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By Amiel Aguilar Cabanlig
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A fine
line between “Genius”
and “Lunacy.”
Iconic pianist/performer Liberace |
To follow convention, to give peremptory weight
to what has worked in the past; these are natural tendencies—that
is of course if you want to be just a regular Joe.
Understand, as children we are taught to follow
certain codes of conduct; being different comes with a hefty social
price.
But a number of us try to go against the grain!
If your idiosyncrasy is authentic enough, it will bring you
attention and respect—the kind that the “hoi polloi” always
have for the extraordinary.
Reviewing the much talked about “Thrilla’ in
Manila” (one boring evening, since I’m an avid boxing fan) via
DVD validated my case in point. Muhammad Ali had this perverse
pleasure of being different and liked the attention he got from it.
He was odd and independent. Ali’s style ran counter to
conventional boxing in almost every way, yet his unorthodoxy made
him the best and maybe the greatest heavyweight boxer ever.
Throughout the 20th century, many artists
wielded authority by being unconventional: Pablo Picasso, Salvador
Dali and Van Gough—the list goes on and on. Nowadays, many of
these wannabes seem to believe that the height of unconventionality
is merely creating the weird, startling, or shocking in some way.
They do so well, especially by using media, jumpstarting their
careers into an unprecedented blitzkrieg—faster and more ferocious
than the Fuehrer’s.
Hence you have pseudo-architects,
pseudo-designers, pseudo-musicians, pseudo-columnists and what not!
Read the news dahlins, we now live in a society which lauds
outlandish poseurs!
Last week’s pop television show, American
Idol, added to my already pessimistic declaration. Simon Cowell, of
all people, said something, so out of his acerbic character; “I
have a horrible feeling that’s gonna be a hit record” (referring
to the performance of 44-year-old Filipino contestant, Reynaldo
Lapuz, who sang an original composition not worth talking about).
The first thing that really grabbed my attention
during his audition was his horrendous get-up and his foolhardy
outlook in life. Reynaldo’s appallingly out-of-this-world
performance gave him the unique (yet unwarranted) opportunity to be
interviewed in the American FOX news.
He said that he spent two weeks assembling his
get-up because the ad for the auditions said, “Dress to
Impress”—which he must’ve unwittingly taken seriously. Also in
the televised repartee, Lapuz went on to explain getting his
get-up’s inspiration from the outfit of Russell Crowe in Gladiator
(if there was any appropriate time for Crowe’s infamous temper to
flare, now would be that time) and the hat’s look came from a
mash-up of Greek Mythology and famous DC superhero, The Flash (more
like Tim Yap’s).
Nay, the guy is no Liberace nor is he a
Napoleon. Honestly, for me, he looks like a “cracked-out pimp”
from a Tarantino movie. Aside from some missing teeth, what he
really didn’t have was talent and the looks to go with real star
status (tell that to Wowowee!). What’s more, his atrocious outfit
made it no better. Yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if one day I get
an invite to his solo concert in Greenbelt or watch him guest in a
local TV variety show!
Hence, to all the wannabe Paris Hiltons
(glorifying the word “aspirational” to the point of making it
academic) out there, this media-oriented, flash-in-the-pan,
popularity blitzkrieg may generate a momentary splash for you, but
none have the thump of the truly unconventionally gifted because
they have no context to rub against.
No more than outlandish and strange, they very
quickly fade away from our memory!
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