MY KEWL FRIEND, IMEE & BOB ONG ARE PLAYING HIDE & SEEK

I'm pretty sure, you know Mr. Bob Ong. He is the mass-market mystery man, a publishing phenomenon whose blockbuster book sales are equaled only by the anonymity he maintains. Here is what can be proven about the enigmatic Mr. Ong: he has written 6 books, “ABNKKBSNPLAko?!,” “Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ng Libro Ang Mga Pilipino?,” “Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas,” “Alamat ng Gubat” and “Stainless Longganisa,” all of which have a combined sales of almost a quarter
million. And the new book of him that just recently released is MAC ART HUR.

Imee just bought this latest book of Bob Ong- MAC ART HUR

BobOng is not his real name—the most unusual best-selling Filipino author you’ve never met. His defunct BobOng Pinoy website received a People’s Choice Philippine Web Award for Weird/Humor in 1998. His books are a favorite among Filipinos of all classes and among students—even if they’re not required reading. He has never appeared at any book launching, not even his own, nor on TV.

In the process of his getting seriously into writing, Ong’s alter-ego was born. He didn’t coin the name. “Someone else did,” he says. “That somebody mistook me online for someone by that name. It was a light bulb moment days after when I noticed that the name was actually in ‘BobOng Pinoy.’ No tough decisions there.” Through his site, Ong gathered fans quickly.

Most important was Ong’s choice to write in everyday Filipino. “Consider language as a tool,” Ong explains over e-mail. “English would be a saw. Filipino, a knife. My aim is just to peel singkamas (turnip) for merienda. A second language can never replace the first.”

It could be Ong’s conversational writing style, easygoing yet percussive, with moments of insightful realization. There’s also humor and introspection with remembered details that lead one to believe that he holds the secret of life in the big city, be it in his essays (“ABa”) or in his fiction (“Alamat”). It is ground-penetrating radar of common sense. That Ong derives his ideas from his life in a self-deprecating and thoughtful manner only means that the secret to Bob Ong’s writing lies in Bob Ong’s being.

There are several reasons why Ong elected to maintain his secret identity, but perhaps the most essential is that he wants to keep doing what he does the way he wants to. It’s continuing to create on his own terms. “I don’t cope well with big changes,” Bob Ong writes. “It’s just not for me. Fame comes with a price I’m not willing to pay. I just want to write while living the average Filipino life. I don’t want to be robbed of that.”

Bob Ong is hiding his identity until now. But there's this girl who is not afraid of showing that she really loves Bob Ong, errrr Bob Ong's conversational writing style. In fact, I know about Bob Ong from her. She all read and bought some books of Bob Ong. She is my officemate turned kikay friend. Now, I know where she got her punchlines. I love to listen when she talks. No dull moments with her. Laughter rules when I am with her. Her name is IMEE.

She is so friendly and caring. Her fave color is green.

we tried John's new N70 camera phone