Da Spike!

P and I have had an uneventful one-day staycation in downtown Las Vegas. We are topping it off with a thrilling climax, however: dining at the renovated Gold Spike. The decor is tidy, and the staff is pleasant.


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EXACTLY WHAT THE INTERNET NEEDS MOST -- CUTE EVIL CAT VIDEO

Here's Anawim, our sweet little demon cat who loves to sing and dance.

KNEAD YOU
(With Apologies to Leo Sayer)

Congratulations to Dr. Thomas!

Pattie has gotten an article she has (co-) written into the newly-published The Fat Studies Reader, edited by Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solovay. The text is available from NYU Press. Nice work, Doc!

The Doctor Vs. Health Care

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).

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.

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:

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