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Last year, I attended the very first Las Vegas “Earth Hour”.

Even though I felt that the premise of the event was patently ridiculous, I had still hoped to be enlightened in some matter … no pun intended.

When all was said and done, the visuals were quite interesting and perhaps worth seeing at least once, but in my opinion, the social implications of the event itself were a bust.

First of all, cars packed The Strip to see the massive power outage, and this contributed to a paradoxical increase in carbon emissions.  Second, when the lights came back on, the entire event was immediately forgotten.  Nobody hopped the first flight home to recycle their aluminum cans or compost their garbage.

This being the case, I think the event planners should have taken whatever publicity they got in 2009, and left it at that.  By the 59th minute of last year’s spectacle, the novelty of a power outage began to wear off, and it just was not exciting enough for a command performance.  Never content to not beat a lame idea into the ground, however, Earth Hour was once again observed in Las Vegas this past weekend.

Since I had hung out primarily on The Strip last year, I decided to see if perhaps things would look a bit more interesting on Fremont Street this time around.

“Hey Rex, I didn’t know that Fremont Street was participating in Earth Hour this year!”

You are not alone.  I was fairly sure that they were not participating as well.  When asked, I actually informed several people that Fremont would not be a viable destination to observe the power outage.

Alas, I am only a 30% accurate blogger, and not a member of the legitimate mainstream news, so I stood corrected when I ran across the following article.

Allow me to provide an excerpt:

So if you’re driving along the normally brightly-lit Las Vegas strip or happen to be wandering around under the canopy of Fremont St. between 8:30 and 9:30, you’ll notice a big difference.  Many resort hotel casinos and local businesses will participate by turning off marquees and non-essential lighting for that hour.

Boy did I have egg on my face.  Surely the people whom I told to avoid Fremont Street for Earth Hour thought me a fool, and it further validated the mainstream’s disdain for bloggers and what is widely regarded as our “lack of accountability”.

Even though I was embarrassed to have been mistaken, another part of me was happy to have been wrong.  Deep down, I just didn’t feel like sitting in gridlock again to take photographs of “no lights”, and I welcomed the prospect of covering Earth Hour on foot this time around.

At roughly the stroke of 8pm, I had a friend drop me off at the entrance to the Fremont Street Experience, and I staked out a prime spot to watch the great FSE Blackout of 2010.  As the magical time of 8:30pm drew closer, I got out my camera, removed my laptop from its bag, and waited with anticipation.

Seconds before the appointed time, I began counting down.

10 … 9 … 8 … 7 … 6 … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 … OH BOY THIS IS GOING TO BE COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

uh. guys. the lights are still on.

8:31 came.  The lights were still on, the canopy was still showing animations, and a country musician kept playing his guitar.

8:32.  Yep, still on.

8:33.  Okay, I’ve been had.

Apparently, I was the only person under the entire canopy who even knew that Earth Hour was in progress.  Everyone else was dancing to live music, watching the girls in the Fetish Pit, or getting into and out of gigantic earth-killing limos.

For a brief moment, mother earth, cosmic goddess, benevolent giver of life … wept.

By 8:35pm, I realized that the X% accurate mainstream media had fornicated the canine.

Later that same night, the Las Vegas Sun ran with their own article which stated “The Fremont Street Experience, home to the largest LED screen in the world, chose not to participate in this year’s black out, but many of the downtown casinos did.”

The problem with the Sun’s statement is their complete lack of specificity.  At about 8:45pm, I got back in the car, and we drove around Downtown.  I don’t remember seeing any Downtown casinos dark, much less “many” of them.  As a matter of fact, all of the photos on this page were taken during Earth Hour.  For the sake of accurate documentation, I omitted any shots from this page which were not taken between 8:30pm and 9:30pm.

I’m not an expert on these matters, but it might be time for the mainstream to run over to the Wynn and get another “bloggers are clueless idiots” sound-bite from Steve.  The paint on their ivory tower is peeling.

Having been chronologically cornholed by our corporate information overlords, my driver and I made a bee-line for the Las Vegas Strip to salvage what was left of a post about “Earth Hour 2010″.  Since nearly a half hour had already elapsed, driving down the Boulevard itself was out of the question, so we got a few distance shots.

To make a long story short … I attended Las Vegas Earth Hour 2010, and all I got were these lousy, grainy photos.

We drove around side streets and on overpasses, and I once again realized the idiocy of this entire event.  By the time 9:30pm rolled around, I had completely lost interest, and I once again vowed to never again attempt to participate in this silly endeavor.

My companion and I drove back to Fremont Street where we consoled ourselves for the next several hours by playing Blackjack and watching attractive women shake their ass.  Despite the false start, it ended up being an enjoyable evening.  On Fremont Street, it usually is.

With regards to Earth Hour, I don’t know what more I can say about it.  My objection is duly noted.  I’ve already railed against its stupidity in numerous posts, and I fully stand behind those articles.  The entire thing is collective mental retardation.

To their credit, Treasure Island kept most of their power cranking.  Their marquee, video screens, and logo lights stayed on throughout the hour.  I later viewed an online video that showed the “Sirens” show performing during the power outage as well.  It was kind of an extended middle finger to the nearby Palazzo/Venetian and the Mirage who did as they were told like a bunch of little kowtowing bitches, and I commend T.I. for it … even if the Phil Ruffin joint may, as has been reported, turned off some of their lights as well.

As for the mainstream accountable media, well … screw me once, it’s your fault … screw me 81,570 times, it’s my fault.

I’m a goddamn blogger that lives under attack 24/7, but you guys, well, you’re supposed to be better.  You have access to officials, “experts”, cops, higher-up, legislators, and CEO’s.  You have satellite trucks, cameramen, fact-checkers, interns, news feeds, editors, and most important of all, money.

When people told me they wanted to see Downtown during Earth Hour, I talked them out of it.  The Fremont casino employees I knew (all peasants) told me that it was not going dim, but I trusted your higher level of accountability and access.

Lesson learned.

Again.

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