Concerning several topics including the impending arrival of the parents, sensory deprivation, perfumed air, a new aria, and the best laid plans.
In the tradition of this past August's podcasts while visiting Sin City, I offer up the first in a series of impromptu recordings documenting my holiday sojourn to Vegas.
It's 6am EST. I'm at YYZ. It's dark outside, and I don't care. I'm going to Vegas!
P.S. If you're downloading the podcast, the tags may be less than inventive as each "voice memo" recording file will simply show as "memo.m4a".
It's 6am EST. I'm at YYZ. It's dark outside, and I don't care. I'm going to Vegas!
P.S. If you're downloading the podcast, the tags may be less than inventive as each "voice memo" recording file will simply show as "memo.m4a".
As I get set to kite off to Las Vegas, I encourage you to follow the lovehatevegas impromptu podcasts which may start from the airport later tonight.
However, I would also encourage you (if you are a Vegasphile like me) to check out vegastodayandtomorrow.com which produced THE map above. When going there, you can track the development going on all over the strip and on Fremont Street. I check it out once a week even when months away from a trip... it's that cool.
Trippy podcasts coming soon. Wish me luck!
Concerning some discourse on the upcoming run of lovehatevegas podcasts, how sci-fi infiltrated cereal boxes, 20 NASCAR race names you'll never hear, and paying my respects to John Hughes.
Heading off on a semi-annual sojourn to Las Vegas at week's end, I'm excited at the prospect of two things:
- Staying at a far higher class of establishment than I normally frequent, thanks to the recession and four comped nights at The Palazzo.
- Trying to experiment in "trip report" podcasting during the days I'm there via my iPod Touch, the Voice Memo App, and any wi-fi connections I can find. LOVE that Posterous is going to make this process so simple!
In my 5th post to the lovehatethings blog over a year ago, I pondered the incredible waste that goes on in Las Vegas in an attempt to sound unsure about whether or not I could justify the gluttony... it was, mostly, tongue-in-cheek even though the over-the-top nature of the town is legendary.
In that post I opined:
They've got a lightbulb that planes can see from Los Angeles. They've killed thousands of trees a year to produce laminated cards that seedy characters whack on their leg, advertising silicon-laden escorts that'll do the macarena or the Dirty Sanchez. They've totally thrown scale to the wind by creating hotel/casinos that are measured in square miles and when the MGM Grand's 5000 rooms seemed insurmountable, the Venetian built a second tower (The Palazzo) to bring its total to a mere 7000!You can lose your 20, 50, or 100 dollar bill in the time it takes to steal a glance at the scantilly-clad cocktail waitress that is bringing your free mojito as the blackjack dealer draws a 5 on her 16 after you've doubled down your 11 and pulled a 9. You inhale the second hand smoke from an entire carton of Kools while walking 10 feet through the Gold Spike's penny slot aisles. You can play golf at an 18 hole course ON THE FREAKIN' STRIP while over the property wall homeless Las Vegans beg for change.
So as I prepare to return back to Vegas for another summer excursion, I thought I'd do something different. If everything goes as planned you'll be able to follow my special "lovehatevegas" podcasts on at least a daily basis. Hope you like them. I'm guessing there may some short blog posts as well, or at least as long as the mini Touch keyboard will allow.
If you love Vegas, like I do, hopefully you'll find something in the updates that resonates and allows you to have some good memories. If you've never been to Sin City, maybe you'll find something in the podcasts or blog entries that spurs a desire to go. I don't mind being considered a shill for Vegas. Even if you're not a gambler, You've got to go there at least once.
Thanks to everyone who follows lovehatethings. Keep your eyes and ears open starting Sunday!
Pretty self-explanatory. If you want to know everything the budget traveller could ever need, cheapovegas.com is an awesome site. Breaks down hotel/casinos by cheapest eats, sleep, gaming, attractions and other deals. It also has a pretty nice selection of maps that are directly linked back to the properties themselves.
Although many of the changes in Las Vegas have slowed down due to the economy, there is still constant building down the strip. This site will allow you to view pics of the on-going status of all of the new mega-resorts going up (or blowing up) around the city. There is a fantastic color-coded map that's broken down by the umbrella resort companies. Again the map is all linked up and even shows all the proposed ideas for which proposals have been submitted. You can really see how Vegas will look in 10 years.
When you want updated reviews of new and existing properties vegastripping.com is the place to go. Although the layout is busy, the category breakdown and tools (including RSS feeds for deals) give quick access to a ton of information. Even includes a section on how to play some of the most common games.
For a bunch of quick-to-read updates on almost all of Vegas' hotels, restaurants, and shows, ratevegas.com has reviews going back to at least 2000. For most of the major properties there are several current reviews. They even boast an iPhone app that you can use to submit reviews while travelling up and down the strip... as though there wasn't anything better to do while in Vegas.
For all of you Social Media types, fivehundybymidnight.com has now done over 200 weekly podcasts all about the changes going on in Vegas and takes great pleasure in ripping the websites of some of the big resorts. They also drop some knowledge on recent entertainment announcements of shows and other news concerning construction and everything else going on. A great on-going resource to listen to if, like me, you love the city and want to keep up on the changes through earbuds instead of tedious reading.