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What better words to describe 4 days in Vegas? We had moments of each, I think, last week. Ridiculous would be the "security check-in" at Bellagio. I don't spend much time there… way too high on the pretentious meter for me. But there was an Ansel Adams exhibition in their art gallery that Dani wanted to see, so before we left town on Saturday, we stopped by the casino. Driving into the self-park tower, we were stopped at a security checkpoint, where we were asked to open the trunk so they could examine it. The car ahead of us was stopped and "examined" and it took them all of about 2 seconds. Our time was about the same. It almost took longer to stop and pop the trunk open then it did for the officer to "examine" its contents. I'm thinking that, unless terrorists are carrying boxes marked "Danger! Explosives!" that security check's unlikely to accomplish much. La Reve may not be my favorite Cirque style show in Vegas (that would be ...

I signed up for daily news updates from Channel 4 here in LA a while ago, and every once in a while there's something that catches my eye that simply begs to be clicked. (Not that I think Channel 4 provides much in the way of actual NEWS, you know, but they're occasionally entertaining). One recent email had a link to a Pagan Holidays Quiz . And I thought, 'how progressive and open minded!' So I had to click the link and find out what it was all about. Turns out the quiz is pretty well researched and I got stumped several times. (Guess my old neo-Pagan days didn't prep me too well for this one.) But what made me laugh was the intro sentence to the quiz: Religious freedom has always been one of the cornerstones of the United States, and these days it is blossoming more than ever. Just the other day, I was listening to KROQ and they were interviewing some woman from the Westboro Baptist Church (and no, I'm not linking to them, for reasons which should immediately ...

Last fall, Rockstar Games got slammed for their Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas videogame and some hidden code that a modder discovered. Using the code, you could unlock a sex-based minigame, and your character could get some onscreen action. The mod, and the scandal surrounding it, became known as the Hot Coffee mod, since it was triggered when the main character is asked by his girl if he wants to come inside for a cup of coffee. The videogame knee-jerk reactionaries were up in arms, of course! Sex in a videogame! My god, it will corrupt the children! Never mind that this was a Mature rated game already, for ages 17 and over. Never mind that the rest of the game was about car-jacking, drug-dealing and blowing people away in a cartoony version of the LA Gangsta lifestyle, so those children you're so concerned about shouldn't be playing it anyway. And never mind that, in order to see this pixelated little sex game, your child would have to have enough internet savvy that you ca...

All I can say is that, if this is legit, it's pretty much the best thing I've heard coming out of Washington in months. Rove Informs White House He Will Be Indicted Way to go, Karl. I hope they throw the book at you.

That's Hanks, not Cruise. A couple of weeks ago, I heard a discussion about The DaVinci Code , talking about Tom Hanks' hair. Apparently, people are not impressed by Mr. Hanks tonsorial choice for this movie. (Personally, I figure the people upset about this are missing the whole point of going to a movie like this… you go to the DaVinci Code for the story, not simply to see a Tom Hanks movie. He looks like many of my Acting/Writing/Liberal Arts profs at UCI, so I think the hair is perfect for the character.) But the conversation went on to speculate that the film's box office might suffer, thanks to the backlash regarding his hair. An idea I, of course, found absurd. But then there's this little problem… 'Mission: Impossible III' Doesn't Thrill Arguably, this Mission has gotten some of the best reviews of the series, and yet people were not clamoring to see it this past weekend. Somewhat similar to DaVinci Code in this aspect, there's been a lot of tal...

I know I've been bemoaning the fact that, for years now, no one in this country seems to be paying attention, nor actively care, what Bush is doing to this country as President (which is, of course, hyperbole). We're all too busy arguing about the war and bashing each other for obviously lacking in patriotism (funny how both sides of THAT argument make the same claims), or lapses in moral fiber, or whatever. But I'm done wondering about that one for now. Now it's "Is anyone in Congress paying attention?" Bush Defies Hundreds of Laws According to this Boston Globe story, he's got a very simple solution to any conflicts with Congress. He'll just ignore any law he disagrees with, 'cause he's the President. I used to mock him for his apparent stupidity. Then I stopped, since I realized that was a mask for more insidious things. Not that I think he's a very bright man… the most he'll likely get from me is "cunning." But he does ...