I am watching today’s quiz show, and I am shocked at the way it is being done now. It’s now all about money, money, money—disgusting and infuriating. No wonder we have living brain donors joining as contestants in an event that requires thinking. For illustration (this actually happened): Q: what is the Filipino word for Ocean? A brain donor contestant answered, Pacifico?! A guess, a stupid guess, a gamblers guess and that is what these so called quiz shows really are—GAMBLING! Grrrrrrr…Kris Aquino, Michael V, Tito, Vic and Joey, and that multi-nefarious-reprehensible, disreputable, degenerate, infamous, perverse- Wily Revillame…a transgression is what they are… may the wrath of the vengeful Klingons and Romulans fall upon these pretentious pseudo-quizmasters. (My gulay! I am a Hitler!)
Will somebody tell me where did David Celdran go? For in my dictionary, thesaurus, and hymnals he is the real deal. The real quizmaster that no one can ever, ever surpass. Not even Kris Aquino with her G.I. wire-powered breast lifter and blood clotting cleavage can and will ever, ever surpass the class and the academic air that exudes from dear David.
During my elementary and high school days up to my first college days (about ten years ago, this is now my second college days...err…third…err…fourth…never mind), Saturdays after lunch was religiously reserved for the greatest quiz show of them all—“Battle of the Brains.” The dela Paz’s from my late father, to my mother, to my ate, kuya, ditche, me, Dadai, Dong, up to our little curly haired anemic youngest sister Beng would be sitting at the sala staring at the 12 inch plastic NIVICO TV set watching quiz master David storm the contestants’ brains with his academically relevant questions while we try to beat the contestants with our very own wild and sometimes off the planet answers. We were all vicarious participants in that contest, and the victorious glee of guessing the correct answers brought smiles to my mother’s lips. “I’m blessed, my children are smart.” She might have been thinking during those moments. (This is how I interpret her smile, I don’t know, all along she might be thinking the very opposite, “Oh my gulay! My Children are simpletons.”)
Battle of the Brains was a family affair, a religious family affair.
The joys that the winning contestants felt were our joys. We always root for the lesser known schools. If Ateneo Grade School was pitted against the Hapay na Mangga Elementary School, the dela Paz’ would always root for the mangoes.
The joy of winning then was the joy of winning--not the joy of winning money—but the joy of simply winning. The joy is the joy that all those readings and research made by the student contestants finally paid off. You can see the parents sitting with the audience smiling and clapping their hands in that demure and classy way. (So unlike today where we see the grandfather, grandmother, the father, the uncle, the neighbors, the infant half brother of the contestants all shouting baaaawwwwwiiiiiii!!!!or noooooo deeeeeaaal. Grrrrr!) The joy of the winners is the joy of their family, classmates, teachers, and the school they represent. The loser were treated with respect and not ridiculed.
The prizes for the winners were scholarships, educational package for the school; the prize money will not make you rich. What was important then was the prestige of winning up there in the brain area not down there in the pocket area.
The times they are a changing, It is now important for quiz mistress (pun intended) to show a lot of cleavage so that the televiewers will be intellectually stimulated, I mean, down there and not up there, The questions now are mostly trivia (showbiz or whatever) that are way, way off the academic radar screen and the prizes are meant to arouse greed in one’s heart. Sad.
Where are you David? Mate, I missed you. I hope you’ll do one more Battle of the Brains season for the sake of my seven year old daughter.
Will somebody tell me where did David Celdran go? For in my dictionary, thesaurus, and hymnals he is the real deal. The real quizmaster that no one can ever, ever surpass. Not even Kris Aquino with her G.I. wire-powered breast lifter and blood clotting cleavage can and will ever, ever surpass the class and the academic air that exudes from dear David.
During my elementary and high school days up to my first college days (about ten years ago, this is now my second college days...err…third…err…fourth…never mind), Saturdays after lunch was religiously reserved for the greatest quiz show of them all—“Battle of the Brains.” The dela Paz’s from my late father, to my mother, to my ate, kuya, ditche, me, Dadai, Dong, up to our little curly haired anemic youngest sister Beng would be sitting at the sala staring at the 12 inch plastic NIVICO TV set watching quiz master David storm the contestants’ brains with his academically relevant questions while we try to beat the contestants with our very own wild and sometimes off the planet answers. We were all vicarious participants in that contest, and the victorious glee of guessing the correct answers brought smiles to my mother’s lips. “I’m blessed, my children are smart.” She might have been thinking during those moments. (This is how I interpret her smile, I don’t know, all along she might be thinking the very opposite, “Oh my gulay! My Children are simpletons.”)
Battle of the Brains was a family affair, a religious family affair.
The joys that the winning contestants felt were our joys. We always root for the lesser known schools. If Ateneo Grade School was pitted against the Hapay na Mangga Elementary School, the dela Paz’ would always root for the mangoes.
The joy of winning then was the joy of winning--not the joy of winning money—but the joy of simply winning. The joy is the joy that all those readings and research made by the student contestants finally paid off. You can see the parents sitting with the audience smiling and clapping their hands in that demure and classy way. (So unlike today where we see the grandfather, grandmother, the father, the uncle, the neighbors, the infant half brother of the contestants all shouting baaaawwwwwiiiiiii!!!!or noooooo deeeeeaaal. Grrrrr!) The joy of the winners is the joy of their family, classmates, teachers, and the school they represent. The loser were treated with respect and not ridiculed.
The prizes for the winners were scholarships, educational package for the school; the prize money will not make you rich. What was important then was the prestige of winning up there in the brain area not down there in the pocket area.
The times they are a changing, It is now important for quiz mistress (pun intended) to show a lot of cleavage so that the televiewers will be intellectually stimulated, I mean, down there and not up there, The questions now are mostly trivia (showbiz or whatever) that are way, way off the academic radar screen and the prizes are meant to arouse greed in one’s heart. Sad.
Where are you David? Mate, I missed you. I hope you’ll do one more Battle of the Brains season for the sake of my seven year old daughter.
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