2012 in Review (Part 4): Highs and Lows As a Sports Fan

This January, for my traditional reviewing of the previous year, I will be writing a series of articles that would recap or evaluate some (if I have the time, then all) of the highlights of 2012 that involved, concerned, compelled, and/or fascinated me… this is the fourth part…

2012 was an Olympic year.   And as usual, United States and China dominated.

The Olympics, however, is not the biggest sports story of 2012 that I cared for most.  The following mattered to me more than the Olympics:    

The Rock returned to Wrestlemania to bring the whuppin’ to John Cena’s candy ass.

Linsanity! 

After getting cheated by the judges with his fight with Bradley, Pacman, on his next match – his fourth meeting with Marquez – would suffer the most devastating loss of his career.    

But above all of these, what affected me most is the dramatic rise and fall of morale in Lakerdom…

 

After failing to capture the championship this 2012, falling to the Thunder in the second round of the playoffs, the Lakers management was able to acquire Dwight Howard and Steve Nash during the offseason.  Everybody in Laker Nation was ecstatic.  I was ecstatic.  At last, the Lakers are back on being dangerous title contenders.  In fact, the championship was almost a guarantee with this new Laker superteam.  Every Laker fan was floating on cloud 9.

The regular season, however, brought Laker Nation crashing to the ground.  The team proved to lack chemistry.  They were not dominating as expected, but were losing instead.  Mike Brown got fired as coach.  Then Lakers hire Mike D’Antoni.  Still, even with D’Antoni, the team ended the year with a mediocre 15-15 record.    

(As I write this, Lakers continue to fall this January, winning only 2 games so far.  With each loss, as the Lakers go further down .500, a playoff berth continues to grow dim, a championship’s now almost an impossibility.  The Lakers currently have an abysmal record of 17-25.)

               

A Laker turnaround this 2013 is unlikely, but still possible.  And as a Laker fan, I hold on to this hope. 

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2012 in Review (Part 3): TV Farewells and Welcomes

This January, for my traditional reviewing of the previous year, I will be writing a series of articles that would recap or evaluate some (if I have the time, then all) of the highlights of 2012 that involved, concerned, compelled, and/or fascinated me… this is the third part…

This past year I had to say farewell to three of my favorite TV shows. 

 

With just one season without Cuddy, House has to end?  It gives the appearance that the show lost its spirit with the absence House’s love interest.  Which is a wrong perception, of course.  Even without Cuddy, the show has been solid and fresh.  Yes, the verbal sparring and wit wars between House and Cuddy were missed, but the show remained as funny, intense, and exciting.  Even more so in some episodes.  House is, after all, a show about House – the most awesome TVcharacter ever.  The Hugh Laurie-portrayed character alone is enough to carry the show.  Such a shame House had to end considering that it was still going strong and just had to end because of lack of appropriate support (i.e. financing) from producers.  Such a shame indeed.  I felt it was still good enough for two or three more seasons.  Heck, something like Smallville (which had its moments but was clearly inferior to House) lasted ten seasons, and House only had eight?! (Sigh)

Leverage’s season 5 was its last.  And its cancellation came as a sad surprise to me.  The finale though was an awesomely written episode.  But I don’t dig the “wrap-up” of the story in which Nate and Sophie had to retire, leaving the team to just three members with Parker as the new mastermind.  It doesn’t work.  In the last scene, Parker would even replicate Nate’s awesome monologue during the final scene of Leverage’s pilot episode.  That scene had been iconic because Nate smoothly delivered that monologue which empathically defined what Leverageis all about.  Parker’s was flat.  Moreover, my greatest disappointment was I had been always hoping that the team’s line-up would have expanded – with new members gradually joining the team – during the show’s run… and it didn’t happen.  Thus, though the story of the final episode had been awesome, the closure of the show was unsatisfactory to me.         

 

This year also marked the end of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the greatest superhero animated TV series since Justice League Unlimited.  This was the superhero TV animated series that brought all of these heroes together…

Not as impressive as JLU, but still awesome.   

With House and Leverage gone, what’s left for me are Psych and Sherlock.  Psych’s new season, however, didn’t start late in the year, as it usually does, but will just be starting this February.  Sherlock’s second season run last year – after we, fans, waited since 2010.  That’s 2 years!  And it’s as if there will be no Sherlock this year.  Now, Sherlockis an awesome show – one of the best shows ever created for TV.  The problem with it, though, is it takes two years for each new season to arrive, with each season having only three episodes!  Granted, that each episode’s length is that of a mini-movie, it’s still not enough!  It’s very very frustrating. 

In 2012, however, I also got hooked with two new shows.

 

Castle has been around for a while but it was only in 2012 that I started watching it.  My bestfriend Madelwas the one who introduced me to Leverageand House; so after House ended, as I was searching for a new awesome show to follow, I asked for her recommendation.  She pointed me to Castle.  I watched its pilot, and I got hooked.  Before Season 5 started this year, I have already watched all episodes from the previous seasons (Thank God for the Internet. LOL).  Castle got me re-acquainted with the geek god Nathan Fillion, who I first encountered and adored as Capt. Mal in Firefly.  I’ve never really been a big fan of Nathan prior to Castle; but because of this show, I was led to check out his personality, interests, and career which made me grew fond of the guy.  And now, Nathan Fillion is probably my most favorite celebrity. 

 

The second show I got hooked this year is Sherlock’s rip-off, Elementary.  Like Sherlock, Elementary is also a modern take on Sherlock Holmes.  However, the setting is set in New York instead of London, Gregson works for the NYPD instead of Scotland Yard, and Dr. Watson is female instead of male. Among the three, what I don’t like most is the last one.  Watson should always be male!  The friendship between Holmes and Watson works best when both are male.  Aside from these differences, Elementary also lacks the clever allusions to the original material that Sherlockhas.  Each case is almost always unique in itself, with no reference to the adventures of the literary Holmes.  Lastly, Jonny Lee Miller performance as Sherlock Holmes is terrific, but he’s no Benedict Cumberbatch, who’s just perfect.  The better thing about Elementary than Sherlock is that it follows the traditional episode scheduling of a TV season.  Thus, with a new mystery to look forward to each week, we get more dose of Sherlock Holmes with Elementary than Sherlock. 

You might be asking why I haven’t tried Game of Thrones yet, considering it’s probably the best show out there right now.  The answer is, I want to read the books first before I check out the show.  TV episodes are readily available in Internet, anyway, so what’s the rush? LOL.    

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2012 in Review (Part 2): Song of the Year? Oppa Gangnam Style!

This January, for my traditional reviewing of the previous year, I will be writing a series of articles that would recap or evaluate some (if I have the time, then all) of the highlights of 2012 that involved, concerned, compelled, and/or fascinated me… this is the second part…

I feel that the music and songs of today are very inferior to the music and songs of the past.  It’s very seldom for me to find a favorite among the songs made nowadays.  I find the mainstream, synthesized music occasionally catchy but bland, artificial, and soulless; and the lyrics too shallow or unoriginal.  Either it’s just my biased preference per my age or I’m objectively correct in my observation that the songs of today lack the quality of the songs of the past.  I don’t know.    Either way, I’ve never been a big fan of the 21st century music scene.     

This year, my sister got crazy with this boy band One Direction.  Now, I’ve never been a big fan of boy band pop music (with the exception of my fondness for Michael Learns to Rock [if the band is considered as such], Backstreet Boys, and a bit of Blue… and maybe a song or two from other boy bands), and I know that boy band music is about 60% good looks and just 40% talent.  I’m not saying boy bands can’t sing – most of them can – but good singing is secondary to “being a cute guy that girl fans can crush over.”  But though musical talent is just secondary factor in boy band music, it is my observation that the music of One Direction can’t even hold a candle to those mediocre boy bands that dominated the 90’s.   Moreover, one of their songs goes like this:

Lets go crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun.
I know we've only met but let's pretend it's love.
And never, never, never stop for anyone.
Tonight let's get some.
And live while we're young.  

That’s the first time ever in the history of boy band pop music that premarital, casual sex is obviously implied in the lyrics.  That is a bit disturbing considering that I’ve always thought boy band music is supposed to be GP.  That or I haven’t listened to enough boy band music.

But enough with One Direction.  This post is not about them and their music.  This is all about the sensational…

 

“Oppa Gangnam Style” is the song of the year.  This song’s popularity – considering that it has more of the makings of the “fad” kind of music than having the makings of becoming a classic – may fade in a few years (or even in a few months into 2013), and I doubt Psy will have a bigger hit than “Gangnam Style”, but this song owned 2012.  No song comes close.  Its music video became the first video to get to 1 billion views in Youtube (ergo, it’s the most watched video in Youtube history) – all in mere months of being available in Youtube!  To say that this song’s impact to pop culture has been big is an understatement.

The success of “Gangnam Style” could be attributed to its catchy techno music, ridiculous but enjoyable dance moves, and/or Psy’s massive sex appeal – because there’s swag, and then there’s Psy…

(Moreover, his singing might sound silly, but just hear him talk.  Just search for an interview in the Internet.  He’s fluent in English and his voice is James Bond-like.) 

For me, going viral in the Internet is the most important reason of Gangnam Style’s successful pop culture invasion.  The success of Gangnam Style is another reminder on how powerful the Internet can really be, that it dramatically changed the mechanics of promotion and dissemination of products, propaganda, ideas, information, etc.   

     

By the way, despite arguing that it’s the song of the year, I’m not implying that “Oppa Gangnam Style” is a piece of musical genius.  It’s cheesy.  But it’s that kind of cheesiness which is “so cheesy that it’s awesome.”  It’s far from becoming one of my most favorite songs, it doesn’t help improve my perception with the quality of 21^st century music, and it’s not going to be a permanent occupant of my playlist (though, currently it still is in it)... but there’s nothing wrong with enjoying some cheese once in a while. 

Lastly, if you get a badass like Wolverine to dance the Gangnam, that has to count for something…

       

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01-13-13 Dynamic Worship Special Number

After Floodgates debuted "Pangako" (its first original composition) in "Unified", the band performs it for the first time in front of the Joy Church congregation as a special number for the dynamic worship last January 13.  

click here for more videos

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2012 in Review (Part 1): Joy Church Silver Anniversary

This January, for my traditional reviewing of the previous year, I will be writing a series of articles that would recap or evaluate some (if I have the time, then all) of the highlights of 2012 that involved, concerned, compelled, and/or fascinated me… this is the first part…

2012 marked the fifth year since our family left our old denomination (since we couldn’t conform to the erroneous core doctrines that had just been established then) and started attending Bicol Presbyterian Joy Church (or Joy Church for short).  Our 5 years in Joy Church was full of God’s blessings and great testimonies, indeed.  Coincidently, the year 2012 – specifically December – also marked the 25^th year of Joy Church’s foundation.  And for the celebration of its Silver Anniversary, Joy Church produced its grandest, most ambitious, most miraculous, and most grace-filled event to date!  And it was such an overwhelming honor to be part of it.   

 

There was no holding back in celebrating this milestone.  Albay Astrodome – the largest event place in the city, capable of seating about 6,000 – was chosen to be the venue.  A big evangelical concert – featuring the different performing ministries of Joy Church, from music to dance to drama – was planned.  Performers from Korea – brethren who we had already invited before in the past to perform in some of our previous evangelical endeavors – were asked to participate in it.  5,000 attendees were the target amount – a majority of which should be unbelievers, since the main purpose of this massive event was the sharing the Gospel. 

So as soon as the year 2012 started, preparation for it started.  Spearheaded by our Spirit-filled visionary pastor, members started preparing for the Silver Anniversary throughout the year until the set date of December 2 by praying, giving special offerings (for the anniversary) every Sunday, praying, planning and organizing, praying, picking out and practicing the performances, praying, contacting and setting up the necessary services (advertisement, chairs, logistics, sounds, lights, fireworks, documentation, etc.) needed, and praying some more. 

The event was themed “Joyers, Arise, Shine!” and was separated into two parts: part 1 was the divine worship, and part 2 was the concert proper.  As the days grow closer to the event, aggressive advertizing was done through Facebook, radio, and the handing out of invitations (10,000 of which were prepared) by Joy Church members to family, friends, and acquaintances – preferably, unbelievers (again, the primary purpose of this grand event was for sharing the Gospel).

              

Financing such huge affair and drawing 5,000 people to the event to fill up Albay Astrodome were insanely impossible through human eyes.  But all things are possible with God… thus, despite the great odds stacked against it, the Silver Anniversary had been a smashing success!  God provided the necessary funding and God packed Astrodome with people!

Definitely, all glory to Him alone! 

Below are some videos taken from the official DVD of Joy Church’s Silver Anniversary.  Of course, since this is my site and my review, the videos featured are those performances that I’ve been part of.  LOL.  To view the entire content of the DVD and all performances, visit the official Facebook page of Joy Church. 

The first part was the divine worship.   Here are the videos of the praise and worship (in which I play the keyboards) as Joy Music Team led everyone in singing “One Day”, “Shout of the King”, and “Great is the Lord”:

After the praise and worship, (in which I would shift to the guitar; it would be the instrument I would play throughout the rest of the event) the Joy Music Team then played some hymns (in their Filipino translations) with Joy Church’s mini-orchestra (which my sister Wanda – playing violin – is part of):

Pastor Jose Dasco was the guest speaker for the divine worship.  More than half in attendance were non-believers, thus, more than 2,500 non-believers were able to hear the Gospel through Pastor Dasco. 

After the divine worship was Part 2, the concert proper.  Before I proceed with the performances from Joy Church, let me first discuss of the guest performers…

The two Korean guest performers that Joy Church had invited for the event were the Korean Traditional Arts Team (they first visited and performed in our event in BU Amphitheater last November 2011) and Yesua Band (who was the special guest during our concert at Albay Park last August 2010).
 

The four ladies of the Korean Traditional Arts Team – as the name suggests – performed Korean dances, played Korean native instruments, and one song (in Korean, of course). 

   

And Yesua Band had their trademark set of hymn instrumentals in their own catchy style.  The line-up of Yesua Band that performed in the Silver Anniversary Concert was different from the line-up when they first came here.  The bassist and pianist were new.  There was no longer a guitarist.  The trombonist – who fronted the band alongside the leader, the trumpeter – was gone.  Only Pastor Lim, the leader and trumpeter, and Kevin, the drummer, were left from the previous line-up.

 

A pleasant unexpected surprise, though, is they were able to bring world-class genius violinist Eugene Park with them.  Mr. Park performed with Yesua Band, as well as having his own separate set.  (Eugene Park is still a baby Christian being discipled by his manager, who is a Christian and is the one who encouraged him to be part of Joy Church’s anniversary.  I pray that he, in the end, will really begin to have a sincere and deep faith and relationship with God, so that his musical passion will be more effectively channeled, that is, doing it all for God, and, thus, creating the most excellent music that he can possibly do in each of his performance – music that is fit for the King of Kings!)     

One important and touching note: I heard that prior to coming to Legazpi to participate in Joy Church’s Silver Anniversary, Yesua Band held a concert for the benefit of Joy Church’s Silver Anniversary.  The money they raised for admission on that concert was donated to help in the expenses for Joy Church’s Silver Anniversary. 

 

The non-Korean guest performers we invited were our long-time friends and concert collaborators (they invite us in their events, we invite them in ours), the SOP Band.

I was surprised they didn’t do that fancy instrumental sequences of theirs when they played their flagship composition, “Trip to Heaven (Happily Ever After).” 

These three guest acts were spread out during the concert flow and not necessarily in the order of my enumeration. 

And now for the performances from Joy Church (not necessarily in order)…

There were two dances performed by the Joy Dance Team.  First was the “How Great Thou Art” Fan Dance…

And then a powerful dance later on…

Floodgates’ covered (the ever Floodgates’ favorite) DC Talk’s “Jesus Freak” and Gary V’s “Shout for Joy”...

 This was followed immediately by our rendition of Hillsong Kids’ “Alive”, “Get Up and Dance”, and “Royalty…

The Hand Mime Team, er, hand mimed “Who Am I”…

There was a new mime performance (after years of Sin Chair. lol) by the Joy Mime Team as well.  Careyl played the lead, representing humanity.  Joneil played God/Jesus.  Chano played Satan, the deceiver and destroyer.  Zion played a scientist-demon representing the false god, Science; pretending to know all the answers, but denies the existence of the burden of sin.  Kim played a banker-demon representing materialism and love of wealth; giving the illusion of freedom but would actually bankrupt someone until he or she carries a heavier burden of sin.  I play the albularyo-demon representing the occult, false religions, and worldly superstitions; providing temporary release from the burden of sins through bogus religious practices but actually only adds to its weight.  Carlo played the homosexual friend-demon, representing worldly and sinful pleasures, as he leads Careyl’s character to Basil, who played a gigolo/stripper-demon, representing lust and sexual sin.  Here’s how it went: 

Also, we had a musical drama that has a simple plot but powerful message…

Before the last part of the concert, Pastor Lee delivered a testimony and an “Amazing Grace”song number.  Unfortunately, I can not find an accompanying picture for this.

The last part was a powerful praise and worship – the songs were “Take It All”, “Trading My Sorrows”, “What the World Will Never Take”, “How Great is Our God”, and “Hallelujah to the Lamb” – which culminated with church representatives joining the band on stage… Oh, this is the part where the fireworks were used (at the end of “Hallelujah to the Lamb”)…

My experience with Joy Church’s Silver Anniversary – from the year-long preparation leading to the event and at the event itself – is not only a highlight in my 2012 but in my life as well.  It was a wonderful experience where I was able to witness closely the mighty hand of God working.  As I’ve mentioned before, it was a miracle that it happened.  It was a miracle that it was victorious.  Surely, it couldn’t have been so without God. 

* * *

A coin has two sides.  Above, I only discussed of the positive side of the event.  Although, the positive of course greatly outweighs the negative, it can’t be denied that the negative exists.  From here on, I would be addressing the other side of the coin – the negative.  If you don’t want to know of the negative aspects, if you prefer to end this article in a positive note, I suggest that you should stop reading now and let the previous paragraph be the end of this recap. 

Still here? 

You sure?  Fine, here goes…

The video service company commissioned to cover the event and produce the official DVD of the Silver Anniversary charged a hefty price and stipulated that the full amount should be paid at front.  We complied and a contract was made.

So, here’s what happened…

STRIKE 1: The contract states that they should be there at 12 noon (so that they would have enough time to set up their video equipment), but they arrived late.  Because of that, the program, which was scheduled to start at 1pm, started late at around 2:30pm.  If you watched the videos above, you would notice that the crowd during the last praise and worship – the final part of the concert – has already greatly thinned compared to the big crowd during the beginning, as seen in the videos of the praise and worship of the divine worship.  Now, this is my opinion – and just my opinion – that if we were able to start on time (1pm) and finished on time (around 5pm) as planned, most of the audience will remain intact till the end.  Because of the delayed start, the concert was already pushing nighttime but the performances were about just halfway, thus, the people were already getting restless and hungry for their supper.  The event finished at about past seven.  About half of the initial crowd of more than 5,000 was gone by then.   (Thankfully though, when Pastor Dasco had shared the Gospel – which is the most important part –during the divine worship, they were all still there to hear it… what matters most is they got to hear the Gospel!)

  

To be fair, the fireworks technicians were late, too, and were also a cause of delay.  There was a gap of about half an hour between the end of the divine worship and the start of the concert as they set up the fireworks equipment.  So the delays were not totally all the video firm’s fault.  Maybe just about ¾ of it.           

STRIKE 2: The contract stated that the DVD should be finished in two weeks.  But they have just finished it this second week of January 2013 (that’s why it was only recently that I was able to upload the videos and start writing this recap).  Worse, when someone followed-up the DVD back in December, instead of apologies, she received scolding from the owner!  The nerve!

STRIKE 3: So it took more than a month, instead of the agreed two weeks, to assemble the official DVD of the Silver Anniversary.  I expected that being late in producing the DVD would ensure that they would have enough time in constructing an excellent piece of work.  Considering their expensive charging, I was expecting the video coverage and output to be the same kind of professional quality that we experienced when we performed at Will Graham’s crusade last 2011.  But what did we get?  The video editing was so terribly done!  Messy switching of camera perspectives which provoked a bit of nausea.  There were many parts where the audio is out of sync with the video.  There were cuts in the middle of performances. 

Yes, I am very much thankful for the DVD because through it, the grace of God during the Silver Anniversary can be relived!  However, considering the fact that this video service company’s output didn’t give justice to their expensive charging, and that they were rude and tardy, their service was a big disappointment.     

For what my recommendations are worth to you, I strongly advice that if you find yourself needing video documentation services, do not turn to D____ Studio.  That is all.      


(Hmmm.  Talking of milestones, this post is a milestone by its own: the first time I posted something as both a "My Thoughts" post and a "My Videos" post.  LOL. Click here for more video posts.)

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Top 10 Movies of 2012 (Second Half Edition)

As I’ve already mentioned in the first half edition (if you haven’t read it yet, I recommend that you should first), the movies featured in this second half edition are not necessarily those released during the second half of 2012, but, rather, movies I was able to watch during the second half of the year.  So I’ve already listed the top ten movies I’ve seen during the first half of 2012 in the first half edition (if you haven’t read it yet, I recommend that you should first), and after the second half edition’s listing below, my top 10 overall picks of 2012 are derived from the two editions’ top tens.  Django Unchained (especially this!), Life of Pi (and this!), Lawless, The Silver Lining Playbook, Les Misérables, and Jack Reacher are the 2012 movies that I wanted to watch most but were not able to do so during 2012, but would have been likely contenders and eventual inclusions to this list if I had been able to watch them last year.    

10.) THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

 

The tenth spot was a struggle between Ted, Cloud Atlas, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  Ted was the most hilarious movie of the year, and Cloud Atlas, despite being less than what I expected, still featured brilliant visuals and makeup and costume design; solid acting; a fresh narrative style; and an exciting concept of having six interacting and thought-stimulating stories.  But, after further evaluating them, I decided that The Perks of Being a Wallflower was the superior of the three contenders for the last spot.        

I was unfamiliar with the source material (the book) so I expected it to be another generic “coming of age” teen drama.  Thus, I was pleasantly surprised how good this movie was.  Great, actually.  It had captivating storytelling and emphatic themes.  And the actors (or, at least, the three leads) were great in making the characters they played entertaining – especially Ezra Miller as Patrick.     

9.) PARANORMAN

 

This movie is the best – as well as the most underrated – of all animated movies this year.  This stop-motion movie was no The Nightmare Before Christmas nor Coraline, but, along with Frankenweenie, ParaNorman seem to prove the notion that “if it’s stop-motion animation, then it has a good story.”

The movie tells of a boy named Norman who has the talent to see ghosts.  Because of this, Norman becomes a pariah of a skeptical town.  However, this talent of his comes to play when Norman has to save the town from an ancient evil. 

This movie not only delivers a good and enjoyable story, but it also tackles deep, important, and thought-provoking themes which include making a stand for what is right despite the overwhelming opposition; the terrifying harm brought by mob mentality; and the fear of the unknown and what is different lead to making irrational, bigoted, and hateful decisions.     

8.) MOONRISE KINGDOM

 

In a “small island community” setting, twelve year-old “Khaki Scout” (kind of like a Boy Scout) Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop, daughter of attorney parents, fell in love and decided to elope.  They hiked and camped in the wilderness of the island while the Khaki Scouts and their scoutmaster, Susan’s parents, and the island’s police captain (and, presumably, only policeman) were in pursuit, searching for them.  Of course, since Sam and Suzy are merely children and they were only confined in a small island, hilarity ensues.       

Moonrise Kingdom featured several big name stars, and, thus, assuring us of high-quality and entertaining acting performances.  The humor produced by the movie doesn’t inspire belly-aching laughter, but the charming, witty amusement it does offer is still perfect comic quality.  The premise and delivery of the story gives a feeling of warm and pleasant entertainment, which was present from start to finish.        

7.) END OF WATCH

 

Unless you consider The Raid: Redemption a cop movie, then End of Watch is arguably the best cop movie of the year.  This may even be the best cop movie in years!  Most cop movies feature plainclothes detectives-type protagonists, who are gloriously decorated and revered by pop culture; End of Watch’s protagonists, however, are uniformed police officers – the ones who deal with the “dirty” and modest day-to-day police work, and are oftentimes the first ones on the scene of the trouble.  The action in this movie is intense, and the idea of having hand-held cameras an integral part of the narrative made the viewing experience more personal – as if you are also part of the action.  It is very informative and thought-provoking, providing a closer look to the life of a policeman – from cop SOPs and daily routines, to personal struggles and camaraderie – which allows you to have a deeper appreciation and respect for the police. 

6.) SKYFALL

Many say that Skyfall is the best Bond film ever.  And though I am still not convinced that it is, I can’t blame them for thinking this.  Personally, I still believe that Casino Royale is still the best Bond film that stars Craig.  Nonetheless, Skyfall was sheer 007 awesomeness. 

I’ve become familiar with James Bond with the films first, thus, I grew up identifying Bond films with the wacky and gadget-packed movies of Connery, Moore, and – most importantly – Brosnan.  Later on, I would read the books and discover that, though the stories are still over-the-top, they were grittier and more down-to-earth than the movie interpretation of 007.  Skyfallcarries perfectly the tone of the original Ian Fleming books (which is the main charm of this current Bond series).    

Casino Royale might be the first Bond film that has Daniel Craig in the lead role, but Skyfall was as much as a Bond “intro” film as Casino Royale.  And this is the best thing about Skyfall: it makes you excited for the future of the franchise.  I sure miss the wackiness of the Bond movies I grew up with, but with Skyfall, I am also thrilled of this interpretation of Bond – being more closely similar to the feel of the book – and looking forward on where all of this will go.    

   

5.) ARGO

 

Prior to watching Argo, I was already familiar with the episode in history it was based on (read something about it when I was still in my teens).  But in spite of knowing about how everything will turn out, it was still a thrilling and suspenseful movie experience.  What do I mean?  Let me pick the scene where they were in the airport, under false identities, about to escape from Iran.  I already know that that escape mission was a success, basing on history, but that sequence in the airport was so intensely and dramatically well done that it still gave me the feeling of apprehensively wondering, “Will they successfully deceive the guards and escape?”  Kudos to Ben Afleck for bringing this about.  Definitely a strong candidate for an Academy Award for Best Director this year (will be surprised if not at least nominated).    

4.) RUROUNI KENSHIN

 

Dear Hollywood:  Making an awesome live-action adaptation of anime is possible.  Learn from this.

3.) THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

 

There are some who were disappointed with how this movie turned out.  I am not one of them.  I think the problem with those who found this movie lacking is benchmarking it with Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring (or to the whole LOTR trilogy altogether).  Which is unfair.  Few movies can ever measure up with that first LOTR movie, so why take it against An Unexpected Journey for failing to do so?  Consider also that even with the source material, the LOTR books easily dwarfs (no pun intended) “The Hobbit”.      

As it is, An Unexpected Journey was epic.  It was a very solid start for this new trilogy; it even somehow convinced me that stretching The Hobbit into a trilogy – despite having only one book and some of Tolkien's notes as base material – was a good idea.

2.) LINCOLN

Abraham Lincoln is my most favorite and beloved president (of any country) ever.  That’s why I was so excited by the time I learned that Steven Spielberg is making a Lincoln biopic with Daniel Day-Lewis – who is notorious a legend in obsessively and meticulously playing his character as much authenticity as he can – in the lead role.  I greatly looked forward for this film… and it delivered!  Lincoln, Spielberg, and Day-Lewis are my hands down bets for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor respectively for the Oscars this year. 

I was expecting, however, that it would portray the entirety or most of Lincoln’s life.  It did not, which is a minor disappointment.  It only covered the final four months of Lincoln’s life, and the showcase of his political genius as he maneuvers and pushes to have the 13^th Amendment passed in Congress.   And, in the end, I was satisfied with that.  It was still an awesome movie depiction of a great man. 

There were not much portrayal of Civil War battles here – though the scenes portraying action in the House of Representatives was as much thrilling as if they were Civil War battle scenes – so don’t expect epic battle scenes.  But remember, this is no Civil War movie.  It’s about Lincoln.  This movie is to celebrate that great man.  Daniel Day-Lewis does the best performance of his career, as he effectively brings his character to life, lighting up every scene he’s in.  Such a joy to watch. 

   

1.) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

I concluded in the first half edition of my top 2012 movies list that it is improbable for The Dark Knight Rises to beat The Avengers for my number one spot this year.  However, it was able to do just that.  By a hair, The Dark Knight Rises is better than The Avengers.   “By a hair” because The Avengers is still a close second. 

“By a hair” because, as excellent and intelligent the movie is, it still had several plot holes that is easily noticed.  I usually give slack to a story with plot holes as long as they’re minor and the story is so brilliant that you can overlook them.   In the case of The Avengers, the sheer awesomeness of it as a comic book movie was really overwhelming that it made me blinded of the flaws – if any (since I didn’t notice,  or if did notice, I had unconsciously ignored).   

However, in the case of Nolan’s Batman depiction, it was never the usual comic book movie take.  These Nolan-made Batman movies can only be considered as “comic book movies” because of the characters, setting, and some elements taken from the comic book.  But away from that, it was not a comic book movie.  The movies’ mythos is definitely different from the comic books’.  This Batman Trilogy is too much insightful, profound, deep, artful, intelligent, and reflective to be a mere comic book movie.   It was more than that.  Nolan’s Batman Trilogy is what to comic book movies as what Alan Moore’s Watchmen is to comic books.   Christopher Nolan spoiled us for creating several thought-provoking films (The Dark Knight, the film’s predecessor, being one of them) that we were expecting The Dark Knight Rises to be perfect.  His films are so intelligent that when there are plot holes, they easily stand out and can bother the audience.  There are several of them in The Dark Knight Rises, but I am willing to consciously forgive them.

So maybe the high expectations were this movie’s disadvantage.  But, hey, even with this disadvantage, it still took the number one spot!  That’s how awesome this movie is.  If there were no noticeable plot holes, this movie could have been the overwhelming choice for my number one movie this year. 

Nonetheless, The Dark Knight Riseswas well-written, immensely entertaining, and a satisfying and epic conclusion to Nolan’s Batman Trilogy.

* * *

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2012

10.) John Carter (The majority might hate it, but this is definitely underrated!  This movie is pure old school sci-fi epicness!) 

9.) Argo

8.) Rurouni Kenshin

7.) The Hunger Games

6.) The Raid: Redemption

5.) The Amazing Spider-Man

4.) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

3.) Lincoln

2.) The Avengers

1.) The Dark Knight Rises 

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ALICF "Fan the Fire" Worship Warfare Intercession

Last January 4, at Ibalong Conference Room, the Legazpi cluster of Albay Legazpi Inter-Church Fellowship (ALICF) held a special event - per "Fan the Fire" theme of ALICF's annual provincial gathering of 2012 (on November 30, 2012) - in which evangelical churches in Legazpi gathered and had a praise and worship battery.  Bicol Presbyterian Joy Church was the one of 6 churches given the honor of leading this gathering of Legazpi churches in praising and worshiping God.  

Not all songs were captured by video, but the majority of Joy Music Team's praise and worship set is below: 

click here for more videos

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