Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Memoirs of Decada Noventa

See? My summer break, as of this moment is somehow productive in a sense that I did something that is not bound in a cycle. God, I get easily bored whenever I do the same things over and over again. Right now, I keep on reminiscing those good old days. I didn’t plan or write it in my summer checklist (if you can still remember my blog entry last month). An invisible force keeps on telling me to revisit the memories of the past. So I just grabbed the those filthy photo albums, wiped off the dust with my bare hands and felt an awkward feeling while browsing those old pictures of mine.



I think 90s is the best decade for teenagers.



Well, spending your childhood days in that decade is also fun too. I think 90s was the decade of transition, most especially in the field of mass media and technology. There were already computers, yes, but there were not yet advanced and sophisticated as what we have right now. Apart from that, I still encountered those traditional Pinoy games like Lupa’t Langit, Tag, Pog, Text (though I didn’t know how to play that game), Dampa and hmmm.. what else? Ah! Yung PS-PS-I-Love-You!


Thinking of my childhood days was really great. I find it ironic since when I was a kid, I often wondered the fate of my facial features when I’m eighteen and often times I wish that I’m already a grown up. Today, with those itchy stubbles thriving and growing in my facial area, I always wonder the pitch or tone of my voice before I entered the teenage years. Pffft.


But anyway, these are some things that remind me of 90s.


1) TV Commercials of Philippine Airlines. And yes, GRAND AIR!


2) Speaking of Philippine Airlines, who wouldn’t forget when a Boeing 747-400 PAL with a flight number PR 434 bound to Cebu to Tokyo blew off midair, killing a passenger. Good thing the plane didn’t split into pieces, 30,000 feet above sea level. I think this incident was featured in Air Crash Investigation (National Geographic) and it was now confirmed to be an act of terrorism.


3) The Ozone Disco incident. It gives me the creeps and goose bumps whenever I remember those charred bodies of the victims. If I’m not mistaken, a finalist of the Calendar Girls, one of the segments of the defunct show, ‘Sang Linggo na Po Sila, perished on that incident.


4) The teen show Gimmik (is that the correct spelling?). Diether Ocampo’s hairdo wasn’t cool, so as Dominic and Rico’s.


5) The World Tonight – the late night news show in the early 90s. It can be compared to today’s time, Bandila, though the anchorman was different, it was Frank Drilon. I am annoyed with his giant mole somewhere on his face.


6) President Fidel V. Ramos… and his iodized salt campaign. Remember the TVC jingle about it? “Iodize salt, iodized salt, mag-iodized salt tayo!!!”


7) Batibot. Ahhh, one of the classic kiddie shows here in Philippines. I sometimes watch 5 and Up. Chynna Ortaleza looked so innocent, as well as Atom Araullo.


8) Sineskwela. Christine Bersolla is still the Christine Bersolla today, with a new surname plus her lovely daughter, Antonia. Who were the characters of this educational show again? I can only remember a few…Agatom, Palaspas (I’m not sure of this), basta yung bird, yung walking tree, the kid with an onion bulb on her head, a lot of special guests and of course, their ever reliable jeepney, Buknoy.


9) The three famous love teams of 90s – Juday-Wowie, Marvin-Jolina and Rico-Claudine.


10) “Four thirty nah, ANG TEEEVEEEE NA!!!!!” and “Esmyuski!”. Gaaah.


11) I can’t afford missing even a single episode of Mara Clara. I think it’s an afternoon teleserye. I was so curious with the diary thing. At that time, I don’t have an idea of what’s a diary. And then, I asked mom about it and made my own diary. It turns out that, I wasn’t interested with writing about my life. I was only four at that time. Duh.


12) Halloween Special of MGB (Magandang Gabi Bayan). God, I was scaredy cat back then and I suffered insomnia for like two weeks? Three weeks? Basta, the horrendous looks of kapres and the eerie appearances of white, black and red ladies scare the hell out of me. Plus the traditional sound effects, like the GRIIIIIING (when a white lady appears on the tv screen) was really frightening.


13) The old terminal of Davao International Airport.


14) Mishaps on the water - the Princess of the Orient ferry tilts and capsize in storm-whipped waters near Batangas province south of Manila, leaving 70 dead and 80 others missing. On a special MGB report, After Image’s Habang May Buhay was used as background music. It was such a dramatic and heavy scene, for me. Hanggang ang dugo ko ay dumadaloy, sa ‘yo lamang iaalay.


15) The sinister laughter of Selina (played by Princess Punzalan), the antagonist of my favorite Pinoy teleserye, Mula sa Puso. I won’t forget her evil snicker when the bomb exploded inside the bus, and believed Via (Claudine Barretto) was instantly killed in the explosion.


16) I can’t forget when Cebu Pacific Air (flight number 5J-387; a DC-9 jet) crashed on Mt. Sumagaya, on final approach to Cagayan de Oro’s Lumbia Airport and claimed 104 lives. Ang joke pa nga noon, nag “my heart go shalalalala” ang pilot, then ayun, bumangga sa kabundukan ng Sumagaya.


17) Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, the burger alien who had an annoying expression (ayayayayayayay!), Captain Planet, Scooby-Doo, SWAT Kats, Centaur, Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes.. naah, those were my favorite cartoons.


18) The song Right Here Waiting for You. For one simple reason, I keep on singing this song, everyday. I was six.


19) Typhoon Rosing. Grabe, I think it was the first time that I encountered Singal no. 4. It was such a terrible strong typhoon. That’s why I was so engrossed with weather that I would rip the Philippine map from PAL’s inflight magazine, Mabuhay and draw some symbols and the typhoon direction all over the map. I even predicted that Rosing would get stronger to public storm signal no. 6. Pathetic.


20) Ernie Baron – one the reasons on why I’m so obsessed wit Physical and Biological Science.


21) Oh yeah, I also remembered Pia Hontiveros. She was tied in a pole while having a special report about Typhoon Rosing.


22) Speaking of Rosing, she wreaked unimaginable havoc to Central Luzon. Deadly lahars (or mudflows) ravaged the plains of Central Luzon. Because of this, movie makers and producers became inspired with that it became a movie two years later. Lahar pa rin ata ang title and Dawn Zulueta portrayed the main character.


23) The suspension of Willie Revillame, Randy Santiago and John Estrada on their defunct noon time show, Magandang Tanghali Bayan sanctioned by the MTRCB due to acts of lasciviousness. I think the chairman of MTRCB at that time was Armida Siguion-Reyna.


24) Philippines, particularly Manila became famous when the World Youth Day 1995 was held there. I remembered when the news covered the arrival of pope. They were stationed at NAIA Terminal 1 and watched as the late Pope John Paul II’s chartered plane, an Alitalia DC-10 arrived in our country. Unity was clearly evident to all Filipinos. Everybody was singing “Tell the World of His Love”.


25) The infamous Vizconde Massacre, the Jalosjos rape controversy, MILF and Abu-Sayyaff.


26) No Doubt’s music video of Don’t Speak and Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn.


27) “I’m the King of the World!!! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!” and “come back, come back!!!”


28) Lea Salonga. Special thanks to Miss Saigon, she became a world class performer.


29) Ahhh! Thalia! Lots of Filipinos went crazy with this Mexican actress. When she came into our country, her concert was jam packed and millions of fans loved her when she sang a Tagalog song, I think it was Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang. Truly, her Mexican teleseryes namely Marimar, Maria Mercedes and Thalia were all smash hits on the TV screen! Today, Filipinos are now shouting for Wu-Chun, Dao Ming Sue, Lee dong Wook, Rain and other yellow-skinned artists of the Far East.


30) The Pasig River. This historical river of Manila (Pasig area, hence the name Pasig River) became an icon for environmental concern. Different kinds of trashes were seen floating on the river and the color of the water at that time was black. Today, Pasig River’s conditions were better than a decade ago.




What are other things that remind you of the 90s? Go on, share something. :)


I think this is already long.
Hope you enjoyed this entry. :)

1 comment:

  1. was looking for the name of the calendar girl who perished during the ozone disco fire when I stumbled on this haha!! twas nice reading something like this wish I could share it on facebook!!and ohh wish I could go back to those times..

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