Powered by glolg
Display Preferences Most Recent Entries Chatterbox Blog Links Site Statistics Category Tags About Me, Myself and Gilbert XML RSS Feed
Wednesday, Apr 10, 2024 - 21:53 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

What Happens Stays


Back on the water


Las Vegas isn't known as the entertainment capital of the world for naught, even neglecting the greyer areas, and a room at the Mirage (soon to be rebranded as the Hard Rock Las Vegas, as part of a native reclamation project) made for a centralized base to explore the Strip. Choosing how to spend one's nights wasn't easy with the myriad hit shows on offer, so it went:
  • Shin Lim: Limitless - with guest mentalist, Colin Cloud. The pianist-turned-magician made his name on America's Got Talent! (twice), and one could only be inspired by his impeccable technical execution throughout, of the card tricks, slightly stilted patter aside. Part of the fun (to me at least) is trying to figure out - or spot - the execution, given that there has to be a logical explanation behind it all (which we may get to about other real-life events, eventually)

    Well, for the low, low price of US$55 (and a metric ton of practice in front of the mirror), you too can shift the colour of an entire deck of cards from blue to red with just a little preparation, just like Shin!

    As for the mentalist feats, the easiest way to accomplish those (such as guessing one's birthday) would be with audience plants, but from how a couple on my kayaking trip mentioned that they had been picked (and wowed), I suppose he's legit on that end. They did suspect that the information had been picked up (via camera?) when one party wrote it down beforehand, though!

  • David Blaine: Impossible - there are some table tricks here too, specifically the torn-and-restored banknote routine and an audience participation group card force at the end, but Blaine's specialty is in having actually put in the (physical) work; sure most magicians can make a card disappear, but how many of them are going to gradually drill a hole through their bicep as part of their setup, or train their esophagus to the extent that they can regurgitate frogs on demand?

  • The Beatles LOVE - my first Cirque Du Soleil experience. Intimate theatre, strong theme of "four" throughout. Also ending in July, due to aforesaid Mirage redevelopment.

  • Absinthe - unabashedly billed as "the #1 greatest show in Las Vegas history". Definitely unabashed regardless. Can't say that the (pretty impressive) acrobatics overshadow Cirque's, for example, but the presenters are certainly... less restrained. Select audience reviews have described it as "for the lowest rung of society", "crass humour", "particularly revolting female sidekick" (who was the star of it all, really) "[who] shouts obscenities while doing her best take of a village idiot", which all adds up to some great good fun for the more open-minded. And hey, they picked on the Republicans.

The days saw some traipsing about the area, such as downtown at the Fremont Street Experience, the Mob/Neon Museums and the Pinball Hall of Fame, which brought back arcade memories at a quarter apiece. Basked in the majesty of a guardrail-less Grand Canyon for some hours too, with a seven-plus kilometre kayaking round trip to the Emerald Cove (which, truth be told, was far smaller than I had come to expect). Finally got to try out an AK47/MP5/Glock after many happy hours fragging (and being fragged by) classmates in Counter-Strike 1.6 from my high school days (I suppose the M4's not too different from the M16 in National Service), but noped out of putting up an additional hundred bucks for five Desert Eagle rounds (the game has a magazine of 7 .50 AE rounds at US$40, which appear to go for around US$2/ea in bulk); the bunny-hopping while quick-swopping the DE and AWP sniper rifle will have to wait for a future trip - possibly from a gunship - then!



comments (0) - email - share - print - direct link
trackbacks (0) - trackback url


Next: Closures, 新开始


Related Posts:
You Bet Your Life
Twilight Struggle Redux
Yes You Too
Moving In!
Tokyo Drifting
Back to top

Copyright © 2006-2024 GLYS. All Rights Reserved.