YouTube Stars!

You know him, you love him, he's KwaiChi! One of the Good Guys in the YouTube community, Kwai has been making videos on YouTube almost from Day One. Always looking to do something positive, Kwai was a leader in the Anti-Racism Collaboration and raised money for the Red Nose Day charity. I won the charity auction for the T-Shirt Kwai has on in this video! Lately, Kwai is doing product reviews, like this recent excellent vid about the Nintendo Wii Fit. He's busy, but he found the time to write this Guest Post for us, about Rollercoasters!

But first, The News!

There's a lot going on at YouTube lately!

Fred, played by teen Lucas Cruikshank of Nebraska, was the first YouTube Channel to have One Million Subscribers! I remember a few years back when Lucas contacted me to ask if I would check out his JKL Productions channel, where Fred was created. Things have certainly gone well for Lucas and we at YouTubeStars congratulate him on his huge success!

YouTube continues to partner with large corporations to help pay the huge storage and bandwidth bills it incurs daily. There is now a Shows link at the top of every page, which brings you to a part of YouTube that looks a lot like Hulu! Go check out an old episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" or "Charlie's Angels!" Read more at this Wired blog post.

Just when you thought everyone in the world has visited YouTube, new people pour in again. Already one of the most watched YouTube clips of all time, the recently posted clips (there are many duplicates) of 47-year-old UK singer Susan Boyle auditioning for "Britain's Got Talent" went viral in just days. If you haven't seen this clip, click here to see what everyone is talking about!


And now, KwaiChi's post on Rollercoasters!


THE BEST ROLLERCOASTER IN THE WORLD

Expedition GeForce in Holiday Park, Germany has been voted the best rollercoaster by readers of coastergrotto.com. Oddly I have been on this ride loads of times and although it's fun, it's not a massive thrill in my humble opinion. Here are some geeky statistics:

Type: Steel Junior Hyper
Status: Operating since 2001
Designer: Intamin
Features: Elevator Cable Lift, Terrain
Height: 188 feet
Max Drop: 180 feet
Max Speed: 74 mph
Length: 4003 feet

The video below is a front rider point if view taken by Dutch theme park enthusiast turolaaf:




THE LARGEST DROP ON A ROLLERCOASTER IN THE WORLD

The largest drop in the world weighing in with a 418ft drop and 2nd fastest ride in the world is simply jaw dropping (that's if your jaw could drop on this ride). Once the top of all the ratings, reviews and record books, the Kingda Ka is a hard one to beat when it comes to the ultimate rollercoaster thrill. Here are the geeky stats:

Current Name: Kingda Ka
Location: Six Flags Great Adventure
Type: Steel Rocket
Status: Operating since 2005
Designer: Intamin
Features: Dual Station, Hydraulic Launch, Vertical
Height: 456 feet
Max Drop: 418 feet
Max Speed: 128 mph
Length: 3118 feet
Comments: This ride goes from 0-128 mph in just 3.5 seconds and lasts just 30 seconds!

Locals of the theme park Frank & Clarilyn posted this and many other rides on their Six Flags Great Adventure channel sixflgs15:




THE FASTEST ROLLERCOASTER IN THE WORLD

This year launches a brand new ride which will also be the fastest in the world boosting passengers at an astonishing 135mph! Based at Nürburgring, home of the famous public racetrack, the ring°racer will be their first theme park style ride to compliment the other attractions available on or around the race track. Even the ride cars will be shaped like race cars! Here are the stats:

Type: Steel Air-thrust
Status: Under Construction opening 2009
Designer: S&S Power
Features: Air Powered Launch
Height:
Max Drop: 0 feet
Max Speed: 135 mph
Length: 3960 feet
Trivia: This ride goes from 0 - 134.8 mph in just 2.5 seconds.

As no one has yet had a ride on this yet, there is a youtuber who goes under the name CoasterAnimation who mocks up the conceptial animations for some of the theme park ride designers.





THE LONGEST ROLLERCOASTER IN THE WORLD

The longest ride in the world by a long distance is the Steel Dragon 2000 located in Nagashima Spa Land, Japan. Here are the stats:

Type: Steel Giga
Status: Operating since 2000
Designer: Morgan
Features: 2 Tunnels
Height: 318 feet
Max Drop: 307 feet
Max Speed: 95 mph
Length: 8133 feet
Trivia: The ride was closed between 8/23/2003 and 9/2/2006 as a result on an accident.

Theme park reviewers Robb & Elissa Alvey have been roller coaster and theme park "enthusiasts" for over 20 years. They have traveled the globe to experience the thrills of over 1,500 different roller coasters.

Together they have spent 16 years working in the theme park industry and they have been featured on theme park documentaries for Discovery Channel. They posted this front cart point of view video of the Stteel Dragon 2000 on their robbalvey youtube site.





My thanks go to all the brave people who had the guts to hold on to their cameras, hold them steady and share the best rides with us all. I gave it a go a couple of years back and here is my favourite ride in the world located in Alton Towers, England. It's not the tallest, it's not the fastest and it's not the longest, but it is Oblivion!

Labels: Boyle, fred, kwaichi, News, rollercoasters, Susan, Talent

posted by KennyCrane at 4/21/2009 12:41:00 AM 0 Comments

We have had a great response to our call for Guest Writers! We still have room for a few more writers, but apply only if you have an active YouTube channel. Send requests for information about writing for us to "Kenny".

Here's a review of American Idol related videos, by Jennifer Arthur.


It's no secret that American Idol is America's top rated TV show. We all seem to love the concept of finding the hidden talent of "the next rising star," whether it comes from your favorite bartender, your child's first grade teacher, or the kid who bags groceries at your local supermarket.

While outstanding numbers prove that Idol as entertainment is a success, what about the lives of contestants after the show ends? What becomes of the winner, the runner-up, or the underdog who was most loved by the fans? As a long-time fan of American Idol, I headed to YouTube to find my four favorite music videos by Idol Alums.

Yeah, I admit, I'm a Clay Aiken fan. And I still get a thrill every time I hear the first few notes of Invisible on the radio. As much as they try to hype it, no other season ever has come close to the excitement of Season 2. There was something so thrilling about watching the premiere of Clay's first video on TRL. His phenomenal record sales led to a series of fun and mostly sold-out tours, and he just finished a run on Broadway's Spamalot as Sir Robin. I'll definitely be watching to see what is next for Clay. Until then, catch Clay singing his first hit live in his hometown of Raleigh, NC:



Another Idol star is Kelly Clarkson. She's found huge success on the radio with several number one hits. However, my favorite remains Miss Independent. There's nothing like hearing the thumping bass and cranking up the volume to sing at the top of your lungs. When I found out that Kelly's first non-AI song had been written by Christina Aguilera, I knew it was going to be a great fit—and a huge hit.



Of course, I can't neglect country sensation Carrie Underwood. Admit girls, we've all seen this video, turned up, sang along, and danced our hearts out to Before He Cheats. It's what the song was written for! You couldn't turn on a country or pop radio station a year ago without hearing this anthem for wronged and empowered females everywhere, and Carrie's success post-AI continues to build. She's a country star who has crossed over to pop, and will no doubt continue to crank out hits.



Finally, I have to mention last year's sensitive rocker, David Cook. In his video, Come Back to Me, he proves that he has the talent as a musician and singer to carry on a career after his Idol win. With his gravely rocker's voice that still manages to hit the glory notes, David is the perfect example of the reason we can't get enough of American Idol. Most of us like to know that our favorite radio and video stars can actually sing, as opposed to having their latest hit manufactured in a studio. As long as contestants like David, along with those like Clay, Kelly, and Carrie continue to appear, we'll be watching Idol for years to come.

Labels: Aiken, American, Carrie, Clarkson, Clay, cook, David, Idol, Kelly, Underwood

posted by KennyCrane at 4/18/2009 03:21:00 AM 0 Comments