Mainlining Christmas

Seattle Center is all lit up for the holidays, so we took a few pictures. Sponsored, as you can see, by T-Mobile. Here's another picture of some of that view: That is a radio or cell tower that's all lit up in the center, and it's actually pretty far away from where I was standing. We went indoors for a bit, and found some more decorations and a model train. (see separate post on that) Sort of cute snowman with freaky-looking deer. Back outside. Erin walked down to play in the projections. The fountain was still running in the dark, and still blaring music from the 90's.

Black Friday's Eve is about tradition, something we at Mainlining Christmas hold in the deepest reverence. Our night began with a feast, of course, since we'd need energy for what comes next. Once we'd built up a healthy layer of fat, Lindsay and I set out into the cold to celebrate the holiday and kick off the holiday season. We could think of no better place to start than Walmart, that bastion of holiday cheer and stalwart shrine to American culture. We arrived around 10:30 PM Thursday and found a parking space, no small feat on this night, as you can see above. The lights in the parking lot shone off the cars and SUV's like decorations. We made our way through the near-winter wonderland of vehicles and reached the front, where a handful of police cars were lined up to help maintain order. The line of eager shoppers wrapped around the store. There were families of all shapes and sizes, many with young children, there to enjoy the festivities,

I wasn't overly impressed with the Macy's Window Displays this year, although the elf-like marionettes photographed fairly well. The cover story about what all these fellows are doing is something rather thin about magical ornaments. I found it particularly crass that the windows are anchored at most corners with ornaments labeled with whatever celebrity contributed them to the display. Don't misunderstand, the marionettes are pretty. At the last window, there are touch screens, encouraging people to make their own digital ornament and/or contribute to the Make a Wish Foundation. At least, I think that's what the window is. I couldn't actually tell from where I stood:

One of my very favorite holiday displays in the city is the light-up stars at Columbus Circle. This set-up is in the atrium of the shops that take up the first three floors of the Time Warner Center.  The stars themselves are impressive constructions of frosted plastic, metal and electronics. They are each fourteen feet tall, and are suspended from the ceiling by heavy cables. Each panel can light up different colors, the edges have more tiny LEDs, and there are bulbs that can throw out a flash or strobe at the tip of each point.  Through most of the day, the stars gently shift in color every minute or two. In the evening, it's a bit different. See below for more pictures, and video. I think the effect has been better in years past; it's more suited to orchestral work than jazz, but it's still pretty impressive.

The best part of checking out window displays in New York is usually the windows at Bergdorf Goodman. This year I took a few more pictures, but I still didn't get everything. On one side of the building, everything was horses. Then you round the corner, and there are a few long skinny windows: The main windows, this year, are titled "Carnival of the Animals". Each window has a different color theme, and a different material. The first window was all brass metals: The second window, white, done up in fur and crystal: There was a tiny window near the door that held, well, this: The third big window was blue, and all done with mosaic tile: The fourth window was black and white, and all the animals there were made of paper! The fifth was brown, and all of wood.  From across the street you can see the effect of the colors: If you keep going around the third side