of time to stalk the convention hall and do the necessary perving.

This year, the 3 main international pop-culture favourite booths - Marvel, DC and Hot Toys - looked very very photogenic.

Just look at the DC and Marvel booths!

STGCC 2011 Day 1 - Before Doors Opened

When Red Dot Diva foggily woke up at 7.45 am Sat morning, she read a tweet from ReedPOP's Peter Tatara saying that a line for STGCC was already forming at Level 3 of Suntec. Then, she noticed that his tweet was sent an hour before she had even crawled out of bed!

When she arrived at the Suntec convention hall at 9.20 am, there was a line snaking round the 3rd floor towards the main escalators. This evidently showed the level of interest for this year's STGCC despite all the complaints and naysayers.

From the way, the hype has been going, Red Dot Diva was well aware that most of the early folks were targetting for Hot Toys' gorgeous limited edition exclusives - the 12" action figures of (Batman (Batman Begins)), Shadow Predator and Ironman Mark IV.

STGCC 2011 Media Preview: Cosplay, Comics, Toys!

Presenter Reiko and her shiny hat

Red Dot Diva would be the first to admit that she felt a certain kind of inertia after almost 75% of the STGCC 2011 guest list were officially announced.

There just didn't seem to be a buzz or sense of excitement leading up to this year's event at all.

The vocal reactions from the comic fans have already been well documented by the Straits Times (article by Nicholas Yong) and Here Be Geeks.

Whatever the case may be, Red Dot Diva felt it was worth supporting an event in a market that is already considered small in terms of the worldwide arena. Plus, many of her friends will be at STGCC at their booths displaying their art, or going as cosplayers and fellow bloggers to give their show of support.

Singapore Food Trail and Chesterfest With C.B. Cebulski

C.B. Cebulski holds the long and fancy title of SVP, Creator and Content Development of Marvel Entertainment but he's actually one of the most down-to-earth person Red Dot Diva has ever met.

This is C.B.'s second visit to Red Dot Island as a guest of STGCC. This time, he arrived a few days early so that he could eat his way across the country one more time.

Instead of being brought around various food places by the Singapore Tourism Board, C.B. decided to go local and asked for a small group of island geeks (and geekette) for suggestions.

If one is not already aware, C.B. is a big-time foodie and he aimed to top last year's eating record in of 15 meals in 6 hours which he accomplished together with fellow comic creators, Matt Fraction and Gail Simone. With the HereBeGeeks guys, Melvin Yong, Ryan and moi assisting C.B. with the nom-fest, beating the previous year's record was chicken feed.

Special STGCC Greetings From TV Lala Land

Many fans wish that our local conventions were more like what they see in the USA, with more celebrities and well-known guests. They crave to get close to the Hollywood stardust, but most of the time, acquiring such guests to events held on Red Dot Island simply hard to come by.

So, since many local fans miss the chance of meeting their favourite celebrities in person, Red Dot Diva endeavoured to digitally bring geeky STGCC-goers some greetings from a few popular personalities:

What Has Conan The Barbarian Got To Do With STGCC??

Is Jason Momoa visiting Red Dot Island?
Unfortunately, Red Dot Diva sighs... The answer is a 6'4" of No. :(

Are Cimmerian Barbarians going to invade the convention this weekend?
Red Dot Diva hopes not. Unless they are Momoan-nom-worthy.

However, the remake of "Conan The Barbarian" the movie will indeed be premiering at the local theatres this Thursday, 19th August.

STGCC 2011 - Comics Art Sketchbooks At Elseworlds Booth

Heads up, comics art fans!

Red Dot Diva says fans should check out Mico Suayan's limited edition sketchbook which will be launched at STGCC!

Mico, who is from the Philippines, had worked on a popular run of Marvel's "Moon Knight" series in 2007. He has since followed up with more impressive artwork with the label, including that for "Thor" and "Rage of Thor".

One can find Mico stationed mostly at Elseworld's booth at #E22. Only 500 copies of his sketchbooks are available, and one can get him to sign the books at the booth. Each book costs SGD 30.

"Spartacus: Vengeance" Panel At SDCC 2011

Pic by Chelle

In order to grow an Evil Diva Empire, it is crucial to gather allies in different territories.

This is how Red Dot Diva was able to get this intel giving her the abs-worthy updates on her favourite gladiator porn, Starz TV series "Spartacus".

Chelle, her trusty LA contact and frequent SDCC attendee, was at the "Spartacus" panel to nab some information relating to the cable TV series, which is reknown for its gory bloodshed and blatantly sexy nude scenes.

For those who are not already aware, the next season will be a sequel to "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" entitled "Spartacus: Vengeance".

Most Spartacus fans were devastated when they heard that previous lead actor Andy Whitfield would not be able to return to the series due to his illness. But, from what Red Dot Diva heard, replacement Aussie actor Liam McIntyre seems equally capable of meeting the gladiator challenge. Which would of course, normally consist of chopping off heads and exploding ovaries at the same time.

Bravely putting herself in danger of losing her fallopian tubes, Chelle brings the "Spartacus: Vengeance" panel report:

Introducing Kelvin Chan - The Versatile Multi-Tasking Artist

Get to know one indie artist, and one ends up knowing four!

Red Dot Diva learnt about local artists Kelvin Chan's late entry as featured artist at the recent Comic Art Show only about two weeks before the event.

She tried to get hold of him for a short interview before the show, but according to Alwyn Da Boss, Kelvin is a "very busy man".

After all, he juggles a full-time illustration job, acting as mentor/ teacher and being a husband and father! How he ever finds more time to do more drawings due to his love for comics and pop-culture is most amazing. Red Dot Diva suspects he can clone himself, like Doctor Manhattan. Heh.

Diva's Choice Targets At STGCC 2011

Different folks have different strokes.

And Red Dot Diva knows it is simply not possible to please everybody.

Hence, Red Dot Diva credits the organizers and exhibitors of STGCC for making a valiant attempt to offer a range of "hot specials" for the mixed bunch of local and regional fans who will be attending the convention next weekend.

Red Dot Diva will be stirring up her own of recipe of desirable strokes during STGCC weekend. Here's a list of what she will be aiming for (in no particular order):

Todd Stashwick - Springing Into Devil Inside's Next Chapter

It has been about a year since the free web-comic "Devil Inside" was launched at SDCC 2010 by the very handsome, very bromance-y team consisting of actor Todd Stashwick and artist Dennis Calero.

Red Dot Diva remembers visiting the duo at their booth at Artists' Alley in 2010, and was deviously hooked by the first couple of panels and the concept of the web-comic.

Released every Wednesday, "Devil Inside" faithfully took the readers through many twists and turns about a chief demon's journey to find himself on Earth. Starting from a place called Paradise Valley.

With its sometimes macabre visuals, mysterious characters (who can ever forget snarky Raven Corvus?) and cryptic hints, "Devil Inside" Chapter 1 has been a helluva ride!

Sasha Roiz - Into The Land Of "Grimm" Fairy Tales

Red Dot Diva still thinks it is a pity that Syfy's "Battlestar Galactica" spin-off drama "Caprica" did not have the chance to go on for another season.

True, the short-lived series wasn't a full-on deep-in-space scifi show like the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica" with dogfights or had several buff characters who were easy to love. And admittedly, "Caprica"- which was set 58 years before the "Battlestar Galactica" timeline - was slow in its storytelling.

But Red Dot Diva stands by her opinion, that many of the characters in "Caprica" were complex and layered (especially Daniel Graystone), and the series actually offered many intelligent, mind-provoking questions about life and what it means. The production values for the series were mind-blowing, and despite its flaws, "Caprica" was actually a solid prequel to what was to happen later in the cherished BSG series.

One of the breakout actors in "Caprica" whom most fans could not help noticing was the tall, exotic-ly handsome Sasha Roiz. His appearance on screen as the Taurean homosexual mobster, Sam Adama, was an unforgettable package of slinky tattooed fierceness.

Harvey Tolibao and Stephen Segovia Contributes To GnB Comics' Charity Auction

Even though it has been several months since the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan earlier this year, Red Dot Diva reminds everyone there is still more to be done for the people who are in need there.

GnB comics, a main local stronghold of Western comics geek-culture, held a charity drive previously with 50% of sales proceeds going as donations to the Red Cross. (Read the earlier blog article here.)

They are continuing the charitable efforts with help from Marvel comic artists Harvey Tolibao and Stephen Segovia, who have both generously donated their original artworks for a special auction.

Harvey has decided to donate his intriguing version of Green Lantern and Stephen has offered his cover to the variant of Vampirella issue #5.

Comic Art Show 2011 - Day 2 For Geeks

Sundays are definitely lazy days.

Red Dot Diva suspected that there were probably many tipsy geeks nursing a gaming hangover last Sunday. Or maybe they were pious geeks who went to religious services in search of their souls. Or it could just be that a bunch of them got haplessly sucked into The Wormhole of Family Commitments.

'Coz from what Red Dot Diva heard, it was pretty quiet on Day 2 of Comic Art Show 2011.

But the real reason could just very well be that Red Dot Diva and her glittery aura wasn't there to help entice unsuspecting folks. She was busy that morning too -- catching up on her beauty sleep.