Best and worst of 2011

Time again for our list of the best and worst of 2011!

 Best movie: While I laughed out loud watching "Ang babae sa septic tank," I was enchanted by "Nino," an indie movie about a proud family whose fortunes have faded. The movie is held together by the tour de force performance of Fides Cuyugan Ascencio. My mom who also loves opera would love this.

Honorable mention:Ang babae sa septic tank,  Ang Sayaw ng dalawang kaliwang paa, Zombadings: patayin sa shokot si remington all prove that Filipino cinema is alive and well!

Worst movie: Red riding hood. What the hell was that, I kept thinking after watching/ wasting 2hours of my life. Confused and confusing, it makes me mad just thinking about it.

Dishonorable mention: The smurfs. Not even Jayma Mays and Neil Patrick Harris could save this.

Best TV show: Community, about misfits in a community college is the best out there. Yes, better than Modern Family but hardly anyone sees it. And now it is on hiatus. Life is unfair.

Honorable mention: Amaya, a Pinoy-made telenovela that finally mines our rich heritage. The story kind of sagged when they extended it and it may have some issues with proper Filipino grammar but the bigger picture is how it has made pre-hispanic Pinoy culture so cool!

Game of Thrones--at first I was disappointed that it wasn't Lord of the Rings. Then i was glad it wasn't LOTR! It's so raunchy and violent and intriguing that I had to read all the other novels as soon as I could download them!

Worst TV show: Iglot-Uncute mascot plus a reprehensible story where they make a child weep every episode that I'm surprised she's not dehydrated plus rumors of Claudine's bad work ethic that led to the shows early cancellation equals worst on my list

Best song: Adele's Rolling in the deep is very trendy but I teared up when I first heard Rascall Flatts' Bless the Broken Road. Yes, it was made in 2008 but I only really listened to it now.


Worst song: It has to be Rebecca Black's Friday

Best book: My pick is Tina Fey's Bossypants. Very self-deprecating authobiography of my favorite female comedian who's also whipsmart and wimpy! The audiobook where she reads her own words is also a treat!

Honorable mention: A song of ice and fire series. I had sleepless nights ploughing through all the chapters and it's just infuriating how we're still nowhere near the end! GRR Martin, please don't die before you finish this series!
-Trese Volume 4:Last seen after midnight. Yes! Alexandra goes back to the episodic format with 4 new cases involving a monster hunter (who reminds me of Jason Ivler) to a world-famous boxer. I actually liked this more than the previous volume.

Lampara books have also come out with real world storybooks for kids about being illegitimate children, alcoholic fathers and losing your home to gambling addictions!

Worst book: I didn't read many books but I hated Bram Stoker's The Lady of the Shroud only because it was misleading! I thought it was a horror  story like Dracula but  I got a weird war novel instead.

Best gadget: iPad2! Not only because I got it for free, but also because I can do so many things with it now like doodle, read comics, play Angry birds and make vidrhythm videos! I even got to read HPLovecraft on ibooks free! It's not perfect but it's definitely fun!

Honorable mention: Popcorn hour A200--this is an NMT or Networked Media Tank which can play any type of media file so you can watch it on your big screen TV without a computer. I think digital media  is the future of entertainment since very few people have adopted bluray and yes, it's such a hassle to collect and store so many discs only to see them become outdated. Even pircay has been affected by downloads. Its only weakness: It isn't region-free for dvds.

Worst gadget: My Pioneer in-ear headphones were awfully expensive (for me, anyway) and the right earphone stopped working a few months later. I had it fixed at the service center but it conked again just a month later. Luckily, it's still under waranty but it is so disappointing that a name brand product goes bad within a year!