Jds03

Not surprising. Sea World and BGA are both owned by Anhisher Busch, and it's a common trade practice to "borrow" clips of other coasters when you're short on media. (Six Flags is the leading world champ at it) The GP rarely notice, it's just nerds like us who find it.

Their just highly stylized, kinda like Hollywood Dream at USJ. There still the same train on the inside, just with nice themeing. They do look great though!

Nice, the screenshots have a real artistic feel to them, this looks like it's going to be a great game. So how much of the game is played with the motion sensors on the Wii-mote rather than the nun chuck analogue stick? In that first screenshot, will the player have to use the Wii-mote to crank that lift device?

^Thanks! I've been looking in to a couple of art schools since I'm a junior, but I've been focusing on the University of Pennsylvania since my dad is the real estate director there and that means I can get free admission if I get accepted (which is the hard part) But the problem with that is that begin accepted is not just biased on artwork but also academic performances, and since I use most of my classes as "inspiration sessions" for the witting of cartoons, I may have some problems with getting accepted. But if all else fails I'll just go to an art school with a strong emphasis on animation, which is the worlds ultimate kick-A art from. I'll make sure to check out that link though! And as for the status of my strips, I haven't been getting allot of time lately, with lots of time consuming classwork and also Lacrosse season, but I'm trying to line up the best ideas for daily strips and then knock them out and put the final package together. I already have all the Sundays I need, so now I just need about 10 more B&W daily and I'll be sending in my sample package. I'm sending it to the five major U.S. syndicates, United Features, Universal Press, Creators, King's Features and the Washington Post Writer's Group, so hopefully I'll get accepted by one of them.

I love Jolt, but it's so hard to find these days! That's why I was interested in this, because I knew a Red Bull product would be everywhere. I still prefer Jolt over this, though.

Because god created you on the eight day. What do you get when you cross Dakota Fanning with Hanna Montana?

My dad deleted his recycling bin.

I used to be terrified of them before I was 10, but since I was a hyperactive, aspiring artist at that age I used to draw them like crazy but with absolutely no intention of riding what I was drawing. There was just something about them that fascinated me, but I was too afraid to ride anything other than the Trailblazer at Hershey, so when the day came in May of 2002 that I gathered the courage to step on Steel Force at Dorney and later Talon, there’s no wonder I because obsessed.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens with this on the West Coast Vegas add-on.

It was a result of bumping topics. What's your favorite body of water?

I wonder if you can pick to hear Blue Man Group.

I noticed that too, but I also noticed that it loaded about 4 times faster. There’s probably a quality vs. load time ratio.

Its funny this topic came up now. I just got star literally 2 days ago.

Dorney- one hour Six Flags GADV- one hour Hershey- hour and 45 min Kenobles- 2 hours and 15 min

I'm so glad Heath Ledger won for The Dark Knight. There was just so much originality in his character yet he fit into the role we knew as the joker. His character was what really made The Dark Knight feel so fresh to me, so I'm really glad he got that award, even if he can’t be there to accept it.

It gives people ideas, and encourages on ride filming to people who don’t know better. If someone of low cranial capacity sees you take a camera on a five MPH dark ride that might give them the idea that it's ok to take a camera on an 80 mph coaster, especially if they didn't see you ask the operator. Basically, if a park doesn’t want cameras on rides, they mean every ride that's not a Ferris wheel or a miniature railroad. They don't want to encourage lead by example.

Me too, except something in the back of my head keeps telling me not to get my hopes up. Those pictures were incredible, thanks for posting them!

Pretty much what Kennyweird said. Usually it's done with one of the cars with a big plywood board attached to it. The board is cut in a specific way so that it can represent the space the train with riders waving their hands around needs to safely complete the course. If there's anything that prevents the car and the board from getting through, they remove it before they start testing. Once the pull through is completed it means the track is clear and ready for actual testing.

I'm going to post my English paper here because this topic is about randomness and pointlessness!!! Josh Sehnert 2/16/09 Use of Juxtaposition in The Trip Back In Robert Butler’s short story, The Trip Back, the narrator of the story, Mr. Khanh, and his grandfather-in-law, Mr. Chinh, take a long, uncomfortable car ride home from the airport, during which the short but important interactions between the two cause the narrator to acquire a stronger understanding of himself. In order to convey this process in depth, Butler let the narrator take readers into his thought process to show how the seemingly insignificant moments of interaction lead to his epiphanies at the end of the story. However, in order to lead into this commentary, a story line that would trigger it is needed. By placing the narrator, an Americanized Vietnamese next to a man of only Vietnamese culture who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, the differences in each other’s memory stand out and can be seen clearer. Butler uses this literary device known as juxtaposition to depict the narrator’s thought process leading to his realization of the Vietnamese traditions he has lost and what remains valuable to him in the present. Mr. Khanh, the narrator, is one of the figures in the juxtaposition of the story. He represents memory that is affected by acculturation, since he is loosing his Vietnamese customs because he has been a resident in America and has adopted the culture “That is the only thought I had, that the food had been ruined. I did not worry about Mr. Chinh or wonder what the matter could really be.” (32) The narrator is concerned over the loss of material possessions and money, instead of worrying about the wellbeing of a family member, which is a strong Vietnamese custom. This quote shows that the narrator is letting a Vietnamese custom fade away in his memory; however the structure of the sentences suggests that he realized he has changed. A more literal realization of letting a Vietnamese custom fades away would be found in the quote “ I found that I myself was no longer comfortable with the old way. Like the extended family. Like other things, too. The Vietnamese indirectness, for instance.” (36) The narrator has become uncomfortable with the custom because he has forgotten it. Because the narrator was placed with Mr. Chinh, he became uncomfortable with him, causing him to discover the extent of his change to an American. “But I say these things not from any vivid recollection, but from a thought in my head, as real only as lines from a travel brochure. I’d left behind me the city on the coast and the sea as well.” (37) The narrator is forgetting his original home, and only can remember that it exists. He forgets the image and the feeling of his home, but he remembers that it is still there. This quote explains the aspects of the narrator’s memory being lost and explores in depth the structure and nature of human memory. Mr. Chinh, however, is the second part of the juxtaposition at work in this parable. He represents memory that has not been affected by acculturation and change in surroundings, but memory that has been altered because of changes in one’s self, such as the development of Alzheimer’s. “My favorite car of all was a Hotchkiss. I had a 1934 Hotchkiss. An Am80 tourer. It was a wonderful car.” (38) Mr. Chinh recalled descriptions of cars in vivid detail, whereas he cannot remember his granddaughter. It shows that the development of Alzheimer’s makes one less connected with the world and more surrounded with themselves and their interests. This aspect of Mr Chinh is a different type of memory loss, which when placed next to the narrator who is losing memory because of acculturation, lets the reader see two aspects of memory loss and its different causes. “But Mr. Chinh could not remember. Worse than that, he was certain that I was wrong.” (40) Mr. Chinh thinks he is correct since he does not know he has memory loss because of Alzheimer’s. He is more certain the narrator is wrong because he views him as an American, not a Vietnamese family member who would strongly know the family heritage. “I could not put my face into the wind and see her eyes as clearly as Mr. Chinh saw the eyes of the rabbits in his headlights”. This quote is important because it compares the narrator to Mr. Chinh. The narrator is still actively connected to the world, and with so many things in his life, he is discovering that not everything can be contained in his memory. Mr. Chinh however only has one connection to the world left, which is his car, and all the remaining memory he has is focused on the particular memory of the Hotchkiss and the rabbits in the headlights. The juxtaposition between the two brings out the differences in their memories, which leads into the narrator’s thoughts. Because of Mr. Chinh the narrator starts to think about the aspects of memory and then starts to explore his own memory, thinking about the differences between being in the presence of his wife and thinking of her from memory. “But separated from her, I could not picture her clearly. I could construct her face accurately in my mind. But the image did not burn there, did not rush upon me and fill me up with the feelings that I genuinely held for her.” (42) The narrator starts to think about what he can remember of his wife during the uncomfortable experience in the car with Mr. Chinh. The car ride triggered his thought process about how he cannot generate the true feelings he has for his wife without being in her presence. “I drew close to my wife, but only briefly did my arm rise and hold her. That was the same as all the other forgotten gestures of my life.” (43) After the narrator realized what his wife meant to him as a result of his experience with Mr. Chinh, he began to cherish her more, and he surprised himself and his wife when he picked her up and gave her a ride on his back. It was apparent that giving his wife rides on his back was something in the past that had helped them bond, and he realized he had almost forgotten the importance of his wife after the ride with Mr. Chinh. When he returns to his wife, realizing what he has lost and what she means to him, he suddenly begins to remember all that he has forgotten of his homeland since he has moved to America. “I felt her breath on the side of my face as warm and moist as the breeze off the South China Sea.” (43) This, the concluding sentence of the story, is important because it shows that the narrator has been taken back to the memories he had forgotten. To a time when they still lived in Vietnam and lived the customs of Vietnamese culture. He earlier mentioned that he only knew his homeland as well as a tour brochure could describe, but after he had the experiences in the car his memories started to come back to him, and with the returning joy he had from his wife also came the true feeling and not just the memory of his homeland. The Trip Back is a perfect example of juxtaposition being used to convey a story’s theme. Butler was clever in his writing to construct the plot line of the story around juxtaposition. Not only does the juxtaposition fit into the plot, but it is the key element to conveying the theme of memory loss and change. The thoughts and commentary of the narrator are what truly give depth to the theme, and his thoughts were a result of juxtaposition. The use of Juxtaposition is the key element in holding The Trip Back together as a work of literature. Butler, Robert Olen. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. New York: Henry Holt and Company Inc., 1992.

Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about. They had one of these at our school's parking lot carnival. I was amazed. You're not even exaggerating about being three times faster than normal scramblers. All I could think was WOW.

He just told me to turn it off. He's a nice teacher. It's the first block of the day! I can't function correctly untill 9:00 AM at least.

Today my cell phone went off in the middle of first period Trig/Pre-calc and it turned out later that the person calling me was a wrong number. It's a really, really bad feeling when your about to fall asleep and all of a sudden an annoying ring tone comes on and everyone in the class gets quiet and looks at you.

I chose Intamin because they they're truly innovative, and they really push the limits. B&M made innovative models like the inverted, flying and floorless, but theirs just something about all their rides that are just sort of generic to B&M. They have great rides and it’s true that some are better than others, but you’re never going to see something like a magnetic launch or a vertical lift hill on a B&M. Intamin isn't afraid to make new coasters and models that risk not being perfect like B&Ms have to be. They take risks that sometimes turn out amazing or sometimes don't work well, and if they fail, they're just going to learn from their mistakes and progress faster than if they didn’t try at all. B&M and Intamin are both amazing companies and each make great rides. It’s just that Intamin takes their ideas further than B&M and that really pays off when they come out with a mind-blowing, world class coaster instead of a bunch of great, but similar rides.

haha, just to clarify for every one though, we were not actually as obnoxious as it looks, most of it was just posing or things my brother and his friend wanted photographed. We did not actually throw any of the fake electronics or really jump on couches, most of this was exaggerated for humor value, although we did spin on the office chairs…. But the staff was actually ok with that, since it probably happens hundreds of times a day. In all seriousness though, I love and respect IKEA. We weren’t really breaking any rules, and if the staff had told us anything I would have made sure to follow it. Just take this with a grain of salt, and if not, post it in the “dumbest things ever said on TPR” thread, because that would make my day!

You have no idea how much more there's going to be. Stop reading now, before it's too late! Mer! Sugar overdose. It's an automatic coffee sweetener thing. This thing was awesome! Sweedish balls. Mmmmmmmmm..... Art Deco light thing... Oh yeah! It's time to eat amazing food for really low prices! There's something in this egg... We found the cylindrical shaped rodent! (BTW, my brother had an obession with these inflatable things, and I don't even want to get into it right now.) Weee! I'm pretending to be a rodent! This allows children with short attention spans to get around quicker! Some cylindrical shaped rodent plowed through here. Whoever lives here has a triped out crib! Yay! Kids IKEA! More funky names. Oh yeah, hello! Do I realy need a comment here? What about "for our legal safety" If I lived in a bunk bed at IKEA I would be sooooooooo happy. Oooh yeah! Put the firm to the max! "Having this much fun is exhausting" This is my bed fame here... There are monsters under my bed! And there are dead bodies too… This sign is irrelevant. IKEA is one giant play area. Shweet! This is what I draw my cartoons on! Well, not this exact one...