Contest: Vote Early, Vote Often - Update

October 26th, 2012

Wreck-It-Ralph is the only film opening truly wide next week and it might open in more theaters than the combined theater counts of Flight and The Man with the Iron Fists. So it is obviously the film in this week's Box Office Prediction Contest, right? Not so fast. This week we don't have a Box Office Prediction Contest. We have a Presidential Election Prediction Contest. In order to win, one must predict the Electoral College results for the 2012 Presidential Election as reported by CNN on their official site at noon, Pacific Time, on Wednesday, November 7th. As a tie-breaker, we will be using the percentage of the vote earned by the two main candidates, again as reported by CNN on their official site at noon on Wednesday November 7th. While you are researching your predictions, it is very important to keep in mind that the chances all 50 states and D.C. will be called by noon on Wednesday is roughly 0%. To emphasize, last time around, it took three weeks for Missouri to be called. This time around one of two things are guaranteed to happen. Either one candidate will win with a surprisingly strong margin, in which case the news networks will not be in a rush to call a state that is close. Or the candidates will be so close that at least one close state could tip the balance, in which case no network will want to get the call wrong and have another Florida 2000 on our hands. So read your favorite political sites, head over to 270towin.com, or another similar site, to play with the map to figure out how many Electoral College votes Obama and Romney will have, as well as the number of states that will remain undecided by the next day. And don't forget the popular vote tie-breaker.

Whoever comes the closest to predicting the actual results, without going over Obama's total, will win a copies of The American President on Blu-ray and Dave on Blu-ray. Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the actual results, without going over Romney's total, will win a copies of The American President on Blu-ray and Dave on Blu-ray.

Update We've had a question regarding exactly what you need to send in for the contest. Here's a good sample entry based on 2008's election results:

Barack Obama Electoral Votes = 350
TIEBREAKER: Popular Vote = 53.7%

John McCain Electoral Votes = 162
TIEBREAKER: Popular Vote = 46.7%

The Electoral Votes do not add up to 538, because two states were uncalled by noon on Wednesday. If you've already sent in your prediction and it doesn't follow this format, send it in again and we will use your original date in case we need to go to the double tie-breaker. (First entry wins.)

Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Monday November 5th to be eligible, so don't delay! More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for September 25th, 2012

September 25th, 2012

It's the unofficial beginning of the Christmas Shopping Season. Starting the rush this year is The Avengers, which broke records at the box office and will likely do the same on the home market. It is clearly a contender for Pick of the Week, but I'm not sure if the Blu-ray Combo Pack or the 3D Combo Pack is the better deal. The only other contender for Pick of the Week is Bond: 50 on Buy from Amazon. However, it's a double-dip... or triple-dip. I've lost count. In the end, I'm going with The Avengers on 3D Combo Pack. It's only $5 more, so it is worth future-proofing. More...