Postcard from Earth
My trip to The Sphere in Las Vegas
Hello and welcome to Popped, a journey through cinema history and culture. Thank you for joining!
I’m about to show off.
Not because I want to necessarily1, but because I have to explain where I’ve been this week so that I can introduce what I’m writing about.
Hands over my eyes so that I can’t see you judge me
Here goes
I spent a week in Las Vegas for work
All I can hear is people saying “for work, seriously?” and I’m like “yeah for work, I worked”,
“Did you though?”
“Yes I was up at 6am every day and sat in conference keynotes until 5pm”
“But you’re in Vegas”
“Yeah”
"You totally just spent your time on the slots or doing fun stuff”
“A bit of time doing that yeah”
“Unbelievable”
Now that you’ve all got that out of your system, can we please move on?
Thank you.
While I was there, I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to The Sphere, the largest spherical building in the world with a massive, wrap around screen. In the back of my mind I thought, this would be a great experience to write a journal entry for Popped. So I did, and here it is.
The Sphere is so new that taxi drivers still don’t seem to know where to stop. In a half-baked attempt to drop us off, we upset a steward and scurried to the entrance. The size of the place is hard to describe. I’ve been to Vegas a few times and on this trip, it has completely changed the skyline. There is an ever changing light along the Strip now. It is Vegas personified (i.e. absolutely mental).
The outside is made out of LED circular lights that blend together when you step back. It’s not until your up close really close that you see how it actually works:
We were heading in for the 2pm showing of Postcard from Earth, a multi-sensory film by Darren Aronofsky. I could have gone to see U2 during their current residency, but the spare $775 I carry around for gig tickets wasn’t there when I needed it…
The Stats
875,000 Sq Ft - Size of the Sphere
580,000 sq ft - LED Exterior Display
$2.3 Billion - Cost of Construction
18,600 - Seats in the arena
301 - Car parking spaces (can you believe that? my local pub has more spaces)
The first hour in The Sphere is spent in its enormous lobby area where you explore different interactive installations, conveniently located next to the refreshment areas and bars. There are robots in this space.
Robots I said.
These robots perform various AI tricks to demonstrate how advanced they are. The cynic in me says that these robots (who were planted to the spot), were just animatronics connected to a laptop. The optimist in me enjoyed seeing everyone have their fun and take their pictures.
The real business though was getting into the dome itself to see the film!
Entering the arena through a dark walkway, it opens out into the large bowl you may have seen online. It’s both massive and intimate as the back wall doesn’t seem that far away compared to some arenas you may have visited before. I’m sure your view of U2 would be pretty good from wherever you sit.
When the show starts, the screen is small, no bigger than a cinema’s. The film remains that size for the first five minutes. I was starting to think about how livid I would be if it stayed like that. Thankfully it gradually opens out as we zoom into our own planet, the Earth filling the 160,000 square foot wrap around LED screen.
Out of the darkness, snowy mountains click into view and the whole arena gasp. We went from pitch black to daylight and it was breathtaking, all the faces in the crowd visibly awestricken. As we glided through the mountains, their edges passed by me. Next thing I knew I was in a hot-air ballon, and if I looked up I could see its hollow insides. The first ten to fifteen minutes are spent in amazement, as different vistas, and various animals tower over you. It was like a VR headset without the eye strain, a truly awe inspiring experience.
The film tried to have a message about saving the planet, which is a bit rich given we’re sat in the largest arena of its kind, all of us flown in, surrounded by one of the most wasteful cities on earth.
I thought it was a misstep to make us aware of its own extravagance. Not everything needs a message. I’m just there for the tourist experience, but instead I’m made to feel bad that I’m not going to recycle the plastic cup you gave me.
Why don’t you simply let us sit in this sphere of human achievement whose sole purpose is to entertain us? It’s a particularly un-climate friendly view to have I guess. But sometimes it’s worth being in awe at what we can achieve, just for the sheer ability of being able to achieve it.
Gareth
although I clearly do otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this
Really interesting post as London recently rejected the project to build a similar sphere in Stratford. I think it was the right call as based on your account this thing may work well in the middle of the desert but not within an actual city. Not to speak of the waste it generates... In any case, the cinema looks impressive just from that picture, I bet that was well worth it.
You work?