SURREAL IN THE CITY...

SMELLS LIKE PHILIPPINE SPIRIT
So odd. Just last week, there were these posters that were plastered all over the lamp posts of Roxas Boulevard and they were the most semiotically discombobulating things I have seen in a very long while. Done in an elongated tri-colore design, the words - from top to bottom - read as follows:

MANILA - THE CITY OF FRIENDSHIP
(Photo of Kim Atienza)
"Nothing is more essential than the lasting ties that bind...
Celebrate life. Celebrate friendship." - Kim Atienza
Come celebrate the scent of friendship as MOSCHINO unveils
FRIENDS men.
8PM. February 3, 2006
The Baywalk, Roxas Boulevard
Featuring Barbi Almabis, Itchyworms, and Parokya ni Edgar.
Hosted by Nancy Castiglione and RJ Ledesma.
COME BOND WITH US!

Now, so confusing was the arrangement of ideas and images on this poster that my train of thought immediately afterwards was as follows: "Why is Kim Atienza on that poster?", "What does he want us to smell?" "Does he want us to smell like him?", "Does he want us to smell his friends?", "Does he want us to smell him like a friend?", "Why are the colors Italian?", "Is Kim Italian?", "Is it because Nancy Castiglione is Italian?", "I am so confused.."

And I guess Kim got confused too. Because only three days after the photo above was taken..

His image was immediately slashed off. Hmmm. I wonder what's the story behind this? Weird. Weird. Weird. But if you think that is weird - this is even weirder (see photo below). According to a billboard festooned above the Magallanes overpass in Makati, apparently Kris Aquino wants us to smell like her too. What an ultimately frightening situation. What on god's earth would you attract? Apparently only yuletide chihuahuas and other small dogs who can travel in cars. Because I had the privilege of smelling it last week while I was at the mall. Kris Aquino smells like a stale gingerbread cookie found underneath a car seat. Simply gross.