a new coaster thingo

[spatch]

I'll be heading out for a few days on Friday morning. I'm taking the train to Williamsburg, Virginia and spending a few days at Busch Gardens. I'll be taking lots of pictures and hopefully collecting a few stories to put up on the new blog.

I've started a new blog thingo called spatchCoaster and it'll be all about, uh, me, and the roller coasters, and the amusement parks, and the n'hey. It's where a lot of long-form writing about coasters will go; I started it last month with a story of my first real roller coaster ride, and I just put up a history of Busch Gardens Williamsburg that I had written a year ago and posted on MetaFilter. BGW is an odd park when it comes to coasters, and that's one of the reasons I like it so much.

I'll be writing about coasters for those who like to ride and those who prefer to stay on the ground and bite their fingernails down or whatnot. Hopefully it'll steer out of an Enthusiast Niche that way, which is not what I would like to be steered into. I would like everybody to enjoy the stories and pictures one way or another.

Anyway, feel free to add it to your wacky RSS readers or whatever. It's one part of bigger plan to pull myself back together and also do some really awesome things this summer. I will go into detail about that later on. But for now I sleep a bit until it's train time.

But once again, that new blog thing is http://www.spatchcoaster.com and I'll probably be messing around a lot with the CSS until I am OCDed out.

Comments

[zyrya]

This is just so awesome, my face hurts from the grins.

And for the record, I will be ON THE GROUND AT ALL TIMES!

[spatch]

I hope you enjoy it (and I really dig that icon!)

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

Hey, were you ever at Six Flags Astroworld? Apparently the new coaster that's opening at La Ronde this summer used to be the Serial Thriller there, and I was wondering how it was.

[spatch]

I never made it to Astroworld, which is a sting that won't go away because I very much wanted to ride the Texas Cyclone after they made it not-suck-so-much. The Serial Thriller is a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster, and that SLC model was pretty popular in the late 90s when Premier Parks owned the Six Flags chain. Quite a few parks have them, which makes me wonder if Premier got a bulk discount or something.

The SLCs all have the same layout and they have a reputation for being rough. Some call 'em "hang-n-bangs" but I actually don't mind them. The first inversion is always neat and since the ride is compact, you get some nice close calls when zooming around the supports. The suspended coaster equivalent of a headchopper is, appropriately enough, a legchopper.

Also, if it's being built over water (and I presume it will be since La Ronde is on an island and all) it will be a bit more fun.

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

It sure is - the ads are all pushing a sea monster theme and everything.

Bizarrely, the big ad they have plastered all over the metros here is the name of the coaster over a huge poster of an offshore oil rig. I guess it's supposed to evoke "sea monsters attack an isolated oil platform", but it's a really strange image to use to try to attract people right now...

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

It's a shame they won't be posted here. My first introduction to your blog was a discussion of coasters, and I found it very interesting.

[spatch]

I'll still post stuff here, but the longer form pieces will be there. And I'll put pictures here and pointers too. Ain't giving this up because I like LJ for sure.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

I shall be keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground at all times, thankyouverymuch. But more SpatchWriting is always a good thing, and I really like your photos too.

[voivod.livejournal.com]

FOB,

It was the Cyclone, not S:RoS. It was running really rough that day, an all the seasoned coaster enthusiasts were hunkered down like sane people. I was reaching for the stars and the chiropractor's bill.

DIN.

[spatch]

Well then, I'll hafta change that. I remember a few beatific rides on S:ROS too, but if your Moment was on the Cyclone, then it must be chronicled appropriately.

[mybadhairlife.livejournal.com]

Yay! More coaster stories!!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

FYI I HAVE A SEASON TICKET TO SIX FLAGS THIS YEAR IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT GOING TOGETHER AND SUCH -- I HAVE DISCOUNT STUFF FOR PEOPLE WITH ME. DON'T MEAN TO YELL BUT I WAS THERE THIS AFTERNOON AND RODE SUPERMAN (BIZARRO) AND SCREAM THREE TIMES.

[spatch]

YES AS A MATTER OF FACT THAT WOULD BE A HELL OF A LOT OF FUN I AM ALSO THINKING OF GETTING A SIX FLAGS PASS IN ALL CAPS OR NOT LET US GO SOMETIME