November 29, 2003
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WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
I found this site a while back, but I found it somewhat appropriate to use it now since The Haunted Mansion movie was just released this week. Basically, this site is the grand behind-the-scenes tour of the ride. I’m not sure if the person who runs the site actually worked there himself or herself, but he/she has interviews with past employees as well as tons of photos of the inner workings of the ride (not to mention sound bytes of the voice-over narration and music). One of the more interesting tidbits is that in the setting with the waltzing ghosts (if you’ve been on the ride, you’ll know what I’m talking about), the ladies are actually leading because of a little shortsightedness when the ride was built (The reason is a little too complicated to explain here, so go look it up on the website). I think most of the pictures are from the Disneyland Haunted Mansion, but the Disney World and Tokyo Disney versions are very similar (although the webmaster will mention the slight differences when they occur). Apparently, Phantom Manor, the counterpart at Disneyland Paris, is significantly different, and it gets its own section of the website. Being interested in special effects, I found this site very fascinating.
Previous Websites of the Week:
The Deadly Follies of Stick Figure Warning Man and Family
Jennifer Government: Nation States
Cannot Find Weapons of Mass Destruction
The Shadowlands: Ghosts and Hauntings
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Okay, the following post is not the most sophisticated I’ve ever written. Most of it concerns a game show I watched on Thursday. If that doesn’t bother you, read on.
I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was nice, and I hope the turkey was delicious. Mine was. I didn’t watch much of the parade this year, but I did watch a lot of the “Feast of Favorites” marathon on Game Show Network (our cable company is being gracious enough to give us a “Free Preview” this week). I was surprised that Match Game was voted as the most popular game show, but I like it well enough. I’ve always preferred Press Your Luck, even as a kid (especially as a kid, although I also enjoy Whammy, the newer incarnation of the show). They did show two episodes of it (I think it was voted #6 or #7), but it was really one show that ran long. There was a guy on it that kept spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning (if you’re familiar at all with this show, you’ll know what “spinning” entails). Not being much of a gambler, I thought he was nuts, but in over 40 spins, he never got a Whammy. I figured he had really good hand-eye coordination, but I enjoyed the fact that he was winning (and then felt somewhat embarrassed about it, since this happened about 20 years ago). If I had actually been able to watch the whole episode, I probably would’ve gotten a little more suspicious, but I had to stop watching for a while when we went over to my grandma’s, and by the time we got there, I was just in time to watch the end of the second episode. The guy ended up getting over 100,000 dollars, and on this show (which ran in the mid-80s), $25,000 was usually considered a really good run. Later that night I found a website that offered a little more information on this particular episode. Apparently, this contestant did have a system. He had watched the show religiously and figured out the pattern that the wheel lit up in, so all he had to do was practice and he could get all the money he wanted. As an epilogue, he apparently lost all the money in a bad investment a couple years later and was on the run from the law when he died in 1999. Apparently, the episode created such a stir that Game Show Network has a documentary called “The Press Your Luck Scandal.” Actually, that documentary is running on Game Show Network even as I type this, and the contestant is not being portrayed very nicely. They’ve got the host of the show, the guy’s relatives, as well as the other two contestants from that episode, and they’re all describing him as “creepy” and “shady.” I thought he looked like a nice enough guy, and my impression of people is usually not that bad (although it is by no means perfect), and they’re portraying him in such a negative light that I’m kind of feeling sorry for him regardless of how “creepy” he really was, and I’m getting the impression that the producers are still sore that this guy outsmarted them (which I find highly amusing).
Well, yesterday Laura and I saw The Cat in the Hat. It was actually pretty good for a movie that I didn’t really want to see, although there was a little too much bathroom humor than I thought was appropriate, but I wasn’t expecting it to be perfect. And yes, we still kept the time machine and Boise, Idaho jokes flying (in case anyone from Boise, Idaho actually reads this, I mean no offense to you; I’m sure that it is a lovely city with lovely people; The whole Boise thing stems from an inside joke that probably only Laura and I find funny). We also listened to my new CD in Laura’s car. Tonight, I’m going to see The Haunted Mansion with Stephanie and my parents.
Sorry I haven’t been visiting much. I will try to be better about it once I’m back at Denison. Just remember that I always read your posts, even if I don’t comment. Bye!
Comments (1)
Yes, I watched the Press Your Luck thing too, a while ago. I know so much about it, it’s scary… but then again, so was Michael Larsen…
Take care and have a lovely weekend!