That giant fluttering sound you heard last month was the sound of 600 million American eyelids opening at once. Such was the reaction to Mike Wallace’s report on 60 Minutes highlighting a study from Leicester University in Leicester, England about happiness. The study reported that Denmark was the happiest country in the world. In fact, it has ranked first in Eurobarometer surveys for the last 30 years.
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You’re in a nightclub on a Saturday night, you’ve had a drink or two, the DJ is spinning wicked live, and the most incredible guy/girl in the place walks up, and stands at the bar next to you. You (A) lean over and softly say, “Hey babe, are you tired? You’ve been running through my dreams all night.” (B) put on your sexy voice dripping with suggestiveness and ask if you can buy him/her a drink, or (C) don’t notice because you’re too busy watching the light show.
Read More »If you've read enough of my jargon, you realize I'm a big believer in "giving something back". In other words, for years people have spent their time teaching me my craft. So now I spend time teaching others the same thing. But this morning I had something cool given to me.
Scenic designer Michael Hotopp and his creative partner/scenic designer Bill Hoffman have worked together for two decades on myriad productions — touring theatre shows, trade shows, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular — but nothing could have prepared them for working during the last eight years on ice sculpture installations as part of the Ice series for the Gaylord Hotels. Working on Christmas-based themes, they have created walk-through attractions that depict famous holiday characters and events, but this past year they got a real treat — designing the Ice! How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
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Every year I design the set and lighting for a traveling rock show called “A Taste of Chaos”. Ten bands will perform on 2 stages every night. Each year I take a few young kids and try to school them in the art of setting up and lighting a rock show. Some pass with flying colors while others flounder miserably.
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When Kevin Mitchell of Sugar Society booked the legendary Rabbit in the Moon at Amos’ Southend, his ace up his sleeve was Jack Kelly of Eye Dialogue, who had four years of experience doing shows at the Charlotte, NC music hall. He handed Kelly the tour rider and asked if he could light it for $4,000.
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As an automated lighting programmer, I am often tasked with helping to automate the playback of a production. There are several approaches that are used in our industry for various types of automated lighting playback. There are also times when the lighting console needs to trigger other de-vices to ensure that the production is synchronized by the lighting console. Whether using MIDI, MIDI Show Control, Timecode, analog signals, or other custom triggers, it is important to understand the choices and how to use them.
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Amid a growing field of computer-based lighting pre-visualization systems, lighting designer Charles Kirby and his company have been busy building and improving on a more organic and interactive method of modeling light. By taking advantage of today’s fiber-optic and LED technologies, Thematics is giving designers — and students of the craft — a way to build fully-operational scale models of their lighting designs.
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Martin Professional understands at least one thing about this industry — it thrives on new products. To that end, the company released a plethora of new products late last year, one of which is a new fixture designed for permanent installations as well as small clubs and theatres. This sleek, small product takes the original Mini MAC to a much higher level.
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“Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity.” – Nikola Tesla
Read More »A C-17 Globemaster III cargo jet is a very big aircraft. With a maximum payload of over 85 tons, the U.S, Air Force uses this aircraft to move anything from troops to the 70-ton M1 Abrams tank.
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BUSINESS
Who: Michael Cannon, CEO, 4Wall Entertainment Lighting
What: Rentals, sales, installation and design of entertainment lighting
When: Founded in 1999 with partner Bill Lairamore
Where: HQ in Las Vegas with locations in New York and Phoenix
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