Friday, October 22, 2004

*sigh of stressful relief*

I plug Ben because he told me to.

Comment Commentary

Godel- I've never stayed in a Marriott, but the lobby of the one in Anaheim is swanky.

Shin- ..That's what your mom said. <_<

Aleia- To be honest, I don't know how it's pronounced.. Grow-dee or grot-ee?

Solo- Lucky for me I hardly eat anything.

Mimmi- Well what can I say? :P

Semjaza- My initial opinions on the show were incredibly blind.. But I'll get to that later.

--

Man, Gameworks was so cool that I could go on for hours about it, but I'm going to spare all of you. Nobody wants to hear about my DDR ramblings, right?

Instead, I'm going to go on and on about "O" by Cirque Du Soleil, the show that we went to last night.

To be honest, I don't know how many people are actually familiar with what Cirque Du Soleil is all about. It's a very large, very odd troupe that has quite a few shows going on internationally. Odd costumes are one of the reasons that Cirque stands out in the sea of live shows, and it's also one of the main reasons people get freaked out by it. From what I had seen of it on television, I was one of one of those people. This led to a lot of whining when I found out tickets were aquired for the Cirque show at the Bellagio.

After getting all dressed up (it requires formal attire), jamming my overly large right foot into my overly small right shoe, and taking advantage of the all-you-can-eat buffet and standing in line for about half an hour, we finally filed into the theatre, avoiding most of the crazy program-hawkers ("Pro-greeeams heeeere"), and sat down in the fourth row. Whoever the hell got us these tickets really put out..

It started out with clowns. I do not like clowns. These clowns were not any different. They rolled a liferaft around for a while, humiliated a few audience members (another thing Cirque Du Soleil is known for), and then the real show started.

I was really, really wrong about the show. You can't help but marvel at the sheer immensity of it all. There are so many things going on the entire time, each incredibly puzzling and thought-provoking, so it kept you paying attention.

And the music! Even my brother enjoyed it so much he said that he wanted to buy the soundtrack. It was sort of like Yuki Kajiura's work- ethnic, I guess you could say. I enjoyed the more somber songs, but the vocals were amazing throughout. It's done live, too. We did not expect that.

It was all wonderfully orchestrated.. One of the biggest things that worried me about the show was the costumes. From what you see in most of the propaganda, the performers are covered in makeup with odd masks and disturbing facepainting. This particular Cirque show has a lot to do with water, so they really couldn't do a lot with masks. The costumes were still elaborate and impressive, but not in the somewhat flamboyant way that the other shows seem to have.

All of it was inspiring, and some of the imagery used is bound to somehow influence me in the future.

After the show, the "progreeeams" people were out again, but this time around they were also sporting the soundtracks. My brother wanted to get it, but then he found out they were thirty-five bucks. I checked on their official site just now, and they sell it for $19. Another perfect example of Mr. Bellagio being a money-grubbing Italian man.

--

Oh, we also went to a Monet exhibit. It was also artistically inspiring, though my favorite painting was not done by Monet himself. I think it was by Pisarro, but it gave off a very distinct tone, especially compared to the other, more impressionistic paintings.

Translation: It kind of looked cel-shaded. :P

--

Time for a list of lessons I learned from Las Vegas. I apologize to Sara for stealing her bit.

- Slot machines are inescapable. Even as you walk into the airport terminal, they're everywhere.

- They'll advertise the "topless revues" to anybody. Not even five year old girls could escape from the porn-hawkers' grasps.

- 99-cent buffets are but mere legends anymore. They're just $25 a person now.

- Not all taxi drivers are fat and smoke and have thick Bronx accent. Some of them just smell.

- People spit on you if you're not old enough to get drunk off your ass and blow all your money on Keno.

- It's illegal in the state of Nevada to wear skirts that don't reveal less than 75% of your legs.

- The city of Las Vegas must have paid the government some pretty hefty cash, because all phone numbers start with 777.

- Monet was an exhibitionist in more ways than one (Thanks, Cirque Du Soleil -_-).

- There are three sections to the strip: The pretty Bellagio area, the slummy area filled with internet cafes and porn hawkers, and the area with the novelty places such as M&Ms world, Everything Coke and ESPN Zone.

- Napoleon was incredibly muscular and wore nothing but his hat and a thong (Again, you have Cirque to thank).

- Red trenchcoats are not in short supply, yet I can never seem to find them.

- All French Candians don't walk- they jump haphazardly and wave their arms around.

- Clowns suck. They got my popcorn wet.

- To make the guys passing out cards advertising various strip clubs leave you alone, you pound your fist into your open palm. We're not sure what it means (It's something more than just a threat).

- Nobody ever goes into the pool, even if it's bright and shiny outside.

- Outside of the strip, the whole place is a wasteland.

- Keno is a game of many mysteries, but I think the biggest one is "how the hell do you play it?"

- If you listen very carefully in a casino, you can almost hear the hammer song from the original Donkey Kong in the background when somebody's playing slots.

- There are more Far Eastern television channels in the Bellagio than English-speaking ones.

- The lighting will always mess itself up just as you're about to take a picture.

- The maids just come into your room to clean without knocking, even if you have a "do not disturb" sign on the door.

- Complimentary poker sets are not only heavy- they lead to a long sequence of security checks in the airport.

- People in buffets want you to die, because their steak is always incredibly raw.

- Gameworks is an evil place because they put Crazy Taxi in the bar area, where nobody under 21 can enter.

- M&Ms World has a wall of M&Ms, most of which have colors that are exclusive to the store.

- Everything Coke has a large polar bear which people take pictures on, and it makes funny noises.

I'm sure I'll come up with more later.

Teh SillyCircus Day 66- Haha, burning man.
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