Round 3 Part 2 - Check out your Elite Eight matchups

Here are the rest of the winners from round 3. Below that you'll find a recap of how the Elite Eight games are laid out.

Drama

(11) A Few Good Men

(15) A Time to Kill

Winner: A Few Good Men

The biggest reason why I like both of these are for their courtroom dramas. While the trial in A Time to Kill is packed with tons of emotion and the desire to see Carl Lee Hailey freed, I just have to say that A Few Good Men is much better written, and its amazing cast launched it through this round without too much trouble.

Family

(6) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

(15) Newsies

Winner: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

While Newsies is pretty close to being a top-ten pick of mine when all is said and done, Wonka's a lock for the top five. Sorry, Jack Kelly. You just couldn't overtake the Wonkavator.

Comedy

(11) Elf

(10) A League of Their Own

Winner: A League of Their Own

Elf is probably the funnier of the two movies, but A League of Their Own is better across the board in all other areas. It's tough to go against Will Ferrell's best movie ever, but we have to consider that this is also one of Tom Hanks' best movies. And Bobby Flay's best meal is always going to beat mine. Different levels, folks. Different levels.

Action

(6) The Boondock Saints

(7) The Bourne Trilogy

Winner: The Boondock Saints

And this is the end of the line for Jason Bourne and his amazingness. Although Treadstone never caught up to him, The Boondock Saints did. Does it seem like I heavily favor vigilante justice in my picks?

Okay, so there you have the rest of round 3. The matchups below, which will determine our Final Four, are dynamite!

Drama

(1) The Shawshank Redemption

(11) A Few Good Men

Family

(9) Rudy

(6) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Comedy

(4) The Princess Bride

(10) A League of Their Own

Action

(9) Man on Fire

(6) The Boondock Saints

Stay tuned...

Elizabeth's weird... and tales of the Malibu

My wife at the store today: "Don't you just, I mean, I really, do you, I just LOVE Tupperware! Whenever I see it I think, 'What could I put in that?'"

Today Elizabeth and I spent a couple of hours working on Jase's car. Don't worry, Jase, it wasn't having operational problems. We just figured that since we're going to be using it for a couple of months it'd be nice if it were a little cleaner than you're used to keeping it.

So anyway, a big huge shoutout THANK YOU to my brother Jase who's graciously allowing us to introduce his car to some Colorado roads for a few months while he's in another country. And another huge THANK YOU to Elizabeth who did some fantastic work getting the inside of the Malibu looking pretty stinking good so I can feel more comfortable in it!

Round 3 Part 1 - Half of the Elite Eight is here

These round 3 contests are ridiculous! They're all tough. The first half of round 3 is below. Tomorrow you should have the rest of the round.

Drama

(1) The Shawshank Redemption

(5) Good Will Hunting

Winner: The Shawshank Redemption

This was probably the closest contest of the tournament so far, and I'd be lying if I said it was an easy win for Shawshank. At the end of the tournament I'm planning to recap the 64 movies and rank them all so that you can see that just because Good Will Hunting got knocked off in the third round doesn't mean it's ranked in the bottom half of the top 16.

Family

(9) Rudy

(4) Beauty and the Beast

Winner: Rudy

This is the first contest Beauty and the Beast has had that's not against a sort of fantastical fairy-tale kind of movie. It was a close matchup for sure, but Rudy took it over late in the 4th quarter when Notre Dame had it in the bag and he got to play for a couple of plays.

Comedy

(1) Forrest Gump

(4) The Princess Bride

Winner: The Princess Bride

This, like the Shawshank/Good Will Hunting showdown, is evidence that a third-round loss doesn't mean you're merely a third-round movie. In fact, Forrest Gump will likely rank above both of the above films in the Family region above when it comes to the final rankings.

Action

(9) Man on Fire

(12) The Patriot

Winner: Man on Fire

Maybe I'm just too violent in nature, but the revenge that Denzel Washington's character takes out on four or five people in Man on Fire is just cooler than than that which Mel Gibson's character takes out on one guy in The Patriot. It should also be noted that if Tombstone had eked out a first-round win over Man on Fire it would still be winning too. That's how close that one was.

Check back tomorrow for the second half of the Elite Eight movies. We're getting down to it now!

Tweetin'

I mentioned that I'm on Twitter now in a post a while back. I'm starting to pick it up a bit and see if I can figure out its positives and negatives. If you're interested, you can find me at twitter.com/valleyranch84. Also, I added a little Twitter widget to the right on this blog so you can check out my updates right here on my blog.

Round 2 Part 2 - The Sweet Sixteen & Round 3 are SET!

Here's the second half of the round two matchups. Below them you'll find a recap of how Round 3 shapes up.

Drama

(13) The Phantom of the Opera

(5) Good Will Hunting

Winner: Good Will Hunting

The music of Andrew Lloyd Webber is great, and he hit the nail on the head with Phantom, but Good Will Hunting wins this one rather easily. I don't even know what specifics to point to in order to convey why I like it, but I do.

(7) Glory

(15) A Time to Kill

Winner: A Time to Kill

When Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) erupts on the witness stand I always want to jump out of me seat and cheer. But I usually don't. It's a fantastic movie.

Family

(1) The Lion King

(9) Rudy

Winner: Rudy

Rudy gets the upset here by virtue of the fact that I'm not 12 anymore. That's not to say that The Lion King is just for kids, of course. I still love it and think it's hilarious, and that the music is great. If this was a Broadway show competition The Lion King would probably win it, but I think the overall appeal of Rudy as a film is bigger and better.

(3) Toy Story

(6) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Winner: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

I really do think Willy Wonka is the better movie here (though it's very close), but I also feel like I tend to lean toward it because it doesn't get the respect it deserves. It really is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and it just seems to get better with age. I don't know how people can't love Gene Wilder's Wonka. Simply hysterical.

Comedy

(4) The Princess Bride

(5) Ocean's 11

Winner: The Princess Bride

This was a major blowout. The Princess Bride so far has won two relatively uncontested matches. I don't want to take anything away from Ocean's 11, but there are very few movies on the planet that even put up a slight struggle with The Princess Bride, and this just isn't one of them. Sorry.

(10) A League of Their Own

(15) Arthur

Winner: A League of Their Own

I think that Arthur actually makes me laugh more out of these two movies, but it really has three or four side-splitting scenes (all of which come in the first 30-45 minutes of the movie), and the rest of it is just okay. Plus, Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own is hilarious. "Ball players?! I haven't got ball players, I've got girls!!"

Action

(1) The Dark Knight

(9) Man on Fire

Winner: Man on Fire

Not that close of a matchup here either. The Dark Knight was a very good movie with a very great performance by Heath Ledger, but Man on Fire is a much better movie (I might be the only person who thinks this, but that's the way it goes).

(14) Tears of the Sun

(6) The Boondock Saints

Winner: The Boondock Saints

It's tough for me to have to say good-bye to Tears of the Sun so early because I really do love it. Unfortunately, tournaments like this are all about matchups and it drew a tough one here in the second round. I don't get to see The Boondock Saints very often, but if you haven't ever seen it I would encourage you to (unless you can't handle blood or violence).

Alright, so there you go. Here are the third round matchups. Who do you think will win and head to the Elite Eight? I'll tell you right now, NONE of these are a piece of cake.

Drama

(1) The Shawshank Redemption

(5) Good Will Hunting

(11) A Few Good Men

(15) A Time to Kill

Family

(9) Rudy

(4) Beauty and the Beast

(6) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

(15) Newsies

Comedy

(1) Forrest Gump

(4) The Princess Bride

(11) Elf

(10) A League of Their Own

Action

(9) Man on Fire

(12) The Patriot

(6) The Boondock Saints

(7) The Bourne Trilogy

We're in for some nailbiters this time around!

Round 2 Part 1 - Who's gonna make the Sweet Sixteen?

According to the comments you've all been leaving, I feel like so far I'm doing an okay job in your eyes for the most part (with a few exceptions, of course). I hope I don't completely alienate you in the second round. Let's get started.

Once again, this will just be half of the second round. The rest of the second round games will be posted tomorrow. Here we go!

Drama

(1) The Shawshank Redemption

(8) The Truman Show

Winner: The Shawshank Redemption

For each of these movies the first round wins were too easy to come by. This one was a bit tougher, but The Truman Show never really stood a chance. Although it's really great, Shawshank is really in another league.

(14) The Terminal

(11) A Few Good Men

Winner: A Few Good Men

"It was oregano, Dave, it was ten dollars worth of oregano."

"Yeah? Well your client thought it was marijuana."

"My client's a moron, that's not against the law."

It's awfully tough to beat the side-splitting humor mixed with amazing drama and acting in A Few Good Men... and we haven't even mentioned Nicholson yet.

Family

(4) Beauty and the Beast

(5) Finding Neverland

Winner: Beauty and the Beast

I honestly don't think Finding Neverland gets the credit it deserves for being a beautifully made creative piece of work, but if I chose it as the winner in this contest it would only be as some kind of statement-maker, and that's not fair. At the end of the day, it's the musical score from Beauty and the Beast that just pushed this one over the edge.

(7) Miracle

(15) Newsies

Winner: Newsies

The drama and the emotion of Miracle are much stronger than in Newsies, but the latter has marvelous music, marvelous choreography, and a set of lovable characters tied into a real-life story that came out on top.

Comedy

(1) Forrest Gump

(9) Marley & Me

Winner: Forrest Gump

The only way for a movie to beat Forrest Gump is to be at least ten years old and to have proven itself more timeless and enduring. Maybe in ten years Marley & Me will be at that point, but I doubt it. Sorry, Elizabeth. I still love Marley.

(14) Matilda

(11) Elf

Winner: Elf

I think Will Ferrell is one of the funniest guys in the business, but unfortunately most of his movies are vulgar and inappropriate. Elf is the exception to that rule. It's totally clean, and even funnier than the gross ones. I think it's pretty much the humor that puts this one out of reach.

Action

(4) Gladiator

(12) The Patriot

Winner: The Patriot

Probably the toughest decision of round 2. These are both amazing movies with very good manly-man kinds of lead characters. It was hard. I couldn't even decide it based on historical periods, because my two favorites to study would be captured in each of these movies. I don't know what the X-factor was that gave The Patriot the win, but it happened.

(7) The Bourne Trilogy

(15) Armageddon

Winner: The Bourne Trilogy

Maybe it's a little unfair that three great movies are going up against one, but that's the way it's happening. Armageddon really is a fabulous movie, but I'm won over by how Jason Bourne is so obviously a re-programmed man whose pretty much a machine, knowing exactly what to do to accomplish his goal. It's just cool.

Yarn

I saw a billboard yesterday advertising a store called Yarns. Its tagline was, "The 2nd Friendliest Yarn Store in the Universe!"

If its intent was to make me curious, it worked. Because I really want to know what the first friendliest yarn store in the universe is.

Round 1 Part 2 - And Round 2 is set

Below are the winners and explanations of the second half of the first round winners. After that I'll lay out round 2 for you.

Drama

(2) Schindler's List

(15) A Time to Kill

Winner: A Time to Kill

I hear a lot of people say that A Time to Kill was Grisham's best book, but it's not that great of a movie. I obviously don't agree. In fact, I think Grisham has books that are much better, but the movie is fantastic.

(4) The Prestige

(13) The Phantom of the Opera

Winner: The Phantom of the Opera

The fact that I've seen Phantom the Broadway show on stage before I'm sure weighed on this decision more than it should have. That stage show is unreal. And the singers are better (than they are in the movie). But it's still a better movie than The Prestige, but not by a whole lot. I just tend to like Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals.

(6) Big Fish

(11) A Few Good Men

Winner: are you kidding? A Few Good Men

Big Fish is a good flick. That's all I have to say about it. A Few Good Men is one of the best two or three movies ever. Which is why you might see it going a ways in the tournament.

(8) The Truman Show

(9) The Breakfast Club

Winner: The Truman Show

Bottom line: The Truman Show is creative, original, and extremely well done. It's only problem? Shawshank is its next opponent...

Family

(1) The Lion King

(16) First Knight

Winner: The Lion King

I'll never forget watching The Lion King as an 11 year-old and thinking it was the best movie I'd ever seen. Now I think it's even funnier than I did then. Well-written, good music, good animation. It's a tough Disney movie to beat, that's for sure.

(3) Toy Story

(14) A Goofy Movie

Winner: Toy Story

This is a battle between one of the best-loved Disney movies ever, and a much less well-known Disney movie that's usually just played on the Disney Channel ever couple of months. Still, I think A Goofy Movie has a great soundtrack, and it's really funny. But I don't know if there's another family movie out there that's funnier than Toy Story.

(5) Finding Neverland

(12) John Q

Winner: Finding Neverland

I've seen both of these movies recently, and they're both wonderful. John Q makes me cry, and wish that there wasn't anyone in the world who would ever have to watch their child die because they're not financially stable. I chose Finding Neverland because it's idealistic, imaginative, and fun. It's got some cool cinematography going on too.

(7) Miracle

(10) The Rookie

Winner: Miracle

The Rookie is really good, but nothing beats givin' the 1980 Soviet hockey team a good whoopin'. Also, I like Kurt Russell's Minnesoooootan accent.

Comedy

(1) Forrest Gump

(16) From the Hip

Winner: Forrest Gump

My dad got me into From the Hip the first time. I loved it. Still do. Forrest Gump, however, is a timeless classic of huge proportions. Just about everything about it is perfect.

(3) Singin' in the Rain

(14) Matilda

Winner: Matilda

I think I've only seen Singin' in the Rain about twice all the way through, which is part of the reason Matilda beat it. Another contributing factor might just be that the former is a bit too old to really fall into my "absolutely love it" category, though the music and the humor of it are quite good.

(5) Ocean's 11

(12) 10 Things I Hate About You

Winner: Ocean's 11

I think overall Ocean's 11 is just funnier, and has more of the re-watch factor (which means I like to re-watch it a lot).

(7) The Sandlot

(10) A League of Their Own

Winner: A League of Their Own

The Sandlot is a classic kids movie, and it's too bad they've made so many stupid sequels. I don't blame Squints at all for what he pulled with Wendy Peffercorn. But I've got to go with A League of Their Own here. Tom Hanks is hilarious. One of the best Tom Hanks characters out there.

Action

(2) Fight Club

(15) Armageddon

Winner: Armageddon

I'm not really sure Fight Club should even be in my top 64. I'm sure I could think of some others more deserving. But it made it, and has now become the fourth #2 seed to go out in the first round against a #15 seed. I don't know if that's ever happened before, folks!

(4) Gladiator

(13) Ransom

Winner: Gladiator

This might have been the most difficult decision of the first round. Both of these movies are very good. I think in the end I was swayed a little bit by the second round matchup. By pitting Gladiator against The Patriot we have a little bit more of an epic battle than if Ransom was in there instead.

(6) The Boondock Saints

(11) The Italian Job

Winner: The Boondock Saints

The Boondock Saints is much less family-friendly than The Italian Job, but it's a better movie too. It's action-packed, and cinematically speaking, it's one of the best movies I've ever seen. The best part is when one guy accidently shoots a cat, which instantly disintegrates into a blood spatter on the wall, and then the guy asks (dead seriously), "Is it... dead?"

(8) Tombstone

(9) Man on Fire

Winner: Man on Fire

I wish these two hadn't faced each other in the first round. Remember when I said that Gladiator vs. Ransom was the toughest choice of the round? Well I might be changing my mind now. Tombstone is a classic western, with a stellar cast, and maybe Val Kilmer's best performance ever. But alas, Man on Fire squeaks into the second round by the skin of Denzel Washington's teeth.

So there are the rest of your Round 1 winners. The round two matchups are recapped for you below. It'll probably be a few days before we get to those.

Drama

(1) The Shawshank Redemption

(8) The Truman Show

(13) The Phantom of the Opera

(5) Good Will Hunting

(14) The Terminal

(11) A Few Good Men

(7) Glory

(15) A Time to Kill

Family

(1) The Lion King

(9) Rudy

(4) Beauty and the Beast

(5) Finding Neverland

(3) Toy Story

(6) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

(7) Miracle

(15) Newsies

Comedy

(1) Forrest Gump

(9) Marley & Me

(4) The Princess Bride

(5) Ocean's 11

(14) Matilda

(11) Elf

(10) A League of Their Own

(15) Arthur

Action

(1) The Dark Knight

(9) Man on Fire

(4) Gladiator

(12) The Patriot

(14) Tears of the Sun

(6) Boondock Saints

(7) The Bourne Trilogy

(15) Armageddon

Round 1 Part 1 - Movie Madness begins

Today's post will blaze through half of the first round matchups in the movie madness tournament. Tomorrow we'll finish off the first round and you can see how the second round stacks up.

Drama

(1) Shawshank Redemption

(16) For Love of the Game

Winner: Shawshank Redemption

This was an easy pick. I love For Love of the Game, and it hasn't gotten the love it deserves. It's a very good movie -- and this from a guy who doesn't particularly like Kevin Costner. Still, does anyone really want to argue that it should have beaten Shawshank? I haven't looked any further than this round so far, but I think Shawshank is a legitimate #1 seed, and has a definite shot at the championship.

(3) Se7en

(14) The Terminal

Winner: The Terminal

This was a much closer matchup. Se7en is probably my favorite Brad Pitt movie ever. It's very well acted, and it has a wonderful, interesting, twisted plot that makes it very cool. I think The Terminal gets the "W" here, pulling our tournament's first upset, because of the phenomenal acting of Tom Hanks, and the great sense of humor it carries with it.

(5) Good Will Hunting

(12) Apollo 13

Winner: Good Will Hunting

I love history. Apollo 13 tells the true story of the amazing astronauts who made it through a pretty scary ordeal. It features Kevin Bacon, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, and other fantastic actors, who are definitely part of why it's one of the best. Unfortunately it drew a killer first round opponent. Good Will Hunting has a couple of the best monologues in movies, and it's definitely not going down in the first round.

(7) Glory

(10) A Beautiful Mind

Winner: Glory

Another tough call here. It really could have gone either way. I think it really came down to Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman being very tough to beat together.

Family

(2) Finding Nemo

(15) Newsies

Winner: Newsies

This looks like a huge upset on paper (a 15 seed defeating a 2 seed), but it really wasn't even that close. I love Nemo. I think it's hilarious and fun. But Newsies has a marvelous musical score, along with fantastic choreography, and it's all based on a true story. Plus, Robert Duvall's Joseph Pulitzer is simply classic. And it's fun to see the pre-Batman, pre-heartthrob Christian Bale.

(4) Beauty and the Beast

(13) Anastasia

Winner: Beauty and the Beast

As far as Disney musicals go, Beauty and the Beast can't be beat. And given that Anastasia is, in my opinion, the best non-Disney animated musical out there, it's just too bad that it still doesn't quite stack up. Why doesn't Disney make animated musicals anymore? I miss them.

(6) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

(11) Simon Birch

Winner: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Simon Birch is a great family flick, but it didn't stand a chance against Wonka. Gene Wilder makes an amazing Willy Wonka, and the movie is jam-packed full of little one-line jokes that seem to multiply every time I see it. Hilarious.

(8) Remember the Titans

(9) Rudy

Winner: Rudy

This was a truly close duke-it-out matchup between probably the two greatest football movies ever made. I can watch both of these movies over and over. I've got to go with Rudy because to me it's more epic. It's on a bigger scale (Notre Dame vs. T.C. Williams High), and it draws me in a little more because it's very much focused on one player. I dunno. Argue with me if you want.

Comedy

(2) Monty Python and the Holy Grail

(15) Arthur

Winner: Arthur

Don't get me wrong. Monty Python is a classic, iconic comedy. It's hilarious. It's whole sense of humor is ridiculous. I just think that at some point, while I still continue to appreciate it, I've grown out of it a little bit. I still like to watch it every once in a while. The problem with Arthur is that it's absolutely hilarious for about the first thirty minutes and then it slows down dramatically. It still takes round one, though.

(4) The Princess Bride

(13) My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Winner: The Princess Bride

This barely needs an explanation. Probably the biggest blowout of round one. It was like Yeshiva University's football team playing against the Dallas Cowboys (anyone catch the West Wing reference?). I do like Greek Wedding, but it's not in the same league as Princess Bride.

(6) Secondhand Lions

(11) Elf

Winner: Elf

A fairly close match here, but Elf gets props because it's the cleanest, funniest movie Will Ferrell's ever done. Secondhand Lions, however, provides a great picture of how I want to be when I'm retired (old, grouchy, shooting shotguns at salesmen who trespass).

(8) Dumb & Dumber

(9) Marley & Me

Winner: Marley & Me

I'll admit, this one was very close for me. Dumb & Dumber is the epitome of a stupid-humor comedy. I love it. Marley & Me is also fantastic. It was a combination of a super cute dog and the fact that my wife would kill me if I didn't pick it that Marley took this one.

Action

(1) The Dark Knight

(16) The Saint

Winner: The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight certainly wouldn't be a number one seed in my book. Nevertheless, it won its first rounder due to the fact that it's still very good, and Heath Ledger's Joker is enormously impressive. I've read that The Saint was supposed to be just the first in a series of movies staring Val Kilmer as that character, but others never materialized. That's too bad, because it's quite an intriguing movie. It just got edged.

(3) Braveheart

(14) Tears of the Sun

Winner: Tears of the Sun

A lot of people will consider this to be a huge upset. The truth is, even though I love Braveheart, I don't list it up there with the best action movies ever made. It would probably rank in the bottom half of the 16 action movies in this contest if I seeded the movies. On the flip side, Tears of the Sun has never, to my knowledge, been that terribly popular of a movie, but it's amazing. And it's one of the reasons I'm not a pacifist.

(5) V for Vendetta

(12) The Patriot

Winner: The Patriot

I think it's my ethnocentrism, but I love The Patriot. Mel Gibson's great. It's emotional. It's not entirely historically accurate, but if we threw a fit over all of the movies that aren't that accurate, we'd end up having to watch a bunch of boring movies. History, in movie form, wouldn't be that interesting (except for things like the U.S. 1980 olympic hockey victory over the Soviets).

(7) Bourne Trilogy

(10) The Count of Monte Cristo

Winner: The Bourne Trilogy

If you've never seen the three Jason Bourne movies, you should come over to my place and we'll knock 'em all out in a night or two. They're really great. I have a friend who has read the books on which they're based, and he tells me all the time that the movies aren't that good because the books are so much better. I usually tell him to shut up. I haven't read the books. And since, as I'm told, the movies are quite different from the books, I don't know why there has to be that comparison made anyway. If you prefer the books to the movies, that's fine. But don't act all disappointed in me for thinking the movies are great -- because they are.

That does it for Round 1 Part 1. Check back tomorrow to see who the other Round 1 winners are, and who will face off in Round 2!

Jake's Movie Madness

If you ever finish the spring semester of your seminary career, and you're not taking any classes over the summer, you just might find that you've got some free time on your hands. Well folks, that's what happened to me. So, like anyone, I decided to make good use of my time. I've created a 64-team tournament... except instead of teams I have movies. Sixty-four of my favorite movies of all time are in the tournament, and they'll compete head-to-head in a single elimination event that will determine my favorite movie ever.

The head-to-head contests and commentary will come as a series of blog posts right here over the coming days. Today's post will introduce you to the teams and the first-round matchups.

The 64 movies have been chosen by me. I welcome your comments about the great movies that I've left out. Surely if everyone had a top 64 movie list they would all be different. Also, it's possible that I've simply forgotten to include some of my favorite movies, so feel free to remind me.

The bracket is set up with four "regions" of 16 teams apiece (just like the NCAA basketball tournament). The regions in this case are the genres Drama, Family, Comedy, and Action. These are general labels. Most of the movies do fall, at least somewhat, into the genre of the region they're in, but some would certainly work elsewhere. Within each genre the movies have been seeded based on their user rating at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com). The original plan was to seed the movies randomly, but seeding them based on user rating will allow us to see where I differ with the population at large on movie opinions. Also, it's more exciting when an upset happens if the seeds are actually based on something.

So that's what you need to know for today. Below are the first round matchups by genre. The parentheses indicate the seeding of each movie. You should let me know who YOU think should win each (or at least some) of the contests. You just might persuade me. Round 1 results will be coming in a few days.

(Note: In the Action region you'll find The Bourne Trilogy. This is the only place where my single selection is actually three different movies [If you don't know, the Bourne Trilogy consists of The Bourne Identiy, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum]. I like them all equally and couldn't pick just one to represent... and I didn't want to waste three spots when I could use just one. So there.)

Drama

(1) The Shawshank Redemption

(16) For Love of the Game

(8) The Truman Show

(9) The Breakfast Club

(4) The Prestige

(13) The Phantom of the Opera

(5) Good Will Hunting

(12) Apollo 13

(3) Se7en

(14) The Terminal

(6) Big Fish

(11) A Few Good Men

(7) Glory

(10) A Beautiful Mind

(2) Schindler's List

(15) A Time to Kill

Family

(1) The Lion King

(16) First Knight

(8) Remember the Titans

(9) Rudy

(4) Beauty and the Beast

(13) Anastasia

(5) Finding Neverland

(12) John Q

(3) Toy Story

(14) A Goofy Movie

(6) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

(11) Simon Birch

(7) Miracle

(10) The Rookie

(2) Finding Nemo

(15) Newsies

Comedy

(1) Forrest Gump

(16) From the Hip

(8) Dumb & Dumber

(9) Marley & Me

(4) The Princess Bride

(13) My Big Fat Greek Wedding

(5) Ocean's 11

(12) 10 Things I Hate About You

(3) Singin' in the Rain

(14) Matilda

(6) Secondhand Lions

(11) Elf

(7) The Sandlot

(10) A League of Their Own

(2) Monty Python and the Holy Grail

(15) Arthur

Action

(1) The Dark Knight

(16) The Saint

(8) Tombstone

(9) Man on Fire

(4) Gladiator

(13) Ransom

(5) V for Vendetta

(12) The Patriot

(3) Braveheart

(14) Tears of the Sun

(6) The Boondock Saints

(11) The Italian Job

(7) The Bourne Trilogy

(10) The Count of Monte Cristo

(2) Fight Club

(15) Armageddon

So there you have it. Stay tuned if you want to see who wins. You should also make upset predictions. Who do you THINK I'll have winning?

The Shining

I just finished watching The Shining. You know, the Stephen King movie that stars Jack Nicholson as some creepy family killer. I've been wanting to see it ever since our visit to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park over Spring Break (the Stanley was King's inspiration for the movie). They actually have a channel on the TVs at the hotel that just loop the movie over and over again. But due to the fact that A) I didn't think it was a great idea to watch the movie for the first time while staying in the hotel on which it's based... during the biggest snowstorm of the year, and B) that Elizabeth's not into those kinds of movies anyway, I decided to wait and watch it at a later date. Which I've now done.

It's a pretty stupid movie, if you ask me. I mean, Nicholson is brilliantly demented in it... but I personally don't think he has to try that hard to be a sick, twisted creep.

Is Ecclesiologist a word? Cuz I think I want to be one when I grow up

My semester's over, by the way.

On Friday afternoon I realized that my little final assignment for my last class that was due on Saturday night was actually a very BIG final assignment, and it was due on Friday night. I freaked out for a few minutes. The I did my assignment in an hour or two (it should have taken me about 12-15 hours) and turned it in. It won't get that good of a grade.

But I'm done now.

So, for a little while now I've been in the process of discovering what I think might be a fairly major passion of mine. But it's hard to describe. I really like the idea of helping churches to improve as communities of people who obey the Word and follow Christ. I feel like "church consulting" is kind of what I'm trying to describe, but I think that phrase seems very much like a secular businessperson trying to turn churches into profitable business that can simply grow attendance and bring in money -- and that's NOT what I'm talking about. I'm talking about learning as best as I can how churches can be most effective for the Kingdom of God, and then helping them to learn and implement ideas that come from it.

More recently, I've become extremely interested in the use of web-based technology as a part of the mission of the church. It was sparked when I came to the conclusion that my church's website could probably be much more user-friendly, and could include much more content and have a better layout. I just don't think that it's being used that much for anything right now, and that could change quite a bit. The use of facebook, twitter, blogs, and other programs on church websites obviously have both positives and negatives, but I've been learning an awful lot about those pros and cons, and if you avoid the cons and stick to the pros I think they can really be integrated into the mission of the church.

So if I designed my own job (which, while somewhat farfetched, isn't completely pie-in-the-sky, given the fact that 10 years ago facebook didn't exist, and 10 years before that the internet didn't... so the job I end up having someday might not even exist yet) it would be some kind of blending of the two exciting things I wrote about above. Using the internet and its tools to assist churches in growing into biblically-based Christ-following communities. So there you go.

On a sidenote, I've also recently discovered something called Google Analytics. Using this tool you can embed an html code into your website and track how people are using your site and where they're coming from. It'll track number of visits, number of new visitors, where your visitors have linked from, how long they tend to stay on your site, which pages of your site they view the most and the longest, where in the world (geographically) your visitors are, and much more. I've only begun to realize the niftiness of Analytics. I'm using it to track info right here on my blog, but a little unpopular blog that's read exclusively by close friends and family isn't the ideal site to use with Analytics. A church website, which has multiple pages and a lot more traffic, would be ideal (in my opinion). Anyway, it's cool. Ask me about it, if you're interested in learning more!

Rough night

It's been a pretty rough 24 hours. My wife has developed some kind of super nasty burn on both of her legs, the back of her neck, and her lower back. It's very painful, and it itches like crazy. We've tried every possible remedy (except the $3,000-$4,000 trip to the ER), and we couldn't get anything to work. We were both up all night (with her in much more discomfort than me). As of right now, it seems like a couple of our last-ditch efforts have started to pay off a little. She's probably gotten a couple of hours of sleep, and we think we've at least dulled the pain and itchiness. Of course, she has a final paper that's supposed to be finished sometime today, and a final exam tomorrow afternoon, and I've got a big huge "I-promise-this-test-will-absolutely-totally-kick-my-butt" final exam in less than four hours for which I am utterly unprepared.

On a happy note, I'm an uncle again! Check out Pam's blog for pictures of Micah Nathaniel Rohde.

A Happy Mother's Day to Lisa Marie Rohde!!!!!

Don't even think about arguing with me. I have the greatest mom in the world. If you try to comment with some blasphemous musing about your own mom being the greatest I probably won't publish it. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for people disagreeing with me in life. I consider myself to be wrong at least 82% of the time (that statistic is from my informal study). However, when it comes to my mom I'm right, and I won't let my blog become a place for other people to claim motherly superiority.

To my mom:

You are the greatest mother for which I could ever hope

You always taught me right from wrong and to stay away from dope

Sometimes you spanked when I was bad and I didn't like that belt

You know, the one you hit me with that sometimes left a welt

But even though it caused me pain I know your love was true

Cuz every time you did it you'd say, "This hurts me more than you."

But that's enough about the whippings because they were pretty rare

(After all JOEL was the troubled one -- sometimes you even pulled his hair!)

Thank you for always coming to all of the sporting events I had

You came and cheered regardless if I played good or bad

You kept score at my baseball games and bought me food in-between

You sewed up holes in all my clothes and washed grass stains from my jeans

You brought snacks in elementary school, and came whenever there was a field trip

All the kids thought you were cool, so by association I was hip

You made sure that I always went to church on Sunday morning

We both liked when Pastor Dan was preaching, cuz he was never boring

And now you're a mother to lots more boys, and a girl thrown in to boot

I wonder if you do it just because they're all real cute

I wish that you and I lived closer to one another

It's very hard for me to be so far from my mother

I miss you very much, and I love you lots and lots too

Sometimes I think about you when I'm feeling kinda blue

I hope you have a very very happy Mother's Day

And when it's done I hope you don't up and run away!

Love you mom!

The Mississippi Squirrel Revival

This was one of my favorite songs as a kid, and now thanks to youtube I can share it with all of you. And no, I'm not a hick. Just a kid from a small town in rural Iowa.

a new look

I changed my blog background and title. Just a little change-em-up attitude. The background will look familiar to many of you - I'm pretty sure Joel used to have it as his background. I suppose as baseball season draws to a close and football season begins in the fall I'll probably make another change.

Anyway, just thought I'd alert you.

Now you can see what life's really like for me

My sister-in-law, Pam, blogged about a month ago in a twittery kind of way. Each half hour she posted what she was doing. The only rule about blogging this way: No cheating. Since she encouraged others to try the same thing, I decided to take her up on it. So here's my day. Boring moments and all.

6:30 Waking up

7:00 Reading about the possibility of a Super Bowl being played in London in the not-so-distant future (if you ask me, it's one of the dumbest ideas anyone in the NFL has ever had)

7:30 On a morning walk with Elizabeth

8:00 Watching the morning news

8:30 Cutting cheese for my breakfast bagel

9:00 Discussing an "Obama" bumper sticker with Elizabeth on our drive to school/work

9:30 At work: helping take down our church's Easter cross that's been hanging from the ceiling for a month

10:00 At work: addressing postcards for a youth group mailing

10:30 No joke -- sitting on the toilet playing Sudoku on my iPod touch

11:00 At work: stuffing envelopes for another mailing

11:30 Talking with co-workers about the new Star Trek movie coming out tonight

12:00 Addressing more postcards for yet another mailing (I promise I do more at work than mail things, use the bathroom, and chat with co-workers, but I'm not allowed to cheat and apparently the mailing stuff today all happened right around half-hour marks)

12:30 Checking out the book sale at the Denver Seminary Library

1:00 At Lowe's looking at cheap charcoal grills I could afford so we can have brats and make my wife really happy. No luck (about the grills -- but my wife's plenty happy)

1:30 Eating some lunch; watching CSI: New York

2:00 Messing around on iTunes

2:30 Messing around on Garage Band (a program that lets you create songs, jingles, and podcasts)

3:00 Looking up Hobby Lobby locations

3:30 Desperately trying to make my car start

4:00 Is there anyone on the planet who can fix our car tonight?

4:30 Waiting for the tow-truck guy

5:00 Still waiting for the tow-truck guy

5:30 It's not the starter! It's just the battery (according to the tow-truck guy). Now we're just waiting for the battery seller/installer guy

6:00 The old battery's really in there. Battery seller/installer guy is having a tough time getting it out.

6:30 Car stuff's over and taken care of! Heating up some leftovers for supper.

7:00 Getting ready to go to the store

7:30 In-between stores on our mini shopping trip

8:00 Settling in for "The Office"

8:30 My watch must be fast. "The Office" isn't quite over yet.

9:00 Blogging about what I did every half-hour today.

Free audiobooks

Christianaudio.com offers a free audiobook download every month. Previous free books have included John Calvin: Of prayer -- on the Christian Life, Abandoned to God by Oswald Chambers, and Not For Sale by David Batstone. This month's free audiobook download is Foxe's Book of Martyrs. If you like audiobooks, and you like free things, then go to their website and sign up to get their free monthly e-mails that tell you about the free download each month.

e-mail attachments

Google has what it calls Google Labs, which is where they test out things that they're thinking of adding to the "cool things you can do with Google." So I guess they let people try them out for awhile and if they succeed it becomes a regular thing.

I recently added one of these labs ideas to my gmail account. Anytime I write an e-mail and mention that there's an attachment, but I forget to attach something, I get a pop-up dialogue box that says something like, "It sounds like you were thinking of adding an attachment to this message." It's awesome. Because from the conversations I've had with others, and the fact that I fairly often receive e-mails with things "attached" only to get another e-mail a few minutes later with the thing actually attached, this is a problem many people have. So, I just wanted to say that it's saved me from sending double e-mails a couple of times in the last week, and I think it's a pretty nifty thing.

iBible

I don't know why I haven't seen more of these being used in churches.