When "Wretched Excess" is Your National Motto, Just Dropping a Ball Would Be, Well, Dropping the Ball

In about an hour and a half, 2013 will arrive in the Eastern time zone of the US, but it has already swept across the Middle East. In New York City, they're going to drop a shining ball in Times Square and the crowd will go wild. But New York City hasn't had the world's tallest building in years, and actually has budget constraints and such. To see it done right you need to go to Dubai, city of the world's temporarily tallest building (the Burj Khalifa, which appears to explode in this video), city of indoor ski slopes in the desert and flagrant wretched excess. A report here.


Okay, Times Square, the ball's in your court.