rollercoasterphilosophy.com
Writer & themed experience creative. Roller Coaster Philosophy. U.S. Marshals Museum. Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi. Lionsgate Entertainment World. WB Studio Tours.
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
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"Your enemies can't hurt you but your friends can kill you" is especially true in Republican Party politics when it's run by a vindictive mob boss.
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I'm still waiting for them to solve the energy consumption issue before considering ethical use cases for it. If we can power our own brains with water and cheetos I'd like to see AI get to similar energy efficiency before comparing the two.
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Like obviously large language models don't work anything like human learning if only for the simple fact that the human brain works nothing like a computer chip.
People used to compare brains to steam engines (i.e. let off steam), it's just whatever the most advanced tech of the day happened to be.
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In that way AI does seem a little bit closer to the language game model, but even there it's far more limited because the only social actions it can process are approval or disapproval. It doesn't exist socially in a world where it uses language to influence many possible actions of those around it.
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It also easily solves the "is a hot dog a sandwich" debate, since it completely sidesteps issues of construction or physical properties between the two, and simply asks "would you call a hot dog a sandwich in mixed company and expect a normal reaction?"
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If you say "cup" and I'm confused until I say "oh, you mean a mug" then you're probably disappointed that this language didn't have the social action you expected and you're going to use "mug" from then on, at least around me.
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This brings me back to learning some philosophy of language and specifically Wittgenstein's idea of language games.
Yes, we use language to model our experience of the world, but it's also based on how we expect social interactions to play out, and we adjust our language based on others' reactions.
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Hollywood just going really hard on what they think 2025 moviegoers want.
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I mean they also have those weird promotional images with airbrushed Vin Diesel dangling off the babycopter, but I find it amusing I keep seeing those media day images that have nothing to do with the ride showing up any time this attraction is in the news.
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Although fun fact I got to attend the opening event when they drove the car through the billboard that's still used for all the media images for this ride, because there's no good pictures showing the ride itself.
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More children's entertainment should make kids learn to feel the sense of inevitable annihilation in the face of the abyss!
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No, other side of town.
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Going one more down the list, still trying to decide what to see this weekend...
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Love the trees on this one.
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The original Jet Rescue at Sea World Australia set the template that these rides excel at rapid, snappy, low-to-the-ground transitions, which Juvelen then applied to a larger layout. But it seemed SeaWorld's main takeaway from this evolution was to make all the transitions much larger as well.
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Not sure if this was intentional or not, but regardless it's excellent in this context. "For that matter, do you even remember the exact TITLE of this series?"
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Do you know of any workaround to their "you must have a Facebook account to get a free daily vote" requirement?
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I love Thai Town pt. 3.
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I love Thai Town pt. 2.
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A lot of private employers don't even give one February holiday anymore.
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Story of my childhood.
youtu.be/Bxt0AEoANJk?...
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Been on a similar streak. Good practice to keep while the world is turning to shit.
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I've had to buy a battery bank just for how much I use my phone all day in places like Orlando.
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Pretty sure it's just a coincidence on WB's part, in so far as the answer to "where is a large enough plot of available land already zoned for tourism in a major Asian metro area" yielding two old amusement parks is coincidental.
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From my understanding their exclusivity is based only in the theme park category. While there are nods and winks to semi-immersive moments (and being on a full-sized set is inherently very immersive), everything had to be firmly couched in a "this is a behind-the-scenes studio tour experience."
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Man, it's not great but Woodland Run is by far the worst of the two. The same as CP's kiddy coaster only swapping "Wilderness" for "Woodland" which is an even softer nothing of a name.
Plus now they now have two "W-word + rapid movement" names next to each other which seems extra confusing.
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Apparently they're shifting to a bird of prey theme which seems overused but fine, whatever. Will be interested in how extensive the retheme of that ride is beyond a new marquee. That area definitely needs it.
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Happy to see they're willing to move away from IP where it never really made sense. Hopefully this turns out to be a great season for Kennywood.
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Based on the art I'm hopeful most of that price tag includes new landscaping and infrastructure improvements. But it feels more like they're using their in-house team who has an established style guide from Dollywood they don't intend to significantly update for their Kentucky Kingdom efforts.
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Herschend has a house style that works well at their resort parks in rural tourist corridors, and Kentucky Kingdom clearly needs a lot of help.
But it's an urban park in a very different market, and would benefit from a more individualized thematic identity beyond nostalgia and cute nature tropes.
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One can hope, but it does put a lot more restrictions on how the park can expand, and if UEU ends up struggling farther down the line, I wouldn't be surprised to see future management start to blame and chip away at the original concept.
That's been the story of far too many other theme parks...
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My bigger concern with the portals is whether they'll continue that motif as the park continues to evolve. IOA's islands were already getting subdivided and deviated from the original expansion plan at the first big addition, and that's a far simpler master plan to accommodate.
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Absent Universal giving them official names, in mixed company I don't see it as anything other than yellow and green to ensure the meaning is understood. But among friends people can certainly have much more poetic license.
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I actually kind of liked Joker 2!
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I'll just say it: With the exception of the #1 slot, I don't think this was a great year for mainstream studio fare... I wonder why?? Even a number of films I had high hopes for left me a little underwhelmed. But still important to celebrate what did connect with me each year!