The Four-eyed Journal » Media

An idictment of not just Willie, but of Media and a broken culture

jhay — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:10:56 +0000

It was never against Willie Revillame per se. At least for me personally. When I joined those who objected to the treatment of Jan-jan on that fateful episode of Willing Willie that is now the continuing subject of public debate in the country, it never occurred to me that I did it because of my contempt or hatred of Willie Revillame.

Dole outs even on prime time TV will never help them out of poverty

I’ll be honest that I never liked the guy, but hated him? No, it wasn’t anything personal. Even remotely. For I have other better use of my time than to troll or send ‘anti-Willie’ sentiments both on the Internet and off it.

That was never the case for me. Neither was I under the influence of any powerful, deep-pocketed or influential enemy or rival of Willie. I did so on my own because the incident was ‘the last straw that broke the camel’s back’, so to speak, for me.

My actions stemmed from my indictment on the way media has been creating and handling their TV programming, especially the noon-time shows. The point I’m trying to put across has been clearly said by F Sionil Jose in his April 17 column on PhilStar.com:

Alas, what Willie and most of us cannot see is that his popular program and so many imitations of it, exploits the very poor as well as our permissive culture; he compels those hapless and disadvantaged Filipinos — the young and the decrepitly old — to give up their dignity to perform as he wants them for the money which he dangles before them.

Willie has to be reminded that he diminishes and demeans the poor; we can even argue that he lures the poor with the promise of easy money and thereby encourages dependency, belief in luck rather than in hard work. His show as it stands should be barred from TV. He should have been fully chastised when so many were killed in the stampede to his show some years back. The market resurrected him. Obviously, popularity and money had swelled his head.

A few months back, at a public forum I enlarged on the Willie ruckus which was first aired by the columnist Conrado de Quiros. I criticized our appreciation of TV personalities who are not talented, who cannot act, sing or give intelligent commentary. I also brought into the discussion quasi-religious leaders amassing wealth while feeding on the gullibility of Filipinos who, in their poverty, search blindly for faith and a better life. I concluded that we must decolonize our minds.

Friends and family know that I do not watch noon time shows, other game shows or any local programming. They are just the same of the old bunch: shallow, absurd, consumerist and often-times rip-offs of foreign films and shows.

The last paragraph above, of which I highlighted the most relevant sentence, is the whole point of why I joined those who are seeking to bring Willie Revillame and TV5 to account.

I would like to have it as a reminder to all TV networks, other mainstream media and even to most of my fellow new media practitioners (bloggers, social networking gurus, Filipino netizens) that it’s about time we do something about our “broken” culture. Media is one of the most powerful player in shaping our culture. So the responsibility of helping our nation to fix, refine and elevate our culture falls on their hands.

My indictment of Willie Revillame is but a part of my indictment of the current popular culture promoted and shaped by Media; one that is shallow, violates the dignity of the Filipino and does little to help fix our “damaged” culture.

Image by Roger Alcantara

Willing Willie: Child exploitation on TV

jhay — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 02:15:38 +0000

Both the name of the host and the TV program speaks for itself, you’d get no entertainment with redeeming value from Willing Willie.

Then last March 12, 2011, a 6-year-old boy became a constestant in one of the show segments in which each had to showcase their ‘talent’ be it singing or dancing.

A 6 year old child performs a provocative dance amidst the cheering of Willie Revillame, his staff and the studio audience. (Image and caption by Definitely Filipino)

When a Snoop Doggy Dog rap tune played, I thought the boy would dance hip-hop or something, but instead he danced like a macho dancer. He was twisting and making waves with his body in a provocative dance that you would only see in a nightclub.

If you found it funny and entertaining, then there’s something wrong with your sense of humor and morals. I rarely watch Willing Willie and hardly pay any attention to Willie Revillame for since his days over at ABS-CBN, I’ve come to know him as someone who has a sick and perverted ways of entertaining and ‘helping’ poor Filipinos: humiliating and subjecting them to ridicule then dangling stacks of money so that they’d do literally anything to make him and his audience laugh or have a good time in to receive the money.

It’s the institutionalization of dole-outs in a demeaning way, all done on prime time television.

However, what happened last March 12, when a 6-year-old boy danced the dance of shame with tears falling down his cheeks, much to the thunderous cheer and egging of Willie himself and the audience, I was simply left speechless.

Allow me then to borrow the words of Judith Albano who said it via Facebook:

You do not laugh and let a child dance like a stripper, while tears are constantly falling from his eyes… You do not laugh, and let him dance the dance of shame. And then ask for a high-five, and laugh again and call for applause.

It wasn’t entertainment. It wasn’t a game show. It degenerated into a nightclub where the star of the night was a 6-year-old boy, crying as he danced like a macho dancer. And he was given money, lots of it, for the performance.

Concerned citizens have organized to address this incident. A page on Facebook has been setup to coordinate an action that has called the government’s attention to this alleged case of child exploitation on Willing Willie. As per checking the page’s news feed, the Commission on Human Rights has already received the complaint letter written by the collective formed around the Facebook page.

Several bloggers have already expressed their objection to this incident of child exploitation and humiliation. Twitter is also abuzz with various reactions mostly condemning the act.

How this story will develop, how Willie himself and TV5 will respond and how the government too will respond is something to look out for in the coming days. Ultimately, what would happen next to the 6-year-old boy hangs in the balance. Should let this kind of ‘entertainment’ go on or should this be the time we set our foot down and say enough is enough? If you are concerned, let your thoughts be known, blog, tweet or post on your Facebook account about this issue.

Image and caption by Definitely Filipino

When Typhoon Glo strikes

jhay — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:59 +0000

Asides from her credibility, morals and loyalty issues, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is known for her fiery temper which the media has extensively covered. We Filipinos call it, "katarayan" or, borrowing from Gov. Joey Salceda’s nomenclature, it’s called being "bitchy". The most recent episode is when she walked-out twice from a TV taping of a prepared statement on the recent hostilities in Mindanao, all because of the inefficiency of the staff.

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Ms Noemi takes a look at it from a positive view saying it could be caused by massive stress from being President (though I can’t say because how can you be stressed from being the President if you’re a fake President, but that’s for a whole new post) and dealing with all the things incumbent and accidental to it. She even offers some help with stress management.

What helps?

1. Focus on detachment.

2. Be open to healthy options for taking care of yourself if normal support is not available.

3. Take one day at a time to deal with feelings.

My unsolicited advice to GMA is take care of herself first. One is better able to cope with the most irregular circumstances and able to be there for others if one is caring for themselves. Maybe she knows has a solid plan in place but may need to be gently reminded every now and then. So here it is.

Though I’m with Ms Noemi that going on an eating binge, a healthy one, does help in relieving one’s self of stress, my unsolicited yet generous advice to GMA on dealing with stress is just simply resign from being President. (Though leaving Malacañan and never coming back would suffice because one could resign the Presidency if one is not a fake President)

It will relieve her of all the stresses of the Office and will definitely relieve us Filipinos from the stress of being dragged further down into a living hell and most especially, spare her staff from further torment and duress.

MediaMonkey or WinAmp?

jhay — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:11:04 +0000

For the past two weeks, I’ve been using Media Monkey to manage my digital music both on my laptop and my SE K800i. So far, MediaMonkey has performed well.

It’s light on system resources, quite simple and intuitive interface yet this program is packs in quite a lot of features. And I haven’t paid for a premium license to unlock all of its features and functionality.

Before trying out MediaMonkey, I’ve been a loyal user of WinAmp. Even though the buzz and fanfare has toned down for this nimble and pioneering media player, I’ve stuck with it all throughout the years simply because it works and works well in giving justice to my digital music collection.

Among my most loved feature about WinAmp is the ability to skin it. I’ve downloaded a skin maker years ago and created skins inspired by my favorite Japanese mecha-anime, Gundam Wing. In fact, I still use the same skins up to now.

Going back to MediaMonkey, I’ve decided to give it a try just to see how the media player works since I’ve read some great reviews about it. Here’s a very good one by Max Limpag and just recently, I’ve come across a list of the top media players out there, MediaMonkey is in the top 5.

What I liked about MediaMonkey is how it makes managing music files and playlists on my hard drive and on my portable media players like the Sony Ericsson K800i and the Creative Zen Stone Plus. MediaMonkey detected both devices the instant I connected each to my laptop. It really saved me from a lot of pain as the default software suite for the K800i, which I used to managed music with before, has been screwing itself up for the past few weeks.

The only gripes I have with MediaMonkey is the lack of built-in presets for the equalizer. I’m no sound technician nor expert in tweaking equalizer, call it laziness but wouldn’t it be grand if MediaMonkey came with built-in presets just like in WinAmp? That way, I wouldn’t have to spend so much time tweaking the way MediaMonkey delivers my mp3′s.

Because of this, I was back to using WinAmp as my default music player. Don’t get me wrong though, MediaMonkey is still on my laptop and it’s now my default music management app. You could say I’m enjoying two of the best media players out there, and both are for free – the basic versions that is. Eventually I’ll learn how to skin MediaMonkey and tweak its equalizer to my liking, but I’m just too lazy for that right now.

So now it’s up to you on which media player to go for, I’d recommend both as it all boils down to personal preferences. Though I’m sure Windows Media Player won’t be among the top of your list.

Asus Eee PC 900 Press Launch

jhay — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:35:18 +0000

This post is late. Nonetheless, last Monday’s Philippines Press Launch of the now much-talked about Asus Eee PC 900 was a pretty good success. Apart from the mainstream media outfits present, I was among the few bloggers who showed up to see what Asus had in store for the Philippine media and new media and how they would ‘sell’ the new Asus Eee PC 900 in the local market.

It was my first time to attend a press launch and I never thought it would be that big and almost very formal. Asides from the technical crew, I was among the very few who came to the Shangri-la Hotel dressed very, very casually with jeans and dirty skater-boy sneakers and all.

The program formally started at around 11am and it started off with a presentation of what Asus has become as an IT and computer computer company in the past couple of years.

The key point from the presentation is that Asus is no longer just a motherboard company, they are now more than just about manufacturing reliable motherboards, they are among the top computer companies in the world. All this thanks to the successful phenomenon that the Asus Eee PC line of ultra-mobile portable computers or UMPCs has created. With over a 1 million units sold in just 5 months, the Asus Eee PC brand is here to stay.

Can the Asus Eee PC 900, the wildly popular Eee PC 701′s bigger brother continue this joyous trend for Asus? From the sights, presentations, questions and answers I’ve come across during the press launch, it seems that Eee PC 900 is in a strong position to do so.

Inside the Eee PC 900

We’re all familiar with the specs of the new Eee PC 900 by now, but let’s recall anyways:

Display: 8.9” Display, 1024 x 600 resolution
Color: Pearl White, Black
CPU: Intel® Mobile CPU
Processor: Intel Mobile Chipset
Memory: DDR II 1GB
Display Card: Intel UMA
Storage: 12GB (4GB built-in + 8GB flash) SSD (Microsoft Windows OS Version)
20GB (4GB built-in +16GB flash) SSD (Linux OS Version)
Audio: HD audio / built-in speakers
Wireless: Built-in 802.11b/g
Camera: 1.3M Pixel webcam
Storage Cards: SD / MMC (SDHC)
Input / Output: 3xUSB / VGA-out (D-Sub, 15pin) / earphone jack / mic / RJ45 10/100 Mbps
Power Output: 12V, 36W;
Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
Tracking Control: Utilizes FingerGlide
Operating System: Windows XP Home / Linux
Dimensions: 22.5cm(W) x 17.0cm(D) x 2cm~3.38cm(H)
Weight: 0.99 kg

Techno mambo-jambo asides, the most talked about and most welcomed improvement in the Eee PC 900 is the bigger screen size of 8.9” supporting the standard 1024 x 600 resolution. No more constant side-scrolling to view a web page, image or document.

Another cool feature of the new Eee PC 900 is the FingerGlide touch/scroll pad which allows users to use two fingers in manipulating the Eee PC 900. You can zoom in to view pictures and stuff. A very nice touch indeed, so to speak.

A lifestyle device

A nine-inch compact (powder case)?

What was a noticeably dominant theme in the press launch was that the Eee PC 900 is marketed for ladies, teens and housewives. It’s just not a geek’s toy anymore, it is now being positioned as lifestyle device. Hence all the casual to stylish portrayal of the Eee PC 900 with female models ranging from school girls to young career women.

The great mobility offered by its exceptional portability is one of the strongest selling points of the Eee PC. Now that it runs on Windows XP natively, I suspect more people will buy it because Asus’ Regional Marketing Manager, Ethan Hung and the M$ Philippines’ Gen Manager Pepeng Rollan was right, if you want to introduce newcomers to computing, then Windows would be the most obvious choice.

Ultra-portable, great aesthetics, seamless wireless connectivity and a nice array of productivity and lifestyle suites, the Asus Eee PC 900 would be a good choice for those looking for a quick means of getting online and getting some work done while on the go.

So what’s the price tag of the Eee PC 900?

I earlier blogged about how the Eee PC 900 seems to be overpriced with some stores selling them at Php33,000! Of course we will still have to wait for official word from Asus and it was given last Monday, all of the Asus Eee PC 900′s nifty features wrapped in a compact package will cost you Php24,000.00 for both the 20GB Linux and 12GB Windows XP versions. Of course this is the suggested retail price by Asus so expect it to go up to around Php26,000 once retailers add-in their additional costs or if you upgrade the memory.

Still, it’s quite a good bargain if the Eee PC 900 fits your needs and preferences. So again, will I buy the Eee PC 900 now that I now it’s real SRP? Some of my blogging friends already know the answer and I’ll make it public in a few hours’ time. LOL

Congratulations to Asus for the successful launch of the Eee PC 900 and I’m sure that since the new school year is about to open, this baby will be among the top items in almost every student’s back-to-school shopping wish list. I thank Sir Yuga and First Tier Brands for the invite. Here’s the link to my photo set of the press launch and lastly, here’s a short video where Leah and Aldrin, Abe, Arnold, Eugene, Reggie, and Racquel (of PDI?) and myself finally had a chance to get our hands on the new Eee PC 900:

*The Eee PC 701 and Eee PC 900 looked almost identical we had a few moments of having problems distinguishing one from the other, hence Yuga’s sudden burst of a bad word. It was all unintended.