Philadelphia’s Newest Attraction: It’s ‘Comcastic’
Travel Blog • Valerie Conners • 08.15.08 | 11:13 AM ET
Photo by Valerie Conners.The Liberty Bell. Independence Hall. Cheesesteaks. The lobby of cable giant Comcast’s world headquarters? The list of Philadelphia’s attractions has grown by one this summer, surprising pretty much everyone in the City of Brotherly Love, not least of all, Comcast.
In June, when the cable titan opened the doors to the new Comcast Center—now Philadelphia’s tallest skyscraper—much fanfare was made about the upscale marketplace and gourmet restaurant tucked into the site. But the real draw to locals and tourists has turned out to be the installation of the world’s largest LED screen (83 feet wide and 24 feet high), stretching across the length of the lobby.
I paid the lobby a visit the other day, to discover if 10 million pixels would be enough to warm the cold cockles of this customer’s heart.
It was really cool. And then it got really creepy.
I gaped for a while at swirling and twirling images of the universe, hurricane clouds and Ansel Adams-like nature scenes. When unexpectedly, from the corners of the screen, very lifelike digital depictions of men and women wearing suits emerged, and began climbing and crawling across the screen in an inexplicable performance. Sometimes they’d descend on parachutes. Sometimes they’d just scamper by. And it was weird.
Still, is it worth seeing? Totally. You sure don’t get this on VOD.
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Valerie Conners is the senior producer and editor at World Hum.
