Steven Pabalinas is a political cartoonist employed by The Manila Times. Encyclopedia Britannica has this to say about political cartoons:
A political cartoon is also an artistic vehicle characterized by both metaphorical and satirical language. It may point out the contexts, problems, and discrepancies of a political situation. Although a drawing reflects a cartoonist’s judgment and point of view and the visual commentary often exaggerates circumstances, responsible editorial standards do not allow the artist to alter facts.
In this article I will be looking at a few drawings and demonstrate that far from being political cartoons the work of Steven Pabalinas is partisan propaganda that alters facts and does not give an honest look at the political situation in the Philippines. In fact most of his political cartoons of late are nothing more than anti-Leni Robredo doodles. These cartoons can all be found on Steven Pabalinas' Facebook page. I will also be translating his Tagalog comments to English so everyone can read along.
In this cartoon Leni says, "The Philippines, like Ukraine, must rely on strong alliances, like America and the EU, to stand against a bigger enemy." All the while America, a staunch Philippine ally, is refusing to help Ukraine against Russia. The message seems to be that the Philippines cannot rely on the USA. Everything about this wrong. The USA is indeed doing much for Ukraine in the form of sending weapons and imposing sanctions against Russia. Some US lawmakers even want to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine which would be a foolish declaration of war against Russia. I could not find Leni making this exact quote but if she did she is not alone in her sentiments. The Philippines does need strong alliances to stand against foreign threats.
The strongest threat the Philippines faces is China. They continue to encroach on Philippine territory and build military bases in the West Philippine Sea.
Further complicating the message in this cartoon is the following post from Steven's Facebook page.
Russia donated weapons to the Philippines during the siege of Marawi
Yes, Russia donated weapons to the Philippines which arrived towards the end of the siege in September 2017. So what? It seems Steven is saying that the Philippines should strengthen their alliance with Russia. But why? Because they donated weapons at the ned of the siege? The USA was there from the beginning.
Does Steven not know that China is allied with Russia? That if war broke out in this region, say an invasion of Taiwan or a major escalation in the WPS, Russia would side with China? Maybe he thinks the nation should continue the Duterte policy of appeasement?
Just in this one cartoon we can see that Steven Pabalinas is not representing reality factually. It is not a funny or insightful cartoon whatsoever. It is nonsensical garbage.
Real talk Leni will welcome drug lords with open arms. More like trash talk. This is close to libel. It is also exclusive to his Facebook page and not a Manila Times cartoon. Why is it that people think only Duterte can defeat the drug lords? Did everyone forget that the PNP, NBI, PDEA, are all tasked with fighting the drug problem? The job falls squarely on their shoulders. Of course when those who are supposed to be fighting the drug war are so incompetent and/or criminal what can one expect?
Nothing. I'll just share again the behavior of Leni and the wokes during the height of covid. Coz i never forget.
Look at this. More distortion of the truth. This cartoon is dated 4/26/20. Why was anyone calling for Duterte's ouster in April 2020? Because he issued shoot-to-kill orders of quarantine violators!
Does Steven Pabalinas have any biting satirical cartoons about the way the Duterte administration bungled their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Doubtful. I rather doubt he would even consider that they messed up royally at every turn.
Tsk tsk. Looks like Monica Lewinsky Saga continues
What does this cartoon even mean?
Former cabinet members of Fidel V. Ramos are supporting Robredo. In response Steven draws a picture of Robredo sitting on a cigar being smoked by FVR and says "Looks like the Monica Lewinsky saga continues." Huh? What? For those who may not know US President Bill Clinton had an affair with a young intern named Monica Lewinsky back in the 90's. During one of their trysts in the Oval Office he stuck a cigar in Monica Lewinsky's hoo-hah and smoked it. What does that incident have to do with former FVR cabinet members endorsing Robredo? Nothing! This is a complete non-sequitir. Is he going for absurdist humor? There is no humor here. Maybe that's the joke?
This cartoon is incredible. The artist is completely out of touch with reality. The gist of this cartoon is that the Marcoses have forgiven their enemies while the Church has not forgiven them at all. But wait a minute. The Marcos family continues to deny any wrong doing during martial law. In fact Imelda is a convicted criminal who is out on appeal but who should be rotting in prison. If the Marcoses deny they did anything wrong then why does the Church need to forgive them? They wouldn't need to if such were the truth!
It seems Steven Pabalinas is confusing forgiving with forgetting. They are not the same. To forgive the Marcos family and move on is not to forget what they did and elect them back into power. Immediately upon their return from exile Imelda threw her hat in the ring for the 1992 elections. That is not the action of someone who is apologetic. That is the action of someone who full of hubris and pride and who only cares about holding to power. And let us never ever forget that Ferdinand Marcos was willing to finance a full-scale invasion so he could regain power!
″I am going to land there, I don’t care who opposes me,″ Marcos said, according to the tapes. ″And if they oppose the landing, that is when we start the battle.″
Never, ever forget that story. Marcos was so desperate for power that he was willing to spend millions to invade the nation. He did not care about the people. If this story does not red pill you about Ferdinand Marcos then you are a lost soul.
This is just a sample of Steven Pabalinas' work. Much of it features Leni Robredo who is living rent free in this man's head. It is quite apparent that Steven is unaware of the real political situation in this nation. Therefore I want to end with my very own political cartoon. More like a collage since I cannot draw.
Get it!? Steven Pabalinas is an unoriginal hack who can't think deeply about the political situation in this nation but wants to blame all the bad things on the political opposition. When will people ever learn that the problem with the Philippines is not party, politics, or personality? The problem with the Philippines is Filipinos. They are what makes this nation what it is regardless of political stance. Change Filipinos and you can change the nation.
Have you ever watched the beautiful animation of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Mizaki and wondered what such a fantasy world would look like if it took place in the Philippines? Neither have I but that has not stopped one Cebu artist from conjuring up what such a world. He created these "what-if's" as part of the Ghibli redraw challenge. Let's look at three of these drawings compared side-by-side to the originals. If you have not seen these movies then by all means watch them. They are not children's films.
Spirited Away
What a difference, huh?
In the Filipino version the bathhouse is run down, has broken windows, there are tires on the roof to hold it in place, and there are no decorations like the big golden gargoyle called an onigarwa. There is a sari-sari store and there is an electrical pole with a kite stuck in it. That is incredibly true to life. I have seen many kites stuck in the electrical wires here because they are too low.
Take a look at Chihiro who is the heroine of Spirited Away. She has been compared to Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Alice from Alice in Wonderland. She is trapped in a fantastical world and is trying to find her way home.
Filipino Chihiro looks like a dirty street orphan who has been working at the bathhouse for years and has been broken and abused by the witch who runs it. She is not even wearing a shirt that fits properly and she is barefoot. She is staring at the viewer from the entrance of the bathhouse as if she has been there for years. In contrast the real Chihiro is a resilient young girl who does everything she can to save her parents. She is never resigned to her fate but seeks to transcend it so she can return to the real world. She is looking up at the bathhouse as a challenge she must conquer. Filipino Chihiro looks defeated and like she belongs in the world of the bathhouse which, from the looks of it, is not the spirit world.
In fact that is the problem here, there is no trace of the spirit world to be found in the Filipinized version. The bathhouse is ratty and not beautiful at all. There is no magic to be found in it. The Spirits come there to bathe but who would bathe in that nasty place? The water would be dirty and cold. This artist did not even bother to draw the furnace's smokestack which is what heats the water. The building does not look safe at all. Not even the bridge leading to it looks safe. It looks rather rickety. Everything could fall apart in a moment. And what's under that bridge? Being in the Philippines it probably looks like this:
In the original the bathhouse is a Japanese pagoda but in the Filipino version it's a tall nipa hut. The Philippines does not have any recognizable architecture of its own except for the lowly nipa hut. All the oldest surviving buildings have Spanish influence because the natives of these islands never developed a permanent architectural style of their own.
The bathhouse is no longer a bathhouse. It is absent the furnace room which heats the water. Why did the artist replace the smokestack with an electric pole? Will there be electric water heaters inside? Even if there were because it is now Filipinized that means the water will by no means be clean and pure but will be dirty to one degree or another. Will the tubs be filled from blue water containers? The electricity will also go out ant random times. The walls are not solid but are jigsawed together with found objects making this not a very private place to relax and bathe. One could imagine rats and roaches scurrying about. There is no comfort or cleanliness here.
Howl's Moving Castle
What the heck is going on here? Howl's Moving Castle is supposed to be alive but now it's dead and powered by Filipinos carrying it. There is laundry drying on the top. Howl's castle has a fin tail but in the Filipinized version it has been replaced with palm tree leaves. Where is the smoke from the fire inside? Where are the turrets? This is not a magic castle. All the magic is gone. Everything magical about Howl's Moving Castle has disappeared in the Filipinized version. It's just a large bricolage nipa hut moving not by the power of magic but of the Bayanihan spirit.
The residents of Howl's Moving Castle do laundry but they don't hang it out on top of the house while it's moving. They stop and hang it out to dry so that no one sees their clothes. The Filipinized version vulgarizes and bastardizes the castle into something it is not.
Howl's Moving Castle also has a magic door that can transport one across space and time. There is no way the Filipinized version has such a door. Everything in the house is alive. Here it is all dead. In this drawing you get a sense that there is no living spirit world in the Philippines but only dark and dead superstition.
Princess Mononoke
Now, that looks pretty good right? "Looks" is the key word here.
Princess Mononoke's animal companion has been transformed from a Wolf Goddess into a wild dog found in the jungles of Bukidnon known as the Bukidnon Witch Dog. Moro, the Wolf Goddess, is Princess Mononoke's protector and mother since her parents offered her up to Moro as a sacrifice but she decided to raise her as her own. Moro is also the protector the Forest Spirit.
The Bukidnon Witch Dog is a wild dog that causes chaos killing domestic animals. It is not a divine protector but a very earthly creature given to destruction. In the drawing the dog looks like a kangaroo. Here it is in real life:
In the ancestral lands of Bukidnon in Mindanao, there is a type of wild dog that does not breed with other dogs. It has sharp claws, climbs trees, hunts cobras, and could be 36,000 years old. It is called tiger dog and aso ng gubat by locals. It is also called bird catcher in Luzon and witch dog in the Visayas. The aso ng gubat in Bukidnon has a brindle coat—dark-brown with black stripes
According to Philippine indigenous dog researcher Tom Asmus, the dog can survive independently in the jungle, and is difficult to raise at home.
“They climb trees after prey, hunt snakes, and are capable of surviving on just jungle vegetation,” said Asmus. “It's difficult to keep a wild blooded one domestically, as they have little to no resistance to common domesticated canine illnesses.”
The dog’s refusal to mate with dogs other than its own kind makes its genes among the purest native breed in the country, says Asmus.
In the wild, the dog has an impeccable kill instinct, which makes it a high-value target for illegal dog fights. “They will kill another dog no matter its size or type,” said Asmus.
Even Asmus has trouble keeping his group of 10 aso ng gubat from killing livestock. “If I let them loose, they kill domestic dogs, goats, cats, and all kinds of poultry. They see no difference between a rat and a cat.” That is the COMPLETE opposite of Moro the Wolf Goddess.
Princess Mononoke, having been raised by Moro the Wolf Goddess, acts very much like a wolf. That would mean the Filipinized Mononoke acts like a wild dog. Just look at their difference in attire. Princess Mononoke has a tooth necklace and a fur cape which symbolisms her wolfishness as she was raised by wolves. The Filipinzed Mononoke has an outfit made out of leaves! What is that supposed to symbolize? It has no connection to her wild jungle dog. The mask is supposed to identify Princess Monnoke with the forest spirits. What does the mask of Filipina Mononoke represent when her protector is not a goddess but a mere wild jungle dog?
So, Princess Mononoke has also been stripped of its magic. There is no Forest Spirit to protect here. At least if there is this dog and Princess aren't doing it. It's just a wild dog and not a divine being.
Conclusion
This is what happens when you Filipinize something. You take an idea or a thing and you strip it of its essence reducing it to the bare minimum perhaps turning it around backwards or on its head. You take away that which makes a thing what it is and replace it with something vulgar. What was once transcendent becomes earthly in the most degrading sort of way. Moro the Wolf Goddess becomes a wild jungle dog. Howl's Moving Castle is stripped of all its magic and becomes Howl's Carried Castle. Chihiro is reduced to being a dirty street urchin.
Though it was probably not his intention the artist, Bastinuod, has done a fantastic job contrasting the earthly brutishness of the Philippines with the uplifting spiritualness of Japan. There is nothing transcendent in the world he has envisioned as it is a complete bastardization and degradation of Miyazaki's world. Filipinization adds no value or improvement. Who would want to live in the Filipino version of Howl's Moving Castle devoid of all its magic or take a bath in the nipa hut bathhouse?
In contrast to this guy's artwork Bored Panda has gathered 35 of the most notable Ghibli redraws. The difference between them and Bastinuod is that they all enhance the animation with even more magic in some cases. What they did not do is relocate them to a different culture. Let's look at one instance.
That is the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service. See how much more magical that looks? It's a real upgrade. But with Bastinuod we don't get that. Instead we get a downgrade to the Philippines.
In the Philippines the nation has been celebrating the historic voyage of Ferdinand Magellan. With his arrival in these islands 500 years ago came Christianity and after him the Spanish period of colonization. Though he did not make it alive out of the Philippines his ship and remaining crew finished the first circumnavigation of the globe. It is a truly historic journey all of humanity should celebrate.
Meanwhile in the USA Filipinos are celebrating an altogether different historic journey. A Filipino rode a tricycle across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco.
A legendary Philippine vehicle crossing an iconic US landmark is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.
A humble Philippine tricycle, dubbed TNT Traysikel, recently became the first such trike to cross the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
The historic trek was made possible by two Filipino-Americans, Michael Arcega and Paolo Asuncion, joined by 60 other Fil-Am riders in the parade.
TNT Traysikel described by the Fil-Ams as a “mobile public artwork that operates as a cultural marker for the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural Heritage District” in San Francisco, California. It resembles the motorized sidecar made in the Philippines.
The motor vehicle includes several features that shout out to the Filipino culture.
"Hoy" can be seen on the windshield and it is used by Filipinos to call someone's attention.
The "TNT" on the front and back of the sidecar means "Tago ng Tago", and is a colloquial word for undocumented Filipinos in the United States.
On the front of the tricycle sitting above "TNT" is "Por Wan Pibe" or Four One Five, a nod to California Penal Code 415 – Disturbing the Peace. Tricycles in the Philippines are typically boisterous contraptions like their big cousin, the Filipino jeepney!
At the back are the big bold "UFO" letters that supposedly means "Unidentified Filipino Object". But one can never take its meaning at face value, so it could also mean "Unapologetic Filipino Object". Again, a nod to the tricycle's tough reputation on the streets of the Philippines.
Inside the sidecar are two clever signages usually seen on jeepneys – “God Knows Hudas Not Pay” and “Basta Driver Sweet Lover”. The former is a call back of familiar scene in the Philippines where some commuters jumps out of a jeepney without paying their fare. Such people are likened to Hudas (Jesus Christ's betrayer). The latter is a common perception that Filipino (jeepney) drivers have a soft, sweet side, specially for their partners, in spite of their tough work environment.
This tricycle is less a functional mode of public transportation and more of a "mobile public artwork." Funny that this piece of art pays homage to illegal Filipino aliens and admits that the tricycle can be unduly noisy to the point of violating noise ordinances. We also get a reference to Filipinos being likened to Judas for skipping out of paying their fare. Breaking the law is surely something a Filipino wants to highlight when they are attempting to show off Filipino culture, right?
I do not believe I have ever seen, in the Philippines, a tricycle like the one which made the historic journey across the Golden Gate Bridge. Allow me to show one of my favorite tricycles from the Philippines.
TNT Traysikel is a mobile public artwork that operates as cultural marker for the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural Heritage District in San Francisco. The aesthetic of the traysikel is adjacent to Filipino-customized transport Jeepneys left by Americans after WWII. TNT Traysikel is an immigrant metaphor constructed from a deep colonial history. As a social sculpture, TNT Traysikel was used as an aesthetic object, a protest tool and symbol of solidarity with the Black community against Police brutality and delivery vehicle during the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be the main site for collecting stories of Filipinx diaspora in a forthcoming documentary. This is a collaboration between @mike_arcega and @pao_silog with help from our communities. Hand-Painted by Meng Nguyen, @allthingsmeng
TNT Traysikel was funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Commission#sfacfunded with additional financial support from Awesome Foundation, San Francisco State University @sfsu_school_of_art and Balay Kreative @balaykreative .
What is the metaphor this tricycle is supposed to represent? Funny that this thing is funded by the City of San Fransisco and is "a protest tool and symbol of solidarity with the Black community against Police brutality." Tell that to all the Filipinos who have been brutalized by the Black community. And what exactly do family oriented Filipinos have to do with Black Lives Matter which wants to "disrupt" the family?
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.
We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).
To heck with these people. So many Americans and Europeans and others come to the Philippines to live. Do they build Little America's or Little UK's or wherever they are from? Do they drive around in "mobile public artwork" which shows-off their culture? Do they wring their hands about their "identities and experiences" and invent fake words to refer to themselves? No. They assimilate. They learn the language, they eat the food, and they embrace the culture. They marry the women and have miscegenated children.
But Filipinos abroad? They don't assimilate. They attempt to reestablish the Philippines wherever they go. Just stay home! If you want to live in the Philippines then live in the Philippines and not the USA or the UK or Germany or elsewhere. Save yourself the fake self-serving identity crisis of you and your children by staying home. Heck anyone with a single drop of Filipino blood, like Dave Bautista, is hailed as a Fil-Am hero. Now, Dave Bautista is an American, born and raised, but his father is the son of Filipino immigrants. That means Dave can obtain Filipino citizenship and vote in the presidential election! That is nuts! But that is the end result of citizenship based on sanguinity.
This is a good place to segue into the next part of what this tricycle stunt is about.
It's a commercial for a TV show called TNT SideCaraoke which is to air on the television network TNT. That is really funny because as noted above TNT means illegal Filipino alien. Here is a teaser for the show.
I think when I think about my Filipinoness the first thing that comes up is food which is why it's a good thing we're eating.
So this person, when they think about their Filipino heritage, the first they think of is food. I guess that is fitting because it's not like Filipinos built large empires or huge monuments of stone that have survived millennia or vast philosophical systems or tremendously beautiful pieces or art or anything of cultural value and importance really. From reading Pigafetta's account it would seem Filipinos didn't even know what clothes were when first encountered in 1521!
These people live in liberty and according to their will, for they have no lord or superior; they go quite naked, and some of them wear beards, and have their hair down to the waist. They wear small hats, after the fashion of the Albanians; these hats are made of palm leaves.
The women also go naked, except that they cover their nature with a thin bark, pliable like paper
But they do have the delicacies known as balut and red hot dogs on sticks with marshmallows.
Mmmm....masarap! That is Filipino culture looking back at you! Duck fetuses and red hot dogs which are used in everything from pizza to spaghetti sauce. I cannot find any word on when this show is set to air but I will be keeping my eyes open.
Let me say here that you don't get a TV show or government grants without knowing people. I am sure if we dig further into those behind this joke of a tricycle masquerading as art and cultural expression we can find unsavory and un-American elements. Heck, we already have with its alignment with BLM.
So, let's peer a little further at artist Mike Arcega who is the creator of this tricycle.
Michael Arcega is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in sculpture and installation. His research-based work revolves largely around language and sociopolitical dynamics. Directly informed by Historic narratives, material significance, and geography, his subject matter deals with circumstances where power relations are unbalanced. His investigation of cultural markers are embedded in objects, food, architecture, visual lexicons, and vernacular languages.
Michael was born in Manila, Philippines, and migrated to the Los Angeles area at ten years of age. He relocated to San Francisco to attend college. He currently lives and works in San Francisco, California where he is an Associate Professor at San Francisco State University.
A Manila galleon made primarily of Manila file folders was successfully sailed by the artist in Tomales Bay, California to commemorate the famed trade route of 1565 through 1815 between Mexico City, Manila, and California. Based on one of the first intercontinental trade routes, the performance and installation is a humorous critique on contemporary and historic issues of colonialism and cultural exchange.
That performance is never going to be repeated so all there is now is this large Spanish Galleon constructed out of Manila file folders. Get it!?? Spain conquered the Philippines and the capitol of the Philippines is....Manila!!! What a bunch of "Conquistadorks!!" The subtle humor here is what makes it such a "humorous critique on contemporary and historic issues of colonialism and cultural exchange." Not! It is a neat looking thing though. What would be humorous and critical is if it were inside an equally oversized bottle and on the bottle were drawn the countries of Spain and the USA.
Here is a little bit more about Michael's method.
Michael Arcega: I was born in Manila, the year after Benigno Aquino got shot. That was like, fifth grade? A year later we moved to L.A. and I lived there until I moved to the Bay Area to go to Art Institute … Other people would say my work is humorous, well-crafted, political, identity based. They would probably say that it’s smart, probably smart-ass (laughs). But I try to stay away form being locked into “identity art.” It has so many connotations, I’d like to see myself and other people working in topical or political issues go beyond that. I want to be more open so that other people can relate to it. That’s the attempt at least. I hope that my work is humorous but with a bite. In the end or the beginning or wherever, but with a bite somewhere.
How do you balance playfulness with the themes of conquest, colonialism, war and violence? How do you reconcile humor and history?
It’s a tricky balance. I take mental notes on how comedians communicate. They deliver the message with a spoonful of sugar. I think The Simpsons do it best. But I’m also afraid of being didactic. I’m not here to lecture. I’d rather begin a conversation rather than end it.Like “El Conquistadork Project.” If it weren’t called “Conquistadork” it would be this macho thing. But by adding this one little “k,” it creates a change in perception and it becomes self-deprecating.
"'I'd rather begin a conversation than end it." That is the essence of modern art. Zero objectivity.
In modern art the artist lacks a vision. He has a conceptual idea but the goal is to make the art subjective and thus about the viewer and not any objective vision of the artist. Michelangelo had a clear vision when painting the Sistine Chapel. Everyone experiences it differently but the objective vision of Biblical history remains the same. Michael Arcega's art is completely different in that there is no objective vision except in so far as it leads to a "conversation" with the the viewer. Thus the viewer and his experience becomes the real subject of the art. This lack of objectivity is why there will never be another Hieronymus Bosch or Rembrandt. Instead our age gets Yves Klein, Duchamp, and Michael Arcega. In fact Micheal Arcega is now the subject of middle school classrooms!
Conceptual artist Michael Arcega likens the titles of his works to punch lines. The titles speak to the artist’s quirky sense of humor and his obsession with wordplay, while mobilizing humor to delve into weighty issues. Born in Manila, the 30-something artist uses his puns to address his interests in Filipino history, imperialism and global socio-political issues.
Pretty sickening how even art has become politicized today. Being that this is the liberal Bay Area you just know this is more of the anti-white narrative being pushed on children. Would Arcega even be noticed if he was not a Filipino and he did not make commentaries about "imperialism and global socio-political issues?" Imagine if a white American came to the Philippines and began making conceptual art about how awful this place and its people are but did it in a humorous and subversive way. Do you think the people would be amused? No, because too many people here are humorless and not self-deprecating or introspective. Besides what people in their right mind would tolerate an outsider besmirching their culture and uplifting another? Yet Michael Arecga is in the USA and is commenting on "imperialism and global socio-political issues" so he is a darling of the local art scene.
Despite Arcega's admission that he does not want to become locked into "identity art", as so many immigrant artists do, he has failed. The TNT Tricycle celebrating illegal Filipino aliens and fare skippers is proof of that. Heck the majority of his "art" testifies to the contrary as it is almost all steeped in socio-political critiques of "colonialism and cultural exchange." Behold his art known as SPAM/MAPS.
A series of maps made of Spam luncheon meat. Spam was used as ration by the United States Armed Forces during WWII. It ultimately spread through many Pacific Island nations as a standard source of meat. Spam’s diasporic nature is symbolic of America’s ongoing influence on many nations. S-P-A-M is M-A-P-S in reverse.
You know I am inspired. Looking at this map entirely made out of SPAM has given me a great idea. I'm going to save all my dog's poop and I will construct a detailed map of the Philippines out of it. This project will be representative of the stray dog problem which permeates this nation as well as a political statement about the state of the government and the environment. Who knows but maybe it will launch my career and lead to my own TV show? Now, excuse me while I go reread Tom Wolfe's The Painted Word where he exposes the fraud that is "Modern Art."
