MANILA, Philippines?Many people continue to listen to the radio, despite the increasing popularity and influence of television. Some radio workers take the medium?s important service to the public seriously, but other?s exploitative programs are a distinct disservice. Would that they realize the error of their ways, and resolve to do (much) better in 2009:

One shocking unforgettably day, we caught a ?practical jokes? radio show that absolutely terrified its clueless victim, a housemaid, by informing her that her employer had been arrested by the police. Posing as cops, the radio announcers questioned the poor maid about her employer?s behavior, friends, sexual proclivities, etc., warning her that, if she wasn?t forthcoming, she may never see her boss again. Worse, she could also be picked up and charged with complicity!

Expectedly, the girl was scared out of her wits?which drove her interrogators into loud and livid paroxysms of glee. We, too, were livid?with rage. What gave these cruel radio people the right to badger innocent listeners and terrify them to the point of tears?

Yes, the show had a ?practical jokes? format, but the announcers? accusations were all too real to the poor housemaid so the encounter with her wasn?t funny at all!

Another radio program that got our goat recently had a ?public service? format, but was similarly reprehensible, because its host used it to vilify his chosen victims.

At first blush, the show was a commendable production, because it upheld the rights of the downtrodden.

In this particular instance, the complainants were service workers who railed against their employer?s questionable rules and actuation. They felt they weren?t paid the correct wage, and that some of the penalties levied against them for real or imagined lapses were questionable, to say the least.

Fine?but what alarmed us was the program host?s vile manner in accusing the erring employer of all sorts of inhumane conduct, even beyond the aggrieved workers? complaints.

Worse, the announcer smugly appointed himself as both accuser and judge, and damned the employer to legal and unholy hell in no uncertain terms. Worst of all, he even cast ethnic and racial slurs against the employer whom he so viciously demonized.

Clearly, the employer was guilty of some infractions?but for him to be so thoroughly benighted and bludgeoned in public was simply too vicious, and much too vile.

What now, Keanu Reeves?

Female viewers love Keanu Reeves because he?s gifted, sensitive and ?different.? His intense and brooding looks have made him a natural for playing characters set apart from the madding crowd by their ?exotic? backgrounds and temperaments.

In his latest starrer, ?The Day the Earth Stood Still,? therefore, Reeves is in his element as he plays a humanoid alien. Although he?s all-powerful and has come to earth to exterminate the human race in order to save the planet, Reeve?s character is generally devoid of emotion. Here, again, the actor?s patented brooding visage makes his alien nature believable.

But, after 30 minutes, we get weary of the ?distanced? acting approach, and long to see the alien getting affected by the emotions of the humans he interacts with.

Well, he does?but only sort of, as Reeves chooses to remain stolid for most of the movie.

Towards the end, the alien does get influenced by the few human friends he has made, enough for him to call off the massacre of the human race (what a relief!). But, it?s too late, because viewers have already given up trying to empathize with him.

Aside from Reeves? stolid performance, the film is weighed down by the production?s decision to cast Kathy Bates as the top US government official in charge of the crisis brought about by the arrival of the all-powerful alien. Bates as the US secretary of defense? That case of miscasting is indefensible!

Other limiting factors: Too much discussion, too little action. Woefully limited human firepower versus the alien?s awesome superpowers. And, sketchy characterization.

Too bad, because some of the movie?s sci-fi scenes are visually stunning. But special effects do not an engrossing movie make, so it?s back to the drawing boards for the film?s makers?as well as its star, Keanu Reeves, who really needs to get away from his ?signature? brooding portrayals, and energize his career with a vital and larger-than-life performance, Asap!

What now, Keanu Reeves? What now, indeed?