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Billboards

What stands out the most in the re-photography of Baguio in the Then and Now exhibit?

The billboards of Juday, Robin, and other pale-faced matinee idols of the Philippine entertainment industry, enticing you to buy clothes, sunglasses, and tsinelas. Baguio people used to pride ourselves in being immune to the shallow fame of Manila's starirays. But now, theirs are the faces of Baguio as seen from the air. Our Mayor, Peter Rey Bautista, no longer needs to spend millions of pesos on another one of his stellar ideas: to make Session Road into a local version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The city as seen from the sky is already as baduy as it can get. But before we declare that there is no way Baguio can get any uglier, let us not underestimate the capabilities of our imaginative city government. Sao Paolo recently did things differently, but people can't seem to agree on whether the removal of billboards uglified or beautified the city.

What do you think? Don't miss the Baguio Then and Now re-photography exhibit. It stands in the lower basement of SM until January 30, 2008. It juxtaposes archival photos of Baguio in the early 1900's, with photos of the city taken from 2000 to the present. Check out the billboards in the aerials. Imagine what the city would look like without them. Much better, no?
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The Nashman said…
I had to look at my photos of Sao Paolo. And by golly, I hadn't noticed the lack of billboards. Maybe they were conspicuous in their absence that I wasn't distracted and instead focused my attention on the pretty girls
31 December 2007 at 01:39
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