Category: Personal

Top 10 Summer Movie List Competition

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So for the past few years, I have run a contest picking the Top 10 Summer Movies. I’ve written about this before elsewhere, but thought I would post it here as well so others can start their own competitions. The gist is that everyone ranks the top 10 summer movies that they think will make the most money at the box office (1 = will make the most money over the summer) for the summer season, generally the first weekend in May to Labor Day, and the person whose list is closest to the actual Top 10 at the end of the summer, based on points (see below), wins.

RULES:

  1. Everyone picks the 10 movies that they think will make the most money over the summer and rank them in order from #1 to #10 (with #1 making the most amount of money).
  2. Then, everyone picks three additional “Dark Horse” movies. These are movies that you think *could* make it into the Top 10 but don’t quite make your Top 10 cut. Basically, movies that you think could be break-out hits.

Only movies released from the first week in May to Labor Day, count. (This means you can’t include any movies released prior that date, though I generally include the ones that open the Wednesday before). Only the box office grosses from that period in the US & Canada are counted.

You can find all of the big Summer releases here:
http://boxofficemojo.com/schedule/
http://www.movieinsider.com/movies/summer

SCORING:

Ranking are based on domestic box office grosses which come from boxofficemojo.com.

– If your #1 or #10 are the same as the actual #1 or #10, you get 13 points (each).

The rest of the scoring goes like this:

– 10 points if your #2-9 are the same as the actual #2-9

– 7 points if your movie pick is only one spot away

– 5 points if your movie pick is two spots away

– 3 points if your movie pick is anywhere in the Top 10

– 1 point for each dark horse that makes it into the Top 10

The scoring is tabulated so that you get the single highest point value for each pick; that means if you get #10 right, you don’t get 13+3; you only get 13.

I generally send out updates throughout the summer to let everyone know who is in the tentative lead but it’s the final points at the end of the summer that matter.

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Grand Re-Re-Re-Opening

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I’ve been musing all week about potential blog post topics. I want to post often and I want those posts to be interesting but I had been having trouble coming up topics. I thought about writing on some of the new goals I’ve set for myself and what I’m working towards but by themselves, they would barely amount to a tweet.

However, I’ve been trying to do quite a lot lately and it feels like a new beginning. While I’m the guy that enjoys re-committing every January 1 to my resolutions, I’ve learned that one doesn’t need to wait until then to work on something new. There is never a bad time for a start, right?

So what am I working on?

typing writing kermit

Well firstly, this blog. I’ve fallen out of writing anything but business email and short notes and I wanted to stretch my personal prose muscles, thus, this blog. I’ve blogged before but aside from my first blog, which lasted a couple of years, I couldn’t really get back into it despite trying a few times on different platforms.

Secondly, reading for pleasure. After law school, and aside from reading the rest of the Game of Thrones series (excellent and well worth your time if you enjoy reading fantasy books at all) and a few New York magazines, I haven’t really read for pleasure. One of my New Years Resolutions was to read 4 books. That’s not a lot, I know. But I wanted to read for pleasure and not just to beat some arbitrary goal. Thus far, I’ve crushed David Wong’s John Dies at the End (weird, excellent, and a quick read), abandoned Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice and John Updike’s Rabbit, Run, and used my 3 month free trial for Audible (since I’m a Prime member) to listen to Aziz Ansari’s Modern Romance. I’m currently listening to my favorite author, David Foster Wallace’s, Broom of the System as a borrowed audiobook from the NY Library and just started (literally on page 8) City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg (which is cheaper as a paperback than on Kindle, which I don’t understand). City on Fire already reads as fluidly as Infinite Jest (by David Foster Wallace) so I’m excited for the rest of the book but trying to keep expectations at a reasonable level; something extraordinarily difficult given the 5 pages of quoted praise as the intro to the book.

Thirdly, I’m working on making more money. This drive has taken several forms. At the forefront, I’m making sure to stay on top of everything at the office since I enjoy the work. Maritime law is probably as much fun as the law can be and I feel lucky to work where I do. I’m also working getting my digital consulting side business up and running. It’s been a bit of a chore finding the time and drive after a long day or week of work.

Running

I’ve also been working on getting healthier. I’ve been counting calories with the Lose It! app on my phone and trying to run more often. I tried the running in the morning thing but despite my best effort, my 6:45am-self prefers sleep over exercise. I’ve also just started using Headspace, a meditation app. I definitely felt more relaxed after just a few minutes so I might stick with it. A free app definitely beats paying for yoga classes.

I think that’s enough to start.