John Beck

Back in May 2024, I launched my own version of a March Madness-style tournament—but instead of basketball teams, it was all about movies. The idea was inspired by my friend Craig, who had started something similar a few years ago, but his version never made it past the nomination round. I decided to take the concept and actually run with it.

The goal? To figure out what our favorite movies really are.

I invited a group of close friends, and to my surprise, nearly 30 people jumped in and submitted over 900 movie nominations. To structure the tournament, I divided the entries into four broad genres:

• Action / Adventure / Western
• Comedy / Musical / Animated
• Drama / Thriller / Mystery
• Sci-Fi / Horror / Fantasy

Seeding was based on the number of nominations each film received, with ties broken by their critical reception. From there, it was a six-week head-to-head tournament, with each round determined by popular vote.

I built the whole thing using Google’s free tools: a site on Google Sites, the bracket designed with Google Sheets, nominations tracked in Google Sheets, and voting handled through Google Forms. It took a bit of work to get the voting process set up in a way that felt fair and manageable (Forms isn’t exactly designed for tournaments), but with under 30 participants, it held up just fine.

If I run this again, I’ll probably rethink how nominations and voting are collected—but overall, it was a fun and engaging way to share our favorite films and discover new ones.

Check out the full project, including all nominated movies, voting rounds, and the final bracket here: Craig’s Movie Madness

I started my HTML-based website in 1996, a long time ago when the internet was new and websites were just beginning. Since 2008, it remained HTML-based, but I gradually added a WordPress blog to keep things fresh for my audience. This week, I successfully moved everything to a WordPress site, which offers more flexibility and features. In the coming weeks and months, I plan to make it look nicer by trying out different themes and customizing elements to match my vision. I want to improve user experience, make navigation easier, and possibly include new multimedia content. Here’s what the home page looked like from 2008 to this current WordPress version, highlighting the progress I’ve made and my plans for the future.

Roebling Carnival 2025 – Time-Lapse Video

I captured the entire week of the Roebling Carnival—from setup to takedown—in a continuous time-lapse, and just finished putting together an edited version!

Edited Version (with audio): A faster-paced highlight reel of the week, with portions trimmed and ambient sound from around the carnival pieced in. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/HyJuQg7C588

Full Version (unedited, no audio): If you want the whole thing, start to finish, no cuts or sound—here’s the raw 24-minute version: https://youtu.be/gYRnessvrfs

Recorded May 27 – June 1, 2025 Shot on an iPhone 11 using Lapse It at 10-second intervals. Over 122 real-time hours condensed into a time capsule of the week! Hope you enjoy seeing Roebling in motion!

Last summer, I moved into my buddy’s historic three-story home in Roebling, NJ—known around town as the One Horse House. It’s the only house in the village that was ever relocated from its original spot, supposedly hauled by a single horse (hence the name).

History lesson aside, the third floor of the house was largely untouched and in a bit of disarray. Quiet and tucked away, it struck me as the perfect spot to create a cozy little library and media room, especially since I already had a personal collection of books, movies, and music looking for a proper home.

I cleaned the space from top to bottom, gave it a fresh coat of paint, and started setting things up. While there are still a few accents and technical upgrades I’d like to make down the line, here’s a look at the One Horse House media room as it stands today:

If you’ve got any interesting media collecting dust, the One Horse House media room is always open to donations! I welcome just about every format—movies (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS, LaserDisc), music (CD, SACD, cassette, vinyl), and all kinds of books.

I’ve also put together an Amazon wishlist with some media and upgrades I’m hoping to add to the space over time, for anyone who’s curious or feeling generous: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1XJDS6OWCK9Q1?ref_=wl_share

Gear (80% of it is over 20 years old):
Hisense 50″ 4k Roku TV (50R6030N)
Vizio 5.1/Dolby Atmos sound bar (sv510x-0806)
Sony PlayStation 3 Slim (250GB)
GE VCR (VG4043)
Pioneer LaserDisc player (CLD-S104)
Sony DVD/SACD player (DVP-NS90V)
Technics turntable (SL-BD22)
Sony dual-cassette player (TC-W435)
Sony stereo receiver (STR-D590)
JBL Creature 2.1 speakers
Sony studio headphones (MDR-V600)

There are many many running shoe reviews on the internet. A stat that I wish they would include were the number of miles and/or the cost per mile of ‘retired’ shoes. Shoes that have achieved their max mileage. Here are some of my retired shoes, I personally tend to run in them as long as I can. I’ll update this table as I retire my shoes.