WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THE CN TOWER??!?
Jul. 20th, 2007 01:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frandroidFrom the height of our 20th floor apartment, in spite of the new condo tower they're building right in front of me, I can see the CN Tower when I lean to my left. If you didn't know, the CN tower has changed its lighting: instead of projectors on the ground beaming white light on it, it is now covered with a ton of LEDs.
What would have been a sensible thing to do would have been to use the LEDs just to replace the ground lighting with white LEDs and save a lot of electricity. Instead, they installed a programmable, multicoloured matrix that allows for complex lighting. Now, this would be interesting if:
1) LED lights were available in an interesting palette of colours, and
2) these guys knew what they were doing.
Of course, LED technology is still limited, and you get these weird, cold colours. If you have paid any attention to the new LED christmas lighting, esp. side by side with the traditional incandescent technology, you will have noticed that LED lighting, while potentially brighter, is also much colder. Some people like this, but I find it atrocious. White LEDs are actually kinda grey, and the blue LEDs remind me of cold metal, which is not something I associate with the holiday season (except for "yes, sticking your tongue on the freezing shovel is a good idea!"). I mean, I love the 90% energy consumption decrease, and have replaced my own "festive" lightbulbs with LEDs. But they are somewhat lacking anyway.
So, they stuck probably a million LEDs or something on the CN Tower, and what do they do with them? Most of the time, the tower is a pink shade of red. It makes the tower look like a space outpost on Star Trek: TNG on an episode where the SFX team was having its Christmas party and they let the interns take care of the work. I mean, the CN Tower already looks like spacecraft, but this lighting makes matters worse. It looks like a giant popsicle. Now, do you want your city's nightscape to be dominated by a giant popsicle? TheSkydomeRogers Centre has already started being illuminated by an awful set of colours, but that building is hidden from me by another apartment tower, so it doesn't irritate me as often as the CN Tower does.
So, that was the situation so far. But as I bid F good night on the stroke of midnight, I actually looked outside, and the tower was throbbing with red and green light. It was spectacularly ugly. It looked like a sea anemone, but anemones actually look good: this was nasty. The light show came back on around 1am, so I guess it happens every hour. I wish it was some sort of ride at the CNE or something, and that it would go next week. But we're stuck with this thing now. Check it out, tell me that you aren't stunned...
What would have been a sensible thing to do would have been to use the LEDs just to replace the ground lighting with white LEDs and save a lot of electricity. Instead, they installed a programmable, multicoloured matrix that allows for complex lighting. Now, this would be interesting if:
1) LED lights were available in an interesting palette of colours, and
2) these guys knew what they were doing.
Of course, LED technology is still limited, and you get these weird, cold colours. If you have paid any attention to the new LED christmas lighting, esp. side by side with the traditional incandescent technology, you will have noticed that LED lighting, while potentially brighter, is also much colder. Some people like this, but I find it atrocious. White LEDs are actually kinda grey, and the blue LEDs remind me of cold metal, which is not something I associate with the holiday season (except for "yes, sticking your tongue on the freezing shovel is a good idea!"). I mean, I love the 90% energy consumption decrease, and have replaced my own "festive" lightbulbs with LEDs. But they are somewhat lacking anyway.
So, they stuck probably a million LEDs or something on the CN Tower, and what do they do with them? Most of the time, the tower is a pink shade of red. It makes the tower look like a space outpost on Star Trek: TNG on an episode where the SFX team was having its Christmas party and they let the interns take care of the work. I mean, the CN Tower already looks like spacecraft, but this lighting makes matters worse. It looks like a giant popsicle. Now, do you want your city's nightscape to be dominated by a giant popsicle? The
So, that was the situation so far. But as I bid F good night on the stroke of midnight, I actually looked outside, and the tower was throbbing with red and green light. It was spectacularly ugly. It looked like a sea anemone, but anemones actually look good: this was nasty. The light show came back on around 1am, so I guess it happens every hour. I wish it was some sort of ride at the CNE or something, and that it would go next week. But we're stuck with this thing now. Check it out, tell me that you aren't stunned...
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-20 05:49 am (UTC)Jesus, yes it scared the fuck out of me the first time I saw it, and then it still catches me off guard sometimes. It's like the ET's have landed.
IN YOUR FACE- VEGAS!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-20 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-20 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-20 06:12 am (UTC)Toronto has always been a classy city.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-20 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-20 08:23 pm (UTC)I guess it was CN's idea.. They would of had to of had some permission from government. Not sure who had the idea.
:/
no subject
Date: 2007-07-20 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-20 08:55 pm (UTC)I dunno dude, you gotta think there's more problems with the TTC than throwing money at it can fix, unfortunately. as every time I've seen them get funding they give subway station updated colour schemes, or make those hideous less-functional new bus shelters.
The TTC needs something though, that much is for sure.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 05:23 am (UTC)As for the Stubway, it's built now, might as well use it... It's already encouraged high-density development around there, we need more of that.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 05:19 am (UTC)Raise their bloody taxes, is what I say. We all pay taxes through our rents yet a whole bunch of low-income people are going to bear the brunt of the probable rate increase? Bollocks.
We need catapults to "upload" provincial service costs back to Queen's Park...
no subject
Date: 2007-07-20 08:29 pm (UTC)That's a lot of bang for the energy buck.. If there's one thing good about it (other than laughting at it).
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 05:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 05:19 am (UTC)They could just turn some of it off, or down.. I might them expect to do as much in due time.
Oh, also the system they had in the 80's used 60% more enegry... must of been fluorescent.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 05:21 am (UTC)It sure draws more attention, but to what purpose? People aren't coming more to Toronto, and I'm going to spend $40 a second time to go up the shaft... (although I might still do a Tower climb if I have the stamina... that was fun!)
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 02:36 am (UTC)HELL YES!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 05:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 07:49 pm (UTC)I couldn't understand what all your overreaction was all about (I figured: how bad could it actually be??)... until I happened to trip across a picture just now.
Barf.
That's more hideous than Dubai usually manages to come up with...