Topic: I am in Las Vegas

[Svevan]

Any NWR-ers here?

[NWR_insanolord]

Bet $100 on Black for me, I'll pay you later.

[Svevan]

This sounds like a good idea! ....which game?

[NWR_insanolord]

How can you be in Vegas and not know that if you're betting $100 on black then you're playing Roullette? You should know that I have no intention of paying you, though I will take a cut if you win.

[Svevan]

Contrary to what you may think, I'm not dumb. Ergo, I'm not gambling.

[bustin98]

I was there a few years ago for CES. I didn't gamble either. Yay! I'm not dumb!

[wandering]

I recommend Star Trek: The Experience, if you like Trek even a little.

[nickmitch]

I heard the buffets are awesome.

[Svevan]

I like Trek more than a little, but the price tag is a little steep, and my time is severely limited.

Already I've gone to the top of the (half-scale) Eiffel Tower, seen the beautiful indoor decor of The Bellagio (where much of Ocean's 11 was filmed), The Venetian, and The Paris, and gone to an art show in The Bellagio called "American Modernism," where I got to see some beautiful Georgia O'Keeffe and Max Weber paintings up close. Today I may visit the Art Museum and see some Basquiat, Warhol, et al, visit The New York hotel/casino, maybe visit a Salvador Dali exhibit, and maybe see The Blue Man Group. Tomorrow I'm hoping for the Hoover Dam, and some relaxing times on the lake.

Last night I spent 45 minutes just watching the Bellagio Fountain show, which is really, weirdly, beautiful.

[ShyGuy]

No, but I was at PAX last week, Mr. Too-broke-to-vacation!

Going downtown to see Freemont street is worth it.

[Svevan]

AHEM, I'm staying with my mother who is living here temporarily, so my flight and "hotel" (really an RV) are free. I'm just paying for some exhibits.

[ShyGuy]

The Venetian is my favorite hotel down there, but I haven't been in about 4 years.

[Svevan]

Yeah I dig it! Everything here is posing as classy, which is good enough for me. Where I come from we don't take the time even to pose.

Just saw Blue Man Group. That show is crazy.

[Maverick]

I turn 21 this month, who wants to take me to Vegas and pop my gambling cherry?

[DAaaMan64]

lol 21 to gamble. lol

[Maverick]

I don't get it.

[wandering]

I saw Blue Man Group in Orlando. Pretty fantastic. Watching that show is like....how to describe it without giving anything away? It makes you feel a bit like you do when you look up, and imagine walking around on the ceiling. Watching that group of blue aliens, who react to everything strangely, is like looking at the world upside down. Although, some of our party didn't care for the the show. It's very weird and doesn't click with everyone.

The show was great at involving the audience. First of all, the performers asked us to do alot of crazy (and awesome) things.

But more impressively, when audience members did unexpected things, the performers always dealt with it perfectly. (This is a very hard thing to do!) When the blue men were putting on a rock concert, a man yelled out "Free bird!" And they played it! When a blue man was walking through the audience, a guy gave him a chocolate. The blue man looked at it curiously. Then he chewed it up, and spit it out into the man's hand!

edit: added spoiler tags

[Svevan]

I totally loved the show, quite a lot of fun and very interesting post-postmodern concept (or anti-postmodern, don't know).

Although, heh, Wandering, uh, hate to break it to you...but those two things are very scripted events. Both happened at my performance as well. YET I do agree with you, that the Blue Men are quite adept at dealing with the audience members' natural reactions (as when they pulled a girl onstage and ate "dinner" with her. She could not in any way have been an actor. She was truly awkward but desperately trying to play along, to make sure she got it right. At least, if she was an actor, she was the best actor I've ever seen ever. EVER.).

edit: Wandering guilted me into spoiler-tagging. Whatever.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Sadly Star Trek the Experience closed last Monday, perhaps for good since many of the larger sets are being destroyed and the others are being moved back to the studio. It is too bad because I think you would have enjoyed it if you like Star Trek:(

I gambled in Vegas, I spent $4 and came away with $6, so yeah for me.

[The American]

Sveven must be a real girly man if he's afraid of gambling. I bet he's also scared of family values and victory in Iraq.

[wandering]

Blue Man Group spoilers....

Although, heh, Wandering, uh, hate to break it to you...but those two things are very scripted events. Both happened at my performance as well. YET I do agree with you, that the Blue Men are quite adept at dealing with the audience members' natural reactions (as when they pulled a girl onstage and ate "dinner" with her. She could not in any way have been an actor. She was truly awkward but desperately trying to play along, to make sure she got it right. At least, if she was an actor, she was the best actor I've ever seen ever. EVER.).

What!? At the end of the show, we asked the band if the free bird thing was planned, and they said no.

Also, the girl who ate dinner in our show was equally awkward.... Spoilers end.

Sadly Star Trek the Experience is closing either this Monday or closed last Monday.

WHAT WHAT WHAT!!!???

DO NOT WANT

[bustin98]

I don't spend alot of time in bigger cities but I'm sure this is not an unique experience. Under the big 'tv' in old vegas there is (was?) a free-hand spray paint artist who does an amazing job of painting requests on the fly. He was always busy and selling a number of paintings. I'd imagine he walks away with some dough each night. The mentions of the art show reminded of him.

I went to the Hoover dam. Its not as impressive as I thought it would be. (And no sign of cracks from that Superman movie ) Once the bypass is completed I bet there will be some awesome views from up there.

The Valley of Fire State Park is a sweet spot to climb around. I could have spent several days looking around.

[Svevan]

Blue Man Group spoilers....

Although, heh, Wandering, uh, hate to break it to you...but those two things are very scripted events. Both happened at my performance as well. YET I do agree with you, that the Blue Men are quite adept at dealing with the audience members' natural reactions (as when they pulled a girl onstage and ate "dinner" with her. She could not in any way have been an actor. She was truly awkward but desperately trying to play along, to make sure she got it right. At least, if she was an actor, she was the best actor I've ever seen ever. EVER.).

What!? At the end of the show, we asked the band if the free bird thing was planned, and they said no.

Also, the girl who ate dinner in our show was equally awkward.... Spoilers end.

Yeah, I was sitting in prime seats right in front of the control booth (in the Venetian Hotel's "Blue Man Theatre," specially designed for this show), and I'm pretty sure I heard the guy yell "Freebird" from inside the control booth. Or else it was a recording played from a speaker in the nosebleed section, specially timed. Dunno. I suppose it's possible that your show (wherever you saw it) was the very first time someone ever yelled Freebird at the band, and they incorporated it into the show every time after, but it's much more likely that the band was lying to you.

Here's how the "guy with chocolates" thing worked at my show. First, the Blue Man took the box of chocolates from one guy, who was AFAIK a real audience member, gave them to another guy, and had the second guy throw them into his mouth (as had been done earlier in the show). Then the Blue Man put all the chocolates from his mouth onto the second guy's hand, and returned the box to the first guy. THEN, while the other Blue Men began to do something else, two members of the Blue Man Crew came up and took the box of chocolates away from guy one, and gave a napkin to guy two. So the chocolates, it seems to me, were planted, but the two audience members were not. Makes me wonder if the people in the "late arrival" gag were plants, or the girl at dinner, or wathavyu.

I thought the show was great all around, but lemme just say that there was a bit too much product placement (though the show is slightly critical of advertising and consumerism) and a bit too many mouth gags. If I were the second guy in the chocolate sketch, I would have thrown up right there on the spot. People catching things in their mouths is fine, but spewing them out, even onto a canvas? Yuck. And the Cap'n Crunch that they spit everywhere, ugh. A bit gross. I know that this is just me, but I HATE spit and things that were once in your mouth but now are out again. I suppose it is funny that Blue Man Group, while ostensibly being a performance art revue, is very critical of the stuff that passes for art today. Actually, I think I'll blog about this.

[ThePerm]

Sveven must be a real girly man if he's afraid of gambling. I bet he's also scared of family values and victory in Iraq.

im a united statesian not an american

[wandering]

I went to the Hoover dam. Its not as impressive as I thought it would be. (And no sign of cracks from that Superman movie )

Yeah. On a trip we went on when I was 12, we went to the Grand Canyon one day and the Hoover Dam the next. The latter paled in comparison to the former. The Grand Canyon is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and the Hoover Dam is just an ugly white wall. God: 1. Man: 0.

Makes me wonder if the people in the "late arrival" gag were plants

Did the late people arrive when the blue men were about to do something with a human slingshot?

Wandering guilted me into spoiler-tagging. Whatever.

When I said your post had spoilers, I was thinking about the fact that you reveal the show has scripted events that are designed to look spontaneous. But I guess that's not a huge spoiler, and I don't want to scare people away from this thread, so I removed my warning about your post.