York County Teenager Wins Lego Film Competition

Every now and again, a story comes along that I feel the need to hide from my son. And normally, one from Pennsylvania stating a York County teenager wins contest isn't on that list. Wait, it'll all be clear to you and every parent that has ever developed callouses from stepping on Lego bricks in the middle of the night.

Logan Zabarkes is a 14-year-old boy who reminds me a lot of a 14-year-old boy who once lived in my house. He loves history. He loves movies. AND he loves Legos. Sound like anyone you might know? Thought so. One day at school, his social studies teacher brought something to his attention that changed his life. Logan tells Fox 43, “One morning [he] told us there’s this presidential competition going on where you can make a one-minute video about a president, and he showed us what some of the videos were and he was like ‘You guys could totally do this.’ And I love making movies, so I thought why not give it a shot,”

The competition is put on by Project POTUS, a middle school history initiative from a non-profit in Indianapolis, Indiana called Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. Zabarkes chose Harry S. Truman as his presidential subject and then set about telling his story his way, with Legos and stop-motion animation.

Logan Zabarkes utilized his bins and bins of Legos to tell President Truman's story in three different phases of his life. I think what makes this so incredible to me is that he employed stop-motion-animation. That involves one movement, one frame at a time. It is time consuming. Some might even call it tedious. One word that has to be associated with it and is rarely associated with 14-year-old-boys is patience.

And for Logan Zabarkes, this patience paid off to the tune of a $500 prize that he plans to invest in future projects. And I can almost hear my son, "SEE dad, I told you I could make money with Legos!" <g>

North Carolina may not be the first state that comes to your mind when you think of film production. And yes we aren't New York or California but that doesn't mean some fantastic movies weren't filmed in North Carolina. While Hollywood gets the glamour and notoriety, plenty of iconic films have been shot all over the United States. And this certainly includes North Carolina. I'm not a movie buff, though I do enjoy watching them from time to time. Mainly when I have the attention span and time! And honestly, the first film that came to my mind when I saw this list, well actually I don't think it was made in North Carolina at all. And it wasn't filmed because it's animated.

My mind instantly went to the Disney classic "Cars". Even more surprising? I've never seen it. I just remember hearing about it when they did the premiere at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But don't worry, I did think of one that actually shot in North Carolina (and made this list)- Dirty Dancing. I'm sure you know that the classic 80's film was shot at Lake Lure, NC. But is it the best one to come out of the state? Our friends at BetCarolina have it ranked high, but not first. BetCarolina.com compiled a list of movies filmed in North Carolina and ranked them based on a point system.

This point system uses IMDb rating, Rotten Tomatoes Audience and Critics' Scores, and Oscars recognition to rank the top 10 movies shot in North Carolina. Did your favorite make the list? Number one is definitely a beloved film North Carolina can be proud of! Keep reading to see the top films. You can read the full study by BetCarolina here.

Year: 2013

Score: 77

Year: 1987

Score: 79.3

Year: 2004

Score: 79.6

Year: 2013

Score: 81

Year: 2012

Score: 83.6

Year: 1992

Score: 88

Year: 1999

Score: 90.3

Year: 1985

Score: 93.6

Year: 1994

Score: 103.6