Local production: Overkill, Overrated, Overarched

I was watching the TV when I was having dinner just now. While channel surfing, I chanced upon an ad for an upcoming variety that is to be broadcasted on Channel 5. It was entitled, "Our Makan Places: Lost and Found". As the name implies, it has something to do with food. My first thought was, "What the heck? Another foodie show?"

Why are there so many variety shows out there that are so eager to showcase the local delicacies? Oh, when I meant "out there", I 'm really just referring to the local TV channels. Singapore is not a sprawling metropolis that spans a million soccer fields (in fact, I think it falls under 10 000) - it's like a pixel on a 17" LCD screen - are there that many food stalls to highlight? OK, even if there are that many food stalls, are there that many varieties? Truth is, most of them are selling more or less the same stuff.

I think there are quite a number of foodie shows in the past. It just gets pretty boring to be watching shows of the same genre over and over again. I call it the "Food Age" of the local channels. It was the "Travel Age" some time back, when Mediacorp were frantically showing travel shows. And hell, they don't even measure up to Lonely Planet.

3 of the local female celebrities hosted in 3 different shows on Channel 8. Just to jog the memory a little, they were Zoe Tay (pre-pregnant), Fann Wong and Jacelyn Tay. Then they decided that they needed male artistes too and got Xie Shaoguang and Byran Wong to grace some travel shows on the same channel. On Channel 5, they had a local travel show called "Split Ends". All I can say is that it was really head-splitting to watch.

Come to think of it, it isn't really the "Food Age" It's more of a "Reality TV Competition Age". There are currently 3 reality competitions, Singapore Idol, Star Idol and some compere idol thingy. The first is pretty self-explanatory. The second hopes to discover some new acting talent while the third, well, some new compere talent. So, if you can't sing, you act. If you can't act, be a compere. And if you can't sing, act and compere, be like me, blogging away here. Anyway, is the local market that big that we need 3 different contests to extract talents?

So you have it. Local production in 3 Os. Overkill, 'cause they do too much of any and everything; Overrated, 'cause many think too much of them; and Overarched, 'cause it's a monopoly.

Happy New Year? Not me II

OK, the dreadful period is finally over. In fact, it has been two days since CNY is officially and traditionally considered over. Let me do a brief AAR (After Action Review).

I guess for this year, it went on pretty fine. I was no longer compelled to go around visiting, like how I was forced to tag along when I was a kid. I can't say that I have spent my time more fruitfully than usual but at least, I had a say over how I wanted to spend my time.

I think the core problem lies in lack of understanding of the culture. As I mentioned in the prequel to this post, no one explained to me what was the meaning of all these traditions. I was just supposed to follow blindly and "go through the motion". Hey, this sounds terribly like what they do in the SAF. Oh well... Anyway, I still think it would be better if someone had somehow told me the significance of these gestures.

Bearing that in mind, in future, I shall - to the best of my abilities and knowledge - as and when necessary, make things clear and provide explanations to my children, especially with regards to the things or actions I want them to perform. Hopefully, what happened to me will not happen to them.