PRODUCER:

DAN WONG is an online producer at the Mercury Center, where he designs the Just Go Bay Area entertainment site.

MANAGING EDITOR:

Despite living in L.A., AMY PANG is quick to remind people that she's a native San Franciscan. Her current project is reading "Moby Dick" without falling asleep after five minutes. Her hobbies include scouting for good, cheap food, desperately trying to stay hip, and prowling around the 'Net.

SENIOR EDITORS:

JASON W. LLOREN is an assistant foreign/national editor for the San Francisco Examiner, which means two things: He can name the capital of Israel, and he knows where Monica bought that damn stained dress. He also works for Phil Bronstein but has yet to run into Sharon Stone.

GORDON MAH UNG is a coffee-abusing, mountain biker who is online editor for a PC magazine called Maximum PC.

WYLIE WONG is a technology reporter for CNET News.com. His cactus is dead.

FICTION EDITOR:

MARTHA ROSS is a former Bay Area journalist, holds a master's of fine arts degree from Mills College in Oakland and writes short stories, poetry and is currently working on a novel.

ASSOCIATE EDITORS:

HARRY MOK is a graduate student in journalism at the University of California at Berkeley.

KIM GIRARD hates narcs, sports utility vehicles and street noise, but loves Barry Manilow. She is a reporter for CNET News.com.

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS:

SHAN ANWAR is an economics major at New York University. He is neither a cab driver nor in possession of nuclear armaments.

JOANN BACK is a senior at UC-Davis studying English and German. She looks forward to a Dilbert-esque career spent in a cubicle.

JUDY BERNSTEIN is a native New Yorker, mother of two, and a longtime journalist. She's grateful that Blast is allowing her to combine those three passions into one column.

JENNIFER BISHOP lives in the South, where she writes poetry while working on her novel and a non-fiction project. Her poetry has appeared in "95 Windows" and "Somewhere Between Night and Day" and on "The Writing Channel." She takes inspiration in equal parts from her family, music and everyday experiences.

NITAYA CHAYANGKURA is an 18-year-old freshman majoring in civil engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She spends her free time at home with her family or close friends.

CYNTHIA CHENG is an undergraduate at UC-Davis majoring in English. During her spare time, she enjoys writing wicked stories and taking naps.

Aside from his online career as a professional crank, ANDREW HERMANN is a nice guy. Really. He's also a freelance writer, teacher, playwright, poet, monologist, and occasional wonder-temp. Recently someone bearing a striking resemblance to Andy was spotted performing a guerrilla theater action in downtown Boston, but he later denied being anywhere near the scene.

HEIDI HOLTAN lives in Brainerd, Minn. where she partakes in frequent buffets, GMAC financing and her lifelong love of Paul Bunyan. (Did you know that Paul's pancake griddle was so big that his cooks had to put on skates to butter it?)

MATT JOHANSON is a Bay Area writer. His interests include science fiction, track and field, rock climbing and beer.

LEO F. KAY is California Dreamin.'

REBEKAH KRAUSE is 23, lives in Chicago and has one divorce under her belt. She has attended several colleges and one university but has yet to complete enough credits for a degree. She does a good imitation of a peacock, watches about 12 hours of TV daily and swears she could kick Gillian Anderson's butt in a steel-cage match. She just moved out of parents' house for the third time and hopes this time it will stick.

A few units away from leaving undergraduate life behind (only to delve into a sordid future in academia and rock stardom), RAINA LEE is currently writing a never-ending thesis on Asian American Cultural Identity through Zines, living in a bachorette pad at UC-Davis, listening to way too much rap, reading comics and striking fear in the hearts of babies. She thanks her band KGB, k-town karaoke and boba milk tea.

BARB NATIVIDAD is an English major at DePaul University and former drummer for several Chicago rock bands. Barb, who was born in the Philippines and speaks fluent Tagalog, plays guitar to relax (or to procrastinate). She owns two cats: Hopper and Basil, who double as her muses.

DAISY NGUYEN is a sociology and French literature major who recently returned from a study abroad program in France. Daisy enjoys travel, cinema, and of course, sushi.

BELINDA PITCO is a copy editor for the San Jose Mercury News.

SUZANNE PULLEN is a playwright, historical reenactor and a lecturer who performs in character as Matilda Joslyn Gage. She wrote the award-winning play "Burning the Bra: When Women Wore Corsets" and co-starred with Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner in "Rush Limbaugh Would Have Hated Them ... And They Would Have Returned the Favor," which won a Western Access Video Excellence award.

SIRI SOSOTHIKUL works for CNBC in Taipei, Taiwan. If not for her passion for journalism, she would have become a manga artist, creating offbeat characters similar to Ryo in City Hunter or Chibimaruko jan.

A licensed elementary school teacher, CHRISTINA STOLTZFUS is looking for work in Bend, Ore., where she recently relocated and intends to take advantage of the area's mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, kayaking and snowboarding possibilities. She suffers from post-long-distance hiker's syndrome and has nightmares about men with clean-shaven faces.

PUENG VONGS is a news editor at CBS MarketWatch.

RODNEY WONG works for Varian in Palo Alto, Calif. He enjoys pho, Hong Kong flicks, skiing and basketball.

OUR NAME:

Why Exploding Can Productions? It was the summer of 1994 and Wylie, a San Francisco native, woke up one day and found himself in rural Washington state. Yakima, Wash. to be exact. Home of Tree Top and other large apple producers. The summer days were hot: a stifling 100 degrees. And naturally, Wylie's car had no air conditioning. So to beat the heat, he guzzled cans of soda every time he went on assignment. It was almost automatic. Wylie gets assigned a story. He grabs a notebook, pen, a couple cans of Coke or Pepsi and he drives off. Several times, Wylie accidentally left a few unopened soda cans in his car for several hours. And when he returned, the cans exploded from the heat and the dark liquid spewed all over, staining the interior of his car.

Wylie no longer lives in Yakima, Wash. and he no longer eats Washington apples.