racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

I’ve come to realize that a lot of Filipinos have been fans of game shows (from the silly ones to the intellectually challenging ones) because of various reasons. These range from a desire to get rich quick, to the desire to escape from one’s problems (even momentarily), or even just to entertain oneself.

PCIJ has an in-depth analysis, mostly from the psychological aspect of the game show mentality.

Cash draws people, most of whom dream of getting as much of it as possible. But while cash prizes have always been a game-show staple, it used to be that contestants needed to have some modicum of skill, talent, or intelligence to have a shot at them. By contrast, the more popular game shows today ask only that contestants have a great desire to get their hands on lots of money — fast.

Networks claim they’re helping out people by not simply giving dole-outs but opportunities to have a better means of living.

Some observers say TV shows that are practically giving away huge amounts of money are actually exploiting the poor. This, they say, was most apparent in the “Wowowee” tragedy of 2006, where 71 people were trampled to death in a mad rush to get inside the Ultra stadium where the show was going to be held. Over 30,000 people had come — and camped out in front the stadium days before — hoping to win the P1-million cash prize and giveaways that included two houses and lots, 15 passenger jeepneys, two taxicabs with franchises, and 20 tricycles.

The fact that the program offered jeepneys, taxicabs, and tricycles among its prizes does show an effort to encourage enterprise among would-be contestants; its producers could also argue that all they were doing was giving people a leg up. Where they may have erred, however, is in failing to provide real criteria and means through which those who join and eventually win the prizes could feel that they truly deserve these.

Still, I think it’s the get-rich-quick mentality that prevails, and the producers exploit this. A lot of disadvantaged, uneducated people wishing to have a shot at these game shows look to these as means to escape poverty. As Ruffa Mae Quinto’s character said in one of her movies: habang may game show, may pag asa (while there are game shows, there is hope).

But as money mentors would say, if you have a low potential for money, or a poor financial blueprint, then whatever you gain from such activities are quickly lost. Have you heard of the Lottery winner who ended up poorer than he originally was only a year after winning his millions?

At any rate, of course there is entertainment value. And I’m particularly fond of those game shows that really challenge the mind, in terms of asking difficult questions, or requiring computation and risk-management.

But it’s still tantamount to gambling, if you rely too much on luck and circumstance, such as with lotteries and other such games of chance. It’s wise to take calculated risks. It’s foolish and sinful to gamble. There is a thin line easily crossed.

And to the millions out there who still languish in hunger and poverty, hoping for an easy way out–is there an easy way out at all?

[via the Daily PCIJ]

Here’s another reason to look forward to Thursday evenings (Friday mornings here in the Philippines). Smallville Season 7 has premiered! I know it’s no longer as exciting as the first seasons, and frankly story arcs tend to seem a little dragging. Still, the addition of new cast members (i.e., Laura Vandervoort as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl) might bring new interest to the series. We even get to see Dean Cain play the part of a villain. So that’s the second time a former Superman actor appears on Smallville (the late Christopher Reeve played the part of supporting character Dr. Virgil Swann in the earlier seasons).

Also, I personally want to know if this would be the last season, and if Clark Kent gets to fly in the end, and perhaps don the famed Superman costume once and for all, even if these are not in line with the creators’ no flight, no tights policy (after all, we saw a flying Kal-El in the second season finale).

Episode excerpt:

Clark confronts a bizarro version of himself and the ensuing fight causes Reeves dam to burst. Lex, who was arrested for Lana’s murder, is caught in the flood of water. Before he can drown, Lex is saved by an unknown girl who he later believes to be an angel giving him a second chance at redemption. Lionel’s body is taken by an unknown person. Chloe is pronounced dead at the hospital, but she resurrects herself in the morgue. Clark discovers his doppelgänger’s weakness, the yellow Sun, and exploits it with the help of Martian Manhunter (Phil Morris). Lana is revealed to be alive and living in Shanghai, China. -Wikipedia

Smallville airs Thursday evenings on the CW. Given the popularity of the series, you can usually find torrents seeded just a couple of hours after airing. Try mininova.org or torrentspy.com. I only download because I’ll probably get to watch this season in local free or cable TV here in my country by next year or so!

You can check out season spoilers on Kryptonsite.

Watch Mel & Joey on GMA channel 7 this Sunday, July 15th at about 7:30 p.m. Their topic would be various ways of earning money off the Internet. I was interviewed a few days ago to be a resource person on problogging.

From my interview, some of the things you would learn (which I hope they would include in the final cut):

* How to start a blog
* How to start to blog for income
* Different ways of earning from your blog
* Why problogging is the _in_ thing today
* How much one can earn from problogging
* The benefits and drawbacks of problogging

Of course if you’re interested in blogging for income, then you can also refer to various online resources, such as our very own Blog Herald, Blog Tutorials and Performancing.

Update: Abe Olandres was interviewed right after me.

Updates (watch the video here):

* Video-cap of interview here.
* My thoughts on the interview, and on interviews in general, here.

If you pay for something, should you still see advertisements?

This is one question that has been looming on my mind since the first time I ranted out about advertisements on Sky Cable a couple of years back.

When you pay for a premium Flickr account, do you get ads? No? When I bought myself a Flickr Pro account, the promise was for ads to disappear unless it was absolutely necessary to display advertisements. And Yahoo!/Flickr made good on their promise.

What about SkyCable? No.

Take Nickelodeon, AXN, Cartoon network, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel. All of these channels that feature ads for their own shows during breaks now also feature ads for Sky, Home Cable, and affiliated companies like Sky Internet.

I mean I pay PhP 800 plus (~$16 +) per month for a Sky Cable Gold subscription, and I expect nothing but quality ad-free programming. But what do I get? Advertisements.

For the first Wikipedia entry I created from scratch: the profile of Erin J. Dean.

Actually I’ve been editing Wikipedia entries here and there (usually for the English stuff), but this is the first time I made one from scratch. I realized not all artists and art works (including TV shows, films, etc.) have their entries on Wikipedia. It sort of becomes a gauge of how well known one is, perhaps. The more popular artists have lengthier and more frequently-updated profiles.

As for Erin J. Dean, she is said to have retired from acting (at an early age) and pursued other interests, so it’s likely that not many remember her roles. You do know I’m a fan of children’s shows, and The Journey of Allen Strange is one of those series that I used to watch on Nickelodeon when I was younger (I think I was in college back then), right along with the Secret World of Alex Mack and other such shows (I think Spongebob Squarepants was just starting to gain popularit that time). Of course, these days, I’m more of a Disney fan (ask my kids!).

Feel free to edit.