Two minds
I am both horrified, and desperately want to sail on her maiden voyage.
Perhaps a three hour tour...
A three hour tour.
A proposed Chinese theme park has started to build a full-sized replica of the Titanic so tourists can experience over and over again the moment which led to the deaths of 1,500 people – a project endorsed by New Labour minister Peter Mandelson. Construction of the ship began on Wednesday with celebratory fireworks to mark the …
Just wait till they start on the Chernobyl theme park...
Fukushima is more fun. You can also generate the Tsunami on the same lake as the Titanic. One usually ends up glowing after a dose of Chinese river water anyway, so the "glow in the dark" part of the design should not be very difficult.
Some guy in NYC who had the trademark for clothing with Titanic and RMS Titanic tried to sue the studio when the movie premiered, claiming he owns the trademark on all uses of the name, but the case was thrown out of court. I don't think the Chinese have anything to worry about here.
Cunard bought White Star Lines, so presumably they would have purchased any trademark on the name for a ship, but I doubt they were able to (or wanted to) show continued use or would have bothered to file and pay the fees to keep it active even if they had continued to use it in some small way.
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Chinese entrepreneurs have copied entire European towns in an attempt to attract tourists. However, sales have been somewhat lower than expected.
http://business.financialpost.com/business-insider/11-cities-that-china-ripped-off-from-the-rest-of-the-world
Rick and Morty, Season 1 Episode 11 - In the "B" plot of the episode, Jerry and Beth go to a Titanic themed attraction with a full-size replica of said boat designed to recreate the famous events of 1912. However despite repeated assurances that the ship is un-unsinkable, everything goes wrong and the Titanic spectacularly fails to hit the iceberg much to the disappointment of all aboard.
For those who haven't seen it, Rick and Morty resembles what you would get if you put Hitchiker's Guide, Futurama, and Family Guy in a blender and poured it over Back to The Future - if Doc Brown was a barely functioning alcoholic. In other words, it is brilliant.
The Simpsons featured a Rick and Morty-themed couch gag, the longest they've ever done - it's effectively a 2.30 minute episode of Rick of Morty. Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ecYoSvGO60
"The Spanish Inquisition..."
Now wait just a cotton-picking minute... throw in some sufficiently scantily-clad... uhhh... inquisitresses and I guarantee business will be booming (what do you mean latex is not period-appropriate?!? YES IT IS! Burn the heretic!!!)...
I don't mind this as far as it being Chinese, it was of course a seminal event in naval safety and a lot of people died - it's hugely important to learn lessons.
My thing is what would the Chinese think if we built a Tiananmen Square theme park complete with tanks running over protestors - an event they not only haven't learned from but spend a lot of their time obfuscating the memory of.
That's what I thought.
Maybe a theme park where visitors play Chinese people not in "the party" trying to stand for election.
Titanic we know why and how it happened and a whole raft of safety and legal standards emanated from it; a kid's theme park might not really be appropriate but I do like the idea that the Chinese acknowledge that when people don't really give a damn about safety other people die.
This sounds totally tasteless, especially if that bastion of good taste (not), Mandelson is endorsing it. Have they no regard for the number of people that were lost in the sinking? Should be boycotted or stopped immediately.
"A simulation of the iceberg collision" ? They must be joking. If that isn't in the worst possible taste, I don't know what is.
Let's just hope Mandelson is on it's maiden voyage and it really sinkswith him playing captain.
If the Chinese fancy reenacting the Donner Party, they could go for a two for one and do the '72 Andes plane crash on alternate days....
They could ask Mandelson to come for dinner.
"This sounds totally tasteless,"
Like a musical based on the French revolution?
Or a slapstick comedy?
Why am I the only one here who thought the key point in this is Peter Mandelson?
I really want to know how much the Chinese company paid him to fly over and try to sell this awful idea.
I know the UK doesn't have a monopoly on creepy ex-politicians, but boy you have some doozies.
Obligatory "The Onion" link - World's Largest Metaphor hits Ice-Berg.
Hmm. The theme park I'd really like to be built would be SommeWorld (from Jasper Fforde's books set in alternate-reality Swindon).
"...suggesting that the Titanic replica will be capable of putting to sea. While this almost certainly will not be under her own power [...] she will certainly float and be capable of being taken under tow."
Well, I'm not an expert, but I'd say that "putting to sea" does require a little more than just floating.
Interesting factoid the Titanic was about the same size as a 'Typhoon' class submarine. So the mechanics required to make it sink & surface reliably by itself are well understood. Though why they are going to so much trouble is a mystery. Coupled with comments about it being seaworthy (albeit under tow) however is really tweaking my paranoia. An extra bulkhead here, a change to the superstructure there and you have a submersible weapons platform large enough to pop up and launch a few aircraft from. Way cheaper than nuclear powered options, difficult to hit with anti-ship missiles and almost impossible to find when it's sat waiting on the ocean floor. Ideal for maritime defence of scattered outposts in the disputed south china sea theatre.
Mines the one with the microfilm in the pocket
Not unbelievable that Mandelson would promote it at all. I'm desperately hoping you implied it was unbelievable for comic effect
If that meant him transferring a hefty wedge of cash he would be there ASAP
No morals Mandy, the only consistent thing about his behavior is "what's in it for me?"
Re: What are they thinking of?
1500 doesn't sound all that much.
Don't forget that this a country whose political leader said he would be willing to kill 1,000,000 if necessary to put down the Tiananmen Square protest. So, 1,500 per sinking gives them about 667 sinkings before they need to become more willing to add a few more to the total.
Since we are mocking the deaths and suffering of thousands of people in an extreme show of poor taste, add a bit of.. er... flaff to the Tour:
- Add two glass towers that can be repeatedly hit by two 767's and repeatedly "demolished" in a carefully built underground pit;
- Add a whole parked fleet of destroyers and cruisers and other naval vessels that can be hit by authentic WWII-era airplanes carrying torpedoes and bombs, just on the opposite bank of the same river;
- Add an hydrogen-filled dirigible that can be repeatedly ignited, burned, crashed, and re-raised to your pyromaniac's content.
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For fuck's sake. This has to break the record in the stupid and senseless category.