Oh my, where to begin.

A while ago I posted about a problematic modeling ad that Steampunk fashion brand Clockwork Couture had put on their Facebook page that bizarrely specified that they were looking for white people. Thinking that it could have just been a misstatement, I contacted the company hoping that if it were the case I’d be able to give them the chance to clear their name. At the time I blogged about it, I didn’t believe one thing or the other about them – I just felt it should be discussed.

It didn’t work out like that. The owner of the company replied to me in the tone of a petulant child. Then, her friends proceeded to post nasty comments and send me awful harassing messages.

Even when asked how to set the record straight the owner told me that I was right and my post was fine – probably another exercise in childish sarcasm, but I took her at her word, left the post up, and walked away to do other things with my life.

Just recently I was contacted by Ms. Priss. Apparently Clockwork Couture is at it again. This time they felt the need to judge women negatively based on what they wear.

Let me break it down here.

Clockwork Couture is a Steampunk costumer.

Steampunk culture and costuming in general has a heavy level of involvement with the fetish community and the burlesque community. Not everyone who is into Steampunk is into these things, but a large number are. Every single event runner that I know who runs a big Steampunk event also runs fetish and burlesque events. Just a casual look at the programming grid at any Steampunk event will tell you this information.

You would think that Clockwork Couture would be smart enough to know who exactly it is that they sell to. Instead they caused another shitstorm by primarily insulting the people they sell to and utilized their tried and true technique of deleting their posts rather than engaging in any level of PR. The added thing is that this time they clicked “like” on a post that talked about how women who wear yoga pants are slutty. Seriously.

I wonder if Ms. Priss will be getting the threatening and insulting comments from their buddies that I received as well. It’s like a Clockwork Couture tradition at this point. I await it again.

Recently I got to attend WalkaboutNYC. Basically this is a day in NYC where some start up companies open their doors for people to come and view a presentation and have some snacks. I got to see Harvest, Foursquare, and Squarespace.

I guess there were a lot of “squares” involved. :) HAHAHA I just made an old man joke.

I got to try some cold press Joyride Coffee, which was very good!

Here are some more pictures of the Foursquare HQ. Here is Courtney doing her part of the presentation. She talked about how they used Final fantasy 7 as inspiration for Foursquare:

Here is Ian doing his part of the presentation – talking about how the company works internally to create awesome:

Fortunately (or unfortunately) it was almost 80 degrees on this day and I was so excited about going to this that I didn’t eat and drink as much as I should have. After this I started to feel weird and after my final appointment I almost passed out. That was bad and why I don’t have any pictures later in the day. I should know better by now. :)

All in all it was a great time. Admission was free so you can’t beat that, really. I saw a lot of cool stuff and met a lot of cool people! For anyone interested in startup culture I think this is a can’t miss. When I go next year I will remember to stop and eat!

Hopefully soon I will find a job in NYC or somewhere equally innovative. :D (P.S. I’m currently in need of work! Here is my linkedIn!)

Oh and I forgot – I DID livetweet this and…well…

:D The context was that I proposed that it was similar to Halloween and that I should have come dressed as a shark or something to collect the swag they were giving out. :D

My friend Kurt Sasso needs your help funding his documentary!. You might not know, but he was one of our earliest supporters for Intervention.

“This documentary follows a small press person struggling to survive in this mass media world, while trying to make a name for himself, to get that one big interview. It will show passion, disappointment, success, and friendships that have built through honesty and integrity.

Morgan Spurlock is aninfluence on my Film making all because of “Comic Con: A Fans New Hope”. This film focuses on the on the other side of the convention table.

This can’t get produced without your financial support.”

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/little-person-among-media-giants

Last weekend we went to Rye Playland in Rye, NY for opening weekend. This historical park is the same park that was featured in the movie “Big”. Zoltar is still there, and the park features 3 great Dark Rides.

You might not know that the park is in danger of having half of it demolished next year for no apparent reason that I can discern other than the local government doesn’t want “those people” hanging around.

It’s pathetic.

You really should check this out the above link and sign the petition. We are losing more parks like this and I guarantee you that nothing will be built to take it’s place.

You can see our post last year about the park here (with more pictures!).

Broken Effects

It seems that this year A LOT of the effects in Ye Olde Mill (a great Gnome/Troll Dark Ride made by Sally Corporation in Jacksonville, FL) were not working. Also some effects in Zombie Castle and the Flying Witch were less than optimal. I will return late in the season to see if they have fixed any of that. Ye Olde Mill was affected the most. Many of the collapsing beams were nonfunctional, scenes were static, and the great “battering ram” effect didn’t work. The lights stayed on throughout so the illusion that you were about to be hit when it comes at you was totally ruined.

You can see some of the properly working ride effects here:

Ye Olde Mill is remarkable because it seems like it may be one of the few times that Sally Corporation has been given free reign to develop a great ride. I had seen many Sally Corporation rides in the past and was not impressed – I have now come to realize that this is probably because the rides I saw were low budget on the side of the parks who commissioned them and not Sally Corporation itself. If you want to see what great work Sally Corporation is capable of I highly recommend Ye Olde Mill in Rye Playland.

I almost died on the Derby Racer

You think I’m joking? I ride the Derby Racer every year and something was very different this year. They must have cranked it up to maximum or something. It was going much faster than what this person has captured in this video:

I have been on so many rides in my lifetime and gone to so many parks. This seriously was the first time that both Harknell and I were freaking scared on a ride. It was way too long and way faster than last year. I felt like I almost fell off a few times. There are no waist straps, so I knew that if I lost my grip that I’d be done. I love this classic ride but if you ride it be aware that they have it cranked up this year!

I came off of the ride bruised and I had dented my hands in my attempt to try and not fall off:

Never again, guys. Never again.

Random cool pictures of Rye Playland’s opening day

A lot of the pictures would be the same as in my prior post, but here are some new things I captured this year.

Ye Olde Mill:

Zombie Castle (I think? To be honest both of the haunted rides don’t have that much of a theme to tell them apart. :) )

PIE!

The Dragon Coaster’s smoke effects were working:

Harknell did not go on the ferris wheel:

Great carousel horse!

I still don’t know what a “tuffet” is:

The Flying Witch (that doesn’t really have anything to do with flying or a witch:

One of the best wooden coasters in the world – the Dragon Coaster!

Me!

Us!

Rye Playland is always a great time. It’s free admission and ticket system makes it an affordable place for the community to have fun. It would be a true loss if this park gets demolished. The government officials responsible for this should be ashamed of their pathetic selves.

First, go and read about The Most Epic Brand Meltdown on Facebook ever. Within that link you will see a restaurant run by a hostile couple who has gone through over 100 employees in a short amount of time, bullies customers for asking for simple things (like their food), takes the tips from the waitstaff, and just..wow.

I have now watched this episode and there is nothing that I can say that hasn’t already been said. On a personal level it reminds me about why I blog about Haunted Attractions. it’s because of incidents where I had read fake reviews created by businesses who are terrible like this. After getting ripped off a few times, I decided that I was going to go to every haunt that I could, constructively tell it like it is, and hopefully offer an impartial eye to those hoping to improve their attractions. Still, things like this allegedly happen in this scene, which is a pile of ballhocky.

And that is precisely why I do what I do. It’s hilarious how Amy’s Baking Company regards bloggers as bullies as they proceed to bully their own staff. This personality type is unfortunate. Any blogger worth anything is constructive and helpful.

Oh well. I can’t fix stupid.