IM Infatuation

Wow, this is really screwy. "An IM Infatuation Turned to Romance. Then the Truth Came Out." It's about this family man who makes up an 18 year-old alter ego and starts flirting with a teenage girl online. As you probably already suspect, it ends up with him eventually ruining his life -- not to mention the lives of quite a few other people.

Read the whole thing at Wired.

Please Hamster Don't Hurt 'Em

Stop. Hamster time!

This is my hamster. His name is Burroughs (he likes to dig). His fur was getting a little long so I gave him a trim. At least it turned out better than the time I tried to cut my own hair. For more cuteness, go here and here. He also has a Hamsterster page. Yay!

I Can Has Award?

So it turns out that I'm a finalist for this year's National Book Awards, for The King of Nothing to Do. Thanks to the Manila Critics Circle for the honor! I'm not going to pretend cool indifference; I'm all jazzed up about this. The first time I was nominated was in 2000, for Happy Endings -- I didn't win that year, but considering I was up against Eric Gamalinda, Jun Cruz Reyes and Sarge Lacuesta, among others, I can't feel too bad about it. Of course, this year, I'm up against Butch Dalisay, Rene Villanueva, etc. What the hell. I'm still hoping I win.

Congratulations as well to Astrid Tobias, Dean Alfar and Jerry Gracio on their nominations! I have more than one good reason to cheer for Dean's Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 2, nominated in the Anthology category -- Yvette's one of the contributors. :)

Kjwan and Vina Win the ASEAN Ikon Contest

Congratulations to Kjwan and Vina Morales for defeating the Malaysian and Indonesian representatives and bringing home the prize in both solo singer and band categories! (More here!)

IKON Philippines Winners

Yep, after over two months of performances and judging and texting, the verdict is in, and the winners of IKON Philippines are: Vina Morales for the Solo Category and Kjwan for the Band Category! CONGRATULATIONS to them all! They'll be flying off to Malaysia next week to represent the country at the ASEAN IKON Finals. Wish 'em luck. And watch out for further updates and photos and interviews on www.pulse.ph!

This photo was taken by Eric Fernandez at the very first IKON Artists' Briefing last May 23. Sheer coincidence that Vina and Kjwan were together. OR... IS IT?! Mwahahaha!