I’m going for a radio interview tomorrow to promote Do You Wear Suspenders? The Wordy Tales of Eh Poh Nim. If you want to win copies of the book, tune in to Traxx Fm, (100.1 for KL and Selangor) between 11.15 am to 12 noon.
For this book, I’m not going to do author events at book stores. Attendance is usually dismal unless I drag along family and friends but they don’t count as real audience. But there is an event that garners a loyal following without my having to badger people to attend : Readings @ Seksan’s in Bangsar. So that’s where I’ll be this Saturday. Do come by if you’re in the area.
Selection of winners is by random draw. I picked the grand prize winner and my four children each picked one name. Congratulations to the winners! Please email me at tehlydia@yahoo.com. To those who didn’t win, chin up. There’ll be other contests in future.
A big thank you to all those who participated. Hope you’ve enjoyed Opela’s Book Club as much as I had enjoyed putting it together.
Q : What do you get when you cross the conference room with the reception?
A : Conception room.
This little riddle is courtesy of no. 3. At our recent church camp in Pangkor, when I asked him to gather our group for talentime rehearsal, he said to meet in the Conception Room. Just so you know, no baby was conceived in the conference room, or the reception for that matter.
Finally the bookertisement* (see postcript) is ready!! It was a blast getting it done, from the conceptualisation to casting, procuring of props to acting and a whole lot of nitty gritty stuff that went into its execution. On the day of filming, we spent 10 solid hours for the shoot which was distilled into 4.24 minutes. Enjoy it :
Here’s your chance to win some cool prizes.
How
Put up the trailer on your blog or website and post the link to that entry in the comment box below and you will automatically qualify for the contest.
Prizes
Grand prize : Rm100 book vouchers + 1 autographed copy of Do You Wear Suspenders – The Wordy Tales of Eh Poh Nim.
Consolation prizes : 4 autographed copies of Do You Wear Suspenders?
Winners will be chosen by random draw. If you’re such a loyal fan that you’ve immediately rushed out to buy the book and you’re picked as the winner, you can opt for one of my other books : Honk! If You’re Malaysian or Life’s Like That – Scenes from Malaysian Life. If you have those too, we can work something out privately.
Conditions
1. Anyone can enter but the prize will only be sent to a Malaysian address.
2. The closing date is 20 March 2009.
Thanks
My heartfelt appreciation to my friends for helping me with the book trailer. They’ve been so sporting and committed. They’re really the best friends anyone could hope for. Don’t you think they’re pretty good at acting their part? Credit roll :
Director : Ian Kirk (He was also the videographer, script editor etc etc. He did a great job despite the equipment and time constrain. Anyone interested in procuring his services?)
Opela : Lily Tan
Eh Poh Nim : Ginny Low
Jane Lau : Catherine Chirng
Paul Manickam : Pannir Santiago
Lydia Teh : as herself (but she’s not as fierce as depicted in the trailer. Acting only mah.)
Others who have helped out in one way or another : Saroja and Olivia Daniel, Mr. Daniel, Salome Santiago, Quay Wei Li, Yik Chuan, Raymond and Randall Chirng, Connie Kirk, Lim Ai Kee, Lee Tiong Soon, Ng Bee Fong and Penny Teh.
Postscript
1. I have been told that I can’t use the term with the initials B.T. to describe a trailer for promoting books. (See third comment below from bibliobibuli. Thanks, Sharon.) So I’ve coined the word Bookertisement – remember you first hear this word being used here – to describe the B _ _ k T _ _ _ _ _r instead. I’m not sure if the copyright for this term applies to usage outside USA but better to play safe than to risk being sued.
2. For bloggers who aren’t proficient in posting a youtube clip, here’s how to do it. At the youtube website where the bookertisement is being played, look for the word ‘embed’ on the right hand side of the screen. It’s in a blue box. Copy the whole junk of gibberish and paste it into your blog entry. Then copy the link to your blog entry into my comment box.
(Please note there’s a comma between bloody and fast in the header.)
The flush in the toilet downstairs doesn’t work very well and sometimes residues are left behind.It was that time of the month and I had just vacated the toilet. No. 3 went in and yelled, “Mummy, are you coughing blood? There’s so much blood in here!” I should tell him I don’t have TB.
On another note, my editor informed me today that he has just ordered a reprint for Do You Wear Suspenders? The first print run of 2,000 copies have been distributed! And in less than one month too! Thank you.
I was helping no. 4 revise Bahasa Malaysia for her first term exams. Some words she had learnt :
anak tunggal (only child)
anak emas (literal translation – golden child, favourite child)
“Are you anak emas?” I teased.
She nodded bashfully. Indeed, being the youngest in the family has made her ‘golden’. She piped up, “Surely anak tunggal is anak emas?” Yeap, she got that right.
Later she asked, “Mummy, are you emak emas?” Are you a golden mum?
“Am I?” I asked.
She smiled and nodded.
A couple of days earlier, out of the blue, she had declared, “I don’t want to be a woman. It’s so hard. Must give birth to babies, must cook, do housework and so many things.”
Well, dear, if you can afford it, you can employ a maid to cook and do housework. But giving birth – that’s something you’ll have to do yourself. (Unless surrogacy is something you believe in).
Do You Wear Suspenders? The Wordy Tales of Eh Poh Nim is now out in book stores. MPH is having a JIMAT campaign where all books storewide are going at 10% discount (15% for members) from 18 to 22 February 2009. Members get an additional 5% off from 18 to 20 February.
Now that the announcement is out of the way, let’s get down to more cute things which come out of kids’ mouth. No. 3 was watching TV. The actress in a Taiwanese soap was crying buckets of tears.
He asked, I wonder how actors cry? Do they use onions?
They have to think of sad things to make themselves cry, I said.
But how? I cannot, he said.
That’s why not everyone can be actors, I said.
Speaking of acting, do watch out for the bookertisement for Do You Wear Suspenders? A bunch of my friends put their acting talent to the test. I have a small part too. The trailer is finally done after hours of rehearsal, shooting, voice recording and editing BUT there’s some problem in uploading it into Youtube. As soon as it’s up, you’ll get to see it here.
I haven’t told a children’s story for a long time. No. 3 asked for a story and no. 4 insisted that it must be a new one. She was holding on to her bolster, so I decided to use that in the story.
Once upon a time there was a very smelly bolster by the name of Booby. His master, Bobby took him everywhere as he loved him very much. One day Bobby took Booby to school with him. (He’s in Year 1). He pushed it into his school bag. When he brought out his Mathematics book, Booby sprang out from the bag. The boy beside him caught it and smelled it.
“Eeeww… it’s so smelly,” he said. Everybody laughed. Then he threw the bolster to the girl behind and she threw it to the next person. On and on they passed Booby around until a boy sitting by the window chucked it out the window. (This part is no. 4’s suggestion). It landed in a fish pond.
Bobby rushed down the stairs to rescue Booby. He cried as he fished out the soaking bolster. His teacher gave him a plastic bag to keep Booby. When they went back to class, the teacher scolded the children for teasing Bobby and for throwing out the bolster. She also told Bobby not to bring Booby to school again.
“A bolster belongs in bed, not school,” she said. “Understand?”
Everybody said, “Understand teacher,” and started laughing again, even Bobby.
When Bobby went home, his mother put Booby in the washing machine. They hang him out to dry the next day when the sun was very hot. *By afternoon, Booby was dry and he smelled nice and fresh. Bobby was glad that his bolster landed in the fish pond after all.
*Alternative ending by no. 3 – By afternoon, Booby was burnt. (Why, I asked. Because it’s very hot.)
Price : RM 32.90
Now : RM 26.32 (20% discount for pre-orders)
Book description
This is a collection of anecdotes about the everyday life of Eh Poh Nim, a loquacious woman who launches into explanations of words and phrases at the drop of a hat.
Anyone with even a passing interest in the English language will find this book appealing and amusing. Phrases like “bake a tit,” “Mrs. Malaprop’s nipples,” “pie in the sky,” “bananas and fruitcakes” and “satay mushrooms” may sound deliciously naughty or vulgar, but none of them are what they seem.
Eh Poh Nim, a punctilious wordsmith, enlightens readers on idioms, hyperboles, metaphors and other figures of speech with delightful humour and an insight into Malaysian life and its complexities and peculiarities.
Do You Wear Suspenders will hit the bookstores in mid February but if you want to nab a 20% discount, you should head over to mphonline to pre-order it now. The discount is only applicable for online orders.
I’m in the midst of producing a book trailer to promote this book. Watch this space. It will be something fun and different.
Popular Non-fiction, April 09 - No. 5
MPH Mid-Valley Local Books 23-29 Mar 09 - No. 8
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MPH Mid-Valley Local Books 23 Feb- 1 Mar 09 - No. 6
Yesterday I added thin strips of cuttle fish into ABC soup for extra flavour.
