Another link was just sent to me that forced me to drop everything that I was doing to make it a priority. I was very focused on sifting through and digitally retouching hundreds of photos from last weekends Sasquatch festival. Then I got a heads up from photographer Lars Peterson directing me to what is the greatest thing I’ve seen since that WEEN set on Monday night. I’m not exactly sure what this video is all about, but it appears to have been filmed at some sort of talent contest in the Philippines. You will notice a trophy off to the side of the stage [pictured above] as well as the words “lipsynch” and “contest” plastered across the the bottom of the back wall in glittery letters. From what I can tell, the top of the wall reads “Sulucan Youth & Volunteer Movement“. One thing that I am sure of is that this video is ridiculously amazing and that it’s necessary to view it from start until the very end.

The original video seems to have come from a Facebook page of a man by the name of Thinnz Catipay. From there I searched it out and tracked it down on youtube. The following video even credits Catipay through the following comments in the youtube info section “Video extracted from facebook. Uploaded by Thinnz Catipay.” We don’t speak the language or understand the comments so, if you know more about what’s going on here, please comment below. Either way, we’re getting plenty of enjoyment from it, as is.

Enjoy!

Both video postings were titled with the term “Gaya-Gaya Puto Maya” and that term is also pasted across the backdrop, so I decided to try and search that out to find out what it meant. I located an explanation on a site called ningaskugon-pantaleon.blogspot.com. Here’s an excerpt from that explanation:

“This is a common saying in the Philippines that refers to the authenticity of a product made in the United States especially clothes. This statement is usually followed by showing off the inside tag or label of that particular piece of clothing to prove that it is truly an original American brand and made in the United States. This focus on the importance of authenticity of an American product is a small evidence of the Filipinos’ continuing obsession with American made products. Lately, this obsession has come to the point that they have started to sacrifice their identity as Filipino people. In addition to their strong desire for material things and the presence of the remnants of the US legacy in their government, they are now imitating anything and everything American. Many especially those in the public arena – political and entertainment – are trying so hard to act like Americans and have even made permanent physical alterations to look more like Americans. This imitation of another culture has now become a perversion and in a way a rejection of their own culture…“

I understand what they have to say about the history of the term but, if this video is any example of what people in the Philippines are actually doing with our “culture”, I say let them have it, because what they are doing is awesome.

Most likely the audio of “I Will Always Love You” being used in the video is sung by Filipina singing phenomenon Charice Pempengco. Hers, of course, is a cover of the version done by Whitney Houston from The Bodyguard soundtrack, which was already a re-imagining of a Dolly Parton original. What I like about this the most is that, although I’m sure that some people out there feel that the evolution of this song just keeps getting worse, it’s hard for me to see how it could get any better. Still, I challenge someone to give it a shot. This video is definitely heading in the right direction.