The Way Ash Ketchum Finally Won His First Pokémon League Championship Was Disappointing

There used to be an old saying that went, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes and Ash Ketchum never winning a Pokémon League.”  Well, that saying isn’t true anymore.  After 22 years – and after falling short six times before – Satoshi a.k.a. Ash has finally won his very first League championship in the most recent episode of Pokémon Sun and Moon!

Just like everyone who has been a Pokémon fan at some point of his life, I was delighted when this news dropped.  But after watching for myself the two-episode championship match of the Alola League, my elation disappeared.

Three years ago, after Ash’s maddening loss in the final round of the Kalos League, I thought the show’s writers missed the best opportunity of finally giving Ash the satisfying win that everyone was waiting for.  Concluding my reaction article for it, the exasperated me wrote this:

“I just hope that when the showrunners decide to finally let Ash win it all in the Pokemon League, it would be sufficiently gratifying to make up for all of this crap.”

Unfortunately, Ash’s Alola win didn’t quite make up for his Kalos loss – or the accumulated frustration through the years derived from his peripheral losing for that matter.  Let me explain.

LeBron's First Year with the Lakers was a Disaster

From day one, everyone in the media asserted that making the playoffs was already a given for the Lakers, just because of the mere fact that LeBron is now in the team.  And for two months or so, it was looking that way.  But then, their playoff positioning steadily slipped away, and the season eventually devolved into a dumpster fire.  As a Lakers fan for almost all of my life, I’m of course frustrated that my team isn’t in the playoffs for the sixth year in a row (and haven’t won a championship in nearly a decade).

The following are the sources of my exasperation, dismay, and displeasure regarding the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2018-19 season:

That Was the Dumbest Battle Plan in, Like, Ever

Fans are raving about the latest episode of Game of Thrones, “The Long Night.”  But in my case, my enjoyment was undermined by two things: a.) the dark cinematography; and b.) the shockingly dumb and inefficient battle strategy that the people in Winterfell employed.

Look.  I’m no expert in military strategy.  But as a layman – and a fan of turn-based and real-time strategy PC games and grand battles – looking in, I was appalled by their lack of preparation and waste of troops.  Sure, they were greatly outnumbered, and would have been overwhelmed no matter what, but they could have considerably prolonged the inevitable or even win narrowly but straightforwardly.

My face was red in fury while watching the Winterfell allies’ strategy (or lack thereof) unfold.  At that moment, I wished Robb Stark was still around.  But come to think of it, they did have capable strategists in the Lannister brothers.  Were they too shy to point out how atrocious Jon Snow’s strategy was?  I presume Jon Snow called the shots.  Only someone like him – courageous and honorable, but had time and time again proven to have no chops as a tactician – can contrive such disastrous battle plan.

Let me air out my problems with it.  Let’s start with the obvious…

For the First Time in More Than a Decade, I Am Rooting for LeBron James

I’m not a fan of LeBron James.  But I do recognize his greatness, and enjoy watching him play.  However, I simply find it more fun rooting against him.  First of all, he’s the best player in the NBA, and since he’s at the top of the food chain, he’s like the “big boss” of a video game to me.  The “big boss” is the strongest, biggest, baddest mofo, and you would want to see him beaten.

A Tribute to Manu Ginobili, My Most Favorite Spur Ever

Manu Ginobili is my all-time favorite Spur.  And after 16 years in the NBA – playing for the San Antonio Spurs the entire time – the now 41-year-old has decided to retire.  He’s had a terrific career.  Four championships.  Two All-Star selections.  Two All-NBA Third Team selections.  A Sixth Man of the Year award.  Without the proper context, his accolades appear relatively unremarkable, especially when compared to what his comrade-in-arms Tim Duncan had earned.  Nevertheless, I strongly believe he deserves to get into the Hall of Fame.

The Warriors Put LeBron Out of His Misery in Game 4

My other Finals recaps:

-Game 1

-Game 2

-Game 3

Down 0-3 entering Game 4, the Cavs fought gallantly until the end with a never-say-die effort.  LeBron James was a monster with his six turnovers and five fouls.  Rodney Hood took a team-high 14 shots, and scored a whopping total of ten points.  Kyle Korver was a scorching 0-of-5 behind the arc.  Most importantly, their unselfish team play and balanced scoring were so impressive as multiple Cavs scored in single digits.  Meanwhile, their defense was so suffocating, it held Zaza Pachulia to just 2 points.

Just kidding.  The Cavs were pathetic.  No grit.  No heart.  They took this lying down.  They played as if they had already accepted their fate, and Game 4 was just the coup de grace.  They played as if they had already made their vacation plans and couldn’t wait for this to be over.  Thus, the Warriors never really met any resistance in completing the sweep, which granted them back-to-back championships and their third title in four years.

For the Second Straight Year, Game 3 Saw KD Lead the Dubs in Pushing the Cavs to the Brink of a Sweep

The Finals shifted to the Cavs’ home court for Game 3, and as expected, the role players did a much better job helping LeBron James, who had 33 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds.  Kevin Love had a solid 20 points at 46% shooting along with 13 rebounds.  Game 1 MVP J.R. Smith had 13 points.  And Rodney Hood got unleashed, shooting 7-of-11 for 15 points in 25 minutes of play.  They were physical and active for most of the game.

Meanwhile, the Splash Brothers were awful.  Klay Thompson only managed to take 11 shots and score 10 points within 40 minutes.  And Stephen Curry, fresh from setting a Finals record for most three-pointers made, was an abysmal 1-of-10 from behind the arc, and just scored 11 points overall.

Didn’t matter.  Warriors still took a 3-0 lead.

Stephen Curry Showed in Game 2 that He Should Be Finals MVP This Time Around

In comparison to Game 1, Game 2 was really uneventful.  The Warriors fans hilariously trolled J.R. Smith by giving him a loud stading ovation during player introductions and “MVP” chants when he was on the line, and Stephen Curry jawed with Kendrick Perkins at the end of the third, but there was no real, notable drama in this game.

The Warriors were in total control all throughout the game, and ended up with a blowout win.  There were stretches where the Cavs hanged around, but the home team would make demoralizing plays that would extinguish fires before they could even get started.  The Cavs failed to use their frustrating Game 1 loss as drive to come out angry, and play energized, gritty basketball.

J.R. Smith Overshadows LeBron James in Game 1

For the fourth straight year, the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers are meeting in the Finals.  And just like every one of those past meetings, the former enter the series as the favorites to win it all.  In fact, much more so this time around as the Cavs no longer have Kyrie Irving, and this team is really the weakest LeBron James has ever had since 2007.  However, this is also probably the most impressive postseason run LeBron has ever had.  Without any consistently reliable help from teammates, the 33-year-old James, at his fifteenth year in the league, had to perform on an unbelievably godlike level almost every game in order to get out of the East and into his eight straight Finals.

Nevertheless, though he’s the best player in the world, the Warriors are an all-time great team.  Thus, most expected an easy Game 1 win for the Warriors.  However, that wouldn’t be the case.  Though they won, it wasn’t easy at all.  They needed an extra period and a couple of lucky breaks to secure a victory.  How come?  For LeBron James went Ultra Instinct on them.

Pros & Cons of the Lakers' 2017-2018 Season

As a Laker fan, this recent season was a mixed bag, as there are both things to be bummed and happy about.  Let me elaborate.

Goodbye, Doctor. Hello, Doctor.

Part 1: “Doctor... I Let You Go.”

Regeneration scenes have always been among Doctor Who’s most exciting, powerful, and poignant moments.  But the farewell of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor in the recent excellent Christmas special “Twice Upon a Time” has been especially emotional and impactful for me.  It’s probably because the Twelfth has been my first Doctor.

Fox Bends the Knee to the House of Mouse

Due to desperate deals made in the past, prior to being acquired by Disney, Marvel didn’t have the movie rights for every comic book character it owns.  Spider-Man was with Sony, while the X-Men and the Fantastic Four were with Fox.  When the Marvel Cinematic Universe became a thing, every fan dreamed of the day where Spidey, the X-Men, and the FF would stand alongside the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy in the big screen.  It seemed to be far-fetched at that time, but Marvel Studios, having the same desire as the fans, slowly made moves to realize this.  First, in a delightfully surprising development in 2015, Marvel cut a deal with Sony to bring Spidey into the MCU.  And now, before 2017 ends, it has been made official: the X-Men and the Fantastic Four are now also coming to the MCU!

But unlike the deal with Sony, this is brought about by a significantly more shocking event.  After failing to close the deal last month, Disney – Marvel’s parent company – has finally been able to buy Fox for $52.4 billion!  This is a way, way bigger than the time Disney acquired Star Wars.

Emperor Mickey must be pretty pleased with his latest conquest.  Just in time for Christmas.  A tremendous present indeed.

Why DCW's "Crisis on Earth-x" Is So Much Better Than the DCEU's 'Justice League'

After the fantastic Flash/Supergirl musical crossover, I wished that the next annual DCW mega-crossover would be a musical as well, since almost all DCW cast members have musical talent.  Well, that was not what happened, but “Crisis on Earth-X” turned out being what I think is the greatest Arrowverse crossover special yet.  It isn’t perfect.  It does rely on a few clichéd tropes.  But it overall succeeds in being immensely fun and delivering the best of what superhero TV can deliver.

“Crisis on Earth-X” had impeccable synergy among characters, cool surprises, high stakes, heart-rending drama, humor in appropriate amounts and right moments, tongue-in-cheek references (e.g. Earth-2 Wells telling Supergirl to deal with a huge threat by flying “Up.  Up.  And Away!”), and a good amount of thrilling, action-packed set pieces.  It showed a giant teamup of superheroes going against Nazis, fascinating doppelgangers, a major character death, the return of Flash’s greatest villain, the debut of a new DCW hero, Supergirl getting to be a wedding singer, Green Arrow doing something Batmanly once again (i.e. harboring a kryptonite arrow), letting Mick Rory be Mick Rory, the possible meeting of Barry and a time-traveling descendant, a dogfight between two Waveriders, and much more – everything to make the four-part event a superhero TV masterpiece!

With this in mind, I believe “Crisis on Earth-X” is a better superhero teamup than Justice League.

Celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation

Happy Reformation Day!

This year’s holiday is particularly special because it marks the 500^th year since Martin Luther supposedly nailed his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenburg.  Some say that the act of nailing them on the door is just a legend.  Regardless of whether this account is literal or not, the point is, Luther had made known on this date the strong opposition he had for the Roman Catholic Church’s practice of selling indulgences and challenged them for debate.  Thus – though there were various figures prior to Luther that attempted to challenge and reform the Catholic Church, like Jan Hus and John Wycliffe – the event has become widely considered as the start of the Reformation movement.

How to Improve Christian Movies

I’ve already previously discussed my problem with Christian movies, and why I think the focus of the Christian filmmaking paradigm should shift from making Christian movies to making great movies.  For magnetic acting, brilliant direction, inspired scripts, engrossing storytelling, gorgeous cinematography, moving sound design, and exquisite production value can prove to be more impactful foretastes of the richness of the Gospel than a direct but diluted delivery of it, something most Christian movies are guilty of.  As a follow up on that, I intend to convey in this essay a thought, a suggestion, on how Christian movies can be bettered.

As Anticipated, the Dubs Wrapped It Up in Game 5

My other recaps this Finals:

-Game 1

-Game 2
-Game 3
-Game 4

No way would the Golden States Warriors blow another 3-1 lead.  Thus, they are the 2017 NBA Champions.

Yay!

The Cavs Are a Team With Nothing to Lose, and They Played as Such in Game 4

After earning a 3-0 lead in impressive fashion going into Game 4, the question is no longer whether the Warriors will win the championship or not, but when will they win it.  Regardless of the result of the game, nothing would really change – the Golden State Warriors are going to be the 2016-2017 champions.  Hence, the Cavaliers had nothing to lose in Game 4.  Might as well go supernova in the first quarter without concerning themselves about reserving energy for the home stretch.  And their attitude paid off.  They scored a Finals-record 49 points in the first quarter – resulting into 86 at the half, another Finals record.  The resulting lead was insurmountable enough for the Dubs to catch up to.

For the Cavs, Game 3 Was Game Over

For the first time this Finals, the Golden State Warriors didn’t rout the Cleveland Cavaliers.  But they still got the Game 3 win though.  Up 3-0, it’s now all but certain that they are going to win their second championship in three years.

In Game 2, Kevin Durant Displayed His Great Versatility (at the Expense of Kevin Love)

After being destroyed in Game 1, the Cleveland Cavaliers did a better job in Game 2.  LeBron James was excellent (triple double, 12-of-18 shots), and the Cavs kept it competitive in the first half.  Then the second half came.  For the second straight game, they got humiliated.

If Game 1 Is Any Indication, Klay Thompson Is Going to Be a Genuine Nightmare for the Cavs

The Golden State Warriors drew first blood in their record-setting third straight Finals matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Despite not quite functioning at their best (they missed a couple of easy layups and open looks; Klay and Draymond only combined for 6-of-29 shooting), they managed to rout the defending champions due primarily to the following reasons: