The rumor mill
Does the half fact, half rumor and half wild speculation ever end?
I dragged my wife to the last performance of the Trans Siberian Orchestra 2009 concert tour. Jiminy Christmas! I’ve never seen so many stage lights, lasers, light curtains and flame throwers so amazingly choreographed to the music. On occasion I could even see one of the band members on the stage through the haze. My wife was worn out after the first tune but TSO didn’t get to Wizards in Winter until two hours later. They say you can never get too much of a good thing. Idunno. My overly large ears are still hurting from that in-your-face sound system. I loved the concert (far more than the wife) but I never have to experience another.
We don’t watch much TV at the North Pole. Comcast can’t figure out where to drag the cable. Santa sometimes works his magic so we can watch important shows. Thank goodness the screen finally came into focus so we could watch the Super Bowl halftime show with the Who. Whatever technology they used to create the light show around that stage had way too many budding elves plotting and planning the same for their next Christmas display. Will the next Super Bowl be at your house???
Light-O-Rama faithful got quite keyed up over the web deals available during the annual February clear-out-the-warehouse sale. The online store opened at midnight and some items were sold out eight minutes later. Seems buyers were pre-stuffing on-line forms so the checkout process would be ultra-fast. All this happened ten months before Christmas. That’s planning ahead! Wish I could have ordered Pet Rocks over the Internet back when they were popular and I wanted one soooo bad.
The rumor mill has kicked into high gear as people emerge from a long and cold winter. Speculation is rampant about something called S3. There’s even talk about a real honest-to-goodness LOR dealer network coming into existence. Then there’s the recent spotting of some of the LED based Christmas light strings heading for our shores. Brighter lights, weirder colors and some might even dim reliably when under computer control. Pricing is up in the air because Chile ships a lot of copper around the world and their recent earthquake has disrupted the supply. We need more copper! There’s also talk of a general LED shortage because Americans are buying too many big screen TVs. I’m dreaming of a TV screen bigger than me. The wife is thinking of a pink lit, energy efficient tree this year.
Just when you thought fancy light displays were only for the Christmas season, Worlds of Fun theme park in Kansas City is getting ready for something called Snoopy’s Hot Summer Nights. Two million lights with plenty of Charlie Brown themed displays. The big reveal is in a couple of months but they can’t find enough LED light strings. Doesn’t matter. I really like the trend. Over-the-top light displays in the middle and end of every year is just what the doctor ordered. Thank you Santa!\So much more to say but no more room. Don’t worry. I’ll be back! From all of us at Santa’s Workshop: Merry Christmas! P.S. What’s going on at www.gotoPLUS.com?
This article was included in the March 2010 issue of PlanetChristmas Magazine.
By Master Elf N. B. Scuttlebutt