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daily snapple fact #27
A ball of glass will bounce higher then a ball of rubber.

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Disneyland



Reina and I went to Disneyland on Monday and it was awesome. It's been a few years since I've been there, but we bought a two-fer. A couple months ago we went to the California Adventures part of the two-fer and I have to say that I'm really impressed with the evolution of attractions. Two attractions impressed me more than others: The first was the new "Buzz Lightyear: Astro Blasters" ride in Tomorrowland. You ride through, much like the old school Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but at the front of your spaceship, there are guns! And you shoot at alien targets throughout the ride while a screen on the console in front of you displays your score. Some of the targets react to being shot as well, much like the Wild West 50-cent Rifle games they usually have at amusement parks. The interactivity is terrific.

The other was at California Adventures, called "Turtle Talk with Crush" where you sit down in an audience Ricki Lake style. There's a large screen in front of you, and Crush comes swimming up. Now here's the great part: He interacts with the audience. As in "Hey, little dudette in the 3rd row with the red sweater on, what's your name?" "Barbara" "Bodacious Barbara, how's it hanging?!" The turtle on screen moves with the words, swims around, asks questions, answers questions. It's an actor watching video-feeds of the audience while wearing motion-sensor gear on his face, I'm sure, but what a terrific idea and different than anything I've ever seen.

Incredible, really blew me away. I think Disney recognizes that Six Flags has the rollercoaster thing all sewed up (the new Space Mountain was rad, though) and has decided to move into just as enjoyable, but infinitely more creative forms of entertainment. Color me impressed.

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Attractions to avoid:
1. Pooh Corner Ride - WAY too many blacklights, not enough eye-candy and a generally poor rendition of the Pinocchio / Snow White ride-throughs in Fantasy Land.
2. Davy Crockett Canoes - A fat dude in front of me was just sitting there, not rowing at all! And there was a girl in front of Reina dragging her paddle through the water slowing us down. Lazy Bitches! Not to mention the kid behind us slapping the water as hard as he could with the paddle.
3. Honey, I Shrunk the Audience - Captain EO was a million times better. One of the worst "3D" shows at any amusement park in So.Cal

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Other Notes:
I saw the Tiki Room for the first time (even though the ride's been there since 1963) and it was both enjoyable and creepy at the same time. Pretty cool.

There's something about amusement parks (and Disneyland moreso than others) that puts me out of sorts for a couple days after. I feel generally at peace and relaxed, but I also have more trouble concentrating at work and sleeping at night, like it's not a very deep-seeded peace/relaxation.

posted by Doug 8:48 AM

City Glow

I forget sometimes how bright the sky is here in Riverside. At night all the sodium vapor street lamps glow a particular shade of orange and when it's overcast, or the smog layer's particularly thick, the sky takes on a very soft shade of orange-lavender.

I don't remember if the sky in San Diego was ever like this. It's a little disconcerting, having the heavens look so unnatural, not a star in sight and such a very specific shade of orange-lavender.

That's part of the reason they use sodium vapor. Such a narrow band of the visible light spectrum is easy for astronomers to filter out. Well, more importantly, it's energy efficient not having to power all the spectrum. But it does make things look off. In parking lots, sometimes after a crime has been committed, the police will ask a witness what color a car was, or what color their outfit was, but when you only have a thin-slice of orange light, everything either looks black and white. Or rather, black and orange, or maybe shades of orange-gray.

posted by Doug 3:09 AM

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