jmicha

My god that was one energetic first ride video. If that was happening at all times this would be one of the most epic rides ever. Maybe not fireworks, but a light show with music blasting and the like. That would be awesome. Anywho this ride is still extremely interesting looking. The first forwards run looks like it offers some seriously strong g's, some crazy airtime, and one of the oddest layouts for a shuttle to date. It's too bad if it really is extremely rough because this ride is one of those rides that just makes you think 'what the heck' and those are my favorite rides to see built

^^It's actually 1 foot of rise for every 12 feet of run now. Making ramps actually meet this requirement is one of the biggest pains of architecture. They don't fit anywhere.

^This type of music definitely isn't for everyone. Personally this is exactly my type of music and is perfect for doing schoolwork to or anything of the like. P.S. I still greatly dislike the iPhone (not just the 4, all of them. And any smart phone trying to be it for that matter)

^That's another place I never got to and wanted to when I was down there last quarter. That and the Crab Shack on the way out to Tybee Island. I checked it out but my roommate had already left for Europe so I wasn't about to eat alone. That's just sad...lol.

^Indeed I do. Towards the end of September through early December. And that sounds great. Tourist watching is fun no matter where you are lol. But it would be great to have someone to go to parks with since as far as I know currently, I'm going to be living alone so I won't know anyone in the city.

^Seriously. She has some sort of addictive powers. It's the only time I've ever been annoyed by and in love with a song. She's a succubus, I swear.

^You've had some pretty interesting songs from what I've seen. Mannequin (or whatever it was called) still pops into my head every now and again. You definitely have talent, and I'm excited to see what you do with it. P.S. And this is despite completely disagreeing with you on the iPhone 4

^^I know exactly what you mean when it comes to Ke$ha. I can't stand her, her 'style,' or even a lot of her music. It annoys me, but I find myself dancing and singing along to it whenever I hear it. It annoys me that I enjoy it so, but I've gotten over that and just enjoy the lyrical genius that came up with "I like your beard" at the end of one of her songs

^Oh for sure, I'm actually very interested in the movie despite the general reaction to the trailer. I think it was more of a disappointment that his name is now a marketing ploy that was so irritating to the audience. But the movie actually looks like it has a lot going for it. And M. Night isn't directing it, so that's definitely a plus. He is just one of the writers. So hopefully it won't have some 'twist' that makes it feel like every other one of his movies. As long as he stays away from anything on the levels of The Happening and Lady in the Water, I'm fine with him still being in the business, but sometimes I feel he just needs to come back down off of his ego trip that he is most certainly on.

This is really impressive, not going to lie. I have it on repeat at the moment. Definitely the best I've heard from you so far. Keep going with this style, it seems to suit you very well. I will continue listening to this for the rest of the night. Thank you for the eargasm

So to those who saw Inception (and possibly any other movies out right now, not sure), what was the reaction in your theater to the trailer for Devil? When it was showing in my theater everyone, myself included, got really into it. Then something almost as awesome as Inception happened. M. Nigh Shyamalan's name came on screen and everyone instantly let out a sigh of disappointment and booed. The theater then broke into a collective laugh attack at the event. It was one of the funniest things I had ever seen, and apparently it wasn't just my theater. Everyone I know that has seen Inception had the same experience when this trailer was showing. Just curious if anyone else had this same reaction in their theaters. And for those who haven't seen it, here's the youtube link to the trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aINOilb_Kzc

First thing that came to mind was a Bizarro makeover. But only to one side. Have the Bizarro side launch backwards (it isn't exactly a strong launch, so I'm more than positive this would be fine) and the Superman side launch forwards. That could be pretty interesting. And hey, maybe they will end up launching to full speed again (or maybe even faster which would be awesome). Well there's my completely made up idea of what's going to happen. Have fun with it. Should be interesting to see where this goes.

^^The first person I actually came out to was one of my roommates freshman year of college (about three years ago). I had three roommates (crammed into an 11 x 18 foot room, but that's for a different discussion), two of which I was really unsure of when it came to the whole 'gay friendly' thing. I became extremely good friends with the other, Craig, and came out to him early on since I just needed someone to talk to about it and figured someone I'm such new friends with is as good a place as any to start. After that I slowly came out to other people I was close with, but not everyone because I was still unsure about the other two. Eventually I stopped really caring how they, or anyone else for that matter, would take it and told them. It took them some getting used to. Not because they had a problem with it, but they just weren't the types of guys that had been exposed to gays pretty much at all. Neither had any gay friends or really knew anyone that was gay that was a part of their lives. In the end everything was fine though as I had already formed a bond with them over common interests (well, more common INTEREST, cars, since they're both automotive design majors) and everything worked out. I'd suggest testing the waters to see how he is when it comes to gays before telling him just to not cause any unwanted issues. Generally most people these days that are that age are pretty accepting from what I've seen, so I wouldn't be overly worried about it, but when you're first coming out to people you don't know it's smart to know what to expect.

^^Nice, that was exactly how I thought they filmed it, just wasn't completely sure. That scene was such a cool take on the action scene. Props to the actors involved as I'm sure that wasn't easy to do properly.

^^That scene definitely got to me. The whole movie was pretty depressing (but really good), but the scene that was most disturbing was when (SPOILER ALERT) the younger brother had to kill the older brother. The thought of having to kill my older brother in order to survive and go on is not something I like to think about so it was definitely a disturbing scene for me. The entire movie The Signal is pretty disturbing. It plays with your mind and you never really know if what you are watching is real or not. It's a great movie and I would definitely suggest it. Another that shares some similarities to The Signal is Pontypool. It's disturbing it its own way and is a great take on the 'sort-of-zombie' movies (the ones where they're like zombies in some way shape or form, but aren't really).

^I feel exactly the same way. There was just so much going on, it was impossible to take everything in. The rotating hallway/hotel room scene was by far one of the coolest action scenes ever. I would love to see how they filmed that scene. And coming from an architecture background, the last level had some pretty awesome architecture. Definitely one of the best visual movies in a while.

^You're opinion is on par with all other reviews I've seen of it. I want to see it a lot more now that I've heard such great things about it from friends and critics. I went to the midnight premiere of Inception last night and have to say that it is one of the best movies I've ever seen. It plays with the mind enough to make it interesting on many different levels and offers a fantastic storyline supported by amazing acting and beautiful special FX. Everything about the movie was amazing (well maybe minus one thing, but I'm not going to say what since it would ruin a lot. People that have seen it will know what I'm talking about). I don't know how this movie will do publicly though. It seemed like a good portion of the audience wasn't following the story. If you aren't completely void of the ability to pay attention, it's not a difficult task to pay attention, but I feel that's a big thing to ask of the general public. But this doesn't really matter to me since I loved it and think all of you should go see it as soon as possible.

^Which is a shame because both parks are absolutely amazing. Both are better than anything Disneyworld has to offer in my opinion, it just seems like getting over the hurdle of Disney's near-monopoly on tourism in Central Florida is an extremely difficult task. I'm hoping that with the instant success of the addition of Harry Potter to IoA people will become more aware of what Universals Studios is and what it has to offer. I've convinced a few different families to go there instead of Disney for their short trips to Orlando and every one of them was amazed at what there was to do there. People just really don't know what Universal Studios actually encompasses and that's the biggest reason their attendance isn't higher than what it is. I'm expecting at the least a slight jump in attendance this year and hopefully word of mouth will help bring in new guests for the next few years so Universal Studios can grow and sustain itself.

^I think that most of the emotion comes from the realization that childhood is over for Andy and for the majority of the audience members. People in their late teens and early twenties seem to be hit the hardest by the end due to being similarly aged to Andy. We grew up with him basically and seeing him move on past his childhood reminds us how we've all moved on. This doesn't make everyone cry, but I know it almost made me cry (I was there with my two guy friends and didn't want to seem like the wussy gay guy crying at a movie, only to find out they both cried so all that effort to not cry was for nothing lol). The trilogy being over is also a nice metaphor for childhood being over and for the need to move on and to become an adult. I think this is why it gets to so many people. It is a very happy ending yes, as the toys got to go to a new, loving owner, which was fantastic, but what that means is what gets to most people. I was actually closer to crying during the incinerator scene. When Jessie touched Bullseye's foot and they realize that there is no point in fighting anymore was extremely sad. It was a nice touch to see them all holding hands and even Woody realizing that fighting to get out of an impossible situation was not as good as joining hands with his best friends and being destroyed together. I'm very happy they were saved (obviously) but that scene was also very emotional. The movie was definitely a sad movie, but at the same time an extremely happy one when it ended. A great way to finish off the trilogy. I'd give it a 9.5/10.

^Well considering the 'double standard' you are mentioning is based on my comment, it's pretty ridiculous considering I've never trashed Intamin ever (or any other manufacturer for that matter). Plus once the ride is turned over to the park, which it was well before the trims were put on, B&M has absolutely no control over what happens to their rides. And again, the dispatch thing was just something I heard, nothing I can prove, like I said, since I'm not a part of the park. But the ride does take a noticeable bit longer to fully run its cycle from station to final brake run than it did in its original state.

^If you have No Limits, just as an experiment, load the (craptastic) recreation of Mantis and place a trim halfway down the drop that slows the train, oh, 5mph. See what happens. You'd be surprised how much it can do. Most of the time saved comes from the loop and dive loop since it travels so much slower over the tops of each of those elements. Trust me, it's more than just a couple of seconds.

It's actually quite a bit more than that from what I have seen. And even if it is only an extra 10 seconds, that's 10 seconds more time to load the train and dispatch. And again, that's only what I've heard. I've never seen any other reason presented for the installation of that trim since it wasn't original to the ride, and its installation coincides with some other modifications made to the ride, all of which lengthen the amount of time it takes for a train to get back to the station. The trim on the drop, the MCBR slows the train a little more than when it opened, the removal of one of the trains from operation (gets rid of possible stacking in both sections of the final brake run) and the amount the first part of the final brake run slows the train. It creeps from the first part of the brake run to the second part and overall from what I've seen/heard, the cycle from leaving the station to stopping outside the station is quite a bit longer which helps greatly with keeping the flow of trains out of the station consistent. I wasn't trying to argue, just presenting what I've heard and seen since the trims weren't original to the ride.

^Mantis opened without trims and they were installed per Cedar Point's requests to (from what I've heard, don't quote me on this) lengthen the ride time as they were having trouble with stacking. This is also the reason Mantis never runs three trains, or even has three trains fully assembled for that matter. They weren't there to begin with and although I know what you were trying to say, the trims on Mantis don't apply. It is a better ride when they are off though. It's far more intense and offers a really fast ride that is mostly lost when the trim are on. I just wish the MCBR slowed the train a little smoother, that's always been the part of the ride that I've found uncomfortable.

^Great pictures. I've always wanted to visit this part of the world and will hopefully get to someday. I've always liked the overall design of the Petronas Towers, especially the way they handled the skybridge, but the materials used kill it for me. Cesar Pelli and I don't have similar tastes in materials, but I would still love to see these buildings in person. And the 'phunky' building in Singapore is a project I've been following for a while, and although the design of the three towers is a little uninspired, the pool on the Skypark more than makes up for it. Nothing like swimming in an infinity pool hundreds of feet above the ground. Thanks for this view of an awesome part of the world.

I came in here thinking I was going to share some insight since I've gone from 225 to 165 in a year and a half, but then I realized that I really don't eat that great. I still eat crappy foods (that I love eating, mmmm) but just eat a lot less of them. And no snacks between meals unless I'm physically hungry, and when that happens I'll have something small, like fruit or pretzels. And the biggest thing is that I cut out all sodas and juices from my diet and have felt amazing ever since. Some of my weight loss buddies tell me I'm cheating since I still eat generally unhealthy foods, but it's really all about understanding your body and knowing how to eat within a range that allows you to lose weight. There's no one special diet or food that will magically make everyone lose weight, it's all about trying different things and once you find something that works, go with it. That's what I did and have not had to give up anything I really cared about and have lost a ton of weight in the process. That's the best advice I can give to anyone looking to lose weight.