A & E

Playing Las Vegas

With one-third of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas taking place in Las Vegas, it's no surprise the gaming industry is well represented—with a Rockstar Games twist. Test your Strip knowledge and match the names of the game's casinos with the real ones.

Camel's Toe = Luxor, Four Dragons = Imperial Palace, Royale Casino = Monte Carlo, Starfish Casino = Stardust, Emerald Isle = Fitzgerald's, Caligula's Palace = Casears Palace, Pink Swan = Flamingo, Clown's Pocket = Circus Circus, V-Rock Hotel = Hard Rock Hotel, High Roller = Bally's, Come-A-Lot = Excalibur, Visage = Mirage, Pirates in Men's Pants = TI

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

There's only one place in town left where you can still get a good glass of ass juice and that's the Double-Down Saloon. In addition to offering martinis that taste like your breakfast (on the way down and on the way back up), it's been a trusted live music venue for a dozen years now. To celebrate, the punk-hipster watering hole is having a free four-night blowout with bands including:

The Pervz

The Nots

Ze Auto Parts

The Nines

The Vermin

Jupiter Shifter

Evil Beaver

Soda & His Million Piece Band

The Dollyrots

Bang Sugar Bang

Uberschall

For more information, call 791-5775.

THE CINE SCENE

A Las Vegas institution has come to an end. Jeffrey K. Howard and David Neil, better known as the Movie Guys, have officially parted ways. The duo started out reviewing movies in 1995 on UNLV's student television network when they were both film students there. Their show ultimately aired at more than 150 schools as part of the University Network. They went on to appear on local TV and radio, and their The Movie Guys Presents interview show still airs weekly on KCLV Channel 2. They've also reviewed films in print for the Las Vegas Sun and Weekly. The Movie Guys Presents will continue to air under the Movie Guys moniker, with Howard flying solo until the beginning of 2005, when it will be rechristened Film FAQ. Howard plans to continue his radio appearances as a film critic and will host Film FAQ, while Neil has opted out of the critic biz to focus on his full-time day job. According to Howard, the split is amicable and the duo remain friends. We'll always have UNLV TV, guys.

THINK OF IT AS A BETA-VERSION OF GRAND THEFT AUTO

JFK Reloaded is a computer game that lets players simulate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Timed to coincide with the 41st anniversary of the killing, it was designed to prove a lone gunman could have done it.

Totally tasteless, you say? A new low in pop-cultural exploitation, you think? You're so last gen! "We believe that the only thing we're exploiting is new technology," says Kirk Ewing, managing director of the Scottish firm Traffic Games, which developed the game.

"It is despicable," says a spokesman for Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Next up, look for games in which you play an alcoholic senator who must decide between saving your date's life or making it to the Chappaquiddick Tavern before last call, and a cocky novice pilot trying to fly around Martha's Vineyard in a dense fog.

DVDs

Seinfeld Gift Set (NR) (5 stars)


$119.99

Though it's possible to buy separate DVDs of all 41 episodes from Seinfeld's first three seasons, die-hard fans naturally will gravitate toward the snazzy gift set edition. Commentaries from cast, crew and creative team; deleted scenes; outtakes; trivia tracks; backgrounders; comedy routines and promotional material are included, along with a limited-edition original script, complete with handwritten notes from Larry David, exclusive Monk's Diner salt and pepper shakers and collectible playing cards. Whew! All that's missing are a Pez dispenser, fold-out coffee-table book, poofy shirt and contraceptive sponges.

The Frank Sinatra Show with Ella Fitzgerald (NR) (4 stars)


$14.95

Variety shows are the dinosaurs of broadcast television, gone but not forgotten by anyone old enough to have watched The Ed Sullivan Show. No one knows what killed them, but it had nothing to do with comets or climate changes. Remastered tapes of The Frank Sinatra Show are finally emerging from the dusty vaults of TV history, and primitive as they remain in quality, the performances are something to be cherished. Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald are in top form here, and the mutual respect is palpable in every song.

A Slipping Down Life (R) (3 stars)


$26.98

First shown at Sundance in 1999, this adaptation of the Anne Tyler novel was abandoned, awaiting the limited theatrical release that precedes the launch of hard-to-market indies onto DVD. Writer-director Toni Kalem is a veteran actress who knows how high great acting can lift difficult material. It dramatizes the bizarre love affair between a moody local rock singer (Guy Pearce) and a young wallflower (Lily Taylor) obsessed with his melodramatic lyrics. In a twisted demonstration of her devotion, Taylor's character literally etches the letters of his name into her forehead—backwards.