N.B. They were talking about the 80's. I want something nearer.
N.B.B. Something tells me this is cheesy.

We had Lady Marmalade resurrected sans the 'fro wigs. Then some fashion guru thought large plastic earrings and teased bangs are shock factor, and sooner than you can say micro-mini, you thought you saw Tiffany at Glorietta just last Saturday, in a neon blue off-shoulder blouse. What the hell, Cory Aquino and Eat Bulaga are still around.

But what about the 90's, when geeky me was apprehensive about the Y2K bug and doomsday prophecies? When the mantra was Philippines 2000--or was it "Take It! Take It!"? When I had that goosebumpy feeling seeing a fireworks display for the first time at the Independence Day Centennial--and not at Enchanted Kingdom. Proud that at last, and getting jiggy with it, that we are not the Laughing Stock of Asia anymore since SM Megamall became the continent's largest mall, second only to Bloomingdale's at that time. And Miriam just can't stop this Eddie because he was too legit to quit the presidency.

We burned Singapore flags to sympathize with Flor Contemplacion and the poor acting of her kids who had the gall to participate in a movie about her. Kris Aquino was erstwhile massacre queen (isn't she after all these years?) while Carlo and Donna raked in the profits by inserting the "M" word in every film they made. Ruffa was filmed with a cut penis in a Bobbitt ripoff that castrated her acting career.

It's such too great a decade to be missed, when ST gave way to TF faster than Anna Maceda changed her name to Rosanna Roces. And if you said bomba, pene or Pepsi Paloma, you've been in Recto moviehouses too long. My peek at Sharon Stone's snatch launched her career where Glenn Close's bumpers took off and shrivelled. And while we're at it, Etta Mendez and Manoling Morato decided ten seconds of nipple exposure and three butt thrusts warrant an x-rating unfit for Filipino morality, boosting an SRO for Schindler's List. Even Belle Epoque's title wasn't spared--ignoramuses thought of an allusion to the female organ.

Jessica Zafra was furious upon finding out that Bruce Willis and Maria de Medeiros' bathroom scene in Pulp Fiction was not shown to the public. If a term existed at that time, she was the "it" girl which made Locsin's Today profitable and telling the public that a writer can really make a living out of writing. Just have a Palanca under your sleeve and admit that you plan to take over the world.

And wear black lipstick.

If 70's was chrome and 80's was neon, black was appropriate for 90's Philippines with long spells of blackouts that rechargeable lamps, generators and hand fans sold like hotcakes while we craved and cavorted for Ice Ice Baby. We'd use the mouth-movement-unsynched-with-the-dialogue (or dubbing for short) antic spawned by Marimar to pull it off at Christmas parties. Thalia pulled off and got an audience in Malacanang than an ordinary Filipino could. She was the precursor of irritating (insert prefix here)-novelas which started the battle of two giant stations and the demise of RPN9 and IBC13.

As irritating as the following songs which had a shelf life of three to five months in the airwaves: Heaven Knows, Bed of Roses and More Than Words. We raised the bar further by inserting a "hoowee!" in a remixed Achy Breaky Heart. April Boy Regino broke away from his brothers and the irritation factor was doubled, and so was the number of baseball caps thrown to the audience during a concert. Fortunately, Eraserheads saved the day using their ultraelectromagneticpop.

The heart of this entry could go on but you get the picture. The 90's is fascinating like any other decade and it's just a few years handy. We passed Y2K unscathed, and with Erap in office back then, we opened up our eyes and saw the sign.

This entry was posted by sky, on Thursday, December 09, 2004. You can leave your response.