Kickin' it "under a rock" for the next three weeks just isn't that practical. But fret not, for the next best place to burn off all your election angst--Vegas--is loads more fun. And once you've booked your stay, you can forget all about those doggone candidates and talking heads.
First, though, book your stay or show tickets through Vegas.com for a little free money. (Emphasis on "a little.") Courtesy of the site's Crapshoot '08 gimmick, anyone who spends $200 or more between now and Nov. 4th (for travel through the end of 2008) gets a bonus payout of $20.
All you have to do is enter your favorite candidate's name as the promo code. Options mirror the Nevada ballot: Barr, McCain, Nader, Obama, and None of the Above.
The dark side of Las Vegas can be very dark indeed. Hello, have you seen CSI? Or the pirates and wenches at Treasure Island? Freaky indeed.
And over at the Palazzo Hotel inside SushiSamba, things will a little spookier.
The restaurant is hosting Spooky KaBOOki (their capitalization, not ours) which is a play on the traditional Japanese theater form of Kabuki. Kabuki uses "bizarre stylizations and outlandish characters" as well as plenty of visual tricks and stage techniques to wow the audience. And what better night to do this than Halloween.
Well, we were fantasizing about going to check out the newly-renovated Forum Penthouse at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas until we heard which couple permanently tainted it by christening it: J. Lo and Marc Anthony.
We know, right? Not like we could afford to even breathe the air up there, but our little hearts sank when we learned that the eternally-puzzling Mr. and Mrs. Lopez had a hot night in Vegas that was topped off with a 3:15 a.m. ceremony to renew their vows (and they were apparently joined by New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran and his wife, too).
Ok, so here's something we just don't understand. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, 50% of Jay Z's40/40 Club Las Vegas inside the Palazzo was bought out by the hotel-casino's owner, Las Vegas Sands. In return, LVS closed the 40/40 Club at the Palazzo and replaced it with a sports book.
The Las Vegas 40/40 Club was rumored to be closing for months, even though it opened only eight months ago. But apparently this deal will allow the 40/40 Club to expand internationally, with the first location being in one of LVS's Macau Casinos as well as in London.
Wait, back up. So even though 40/40 crapped out in Las Vegas, it will somehow do better in Macau? Hmm...We say, 40/40 and LVS better do some serious market research before opening that bad boy.
The Plaza -- yes, that Plaza -- has been under so much stress lately: the $400 million dollar renovation and shift toward a more residential focus was one thing, but now there are lawsuits flying around over the exorbitantly-priced condos that turned out to be a lil' crappy. Plus, you know, people are already selling their brand new Plaza digs or people aren't really buying those condos at all.
Naturally, the Plaza kinda took a strategic approach to coping with such stressful times: they're goin' to Vegas. Word.
Well, wait. She's kind of a Rio staffer. Technically, she's part of a fleet of strippers that the Rio now stocks poolside.
See, the property has established a partnership with the nearby Sapphire gentleman's club -- the first hotel/stripclub partnership of its kind. Essentially, Sapphire strippers are offered incentives by the club and perks by the hotel to take off their tops and sit by the adults-only pool to lure dudes to the Rio (and probably to the strip club later on).
Luxor continues to roll out their mostly mediocre renovations. They've now opened restaurant T&T and have the world famous BODIES exhibit on display. If you want to be grossed out you could stop by the reviled, hated Criss Angel "Believe" show or stop by the totally cool BODIES exhibit and see just how many muscles it takes to vomit.
Because vomiting is certainly what you'll be doing after T&T.
We're sorry, was that way harsh? Just listen to this, and tell us you don't agree:
T&T embodies traditional and modern elements of Mexican style intermixed with rock-n-roll flair.
Oh and by the way -- the T's stand for Tequila and Tacos.
What? Really, what? Where does the rock-n-roll come from? And why? What is wrong with just plain old delicious Mexican food? Luxor, seriously, stop trying to over do everything.
Whatever, we're worn out from hating on the Suxor. Let's talk about muscles again. Do you think there is a BODIES exhibit that show the effects of too much tequila? That would be cool.
Oh, and we were just kidding about the "Suxor" -- we just thought it made a funny headline. Kinda.
When hotels open, they've got kinks. We're usually willing to forgive those little issues that are clearly a product of the just-opened jitters -- lack of training, new facilities, green staff, the whole bit. And as we've always thought of hospitality as a sort of performance art, we imagine that the opening of actual performances -- like Criss Angel's Cirque du Soleil show at the Luxor (we use the term "performance art" loosely) -- would be no different. The show has been getting some pretty bad buzz, but we were willing to cut it some slack since it was still technically called a "preview."
If you're lost: the show -- called "Believe" -- was originally set to debut on September 1st but was delayed until September 26. The show has been in "preview" mode since then, and will continue to be touted as a "preview" until October 28th.
And there has been a lot of buzz going around lately that's been saying the show is, well, crap. We ignored it until some commenters came into our house and told us about it in the comment thread of our last story.