World's Largest Lite Brite

Yesterday I learned what it is like to be part of the world’s largest Lite Brite.  Do you remember Lite Brite?  One of two toys I had growing up that derived their main source of entertainment from a light bulb.

The first was the Easy Bake Oven.  You put a small pan of brownies or cake batter into the plastic box and the light bulb would magically cook the batter, yielding actual brownies or a cake that you could share with friends (well, maybe one friend.  The pan was pretty small).  It was amazing, borderline magical!  As a kid I was fascinated by the idea that a light bulb could bake a cake.  As I got older I was amazed that I was allowed to play with something hot enough to bake a cake!  As cool as it was, The Easy Bake Oven was really more of a special occasion toy.

Lite Brite, on the other hand, was an everyday toy of the best variety.  It allowed for creativity and it plugged in, which meant something electronically cool.  I spent hours and hours plugging the little pegs into the black paper on the light up board making all sorts of things - pictures, designs, signs.  Sometimes I would just fill up the whole board with pegs creating a lighted mosaic of jewel tones that to me was just so beautiful.

Last night I was reminded of the beauty of Lite Brite when I went to the Coldplay concert.  As we walked into the arena, each person was given a bracelet to wear that looked like this:

As the lights went down at the start of the show, the straps of these bracelets began to light up.  Every person in the United Center was turned into a human Lite Brite peg and the result was just as beautiful as those original designs I made when I was a kid.  Throughout the show the bracelets were timed to light up with the music so that there was this amazing pulsing and sparkling of beautiful colored lights engulfing the concert.  Below is a view of the whole stadium as Coldplay performed “Charlie Brown” to delight the crowd.

Yesterday I learned what it is like to be part of the world’s largest Lite Brite, and it is awesome!