Much of the smalltalk during the week hovered around the many Cirque du Soleil shows currently in Vegas, which were good and which ones we should go to. Eventually we settled on "Le Reve" showing at the new Wynn hotel at the other end of the strip.
First, some clarification. According to the Cirque du Soleil website, "Le Reve is in no way associated with Cirque du Soleil". I can understand how they have a whole page dedicated to this topic as no one we spoke to didn't identify it as a Cirque show. There's all kinds of confusion about this, due mostly to the fact that there is an actual Cirque show called "O" which is also water-based, created by the same guy (Franco Dragone), and put on by the same billionaire (Steve Wynn). So: "Le Reve" is not a Cirque show.
But it is still incredibly entertaining.
When The Lovely Mary first got the tickets, I admit I was a little skeptical. Exactly one minute after we entered the theater, I knew I had no reason to be, and frankly when it was over I was amazed. With the exception of the 2004 postseason, I can't think of any other event I've experienced that was more enjoyable, and I'm not afraid to say so. As had been the case a few times with me before (like when I initially hated on "24"), I completely misjudged the quality of a show before having seen it.
This is officially a glowing revue for (the non-Cirque du Soleil show) "Le Reve". If you're there and aren't sure what to see, go see that.
There's lots do do in Las Vegas, without a doubt, but every once in a while you see something you just can't resist. As The Lovely Mary and I looked out of our hotel window, we saw such a sight: an IN-N-OUT Burger.
Now there are lots of great restaurants and other places to eat everywhere up and down the strip. Seeing that familiar red sign and big yellow arrow, however, reminded us that we didn't have to break the bank to get some good food. Before you knew it, we were at the website finding directions, and thinking about how long it's been since the last time we got to eat at one (there are none out here on the east coast).
Mmmmmm......double-double, baby, just like we remembered.
Well, the Deval Patrick victory as Governer of Massachusetts ("It's Patrick in a Romp" -Boston Globe) just goes to show that overly negative smear campaigns like those we are used to seeing from the GOP don't always work. The recent Republican tactic of taking an opponent's strength and making it seem like a weakness (see Kerry/swift boats and McCain/POW time) won't fool voters anymore.
This is a good thing. Now all we have to do is get voters to see past those cleverly conceived short phrases the GOP comes up with like "cut and run" and "stay the course". These phrases are chalk full of implications that people can't deny at face value; of course we want to "support our troops". The intended manipulation is of course to conveniently associate these phrases with political issues to which people would otherwise have to give actual thought.
Imagine that...politicians trying to make people believe something instead of understanding it.
All I gotta say is, it's amazing how quickly things can change around here. When we got here, there were lots of bullriders and fight-lovers, and now, due to a Microsoft conference all week, all we see are techie types, many of which look exactly as their sterotypes depict (sorry, mini-hate there). I'm sure the casinos were happy to see them, too, as they had money to burn and unbeatable systems of gambling to follow (there's a reason casinos make money). Good luck, guys.
Last night The Lovely Mary and I went to our first show, modestly titled "The World's Greatest Magic Show", in one of the more remote hotels on (well, sorta on) the strip, the Greek Isles. The theater was small, and the ushers were all shady throwbacks from Vegas days gone by. We bought "preferred" seats which turned out to be chairs at tables we shared with other people. But, for another $20, the grizzled usher could "take care of us" and seat us in a private booth a whole 5 feet closer. Ah, Vegas.
The actual show was amazing, truly, and I happen to love magic shows. (BTW, thx to The Lovely Mary for agreeing to it!) The MC of the event was a comedian/magician named Kozak who was great with the traditional slight of hand and even better handling the crowd. The highlights for me were specifically two illusions. One was when Dan Sperry seemed to rip a bird into two birds (which Bugman and I had seen once on TV and were both amazed), and another was when Kevin James (no, not "The King of Queens") sat out right in the middle of the audience with a young girl volunteer, took a napkin, scrunched it up, then appeared to make it flutter and fly and levitate, etc. In person, this was impressive, believe me. He had another trick, though, that was sort of disturbing, as he pretended to cut a man in half, then had the top half of the man walk around on his hands "magically". This was obviously someone with no legs or lower torso (who I found out later was born that way), and though it didn't make me upset, it didn't really entertain me, either.
Anyway, I got re-excited about illusions and The Lovely Mary even bought me a trick from the Houdini store. As if there wasn't enough magic between us....
Today was a day full of walking, eating, and getting The Lovely Mary to spend a dollar here and there trying her luck at video poker. We were also absolutely inundated with those people standing by the sides of the road handing out porno-related ads, constantly slapping them onto each other to make sure you heard them. It definitely seemed to be a requirement of the job and these little porn cards were everywhere.
Don't believe anyone who says Vegas is more family friendly now. Vegas is not for kids.
The Lovely Mary has a conference this week in good ol' Las Vegas, and so I took the week off to tag along. We left this morning, and as I looked across the aisle at a woman reading "Slots Today" ($1.95 an issue, I kid you not), I thought of the last time I'd been to the Sin City. What happened in Vegas wasn't the only thing that stayed there; a good amount of my money did too. Though I was temporarily distracted by an in-flight showing of "You, Me and Dupree" (which turned out to be a not so bad movie at all, if not a little long), I eventually got back to thinking about how much fun we were going to have, and how most of it was to not actually involve blackjack tables.
Soon we arrived and got off the plane. Ah, it had been a while. A while since I'd heard that constant drone, that electronic dissonance that was so characteristic of the city into which we'd just arrived. All we could hear was the beeping and chirping of slot machines...and we hadn't been off the plane but five minutes. We were surrounded by flashing lights, huge LCD ads for shows, and lots and lots of tourists (yeah, I know, we are too...but just way cooler).
We jumped in a cab, and once the driver heard where we were staying, the Mandalay Bay, he says something like "Do your parents know you're staying there?", implying at least two things: something potentially scandalous is going on over there and my parents somehow shouldn't know about it. Well, if there was something scandalous over there, they probably shouldn't, but hey...
It turns out tonight is the big Mayweather - Baldomir fight at our hotel. Promo material for this thing was everywhere, from billboards to spotlights to a specially made fight promotion carpet laid out at the entrance. We expected the place to be mobbed...then we find out the hotel is also hosting the Professional Bull Riders World Finals too. Ah, boxing enthusiasts and tons of people in cowboy hats and chaps...together at last.
Well, when all was said and done, the Lovely Mary and I successfully avoided all the hoopla from both events and went to the Shark Reef attraction (which was kickass). We'll find out who won the fight tomorrow.
Yes, it's true. There is in fact such a thing as "Sandwich Day", another one of the food holidays, and it is today. The day is the anniversary of the birth of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich who is credited with inventing everyone's favorite two-slices-of-bread-with-something-inside snack. Does this mean Mr. Montagu is indirectly the inventor of Oreo cookies as well?
We ordered them back in the beginning of last month, and in spite of Apple's vague shipping date of "sometime in October", they came through and both arrived today. Damn they're small...
Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, happy(?) Day of the Dead for all of you in Mexico...
So The Lovely Mary tells me about this National Blog Posting Month thingee and I thought it was a cool idea, so here's my official first post for the month (with not too much time to spare). Now I almost have an excuse for wasting time writing these things...
On to the topic for today:
One of the shows in our current cycle right now is Bravo's culinary reality show, "Top Chef". Last season was decently entertaining, with enough inter-chef drama to keep our attention. There is something to be said for bantor between a sommelier and a short order cook. Oh, there was a bunch of cooking competition too, I think...
Anyway, the second season of this show started this week, and I can already say with certainty that the producers of the show have spared no expense in bringing another diversly eccentric cast of characters to the kitchen. My early favorite for most controversial is Marcel, the young know-it-all with a degree in molecular gastronomy and a Japanimation haircut.
This week's episode brought some other personalities to the forefront. Specifically, Marisa's. My early assessment: she sucks. There was some challenge where the contestants were split up into two teams and had to go to the markets for ingrdients (cooking show, right, I keep forgetting). After checking out, one of Marisa's teammates, Otto, thought that maybe they had gotten some extra something-or-other, and mentioned it in passing. He didn't steal them. All he did was notice that they hadn't been payed for.
Anyway, this Marisa gets more and more twisted into ethical knots as the day goes on, and when one of the judges comes to visit, she not only tells him about the food not payed for, but implies that Otto was the one responsible, causing the judge to cast Otto off to return said items. Later, when standing before the judges, Marisa really throws Otto under the bus, referring to his "act of dishonesty" as a reason the "team is in jeopardy".
Mind you, Marisa knew about the unpaid-for items for as long as Otto did, and Otto was the only one with the wherewithal to even notice. Oh, and the dessert Marisa was in charge of was called a "substandard product" by the judges. But did she go home? Nope. For some inane reason Otto bowed out of the competition, letting Marisa off the hook. Good job, Otto.
In the previews for next week there looked to be a lot of swearing, and maybe even a stabbing with all the knives around...
This holiday (today) commemorates the broadcast of the radio program "War Of The Worlds", based on a book written by H.G. Wells and "reported" on live radio by Orson Welles back in 1938.
This broadcast, a stunt now very illegal I'm sure, made millions of people think they had been invaded by hostile aliens. Ooops...
In retrospect, however, I wonder if Mr. Welles wished he hadn't done that after all the dust settled. In a way, he shouted "fire" in the largest theater imaginable (the whole country) and got away with it...
For a downloadable version of the broadcast, visit http://www.mercurytheatre.info/. It takes a while but is pretty fun to listen to.
At approximately noon people are encouraged to go outside and have a nice, stress releasing scream, something I'm sure many of us need to do more than once a year.
Content found on The Neoteric is of no particular genre, topic, or focus, other than it was all at some point, in some way, interesting enough to me to write about.
There's lots do do in Las Vegas, without a doubt, but every once in a while you see something you just can't resist. As The Lovely Mary and I looked out of our hotel window, we saw such a sight: an 
We jumped in a cab, and once the driver heard where we were staying, the 
