Sidders

Oh agreed Sheepie - the plot for Black Mirror (I've only been able to watch 'The National Anthem as of yet) was very Charlie Brooker! One of his best works yet I feel.

I hear you, Lauren, but I don't really consider myself "served" by soldiers who are sent to a country on the other side of the planet to fight when the UK itself is under no formidable threat from this supposed adversary.It's the Government's own doing for sending them out there.

Leviathan's first air-time hill up nearly finished. It's enormous. And yes, there is a trim. Oh very dear.Some funky perspective goin' on here:Looking better and better with every piece of track installed.Except these pieces, which sort of ruin the look of the lift-hill.I'm not sold on the ride ending what, 80ft-90ft up in the air? Kind of makes me think it's a little cut short.In other 'I want one of those' news, SkyRush has a few tricks we may have missed from the plans and animations:Looks almost like a reverse Stengel Dive actually.That looks armed and ready to decapitate...With thanks to CW Mania and KeyStone Thrills for the photos.

Okay, so common trends in the music proposed thus far is that there's some huge, foreboding strings section, occasional brass, and some very loud drums. I'm all for the drums idea - it's the best part of Colossus' music for me. The Misfits ones are absolutely brilliant. I love the combination of choir and synthesised backing.Thing is with mah boi's videos, is they sound a bit too... archaic, if you get what I mean. They sound like the music associated with adventure/action sequences from non-realistic worlds, whereas there's something a bit more 'real' about A-Kid's ones. All the videos are great, but I think The Swarm's music should aim to be more ominous and scary than grandiose, with eerie mechanical screeches and groans interspersing almost a kind of ambient-dubstep-lite-meets-orchestral-strings hybrid. It's often the case with choir-assisted music that it sounds a bit like the score for some magical adventure/action film hence why the lesser use of it in the Misfits score is perfect for this ride.

Horses for courses as they say. I'm not the least bit interested in either of those two.

I'm only interested in four films next year The Hunger Games, The Woman in Black, The Great Gatsby and War Horse.I'm going to make time to watch Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows as well!

Agreed, pluk.And there's another one - Help for Heroes. I have both a neighbour and a cousin who have fought and have been injured by participating the war in the Middle East and yet, why are there these charities requesting funding for maimed soldiers? Should it not be the responsibility of our government not just to recruit, but to maintain the welfare of it's soldiers. These soldiers are hardly heroes if they're not loved by those they serve, or at least think they're serving, and yet Help for Heroes has the audacity to ask us for money? What a sorry state we do live in.If the government can't fund their wars - and by fund, I don't just mean to provide ammunition, food/water and war shelters - right through to every soldier's unfortunate end, then what possible claim do we have to be "Great"? What kind of larcenous, incoherent failure of a united nation are we? They're too frigid of emotion to care for those maimed soldiers themselves, and so charities have to plea for funds to pay for the surgery, the rehabilitation, the months and months of trying to teach a soldier to walk without a foot or a leg; to operate a prosthetic limb; to adapt to life as a blind or deaf man/woman.

What I hate - nay, not hate... pity - most about charity campaigns are the ones that assume that because we've got the money to afford a TV, radio, or any other method that charities might use to find their audience, that it's us that have the best times at Christmas and can afford to spend money on the welfare of others. I've sent money to charity before, and even spent the evening of Boxing Day sat in Yeovil town on a step out the back of an urgently luminescent Morrisons talking to a stranger who looked lonely and in need of even the smallest comfort, but I've never been swayed by one of these adverts that seems to think that because we've got a family we instantly have a better Christmas than people without.For some people, having a family around at Christmas doesn't make it a great time for them. Some people have the hardest times with their family, and for many of these people Christmas is just as lonely a time as those people who features in these advertising campaigns. I'm driven mad by the fact my family so nonchalantly assume this false pretence when the extended family comes over for Christmas and act like they can actually stand to look at each other, and for an unbearable, insignificant blip of time we celebrate our tragic achievement of family unity, only to have the plastic veneer stripped away almost as swiftly as the decorations.I just wish they wouldn't be so rude as to correlate family and money with happiness this Christmas. It makes them me pity them no more or no less than all other Christmas adverts, for that's all they are.

Fred actually raises quite a good point. We're not to kind of people to get preciously doe-eyed and idolising at the prospect of a new ride - we just want to ride it a then complain about what's not there/what could be better. :PA good example (forgive me for expanding this to music) is how Chris Brown has reached his greatest level of fame very recently with the 'Graffiti' and 'F.A.M.E.' eras even after his altercation with Rihanna, whereas here in the UK he's had one hit, and even that was a blatant plagiarising of a Calvin Harris song. All this because we don't treat our celebrities like demi-gods - they can't merely expect us grumpy naysayers to simply forgive things that go wrong. It explains why The X Factor (which has always been and will always be an American concept) insists on Peter D1ckson wailing the name of the Judges just to have Dermot O'Leary say the same names less than a minute later - because they expect us to be mindless drones who glamorise the very syllables of a celebrity's name.Anyway, back on topic - that's why I believe the UK simply opens their rides, with possibly a more strategic method of hype generation than the Americans who, much like their coasters in fact, go more for cramming every possible trick into the eleventh hour, regardless of the tackiness and bad presentation of the finished project, and expect everyone to swoon over it.EDIT: Possible bias against Six Flags parks may have been integrated into this comment.

Well the Legoland/Alton Towers idea of themed rooms would certainly give them reason to blow their trumpet over the new Travelodge, but the prices will be sky high, just as they are for Merlin's other themed hotels. That said... Nemesis Inferno room... Oh hello.

^As an additional note to Adam's fool-proof plan, you'll need to be able to suppress the guilt you might feel if one of your friends ends up about thirty parties behind you in the queue line if they're not as fast as you.

Europa Park can do no wrong - this ride is just... there are no words.

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Ah Sheepie! These are brilliant! :lol:Many thanks for your dedication to these trophies and also to Valentez, who's idea it originally was.

Pre-Warning: Video contains some darkly comedic slapstick SFX. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOW2eEz9cYk Pop is rarely this fun anymore. Everything is so squeaky-cleanly produced and far too easily digestible and commercialised these days. There really are no risks because risks don't bring in immediate returns for record labels. They'd rather satisfy their bellies with someone who can sell records like X artist rather than try to be something new that takes a while to catch on.Admittedly, it took me a while to 'get' this song, Alex Day's 'Forever Yours', because at first I was baffled by it and thereby couldn't really understand what it was for. But I then realised, what if it's got no secondary intention? What if this song merely exists because of those serendipitous moment of unbridled nostalgia that we all have but find so hard to express?The video may be made on the budget of about five quid and is riddled with often hard-to-swallow goof-ball humour, but the simplicity of is part of the charm I guess. Someone made me realise recently that I often take things too seriously, and in doing so compromise my enjoyment of music and other forms of entertainment because I'm so critical, having to find justification for liking anything and undermining the very intention of such outlets of unabashed fun. I doubt this song will serve as some kind of epiphany for me, what with it being an obvious novelty that'll soon wear off, but I just thought I'd share it with you all.PS: For those chart music-orientated members who like this, Alex Day is a YouTube phenomenon who's recently received a lot of recognition for this song, causing it to chart at a combined position of #2 in the UK iTunes chart thus far.

In my opinion, I see myself riding The Swarm more realistically than riding Leviathan. I've never been on a Hyper/Giga whatever classification Leviathan falls under so I can't really judge on what it's going to be like, so I'd say I much more excited for The Swarm and believe that, with all that hugely promising themeing, it should be far superior to Leviathan.

Huntik did get 2 votes! No prizes for guessing who voted. ;)It did come an honourary fourth in it's category though.

Three weeks ago today I asked you all to vote for your favourite parks, coaster, rides, members, members moderators etc., and now the results are in, with some very interesting results!This year I'll post the nominee who finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each category. In categories where less than three nominees appear, there were less than three separate nominees:The Park Awards: Best UK Park:Alton Towers Thorpe Park Chessington Best International Park: ​Europa-Park, Germany Universal's Islands of Adventure, USA Disney's Magic Kingdom, USA Best UK Coaster:Nemesis, Alton Towers Stealth, Thorpe Park AIR, Alton Towers Best International Coaster:Katun, Mirabilandia Bizzaro, Six Flags New England Blue Fire Megacoaster, Europa-Park Most Reliable UK Ride/Coaster:Nemesis Inferno​, Thorpe Park Nemesis, Alton Towers Oblivion, Alton Towers Most Uncomfortable Ride: ​SAW: The Ride, Thorpe Park Rita, Alton Towers Infusion, Blackpool Pleasure Beach Best Inversion:​Zero-G Roll Pretzel Loop Cobra Roll Best-Landscaped Park:Alton Towers, UK Disney's Animal Kingdom, USA Hansa-Park, Germany Cleanest Park:= Disney's Magic Kingdom, USA = Alton Towers, UK Europa-Park, Germany Best Flat Ride:Rush, Thorpe Park Samurai, Thorpe Park Detonator, Thorpe Park Best Dark Ride:Duel, Alton Towers Valhalla, Blackpool Pleasure Beach The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, Universal's Islands of Adventure Best 2011 Addition:Raptor, Gardaland Cheetah Hunt, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Starry Sky Ripper, World Joyland Best-Looking 2012 Project:The Swarm, Thorpe Park Wodan: Timbur Coaster, Europa-Park Leviathan, Canada's Wonderland Best Manufacturer:Bolliger & Mabillard Intamin AG Mack The Forum Awards: Best Member:​Mark9 Sidders Luke_A Funniest Male:= Mark9 = Valentez Rattlesnake1 Funniest Female:Mer9 Ellie _Lauren_ Biggest Fanboy:JoshC. Marc Luke_A Biggest Fangirl:Mer9 Ellie _Lauren_ Best Quality Posts:= ​TraX = Sidders Phill Pritchard Sexiest Male:Rattlesnake1 (Tom) Valentez Ricky Sexiest Female:Mer9 SarahSmidge Ellie Best New Member:Valentez SarahSmidge Phill Pritchard Best Moderator:Sidders Mark9 Sheepie Best Administrator:IanNemMost Sarcastic:Benin Fred Mark9 Most Likely To Be Banned In 2012:Kevvy K TPGG LiamT Sexiest Voice:Valentez Sheepie Sidders Most Knowledgeable Member:TraX Diesel Mark9 Remember, it's just a bit of fun really, so let's not start an argument. Hope you all enjoy reading the results and that you all enjoyed taking part! See ya next year!

Oh, you... *deletes report*But yes! This ride looks absolutely amazing. The air-time on that first drop, at the back.

Hershey Park is getting on with SkyRush! KeyStoneThrills has an extensive selection of photos now that the first drop is being erected.85 degree drop, indeed...Exiting the first drop and high-speed curve, into the to-be-finished Stengel dive.Shteep!Hershey Park have always been very good with their garish coaster colours...With thanks to CoasterForce and KeyStoneThrills for the photos.Full set here

Double post but...Wodan's lift hill structure is completed.Themeing has begun construction.Sexy turn!Gotta love a good trench, especially this one and the way the visitors will get great views of the rider's faces!How artsy...And a hop over Atlantica ^_^Much appreciated credit to GCI's Facebook, TPR and Europa Park for the photos.

Good God imagine a free-for-all at Thorpe! The images in my head of the typical GP aren't worth the trouble - I think I'd rather the exclusively Front-Seat queue myself, although I'd rather there be no Fastrack option for it, á la Stealth.

It was always going to be either Osiris or Ra. I like both so it's win-win for me. I hope it's not actually Oz'Iris though; that just looks gimmicky.

Urgh, I can't stand that banshee. Just my opinion!