Swabeng Thoughts: FHM Autograph Signing of Marian Rivera

Finally! After around 15 months of being away from autograph signings, I was able to attend an FHM Autograph Signing once again. Since I got married, my presence in FHM's monthly event dwindled as my priorities have changed. Family and work are few of the reasons why I have to skip these events. Although I'm still updated on  whose who, its sad that I missed attending them already just like I missed some of my friends who attend this event on a monthly basis. 

As a birthday gift to myself, Last Sunday, I made sure I have time to attend so I could catch up with my friends and meet Marian Rivera in person. By the time I got to Robonson's Galeria at 1:30pm, I was stunned on how long the line was. The signing starts at 6:00pm but I already saw probably more than a hundred people waiting.  I joined the line at around 3:00pm after having lunch but the crowd tripled by that time and my friends were already there.

I never imagined this queue would be this very long. XD

I mean, I've attended autograph signings which we had to fall in a long line but this one really broke records (The previous signing last December 2010 was the longest that I've attended). And by 6:30pm, the autograph signing has begun.


While the event has started, I scouted the stage and we were surprised to see around 10 bouncers ensuring the event would be in order. I mean the queue was pretty much chaotic already as there are some people who try to budge-in the line and only one (staff from FHM) was making sure that the line is in order. For me, 10 bouncers is already an over-kill for this kind of event as they block most of the fans eye view of Marian. I suggest keeping the number of bouncers to a minimum inside the stage and send a few outside. We found out that 5 of them were actually send to protect Marian during the signing but still, its way too much that fans can't seem to interact with her no thanks to their (bouncers) intimidating presence.


Another thing that made the event so crowded is the fact that most people who attend are NOT FHM fans but rather more of Marian's fans. An FHM Autograph Signing is for mature audiences 18 years old and above yet I saw several kids falling in line as well. Not only that, I noticed some old women holding a copy of FHM but obviously not a reader of FHM. I guess people would really find ways just to meet and greet Marian Rivera in person. If its good for FHM (in terms of sales), I'd live with that. XD

This would probably be the best I could do (for now)

With how the stage was lighted, its a little bit hard on how you come-up with a decent picture. I mean I can use flash if I wanted to but I decided not to as my camera itself was pretty heavy (or because its been a long time since I've attended an autograph signing I forgot my settings already XD). I did only a few clicks as the event was really fast-paced to make sure all attendees would be able to see her in person.


Again, with close to a thousand (The most since December 2010) who attended the event, it would be difficult to build rapport with Marian. I remember that the only word she said during the event was "Thank You". I was hoping to have a few chit-chats with her but that didn't happened. I think each one of us spent only close to 30 seconds just to have the magazine signed and have a photo-op with her. That's the price to pay for attending an autograph signing with close to a thousand people. But for me, it didn't matter.

After close to 5 years...Finally XD

After our magazine got signed and had our photo-ops with her, we gather up and went somewhere to unwind and catch-up. For me, its the bond between friends that makes us attend an event like these (plus the fact were a group of photographers as well). By the way, sorry for the crappy shots as I guess I need to go out and attend events again. XD


Should I attend next month's autograph signing? Keep your fingers crossed. XD