The armpit post was actually just an intro before I segued into the main topic but, well, you just know it when something is revealing enough to write about at length so....anyways I was meaning to segue into writing about this blog that has a certain portion of the sosyal/pasosyal population gripped in a state of bewildered, albeit most rapturous enjoyment (or glee which is a more appropriate word which matches that smirk on your face).
The blog was put up by an Australian HIV positive gay male to shame his ex-boyfriend into paying back $70,000 that his lover allegedly acquired under false pretenses (a restaurant). We've heard this before right, or versions and permutations of it- but what makes the whole thing damning is that the people written in the blog (of whom Brian Gorrell accused of being accomplices) are people who are very visible in Manila's social-set- practically "celebrities" in their own right although I can see one of them ruminating over the term for two hours over a martini (only Gray Goose vodka pls.) and some chi-chi appetizer worth its weight in a family's rice supply for a month and for which would later find itself regurgitated by a well-manicured finger- oops, yes, sporting a Bulgari ring- into a chic toilet (I suppose toilets in chic clubs are chic as well right???) before declaring- I'm better than a celerbrity; I'm an Eventologist...See where I'm getting???
It's sort of like Dominique Dunne meets the Third World which is the closest thing we can ever get to a bitch slap; a slap with mixed if not totally misinformed messages and perceptions. After Lozada put himself into the path of martyrdom if not saint-hood (patron saint of whistleblowers because hell, these people need one and some really, really, really devious lawyers too) we have another foreigner (because well, Lozada is technically Chinese, right?) holding up a mirror to our faces and telling us we're full of crap. But who isn't??? The description of poverty is flawed and one-dimensional. You can't pinpoint children on the street and create a national picture of extreme, debilitating poverty. It's irresponsible once you start assigning national blame and amorphous if not naive solutions. But then most foreigner's opinions are not worth they're weight in shit. Hell, even the World Bank's suggestions are worth even less- I mean you can tell us what to do just because you loaned us money????
But what I wouldn't contest though is the dirt heaped on DJ Montano, Tina Tinio, Tim Yap and Celine Lopez, among others. I'm simply tired of buying a magazine, a newspaper and seeing their damned faces everytime. It's not like high school again- the clique-you-don't-belong-syndrome kind of envy- but these people are still in the grip of it which is none of our business right, but could somebody tell Tim Yap to stop peddling fugly watches or events so commercially plastic that it is just so offensive to basic dignity? Could somebody tell Celine to stop giving advice about things that never really happen in real life? Could somebody stop putting Tina Tinio in those perpetual lists because hello, we're not blind and yes we have Photoshop knowledge (which to my knowledge, has never really worked much for Tinio).
It's when these so-called arbiters of taste foist themselves in self-glorification masked as "sensible" social advice or as personal accomplishments that people should aspire to, do we need to maybe stop buying Metro (such useful dining reviews and I love Thelma Sioson) or boycott the Philippine Star to force them into not getting as columnists, stylists, etc. with questionable talent but are simply there to stoke Dad's ego and make him place more ads.
But what am I talking about???? The entire nation doesn't really read PDI- it's simply patronized by a small fraction of people who may be divided into those who can afford LV and those who cannot (some of whom aggressively aspire to). What's sad is that PDI has bought into this whole thing- I've always pointed out the irony of having a fashion spread with Php34,000 shoes and a small bottle of moisturizer at Php 5,000 along with a headline that continually harps on government corruption. But then it's the market they cater to- the have nots (but aspire to!) and those who have and what Brian Gorrell was able to singularly achieve was turning the collective anger, disdain and plain spite of these two groups against the so-called Gucci-Gang.
The comparison is never more telling when you have artistas in the same boat- somehow it's fine, somehow it's okay. We laugh at Kris Aquino. We call Ruffa delusional about her beauty (always bringing up that tacky Miss World 2nd Princess thing as if it were an achievement in league of a cure for cancer!) Some think that Sharon Cuneta movies are baduy. But we move on and guess what, we watch them again on another show and all is forgiven until the next slight, the next ludicrous, totally inane non-issue. They're safe from critical review because we expect their flaws to be part of the entertainment and the mystique.
But we bristle when some media-creation-pseudo-celebrity steps in and tells to put Swarovski crystals on our lashes; or appears in an article about the perfect home and the perfect decorating tips for those of you who could afford the 10-million price-tag. We are even more aghast when it is ever so subtly shoved in that you haven't gone to an exclusive boarding school, don't have a Picasso lithograoh inherited from your mom and that you can't get into Fort Bonifacio because you don't have a car and that you commute. And oh wait- here's the clincher which just made me laugh- you also obviously need to have your own wikipedia entry!!! (see tina tinio's- which has been edited since the blog came out)
There's this illusion of perfectness and rightness that they pass off as unattainable-coz, sorry, you're not us- but that maybe we can teach you how - sort of (and then they laugh behind your back and call you a dog!).
Well, according to Brian Gorrell they're not perfect and worse, they're not even truly rich in the truest blue-blood sense. Freebies??? Not paying hotel rooms???? Debts??? Did we miss the instructions for those on the Phillipe Exeter College guide book or something???
And it gets interesting- whoring yourself out to corporations, sleazy sex, and coke- as in cocaine, ha ha. Wouldn't it have been mortifying if it were shabu? Celine Lopez would probably slit her wrists with an Hermes letter opener while Tina Tinio would try overdosing on her personalized Creed perfume. Only the best for them and not some common street drug you suck in from a Reynold's foil- ultimate chic is doing lines on top of a toilet seat.
The same principle obviously extends to people- only the best, which they obviously can't even find in each other- at least not the kind that matters. I have friends who have been turned away at events and clubs that these people policed with a damned List. No one is good enough is such a lofty- and impossible standard that when Gorrell finally took off the emperor's clothes, people were enraged to find that they had been duped by people no different than them- not even clever which would have been acceptable, but devious and cheap.
When I was telling this to a friend, the friend just had to interject- DJ Montano, who?? Tina Tinio who??? Celine Lopez who???
Exactly!
