BRAIN DRAIN

Here in Manila, information is hard to come by. Unfortunately, Politics and malls champion this impoverished capitalist city. In cases like these, Manila is like a walking contradiction if you ask me. Once upon a time , tax was raised just to bring in literary books from abroad. This was called : The Great Book Blockade Of 2009. Even though Twilight was too .. well .. lame and boring for my taste; for those who just wanted to seep out of their boxed imaginations and better themselves through experiencing different forms of art. It would not be so easy for them here.

In Manila there is a vast selection of men's magazines that inspire you to appreciate the woman's form but inspire you only enough to spank your monkey. There is also a new stream of gay and lesbo mags on sale and also women's err "sexy man" magazines. To what these magazines instigate, I leave it to them and the readers.

You can go from the most famous bookstore to the newest ones and one can find themselves dismayed by the selection of books from art to biography. In this context, there is honestly nothing really fresh and inspiring.

There is a lack of TASTE. A lack of aggressive cultural awareness from these establishments that the youth now have. Here , there is a bland selection of art books and magazines. Sure there is the rare Juxtapoz and Complex magazine and Nylon in random magazine stores, but come on. We have an influx now of hungry curious youth wanting to know what else is out there while being inspired by their own heritage.

Usually if you do find a gem, it is insanely overpriced.Distributors usually buy the cookie - cutter BEATLES biography or the PABLO PICASSO compilation. These are all well and good, yes, and have their own market but I just feel like a baby chewing on greens. I just suck the juice out and don't swallow. I want to see candy. I want to taste something AWESOME.

I went to Trilogybotique the other day and was glad to see new books and art compilations from my favorite people. Namely : Shepard Fairey , Upper Playgroud , Tilt , Works by Mike Giant and Kevin Lyons and a lot more. To see these people's works, or at least their books, in this country was something refreshing to me. I don't need to go to Hong-Kong or order online anymore to be inspired. The books I've been looking for are finally here.

And then there is also SPUTNIK! comics. A place where local comic con fans and people who haven't been to Cubao X (where it is located) gravitate to if they are looking for comics. A place where graphic novels and rare graphic related reads can be found out of it's ooze. Literally.

All I'm saying is. I thank them for being different. I thank them for their pallet-es.