Dr. Thomas has a few quick thoughts about the way the health care debates are going. But first, I am obliged to insert some Las Vegas shtick (this particular morsel is re: the weather).
Friday, August 7, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Las Vegas Two Meet The Chicago 10
Pattie checked out the film "Chicago 10" to show one of her classes at the College of Southern Nevada. I previewed it with her and had a few (verbose) thoughts I wanted to record for posterity, so she ran the videocamera as I talked and chimed in now and then with her own insights. You can share the experience and cry "Yippie" with us (or not) as you watch the resulting video below.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Couponeros!: Stimulus Packet, Vegas Style!
Pattie and I are in a bit of a cash crunch this month. But living in Vegas provides a palliative: casino coupons! We spent Wednesday casino-hopping, using up free slot play coupons we had obtained via the Las Vegas Advisor coupon book (formerly entitled Pocketbook of Values, now entitled something less to our liking) and a few less-opulent sources. Pattie got the coupon book as part of her ClubWPT online membership.
We have done "Vegas Welfare" (our term for the free slot play coupons we get in the mail here and there) before, but Wednesday marked a more concerted effort than usual in this area.
There was some sort of nationwide protest taking place involving libertarianism and drinking tea. Pattie suggested that we play Texas Tea slot machines where available as way of participating in the protest. So we had a Tea Party, the Vegas Way!
We played at the El Cortez, Fitzgerald's, and Binion's downtown. We also got in some play at Planet Hollywood in the evening. Picking up one's "welfare" is enjoyable in this city, and we enjoyed playing tourist a bit by munching on hot dogs from Mermaid's and getting souvenir photos taken at Binion's of us with the famed million-dollar display (whether readers enjoy the photos is their concern, not ours). Click on each photo to view at higher resolution and drink in the aesthetic richness of the shoot.
By the time it was all over, we had cleared $36 in cash for our trouble (without risking one dollar of our own), kept the wolves from the door for another couple of days and had enough left over to enjoy closing out the evening with dinner at Ellis Island, taking advantage of their famous steak dinner special and a 2-for-1 entree coupon that we shared with our friend Andrew, who has moved here from Council Bluffs, IA.
Pattie was impressed at my preparedness and resourcefulness and took time from our busy grifting schedule to do a brief (Blackberry) video spot on location in beautiful downtown Las Vegas:
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Yayo/NVCCF Flyer & "Spot That Never Was" :)
The NVCCF/Yayo charity event is on for tonight. Above is the final format of the flyer that Pattie designed. We ran off several color versions and some B/W ones as well, to be distributed by various helpful organizations in anticipation of the event.
Here's a lighthearted promo for the event tonight. We were considering putting together a real spot, but the local Vegas stations didn't sign off on it. But I had some dead time this morning, and creative impulse, if that is the term under the circumstances, conquered all. :) Not up to the standards of our other video work (I hasten to point out), but those of you nostalgic for the days of 1970's "independent" broadcast television stations may find yourself making favorable comparisons with the spots they used to air advertising, e.g., grocery chains disproportionately intent on letting you know that the one-pound bag of their house brand flour was eleven cents off during the week in question.
NVCCF/Yayo Promo Spot
NVCCF/Yayo Promo Spot
Friday, August 15, 2008
SINdustry CITY at the New Media Expo
This week's entertainment for our staff is the New Media Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Expo consists of several presentations by various technical people and several dozen exhibitors' booths, all related to podcasting, vodcasting, and similar efforts.
The attendees seem to be initiates in the world of personal branding, if the "company affiliations" on their name tags are any indication. The exhibitors have anticipated this by offering small-scale audio and video production equipment, all suitable to getting one's personal content off the ground and on the Web. Audio and video are both substantially represented.
A small convention, taking up only a corner of the Convention Center's North Hall, but it is informative nonetheless. Apparently there are people enthusiastic enough about what we used to call "Internet radio" and "Internet video," back when we began our first audio broadcast on the Live365 site in 2001, to travel to Las Vegas to hear more in person about the matter. (Or are they just using it as an excuse to visit? >:) )
The attendees seem to be initiates in the world of personal branding, if the "company affiliations" on their name tags are any indication. The exhibitors have anticipated this by offering small-scale audio and video production equipment, all suitable to getting one's personal content off the ground and on the Web. Audio and video are both substantially represented.
A small convention, taking up only a corner of the Convention Center's North Hall, but it is informative nonetheless. Apparently there are people enthusiastic enough about what we used to call "Internet radio" and "Internet video," back when we began our first audio broadcast on the Live365 site in 2001, to travel to Las Vegas to hear more in person about the matter. (Or are they just using it as an excuse to visit? >:) )
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
SINdustry CITY does Wrap Party June 2008
The Wrap Party for June was on the 26th. It was held at Torino's, at 5570 West Flamingo, as usual, masterminded by Rusty Meyers, as usual. The Wrap Party consists of an hour or two of cocktails and informal chat in Torino's bar area and an hour or two in Torino's "screening room" viewing videos by and featuring attendees followed by more structured introductions and sharing of news tidbits by attendees. I call the first half of the soiree the "booze and shmooze" portion of the evening and the latter half the "screen and shout-out" portion.
I announced to a surprising amont of interest that Sindustry City is pursuing a contract linking a children's charity and a local restaurant (names withheld until more specific details are known). We will likely need at least some help from videographers, on-camera talent, and writers. The assembled throng was in general pleased by the news and was very diligent in supplying me with leads.
I collected some nice business cards at this month's event. My policy is that if you have a business card, it's okay to mention you and your URL (but not your telephone number or email) in the blog, whereas if you send me your contact information only afterwards, you prefer unless you state otherwise I be discreet about sharing your information in such a manner (i.e. you want it to be known only with your approval on a case basis and not placed on a blog visible to the whole business world and with a saucy URL to boot). Cards of the month were as follows:
Jeremy A. Settles, Producer, Gotfilms ("A Motion Picture Production Company"). Jeremy spent some time with me talking about the future of the film industry in Vegas and how to achieve economies of scale by allowing creative and technical partners involved in various aspects of production to work together more efficiently.
Rosemary Rock (no URL; if you want her telephone number, let me know and I'll see if she'll sign off on it), an actress who introduced herself by asking if I was hiring older on-camera people and seemed mildly annoyed when I asked her if she knew of any older people. Flattery may get you everywhere, but it gets me labelled as an idiot. Rosemary lives in Las Vegas.
Quanyin Colton. Quanyin is a member of the Screen Actors' Guild (unless the SAG on her card stands for something more decrepit). She is also, she says, a dealer in a casino in town and has a photo on her card of herself in uniform by a roulette table, either to show how convincing she is in the role or in an attempt to document the claim.
Jack Daniel Jenkins. Jack is with Jack It Up FX in Vegas. He does compositing and other visual effects. I saw his demo reel at the meeting, and he has clearly been at it for a while and has access to some very nice equipment.
Joshua A. Cohen. Joshua is with Cohencidence Productions. Some of Joshua's work was shown during the screening. He does screenwriting and some other things; I spoke with him about his rates after the screening was over.
A word about the charity event: the most I can tell you at this without feeling uncomfortable is that it will be tied into the resumption of classes at UNLV this fall. The staff of SINdustry CITY will be contributing its time and effort without compensation for the project. The manner and extent of compensation for whomever we retain on this project is up in the air, largely subject to the specific needs of the charitable organization and the restaurant in question. We will keep you posted. Look for updates right here on SINdustry CITY's blog!
I announced to a surprising amont of interest that Sindustry City is pursuing a contract linking a children's charity and a local restaurant (names withheld until more specific details are known). We will likely need at least some help from videographers, on-camera talent, and writers. The assembled throng was in general pleased by the news and was very diligent in supplying me with leads.
I collected some nice business cards at this month's event. My policy is that if you have a business card, it's okay to mention you and your URL (but not your telephone number or email) in the blog, whereas if you send me your contact information only afterwards, you prefer unless you state otherwise I be discreet about sharing your information in such a manner (i.e. you want it to be known only with your approval on a case basis and not placed on a blog visible to the whole business world and with a saucy URL to boot). Cards of the month were as follows:
Jeremy A. Settles, Producer, Gotfilms ("A Motion Picture Production Company"). Jeremy spent some time with me talking about the future of the film industry in Vegas and how to achieve economies of scale by allowing creative and technical partners involved in various aspects of production to work together more efficiently.
Rosemary Rock (no URL; if you want her telephone number, let me know and I'll see if she'll sign off on it), an actress who introduced herself by asking if I was hiring older on-camera people and seemed mildly annoyed when I asked her if she knew of any older people. Flattery may get you everywhere, but it gets me labelled as an idiot. Rosemary lives in Las Vegas.
Quanyin Colton. Quanyin is a member of the Screen Actors' Guild (unless the SAG on her card stands for something more decrepit). She is also, she says, a dealer in a casino in town and has a photo on her card of herself in uniform by a roulette table, either to show how convincing she is in the role or in an attempt to document the claim.
Jack Daniel Jenkins. Jack is with Jack It Up FX in Vegas. He does compositing and other visual effects. I saw his demo reel at the meeting, and he has clearly been at it for a while and has access to some very nice equipment.
Joshua A. Cohen. Joshua is with Cohencidence Productions. Some of Joshua's work was shown during the screening. He does screenwriting and some other things; I spoke with him about his rates after the screening was over.
A word about the charity event: the most I can tell you at this without feeling uncomfortable is that it will be tied into the resumption of classes at UNLV this fall. The staff of SINdustry CITY will be contributing its time and effort without compensation for the project. The manner and extent of compensation for whomever we retain on this project is up in the air, largely subject to the specific needs of the charitable organization and the restaurant in question. We will keep you posted. Look for updates right here on SINdustry CITY's blog!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
SINdustry CITY visits the Yummy Low Country
June's Vegas 4 Locals meeting was held Thursday June 19 at Louis's Fish Camp in Town Square on Las Vegas Boulevard. The Fish Camp is one of two restaurants bearing Louis's name; apparently the "Fish Camp" qualifier means to indicate it is the more colloquial of the two. (Southeastern style with a concentration in matters New Orleans, mint juleps a specialty, two bars, and a three-hour happy hour. "Laissez le bon temps &c," it seemed to say.)
A crowd of approximately 1000 was in attendance. (OK, it's approximate. Sue us.) Tom Wilkinson did his usual good job of bringing off the whole networking opportunity nicely, and Ty Ku and Snow Queen provided complimentary liquor at the rear bar that some thoughtful patrons (modesty forbids) liberally supplemented by ordering other spirits in stock, allowing Louis and his stockholders to make a little money on the whole deal.
This round of the monthly informal gathering of businesspeople featured a band called BluesStorm. They were a four-piece that played classic rock covers and had those present dancing openly as soon as they became sufficiently loosened up. Our staff declined invitations to participate, however. Most of the conversation was in the front of the store, but we staked out a table in front of the band and let the party (or at least the dance party) come to us.
Waiters came around with complimentary fishy hors d'oeuvres including deep-fried alligator with authentic Texas Pete hot sauce (product of the TW Garner Food Company of Winston-Salem, NC). Our waitress, Jackie, was another Chicago native who had moved to Las Vegas (we seem to be averaging one per event lately) who expressed righteous indignation at our having been refused the name of the well whiskey on our last visit to the Palms: "It's not like it's vodka!"
Attendees were handed out coupons for prize drawings in between sets by the band. Selecting the (random) winners were the "CB Girls" of Callback Magazine. The "winners" of the prizes were required to be in attendance at the drawing, and several prizes had to be reallocated when holders of the lucky numbers were unluckily absent. (One member of our crack staff had a ticket that was one number off from an absent "winner's" ticket, but the CB Girls were unimpressed by our claims that such ordinal proximity dictated that the prize be awarded to her instead. Well, this is Vegas, and it comes as no surprise when one cannot beat the house.)
The party was still going at the obscene hour of 8:30 P.M. when we left. Some people just don't have to get up in the morning, I guess.
A crowd of approximately 1000 was in attendance. (OK, it's approximate. Sue us.) Tom Wilkinson did his usual good job of bringing off the whole networking opportunity nicely, and Ty Ku and Snow Queen provided complimentary liquor at the rear bar that some thoughtful patrons (modesty forbids) liberally supplemented by ordering other spirits in stock, allowing Louis and his stockholders to make a little money on the whole deal.
This round of the monthly informal gathering of businesspeople featured a band called BluesStorm. They were a four-piece that played classic rock covers and had those present dancing openly as soon as they became sufficiently loosened up. Our staff declined invitations to participate, however. Most of the conversation was in the front of the store, but we staked out a table in front of the band and let the party (or at least the dance party) come to us.
Waiters came around with complimentary fishy hors d'oeuvres including deep-fried alligator with authentic Texas Pete hot sauce (product of the TW Garner Food Company of Winston-Salem, NC). Our waitress, Jackie, was another Chicago native who had moved to Las Vegas (we seem to be averaging one per event lately) who expressed righteous indignation at our having been refused the name of the well whiskey on our last visit to the Palms: "It's not like it's vodka!"
Attendees were handed out coupons for prize drawings in between sets by the band. Selecting the (random) winners were the "CB Girls" of Callback Magazine. The "winners" of the prizes were required to be in attendance at the drawing, and several prizes had to be reallocated when holders of the lucky numbers were unluckily absent. (One member of our crack staff had a ticket that was one number off from an absent "winner's" ticket, but the CB Girls were unimpressed by our claims that such ordinal proximity dictated that the prize be awarded to her instead. Well, this is Vegas, and it comes as no surprise when one cannot beat the house.)
The party was still going at the obscene hour of 8:30 P.M. when we left. Some people just don't have to get up in the morning, I guess.
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