Theme parks as viewed from outer space. Look up and wave for the camera!

(DANNY ADDS: Here is The Oaks Amusement Park.)

I don't remember the attribution, but someone once said the Sex Pistols proved that while anyone can be in a rock band, not everyone should. I now feel that way about podcasts. Anyone can have a radio show, but do I really have to listen to people who swipe their format from the kind of programming that I hate, just because the topic of the show is in my area of interest?

Yeah, I guess I do. In the Loop is a weekly podcast of amusement park news and rumors, presented an odious FM Morning Zoo format. It's got ostensibly hip background music, segments introduced by feminine robot voices, and a pair of irksome wannabe mook hosts whose banter makes me want to reach through the internet to strangle them. It's frustrating that given a chance to live up to Item 15 of the Rozz-Tox Manifesto ("Law: If you want better media, go make it."), the best show amusement park fandom could come up with is a mirror of one of the dopiest radio formats ever. Its as if they did a roller coaster zine and tried to make it look like Maxim. Bleugh.

And as for topicality... Their "Man on the Midway" question this week was "What can you do about line jumpers?" (What is this, an elementary school cafeteria? The answer, by the way, seems to be "Tattle".)

Much to my dismay, I'll listen every week to get the latest dope, but with my sensibility honed by years of BBC Radio 4 and NPR, I damn sure won't enjoy it.

Here is a shot of the most vulgar officially-licensed Mickey Mouse t-shirt EVER:



The great thing about it is, as I look down on my chest, I see it upside-down, which is even worse...