Seen in: Twentynine Palms, CA
Climate zone: arid desert climate
Official lawn name: Roadrunner Dunes Golf Course
Note to owner: Do not give way to the Mojave! Sprinkle it! Green it! Squash the dusty bastard!
(photo: Michael R. Swigart via Flickr)
They are right here:
We are proud to announce the winners of our Insane Christmas Lights Photo Contest!
We decided to declare two champions. One is the maker of the above movie, Martin from Hamburg. The jury deemed his entry prize-worthy for two reasons. First, his nicely choreographed film shows insane Christmas lights that we never knew were legal. Second, by sending in a movie instead of a photograph he totally broke the rules of this contest and put himself at an unfair advantage. Congratulations!
The other first prize goes to Ivo from Hamburg, because his entry first brought to our (and his co-winner’s) attention the existence of the house shown in the movie. Again, congratulations!
Both winners will receive a beautifully made bees wax candle in the mail soon.
An Honorable Mention for the most bizarrely off-topic entry goes to Lothar from Germany for this picture:
Ecomorons warmly thanks everybody who participated in this contest, either by sending in a pic or by cheering us on with their emails!
Jenna from Washington DC sent us this image, which she stole from Dave’s camera chip to enter it in this photo contest. We like it a lot, because we think you can never have enough insane smiles in your front yard!
(photo: Dave)
This lovely image is brought to us by Martin from Hamburg, Germany. He went on a little photography spree in his home town just hours before the deadline for this photo contest, which ended on Christmas Eve at Midnight, Pacific Time.
Please take note of the snow, which the owners hauled in front of their house last week. According to Martin, the rest of the city is completely snow-free at the moment. He writes: “What I didn’t manage to capture is that some of these displays don’t just blink, but they also beep ‘jungle bells’ in midi sound.” We are in awe.
(photo: Martin)
The heat is on. All over the world, people are plugging in their Christmas lights displays in a last and desperate attempt to get featured on this blog. The New World and Old Europe find themselves pitched in a fierce battle. Who will win? The US (pictured left) or Germany (pictured right)?
Thanks to Ivo from Hamburg, Germany, for shooting us the pic of “exorbitant energy consumption” (his words) in his neighborhood of Winterhude.
This photo contest is on the hunt for the most insane Christmas lights display in the world. Entries welcome – contest ends Christmas Eve, at midnight Pacific Time!
(photos: Backhouse Images, Ivo)
We love this new idea for the Holiday season: If your electricity bill doesn’t reach the desired heights with the help of your nightly Christmas lights display, just employ a little cunning– leave the reindeer on in the morning! That way, you don’t have to be ashamed of using too little power in the season of wastefulness.
Seen on one of our very favorite streets for status symbol sight seeing: South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA, at 3:15 pm.
(photo: Backhouse Images)
Our reader Reed from the East Coast kindly alerted us to this amazing beast. It belongs to Dominic Luberto, a resident of the historic neighborhood of Jamaica Plain in Boston, MA. Luberto moved into the 1,7 Million dollar home in 2005. He has since worked hard on making his property shine brighter than an airport beacon during the Holiday season. According to a news story on the radio station WBUR, this year he increased the number of light bulbs to 500,000.
Special features:
- a Christmas tree-like illumination colored like the US flag
- weird inflatable dolls
- a 10 foot high, 650 pound gold-colored crown on top of the house (which scares other residents shitless, because they are worried it might blow off in a windstorm)
This photo contest is on the hunt for the most insane Christmas lights display in the world. Entries welcome – contest ends Christmas Eve!
(photo: WBUR via Flickr)
Looks like these people called.
Or maybe they didn’t – because their property in Pasadena, CA, mainly sports strings of lights that loosely dangle from their trees. We think they went without pro installation this season. But then – how did they get up on those branches? Do people who live on South El Molino Avenue really risk their lives for their Christmas lights?
This photo contest is on the hunt for the most insane Christmas lights display in the world. Entries welcome – contest ends Christmas Eve!
(photo: Backhouse Images)
Holy ungulate! Andrew wanted to share this pic of a glowing Californian Madonna with pilgrim reindeer. Seen in Los Angeles, in the neighborhood of Eagle Rock.
This photo contest is on the hunt for the most insane Christmas lights display in the world. Entries welcome – contest ends Christmas Eve!
(photo: Andrew)
Location: Pasadena, CA
Climate zone: dry-summer subtropical, drought since 2006
Backyard of: the Ritz Carlton Hotel
Viewed by: e.g. people spending $549 (weekend rate) on the “Huntington Suite ”
Reasons to ask for money back: brown patches, no gardeners or power tools active when property was inspected by our lawn experts
Note to owner: We liked the squishy sound your lawn made when stepped upon. A slight increase of the modest room rates might provide the means for turning this lawn into an even soggier swamp. Go for it!
(photo: Backhouse Images)