nginx users with mod-rewrite friendly URLs : could you please post your virtual host file?

[sub_ubi]

I'm having a heck of a time getting mod-rewrite friendly URLs working in nginx. I followed this post,

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum/vbulletin-4/vbulletin-4-questions-problems-and-troubleshooting/4031516-nginx-friendly-urls-rewrite-rules-was-working-before?p=4032700#post4032700

rewrite    /threads/.*                   /showthread.php?$uri&$args     last;
rewrite    /forums/.*                    /forumdisplay.php?$uri&$args   last;
rewrite    /members/.*                   /member.php?$uri&$args         last;
rewrite    /blogs/.*                     /blog.php?$uri&$args           last;
rewrite    /entries/.*                   /entry.php?$uri&$args          last;
rewrite    ^/(?:(.*?)(?:/|$))(.*|$)$     /$1.php?r=$2                   last;

but am not having much luck. 404's everywhere, or images don't work, or something wonky. My vhost file is becoming a mess. Can someone with mod-rewrite urls working post their full vhost so I can see where to put everything?

Thanks!

[sub_ubi]

my current vhost file if anyone wants to see the nightmare up close

server {
        server_name [url]www.mysite.com;[/url]
        return 301 $scheme://mysite.com$request_uri;
}
server {
        listen 80;
        listen [::]:80;

        # SSL configuration
        #
        # listen 443 ssl default_server;
        # listen [::]:443 ssl default_server;
        #
        # Note: You should disable gzip for SSL traffic.
        # See: [url]https://bugs.debian.org/773332[/url]
        #
        # Read up on ssl_ciphers to ensure a secure configuration.
        # See: [url]https://bugs.debian.org/765782[/url]
        #
        # Self signed certs generated by the ssl-cert package
        # Don't use them in a production server!
        #
        # include snippets/snakeoil.conf;

        root /var/www/mysite;

        # some unique logging
        access_log /var/log/nginx/mysite_access.log;
        error_log /var/log/nginx/mysite_error.log;

        # Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP
        index index.php index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

        server_name mysite.com;

        location / {
                #for vbulletin
                # First attempt to serve request as file, then
                # as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
                try_files $uri $uri/ =404;

               #my attempt at mod-rewrite URLs, currently failing
        rewrite    /threads/.*                   /showthread.php?$uri&$args     last;
        rewrite    /forums/.*                    /forumdisplay.php?$uri&$args   last;
        rewrite    /members/.*                   /member.php?$uri&$args         last;
        rewrite    /blogs/.*                     /blog.php?$uri&$args           last;
        rewrite    /entries/.*                   /entry.php?$uri&$args          last;
        rewrite    /(?:(.*?)(?:/|$))(.*|$)$     /$1.php?r=$2                   last;
        }

        # for amember software
       location /amember { try_files not-existing-file [USER="63029"]php[/USER];}
       location ~* ^/amember/.*\.(js|ico|gif|jpg|png|css|swf|csv)$ {}
       location ~* ^/amember/setup/index.php$ { try_files not-existing-file [USER="63029"]php[/USER]; }
       location ~* ^/amember/js.php { try_files not-exiting-file [USER="63029"]php[/USER]; }
       location ~* ^/amember/index.php$ { try_files not-existing-file [USER="63029"]php[/USER]; }
       location ~* ^/amember/public.php$ { try_files not-existing-file [USER="63029"]php[/USER]; }

       location ~* ^/amember/public { rewrite ^.*$ /amember/public.php; }
       location ~* ^/amember/setup { rewrite ^.*$ /amember/setup/index.php; }
       location ~* ^/amember { rewrite ^.*$ /amember/index.php; }


        # pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on 127.0.0.1:9000
        #
        location ~ \.php$ {
                include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
                #with php5.6-fpm:
                fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php5.6-fpm.sock;
                fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(.*)$;
                fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
                include fastcgi_params;
                fastcgi_param QUERY_STRING $query_string;
                fastcgi_param REQUEST_METHOD $request_method;
                fastcgi_param CONTENT_TYPE $content_type;
                fastcgi_param CONTENT_LENGTH $content_length;
                fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
                fastcgi_ignore_client_abort off;
                fastcgi_connect_timeout 60;
                fastcgi_send_timeout 180;
                fastcgi_read_timeout 180;
                fastcgi_buffers 256 16k;
                fastcgi_buffer_size 32k;
                fastcgi_temp_file_write_size 256k;
        }
        # more amember stuff
                location [USER="63029"]php[/USER] {
                fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php5.6-fpm.sock;
        #       fastcgi_pass php-handler;
                fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(.*)$;
                fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
                include fastcgi_params;
                fastcgi_param QUERY_STRING $query_string;
                fastcgi_param REQUEST_METHOD $request_method;
                fastcgi_param CONTENT_TYPE $content_type;
                fastcgi_param CONTENT_LENGTH $content_length;
                fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
                fastcgi_ignore_client_abort off;
                fastcgi_connect_timeout 60;
                fastcgi_send_timeout 180;
                fastcgi_read_timeout 180;
                fastcgi_buffers 256 16k;
                fastcgi_buffer_size 32k;
                fastcgi_temp_file_write_size 256k;
                }

        # deny access to .htaccess files, if Apache's document root
        # concurs with nginx's one
        #
        location ~ /\.ht {
                deny all;
        }
}