Movieguy

Whoa...Harry Potter AND Lord of The Rings at Universal? Joey's hard-on must be bigger than ever!

Lovely photos. Great TR so far. By the way, the "weird robot" you saw in movie studios park...that was Johnny 5! Anyone remember him?

It's not concrete now, but I may head back to Knoebels, like I did this summer. I took my Mom with me, and she absolutely loved the place, so she'd be coming back with me as well. I'd also try to get my sister to come with me this time. However, the company she works for is moving to Connecticut, and she's going with them (she's already found a place to move into next month)...visiting her there in the Summer may be a good chance to check out either Quassy or Lake Compounce as well...

WDW always. Epcot in particular. No matter how much it's changed over the years, I still find so much to love about it, past and present.

Here's a defunct ride that I think has never gotten quite the credit it deserved, outside of internet fan groups...Horizons! This was probably the most ambitious dark ride ever created, and way ahead of its time with the "choose your ending" segment at the end. It really signifies a time when Epcot was more oriented towards entertaining adults, and not just children. Sure, I like Epcot as it is now, but part of me will always miss the old days of Horizons, World of Motion, The original Journey, and Spaceship Earth with good ol' Walter Cronkite. Thank God Martin has his Ultimate Tributes to keep the memories alive.

Intamin: Your company was already known for fantastic steel coasters a decade ago. What inspired you to get into designing wood coasters as well?

GCI: I feel honored knowing that your company is based in my Parent's home state of Pennsylvania. When you first formed, did you ever imagine that your Pennsylvanian group would end up designing coasters for places like China and the Netherlands?

When I had first heard that a coaster had gone underwater, I was afraid it was the Great White at Morey's Piers. Any updates on that area?

I've heard so much about the Food and Wine Festival in the past, it's great to see pics from it. Everything looks delicious, even the snails!

Since Halloween's around the corner, I thought maybe we could start something where we talk about any haunted houses or events we love, or really want to see at some point in our lives. Of course, there's the obvious Halloween Horror Nights choice for me, but I also know that Syracuse is a goldmine for haunts here in Upstate NY, and I want to get up there at some point during the season. I see ads for haunted hayrides all the time, and there's even a website for all the haunts in the area. One called Frightmare Farms seems to be a star attraction. http://www.scarycuse.com/ Another that I want to see in person at some point is Netherworld in Atlanta. I saw a walkthrough on youtube, and it was awesome. Even on my laptop, I jumped multiple times!

I just saw Sinister a few hours ago. Decent horror flick with some good, cheap scares. Christopher Young did the music, but it sounded more like Trent Reznor to me. The experience was enhanced by seeing it with my sister, who's much more susceptible to jump scares than me. There was much amusement on my end.

Return of The Living Dead (1985) This movie is a really under-appreciated gem in the Zombie film genre. Everyone talks about the Dawn of The Dead Remake, the infected in 28 Days Later, The Walking Dead and all that, but this movie, I think, still stands above most of the newer stuff. It's too bad that all the crappy sequels tainted its legacy. Everyone knows about the debate over fast zombies and slow zombies. I think ROTLD got it right with how they should be, in that they don't lumber, and they don't sprint around all hyper either. They move just as quickly as regular people, which adds to the realism, I think. Another thing that sets these zombies apart, is that you can't kill them by destroying the brain...in fact, you can't kill them, PERIOD! That makes them a hell of a lot scarier, to me. But, in spite of the zombies themselves, this movie has just the right mixture of horror and black comedy, that makes it a truly memorable watch. My hats off to you, Dan O'Bannon, may you rest in peace. Brrrraaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiinnnns!

I used to love flat rides, but after riding the Top Spin at the state fair this year, I felt a bit nauseous, along with my sister. I think we inherited my dad's spinning ride weakness. He loved coasters, but couldn't do anything that spun. Nice TR. Bizarre looking park, but I've come to accept that of Asian parks in general.

Probably Leap The Dips at Lakemont for me.

^^ Good point. Society seems to be plagued by ugly extremes, at that, if the internet is any indication.

I mentioned this in another thread, but I really liked Prometheus. It may not have been as good as Alien, but it didn't need to be. I see all this vitriol being thrown at it, with people talking like its the worst thing to happen to sci-fi since the Star Wars prequels. I can understand why some people just didn't like it, but I don't understand why others seem to hate on it with so much venom. It makes me wonder what's happened to sci-fi and comic book movie fans in recent years, because I see the same thing happening with the Dark Knight Rises, another movie I enjoyed, that's been getting a lot of crap. Again, it didn't top the last movie, which it couldn't have, so it's automatically the worst thing ever? I don't get it.

The new Fantasyland is looking fantastic so far. It's the kind of quality themeing you'd expect from Disney. Attention to detail, respect for tradition, and willingness to try new things at the same time. The interactive queues are further proof of this willingness. I wasn't expected to be as impressed as I was with these photos, but this is a real change from much of what Disney has done for its American parks in recent years, MK in particular. THIS is the Disney I know and love.

Now that looks very cool and atmospheric. You should have heard the guys from In The Loop on this, though. They ripped into Howl-O-Scream like it was one of the lamest things they'd ever seen. Not enough scares and gore for them, I suppose.

Very interesting park. I remember seeing a video of it with Rammstein's "Feur Frei" in the background a while back. And remember, you can't spell Pinfari without PAIN!

Mary and Max (2009) This is an interesting, stop-motion animated film, apparently based on a true story. Back in the 70's, a young girl named Mary (Voiced by Toni Collete) sends a random letter to NYC, and it ends up in the hands of a chubby, middle-aged shut-in named Max (Voiced by Philip Seymour Hoffman). Max, it turns out, has Aspergers Syndrome, and through their correspondence over the years, Mary eventually writes a ton of research on the subject using him as a focal point, something he's not too pleased with at first. I don't want to spoil everything on this film, so I'll stop there. This movie is on Netflix, and I highly recommend watching it if you can. It's an overall powerful emotional experience, with plenty of funny moments to go along with the sad ones. It looks like a cartoon at first, but believe me, nothing is sugarcoated in this story at all.

^ It says you're from Germany. Did you see Starlight Express in Bochum? I've always wanted to see that production, which has been running nonstop since 1989 by the way.

^ I own that one. I think Ramin Karimloo did a good job as the Phantom, and Sierra Boggess a tremendous one as Christine. It annoyed me a bit that Sarah Brightman came out at the very end to kind of steal her thunder, but oh well, that's sopranos for you.

Congrats to the Giants, for eliminating the Reds, who won the division my Pirates are in.

You know, I've never been a big fan of the best-of-seven form of playoffs. Even though I like a lot of sports, I've always liked the NFL and NCAA Basketball best for having single elimination Playoffs. I don't mind the World Series being best of 7, because that's the tradition, but in the case of the NHL and the NBA, it just makes their seasons drag on longer than they should. I just stop caring about the playoffs in the NBA unless the Sixers are in it. Ditto for the Penguins and the NHL. I'm with Mad Dog, in that I have a feeling the Yankees will win yet another World Series, if things keep going the way they are.

This has been so therapeutic for me, posting about all this. Now I'm not ashamed to admit that I root for the Syracuse Orange in College Football, even though they haven't done much since Paul Pasqualoni left. It looked like Marrone would lead them back to prominence but...eh. Maybe the ACC selection will toughen them up in the future. I also stuck with the 76ers in the NBA, and the Penguins in the NHL, and they've rewarded my patience there at least. Back to Baseball, I wouldn't mind seeing the Cardinals getting knocked out. I get a little tired of them constantly making the post-season. They're becoming like the Yankees of the NL, hehe.