Originally, I was planning on doing two separate posts today: one to spread some speedlink love around the blogosphere and another to announce the winners of my Make Fun of John Chow contest. Then, it dawned on me that it wouldn’t be all that hard to combine these two efforts, including the two winners are part of the link fest.

This way, you guys can find out who won the top prize and the second place prize, as well as get a bit of a tour of what’s going on in the blogosphere this week.

Needless to say, picking the winners for my PhotoShop contest has been incredibly challenging. The entries were creative, innovative, and a good number of them actually made me laugh out loud. Sharing the entries with some of the Dot Com Pho crew helped to guide my decision as well.

Well, who won? I’ll get to that at the end of the post. First, let’s have a look at three great blog posts.

Speedlinking Session

Jason Landals likes his computer games. He also likes to compete against his fellow gaming enthusiasts. That’s why he sounds awfully excited about the upcoming Fragapalooza LAN party, which happens to be the biggest LAN party in Canada. Check out Jason’s post for a full preview.

Killer Startups came across a new website that almost sounds like it’s related to Dot Com Pho (but it’s not). Instead, PhoTrade.com is an online service where photographers can sell their best work. Vietnamese noodles not included.

Ed Lau is almost done with his trip through Japan, but before he could leave the land of the rising sun, he absolutely had to check out the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament. Don’t be fooled. These sumo wrestlers are real athletes; they just happen to do a lot of posturing too.

Contest Winners

Alright. It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Who are the big winners of the PhotoShop contest?

The second place prize goes to.. Derek Semmler! Although I happen to be the victim of the joke rather than John Chow, I have to admit that Derek’s animated scandal picture was easily one of the best of the lot.

And the big box of cool stuff goes to… dcr Blogs! Dan C. Rinnert was the most prolific of the participants, providing way more than just one entry. I lost count. His best PhotoShop creation, and the winner of the contest, is an amalgamation of Britney Spears and John Chow. It’s eerily disturbing, yet incredibly funny at the same time.

A hearty congratulations goes out to both Derek and Dan. Please send me your mailing addresses via the contact form so that I can ship this stuff out. Thanks again to everyone who entered.