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Boston Major eSports Tournament

ECLPS provided a lighting and video assist at the Wang Theatre within Boston’s Boch Center. Photos by Michael Sparks Keegan

Boston Major eSports Tournament

December saw eSports come to Boston in a big way when the Wang Theatre at the Boch Center hosted the Boston Major tournament. The competition for Valve Corporation’s multiplayer online battle arena Dota 2 video game took place Dec. 7-10. Along with the live audience in the theatre, the four days—with up to 12 hours a day play—was followed globally via the video game live-streaming platform Twitch.tv and through a variety of international television outlets including ESPN in the U.S.

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Bah Humb(ugh)

Now that the madness of the holidays are all behind us, I have a confession to make. I can’t stand the holiday season. It’s not that I’m “anti” anything; I just get really annoyed by many aspects of it all. From the commercialism to the fake sort of “have a wonderful season” (spending everything you make on stuff), to the endless amounts of zero time to get anything accomplished — it makes me crazy. On top of the guilt of having to work endless gigs to make it all affordable and then not being there for the fun stuff because of said gigs. Ugh. Bah Humb-ugh.

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XS Nightclub in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy Stephen Lieberman

Three LDs, One Common Denominator

Madrix is for those who are short on time and budget, but long on creativity.

The LED lighting controller software Madrix is based on “user friendliness, productivity, and ease of use.” In discussing recent projects by notable LDs who are using the program, it appears those goals are more than being met.

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The mirror moves the beam

Blizzard Lighting Turbo Scan

LDI 2016 was populated by many memorable displays and booths, not the least eye-catching of which was a giant (playable) Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots display built by Blizzard Lighting and ModTruss. The Wisconsin-based company has been involved in the lighting industry since 2010, when they sold their first fixture, the Flurry.

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Elation Fuze Wash Z120

Elation Fuze Series

In this modern day of pixilation, it’s become so commonplace for the new par fixtures to act like eye candy as opposed to emulating the look of a gelled par 64. While there is nothing particularly wrong with the look of an LED wash light with many cells on its face, some designers as well as artists prefer the look of the older pars and moving wash fixtures of yore. This is where Elation’s series of Fuze fixtures comes in. They have a lens system that turns this line of RGBW COB wash fixtures into one homogenous beam.

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15 Years of Change

December 2001 marked the first article I wrote for my “Feeding the Machines” column. As I write this article 15 years later, I am thinking about how much our industry has changed, yet also stayed the same. The most popular console brand back then was different and LEDs were used as indicators, not sources. Many of the programming processes and procedures have not changed, though. I still find myself using much of the same syntax and methodology to create looks as I did long ago. It is amazing to look back and see what has changed and what has remained the same.

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WBD once again lit London’s Shard. Photo courtesy The Shard.

The Festive Season of Light

Across the skyline, as dusk settled in, a dynamic beacon of light sparkled, shimmered, beamed and beckoned from atop the London landmark The Shard. Woodroffe Bassett Design created the holiday lighting installation for the second year in a row, illuminating the Shard’s spire, the highest 13 levels of the 95-story building, for the festive season. The Shard, at 309.6 meters (1,016 feet) in height, is the tallest building in the U.K.

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