I remember watching this show when it first aired on Nickelodeon, even as a kid I felt this show was out of place from the wacky, silly cartoons that shared the channel with it. Avatar: The Last Airbender always felt more mature and prestigious with way more powerful emotion, it just was way too good for Nickelodeon. I was not the type of kid to appreciate the art of this show, as I was still the type of kid who liked goofy slapstick- my holy trinity on Nickelodeon was The Fairly OddParents, Jimmy Neutron, and of course, SpongeBob SquarePants. In fact, I did not even watch Avatar: The Last Airbender past the second season—my Mom told me she read an article saying that it was a bad show for Christians to be watching.

So for years I did not watch a single episode from the show (and wisely avoided the insultingly awful live action movie). Earlier this year when I decided to revisit the show on Netflix, the first episode did not hook me. Upon watching Raya and the Last Dragon, I was inspired to give the show another chance, and a few more episodes later, I was fully committed, and made it to the end of the series, even watching season three for the first time. Now I can proudly say that I absolutely love this series.

The series proves to be masterful in its powerful arcs for every single character, even the ones typically labeled as the villains, written in ways that most adult shows cannot figure out. I love the imagination of the creators behind this show, and how fluidly they can merge together unique ideas, creative worldbuilding, relevant themes, and sociopolitical commentary in ways that both kids and adults can relate to. This show should be taught in graduate school level psychology classes with its immense existential philosophy and the complexity of human relationships.
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There’s quite a bit that Christians can pick up from this valuable series too, when you set aside the false concepts of reincarnation and multiple deities, the lessons of the characters are reflected perfectly from the Bible. Now, I’ll describe the Scriptural parallels within core development of the seven main characters of the series: Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Iroh, and Azula.

Everyone knows Shrek as the movie that changed the face of American animation forever by setting a new industry standard reliant on crass humor and pop culture references, which unfortunately still plagues animated films to this day. But DreamWorks’ mega hit stood out more due to its glorious dump on fairy tale tropes and everything the Disney corporation promotes, it proved how the media’s standards of beauty continually poison our expectations of who’s truly capable of loving. Shrek is a big ugly ogre who deep down wants to love someone else; Fiona is a classic fair princess who can defend herself; together, they make an unlikely pair that better resembles God’s vision of marriage than the celebrity marriages many Americans worship. (Ephesians 5:22-33, 1 Corinthians 7:4)

​Before realizing her love for Shrek, Fiona wants to marry only to break the spell and look beautiful forever, much like how Lord Farquaad only wants to marry her so he can be king, thus making Duloc a kingdom. (1 Corinthians 7:8-9) This motive of his is revealed the instant he discovers what happens to Fiona when the sun sets, and he impulsively decides to send her to the castle forever… only to be eaten by the very dragon which kept her. Unlike Farquaad, Shrek sees Fiona as beautiful whether or not she’s an ogress, Fiona’s inner spirit stays unchanged even when her outward appearance changes. (1 Peter 3:3-4) It makes sense why Shrek and Fiona have such solid understanding of each other, as Shrek likewise feels he has no choice but to live in the swamp alone, with plans to build a wall around it, to keep out everyone who runs in fear from him before they get to know him. (Matthew 7:1)

​While growing up in the church, I have watched three different adaptations of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, including the 2005 version, and at one point as a kid also read the first of the classic fantasy book series known for its strong Christian symbolism. Though looking back on anytime I had a Sunday school teacher or junior high director discuss the Biblical parallels in The Chronicles of Narnia, the lesson always scratched the surface. So now, I wish to revisit the theatrical film to see just how Biblical it really is; turns out the Christian themes are not that deep. In fact, this film adapted from the work of C.S. Lewis is a poor representation of the Kingdom of Heaven.

First off, the way the four Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, enter Narnia together makes them all look like cowards: they try to hide from their guardian after Edmund smashes a cricket ball through a window. Then shortly after they arrive, they meet two talking beavers literally named, “Mr. and Mrs. Beaver,” who feed them a meal of “fish and chips…” actual raw fish and woodchips. Later on their journey of fleeing the White Witch, they meet Father Christmas, whom Mr. Beaver introduces three of the four kids to by saying, “Hope you’ve been good!” While hearing some of these beats of the story described this way, it certainly doesn’t sound like Narnia makes a whole lot of sense as a fantasy world. Why does it have the exact same history of Christmas as the human world? Yeah, it’s explained in the book series, but not in this movie, so therefore, in this version, it’s a plot hole. Lucy even seems to take advantage of meeting old Saint Nick by saying to Susan and Peter, “Told you he was real!”

History has just been made! This was a ceremony really unlike any other, with the COVID restrictions preventing a traditional ceremony, the awards had to be announced in an entirely different location from the usual Dolby Theater, and several of those nominees had to be telecast from remote locations around the globe. There also was a shift in focus in the ceremony, where jokes were kept to a huge minimum, and the speeches were centered around the nominees themselves rather than the movies. This actually was a nice change of pace, as it humanized these celebrities and behind-the-scenes workers more, revealing how even during a global pandemic we all need artists to guide us on how to sort out the confusion of our times. Although there were still plenty of issues that made this more of an awkward ceremony than even the unfortunate Best Picture mix-up four years ago. But before I go into that, here's the full list of winners from last night:

This year is expectedly going to end up entirely different from a lot of other years, due to movie theaters being closed and a rather small amount of films being widely seen by the general public. I can already anticipate that this year will hit a new kind of low for Oscar viewership, so much so, that it will force a monumental change in the Academy's strategy of marketing and streaming the ceremony.

It's especially tricky because a number of these categories have no clear frontrunner, or even no frontrunner at all. Look at the Best Actress race: The Golden Globe went to Andra Day, the BAFTA went to Frances McDormand, the SAG went to Viola Davis, so WHO WILL WIN??? Also, while Nomadland may technically be the frontrunner for Best Picture, is it really the type of movie that the Academy will just gush over? I don't think so, it's not that relevant for what went on in America in 2020, which led me to wonder if The Trial fo the Chicago 7 winning best cast ensemble at the SAGs will give it a chance at winning the top prize. I mean, it sounds like the ideal safe pick with its appeal to the #BlackLivesMatter protests of this year and with its all-star cast and with it being directed by someone the Academy already loves. So honestly, I'm going to have to guess that Trial will jump out and surprise us all. Don't get me wrong, it's not necessarily a good movie, in fact, it's the worst of the nominated films, but I'm trying to predict which wins would be the most realistic, rather than what I want to see win.

So without further ado, here's my predictions on the winners in all 23 categories:

Mel Gibson’s heavily controversial mega hit attempts to give a godly message by saying that we, like Jesus commanded, ought to love one another. (John 13:34-35, Ephesians 4:31-32) Except The Passion of the Christ ultimately uplifts human accomplishment beyond God’s accomplishment by demeaning a relationship with the Lord to be futile in comparison to good relationships with others. After all, according to this film’s misguided logic, the disciples are never having a close bond with Jesus, so why should we?
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It starts in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus is seen praying to the Father, and requesting the possibility that the cup could pass. During this inner conflict, Satan appears, telling Jesus that one man cannot bear the burden of sin; a snake even slithers out from the Deceiver’s robes, only to have its head crushed by Jesus’ foot, (Genesis 3:15) depicting how reliance on prayer is the ultimate weapon against temptation. Then right before the flogging begins, Jesus prays to God, “My heart is ready.” He later embraces the cross as he’s carried to his crucifixion place, saying, “I’m your servant Father.” (Matthew 16:24-25) Although one of the two prisoners sent to be crucified alongside him calls him a fool for embracing his cross, Jesus is still seen forgiving his condemners, and for the right reason: because God forgives them. (Luke 23:24) This adaptation does get right the selfless good of Jesus and his followers versus the way the Chief Priests foolishly skew their own personal morals, but compared to all else the movie gets wrong, these components it gets right are automatically rendered worthless.

Years like this prove why storytelling is really so important. Working on a motion picture may not be an "essential" profession, but just what stories offer us are probably the most effective modes of moral and informative guidance for the average human being, far more so than what the government may try to do to control our lives. When Jesus had to give an answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus didn't just say, "Everybody is your neighbor" and call it a day, he did something far more impactful: he gave a parable, a potential scenario that the listener could relate to, so that he could see Jesus' point made in action. It's exactly the same way with the movies and TV shows we watch nowadays. We may watch them primarily for entertainment, but we always consciously pick up on new ways to look at the world and obtain moral guidance on issues we are uncertain about. 

That's why your state governor could tell you all he wants that you are required to wear a mask while in a public space. But that alone won't necessarily convince you to do so. Rather, if you heard about someone who wasn't wearing a mask while out shopping and someone s/he came into contact with got Coronavirus and died a few weeks later, that would motivate you in a heartbeat to add a mask into the essential items you must have on you every time you leave the house, along with your phone, keys, wallet, and ID.

Thus, as my custom every year around awards time, I will give my picks for the best out of the films I saw this calendar year. Except I won't be including the January-February 2021 timeframe that the Academy of Motion Pictures added this year to accommodate to the films that suffered from delayed release dates. But don't worry: Nomadland, The Father, Minari, and Judas and the Black Messiah ​will gladly be in next year's TVOH Awards!

You may be thinking, “Thank goodness nobody ever actually produced a crazy TV show like The Truman Show!” But guess what? Believe it or not, we are actually living in that crazy TV show right now! That is, not in the way that we’re all living in a giant biodome with hidden cameras that are recording everything we do 24/7, but more in the fact that the media industry has turned us into walking advertisements for their own benefit. The Lord hates the way those authoritative influencers take advantage of their consumers for the sake of money, in fact, He wants us to say to our system, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” (Psalm 101:3)

The creator of this TV show, Christof, believes he created a perfect utopia for Truman to spend his whole life in; he sees himself as a god, and everyone else working on the show seems to see him as one too. Even Marlon, who plays Truman’s friend on the show, says while watching the sunset, “That’s the big guy!” It sounds as if he meant God, except he actually meant Christof, whose window down into the fake town resides within the fake moon. As much as Christof feels like a god here, he still fails to realize that his creation shall never resemble the Kingdom of Heaven. (John 14:2) During his opening monologue, Christof insists that none of the Truman Show is scripted, yet these words are quickly contradicted when he’s seen whispering words into Marlon’s earpiece for him to repeat to Truman. He also is seen directing the union between Truman and his father, and sending out a terrible storm that the others beside him are worried will kill Truman. He is indeed replicating god-like powers, but his hypocrisy is the only test of authority needed to prove why he isn’t only not a god, but also must never be followed as a leader. (1 John 4:1-6)

Oh my gosh... I did probably the worst I've ever done at this predicting game. That's kinda the most I have to say about this. I've been unable to sleep all night, totalling at probably an hour of sleep, because I was so anxious and fearful of how accurate I would be in my predictions. Turns out I had every right to be afraid, because I didn't do so well compared to past years. I mean, I guess you can't blame me, because this has been the weirdest year for movies the world has ever seen. So let's just get to it. Here are the official Academy Award nominees:

Well, it's happening. It's two months late, but it's happening. Since movie theaters have been shut down for most of this year, it seemed often like it wouldn't have even been worth it having the Oscars ceremony at all. But with this two month delay, there seems to be a passable amount of films that would work out well as Oscar nominees. I can already tell that 2020 marked as a massive turning point for the movie industry, while that unfortunately means the theatrical experience may have to go extinct or just be not as common, it's leaving more opportunities for films released straight to streaming to get noticed. So with that said, here's my predictions in what will be nominated next week (March 15th 8:30 a.m. ET/5:30 a.m. PT) for the Academy Awards!