With its eye-popping, razzle-dazzle, polka-dot cover; it's hard to miss the book "Pinoy Pop Culture". Certainly, it is an embodiment and virtual homage of today’s Filipino ethos: exuberant, spontaneous and, says the author, bongga (over-the-top).

For most of her life, it seems the author and Filipiniana guru Gilda Cordero Fernando has been writing things about Pinoys: from turn-of-century Philippine history to Filipino architecture, cuisine and fashion, all with one ultimate goal -- to make Filipinos (specifically the upper and middle class) proud of themselves.

Enter Ben Chan of clothing retail-giant Bench plus artist M.G. Chaves and you have a marriage of literary wit, marketing savvy and a burst of creative flair, which is really what the book is all about.

Pop stands for "popular culture" (and not pop art or music) and is what the majority of the people generally accept. 

"Pinoy Pop Culture" does not claim to be a tome on Filipino pop. It is a phenological documentation that attempts to bring together, analyze, put into context and, yes, even glamorize the nuances of today’s popular culture.

So what then is Pinoy pop?  Is it the sweet spaghetti with hotdog bits and processed (as opposed to Parmesan) cheese? Is it the shopping mall, with its medley of offerings from dad’s briefs, to mom’s lamp chops to lola’s weekly Sunday mass? Or what about the balikbayan box bursting into seams with kinupit na hotel towels, corned beef, Spam, M&Ms and Katas ng Saudi shirts?

“It’s all of these,” says the author, “and more.” Think of over-decorated jeepneys, Ifugao-inspired accessories, jazzed-up sago drinks (from Zagu to Shagoo), pink (or green) siopao, Ma Mon Luk noodles, Nora Aunor (and her legion of Noranian fans), Oprah wannabes (Kris Aquino et al), Imelda Papin croons, dressed-up Santo Niños (with matching sando and briefs), hawker stalls with tempting fishballs and adidas (grilled chicken feet), beauty contests (from little miss to miss gay Philippines).

“Its even in our vocabulary.” C.R. for toilets, "gimik" for party, "tsibug" to eat, "O.P." for out-of-place, "jologs" for a bum, "sosi" for high class, and "salvage" to kill someone. In between sexes, there’s "byutams" for beauty, "majuba" for fat and "sisteret" (or "badinglet") for little gay sister.   

As seen, Pinoy pop culture is a mish-mash of different layers from folk to ethnic to foreign (particularly American) influences. “Our culture is not based on contradiction but on integration,” says Cordero. 

Another earmark of Pinoy pop is imitation. And so we have singer Victor Wood who was dubbed "Elvis of the Philippines", Cosmopolitan Magazine-Philippines, a plush subdivision called "Beverly Hills" in Cebu City and who could forget "Tabing Ilog" - that hit series patterned closely after "Dawson’s Creek"?

“Imitations can be a learning experience or it can turn you into a xerox machine.” She continues, “Imitations, when fully integrated into the culture, become our own like the Santo Nino. Otherwise, they remain indigestible like bumps in our culture.”

Yet, as easily recognizable as it is to the masa> -the masses that comprise 95 percent of the Philippine population- in reality, there’s still a distinct social line in the practice of Pinoy pop whether knowingly or not.  For the elite, pop culture is lowbrow, stereotyped, and often quite kitschy. To the masa, it is unrecognizable because it has always been a part of everyday life. And unless you practice and take it seriously, you’d never realize that Pinoy pop is imbibed by everyone, in varying degrees that is.

Above all, Pinoy pop is about you and me. With its visual treat and pithy compositions, "Pinoy Pop Culture" is as much a celebration of the Pinoy’s creative genius as it is a homily to delve and get to know more of today’s Filipino essence.

Fittingly, the author ends the book with a panawagan (a call to everyone) and rightly challenges us to go beyond our self-depreciating attitudes towards our culture and, instead, know our identity so as to see the root of our societal problems. “It’s not a guidebook for foreigners but the Filipino’s guide to himself,” Cordero stresses.