Look Ma, I'm on TV!

Watch me answer these questions this Sunday at Pia Guanio's show "Ang Pinaka" to be aired on Sunday, August 5, 6:00 to 7:00 pm, QTV Channel 11.

Katakatakng Kwento (Urban Legends & Historical Hoaxes)

1. White Lady sa Balete Drive
2. Mananangggal/wakwak/aswang in the city
3. Taong ahas sa Robinson’s Galleria; that Alice Dixson was eaten by the snake
4. AIDS carrier na nang-i-inject ng syringe infected with AIDS virus sa sinehan
5. Tasaday Tribe hoax
6. Anak ni Rizal si Hitler
7. Bongbong Marcos is dead; that he has a clone
8. Burger na gawa sa earthworm
9. Siopao na gawa sa pusa
10. Child with a fish for a twin (may kakambal na dalag ang isang sanggol; tinampok sa Eye to Eye ni Inday Badiday)
11. Dugo ng mga nawawalang bata nilagay sa foundation San Juanico Bridge
12. Mga nawawalang bata sa Pampanga, kinuha raw ang body parts
13. 10 Bornean Datus & Code of Kalantiaw hoax (Jose E. Marco's historical hoax debunked by historians)
14. Princess Urduja hoax
15. Rizal is Jack the Ripper
16. Alien Abductions in Mt. Banahaw
17. Yamashita treasure

QUESTIONS:

1. Sa palagay ninyo, bakit mahilig ang mga Pinoy na magpapaniwala sa mga kataka-takang kuwento?

2. Sa pagkakatanda ninyo, paano nagsimula ang kuwento tungkol sa (ITEM)? Ano ang naging epekto o impact nito sa mga tao? Nadiyaryo ba ito? Nabalita sa TV? PInag-usapan? Ginawang pelikula? Kinatakutan? Pinangambahan?

3. Paano napatunayang hindi pala totoo ang kuwento?

4. Paki-rank ang entry from 1-15 batay sa naging impact nito. May gusto ba kayong idagdag sa listahan? Ano at bakit?

My best friends are The Dalai Lama, Cate Blanchett, Ewan Macgregor, Zhang Ziyi, Ang Lee and Nigella Lawson, although they don’t know it yet. Having designed many books, corporate publications, and magazines, I am now thinking of becoming a cook and migrating to Ireland to live beside Colin Farrel.

I am currently running a design studio by myself, to pay for food, rent and my only vices: books and cd’s. I am still hallucinating over that dream account that I think will propel my career in graphic design. Meanwhile, I spend my precious time creating blogs while waiting for things to happen.

What keeps my feet firmly on the ground however is the fact that I assist my partner/room mate/traveling companion in helping displaced youths in Manila and sick pilgrims in Lourdes. Its not that I have a martyr complex, I am in fact a martyr (I make good best-friend material). Having survived an unholy coupling of nervous breakdown and mid-life crisis, my mentor/guru/editor, known as the Spider Woman, suggested writing as a form of therapy, thereby keeping me off medication.

I am so obsessed with J.S. Bach, that I have amassed a collection of 40 “Goldberg Variations” CDs. I also adore Hibiscus flowers, which I someday plan to cultivate. If I fail to buy the land by the time I reach the age of 50, an Hibiscus bonsai collection would be a good substitute. I learned English by reading The Adventures of Tin Tin comic books and by watching Sesame Street on TV. I’m still confused by the mystery of the Ernie and Bert / Tin Tin and Capt. Haddock relationship, but when I reached the age of 30, I figured it out.

Aside from designing books for other people, I am now working on my own compilation of essays: Ukay-Ukay, pieces of useless information and trivia about Manila’s society and entertainment circle—the forgotten, the ‘has-beens’ and the dead! I am also working on my first novel, “Codex Pacificus”, which I started in 2001. I am hoping that it will become a best seller, enough to give me J. K. Rowlings status and perhaps even a Booker Prize to have under my belt.