Coffee is $4, there's a one-drink minimum to watch the water show and the Penske Wynn Ferrari-Maserati dealership is now charging a $10 cover. Here's our guess as to what the future holds.
1. Penny slots cost $1 to play
2. Greeters only provide help with display of room key
3. Waterfalls billed to room at reasonable rate of $1.05/gallon
4. Coin-operated restroom stalls—including ones in the rooms
5. Surtax of 10 cents on Vegas residents for each mention of "Wynn," "win" or a slurred "wind"
DVDs |
Have Gun Will Travel (NR) (5 stars)
The Complete Second Season
$44.99
For the still entertaining Have Gun Will Travel, Richard Boone was able to create not only an ethical gun-for-hire, but also television's first renaissance man. Paladin was a distinguished West Point graduate who moved to San Francisco after the Civil War and used the Hotel Carlton as his base of operations. Although he preferred to reason with the bad guys he was hired to track down and kill, this "knight without armor in a savage land" was as quick with his six-shooter and derringer as with a bon mot from Shakespeare or Milton. Long held out of syndication, Have Gun Will Travel still looks as fresh today as it did 40-some years ago.
Are We There Yet? (PG) (2 stars)
$28.95
There's something disconcerting about watching Ice Cube play a beleaguered father figure in this PG-rated comedy. As a member of NWA and in his solo albums, Cube scared the crap out of mainstream America, and his street cred served him well as a featured player in various life-in-the-'hood and hyper-violent action flicks. As the owner of a sports-memorabilia store forced to endure his girlfriend's bratty kids, Cube is a pussycat. Only preteens and their parents are likely to appreciate the spongy sentiment, goofy horseplay and abundant scatological humor, but Cube performs his tasks well. It makes me wonder what would have happened if Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin had managed to stay alive for a few more years. Wouldn't they have been terrific as the parents in a rock 'n' roll remake of The Brady Bunch?
Guv, Take a Butcher's at the Bird but Mind the Lorry Stepping Off |
This week sees a new addition to the Strip's traffic: double-decker buses. A trip from Downtown to the south end of the Strip, with on-and-off privileges, will cost you $25 for the day, and each bus carries 80 tourists. From a height of at least 14 feet, riders will be able to do such things as:
Peer into Escalade sunroofs
Get an unobstructed view of the Escorts.com mobile billboards
See what people are eating in the Plaza's Center Stage restaurant
Duck under the Strip's elevated walkways
Talk in fake British accents, much like the headline above
The Peanut Butter & Jelly Critic |
I may be biased on this month's selection, since I can't stand caramel and the latest peanut butter is the Caramel-Caramel Crunch flavor of Jerry Boy PB & Go. PB & Go is peanut butter in a tube, which the accompanying literature claims is "made to squirt directly into the hungry mouths of joggers, bikers and others who need a burst of flavor and energy while at work or play." I can't imagine joggers wanting to scarf down peanut butter in the middle of a marathon, or Lance Armstrong carrying a tube of PB & Go on the Tour de France, but if you squirt the stuff on bread, it makes a sandwich just as well as normal peanut butter. The jelly this month is Mountain Manna Rose Blossom Jelly, and if you've ever looked longingly at a rose wishing you could slather it in peanut butter and eat it, then maybe you'd enjoy the resulting sandwich. I did not. (2 stars)
For more info:
www.lovepbj.com.
LOCAL CD |
Franky Perez (3 stars)
My 4th of July
Singer-songwriter Perez leaves the major-label world for his second album, a stripped-down, low-key set of 10 songs. While his debut was a mix of rootsy rock, soul and Latin influences, My 4th of July is more John Mayer than John Mellencamp. Some of the slow ballads are a little limp, but Perez shows energy on catchy, upbeat songs like "The Morning After" and "When I Was Young." Even if his sound may have lost some of its spice, Perez is still a strong songwriter with a pleasant, engaging pop sensibility.