Big Bad Wolf 2012 (He's Back!)

Book fair paling ridiculous dalam dunia sudah kembali. Big Bad Wolf is back! 

 

This time, venue dia adalah Mines International Convention Center a.k.a MIECC. Where is it? Okay just go to Mines shopping complex, there you'll surely see it.  The event started from 7th December to 23rd December. This time a bit longer than the previous one. Why? Because they got 3 millions books to sell. 3 millions. 3000000 books. That much yaw.

Upgrading from last year event, they created the Mission 63. Sales open from 6.30am on 7th December till 9pm of 9th December. Senang cerita, kedai depa open 24 jam untuk 3 hari. Gila baq hang.

And so as a big fans of books and BBW, my friends and I had planned to be the early birds for their opening sale. We managed to arrived at 650am and...bitch please. Hundreds of people were already inside. Gila betul. Make me wonder, "these uncles/aunties/abang2/akak2/lengchai2/lenglui2/macha2 ni semua tak pergi kerja ka?" Haha.

 

 Tanpa segan silunya

First day, first hour

This edition's books collections are more or less the same as previous one. The genres are aplenty. from 

1. Romance
2. Best sellers
3. Sci-fiction
4. Novels (adult/young)
5. Self help
6. Biography
7. Music
8. Art
9. History
10. New Age/ Religion
11. Reference
12. Games

Serius tak ingat dah. banyak lagi ada.

Personally for me, I am very satisfied with the books on sale. I found  books that interest me, books that i never thought could exist in the world, books that 'homagad tak sangka buku ni ada jual kat sini!'. There were some complains/feedback from the customers saying that this year's sale is not as 'exotic' as last year punya in terms of best sellers and series collections maybe. One of my friend said that there are not much of full-set book series as before. Well...maybe true. All I can say is...I found lots of Robert Ludlum's books there! Any tables that i take a look around the fiction area i will see his books! See I can even remember his full name! Why? Are his books so good? But I don't want to go there again like last time. Need to conserve my money.

About the event management...bravo to the pack (they the staff call themselve the wolf pack). Last year they didn't provide any foodcourt. No resting area after hours of standing around browsing books and paying them at the counters. No playground for children. No merchandises (caps/shirts/buttons) on sale. This time they improved A LOT. They really reflect and improved from last year. Hen hao! One complain! I don't think Mines/MIECC is a good venue considering the road to get there. Imagine, the only jalan nak masuk MIECC tu adalah one-lane road. Super duper extra combo jammed. Yes it is very public transport friendly but...sangat jammed ma... Honestly I prefer MAEPS halls, just like last year. No jammed traffic, no pusing2 cari parking and very spacious.

Oh one very important advice to all of you who planned to go there later. If you found a book that you really are interested with, just GRAB IT FIRST. Bawak sampai ke hujung, then do some screenings to pick the best. Again, kalau jumpa yang betul2 syok punya buku, BELI TERUS. Don't be like me. First day I found this one history books about battles throughout the world. It tells story about battles even from the B.C till the latest one (Iraqi Freedom). Oh what make it so special? The book stated the overall story, each sides preparations, the strength, the weakness and most importantly the step by step tactical flow of the battle. Very2 interesting. But sayangnya saya pada masa tu 'alamak rm20 la...nanti la beli lain bila datang lagi. Ni ada bertimbun2 ni, takkan habis punya'. Second day I went searching for it and it cannot be found. Anymore. Sedih. Rugi.

Anyway, bila crowd sangat besar, maka macam2 lah yang boleh kita tengok. Habit paling buruk yang customer2 ni tunjuk adalah lempar buku. Okay here's how they do it. Take one family la. A father, mother and 3 children. Mother grabbed 3 books, and saw another 2 books that interest her. She picked the books, flipped them for 2,3 seconds then throw it away. Yes, throw. Like saying "ehm this book macam best..let me see. *after flipping the pages* hm don't want la. this book is shit *throw it onto the table*" Bila dah throw, the books will fall to other books. If by any chance, they will fall down to the floor along with some untouched books on the tables. Lepas tu atas lantai takda sekor pun nak angkat. Then come another customer, dia pun nampak buku tu atas lantai, so dia pun buat taktik tak mau buku-lempaq saja atas meja. 

Memalukan. See, mostly yang buat perangai lempaq buku-tinggal buku atas lantai bawah escalator ni selalunya makcik2/pakcik2. Sorry to say but that's what i had been seeing. They just feel big and boss enough to arrogantly throw away any books they don't feel like buying, You know..the 'customer is always right' mentality. Always right my ass. Aiyo susah sangat ka auntie kalau nak jalan 30 meter pergi letak balik buku2 yang tak mau beli tu? What, cannot remember the table? How about put it in the right genre section. Just put it properly in the same genre one regardless of exact original table. What? So far away cannot afford to do? O orang dah buat event baik punya murah dan banyak buku you still got the arrogant feeling of not wanting to move and help a bit? Shame on you la, read so much books but got no ethics and morals. Stupid.

As if a heap of trash

From their (big bad wolf books) facebook page, you can see clearly some complaints that were put forward by the customers. Most are good criticism but some are just plain ignorant and kiasu. Some people if possible just want to lie on a bed with magical power that moves it while he lies and browsing those books and never want to waste enerygy beratur untuk bayar buku2 dia nak beli. Ini orang ar...sakit hati wo baca. Hahahaha.

Anyway enough of my ramblings. 

Overall, this event is a must go for any book lovers. Even the non-book lovers should go. Every book averagely is RM8 only, super bargain I must say. There are some Malay novels too but they are a bit outdated and old. The crews are very polite and helping, never miss a smile when dealing with customers. Those of you who planned to go, bring along your trolleys-baggage-kereta sorong. Or at least beg sekolah tu. You gonna need them. I saw various types of customer's buy. From 3 books to 5-6 boxes. Gila la wei. Ada yang sekali beli spend sampai thousands. Hundreds. Very ridiculous, but true. Wear the most comfortable attire. No need for sexy2 ketat2 daring2 punya clothes. No guys gonna peek at you at all. All their eyes were fixed to the books on the tables.

Well, below are some of the pictures of the event and the books.

 Bahagian masakan. Plenty of it.

 Interested to buy but...pass it.

 9gag army mesti kenal pose ini.

 Saja je letak sebelah2 kan?

 My books. Ok banyak ini saja. Cukup. No more books, I swear.

For the closing. Thousands and thousands (perhaps millions?) of people had flocked to this event. Surely that can debunk the once famous perception which say that Malaysians only read 2 books per year? Atau adakah mereka2 yang datang beli berpuluh2 (some of them-hundreds) buku ini cumalah trend follower?

 "Oh semua orang pergi beli buku la. Aku pun nak beli jugak la"

I still have untouched books from previous BBW sale, got no time to read all 20-30 books I bought before.

It doesn't matter as long as I keep on reading it bit by bit, page by page. Do it.