Vinyl+Splash Report - Filipino Geeks and Artists Fight Against Hunger

Red Dot Diva doubts that any of the guests who were at last Saturday's inaugural Filipino pop culture and art event Vinyl+Splash are actually "starving artists" (they do seem very successful in their own right after all!). But, one thing's for sure, they were united in their fight against hunger in the Philippines.

Through the series of events held at Fullybooked Bonifacio High Street Gates, Vinyl+Splash contributed a sizeable donation of 125,000 Pesos to the United Nations' World Food Programme! Country director of the UN World Food Programme Stephen Anderson, was on hand to receive the pledge from Jaime Daez Managing Director of Fullbooked, and mentioned how overwhelming it was to see the event bring the charity to reality.

Comic Con in Manila - Vinyl+Splash and Charity!

Calling all collectible and comic fans in the Philippines, especially in the vicinity of Manila!

For one day only on November 26th, a special collectible/ comic convention called Vinyl+Splash mixes street art, vinyl toys and pop-culture at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street Gates! The street art and pop culture smash begins at 10 am and get this -- Admission is FREE!!

Red Dot Diva says that this not-to-be-missed convention boasts of a series of exciting events like live art sessions, auctions, trading blocks, raffles (and who doesn't like prizes, right?) and an art jam. Which should prove to be exciting to watch because some high-profile comic book artists are set to appear tomorrow. They include the well-loved Harvey Tolibao, Gerry Alanguilan, Lui Antonio, Bong Dazo, Lan Medina, Stephen Segovia, quietly handsome Mico Suayan, Edgar Tadeo, Mark Torres, Francis Leinil Yu, and more!

To add to the slew of comic artists, Filipino artist Tony de Zuniga has been announced as special guest. Tony de Zuniga, the co-creator of popular comic creators Jonah Hex and Black Orchid, was a 2011 San Diego Comic-Con Inkpot awardee.

Introducing "J, Robot" - Japanese Culture Meets Humanoid Robots

HRP-3 android

Traversing the interwebs can take one on rather unexpected journeys, and it is on one of these digital travels that Red Dot Diva got to know San Francisco-based videographer/ producer Michael Garrigues.

For one thing, the project that he has been working on was a rather unique documentary on Japanese humanoid robots. It was an interesting visual trip behind the scenes about robotics that promptly reminded Red Dot Diva of "Transformers" and "Astro Boy" and the various sci-fi stories and movies, like the classic "Blade Runner" and well-loved "Short Circuit" to the more recent "Artificial Intelligence". Oh, and which scifi geek can forget the myriad of robots wandering about in the "Star Wars" universe, and those ominous Cylons or "toasters" from "Battlestar Galactica"?

Bookfest Singapore 2011: Calling All Book and Comic Lovers!

Bookfest Singapore 2011 kicks off at Suntec Convention Centre, Halls 601 - 603 this Friday, 18 November.

Just in perfect timing too, Red Dot Diva notes. This weekend is the start of the super long stretch of year-end school holidays for the kids and teenagers here, so she expects that the event will attract thousands of people.

The largest and most popular book festival on Red Dot Island will continue to showcase a wide and varied collection of books and publishers from around Asia. There will be English and Chinese titles, assessment books, music, stationery and gifts offered at great prices during the fair, as well as panels, appearances by local and overseas authors and on-stage performances.

In addition, there will be something very special this year.

Elephant Parade Singapore - Trumpetting A Cause With Art

Not since an overly-enthusiastic visitor swam across the Johor Straits to Pulau Ubin in 1991 (and yes, he did bring his trunk *) has the Red Dot Island seen so many pachyderms stampeding its shores.

Well, not until last Friday.

11th November was the start of Elephant Parade Singapore. The Elephant Parade is the largest open-air exhibition worldwide and the high-profile event has made its rounds in several European countries like London, Amsterdam and Milan, over the years. It finally makes its first Asian stomp on Red Dot Island this year.

Up till 11th January 2012, these hand-painted life-sized elephant art statues are stationed all around the island - from glitzy Marina Bay to Vivocity to Singapore Art Museum to the shopping places around Orchard Road and in the semi-wilderness of the Singapore Zoological Gardens. Just to name a few!

Comikaze Expo 2011: Some Quick, Precious Moments with Actor Francis Capra

Francis Capra at Comikaze Expo

Here's something-something for those who love "Veronica Mars" and doggedly keep track of alumni from the cancelled NBC TV series, "Heroes"!

Red Dot Diva's LA-based friend @theReal_Rebel has done it again by helping her to perv actor Francis Capra at the recent ComikazeExpo!

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The hills and valleys of an actor's life can come so quickly that it could give an average person a nosebleed.  You can be on a hit show one minute and out of work in the next. The amount of rejection that an actor needs to handle is enough to induce night sweats.  Getting and keeping an acting job requires talent, skill, courage, street-smarts and the physical and emotional stamina to endure such vicissitudes of fortune. 

So, actors who play tough guys like Humphrey Bogart, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Chiklis and Edward G. Robinson must be pretty tough guys, right?  I imagined it should be somewhat daunting to get an interview from someone like that.

Or so I thought.

NYCC 2011: Learning "Scary Tactics" From Dennis Calero

It has been more than a year since Red Dot Diva met artist Dennis Calero in person at SDCC 2010.

At the time, he was kicking off a web-comic called "Devil Inside" that he had created with his good buddy (and "Heroes" alumni) Todd Stashwick. Having built a loyal and growing fanbase in the last year, "Devil Inside" - a story about a famous demon who is trying to be a different (better?) being - is now in its second chapter!

Within the last year, Dennis also became a proud first-time Dad to an adorable baby girl. And he has also picked up a rather high-profile gig with Archaia/ Relativity Media for one of the stories in "The Immortals", an anthology graphic novel which is a tie-in to the Tarsem Singh-directed Greek mythology movie of the same name.

SDCC 2012 Pre-Registration - ID's and More ID's!

Red Dot Diva sighs. As if one hasn't got enough login ID's and passwords to keep track and remember!! SDCC has jumped into the "Member ID" scheme of things too!

For those who had lined up arduously overnight at this year's SDCC in order to pre-register for next year's event, please note this important message!!

Today is the day the pre-registration email was being sent out. They are being sent in batches, so do check your in-box for this very important email.

LBCC 2011: Steve Niles Is One HOT Writer!

As Red Dot Diva's arduous search for compliant minions continues (their first task is to build a teleporter machine, oh curious ones), she was unable to partake in any effective stalking at the recent Long Beach Comic Convention (LBCC) 2011.

Instead, @theReal_Rebel, her Twitter pal based in Los Angeles, was there to represent Red Dot Diva's pervy intentions. And she cleverly managed to grab hold of frightmaster Steve Niles for an interview.

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You can tell that Steve Niles is one hot writer.

And not just due to his impersonation of the Devil (see pic on left).
(Red Dot Diva: OHhhhhh MYyyyy...... nom nom nom...)

NYCC 2011: Spotlight On Comics Artist David Marquez!

Thanks to indie publisher Archaia's disturbing graphic novel "Syndrome" (Blake Leibel/ Daniel Quantz/ R.J. Ryan, David Marquez/ Bill Farmer/ Dave Lanphear) about the minds of serial killers, Red Dot Diva got to know young artist David Marquez, when she was at SDCC in 2009.

She had a lot of fun wavering around the dark side reading "Syndrome" and fell in love with David Marquez's artwork. The drawings were sharp with clean lines and there were some creative angles on buildings and landscapes. She also liked how he drew the figures in a rather realistic way in terms of their body language.

It was also then that something suddenly clicked in Red Dot Diva's brain. The art-style was unique and quite recognizable. Where has she seen this before?