Dealing With Dylan; or, The February 2009 Issue of UNO is Well Worth Getting

So last January I got an urgent call: something about UNO magazine and how there had been a sudden staff shakeup. The upshot was that they needed to put together the February issue with breakneck haste. It had been decided that it was going to be a Music Special, so of course, that was something I was up for. We brainstormed on feature ideas, and I was so fired up I ended up writing four articles in as many days. That includes the cover story, on the dauntless Dylan Vizcarra. Here's an excerpt:

Here are a few facts about Dylan Vizcarra, the always-articulate, tattoo-sporting, devastatingly cute host of Jack TV's lifestyle program The Peep Show:

She is a cyborg of sorts, with a metal pin in her right leg—a souvenir of a recent horrific skateboarding accident that left her with a spiral fracture, a couple of scars, and a valuable life lesson (the lesson being, well... don't drink and skate).

She is the kind of person who would use words like "tomfoolery" and "shenanigans" in her writing without seeming pretentious or raising suspicions of time travel. She has also been known to invent words like "flabberfont" when the existing lexicon is insufficient.

Her real name is Karen; she has an identical twin named Karla. (All of you reading this who just had thoughts along the lines of "Oh, boy! Twice the fun!"—just put the magazine down and walk away; we don't want your kind in here.) Once upon a time, when they were both in college, Karen in La Salle and Karla in Ateneo, they decided to switch places for a day. They look so much alike that everyone was fooled—from the basketball players wishing "Karla" a happy day-after-your-birthday to the teachers who chastised "Karen" for talking too much in class and who forced "Karla" to deliver a report that she had no clue about.

I learn a few more things about her when I meet her one drizzly Thursday evening in a coffee shop on Bonifacio High Street.

Am quite proud of the story; I think it's one of my better-written profiles. The interview itself was great fun, and so was the shoot, which we did with my favorite Quarter Pounder connoisseurs, the very talented Ryan and Garovs, a.k.a. Everywhere We Shoot.

Anyway, the point of all this is: Go and get the new issue of UNO, already! Those of you who weren't inclined to ever pick up the magazine before should check it out this time, and those of you who were UNO fans already will still enjoy this. Erwin Romulo, Ramon de Veyra and I worked on it, so, you know, it must be good, har har.

As if you needed more reasons, here's a partial list of what this issue contains: an encounter between Shawn Yao (yay!) and Spider-Dan; Cynthia Bauzon on album cover designs; King Palisoc on making music videos; an interview with Aldus Santos, singing Purplechicken and author of Repeat While Fading; and best of all, NEW FICTION FROM YVETTE TAN! Aw yeah.