- The Colossus has a little less clout today. That would be the iconic
Colossus roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California and the
legendary ride took a big hit this week that throws a massive wrench into its
just-started renovation process. The Los Angeles County Fire Department was
called to the scene at the amusement park in Santa Clarita just after 1:30 p.m.
after a fire of unknown origins broke out. The ride was closed three weeks ago
for renovations, but when Fire Inspector Scott Miller and his crew showed up,
they found a coaster in need of even more work. An elevated portion of the
roller coaster’s wooden track was charred black and Twitter photos from the
scene showed a plume of smoke rising from the top of a hill in the middle of
the ride. Several fire engines responded to the scene and firefighters worked
to put out the blaze, a task that was easier because the park was closed
Monday. The fire may derail or alter plans for a new hybrid coaster that was to
replace the original wooden one after it ceased operating in
mid-August after 36 years. The new hybrid ride was to be called Twisted
Colossus and upgrade the old version, which dropped 100 feet and
reached speeds of up to 60 mph. Prior to the fire, contractors had
been working on disassembly of the ride when the top of the hill caught
fire, the park confirmed on Twitter. Heat equipment was being used at the time.
. “Colossus is currently undergoing a transformation and has been closed since
August 17.” Despite the blaze, the park expects the renovation process to
remain on schedule and for the new coaster to open on time………
- Who hasn’t been clamoring for a TV spin-off of a
12-year-old sci-fi movie known as “Minority Report”? Those non-existent cries
for entertainment help have mercifully been answered with the revelation that Steven
Spielberg's Tom Cruise-starring flick will get a TV reboot more than a decade
after it hit theaters in 2002. The movie was loosely based off a Phillip K.
Dick short story set in a truly dystopian place known as Washington, D.C. in
2054. Cruise starred as a Pre-crime detective who worked with beings known as
Precogs, which were beings capable of seeing the future and identifying crimes
before they happened. Cruise would then arrest those who were able to be responsible
for a crime they never actually got a chance to commit. Paramount and
Spielberg's Amblin Television will team with 20th Century Fox Television to
develop a pilot for the show, with “Godzilla” (one of the 8 million remakes of
that franchise in the past decade) scribe Max Borenstein lined up to write a
story that begins after the Precrime project is shut down. Reports from behind
the scenes at Paramount have revealed that the pilot will tell the story of one
of the Precogs who attempts to lead a normal human life, but cannot shake his
disturbing visions of the future. He then meets a detective ironically haunted
by her past who may hold the answer for what he should do with his visionary
gift now that the program has been shut down. Paramount is in the business of
reviving forgotten movies for TV show remakes these days, with plans for new
small-screen takes on the “Terminator”
franchise and Jim Carrey film “The
Truman Show” also in the works……….
- It’s Hungary v. Norway in a European battle of European
diplomatic ducking, dodging and diving as Hungary tries to do its own thing and
its European Union neighbors insist that it actually, ya know, act like a
democracy. The latest chapter came Tuesday when Norway denounced Hungarian police raids on the offices of civic groups critical
of the government as unacceptable and showed Hungary is distancing itself from
European democratic norms. Police have been scrutinizing several civic groups
that distribute or receive funds from the Norway Grants, a program providing
money to projects in areas such as environmental protection or social
development in Hungary and other less-developed EU countries, which is a nice
way of saying they're getting paranoid about outside influences. Hungary’s
government tells a different story, one of the groups it is persecuting misusing
the money and spending some of it on anti-government activities. Sure, one of
the civic groups has admitted to organizing anti-government protests with funds
from the Norway Grants, but this isn't exactly a violent coup. Furthermore, the
government's complaints have been aimed mostly at groups like Hungarian Civil
Liberties Union, corruption watchdog Transparency International Hungary and
Atlatszo (Transparent), a group of investigative journalists. According to the
HCLO, the most recent raids occurred after investigations earlier this year by
the Government Control Office (KEHI) against Norway Grants' recipients failed
to find any evidence of wrongdoing. "The aim is clearly to intimidate
civil society and silence critical voices," the HCLU said in a statement. Vidar
Helgesen, Norway's minister for European affairs, denounced the raids as "unacceptable" and said they represented
the "harassment of civil society organizations." Don’t look for this
one to escalate into the next world war…….
- Good news, Buffalo. Stop and savor those three words
because let’s face it, there is rarely much good news in a frozen tundra of a
city where winter lasts 10 months and there isn't much to celebrate from a
professional or college sports standpoint. But today, there is reason to
rejoice because those moneyed, A-list outsiders have been rebuffed and one of
your own will soon own your beloved NFL team. After a prolonged sale process, Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula
reached a sale agreement with the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday to purchase the team
from the Wilson family. Legendary Bills owner Ralph Wilson passed away earlier
this year and the race to buy the team from his family was narrowed down to the
Pegulas, billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump and rocker Jon Bon Jovi.
Bills fans recoiled at the notion of Bon Jovi buying the team because of his
ties to a Toronto-based investment group that fans feared would move the team
to Canada. There are no such fears with the Pegulas, who insist they have no
plans to move the team. "Kim and I are humbled and honored that the Wilson
family has chosen us to be the second owner of the Buffalo Bills," the
statement read. "Our interest in owning the Bills has everything to do
with the people of Western New York and our passion for football. We have
knowledgeable, dedicated fans here and along with our ownership of the Buffalo
Sabres, it is gratifying to reassure these great fans that two franchises so
important to our region are both here to stay." NFL owners are expected to
approve the sale at their next owners meeting on Oct. 8, officially clearing
the way for the first ownership transfer in Bills history. Wilson brought
professional football to Buffalo in 1959 and now, his beloved franchise
will change hands for a reported $1.4 billion that should buy his family a
private jet that can take them to a much warmer climate……….
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