Jeremy Thompson
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rollercoasterphilosophy.com
Jeremy Thompson
@rollercoasterphilosophy.com
700 followers 220 following 1.6K posts
LA-based writer & themed experience creative. 1000+ coasters. Seeking the sublime in the ridiculous and the ridiculous in the sublime.
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
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rollercoasterphilosophy.com
Stopped by USH this afternoon to check on Fast & Furious now that it's officially open. Hung out a little over an hour, it was either closed or operating at half capacity, with single rider always full and not admitting. Had better luck during technical rehearsals, going home empty handed today.
September 16, 2026 at 10:27 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
One of the things I remember about being a kid during 9/11 was very early on trying to figure out what we would call this event. I had just learned about "Watergate" and obviously stuff like "The Great Depression" and "World War 2". What shorthand would I use to refer to all of this 25 years later?
September 11, 2026 at 2:18 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
Worth pointing out that by this reasoning, Thrill Glider also takes the records for the World's Briefest, Slowest and Shortest Thrillglider with the fewest inversions.
Upon opening, Thrill Glider will set a collection of records, including: World's First Thrillglider World's First Multi-Launch Thrillglider World's Longest Thrillglider – 3,380 feet, which is more than half a mile World's Fastest Thrillglider – 50 mph World's Tallest Thrillglider – 107 feet Most Inversions on a Thrillglider – 5
September 10, 2026 at 11:10 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
I don't know if it's just the generic model name, but for some reason this feels like something I'd see built in China. Given the ambition of a lot of Chinese parks, I guess I mean that as complimentary?
September 10, 2026 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Jeremy Thompson
andylevy.net
werner herzog on AI filmmaking (from here www.indiewire.com/features/int...)
Q: A couple years ago at IDFA, I saw this movie "About a Hero," which is this partly Al-generated hybrid documentary that tries to recreate the atmosphere of your films. A: The intention of this young filmmaker was never to remake any [of my films], but making something in the spirit. And I immediately said, "You will fail. It is such a stupid idea. It's phenomenally, abysmally stupid. I will not take part in it." He wanted me to explain things and have my voice in it. I said, "You are alone. There's such a thing as free speech, which I respect. So go ahead and fail." And it is a failure, period. It's so standardized that Al can step in because there's not real storytelling. It's mimicry of something that has happened before. And I welcome Al to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating, repeating, repeating until it's ad nauseam. When it's ad nauseam, please, please, please let Al step in and do the job.
September 8, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Jeremy Thompson
parkjourney.bsky.social
I don't know how they got them to keep the name, but I'm guessing it was something like this.

Love you Six Flags, thank you for saving this coaster!
#SixFlags #ArieForceOne #FunSpotAmerica
September 8, 2026 at 6:34 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
Always appreciate a good dispatch from an obscure park:
gemmachaos.bsky.social Gemma Hazeborg @gemmachaos.bsky.social · 9d
How about another theme park thread? This was the first time I visited Avonturenpark Hellendoorn, Netherlands due East, since 2008. In a country stacked with theme parks, how does this one stack up? Let's find out together.
September 8, 2026 at 4:45 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
One insane detail I haven't seen talked about yet: wherever it goes, Six Flags is going to keep the ArieForce One name and theme. That's a nice gesture, but they really really REALLY didn't have to do that.
September 8, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Jeremy Thompson
existentialcomics.com
The Horny Universe Theory -
existentialcomics.com/comic/671
The Horny Universe Theory
A philosophy webcomic about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world. Also Jokes
existentialcomics.com
September 7, 2026 at 5:15 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
I appreciate that Robert doesn't just copy from the press release when announcements like this are made.
September 7, 2026 at 6:42 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
Well this is a rather distressing sign that I've been in California too long and am losing my Michigan roots.
Mydialect map with the darkest orange over California and more broadly the west coast, plus some lighter orange shading around the upper Midwest. The south and east coast is blue.
September 4, 2026 at 6:14 AM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
Finally a good day for riding Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift during technical rehearsals. Managed five rides in about 2 hours using single rider, although standby has gotten pretty short after the initial rush when it opened around noon.
Entrance to Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift Train in the zero g stall with another below it Train coming around a corner
September 2, 2026 at 9:58 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
I hope to have a detailed Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift review posted at some point by or before the ride's official opening.

FYI my main points of cinematic reference have turned out not to be the Fast & Furious movies (I haven't even seen any), but Mulholland Drive & Holy Motors. 🤷
August 31, 2026 at 10:46 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
Looking forward to this actually being open officially instead of the endless guessing game that is technical rehearsals.
August 31, 2026 at 8:01 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
I truly love Carl Sagan's COSMOS, but the segment where he takes aim at not just Aristotle but several schools of the Ancient Greeks was always the one part that stood out as odd for reasons explained in this comic's post script.
August 31, 2026 at 4:26 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
My concern is that the current corporate thinking towards SFMM is that the park is currently too big and requires more labor than the market can bear, and we'll be in for a period of 2-3 closures for every one new consolation prize.
parkjourney.bsky.social Park Journey @parkjourney.bsky.social · 18d
Some quick thoughts on X2 at Magic Mountain.

I personally don’t think the coaster will ever reopen. What do you think?

#MagicMountain #SixFlags #SFMM
August 30, 2026 at 1:15 AM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
Got to spend an hour and some $600 on the grossest day of the year waiting to retrieve my impounded car for failing today's game of "spot the no parking sign"! How well can you do?
A sidewalk with a tree partially obscuring a speed limit sign on a light pole. There do not appear to be any other signs. A closer view of the pole, the speed limit sign fully visible now, and a bit of tree hanging below it. Look really really close and you can barely glimpse another sign below it. A side shot of the pole, revealing that the small bunch of branches perfectly conceals a no stopping sign from all other angles except here.
August 29, 2026 at 1:59 AM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
I can't wait for Alejandro González Iñárritu's DIGGER to finally hit theaters!*

*So I can be spared from having to watch that god-awful trailer before every single recent movie I do want to see.
August 28, 2026 at 5:40 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
I was thinking of going out to see COYOTE VS ACME soon, but instead the coyote came out to see me.
Coyote wandering around a playground in the early morning Coyote sniffing around a pathway in a small community park
August 28, 2026 at 2:05 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
You know what... okay. It's certainly better than "Enchanted Park Mid-America" or whatever was previously proposed. It calls back to the park's history while also being generic enough to roll past without much notice. Not the worst qualities in a name.
ridewithace.bsky.social American Coaster Enthusiasts @ridewithace.bsky.social · 21d
Enchanted Parks has released the new name of Six Flags St. Louis!

The Missouri park will now be known as Mid America Adventure. Who's coming to ACE Coaster Con in June 2027 at the park?!
August 27, 2026 at 2:31 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
I spend a lot of time trying to be reasonably knowledgeable of popular media, but whenever there are celebrity deaths and the outpouring of sentiment that comes with them, I almost always become acutely aware of how many huge blind spots I have remaining.
August 26, 2026 at 8:52 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
This is always my least favorite season in LA. I want to start transitioning into an autumnal frame of mind (with accompanying media choices), but it always ends up having the hottest days of the year.
August 26, 2026 at 8:48 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
I first learned about Buc-ees through several theme park fan accounts that had some intense brand loyalty for reasons I didn't understand at all.

Now I'm even more confused given that they're starting to make mainstream media, and everything about them sounds absolutely terrible!
August 26, 2026 at 3:30 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
Frankly, this park is almost certainly going to be a boondoggle. But it's still interesting to read how Iran's first themed park is being designed with great intentionality by a very well-educated Iranian woman.
www.aboutthemeparks.fun/p/getting-to...
Getting to the core of themed entertainment
Adeleh Basiri’s extraordinary journey to design a theme park in Iran
www.aboutthemeparks.fun
August 25, 2026 at 7:55 PM
rollercoasterphilosophy.com
RIP Dolly. What I wrote about her and her theme park last year:
www.rollercoasterphilosophy.com/2023/dollywo...
But anyone watching the global cultural arena over the past decade knows it’s obviously a risk to tie the fortunes of a major business to a single living personality.2 People can change, and very successful people in the 21st century have proven particularly susceptible to all manner of brain rot and reactionary politics. (You know who I’m talking about, except you don’t because that’s at least a dozen people among the most famous examples.) At first blush “superstar country music singer” isn’t exactly the kind of vocation for someone whom you’d want to bet big money on remaining a non-controversial figurehead for your business well into their octogenarian years. So god bless Dolly Parton for somehow being one of the other dozen successful people that has maintained and even strengthened her venerated reputation over her lifetime. When Herschend signed the contract with Parton back in 1985 to remake their eastern Silver Dollar City property into “Dollywood,” history could hardly have played out any better for them. Despite the growing political and cultural divide in recent years, Parton somehow has managed to remain beloved by people of nearly all political affiliations, even with her philanthropic efforts that have occasionally required her to wade into the political conversation in her own ways. Maybe that bipartisan agreement on her legacy won’t last forever, but in the meantime it’s nice to have an American theme park that outwardly offers conservative homespun Americana yet is also represented by a steadfast anti-racist and matron saint for the LGBTQ+ community.
August 25, 2026 at 6:04 PM