Tag: las vegas

Link Chum Stew: Some Things, from COBOL to Credit Cards, from Auditoriums to Ziplines

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userpic=observationsWell, it’s Saturday and you know what that means… it is time once again to clear out the links that didn’t form into a coherent theme over the last week:

  • Some Things Never Die. For all the work being done in newer programming languages such as Java, it is either comforting… or scary… to realize that the old languages never die. I don’t know if ALGOL or APL are still in heavy use, but I know FORTRAN is (and in fact, it was recently updated, and has supported object-oriented programming since 2003). Also recently updated is COBOL for mainframes, which can now support  cloud and mobile platforms. Here’s a hint for those going into programming — everyone knows the new languages. Become an expert in the older languages (FORTRAN, COBOL), and you’ll be a rarer commodity.
  • Some Things Do. Santa Monica is looking to tear down the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and replace it with… hell, not even they know. The Santa Monica Civic is a 1960s box structure that is essentially a large multipurpose room. No one wants to do concerts there anymore, and it has been reduced to the level of hosting table-top craft shows.
  • Some Things I Don’t Want To Do. The Rio Hotel in Las Vegas is planning a new thrill ride: a zip-line ride running from the top of the tall Rio towers to the main Rio building. The attraction, dubbed the VooDoo Skyline, is expected to open in Summer 2013. Rides will start from the VooDoo Lounge, atop the Rio’s 50-story Masquerade Tower. Via the zip-line (which is 450′ in the air), guests will travel down 845 feet to the top of the 20-story Ipanema tower, reaching speeds of up to 33 mph. Riders will then make a return trip — upward through a motorized pulley system while traveling backward at 25 mph — to the starting point. The total ride covers nearly one-third of a mile and takes 1 minute and 10 seconds from start to finish. Cost is expected to be $25.
  • Some Things I Do. The LA Times has a really interesting article on a new course at UCLA: Physiological Sciences 7 – Food and Science — that looks at the chemical interactions that make our food what it is. The goal of the recent class was to do experimentation on the science behind apple pies to create an even better apple pie.
  • Some Things Technology Doesn’t Affect. An article from Kapersky on Credit Card security provides a nice discussion on the non-technology risks of credit cards. I’ve always said that people don’t understand risk — they are scared to use the Internet for a credit card, but willingly give it to a server they don’t know who takes it away for a while. This article explains some of those concerns pretty well. As for me, as long as I’m using a reputable site, I have no problem using a credit card on the net. But never a debit card.
  • Some Things Technology Does Affect. USA Today recently had an article on the tan losing its luster in Hollywood. However, one thing in the article caught my eye: “In Hollywood, technology gets some credit. When women like Blanchett started out in the industry, “it was tough,” Dougherty says. Studio lights washed out light faces and limbs, losing texture and depth — hence the desire for “everyone on set to be these neutral honey colors,” a la Jennifer Aniston. But “technology has come a long way,” Dougherty says. “Now, they can really light for these skin tones.”” In other words, tans for actresses are not out for health reasons or artificiality, but because they are no longer necessary to have faces show up on film. Those who are sufficiently old may remember odd makeup and color choices for actors specifically designed to pop on black and white film. Technology marches on.

Hmmm, maybe they did form a theme after all 🙂

 

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Gambling It Away

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

userpic=las-vegasYes, I know I’ve been back from Vegas for a few days (and have been behind on my posting). Still, it seems, I’ve got a little bit of gambling still on my mind, for the news and the RSS feeds brought me two articles related to the subject, and I hunted down a third I was thinking about:

 

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Some Vegas and “Along The Road” Reviews

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userpic=las-vegasWe made it back home from Las Vegas a few hours ago, and so I thought I’d post some reviews of things Vegas or along the way. I would have posted some of these this morning, but the Internet at our hotel was out (in fact, it was out for the entire nearby area — at least at McDs and Dunkin):

  • Tahiti Village Resort. This is where we stayed — we had an interval from Interval International expiring, and so we exchange it from here. It was a very nice resort, with a lovely pool (with a sand area), a lazy river (which we didn’t try), and reasonably good service. The on-site restaurants had a so-so reputation, so we didn’t try them. It was located right next to LAS, which made it very convenient for strip access without being on the strip. Drawbacks: The elevators when we went to checkout were slow, and the Internet went out this morning (neither of which were really the resort’s fault).
  • Re-Pete Bar and Grill. Last night, not wanting to go back to the strip, yet not wanting to try the resort’s restaurant, we went down the street to Re-Petes. We were glad we did, for the food was excellent. I had their house chicken, which was two chicken breasts in a pan glaze with chopped sausage over lyonnaise potatoes with fresh vegetables. It was just perfect.
  • Wynn Buffet. Breakfast today was the buffet at The Wynn, which was head and shoulders over the mediocre buffet at the Riviera or at the Fremont. I just can’t describe all the lovely little delicacies that the Wynn had out, but I really felt I got my $20 worth with the variety. This wasn’t just bacon and eggs, folks.
  • Jerky Outlet. During this trip, we saw lots of Jerky places, from the Beef Jerky Store in downtown Vegas  to Alien Fresh Jerky in Baker. These places had lots of different jerkys, but most had soy sauce in them (which is not gluten-free). As we were leaving, we tried the Jerky Outlet just S of the Premium Outlets.  They had jerky without soy sauce, both in a soft (refrigerated) and non-soft variety. A bit pricy, so we didn’t try the exotic meats, but still worth going back to.  They have both a website and a facebook page.
  • Charlie Brown Farms. As we were driving back along Route 138, we ran across Charlie Brown Farms. This is a place that seems to go on and on with all sorts of stuff — kitsch, dolls, dried fruits, fudge, candies, BBQ, walking sticks, teas. A wide variety of stuff split over a number of buildings. Given that it isn’t that far from Palmdale, we may go back one day for a longer look.

 

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A Tale of Three Chocolates

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

userpic=cookingIf you follow my blog at all, you know I like to do things in threes. So today, as we’re still in Las Vegas, I bring you the story of three chocolates:

  • Vosges Haut Chocolate. We hit this store on the way to the Elton John concert. They had lots of tasty samples, but alas they didn’t have any of their bacon+chocolate out to try. We did, however, pick up a blood orange caramel chocolate bar. Yummy.
  • Max Brenner. This was a chocolate store plus restaurant that we hit after the concert for dessert. We ended up getting “The Spectacular Melting Chocolate S’Mores Sundae, which consisted of milk chocolate ice cream, pure vanilla creme, milk chocolate fondue, chocolate chunks, marshmallow fluff, and whipped cream, garnished with toasted marshmallow fluff and served with a white chocolate ganache, with two chocolate-covered graham cracker cookies on the side.
  • Ethel M. The third chocolate in our story is Ethel M, which we visited this afternoon for the store and the factory tour. There we picked up a 16-pc box with goodies for all: dark and milk chocolate sea-salt caramels, dark and milk chocolate raspberry satin cremes, dark chocolate lemon satin cremes, orange liqueur dark chocolates, amaretto liqueur milk chocolates, Irish cream liqueur chocolates, milk chocolate truffles, dark chocolate truffles, and cinammon truffles…. plus some pecan brittle. Oh, and Ethel Mars looks a lot like Mary See. Coincidence?

P.S.: The peppermint oil did a wonderful job of calming down my sunburn.

P.P.S.: Today we hit the Riviera Buffet for lunch. The old girl (the hotel opened in 1955) is getting sad. The food was only average (although the price was low), the buffet was empty with no line, and you had to go in the back because the escalator was under repair. Further, the casino was very quiet. It is one of the few 1950s hotels with the original building still standing (i.e., the 9-story hotel wings — the only other are the two-story wings at the Tropicana). After lunch we went across the street to Circus Circus, and it was equally quite (although with more kids thanks to the Midway). In general, the North End of the Strip is currently dead. It is being dragged down by the empty lot that was the Frontier, the partial development that was the Stardust and was to be the Echelon and will be the Resort World Las Vegas, the unfinished hulk that was the Thunderbird (oops) Silverbird (oops) El Rancho (oops) was to be the Fontainbleau, the land from the El Rancho Vegas that has never been redeveloped yet, and the closed Sahara that is transforming into the SLS Vegas. Here’s hoping that the North Strip can come back as strong as the Mid- and South Strip.

Music: Zumanity (Cirque Du Soleil): “Entree”

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Next Time… Sunblock

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userpic=don-martinI have spent today… itching.

You see, Friday I did a stupid. I took advantage of the sunny day to go down by the pool and soak up some rays, listen to a few podcasts, enjoy the pool, and people watch. I ended up soaking up a few too many rays, and my whole upper chest and legs look like a lobster (trust me, you don’t want pictures). I was OK yesterday, but today has brought on extremely intense itching as the skin is starting to heal.

So far, I have tried (topically) aloe vera gel and lotions and baths in epsom salts and lavender… neither have provided long term relief. Ibuprofin has helped a little, and I have just resorted to a Benedryl and a T3 (the pain was that bad)… and it is now down to somewhat bearable. Following some advice I found in a discussion thread, Karen is out picking up some peppermint oil to see if that will help. I’m guessing it is going to be a long night; hopefully it will calm down tomorrow for a more enjoyable last day in Las Vegas.

(Luckily, this didn’t impact today too much, as it was a down day for Karen to take her arthritis meds, and Erin to study for finals).

OK, if you insist on a picture:

feel-the-burn

If anything, this has taught me a lesson: as much as I think I don’t need it, I must put on sunblock!

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Saturday Night’s Alright, Alright When You’re With Elton John

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Elton John - Million Dollar Pianouserpic=las-vegasI’ve never been the rock concert type. In fact, I can only recall one rock concert that I’ve been too — in the early 1980s (perhaps 1982), a girlfriend took me to see Dan Fogelberg. Other than that, it has either been concerts at McCabes, the Greek, the Hollywood Bowl, the Universal Amphitheatre, VPAC, or similar venues…  and with artists that are decidedly not rock stars — PP&M, Tom Paxton, Judy Collins, BBVD, or various theatre artists. But when our daughter found out we were going to Las Vegas, she insisted that (a) we get tickets to Elton John at Caesars, and (b) we fly her out to join us for the concert.  As she has me wrapped around her finger, guess where we were last night? Yup. We were watching Elton John and his Million Dollar Piano last night at Caesars… and it was worth every penny!

I’ve always enjoyed Elton’s music. After all, I was in high school in the 1970s when his music was growing in popularity, and my college years were the height of the “Elton John in glasses” persona. I remember the stories of the flamboyant man, his glasses, and his costumes. But at the time, I only had one of his albums (“Blue Moves“). As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to like his music a lot more. I’m not a fan at the level my daughter is (but then again, I’ve never been the type to go fan-boy for anything, so it may just be me), but I do now have a sizable collection of Elton’s music, and I enjoy it all — both the older and the newer stuff. I think he is one of the best artists of my generation, and is a truly talented musician. All of this was demonstrated last night — the man and his music were just great. This wasn’t the flamboyant Elton of old; this was a man comfortable with where he is in life and truly enjoying entertaining his audience. It created a level of comfort and family in the concert hall, and led to a perfect evening.

Elton John's PianoLet’s set the stage, at the center of which is Elton and his $1,000,000 piano. This piano is fully visual; it can show live or recorded video, animations and colors that follow the music being played using 68 LED video panels.  It is named “Blossom” after the late jazz singer, pianist and cabaret performer Blossom Dearie. Behind the piano on risers is the rest of Elton’s supporting band and his backup singers. The front of the risers are covered with more LED video panels, and the backdrop for the stage consists of even more LED panels. These all light up during the songs to reinforce the songs thematically, and sometimes all the panels were coordinated to provide stunning visual effects.

Unlike the early days of Elton, the man himself was not a visual effect. By that I mean that Elton did not have a flamboyant costume (just a suit with sequined shoulders, although he entered in a gold cape), nor did he wear outlandish glasses. He has moved beyond the need for such things — his music and lyrics more than make up for the lack of sequins.

The music he chose was primarily a rehash of his hits from the early days. I don’t believe he did any songs from the more recent side of his catalog. This made the audience happy as many of their favorites was there; still it would have been nice for him to introduce the audience to what he is working on these days. My supposition is that this is due to the venue — a concert stage in Vegas leads to a 90-minute intermission-less show designed to please the audience. Vegas — at least in Strip venues — is not conducive to a 3-hour two-act show that provides an in-depth review of the artists catalog, along with new unfamiliar songs. So what songs did Elton sing? Here’s the set list, along with my comments:

# Song Comments
1. The Bitch Is Back The graphics behind this number were an abstract walk down a castle corridor, with never ending curlicues and such. I’m not sure they added to the song.
2. Benny and the Jets  
3. Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time) This song had spectacular space graphics.
4. Levon Elton noted that this song was gospel-inspired.
5. Tiny Dancer The background graphics for this song were of a ballerina.
6. Your Song  
7. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters This was done as a tribute to 9/11, and the background had all sorts of images of people (presumably reacting or survivors).
8. Better Off Dead  
9. Indian Sunset This is a song I like quite a bit; it was covered by Mary Travers on her 1971 album “Mary”. The percussion for this song (by Ray Cooper) was just incredible.
10. Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny) This was one of the songs I hadn’t heard before. It is evidently rarely done in concert. It was done as a tribute to John Lennon and the projections included images of Lennon and the times he played with Elton.
11. Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road This song featured a fantastic back project that summarized Elton’s career (and included hat tips to his Broadway and movie scores). In doing so, it created the sense for me that the point he wanted to make was constrasting his life today with his life on the “Yellow Brick Road” of the flamboyant lifestyle and the drug life. He has put that behind him, and has moved to a new portion of his life.
12. I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues This was one of those songs that had abstract growing background graphics that I just couldn’t understand.
13. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me
14. Philadelphia Freedom This song had spectacular graphics of Philadelphia, it’s people, and animated vinyl records. A very 1970s disco feel.
15. I’m Still Standing This song also had great graphic, providing a good video retrospective of Elton in concert over the years.
16. Crocodile Rock This included audience participation on the refrain, and people dancing in the aisles. The video on the backscreen included live video of the performers and the audience.
17. Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting During this song, Elton invited the first few rows of the orchestra to join him on stage.
18. Circle of Life Stunning graphics (looking like CGI) of elephants in Africa.

Elton was backed by an excellent backing band and singers. The band consisted of Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic (who are the group 2Cellos) on cello; John Mahon on percussion; Kim Bullard on keyboard; Matt Bissonnet on bass; Ray Cooper on percussion; Nigel Olsson on drums; and Davey Johnstone on mandolin and guitar. The backup singers were Rose Stone, Tata Vega, Jean Witherspoon and Lisa Stone.

Technically, a lot of well deserved kudos go to the lighting designer, Patrick Woodroffe, and the screen content producer, Sam Pattinson. This is on top of all the technical work that brought the tour together. The linked article provides a detailed description of the set design, its meaning, and how all the elements came together for this particular show.

Elton John The Million Dollar Piano plays for one more weekend at Caesars, and then returns in September and October for more shows. Tickets are available through the Caesars box office.

Lastly, one note on observed theatre etiquette. We come from a background of attending live theatre — musicals, plays, opera, and such. As such, we have one behavior we know in the theatre — we watch and focus on the performance, we applaud appropriately, etc. The concert-goer etiquette appears to be different — there is a lot more screaming at the stage, and (despite the warnings from the ushers) there was loads of flash photography and video recording. As usual, the culture clash can be a bit jarring.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:   Currently, the rest of May is relatively quiet. Mother’s Day weekend has nothing scheduled. The following weekend brings “Falling for Make Believe” at The Colony Theatre. The last weekend of May brings “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East and The Scottsboro Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre. June brings “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” at the Pantages, and (tentative) Sweet Charity“ at DOMA. July is currently more open, with “9 to 5 – The Musical” at REP East in the middle of the month, and “Legally Blonde – The Musical” at Cabrillo at the end of the month. August is currently completely open due to vacation planning. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

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Doing a Stupid

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

userpic=las-vegasFriday I did a couple of stupids that I’m still paying for. Perhaps it comes with the territory — after all, I am in Las Vegas, a city known for adults doing stupid things. But usually those stupid things involve alcohol and end up with embarrassing pictures being posted on Facebook… and what I did is not in that category of stupid things.

So what did I do? Well, first I trimmed my toenails. Usually not a problem; we all do it. However, I had a sharp corner on my big toe, and in some way insulted and inflamed the cuticle. It is still mad at mad, and I’m treating it with Neosporin and Epsom Salts, and when I get home I’ll try some steroidal creme. Combine that with my usual blisters from walking too much and a cracked heel from sandals, and I have a foot that is none to happy.

The other stupid I did was going out by the pool. Without sunblock. Although I did time how long I was out there (2 hrs) and rotated regularly (max 30 minutes per side at a time), I still ended up with a hella-sunburn. It’s periodically painful. Not much I can do about it, except Aloe Vera gel and time.

At least other stuff I’m doing is fun. More on that in the next post…

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A Circus of Sex

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zumanityuserpic=las-vegasTonight we did the “Vegas Thing”, and went to see a show. Specifically, we saw Zumanity at New York New York, one of seven Cirque shows currently running in Vegas. How would I describe the show? Modern Dance, Athleticism, a touch of comedy, audience participation, combined with lots of sex. It was a beautiful show — I don’t know how typical it was of Cirque shows — and one that I enjoyed. But it wasn’t a show in the theatre sense — there was no plot or through line. I was about to write that it was like Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ (in other words, no plot, just dancing), but then I realized that although there wasn’t a through line, there was a point — to embrace your sensuality, to enjoy love and sex, and to experiment. So let’s look at each of the characteristics of Zumanity in turn.

First, the dance. Almost all of the numbers in Zumanity were dances of some form of another, or dances combined with gymnastics and aerobatics. All were excellent. I particularly enjoyed the waterbowl, where a number of female dancers, topless, used a large waterbowl to express movement and feeling (Ulziibayar Chimed, Bolormaa Zorigtkhuyag/FB, Estefania Laurino and Gyulnara Karaeva). Also great was the Roue Cyr, where a male actor (Jonas Woolverton) was in a large hoop, and would spin and rotate around.

Most of the numbers had remarkable athleticism. Numbers of particular note were the hand balancing number, where a male performer essentially did a pole dance holding himself perpendicular to the pole (Dima Shine (FB)). Also great was the hoops number, where a female actor (Julia Kolosova) was using hoops and aerobatics to do remarkable moves. My wife was very impressed with the tissues number, where remarkable arobatics were performed using just a hanging ribbon (Alan Jones Silva, Anna O’Keefe).

The comedy numbers were performed by a different set of actors from the main troupe. All were good, and most involved audience participation. The main perpetrators were Dick and Izzy (Shannan Calcutt (FB), Nicky Dewhurst (FB)) who were great with audience repartee, although Edie the Mistress of Sensuality (Christopher Kenney/FB, Edie/FB) did a pretty good job in the Orgy number. Our show was particularly funny because they brought up an elementary school teacher from Oregon, who was so out of her element that her reactions were priceless.

Now for the sex part. I should note that the sex is geared towards the Las Vegas audience. In other words, what might shock a midwesterner (“look, Gladys, bare breasts!”) would hardly phase an Angeleno. The cast does a great job of trying to get a rise out of the audience, and tries to be extremely playful and risque. That’s why it is over 18 only, folks! If any number truly captured sex, however, it was the straps number (Jill Crook (FB)), which went to the edge of voyeristic auto-asphyxiation. I should note that it was nice that the show did not give in to the tendency to have artificially enhanced actresses. It is important to embrace the natural beauty in all.

What problems did I have with the show? Well, other than the audience (which had no idea how to dress for a show, but that’s Vegas!), I only had two. First, there were two large actresses in the cast (Licemar and Luciene Medeiros) — large, buxom, and beautiful. They were used only for comedy numbers, and the one quasi-sexy comedy number that they had, they did in body-suits.  If the show truly wants to reach today’s American audience, then show that these large actresses can be sexy. Show that large women (and large men) can be beautiful, act, and be athletic. Don’t give in to the stereotype that large is only the butt of a joke.

My second complaint has to do with the program they handed out. It had one page for each different Cirque show. What it didn’t do was tell me about the cast and the crew. You can get that information only if you pay for a full size program. Even the Las Vegas Sun review didn’t list all the actors. It isn’t even on the website. The cast members I’ve listed here were developed by looking through numerous websites. This show had talented actors, talented musicians, and a talented technical team. Tell me about them — their experience and their talent and training. This not only informs the audience, but is important for your actors and their careers. Don’t shortchange them; they are too good.

[ETA] After doing some research, I was able to uncover the actors listed above. Other actors in the show (at least the ones I could find) included: Ekaterina Bazarova/FB (“hand-to-hand”), Ed Bohlen (“midnight bath”), Felix Cane (“dance on TV”), Vanessa Convery (“midnight bath”), Gabriel Corbin (“two men”), Wassa Coulibaly (“wassa”), Arslan Gusengadzhiev (“dislocation”), William Hulett/FB (“rose boy”), LJ Jellison (“two men”), Candi Kirtz (dancer), Marcela de la Vega Luna (“wind”), Renee Pugh (dancer), Paris Red (singer),  Agnes Roux (dancer), Valeriy Simonenko (FB) (“hand-to-hand”), and Corinne Zarzou (FB) (singer).

[ETA] Zumanity was written and directed by Dominic Champagne and René Richard Cyr. Costumes were by Thierry Mugler. Set design was by Stéphane Roy. Music by Simon Carpentier. Choreography was by Debra Brown and Marguerite Derricks. Lighting design by Luc Lafortune. Sound design by Jonathan Deans. Clown act creator: Cahal McCrystal. Projection designer: Natacha Merritt. Makeup designer: Nathalie Gagné. Acrobatic equipment and rigging designer: Jacque Paquin. Prop designer: Normand Blais. Artistic guide: Guy Laliberté.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:   Tomorrow night brings a different sort of Vegas show — Elton John in concert at Caesers Palace. May also brings “Falling for Make Believe” at The Colony Theatre and “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East. Lastly, continuing the look ahead, June will bring (tenative) “The Scottsboro Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre, “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” at the Pantages, and (tentative) Sweet Charity“ at DOMA. July is currently more open, with “9 to 5 – The Musical” at REP East in the middle of the month, and “Legally Blonde – The Musical” at Cabrillo at the end of the month. August is currently completely open due to vacation planning and the potential Nottingham Faire. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

Music: Zumanity (Cirque Du Soleil): “Wind”

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