Archive for the &;Las Vegas&; Category

Vegas Gambling GoesHollywood

November 20, 2009

I know, I know, they call it &;gaming&; rather than gambling, or more properly, losing.  As I noted after 20 years of tradeshow gambling in Las Vegas, &;Like the ice caps melting, I’ve watched the casino gaming pits where one plays blackjack shrink, with the real estate taken over by an army of slot machines for a generation of Americans who prefer to interact with screens rather than a boisterous table of degenerate gamblers.&; The slots are bright and attractive now, not just one-armed bandits spinning oranges and black bars.   At the gaming expo in Las Vegas, the new &;slots&; (that take only green money, credit cards or casino player&;s club/loser&;s club cards) offer &;high-definition animated characters and 3-D graphics, touch-screen technology and Xbox-type or similar video game features.&; Just as Hollywood now makes &;films&; stripmining our collective past, from &;Bewitched&; and &;Land of the Lost&; (Will Ferrell has fallen far from &;Anchorman&;) to, G-d help us, Mr. Potatohead,  gaming companies will bring images, characters and situations from &;The Lord of the Rings&; and, for the distaff crowd, &;Sex and the City&; to the casual slot player. A Hollywood/Vegas hook-up promoting gambling directly from couch potatoes can&;t be far away.

Tags:Hollywood, Las Vegas, slot-machines, Will-Ferrell Posted in Hollywood, Las Vegas, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment &;

Las Vegas is LosAngeles

November 6, 2009

So why did I read The Movable Buffet so religiously? Because having gone there at least once a year since 1988 for the Consumer Electronics Show (and for the late, unlamented COMDEX) I&;ve come to love Las Vegas, although my wallet and sinuses could probably not handle it for more than a week at a time.  Like the ice caps melting, I&;ve watched the casino gaming pits where I play blackjack shrink, with the real estate taken over by an army of slot machines for a generation of Americans who prefer to interact with screens rather than a boisterous table of degenerate gamblers. Las Vegas was built on millions of people from Los Angeles coming to gamble in the desert, whether they stayed at the palaces on the strip or did a Las Vegas turn around, gambling all night and driving back without sleeping. (The first time I drove to Las Vegas I saw five dead bodies on the side of the I-15 from two separate accidents where the drivers fell asleep). Las Vegas and Los Angeles share a lot, including thousands of former Angelenos &;native&; Las Vegans are always begging to go home.  Meanwhile the &;What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas&; encourages tourists to treat the city as their toilet, although it contributes to some surprising local industries. Las Vegas and Los Angeles share a temperate to boiling climate and a sprawling aesthetic, but with magnificient parks just a few minutes away.  Then there&;s  In &;n Out Burger, minimalls, a love of bling and money, a sprouting of magnificent cities out of nothing, jammed freeways but troubled real estate markets, entertainment stars and wanna-bes, luxury and poverty almost side-by-side, gangbangers and pointless violent crime killing the best of our youth (here here, there there), insane people, and both Bugsy Siegel and O.J. Simpson!

   Las Vegas holds up a mirror to Los Angeles.  But it&;s not a funhouse mirror anymore.

Tags:CES, COMDEX, gambling, Las Vegas, Los-Angeles, Movable-Buffet, O.J.-Simpson Posted in Las Vegas, Los-Angeles, Uncategorized | 1 Comment &;

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman ProudPhilistine

March 2, 2009

Although he&;s been trying to bring world-class medical facilities to Las Vegas, Mayor Oscar Goodman&;s civic boosterism doesn&;t extend to the arts. &;I don&;t see a museum for art as necessary downtown.  The masters are on the Strip.  There&;s also round-trip airfare to Los Angeles.  It&;s not necessary to have a art museum.  I want a mob museum.&;   The dismissiveness of this statement is reminscent of Hermann Goring&;s &;Every time I hear the word &;culture&; I reach for my revolver.&; Former mob lawyer Goodman (full disclosure: I&;ve interviewed him and like him) does like to play the buffoon with his love of gin, showgirls and frequently politically-incorrect statements, like wanting to hang graffitti &;artists&; by their thumbs or inviting Miss America contestants to a bikini party in a pool full of gin.  But he&;s not stupid; a mob museum would  be more unique, probably a better tourist draw and certainly a better representative of how Las Vegans want to see themselves and their founding fathers. After all, what can you expect in a city where even the term &;college girl&;  (live to your room) is proudly pornographic?

Tags:arts-decline, Las Vegas, Las-Vegas-founding-fathers, Miss-America, mob-museum Posted in Las Vegas, public-relations-disaster, Travel | Leave a Comment &;