Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/24/epic-halloween-light-and-music.html
…
My heart goes out to whoever lives across the street.
I’m stunned at the maximum of technology, with the minimum of artistry.
It’s really curious how Halloween has come to be celebrated in such an elaborate manner.
i now officially hate these.
Oh good, I was afraid I was going to be the curmudgeon.
Better light shows within a few minutes of searching:
You could really do something elegant and graceful with those turreted lights at the top, but they were hardly used at all.
I like that the pumpkins actually blink at times.
and this “Oo” made me laugh.
I know I’m a boring old man, but why the fuck does Halloween have to become Christmas? Is this Tim Burton’s fault? Have we reached some kind of threshold or other, where all holidays are going to start turning into Christmas? Is there a legitimate reason that we should be having a war on Christmas? Like… we are trying to stave off the holiday version of kudzu?
Aside from that, yeah. Neat.
Have you ever seen a house dolled up like this, and the owner wasn’t retired? The reason is grandparents. They think the grandchildren like this mess. (Oh God, my ex-MIL!)
But… This is this guys business now. You don’t have to be retired anymore. You just have to hire this guy, or any of the others that start popping up if he’s successful. For that shit, you can’t be retired; you will need a job to pay for it.
Add to that, for them to stay in business they are going to have to start building out packages for more holidays; 4th of July, Arbor Day… Thanksgiving with the joyous sounds of “gobble gobble” ringing through the neighborhood.
The only saving grace is that someone, some day, may create one for Easter that has an animated light figure of Jesus, rolling away an animated light boulder, and emerging to the tunes of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” mashed up with the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive”.
Yes, I believe we should. There are TV and radio stations playing Christmas music and movies at the beginning of October. It’s becoming more difficult to avoid what we call Christmas creep, and enjoy the holiday for 12 days. What really ticks me off every year is that these “can’t start too early” celebrators turn everything off/throw everything out on New Year’s Day. Those who celebrate until the Epiphany don’t appreciate the early ending, either.
Think about when you were a schoolchild, how many different videogame characters there were, how many disney princesses, how many horror flicks. Now think about today. Even if you’re a relatively young adult, kids have hundreds upon hundreds more different monsters they can act out. Halloween today is awesome and spectacular while Christmas is the same stale bread from last year. Yes there is comfort in tradition, but there is excitement in funky fresh.
When I was a schoolchild we had three channels if we were lucky and the clouds were kind that we watched on our 8-inch color TV, cartoons only on Saturday mornings, and no videogames, much less videogames with characters, to speak of. Unless you favored the paddles or the square ball in Pong. Which I only got to play at Sears.
I’m not saying that Halloween shouldn’t be celebrated. I’m just saying that it doesn’t need to be celebrated like it’s g-d Christmas.
I don’t see how having what is essentially a Christmas light display “themed” for Halloween can be called “funky fresh”.
What’s next? Halloween gifts that you put under the Halloween tree, and unwrap Halloween morning? Oh yeah!
ok, I think I see what you’re saying. What need does a holiday as great as Halloween have to copy other holiday traditions? No one tries dressing up to go door-to-door asking for cookies (lest they play a trick) on xmas. There are no carving of gourds on December either.
The Halloween tree is a little extreme. If you don’t like xmas for what it is no one’s forcing you to celebrate (as long as you don’t leave the house or consume radio/tv programming).
For me, the problem isn’t celebration. It’s rampant consumerism. They had Christmas advent calendars for sale in King Soopers (a local grocery store) as early as October 1st. At least that was the day that I saw them.
I don’t like Christmas extending its tendrils beyond the month of its celebration. And I know that it’s happening because enough people want it, and the people that make the money are happy to oblige.
So, instead of locking myself away like a hermit to later emerge after the new year, I will just keep complaining about it.
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