STGCC 2015 Causes Local Geekdom To Squee By Announcing Adam Hughes As Guest

STGCC 2015 finally announces their first round of guest announcement, and they certainly did not skimp on the surprise factor.

ADAM HUGHES

This year, internationally reknown and Eisner award-winning comic cover artist Adam Hughes will make his way to the convention! Red Dot Diva could almost hear the local geekdom squee with delight upon knowing that Adam Hughes will be here. She was aware that the fans have been hoping and requesting for Adam to attend STGCC for many years. 2015 is the year that this wish is set to come true.

For those who are not familiar with Adam Hughes he is well-known for drawing women figures beautifully in a pin-up art style, and has worked for the biggies like DC and Marvel, as well as Dark Horse, Archie and Lucasfilm. His variant art covers are highly sought after. A few years ago, he returned to sequential art and was the artist for mini-series "Before Watchmen: Dr Manhattan", written by J. Michael Straczynski.

At Kinokuniya: So How Notorious Are "The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye"and Its Writer-Artist Sonny Liew?

Red Dot Diva loves it whenever her favourite book store Kinokuniya, holds a comic-related Meet the Author session. The book store has always been very supportive of overseas and local creators as well as artists of graphic novels. 

Last Saturday (30 May), the main store at Ngee Ann City, hosted the official book launch of Eisner-nominated artist Sonny Liew's latest graphic novel, "The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye", published by local company Epigram Books.

"The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye is written (or rather written and drawn) as a biography of sorts. It documents the life of "the greatest Singapore artist of all time", Charlie Chan, from the age of 10 when he discovered his love for Osamu Tezuka's mangas, in addition to an account of his own life's journey as a Red Dot Island native and a struggling comic artist. Strung alongside Charlie's personal narrative are the historical and political aspects of Red Dot Island and her own unique stories.

Red Dot Diva remembers gathering a few preview booklets released by Epigram when she attended STGCC 2012 a few years ago. Amongst the booklets was one of "The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye". Already then, the preview had sparked a fair bit of interest amongst local geeks and geek bloggers, but alas, the book took a very long time in the making.

"The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye" was originally funded by National Arts Council (NAC) for a sum of SGD 8,000. However, this was withdrawn a day before the book's official launch, in a move that Red Dot Diva hardly considered as fair. The de-funding was reported in the local newspapers and social media, including some overseas blogs, with NAC stating that the book contained "sensitive content". (What this "sensitive content" consists of had not been specified by NAC at that time, although Sonny Liew and locals can definitely hazard a good guess what these points were.) NAC later clarified their reasons for their action (see TODAY's original article in this link) and said that the book carried themes which “undermines the authority or legitimacy” of the Government, and hence the funding guidelines.

In their decision to withdraw the funding, NAC had renewed questions on whether funding for homegrown creative efforts should be made more separate from political inclinations in order for the arts scene to grow and thrive. As expected, what do Red Dot Islanders do when the gahmen marks something as "not approved"? Buy the book of course!

Diva's Illuminating Experience at Alliance Francais' "The Little Prince In the Dark" Exhibition

Out of the three "The Little Prince"-centric exhibitions held during Voila! French Festival, Red Dot Diva thinks the one held at Alliance Francais called "The Little Prince in the Dark" is the most special. It was designed to bring "The Little Prince" to life for the visually impaired in a sensory as well as auditory manner. But that does not mean that the sighted are not able to enjoy it as well.

(Click here to read Red Dot Diva's "The Little Prince" exhibit encounters at the Fullerton Hotel.)

Upon entering the premises and foyer of the building, there are already several of the iconic bright yellow planets and stars dotting the area. At the far end of the ground level, another statue of The Little Prince greets the visitors.

Pac-Man Celebrates His 35th Birthday Celebration, Plus the "Pixel" Movie in August 2015!

Raise your hands, all those who remember spending hours in an arcade, steering a hungry yellow round creature round a maze, and having him munch pellets and fruits, and escaping from his relentless enemies named Blinky, Inky, Pinky & Clyde.

Well, that famous creature is PAC-MAN, and he turned 35 years old on 22 May! Doesn't that one feel nostalgic (and old)?

PAC-MAN is a classic when it comes to arcade video games. It is the #1 arcade game in the world, and on his birthday, fans in various cities will be celebrating it in true PAC-MAN fashion.

In his birthplace Japan, over 350 participants wearing yellow raincoats gathered at Tokyo Tower to attempt to break the Guinness World Records title for the Largest Human Image of PAC-MAN. And they succeeded! The image of PAC-MAN was 10.5 metres in size. Check out the NHK news article and video of the feat here. Celebrities like actor Shingo Yanagisawa and creator Professor Toru Iwantani also joined in the festivities.

Meet Legendary Mecha Designer Kunio Okawara at "GUNDAM Docks in Singapore", 6 June 2015

Pic: ©SOTSU・SUNRISE

Here are some exciting news for local fans of GUNDAM! As announced earlier, the epic "GUNDAM Docks in Singapore" exhibition is set to kick-off on 4 June 2015 at Takashimaya. The event will run more than 3 weeks till 28 June.

Here's a big tip! On May 30 and 31, lookout for a special surprise that weekend! A GUNDAM transporter is set to be out roaming on the local streets of Red Dot Island. More details about this will be coming soon.
 
As for 6 June (Saturday), this is an important date for hardcore GUNDAM lovers.

Step Into The World of "The Little Prince" at The Fullerton Hotel in Singapore

The Little Prince at the Fullerton entrance

As part of Voila! French Festival that is currently underway, the organizers has placed the focus on a well-loved character "The Little Prince" from Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry's wonderfully-written and illustrated tale of the same name.

Red Dot Diva has heard of several people who say that "The Little Prince" is their favourite childhood story book. But she thinks that the story about the mysterious regal from Asteroid 325 is still relevant to an adult of any age.

Now, fans and new readers in Red Dot Island can venture into the world of "The Little Prince".

Get Fit with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Dojo Experience and DC Justice League Run!

Who says Nerds can't be physically fit too?

Not all superheroes are blessed with superpowers. So, they would have to consistently work out to maintain strength and dexterity to fight the baddies! Just look at Red Dot Diva's fave superhero, Batman!

So, if one is aiming to add a bit of muscle to their bods, Red Dot Diva recommends that the upcoming 4-week June school holidays would be a great time to start.

Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Dojo
Children's cable channel, Nickeldodeon is set to train up some young ones on their turtle ninja skills with a Dojo hosted at Downtown East.

There will be the following activities at the Dojo: