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Venom In Vegas
January 21, 2010
There is a particular disorder called SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), and it is well-documented in psychiatric literature. The gist of this particular "illness" is that people become more depressed and lethargic in the winter due to a lack of sunlight. I have the complete opposite of this. I don't want to leave the house when the sun is shining, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I would be fully content if it rained every day and the temperature never exceeded 65 degrees. I would consider this to be the ideal climate. I have searched high and low for a diagnosis of this "anti-SAD" condition, and I cannot find it described anywhere. Apparently, I am the only person on the planet who suffers from it. I feel significantly more discontent in the Spring and Summer, and slightly less suicidal in the Fall and Winter. Given that it has rained for ... Read the full blog post...
You Will Be Assimilated
January 16, 2010
Well, it's official. Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. will assume management of the hotel at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip on January 16, 2010, at midnight. The Planet Hollywood hotel is adjacent to Harrah's Entertainment's Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. "Harrah's has been in discussions with Planet Hollywood and its lender group regarding a restructuring of the ownership of the resort. We continue to work on a plan that would allow Harrah's to own and manage the entire casino resort property," said Gary Loveman, chairman, CEO and president of Harrah's Entertainment. "In the meantime, we are pleased to take on the management of the Planet Hollywood Hotel for the current owners." The cliffs notes version of the above release is that tomorrow at midnight, Planet Hollywood will hand over the operational reins of the property to Harrah's. While it is only a "management takeover" ... Read the full blog post...
The Year of the Tiger
January 14, 2010
Speaking of catering to clientele from Eastern Asia, the Bellagio has officially unveiled its Chinese New Year display. This is the "Year of the Tiger" on the Chinese calendar, and for those of you who do not understand Asian customs, it means that three tigers and two small chipmunks will copulate on your front lawn on the second Saturday of every month throughout 2010. Don't believe me? Find the nearest Chinese person and ask them. They'll gladly confirm this absolute fact. While the last 4-5 years have been extraordinarily crowded in the Chinese New Year exhibit, even on weekdays, it was pretty sparsely populated this time around. Our friends from the Far East had a much larger contingency in town over the Christmas weekend. On my stroll through the conservatory today, I was the recipient of a large number of dirty looks. "But Rex, you are so charming and have such a pleasant aroma ... I ... Read the full blog post...
A Royale Facelift
January 12, 2010
While the tourism focus has been on City Center lately and Fremont Street and the Venetian have gotten their moments of seasonal love ... one small development on The Strip has flown almost completely under the radar. At the end of last year, Casino Royale remodeled many of their guest rooms, added a new neon sign to the exterior of the building, and a week ago they opened an improvement/extension to their casino floor. Even though this isn't exactly an earth-shattering development, I still think it's notable. While most older properties are scaling back and looking for ways to cut costs, Casino Royale is actively putting money into the casino in an attempt to spruce the place up a bit. This is even more impressive given its low-roller, redheaded stepchild reputation. Although I've always known the place as Casino Royale, the property used to be known as the Nob Hill Casino, and before that ... Read the full blog post...
The World Series of Beer Pong
January 6, 2010
Beer Pong. It seems like a ridiculous sport, but let's face it ... most sports are ridiculous. Hell, I played basketball for many years, and even I concede that it doesn't make a large amount of sense. You attempt to throw an orange ball through a cylinder while avoiding "defenders" who aren't allowed to touch you. Why? I don't know. Because that's what the guy who invented the game said to do. How about baseball? Try to throw a small sphere past a guy without letting him hit it, while making sure you give him a good chance to hit it. If you really need to get the ball past him, why not just throw it 10 feet over his head and be done with it? Then there's the most absurd professional game of all ... golf. Hit a tiny ball, chase it, hit it again, chase it, hit it again, chase it, ... Read the full blog post...
A City Center Christmas
December 26, 2009
Christmas 2009 is in the books and I already have the post-holiday blues. Like many people, Christmas is my favorite time of year, but for slightly different reasons. December 21st-24th contain the shortest amount of daylight of all days of the calendar, and this is also the coldest time in Las Vegas. While some people like the religious aspect, they appear to be oblivious to the fact that Christmas was not chosen because it has anything to do with Jesus, rather, it is purely astronomical. The sun begins rising higher in the sky for the first time since the end of the growing season (summer), and this represents the birth of the "sun" a/k/a "son". Humans began celebrating December 25th long before the supposed existence of the Christian God. The date has just been hi-jacked in modern times for purposes of social manipulation a/k/a "let's put retailers into the black". Fortunately, today ... Read the full blog post...
Too Much of a Good Thing
December 23, 2009
Following the trend of properties such as the Excalibur and Luxor, both the MGM Grand and The Stratosphere have begun offering all day buffet passes. The gist of these particular gimmicks is that, not only will you be able to get unlimited food from the eatery, but you can come and go as many times as you wish. If you want to eat a piece of chicken, go play blackjack, come back and eat a piece of beef, go to a show, come back and eat a taco, etc, etc ... you are free to do so. You may visit the buffet a theoretically unlimited amount of times for one price. This includes various time-of-day offerings such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's a buffet of the buffet for lack of a better analogy. When I first heard of this concept, I was skeptical. To some degree, I still am. Even though the Vegas ... Read the full blog post...
Aria Room and Board
December 18, 2009
"Not another City Center article. It's too much. It's just too much. It's just a damn casino, not a cure for cancer. Dear God, make it stop!" I hear you, and I empathize. Please take the gun out of your mouth and relax, though. Remember Encore? This too shall pass. I've yet to mention guest rooms or mid-level dining -- which is more or less my sustenance, so indulge me. Early this morning I investigated a Deluxe (read: "standard") room at Aria. Before I go any further, I would like to point out that the procurement of this room was a complete clusterfornication for the room guest. The gentleman who procured the room, let's call him Sugardick Von Hugenpecker, was set to check in at the stroke of midnight this morning. He called, then called again to make sure that the room would be available at midnight. He was assured that it would be, yet when he arrived ... Read the full blog post...
Evaluating Aria
December 17, 2009
I really wish that Aria had opened on December 1st along with Vdara and the rest of the properties. I am aware that this would have been a logistical nightmare, but I can't help but feel that it would have somehow made a better first impression. As I lined up for the Vdara ribbon-cutting, I was psyched. I had a dopamine surge, and that point, a sculpture of a turd in the middle of the hotel lobby would have looked divine. Even during the Crystals and the Mandarin Oriental openings just two short days later, this was a feeling that I was never quite able to recapture. When you come down off of a high, you're not going to get it back by doing just a little bit more. To the contrary, your synapses adjust and you need to do more just to get back to where you were. To put this in more simple ... Read the full blog post...
Finally Aria Opens
Tonight is the grand opening of the Aria Hotel and Casino at CityCenter right on the Las Vegas Strip. The official grand opening is tonight, but all the press was there yesterday for a preview. Security was tight and no one could get in unless they had press credentials or were an invited VIP. I saw all the popular Las Vegas bloggers there as well as Norm Clarke, Robin Leach and just about everyone else who covers Las Vegas. One reporter I met flew in from New York for the occasion, so it seems people were there from all over for our big night in Vegas. Aria is really quite stunning. Usually I don’t care for anything new, but the design of this casino is something I like. It is unusual and as one guy said on Twitter when he saw my photos I was ... Read the full blog post...
