The thirty-hectare property in Four Corners Florida now host to the Margaritaville Resort, it was a originally developed as a miniature park in 1993 featuring scenery and monuments of the mainland was first conceived by a former educator from Taiwan after the successful prototype in Shenzhen outside of Hong Kong. That same year the attraction was taken over by the travel and tourism branch of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, eventually ousting the founders and was accused of becoming an instrument of propaganda, with protests ensuing over the new exhibitions on Tibet, Mongolia and Eastern Turkistan and a ban on school field trips to the site in the proximity of Disney World. The miniatures were looted after its closure a decade after its founding. More at Weird Universe at the link above, including a video tour of the grounds from 1996.
Tuesday 2 January 2024
Tuesday 5 December 2023
luna luna (11. 167)
Virtually lost and obscure since its 1987 exhibition of modern art presented as a fun-fair featuring the works of Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Dalรญ, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sonia Delaunay and David Hockney among others, the amusement park originally installed in Hamburg under the direction of curator Andrรฉ Heller has been restored and will be a travelling-circus with its first stop in Los Angeles. Among the some thirty original attractions will return albeit as non-functioning rides include a carousel by Haring and a Ferris wheel by Basquiat and a fun-house maze designed by Lichtenstein. The planned revival is sponsored by performer and entrepreneur Drake and his DreamCrew team. More from designboom at the link up top.
Thursday 29 June 2023
robot roll call (10. 843)
Via Super Punch comes confirmation from a Disney imagineer that the theory that the rather poor likeness of Donald Trump added in 2017 to Disney World’s Hall of Presidents attraction—a non-thrill ride from 1971 with all the US commanders-in-chief past and present brought together in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall to extol, uncannily the virtues of American governance and democracy—was in fact a hastily repurposed Hilary Clinton audio-animatronic, assuming like many that she would be the victor. As with all new incumbents, the exhibit shut down for six months in preparation for the presidency of Joe Biden to design and choreograph and Trump reappeared with a more refined, sculpted look which is distinctly less like Trump’s face stretched over Clinton’s cranium but as the park has a tendency to recycle suggests that she might be waiting in ambush as an extra in the Haunted Mansion or Country Bears’ Jamboree.
Wednesday 28 June 2023
10x10 (10. 840)
⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️: Neal Fun’s (previously) infuriating password game
ceiling cat: the European Souther Observatory in the Chilean mountains discovered a feline nebula
bad odds: wagering on climate change to bring the danger and risk to present and personal
backstage: newsletters (from 1962 to 1980) published for Disneyland crew members, scanned in full—via Super Punch
homage to magritte: a 1974 tribute in five vignettes to the Surrealist artistindependent legislature theory: US Supreme Court strikes down suit that would cut checks and balances and judicial review of laws passed
monkey bars: the first jungle gym (see previously) was built in hopes of teaching children about three-dimensional space and Cartesian coordinates
magma: mining volcanoes could provide a more ecologically-friendly way to extract metals
power of ten: NASA’s coding commandments focused on testability, readability and predictability that keeps critical systems safe and running in outer space
goodnight phone: an interactive web comic for our shared present—via tmn
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus a surprise session of the January Sixth hearings on the US Capitol Insurrections
two years ago: body language, the UN International Criminal Court (1993), Miss Continuous Towel and other spokesmodels plus Pitman shorthand
three years ago: a corporate typeface, a performative masculine simulator game, Martian meteors plus cataloguing one’s possessions
four years ago: the Stonewall Riots (1969), surveying Titan plus bringing back the chestnut tree
five years ago: Paul Simon on Sesame Street, silent cooking videos, assorted links to revisit plus combating fake product reviews
Thursday 27 April 2023
atomgrad (10. 701)
A closed town founded in 1970 to serve the neighbouring Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station but not restricted like other cities and a showcase of Soviet engineering and innovation, Prypriat (ะัะธ́ะฟสผััั) was evacuated on this day in 1986 following the disaster and has remained, within the exclusion zone, a time capsule slowly being reclaimed by nature and a draw for urban explorers. One particular attraction is the amusement park, slated for a grand opening for May Day celebrations in a state of abandon and ruin, with the iconic ferris wheel (ะััะณะพะฒะพะน ะพะฑะทะพั, circular overview) photographed as a symbol of the catastrophe and the delayed announcement of the danger, a population of some fifty thousand imperilled by high radition exposure for over thirty-six hours since the initial fire and steam explosion.
Wednesday 26 April 2023
8x8 (10. 700)
a is for anarchist: a counter-culture abecedarium—see previously
man o’war: thousands of by-the-wind-sailors (Vellela vellela) wash ashore in California
runway-zero-one-left: views of random airport exteriors—via Pasa Bon!—see previouslymanicule: Punctuation Personified: or, Pointing Made Easy (1824)—see also
pepperoni hug spot: an AI made an intriguingly nightmarish TV commercial
jefferies tube: a survey of secret passages—including the ulitidors at Disneyland
roaring forties: remote Gough Island is hiring
yon zircle: final-born member of the Bowlin alphabet family passes away, aged 94
Friday 17 March 2023
9x9 (10. 614)
telegeography: the current map of submarine cables connecting the world
blogoversary: a belated birthday greeting to Fancy Notions
rightish: Microsoft touts AI’s factual errors as “usefully wrong”
goldenes buch: German communities’ official, historic guest logs are a chronicle of the times and Zeitzeugnissemedia matters: if journalists cannot call out propaganda—what’s even the the point of coverage—via Kottke
gวutรณu mฤo nรญng—literally dog’s head, cat’s meow: cute Chinese animal transcriptions for English salutations
seoul ring: the world’s largest spokeless ferris wheel being built in South Korea
linkrot: more thoughts on three broken links and internet conservation
mappa mundi: the thirteenth century chart of the mundane and exalted—see previously
Sunday 5 February 2023
tomorrowland 2055 (10. 526)
Due to budget cuts which already limited the number of planned attractions, Disneyland reluctantly opened up its last themed land to commercial sponsorship, becoming something of a showcase of corporate America, including Dutch Boy Paint, the agrochemical giant Monsanto and its Hall of Chemistry and General Electric with its Carousel of Progress. Space Mountain was proposed initially as a functioning space port for Disney World in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral.
Sunday 18 September 2022
boardwalks, beaches and boulevards (10. 146)
Prominent and influential street photographer and educator, Harold Feinstein (1931 - 2015) had an enduring attraction to New York at the community of Coney Island where he was born. Thanks to a Redditor, we are introduced to Feinstein’s extensive portfolio through one composition that frames those perched above Brighton Beach as musical notation. Feinstein’s work also enjoyed commercial ubiquity, IKEA’s White Rose poster (see also) being one of the most widely distributed homeware artistic photos. Much more to explore at the links above.
Saturday 20 August 2022
erlebnis bergwerk (10. 073)
Decommissioned since 1993 but revitalised since as a living museum and working mine and venue, I had a chance to visit with H’s father the salt and potash (Kalisalz, used as an important agricultural fertiliser) extraction operation near the village of Merkers on the Werra river not far from Bad Salzungen.
Aside from the long history of mining and a comprehensive lesson on the enterprise and geology that bores under the Rhรถn mountains, the location is also the hiding spot for hundreds of tonnes of gold, silver and paper currency (amounting to around eighty percent of the holdings of the Reichsbank at the end of the war) and many priceless works of art looted by the Nazis, discovered per chance by the advancing United States army (tipped off by slave labour transporting treasures to the mine) who then worked quickly to clear it out of Soviet occupied territory before the borders were demarcated.After being lowered in safety gear—like actual miners beginning their shift—in a hoisting cage that descended into the dark, and driven in flatbed transports from five to eight hundred metres below the surface through a network of tunnels that covers an area the size of Munich.
Though the vehicles were only taking the dips, curves and ascents at under twenty kilometres an hour, the darkness, wind and narrowness of the shaft made it seem much faster, like a roller coaster ride stretched out for some two hours, with intermissions, lastly in the above Goldraum, a pair of excavated former bunkers that now serve as a machine exhibit, theatre and a concert hall with uncommonly good acoustics and unique crystal grotto with accompanying bar for refreshments—the deepest in the world.
catagories: ⚒, ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ข, ๐จ, Hessen, libraries and museums, Rhรถn, Thรผringen
Tuesday 24 May 2022
ancient aliens
Opened to the public on this day in 2003 (bankrupt and shuttered three years later and three years after that rehabilitated as a children’s theme park—named Jungfrau after the alpine mountain it is framed by), Mystery Park in Interlaken was designed by Chariots of the Gods? author Erich von Dรคniken and included several pavilions featuring what the pseudoscience proponent described as the great unsolved mysteries that could only be explained by the theories he espoused on paleo-contact and ancient astronauts, including the Mayan calendar, the pyramids of Egypt and monoliths like Stonehenge explaining how the achievements of the primitive past must be linked to extraterrestrial encounters, his showmanship being chiefly responsible for the popularity of this rather narrow and dim view of a world just beyond record.
Thursday 21 April 2022
reedy creek improvement district
In retribution for the Magic Kingdom’s public stance against legislation passed and enforced by the state of Florida and suspension of political donations in response to the so called “Don’t Say Gay” bill that bars instruction that is not “age or develop-mentally appropriate” as a form of indoctrination and makes it taboo to talk about gender identity or sexual orientation, the Republican governor, with the backing of the legislature, is proposing to strip Disney properties of its own private governance. Accorded by Florida in 1967 to make it more attractive for the entertainment giant to establish its resorts and theme parks (see also)—and originally a planned city of the future, Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, that reverted back to another attraction, the special jurisdiction has its own law enforcement and security, environment standards, building codes and zoning laws as well as its own tax regime. Authorities warn that its dissolution will burden neighbouring counties with much higher property taxes and further alienates the state’s largest employer.
Saturday 19 February 2022
7x7
a fistful of manicules: Shady Characters explores several font specimens of the typographers’ mark—see previously
la conquรชte du pain: an anarcho-communist bakery going strong in Montreuil
peeping tom: Facebook’s demise following that of mySpace
storyliving: Disneyland pre-retirement communities—via Web Curios
erste jahrzehnten: German Design Awards marks its first decade with a special exhibit
sold for sol 1800: it appears that Melania Trump purchased her own NTF—via New Shelton wet/dry
i shot the serif: foundry Neubau Berlin pays homage to Mid-Century international fonts
Sunday 6 February 2022
easy listening monster orchestra—e.l.m.o.
Courtesy of the Awesomer and this Muppet quintet, here’s some light jazz for your Sunday afternoon (see previously). Performed in 1989, these interludes were produced for Sesame Place (already sounds sophisticated) theme park, which opened in 1980 in the outskirts of Philadelphia
Saturday 23 October 2021
7x7
floh u. trรถdel: couple’s costume ideas—via the ever excellence Everlasting Blรถrt
boutonniere: Harriet Parry’s flower arrangements reproduce iconic fine art and classic tarot card designs—via ibฤซdem
microface: a quick quiz to identify whether the subject is a font or a Marvel character (see previously)—via Kottke’s Quick Links
์ค์ง์ด ๊ฒ์: Squid Games Funko-Pop characters—see also
pyrrhic victory: the rules of play for a variant called Atomic Chess allows a pawn crossing the breadth of the game board promotion to a scale that would instantaneously annihilate all pieces—of both sides
rollercoaster tycoon: Saudi Arabia transforms a decommissioned drilling platform into an extreme amusement park
hell no: a sensible horror film
Friday 28 May 2021
8x8
pier 54: Thomas Heatherwick’s Little Island on the Hudson off NYC’s Meatpacking District opens to the public
al fresco: limited edition Rolls-Royce Boat Tail to take picnickingcosmism: the cosmic religion of Nikolai Fyodorov that inspired and informed Soviet space-faring aspirations
astronomicum cรฆsareum: a beautifully illustrated scientific text from 1540
circle of friends: a visualisation of the intimates that one can socially maintain—see previously
rollercoaster tycoon: an engineer explains the different types of amusement park rides
pole of inaccessibility: plotting when the ISS crew are one’s closest neighbours when one lives near Point Nemo
project plywood: non-profit Worthless Studios transforms discarded materials used to board up storefronts from inclement weather and civil unrest into art
Tuesday 18 May 2021
golden gate bridge bolt
With a touch of The Music Man / Marge vs the Monorail energy behind his pitch that rightly nonetheless recognised that the newly built suspension bridge was perfectly designed to host a thrill ride—which also piqued the interest of a few city planners, ahead of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition engineer Joseph Bazzeghin proposed impressing visiting crowds with a roller coaster traveling up and down the bundled cables as a centrepiece of the fair. Despite some enthusiasm, the ride was never built—mainly due to safety concerns and distracting drivers and the likely impossibility to construct such a roller coaster but I am sure it could be done on a dare. The artificial Treasure Island was instead built in the bay as a showcase venue and originally planned to be a municipal airport afterwards but was turned into a naval station and marina. More to explore from Weird Universe at the link above.
Sunday 18 April 2021
general entertainment content division
Though first proposed as early as 1977 as a cable television conduit for studio-sourced content, the idea was sidelined in favour of developing the Epcot (see previously) and the brand’s other theme parks, the Disney Channel—as an independent venture—began its first programming day on this day in 1983 in US markets, garnering some six-hundred thousand subscribers within the first six months. The first shows included “Contraption” in which adolescents competed across a giant board game obstacle course, “Dreamfinders” meant to spur critical thinking skills in young people, “Mousterepiece Theatre” a cartoon show hosted by George Plimpton and “Mousercise,” a daily exercise routine hosted by Kellyn Plasschaert.
Saturday 13 February 2021
here we come on the run with a burger in a bun
We enjoyed very much this appreciation of the Cabazon dinosaur ensemble, a novelty roadside attraction two decades in the making created by theme park artist and sculptor Claude Bell (of Knox Berry Farm fame) off the freeway near Palm Springs to draw diners to his nearby restaurant, the Wheel Inn (1958 - 2013). The Brontosaurus, Dinny the Dinosaur, and Mister Rex are made of out of salvaged, reclaimed road construction materials and since the restaurant’s closure, have been host, in a surprising turn, to a gift shop and a museum devoted to doctrine of creationism (inside of Dinny—the Tyrannosaur formerly had a slide in his tail but has been since filled with concrete due to safety concerns)—selling dinosaur related souvenirs with the rather shrill caveat that the “fossil record does not support evolution” (see also) and espousing young Earth beliefs, that place Adam and Eve among the dinosaurs about six millennia ago. Exhibits run counter to a frieze that Bell painted along the internal passage way that portray a scientific point of view and timeline that includes Cro-Magnon, Java Man and Neanderthals. More from Pasa Bon! at the link up top.
Tuesday 17 November 2020
i am not a crook
On this day in 1973 during a press conference delivered at the Contemporary Resort Hotel at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida Richard Nixon made the declaration addressing his declining job approval ratings with the pall of the Watergate scandal eroding public trust and confidence (see also) to an Associated Press annual convention being held there. The rather impromptu one-hour live broadcast was wide-ranging and was specifically prompted in response to a question raised by one of the wire service’s reporters regarding Nixon’s taxes and self-dealing, launching into the line of questioning, “I have earned every cent—and in all my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice… People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got.”