Got a shock at Southbank on Monday night when the Casino’s fire torches flared up, roaring and blasting heat onto my face. It was already a stinking hot night and from what I understand, Melbourne was under a total fire ban. The Casino must have had a permit, as the New Year’s fireworks did. The torches are an odd symbol in a state beset by bushfires and trying to cut down on its carbon emissions. Apparently they’ve been around for over a decade. What do you think? Hot or not?
I’m not sure why the torches offended me. Maybe because they seem to represent what I hate about the casino: its aggressive promise of glitz, glamour and excitement, and the deliberately contrived atmosphere: safe, sterile and airless; designed to get your head into a space where problem gambling addictions can breed uninterrupted by pesky thoughts about how you’ve just spent beyond your means, or that your family’s worrying about you, or that you’re not, in truth, having that much fun.
Obviously not all Casino experiences are like that, and some people actually enjoy themselves.
Finnish Whaler 
To me they are a flagrant symbol of all that is wrong with our world, one way or another when they are finally extinguished it can only be a sign of hope.
The consumption of fossil fuels for the purpose of aesthetics/entertainment while liberating the byproducts into the atmosphere.
Hmmm, definitely not hot. (Unless of course you’re referring to global warming, and in that case, Hot!)
By conventional measures, burning gas is cleaner than burning most other fossil fuels, but at least when a car is driven a tangible result is achieved (wether that result was worth the energy expenditure is at least as subjective as sheer opinion). These torches achieve nothing more than making people go, ‘Wheeeee’. That’s nothing more than an arrogant, tasteless, excessive display of wealth with a complete and utter disregard for the health, safety and future of the planet.
I totally agree. I just hate what they represent. I just hate the Casino. It is bullshit.