The Merry Is Strong With This One

December 23, 2014 7:08 PM

There are holiday displays, and then there's Tom BetGeorge's holiday display. Mr. BetGeorge, of Newark, California, has created a 100,000 light extravaganza celebrating Christmas and his favorite music from Star Wars. It has to be seen to be believed.
posted by jason's_planet (26 comments total)

Needs more Bea Arthur.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:20 PM on December 23, 2014 [2 favorites]

Looks like his display can do music from Frozen too, but I like the one from Austin that features a cactus singing "Let It Go," because that's exactly what cacti on snowy mountaintops ought to sing.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 7:30 PM on December 23, 2014

Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:32 PM on December 23, 2014 [15 favorites]

I almost posted that "Let It Go" one about a week or two ago! But I thought it would get deleted (and I'd never hear the end of it from my husband). So...

It's pretty good though.

The Star Wars one partly relies on technical wizardry, a good edit of the music from SW, and our built-in good feelings surrounding SW of course. Pretty exciting to see it unfold, esp. that smoke cannon moment.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:33 PM on December 23, 2014

If it had just a few more lights, it'd be perfect!
posted by Rich Smorgasbord at 7:42 PM on December 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

I feel that the "STOP" traffic sign on the bottom left of the video holds a deeper meaning, but I can't seem to put my finger on it...
posted by Riton at 7:53 PM on December 23, 2014 [4 favorites]

Awesome ostentatious lighting display for a sort of religious but really mostly commercial holiday combined with Star Wars. This will break the Metafilter.

I loved it [especially the faces part, and there is a drum kit in his driveway] but I don't want to be his neighbor this week and his PG&E bill would likely bankrupt me.
posted by vapidave at 7:57 PM on December 23, 2014

Who would have ever thought to combine Star Wars with Christmas.
posted by 445supermag at 8:08 PM on December 23, 2014 [2 favorites]

Cool! Now do Close Encounters!
posted by valkane at 8:19 PM on December 23, 2014 [4 favorites]

I keep expecting to see the power lines shadowed in the forground starting to glow.
posted by MysticMCJ at 8:37 PM on December 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

I had to shut it down almost as quickly as I hit the "skip ad."

There is something about THE theme that connects me to the magic of the original Star Wars. I am of "that age" that it was my youth, that theme was my Frozen but with no lyrics. We just did the duhn-duhn duh duh duh duuuuhn-duhn dun dun dun/dundundun. Lucas broke my melon with the three prequels and it was within his own rights to do so.

[aside: love the Clone Wars]

I appreciate whatever this may be. But I could not let my memories get adulterated. Maybe when I am older and on my bed and think of the things I didn't do, this will come to mind.

I sure as hell hope not but if so, I will click this yet again and promise to watch the whole thing.

Color me a coward but I prefer my memories to be untainted by crazy guys with too much tech and potentially a mullet to ruin it.
posted by Johnny Hazard at 8:55 PM on December 23, 2014

I don't wanna be a party pooper, but Varilites? That totally seems like cheating. If someone can PWM a searchlight, we'll have this guy to blame.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:02 PM on December 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

his PG&E bill would likely bankrupt me.

The notes with the video say that it's all LED and the bill comes to $100 for the month (obviously not counting the cost of the setup).
posted by arcticseal at 9:03 PM on December 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

That's it, I'm winning the goddam lottery, buying the house next door, and setting up my 'Apocalypse Now' Christmas display.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 9:09 PM on December 23, 2014 [2 favorites]

This is an incredibly ancient tradition. Winter steals the sun. Humans defy winter by making enough light and heat until the sun can fight free. Humans eat the last of the lardered meat and winter vegetables, and hope the grain and butter lasts until spring.

In the year 2014, winter, be advised, humans have lasers and computers. Bring it, chump.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:10 PM on December 23, 2014 [3 favorites]

Timothy Gay and his 600k World Record, [vimeo] world record, Griswoldian Christmas display say, " Good on you, mate."

-----------
Basically that's what he said last year when an Aussie family usurped his title, briefly.
posted by notyou at 10:12 PM on December 23, 2014

his PG&E bill would likely bankrupt me.

I was assuming one of his neighbours would burn his house down on the second day he ran this.
posted by biffa at 11:32 PM on December 23, 2014 [3 favorites]

This strongly reminds me of both Fantasmic and some of the fireworks shows at Disneyland and I can't decide if I like that or if it makes me mad.
posted by Hermione Granger at 11:42 PM on December 23, 2014

posted by jcworth at 11:46 PM on December 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

Very impressive, although it seems more closely related to a Pink Floyd concert than Christmas.
posted by dg at 12:09 AM on December 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

To be honest, when I saw this a coupole of days ago I thought it was a bit boring, but the dude does it to draw attention to his church's food bank so that's good enough for me.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:46 AM on December 24, 2014

He says his neighbors are "supportive".... why do I doubt that's entirely true? Or by 'neighbors', does he just mean the one guy on the block he extreme-barbeques with every summer?

Not to be a Grinch or anything (well, not too big of a Grinch), but I see a few problems with these overblown displays:
*Does every single household within, say, at least a quarter of a mile in all directions happily give up all sleep for the duration that this sound & light show is running?
*The traffic! Think of the non-residents taking up all the parking and causing traffic jams that neighborhood.... picture, for instance, if a resident has a heart attack, but the ambulance is delayed trying to get through the looky-loos.
*Traffic part two: bet the cops love how this makes drivers stare at the display instead of watching the road!
*Sure, he collects donations for his church's food bank --- but what about the non-Christian families around him? How do they feel about probably being painted as killjoys if they dared to object?
*Bonus bitching: lordy, I hope this isn't anywhere near an airport or their runway lights.
posted by easily confused at 5:30 AM on December 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

*Traffic part two

Not a lot of traffic on that street...
posted by xtian at 5:54 AM on December 24, 2014

- Typically, these displays only run for a few hours in the evening, and shut down around when the kids go to bed. The music isn't blaring from a loudspeaker, but broadcast by a low-power FM or AM transmitter (think of those toy microphones where you could hear yourself sing on the radio. Similar to that, only reaches a few blocks.)

- Yard sales probably have worse traffic, and cause more distractions to drivers.

- The non-christian families are entitled to their own celebratory displays on their own property. (Large graduation parties come to mind). More, they have the right to object. Christians also have the right to object. Christians and non-christians do not have the right not to feel like they're being painted as killjoys for objecting, as they are actually being killjoys.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:27 AM on December 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

He'll be fine with the authorities as long as he doesn't do like this guy and push the envelope with a zombie nativity scene.
posted by emjaybee at 10:00 AM on December 24, 2014

This is around the corner from my in-laws' house, so my partner and I took a detour past it. I can confirm Slap*Happy's statement: the music isn't played over loudspeakers, it's just available over a low-power FM transmitter. The Vari-Lites are incredibly bright and you can see them from blocks away. There were a lot of people who had parked and walked over to in front of the house, but driving down the street wasn't impossible.
posted by spitefulcrow at 1:40 PM on December 24, 2014