SANDUSKY — Returning for its 15th year at Cedar Point in Sandusky is HalloWeekends, the Halloween-themed attraction that aims to thrill and scare with a mix of roller coasters and fright zones.
“We are committed to making it better each year and ensuring that from the front gate to the tip it’s HalloWeekends,” said Director of Public Relations Robin Innes. “It’s not just a little portion here and there, you will see HalloWeekends throughout the whole park.”
This year, HalloWeekends has added two new fright zones called “Blood on the Bayou” and “Maniacal Mechanical Screamworks.” With their addition, Cedar Point now has six fright zones and four haunted houses as well as live shows, a hay bale maze and family-friendly attractions.

“We are offering something new for everybody,” Innes said. “I think we are looking at a very popular HalloWeekends 15.”
Cedar Point has also added a giant to its stable of attractions. Near the front of the park, a mechanical giant sleeps, snoring until awakened. He then poetically describes his plans to eat you as he stands up to show his massive size.
“We are always trying to add something new and different to the park and that’s going to be another winner,” Innes said.
This year, Cedar Point has expanded its roster of creatures roaming the park to 450. Each actor, or “screamster,” goes through a makeup process which Innes said takes about an hour.
“That’s a lot of creatures out there,” Innes said. “We will keep our guests on their toes.”
While Halloween is the major theme, all the rides are still open to the public. These are the same rides that recently earned Cedar Point “Best Amusement Park in the World” honors by Amusement Today for the 14th consecutive year.
HalloWeekends takes place every weekend through Oct. 30. It is open from 6 p.m. to midnight on Fridays, noon to midnight on Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays.

The hardest thing for people to do is to turn the mirror on themselves, give their reflections a good, long stare, and be brutally honest. So I decided to do a social experiment with some of the local Hip Hop artists in Toledo.

I wanted to know what they thought about the music. Not what they thought about the people, the “haters,” or the personalities. I simply wanted to know, do you like the music? Do you listed to it in your car? When someone hands you a cd, do you toss it out the window like gum wrapper, or do you give it a shot? Do you expect it to sound like it was made in someone’s basement, or are your standards higher for Toledo Hip-Hop?

And the answers I got were….typical.

Of all the artists who responded, the general consensus was the Hip Hop scene in Toledo is incredible; the key element missing is unification. Once all the artists come together, Toledo will garner the attention of the music industry.

You can’t be serious.

I know I’ll get a lot of angry stares for this, but I love you enough to tell you the truth. If you mean to tell me that the only problem regarding Hip Hop in Toledo is that the artists aren’t unified, I’m going to grab you a mirror, and I want you to tell that to yourself ten times while listening to a random artist’s new “hit single” that isn’t mixed or mastered, and isn’t industry ready.

Not one person who responded said anything about the standards needing to be raised. So I guess there isn’t a problem with anyone’s image? Every single is mixed and mastered in a real studio with an incredible engineer? The judges from Put Me On Live (who are all connected with the music industry) were actually impressed by one of the winners? (They weren’t; I asked.)

Hip Hop is all about keeping it real, so why can’t we keep it real with ourselves? Don’t think about the fact that you grew up with this artist, and you’re dating that rapper’s sister; just listen. Watch a performance. Then tell me that Toledo has ten artists who are ready to be in the industry and compete.

Of course Toledo isn’t unified. Name one city that is! And don’t say anything about “the south.” If you believe in your heart that all the artists in Atlanta work together towards a common goal, you need to do more traveling.

One reason for the segregation in Toledo obvious. Being a small city with larger cities so close by, Toledo is often overlooked, so the artists here feel they have more to prove, since they’re constantly looked over. And those artists who become popular and spread their movement to other cities are not necessarily concerned with pulling everyone up with them. Not that they don’t want to; but…well, maybe they don’t want to. Who would want to do all that work again?

Forget about people not wanting to collaborate with you. Who cares about who’s the best in Toledo? People outside of the Midwest don’t even know what Toledo is! I want you to get a mirror, look in it, and be honest. Some of the music here sucks. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, eliminate excuses, study your craft, go to the studio, make better music, learn to market yourself, then do all the things you claim you can.

Fred Altvater

With  the FedEx Cup drama over and Bill Haas taking home both the Tour Championship Trophy and the $10 million FedEx Cup, its time to move on to Las Vegas and the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open, the first stop on the PGA’s Fall Series.

The four tournaments that make up the Fall Series are a second, third and fourth chance for the players hovering around or below that all important 125 number on the PGA Tour money list. The top 125 players secure their PGA playing privileges for next season and avoid a dreaded trip to Q School or banishment to the Nationwide Tour.

David Mathis, with $563,752, holds the unenviable 125th slot on the PGA money list and will need to earn a few extra dollars to keep his PGA card for 2012. Roland Thatcher, Bob Estes and veteran Billy Mayfair occupy the next three spots and will be looking to move up. A pair of former British Open Champs, Ben Curtis at 142 and David Duval at 152, are on the outside and will be looking to improve their ranking. The Aquaman, Woody Austin at 161, and Scott McCarron at 163, also have some work to do if they want to avoid writing a bunch of letters begging for sponsor exemptions over the winter.

Another important number that some players will be trying to reach during the PGA Fall Series is the Top 30. It guarantees entrance into all the majors in 2012 and also eligibility for the lucrative World Golf Championship events. Y. E. Yang is currently No. 30 with Chez Reavie, John Senden and Rickie Fowler right on his heels. No. 39 with $1,918,991, Golf Channel’s Big Break alum Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey, has had an excellent year thus far and could top it off by finishing inside the Top 30.

After Vegas, the PGA Fall Series moves to Corde Valle Golf Club in San Martin, Calif., for the Frys.com Open, where Tiger Woods will make a rare Fall Series appearance and will try to knock some of the rust off his game and prepare for the President’s Cup in November.

The Series then moves back to the east coast with the McGladrey Classic held at Sea Island, Ga. and closes out with the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

So if you get tired of watching continuous football over the next four weeks, flip over to the Golf Channel. There is a lot on the line in the PGA Fall Series: Veterans trying to find their game, youngsters trying to earn a card, and fallen heroes trying to find redemption.

On Sept. 25, it was announced that Disney’s 3-D release of “The Lion King” had won the box office weekend for the second straight week, earning more than $22 million. This brought its two-week  gross for the re-release to more than $61 million dollars. Not bad for a 17-year-old movie in an animation style many have long since written off for dead.
Now, it can be argued that the addition of 3-D to the film adds a whole new dimension (no pun intended) to the movie’s appeal, and that can explain the surprisingly successful revival. Not a chance. 3-D has been dying a slow, agonizing death for many months, with traditional 2-D screenings outdrawing 3-D counterparts on a regular basis.
No, the appeal of revisiting “The Lion King” lies elsewhere. It was first released in 1994. Many of the kids who saw and loved that film when they were growing up have kids of their own now. What better way to experience the film’s majesty once more than to share it with a whole new generation?

But “Lion King” has an even greater appeal. The tale of Simba and the Pride Land is the pinnacle of an era of filmmaking — one which saw Disney re-establish the animated feature as a viable, successful form of cinema and reaffirm its artistic status.
In the 1980s, the feature-length cartoon was all but dead. In the decades since the passing of Walt Disney, the company which bore his name had let the form slip almost into oblivion. Sure, occasionally a title would break through the haze (“The Rescuers,” “The Great Mouse Detective”), but never with the success or impact of the features in animation’s golden era.
That began to change in 1988, with the release of the family film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” a supremely entertaining send-up of 1940s detective films and a valentine to generations of cartoons. It served for many as a reminder, a nostalgic taste of the past. The seed was planted. (It wouldn’t bloom for a bit, though — Disney’s next animated film, “Oliver and Company,” would receive tepid response from critics and the box office.)
In 1989, it all started to come together. In November of that year, Disney released “The Little Mermaid.” A high-energy, entertaining fantasy, filled with memorable characters and amazingly catchy songs, “Mermaid” would become the company’s biggest breakout hit in years. But it wasn’t just the kids who were catching on. Critics also praised the film as great entertainment and the rebirth of an art form.
It was only the beginning of the renaissance. 1991 would see the release of “Beauty and the Beast,” again a commercial and critical smash, and the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
In 1992 came the wild comic romp “Aladdin.” The film wouldn’t quite achieve the same critical acclaim its predecessors did, but found remarkable success with audiences — and not just kids. Something was changing. Disney’s latest works were being seen by audiences of all ages. Suddenly, it wasn’t “childish” to watch a Disney animated flick — it was a cool thing to do.
It all came to a head in 1994, when “Lion King” grossed more than $300 million in America (barely edged out by “Forrest Gump” for the year’s highest-grossing film). It was official: The animated feature was not only alive once more, it was triumphant.
But traditional animation, on its own, would never see that level of success again. There would be high points (“The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” for one), but almost as quickly as it arrived, the Disney renaissance would be usurped by another entity. Ironically, Disney itself delivered that new entity to the public: Pixar.
Only a year after “The Lion King,” Pixar Animation Studios released “Toy Story,” the first film created entirely via computer. Its success would set a new bar for the animated feature, and see traditional, hand-drawn, 2-D work ushered into a hasty, undeserved retirement.
This is not to blame Pixar for the death of the traditional format. No, the blame lies with the coin-counters who tell the public what they want (“Traditional animation is dead! You all want computer stuff!”) and consumers for going along with it.
It is not the animation style which draws viewers to the work. It is the characters, the story, the themes, the songs, the passion. “The Lion King” reminds viewers of an era of greatness. And hopefully, it will inspire someone to ask, if it was that way once, why can’t it be again?

Email Jeff at PopGoesJeff@gmail.com.

Reading DC Comics’ new Wonder Woman No. 1 is a little like falling on a sword; you go into it with thoughts of honor and dignity, but simply end up being skewered. The book is the proposed herald for a new era of the Amazing Amazon’s adventures, intended to bolster her ailing status as a top player in the DC Universe. But this inaugural issue downplays the character and obscures her in dark, murky, overly graphic goings-on.
You have to extend DC some sympathy every time it attempts to relaunch Wonder Woman. She’s a 70-year-old-plus property with deeply ingrained facets that more often than not work against her, which makes it difficult for the company to sell her to audiences. Writer Brian Azzarello has said that he considers this new Wonder Woman title to be a horror book, which, you must admit, qualifies as a path not usually taken by the character. But, as witnessed in this first issue, it’s a take that doesn’t seem to jibe with her. Azzarello’s narrative is swampy and scattershot and mired in pretension; one isn’t sure who’s doing what, who’s speaking at any given moment and what exactly is going on. Yes, in serial fiction answers shouldn’t be doled out too early, but there’s a difference between laying down tantalizing mysteries to hook your readers and being obtuse just for the sake of being obtuse. Sadly, Wonder Woman No. 1 falls into the latter category.
The book’s true weakness lies in the fact that its titular heroine just isn’t in it very much and, when she is, isn’t very interesting. This is a legendary warrior princess sporting fantastic, magical armament — too bad the writer seems to have a disdain for such uniqueness. A first issue of any ongoing serial should grab you from the outset and tell you why you should follow its star. Wonder Woman No. 1 and its generic Diana fail miserably at that.
Heck, even the aborted “Wonder Woman” TV pilot, with Toledo’s Adrianne Palicki, had more going for it than this lackluster offering. This is one fading star who just can’t seem to catch a break or rise to the occasion when she does.

Opponents to Issue 2 are making a series of claims meant to frighten voters into repealing SB5.
One such claim is that it will make emergency equipment and training less readily available. Quoting from the opposition’s website, http://action.weareohio.com/page/s/issue2primer <http://action.weareohio.com/page/s/issue2primer> : “Issue 2 puts all our families’ safety at risk. It makes it harder for emergency responders, police and firefighters to negotiate for critical safety equipment and training that protects us all.”
Since no citation for this claim (or, for that matter, any other claim on that page) is provided, I searched the issue’s text for “equipment” and “training.” Rather than finding any such language as this, I learned that, according to Sec. 4117.08(C), SB5 does not “[impair] the right and responsibility of each public employer” to “(8) Determine the type of equipment used and the sequence of work processes,” and, “(9) Determine the making of technological alterations by revising either process or equipment or both.” More to the point, Sec. 4117.08(F) states, “Notwithstanding division (C) of this section, equipment issues directly related to personal safety are subject to collective bargaining.” So much for the myth that SB5 bans collective bargaining.
As for training, most of the citations involving training of emergency personnel make such training mandatory; see Sec. 505.38 and 505.49. And none in any way support the claim that SB5 makes it harder to negotiate for training.
If you will pardon a double negative, Sec. 4117.08 (B) completely omits equipment and training from the list of subjects that are not, “appropriate subjects for collective bargaining.” In other words: Under SB5, both equipment and training for emergency personnel are subject to collective bargaining; and We are Ohio evidently thinks that making public employers responsible to manage equipment and work processes is a limitation on that process.
But since the opponents mention public safety: Where are their concerns about this when politicians make cuts to emergency services the means of choice in resolving budget deficits that were largely induced by increasingly unaffordable employee benefits and pensions? We are Ohio laughably claims that Issue 2 proponents think “teachers, nurses, firefighters” are to blame for these deficits. The fault clearly lies elsewhere: With politicians, and with the voters.
Politicians are at fault for committing government entities to lavish contracts with growing numbers of present and past employees. If you want to argue this, let’s start with the 23 Chicago labor officials who stand to collect $56 million in city pensions because, under laws crafted in 1991 by politicians, their pensions are based not on wages earned as public employees, but on what their unions pay them as executives.
They are also at fault for fulfilling the oft-quoted but oft-ignored warning from 18th century Scottish historian Alexander Tytler, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.” They accomplish this by pandering to public employees for votes, then rewarding those votes by keeping the largess coming at taxpayer expense.
We, the voters, are at fault for time and again electing people who engage in these practices. If we even bother to vote, we habitually push the button next to a name solely because we recognize it, or it’s followed by the correct party abbreviation, or the power brokers said to, or that person has promised us sufficient goodies to buy our votes; and we ignore to our detriment the record of incompetence, addiction to power and faithlessness to the Constitution that trails so many politicians. Our fault exceeds theirs, because if not for us they would not be in power.
We are Ohio is using Chico Marx’s classic flimflam line: “Who ya gonna believe? Me, or your own eyes?” In the grand style of voter dereliction just described, they expect you to believe their claims solely because they made them. I don’t want you to believe them, or me. Do what I did: Study the bill for yourself and see what it says. SB5′s text is athttp://www.legislature.state.oh.us/BillText129/129_SB_5_EN_N.pdf <http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/BillText129/129_SB_5_EN_N.pdf> and it’s fully searchable.
I am Ohio, and so is every Ohioan who favors Issue 2.

Thomas Berry, for the Children of Liberty, http://www.meetup.com/The-children-of-liberty/ <http://www.meetup.com/The-children-of-liberty/> .

Mobile Deathcamp is a wicked national band from Toledo — a working, touring metal band with a record deal and a new album.
“Clear and Present Anger” officially releases this November on Turkey Vulture Records. To avoid relying wholly on any record label, MDC has been digitally distributing the album via online distributors and mobiledeathcamp.net.
During a recent interview with the band at its practice location, guitarist/vocalist Todd Evans spoke to the addition of drummer Dave Martin.

Mobile Deathcamp

“Dave joined Boe [Skadeland] and me back in April.  We worked with Dave so that he could play 50 minutes of the older songs with us. Once he was caught up we started working on new music,” he said.
According to MDC bassist Skadeland, the music on the new album is “better than the last batch.” With the sophomore slump vanquished, MDC’s new material pounds face.
“We feel that this record captures the energy and spirit of early speed metal,” Evans said.
What’s the difference between this and the last album?
“Well, for starters, we’re eating more Mexican food now that Dave is in the band,” Evans laughed. “But seriously, Dave has ‘punk foot’ and that’s really let us step things up. The new music is definitely more intense than the last.”
With its new “punk foot” drummer, MDC’s new record captures the speed metal sound when it was at a critical crossover point.
“People who like Slayer, Agnostic Front, D.R.I. will like this record. It sounds like speed metal when it first broke, before it was considered thrash metal,” Evans said.
MDC is focusing on one of the hardest things to conquer — its hometown.
“We are always letting people know where we come from. When we go out and tour we’re always wearing something that says ‘Toledo’,” Evans said. “We are just trying to gain mutual support here.”
MDC made sure to include at least one radio-ready single on its new album.
“We covered Thin Lizzy’s ‘Emerald’ on this record,” Skadeland said. “There’s no reason this shouldn’t be all over 104.7 or The Riff. It’s radio-friendly and fits their formats perfectly.”
MDC will resume touring this fall, starting with its record release show slated for early November.
“We are going to start touring again and our goal is to hitch our trailer to another big band’s hitch,” Evans said. “We want to be able to roll into a town like Wichita on a Tuesday night and play for a large crowd.”

Multi-instrumentalist and singer Mike Merritt writes and performs what he calls “indie folk” music. The guitar-and-vocal-focused music he creates is most certainly worthy of notice.
“It’s really just storytelling music,” he said.

Merritt

“I didn’t grow up around this kind of music, I was mostly exposed to progressive rock — Rush, King’s X, King Crimson and things like that,” Merritt said. “Back in the mid-’90s I was living in Tampa, Fla., and my dad came home with a John Prine record. I listened to the record over and over; I basically ended up stealing the record from him.”
Merritt, who sings and plays guitar for the local trio Shitdangmonstertrucks!, said his solo work, dubbed “Wilbur,” is designed to encourage musical exploration.
“Wilbur is just me. I’m always playing the acoustic guitar or dobro. Every time I play as Wilbur I have a different person playing with me. Sometimes I’ll have a horn player or another guitarist, every once in a while I’ll have a bassist with me,” he said. “Each Wilbur show is off the top of my head. The best part is that playing with different people all the time prevents the music from becoming stale. We’re always exploring new music, new genres.”
Merritt’s goal is to capture the transcendental nature of the music he fell in love with.
“The Prine record felt very real; it was tangible,” Merritt said. “It wasn’t someone writing music that only applied to one group of people. It was about everyday occurrences, it wasn’t off limits to anybody.”
Merritt described Wilbur as his “brainchild.”
“I’m working on an album now but I write in spurts,” he said. “I’m trying to piece together about 10 years’ worth of material right now. The album is about halfway complete and I hope to have it finished by the end of this year.”
Wilbur plays at Swig, 219 Louisiana Ave. in Perrysburg, every Tuesday from 6-9 p.m. Merritt’s other band, Shitdangmonstertrucks!, plays The Village Idiot on a regular basis.
“Shitdangmonstertrucks! is just a raunchy blues band,” Merritt said. “I have an engineering degree from UT but I can’t find work. Music is my plan B, and it’s a lot more fun.”

The “It Gets Better Project,” started last year by journalist Dan Savage, is an effort, according to the project’s website, “to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach – if they can just get through their teen years.” The project was launched in the wake of a rash of LGBT youth suicides. With public figures from Justin Bieber to Barack Obama making videos in support of the project, “It Gets Better” has been very visible in the media.

In addition to celebrity videos, “It Gets Better” also encourages LGBT youth to upload their own videos to the Website to encourage other LGBT youth.  Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old from Buffalo, was one of those youth. After being bullied by his schoolmates as he questioned his sexuality, this past May he told his friends that he was bisexual and made a video for the project. The comments his video received were, for the most part, positive.

However, despite the positive comments, despite having supportive parents, and despite seeing a social worker and a therapist, things did not get better for Rodemeyer. One person left a comment on his video saying that he was “stupid, gay, fat [and] ugly” and “he must die.” Another encouraged him to commit suicide, saying “It would make everyone way more happier.” Earlier this month, Rodemeyer posted online that no one at his school “cares about preventing suicide” and no one was listening to his pleas.

On Monday, September 19, Jamey Rodemeyer committed suicide.

Setting aside the question of whether or not life really does get easier for LGBT people after their teenage years – a question increasingly more relevant as cultural conservatives once again attack LGBT rights to fire up their voter base – Rodemeyer’s suicide begs the question of whether or not telling LGBT youth that it gets better is enough.

Although the “It Gets Better Project’s” website includes a “get help” link to a toll-free phone number that LGBT youth can call if they need immediate counseling, the project’s main thrust is in its titular promise that if you’re being bullied at your school because of your sexuality, things will get better later. The problem with this approach, as so many LGBT youth suicides like Rodemeyer’s show, is that promises of things getting better later are simply not enough. These youth need things to get better right away.

The problem of youth suicides linked to bullying is hardly unique to the LGBT community. Last year, Mentor High School, near Cleveland, gained national attention because four of its students committed suicide in a span of just more than two years. All four were victims of bullying for different reasons: Sexual orientation, learning difficulty, ethnicity and simply liking to wear pink clothes.

Even as reports of youth suicide increase, we’re treated to the same worn-out excuses as to why nothing can supposedly be done to correct the problem. Boys will be boys. Girls will be girls. Being bullied “builds character.” The problem with the “It Gets Better” approach is that it feeds into these excuses: “Sorry you’re being bullied, but we can’t do much to help you now. Just wait a few years and things will get better.” Rodemeyer, and other youth suicides, couldn’t wait any longer, and their numbers will continue to grow unless something is done.

The idea that schools can’t do more to stop bullying is ridiculous. If schools can bar students from wearing t-shirts that say “I’m too cute to do homework,” then surely they can do more to stop students from mistreating one another. How can a school think that a few words on a shirt are more “disruptive to the learning environment” than words and actions that lead students to kill themselves? What is more “disruptive to the learning environment” than death?

No one has the right to force another person to think in a certain way. Some young people will always hate other young people because of their sexual orientation, or the color of their skin, or the clothes they wear, or anything else that makes one person different from another. But there is a difference between respecting someone and treating someone with respect, and schools have the right, if not the responsibility, to expect the latter from their students. Putting stricter rules in place to stop students from harassing, intimidating and otherwise bullying one another is not too much to ask, and if schools will not address this problem seriously, then parents need to pressure the schools to change before their children are the next ones in the news.

It is not enough to tell bullying victims that their lives will get better. We need to do all we can to make things better for them, and we need to do it now.

“Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.” ~Author Unknown

Dear Lauri,
I have had several dreams in the last year where I am lost. For example, I was in my church where I have gone since I was a little girl and can’t find my way out. When I finally do come out I cannot find my vehicle.   – Amanda 30, Decatur, IN

Lauri: Losing your car or discovering that your car has been stolen is actually a pretty common dream theme, so common in fact that you are the third person who reported having that dream to me today!  Your car represents your drive and motivation to continue to move forward in some area. Less often your car can represent a direction you are headed in. To lose it may mean you are losing your motivation or are feeling directionless and just don’t know how to proceed. In addition, being lost in a dream means something in waking life is causing you to feel directionless and/or uncertain as to what to do. So you’ve got yourself a double whammy of uncertainty here in your dream. However, the church setting is a friendly suggestion you are sending yourself not to lose faith right now.

Amanda replies: Wow. You hit the nail on the head. I can’t find a job so I get discouraged…  a lot. I worry I’ll never get back on my feet again and won’t be able to provide for kids. Thank you.

Fascinating Sleep Fact: Researchers from the University of Cincinnati surveyed 200 college-aged students who did not live at home. It found that 55% reported sleeping less than seven hours per night. Nearly all participants worked a full or part time job, and among the reasons given for lost sleep were financial concerns.

-Lauri Quinn Loewenberg
Dream Expert and Author
“The brain is wider than the sky.” – Emily Dickinson
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