When You Think Gay Destination, Think Vegas. Not San Fran.
Twenty-five percent of 4,000 gays and lesbians surveyed by the San-Fran-based Community Marketing Inc. say they traveled to Las Vegas in 2005, ranking second only to New York, where 30 percent had vacationed. San Francisco was third, at 24 percent.
"The fact Las Vegas beat out San Francisco, which was once thought of as the preferred destination for this market, shows Las Vegas is making great strides in attracting a diverse audience," Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of marketing, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) told the Gay Financial Network.
The LVCVA plans to launch a new campaign specifically targeting the gay and lesbian traveler.
'Whoa! Would somebody please shoot the mayor of Las Vegas with a tranquilizer gun?'
—Tom Greenwood, columnist for the Detroit News, responding to Oscar's thumbs-for-grafitti comments.
What Could We Possibly Have Done to Deserve This?
The Dame in the desert? What would Frank, Dino and Sammy say? But more importantly, what would Frank Marino say? The Grande Dame Edna Herself —a.k.a. Aussie actor Barry Humphries—is coming to the Luxor for a 16-show run starting December 18, starring in a "specially crafted version" of his/her Broadway show. We'd be more interested in a Marino/Humphries throwdown on some neutral Strip stage, a sort of Dueling Divas Raw, Transvestite Edition. You know: Pearls and garters at 40 paces. (We apologize for that rather disturbing visual.)
He Took a Trip on a Train
Four. That's our estimate of how many of the Las Vegas Monorail's 30,000 daily riders look out at the view—mostly rooftops, parking lots and the backside of Steve Wynn's golf course—and think, "sadly quotidian." All four, we guarantee, are visiting writers, such as Wayne Curtis, who wrote a short assessment of the monorail for the December issue of The Atlantic Monthly.
"Sadly quotidian" appears to be a highbrow way of saying the track doesn't run close enough to the Sirens of TI, and that's not all Curtis finds wanting. The ride? "Bumpy and not very fast." The in-train voice-over? "Barry Manilow." This is not at all what the monorails of yesterday—notably Disneyland's—promised, which was a sleek, whooshing New Century. Now, slightly anachronistic, monorails "produce a complicated nostalgia for the future." Emblem of disappointment: That seems to be their fate, as a monorail's utility in people-moving and traffic-unsnarling is still under debate (LVM's ridership has fallen below projections). "The monorail was 20 years ahead of its time," Curtis sighs, "and it has been mired there ever since."
God (a.k.a Christopher Roller of Burnsville, Minnesota) sues Davids Blaine and Copperfield
In a federal lawsuit, Roller says the magicians' powers are godly, and that they stole that power from him. "I am deity," he says, "a messenger of God," and they don't have his permission to use his powers. Thus, he says, he deserves 10 percent of their earnings, or some $2 mil+. "I am the guy responsible for his powers," he says, about one or the other.
Copperfield's legal response: "Seeing as how Roller has never worked for Copperfield in any capacity anywhere ever and has no relation to Copperfield whatsoever, he has no claim currently nor could he ever have an employment or labor claim against Copperfield. Plaintiff's Complaint is best described as a claim for usurpation of godly powers, which as this Court is aware, is beyond the jurisdiction of this Court or any court of this earth."
You Gotta Be Kidding
"CBS, NBC to Offer TV Shows for 99 Cents"—AP
Better yet, they're offering reruns of Law & Order. There is no punch line.