Tag: Movie

Stars and Stripes Team USA

I heard some exciting news yesterday. A team from the Long Beach Yacht Club will be the 5th Challenger for the America’s Cup! Their team name is Stars and Stripes Team USA and I couldn’t be more excited.

While I’ve been a supporter of Team New Zealand since 2000 when I happened to be there for one of the races, I really like the idea of a fully American team and crew and am looking forward to rooting for the US team this go-around.  

This Stars and Stripes Team USA was co-founded by American sailors Mike Buckley and Taylor Canfield. The name is a nod to Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes teams which has had, admittedly, mixed success with regards to America’s Cup campaigns.

Taylor Canfield and Mike Buckley of Stars & Stripes Team USA

While I’m doing my best not to be too superstitious, I can certainly say I will be looking forward to this next generation of All-American sailors and wishing the best for their success. 

If you’re looking for something to tide you over during this trickle of news about America’s Cup challengers that has been coming out, I highly recommend the movie Wind, which was artistically sourced from events during the 1983 and 1987 America’s Cup series.

America’s Cup Press Release (Dec. 12, 2018)
Scuttlebutt (Dec. 12, 2018)

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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.