Rex's Las Vegas Blog

Selling Your Soul
March 13th, 2010

There is one aspect of Rexville that people have been asking me to cover for roughly the past six months, but I have so far resisted doing so. At least in-depth.

In addition to weekly motels, wedding chapels, drug sales, streetwalkers-r-us, tattoo parlors, strip clubs, and bail bonds places ... the next most prominent business type in the neighborhood would probably be pawn shops. I don't think I've ever seen a two-square-mile area in the world with more pawn shops than Rexville. Unfortunately, these are probably the businesses in which I am the least interested.

Something about pawn shops have always depressed me. They represent the aspect of capitalism that I am the least fond of. Basically, one man's misfortune is another's gain. I generally don't think well of payday loan places, or realtors who take customers on tours of houses where the occupants have just been thrown on the street. I could never go to a foreclosure sale or an auction where people's lives are sold off piece-by-piece. I would feel like a parasite.

The USA has gone from a nation of innovators to a nation of professional middle-men. We don't really produce anything anymore. Instead, we just stick our finger in as many jars as we can find. We re-sell the same product or service as many times as possible so that multiple people can skim value off of something they had no hand in creating.

Why create something of value when you can buy, sell, or broker it?

Read more ...


Word To Your Mother Earth
March 12th, 2010

Now, I've taken a lot of criticism for my "climate change" stance, but of all of the things I get criticized for, I consider these attacks to be the most unwarranted and unjustified.

In my mind, when people criticize me for making fun of global warming, it is akin to meth addicts with DARE bumper-stickers chastising me for my caffeine intake. It's irrational.

If one were to do a comprehensive audit of fully-functional 41 year old males in the USA (paraplegics probably use little gasoline), I would estimate that my personal lifetime carbon footprint would place me in the bottom ten percentile ... if not the bottom five.

I've always made it priority #1 to live where things were actually located. I've never "driven to work" on a daily basis. I've walked, biked, roller bladed, and taken the bus/subway ... but hour-long daily automobile commutes are a completely foreign concept to me. Driving in traffic feels like torture and I go to great lengths to avoid it.

Sure, I own a car now, but I've earned it. I paid my "carbon" dues in spades for damn near 35 years. I'm too banged up to self-propel myself quite as far as I used to. Especially in 110 degree temperatures. Still, personal drives of over 5 miles are uncommon, and I still overwhelmingly prefer the bus or the monorail. On a day-to-day basis, my "carbon footprint" is still probably 80% less than the average suburbanite's.

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How Long Is Your Yardstick?
March 11th, 2010

The LVCVA reported average daily rates as $99.75 while a major hotel-booking site reported them to be $79.

For those of you keeping score at home, the LVCVA is being 26% more optimistic than the private company. The private company also says that rates dropped 18% in 6 months, and the LVCVA says they only fell 4% in an entire year.

Who's right? Who's wrong?

Who knows?

The thing about stats is ... they usually lie.

Numbers are easy to throw out, and since few people have the resources or initiative to double-check them, you can more or less make numbers up and still sound plausible. Even if you do know absolutes, there are a myriad of ways to manipulate them to show what you want to prove. For example, the Visitor's Authority may have used a smaller starting number (104 vs. 109) to make the decrease look less dramatic.

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The Resurrexion
March 10th, 2010

I just got out of the hospital, and first let me say that I very much appreciate all of the well-wishes. I even appreciate some of the questionable-wishes, such as those opining that I had some venereal disease, and even the one person who took the time out of his day to email me a simple "I hope you die".

I'm sure the latter was not a unique sentiment, so kudos for having the courage to say what many others were surely thinking. And by courage, I mean "sending an unsigned email from an anonymous email account". It must have taken hours to work up the strength to do that.

Can you imagine Rosa Parks in 2010?

From: sweet_mama_chocolate87156@yahoo.com To: The Montgomery Transit Authority

I'm sick and tired of your discriminatory policies, and I'm not going to take it anymore. If you don't let black folks sit at the front of the bus, I'm gonna post all of your email addresses on alt.sex.bestiality and post pictures of your racist drivers on 4chan!"

The Black Panthers would probably coordinate wholly via Twitter, where uprisings would be routinely thwarted by "service unavailable" and "check out our latest deals!" messages. The 140 character limit would probably also lead to some confusion.

"We are sick and tired of the white devil keeping us down. If you are with us, fight the power and rally at the intersection of 181st Street and M..."

"Sorry, that last message was too long. We will be rallying at 181st Street and Market Avenue. We are mad as hell and will not take it anymore. Make sure you are there promptly at N..."

It's a good thing the civil rights movement happened 50 years ago.

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The Blind Leading the Blind
March 6th, 2010

This is exactly why I don't read fiction.

The truth is so much more bizarre.

On Thursday, President O'Drama signed the "Travel Promotion Act" into law.

This particular act is designed to convince people from other countries to vacation in the Unites Sates. The act will be funded by a $10 fee on all tourists to the U.S.

That's right, we will begin luring people to our great nation by charging them more money before they even set foot on our soil.

So far, so bad.

That's nowhere near the worst part, however.

Read more ...


Life in the Slow Lane
March 4th, 2010

Earlier tonight, I engaged in a bit of ghetto gambling. This was not the "play at the Western" version of ghetto gambling, instead, it was the cheap person version. Ghetto gambling is gaming that has all the fun of gambling, without any of the risk or reward. My own personal rendition of ghetto gambling involves taking only $20 to a local casino (usually the Sahara or Stratosphere) without an ATM card or even a wallet. Then, I play along these lines: I start out with $20, and I begin playing at a $3 or $5 table. I play a few hands until I double up or lose 50%. Unfortunately, I do not tip during these minor sessions unless I go on a big streak, and even then it's no more than a couple of bucks. If I double up, I pocket $20, and then proceed to play with "free" money at whatever low-limit game I feel like playing. The worst I can do is break-even on the session. If I get dinged for 50% early, I go to the $1 BJ tables or nickel Video Poker machines. If I manage to double up at these tables or machines, I go back to a "higher" limit ($3-$5) BJ table and repeat the process. If I lose it all ... I stop playing. At times, I have been able to make a single $20 bill last two hours while ghetto gambling, while getting the occasional free drink in the process. Read more ...


Rex's Las Vegas Lists

How To Spend Your Bachelor Weekend in Las Vegas (25 Do's and Don'ts)
March 2nd, 2010

30 Must Follow Rules For Any Las Vegas Casino Gambler - Part 2
February 24th, 2010

30 Must Follow Rules For Any Las Vegas Casino Gambler - Part 1
February 17th, 2010

Top 15: Las Vegas Spots Not Found on a Tourist Map
January 27th, 2010

Top 10: Epic Las Vegas Heists
January 12th, 2010

Top 10: Best Looking Las Vegas Cocktail Waitresses
January 4th, 2010

Top 10 Best Las Vegas Gaming Pits
December 8th, 2009

17 Things First Time Visitors Must Do in Las Vegas
November 23rd, 2009

15 Ways To Get Kicked Out of a Las Vegas Casino
November 9th, 2009

November 19th, 2007

Planet Hollywood “Grand Opening”

Planet Hollywood Greeter Girls Las Vegas

Even though it has been re-themed since last spring, I went to check out the “Grand Opening” of Planet Hollywood this weekend. I have been to the place many times over the past few months, and not much has changed since this visit.

It pretty much looked the same this weekend as it has every other time I have been to it.

The “Miracle Mile” still has a “Desert Passage” motif, although they have added some neon light stands, which make it look a bit like a “Neon Desert Passage”.

They still have the rain storm, they still have the clouds on the ceiling, and they still have the Desert Passage Ship.

Just not a huge change in theme for the shopping area, and the casino floor itself looks the same as it has since April.

There were some celebrities hanging out, and they did hire some hot pieces of tail to greet people entering the casino. Is it me, or does the chick on the above right look like a cross between Shanon Elizabeth and Alanis Morissette after a long session in a tanning bed?

They had a “celebrity” poker game going on. Below is that actor dude from “K-Ville” and comedian Eddie Griffin to his right.

Planet Hollywood Las Vegas

I don’t know who the other people were, but I recognized several people while walking around the casino, yet had a hard time putting names to faces. I’m not into the “celebrity” thing at all, and really don’t know who’s who, but many of the tourists seemed to be getting a real thrill out of it.

“Hey blah blah is over here, and blah blah is over there!”

They were excited, which was cool.

PH was giving people what they wanted.

Planet Hollywood Las Vegas

I like the costumes of the waitresses in the “Extra Lounge” (below).

I also like the outfits of the waitresses in the sports book cafe’. Their attire is similar to the women below, except they wear referee jerseys on top.

Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Cocktail Waitresses

Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Cocktail Waitress

The outside is still being worked on, but is more finished than it was before.

You can finally walk the entire length of the casino frontage without having to cram onto the narrow sidewalk on the Boulevard.

Planet Hollywood Las Vegas

These were the greeters on the south end.

Planet Hollywood Las Vegas

Other than the celebrities roaming around, nothing has really changed about the place. The inside looks exactly the same. The parking garage is the same, check-in area is the same, I just didn’t see anything that was radically different. But it didn’t need to look different. It looks nice as-is.

We are putting the photos here.

There were lots of camera crews, and plenty of friendly staff, but the place was not terribly crowded.

The poker room was packed because some actors were playing in games, and most of the tourists gravitated to the areas where the “names” were hanging out, leaving the slots and table games relatively empty.

Planet Aladdin is a first rate property. It’s fun, the waitresses are on the high end, and they pump rock music into the casino. It’s like the Hard Rock with an older crowd, which focuses on actors instead of musicians. That’s really the best way I can personally describe it.

I’ve always liked the place. I still like the place.

Hopefully it will have a long and successful run.

Casino Lights:

Indoor Storm in the Miracle Mile:

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