A to Z Reflections

It's always sad when April gives over to May and the Blogging from A to Z Challenge comes to an end, especially since this year was such a blast. I find I have so much more time on my hands now and absolutely no idea what to do with it. (I guess I'll have to start working on my writing again . . . ugh.) I hope all of you had as great a time with the challenge as I did!

For those of you interested in giving us some help making next year's challenge even more of a success, now is the time! The Blogging from A to Z Reflections blog-hop will be open from today until May 8th. We'd love to hear about what you did and didn't like about the challenge, how you thought we did as hosts, what could be improved, cool bloggers you met or new blogs you're excited to follow, how you dealt with writing 26 posts in one month, and anything else you'd like to share! Write a post about your experience with the challenge and then add the link to your post to the Linky List below. Make sure to add the link to your reflections post and not the URL to your blog itself. 

For my reflections post, I'd like to start by saying how much fun I had catching up with all the bloggers I found during last year's challenge. It was so great to see so many returning bloggers taking on the alphabet once again. And I found so many new blogs to follow. Nerd blogs and literary blogs, blogs about writing and so much more!

This year was a little different for me because it was my first time acting as one of the co-hosts. I was nervous that I would get so caught up in my "hosting" duties that I wouldn't have time to actually enjoy the challenge, but thankfully that wasn't a problem. In fact, I think I had even more fun this year, and that was due in large part because of all the amazing participants. You guys were wonderful and encouraging, and just flat out awesome!

And a HUGE shout-out to my Minions, Michael at Michael Abayomi, Carrie Ann at Carrie Ann Tripp, Susan at TheArtofNotGettingPublished, and Stepheny at Stepheny Forgue Houghtlin. You guys were such a big big help and I want to thank you for making my job so easy.  Seriously, you guys rock!

I also want to thank everyone who voted in my A to Z Movie Smackdown. Some of you even went the extra mile and voted for every single match-up. WOW! You guys are the best! And what a great time I had tallying up all the votes. As a part of my reflections post (and upon a few requests), I thought I'd go ahead and post the results of all the voting. So without further ado . . . 

A to Z Movie Smackdown Winners:

A is for Angel Apocalypse winner: 

Constantine 

  - with several write-ins for Dogma (I seriously regret not having made this one of the choices) 

B is for Bygone Battles winner: 

Gladiator 

  - with a TIE between King Arthur and Braveheart for the alternate pairing

C is for Clones winner: 

The Island 

  - with several write-ins for Never Let Me Go and Multiplicity

D is for Disasters winner: 

Armageddon 

  - with several disgruntled write-ins for 2012 (I clearly made a mistake leaving this off the list)

E is for Espionage winner: 

Bond 

  - with Red winning the alternate pairing and one write-in for Austin Powers

F is for Film Noir winner: 

The Maltese Falcon 

G is for Grand Theft Auto winner: 

Gone in 60 Seconds by ONE vote

H is for Hitman winner: 

The Professional 

  - with several write-ins for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Pulp Fiction (I totally approve!) 

I is for Island Isolation winner:

Cast Away 

J is for Jailbreak winner: 

Shawshank Redemption 

  - with many votes for my personal favorite, O Brother Where Art Thou, and two write-ins for Stir Crazy

K is for Kung Fu winner: 

Enter the Dragon 

  - with Kung Fu Panda winning the alternate pairing

L is for Libraries winner: 

The Librarian 

M is for Mice winner: 

The Rescuers 

  - with several write-ins for Stuart Little

N is for Nicholas Cage winner: 

Con Air came in FIRST with 13 votes

National Treasure came in SECOND with 11 votes

The Rock and Face/Off tied for THIRD with 10 votes

  - This was probably my favorite Smackdown of the challenge!

O is for Outer Space winner: 

Gravity 

  - with two write-ins for The Last Starfighter

P is for Prom winner: 

10 Things I Hate About You 

  - with Never Been Kissed winning the alternate pairing

Q is for Quest winner: 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail 

R is for Robin Williams winner: 

Mrs. Doubtfire 

  - with my personal favorite Jumanji coming in SECOND and Hook in THIRD 

S is for Sharks winner: 

Jaws 

  - with a write-in for Deep Blue Sea

T is for Trials winner: 

A Few Good Men by ONE vote

U is for Under the Sea winner: 

Finding Nemo 

  - with write-ins for Splash and The Abyss 

V is for Vampires winner: 

Underworld 

  - with write-ins for Interview with a Vampire and Bram Stoker's Dracula

W is for Westerns winner: 

Tombstone 

X is for eXtraterrestrial eXterminators winner: 

Men In Black 

  - with Edge of Tomorrow winning the alternate pairing (It would certainly get my vote for winner)

Y is for Yuletide winner: 

Home Alone 

  - with my most hated A Christmas Story Coming in SECOND and my most favorite How the Grinch Stole Christmas in THIRD (how sad) and several write-ins for White Christmas

Z is for Zombie winner: 

World War Z by ONE vote 

  - with a TIE for the alternate pairing of Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead (unless you count MY vote, in which case Zombieland won) 

Well there you have it, the results of all your Smackdown voting. Any surprises? I know there were a few winners I just did not see coming. And there was not one, not two, but three Smackdowns that came down to just ONE vote . . . wow! What a nail-biter. 

Well, I can't wait to hear all your challenge reflections. Until next year A to Z Challenge! And as always, happy blogging!