Fallen Heretic

Yup. I had a few tickets still to burn, so I made the mistake of going on. Ive been on Top Spins before, not really my thing, but this one was just...worse, somehow. For some reason the restraint seemed much more uncomfortable when I was hanging.

Was great to see you again Div, and great to meet you too Steven. I dont expect much from the Carnival, but you really need fun people with you to have a good time. Not a place to fly solo. Slides still hate me it seems. After loosing on every slide on the Midwest trip, I now get lodged in the funhouse slide, and get my backside burned when I lost my mat off the end of the Happy Fun slide. And the Top Spin made me sick. And I arrived three hours late. other than that, it was a good time. Just one thing...how do I manage to look drunk in every photo?

That new Lambo has to be one of the sexiest cars I have ever seen. Reminds me of the F-117A. Did you get to see its dashboard? It doesn't use dials, it has three LCD screens instead, with two modes. Regular mode shows dials like a normal car (only cooler). The flight mode is awesome, where it shows the speed and revs more in the style of a HUD. With those little smarts, its cool that you can park them at 90 degrees to the kerb and still fit in the space. Very useful. lol. I wouldn't have one myself, I would go for the smart roadster instead.

I always find it rather amusing to see the various junk they have just lying around, corroding in the sea salt. I wonder why they are keeping that old Humpty Dumpty from the Alice ride? Its not like they need it, since they have a newer one in there. Maybe they could auction some of that stuff off to try and make a little extra cash. The things they dont need, that is. I will assume they want to keep the spare Valhalla boats. lol.

I love the Pleasure Beach at night. I was there Friday night just before I went into that Forbidden show at 8pm. I was hanging round the Infusion area and saw a few of the shirts. I didnt spot you though, and didnt have the time to hang around to look. I really love the way Infusion looks at night. Its one of the best looking SLCs Ive seen.

That has to be the funniest, yet oddly appropriate analogy ever! Awesome. Funny how the bit where I said that I didn't mean complain about bad maintenance seems to have been ignored. Maybe this is the thread 'organically growing and evolving'. lol. It bugs me a little how some coasters have extra airgates for a car the train doesn't have. Like a 4 car train will have a station containing places for 5 cars. Even worse when they don't block off the last gate, leaving some unsuspecting peeps standing with no car to board. Why, dammit?

Just in case anyone interested hasn't been keeping up with the Myspace, Alien War will not be starting its run in Glasgow. They have an offer of a location in Central London. They are now looking at an April 2008 London opening. Its a shame it will miss the Alien v Predator 2 hype.

The floor is supposed to drop before the train moves off. It bothers me that it doesn't. Then I'm asking what quirks bug people about other rides. Other than it being crap, or something obvious like that. Like a "What grinds my gears" but with coasters.

About five minutes ago. When was the last time you were involved in something that was since referred to as 'the incident'?

I've been inspired by the trip to Pleasure beach Blackpool, from which I have just returned. I finally got my Infusion credit and noticed something that really bugged me. So, I thought I would post it on here and see if anyone else has any little bugbears about rides which get under their skin. Not major things like a badly maintained ride, just the little things that make you say "Why the hell did they do that?" So, Infusuion then. Now the only other SLC I've been on was T2 and I cant remember if it did the same thing or not. When leaving the station, the train starts to move off about a second or two before the floor starts to drop. This means that if your particularly long legged (like the unfortunate chap sitting next to me) your feet are dragged along the floor a little way before it drops. And then, on the way back in, the train stops, and the restraints unlock, before the floor starts coming up again. A few folk dropped down onto the floor only for it to lift them up and push them back against the seat (the floor moves up and back in a quarter circle). Why in the name of blue hell does it work this way? Was it always like that? Had it just slipped out of synch for the entire day? What gives? Ahem. Ok. Thats me done for now. Anyone else?

A kid in line for Avalanche at Pleasure Beach Blackpool... "I thought the Irn bru was going to be long like the Pepsi Max when I first sat in it, but it turned out to be really short. good though." How could you not see how short it was? And this kid, was about 17 or 18. So no excuses.

This is a mix but here are a few I love. edit-- The list turned out way longer than I thought, so I've had to cut some out. Oh well. First I will echo anything by Assemblage 23. The FunkerVogt mix of "disappoint" is very good if you can get a hold of it. Much better that the original I reckon. I guess you could call it EBM-trance with a melodic style. My friend calls it "Gay Club music", but its totally not. VNV Nation - Future Perfect: The album that really kicked of the whole futurepop genre. Thoughtful lyrics along with a pop-trance mix make for music you can dance to, or just sit back and listen to. Also from VNV... Matter and Form, but only because the last two tracks are awesome. Lightwave is a dance instrumental that will instantly make you think of playing WipEout. Perpetual is a sort of Rock-EBM mix that works really well and just sounds really nice. It has shades of the 80s goth stuff to it. The Crystal Method - Vegas. A very nice album, that has a dancey, but chilled vibe to it. Plus, anything that samples The Dark Crystal has to get extra points. Iron Maiden - Brave New World. I almost put Number of the Beast here, as Hallowed be Thy Name is still my favorite Maiden track. But this album just has such an energetic, rejuvenated feel to it, echoing the way things were going for the band at the time. Energetic, lively, all the things we love from Maiden, but a little older and wiser. Let the track keep running right to the end of the last track with the volume up and you will heart Nickos voice caught on tape, echoing the feelings of many a Maiden fan at the time. To/Die/For - All Eternity. The debut for the band after they re-named from mary-anne to get out of a bad contract. The band has a new line-up now which is still good, but this is my fave album. It narrowly beats Epilogue as their best. Its depressing goth rock, but harder that Evanescence or The Rasmus. Its all vampires and death and pain, but musically, its very good. In the Heat of the Night is the best track i reckon. The band truly kick ass live, and play much harder on stage. Paradise Lost - One second. Hardly any two albums from these guys sound the same. They are always changing their sound, which is a good thing. This is my favorite, just ahead of Draconian Times. They turned down the hard rock and turned up the synths. Some truly beautiful songs with a dark but not depressing feel. Highly recommended. Listen to it and you will find it hard to believe that these guys were one of the original pioneers of doom metal!

I bought a car for a little under 18 grand. And very nice it is too. Im eyeing up some more watches from Tokyoflash now.

Whack a hun just made me fall off my chair. lol.

Yeah, thats about right. It actually does hit more that 2gs on launch because of the way it launches in bursts (rather than one single motor push like TTD), so its not a constant acceleration. 2g doesnt sound much, but you really do feel it because the human body isnt used to that strong a g-force in that direction. Remember that the human body can take different amounts of g depending on its direction (and if the person is wearing a g-suit and is trained). For instance, a force of just over 2g pushing you upwards can be dangerous if your not trained. Whereas an forward acceleration can be way up at 20g and be survivable. The most common direction, straight down pushing you into your seat, is about 6g for untrained people before they pass out. With a G-suit, this can go up to about 7 or 8. Some of the aerobatic and air race pilots can regularly pull over 12g in short bursts, as they are fit and trained to take it.

On face-off, I though for a moment we were going to get stalled halfway through the boomerang. It rolled right through the inversion and was just starting to roll over, stopped for a second, and then just had enough weight pulling it back to get us back down. It was close though. I still think Erik should have gotten out and fixed it. It was an awesome trip. KI was great, but sad in a way knowing you would be saying goodbye to alot of folks. Well, untill next time anyway. Thanks R&E (could that be trademarked?) for organising an awesome trip and working so hard to keep things as smooth as possible. Stellar.

No. Have you ever glued yourself to something?

Home village: Caldercruix Nearest city: Glasgow (20 miles approx.) Next nearest city: Edinburgh (30 miles approx.)

Good to see you are there all in one piece. I have to get to Japan one day, especially as I have a complete fascination with glowing, light-up things. I wonder if they have opened "Dog humping racing - the ride?"

Its looking a bit 'silent hill' in some of those photos. Why is it, on all the rides that are meant to hurt me (and believe me, they do) that Im still smiling on the photos? Its good that some of your blind shots came out alright.

Well done mate for finding the worst pic of me ever. lol. I did actually really like Legend. I dig laterals. Maybe it comes from all the Karting I try to do. T2 was awful in the front seat. I didnt ride the back, but heard it wasnt as bad back there. Awesome report, but whats with all the "Im constipated" posing?

Nice updates so far. Im looking forward to see how the 'blind' photos turned out. I know what you mean about the seaside parks, I get the same thing. They are kinda infectious.

That brought back so many memories. I miss all you guys. The rides were great, but its the people that made the trip.

I have to say these are my favourites... Billy Connolly (lost it a little now, was funnier when he was still telling jokes about early life in Glasgow) Dave Spikey Peter Kay Ricky Gervais (when hes properly prepared ) Ross Noble A few of the older ones I enjoy watching on tape... Jasper Carrot Phil Cool Ken Dodd Dave Allen The Two Ronnies (Fork 'andles!) And of course the Monthy Python lads. Im leaving out people like Spike Milligan and Peter Cook, cos I think they go without saying.

Its not. And I think youve missed the point of the game there. When was the last time you danced cheek to cheek? And yes, Im talking about the cheeks on your face.