Reviews and More

The American Film Institute has been publishing a list of the top American films of all time since 1998. In most years, there’s very little movement in the top 10, but this 10th anniversary list represents a bit of a departure from that trend. Although Citizen Kane remained the No.1 movie of all time, there were plenty of other changes.

For example, The Godfather and Casablanca swapped positions, with The Godfather being ranked second, and Casablanca now third. Moreover, there were two brand-new entries into the top 10: Raging Bull (No.4) and Vertigo (No.9).

Several other films in the top 10 changed positions as well, so I’ll just go ahead and list them all right here:

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca
4. Raging Bull
5. Singin’ in the Rain
6. Gone With the Wind
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Schindler’s List
9. Vertigo
10. The Wizard of Oz

Considering the fact that I’m such a huge movie fan, I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I’ve only seen half of the films on the list! I’m hereby making it a goal to watch all of these films — in their entirety — over the next couple months or so. I doubt that I’ll like all of them (I never agree with these types of lists), but I should at least be able to say that I’ve seen them!

As you can probably tell from this blog, I love to watch as many movies and TV shows as I can. This kind of entertainment provides me with a nice break from the daily grind and allows me a few very welcome hours of mindless relaxation. So it should come as no surprise that I also enjoy reading magazines and websites that feature all the latest celebrity dirt, rumors, gossip, and photos — which is why I’m excited about a new site called CelebrityGossip.com.

CelebrityGossip.com is an aggregate site, meaning they gather up all of the hottest gossip stories currently making the rounds and put them all in one place. This is obviously a much more convenient way to keep abreast of the latest Hollywood happenings than having to surf through 20 different websites to get the same information. What’s more, CelebrityGossip.com allows readers to vote on the articles and leave comments, so it’s a fun way to interact with other gossip addicts!

I also like the way most of the articles have a long list of related stories about the same celeb. This allows me to quickly get up to speed on a situation if I haven’t been following a particular storyline from the beginning.

Anyway, I’ve already put CelebrityGossip.com in my feed reader and will definitely be checking in several times per day. If you’re as interested in Hollywood gossip as I am, then I’m sure you’ll love the site too!

I have a new shopping blog that I want to promote, so I thought I’d hold a contest to help generate incoming links. This is the first time I’ve ever held a contest on my own and I’m going to try to keep it as simple as possible. I’ll be giving away a total of $130 in cash to six winners, so I hope you’ll find it worth your while to enter!

Here are the guidelines:

Entries

1. Write a unique post on your blog mentioning both this website (Reviews and More) and my new shopping blog called The Chronic Consumer. The post should be a minimum of 100 words, and can really focus on anything as long as you give me the two required links. Edit: Please mention the contest in your post so your readers can enter if they’re interested!!
2. Please use my blog names as anchor text. So I’m looking for a link to http://www.reviewsandmore.net/ (anchor text “Reviews and More”) and a link to http://www.chronicconsumer.com/ (anchor text “The Chronic Consumer”) — without the quotes, of course.
3. Once you’ve completed your entry, please send an email to contest[at]chronicconsumer[dot]com with your permalink and your name. I’ll verify that your post meets the requirements and I’ll send you a confirmation email.
4. You may enter only once per blog. If you have multiple blogs, you may enter multiple times — so long as you create a unique post on each blog.
5. I have no minimum requirements as far as PR, Alexa, and domains go (free sites like Blogger, Xanga, etc. are okay), but ask that your blog be at least 60 days old and active (as in, you’ve been posting on it at least once a week for the last 60 days).
6. Entries must be received by 11:59pm EDT on June 30, 2007 in order to be included in the drawing.

Prizes/Drawing:

1. There will be six available cash prizes for this contest: 1 (one) grand prize of $50; 1 (one) second prize of $30; 1 (one) third prize of $20; and 3 (three) runner-up prizes of $10 each.
2. The same person may win more than one prize, so if you have multiple entries, you could win multiple times.
3. I will print or write out the names of all eligible entrants on separate slips of paper, toss everything into a bucket, and draw out six names at random.
4. Prizes will be awarded in reverse order!! In other words, the first name I draw will win a runner-up prize of $10 and the sixth name I draw will win the grand prize of $50.
5. I will try to record the drawing on video and upload the clip here, but if there are technical difficulties, I will just post a list of winners.
6. The drawing will take place on July 1 or July 2, with winners to be announced the same day.

Payment:

1. Payment will be made via PayPal only. If you do not have a PayPal account or do not wish to reveal your PayPal email address to me, please do not enter the contest!!
2. I will make payments in US dollars only. Winners are responsible for any PayPal fees or currency conversion fees taken out of the transaction.
3. Once the winners have been selected, I will contact them in order to get their PayPal addresses. Payment will be made within 8 hours of receiving a valid PayPal address.

Miscellaneous

1. I reserve the right to extend the contest deadline at my discretion.

Well, I hope this covers everything! I know I got a little long-winded here, but a couple of my blogging buddies have had some problems with contests and I wanted to be sure to be as clear as possible right from the start in order to avoid any confusion. Have fun and good luck!