The Big Screen

Before the olympics and all the fanfare it was fun to stop on my way to the grocery to watch the bbc weather report while clouds passing overhead merged with those on the screen with the meteorologist. Surreal.

I suppose its a sign of our times.
A huge TV screen in a large (mostly empty) square to gawp at.
I will try and not go into the social underlying messages of the huge TV. I think they put this up for people to get together and watch games etc. A place to congregate to and rejoice.
For the rest of the time I simply don’t get it. There’s no sound and there isn’t much point of having it considering that a lot of people have blackberries and what not for them to log into immediately for the latest stock market mess etc.

I was here when they showed Dr Who in 3D (didn’t make the effort to come out, just stumbled apon) and was shocked by the amount of people just sitting watching it like it was the only TV left on earth.
People were practically worshipping this thing, even long after the show had ended. This lead me to belive that TV is all we need to unite the world and end wars. It brings us together, long enough for the tinkers to pick our pockets while we watch Daleks.

The Big Screen in Festival Square seemed to appear almost overnight, I work in this area yet I would be hard to pushed to actually figure out when it was erected. I’m not entirely sure what purpose it’s meant to serve, other than giving people handy rolling news updates and affirmations of how cold Edinburgh actually is. I suspect that during the World Cup large crowds will gather here to rejoice in England’s defeats, and when the 2012 Olympics finally start it’ll make for a good spot to observe Usain Bolt arse about in front of the camera. Until then it makes an interesting, if superfluous addition to Lothian Road.