Really enjoyed this podcast. Please continue to do these interviews. I’d be interested in hearing from someone about the plans for Binions. Also it would be great to hear about the Plaza renovation and plans for Vegas Club. I’d even like to hear from someone at Landry’s about what’s next for the Nugget. Thanks.

However, I have a theory which may explain this redesign and why you may see quite a few like it from now on, and also why it feels like a step back 15 years. The answer is all in screen resolution and the rise of the iPad.

You’ll notice the new Wynn site doesn’t use flash (woohoo) and all the menus had large arrows with clear space around them to click (or touch in the case of the iPad). It’s obvious to me that the Wynn site has been redeveloped to allow for iPad users. The problem is that not only was it a ham-fisted job, but they also completely forgot about desktop users.
Bring the site up on your iPhone and that splash page looks about right (although who the hell uses splash pages anymore?) but open in on your desktop computer and it’s huge!

It’s sad that the digital experience has been so neglected really. It would be so easy to serve up a regular and mobile site depending on your platform. Someone, somewhere sold Wynn the new site as ‘modern’ by citing iPad use etc, but got so caught up in things, they forgot about the actual site design.
There are tons of great sites that do both standard broswer and mobile/tablet versions very well, Wynn should learn from them!

Best: The voters gave it to Bellagio, but it is not common to hear this among recreational poker players. The spacing between tables is too tight, the floor/manager service is on the poor side (although I’m hearing this is improving), comps are near nil (and hard to redeem once you get them), and the players aren’t easy to beat. The B has lost a lot of its poker luster over the past few years.

The editors gave it to Aria, and this is well-deserved. Known to be very player-friendly, with accommodating floors and dealers. They will spread any game that has enough interest and their twice-daily tournaments are known as some of the best values on the strip. Also, the high-roller Ivey room has pretty much taken over the higher-limit games from Bobby’s room at the Bellagio.

Worst: Excalibur. Yeah, that’s probably true. I’ve actually never played there, but I’ve heard it’s nit-filled and overall not very much fun. Good for beginners, but not very much else.

Tim, you mentioned Bally’s as a possible worst room but Bally’s is known as a fish tank, or to say in everyman parlance, a place which is easy to win. Its location next to the pit brings in random players, who usually aren’t the best. I’ve had some great sessions there, and I have an overall affinity for the room.

Btw, I also miss the holiday wished from Siegfrid and Roy.

Could have gone without that recall Sir.

But to Tim’s bewilderment at the enjoyment of watching a DJ just spinning records… a few comments:

1. It’s mostly about the dancing… a good DJ can really manipulate the crowd by building the beat and tempo over the course of the evening, backing off to give people time to rest, then surging again. It’s actually quite an artform and the best in the business are famous and wealthy for a reason.

2. Sometimes the stage show accompanying the DJing is quite entertaining… but see point 1 above.

3. Guys like Deadmau5, David Guetta, Kaskade, Martin Solveig, etc., started out as DJs spinning the works of others. But they’ve evolved into artists in their own right, building new works off of samples or sometimes even creating entirely new songs. “Ghosts N Stuff” is a Deadmaus original (youtube.com/watch?v=h7ArUgxtlJs ; video stars Deadmau5 at the beginning, being wheeled into the hospital). His collaboration with Kaskade, “Move for Me,” reached No.1 on Billboard magazine’s Hot Dance Airplay in 2008. (youtube.com/watch?v=ZQTedx7l8wg)

Hope that helps!

Tim’s rant against newspaper comic strips was on target as well. I’d like to plug the Comics Curmudgeon site for those who might enjoy a snarky take on the daily funnies.

http://www.clarionhotelvegas.com/

Post Debbie Reynolds it was the Greek Isles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarion_Hotel_and_Casino

Great show.

2 minute highlight reel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3nrTmCoISc

You probably have seen Robert Kelly. He was funnier when he was fatter. Go figure. Here’s a link. http://comedians.jokes.com/robert-kelly/videos/robert-kelly—video-games

Two hours on double speed to go!

I’ll be sure to leave a message in March when I sample my first Sinatra Smash before retiring in my room at the Flamingo – The one with a lot of pink, and a lot of wood.

Keep up the great work Tim and Michelle, thank you for making my Sunday nights that much more special when I listen to the podcast.

Curt Miller
Vancouver, BC

Five Hyundai Facebook Group

The cool thing is they contacted me to buy my footage of a Shadow Dancer I filmed a few years ago at Ceasars. Clip was only 40 seconds and if they air it, I get $200. They found it on YouTube.

So no matter how short, upload your clips!!

Anyone else feeling Vegasy this weekend?

http://tickets.fourqueens.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=47

Unfortunatly current dates do not match our upcoming trip, hopeing that they get extended into Feb.

I still have callers to listen to on my way to CES, but I may have to do that on normal speed.

Marc

I like the song so much I’d buy three copies.

God, it really hurts to be sincere for half a second. I have to go now so I can make fun of Apl.de.ap’s stupid haircut and restore a little order in my universe.

Like Michelle said, it’s hard to change perceptions about a place. It’s funny how many people say to me “I’d like to go to Vegas someday, but I am not a gambler/big gambler.” On my first trip I only gambled twice. On my second trip, I lost 40 bucks over the course of 8 days.

I think they are trying to make gambling sounds less “sinful” when they use “gaming.”

For casual places, I like BLT Burger and El Segundo Sol. There is now a pizza shop at Planet Hollywood called D’Amore’s Pizza that David and Alicia really liked. They used to be off strip, but they closed the off-strip location and opened this new one. I second the Planet Dailies suggestion.

Chicken booty!

Now about your musical taste, first you question one of the great bands of the early 60′s then you dare to doubt the quality of the best Beatle, comparing him unfavourably with that wimp from Minnesota, Prince or whatever his name is.

I object as vehamately as any Android user or Scotsman.

Boy you really hit it all last week. And BTW Cee Lo rewrting the words to the best protest song of all times to the exact opposite of its meaning is a travesty and I hope we never see him in Vegas.

To be honest, the show has been getting a little tame lately so I am glad you stirred things up.

Can’t wait till the anniversary show.

anf I had 120 free spins on the Dean Martin slot for a $96 bonus on a 40 cent spin, so there.

Dan

I can’t believe you would have the balls to conduct a show during the highest volume tourist traffic weekend of the year for Las Vegas.

This is extremely inconsiderate of the listeners of the podcast that were stuck in Las Vegas and unable to participate.

How dare you not give people fare warning that you are going to do this. It’s almost as if you just don’t care about your listeners.

Oh, and I was offended by your joking around about giving the Lions to the Lions Share winner. Obviously you are not aware of how difficult Lions would be to own, and what kinds of things are necessary to properly care for them. You should be ashamed of yourself at making jokes about Lions and dogs playing with one another.

Oh, and I know you were talking about me personally when you made fun of Scottish people. How dare you! Just because I like to eat Sheep stomachs filled with intestines and then boiled for 12 hours doesn’t mean that I’m beneath you! In fact, I’m so much better than you that I can point out your idiocy!

You just fucked up big time with your mixing the Scotts with the fucking Irish.

There are two types of people I hate in this world, people who are intolerant of other people’s cultures, and the fucking Irish.

It was a joke.

I don’t work for Apple marketing and thus whatever phone you want to use is your business – not my job to convince you of anything. You want to use Michael Douglas’ phone from Wall Street, more power to ya (ironically, wasn’t that a Moto phone, the Android maker becoming part of Google? I digress.)

There are lots of jokes on FHBM and I’m sure some of them bum some people out but that’s why the show is great – because it is funny.

Joke. Funny (or not I guess). Relax.

And yes, I am choosing not to do Android because I don’t like it *and* because several of my colleagues did it with their apps and never saw a return. ‘Free’ rules on Android but that’s not my business model. I watch the stats very closely as you might imagine.

Anyway, let’s not debate phones in Tim’s comments, okay?

Thanks for your support in the past, it is appreciated and I really mean that.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to work on my copy for next week – a treatise in support of Parabounce.

Cheers
Hunter

I used to have an iPhone I switched to Android, one app that I wish I had, up until recently, was Vegas Mate. Whenever someone I knew was going to Vegas I would tell them to buy Vegas Mate, because its a great tool. The same way I recommend this podcast to those same people.

But I don’t need to be made fun of in a segment of the show because I choose to use a certain device. Hunter is a talented APP maker and web designer, but don’t make an excuse for him saying that if the market was there an Android version would be made available. He has said that he is choosing not to do an Android version. Thats fine stick with what you know, but the stats are out there Android is slowly creeping up on IOS devices on the market. People aren’t being forced to use Android they are choosing to use it, the same way Hunter chooses not to develop an Android version of his software.

PS officially retiring this joke at the beginning of the year.

Best. Comment. Ever.

1. Are about to get on an escalator and then stop just before doing so, blocking others from getting on.
2. After riding an escalator, step off but don’t keep walking, instead having a look around.

Either way, move out of the fucking way. I’ve got a life to lead, cha-cha.

Advil is very rock n roll. You need it the morning after partying like a rockstar.

Speaking of “skank walls”, one of my pet peeves is people who walk slowly, multiple people deep, and stagger back and forth so you can’t pass them. It really annoys me when they haven’t even been drinking (but I have.) I just think “I have been drinking, and I can walk a straighter line than you.”

I also had a problem with dumbasses hanging out near the escalators on the same floor as Marquee. It’s like, “Are you retarded? You’re in everyone’s way.”

Arsenal 1 -0 Everton

Booooo to the result. Yay to a fellow EFC Fivehundy follower. COYB!

Also there is a (tenuous) Las Vegas tie in as Robert Earl of Earl of Sandwich and formerly PHo is an Everton director.

I nearly pissed myself in the car when you guys talked about this on your podcast.

Michele’s laugh was too funny. Laughed for days!

How can I get Michele’s laugh as a ringtone?

I haven’t done it myself although a number of my friends are into it. You can find more information at http://www.geocaching.com

BTW Looking at yesterday’s results, I think Chris in the UK might want his karma donation back….

Ringo Fucking Starr put together an EPIC touring band and has produced countless wonders of the musical variety since! He truly was the driving force of why the Beatles were successful. Remember, they weren’t shit until he joined the band. Afterwards? Instant stardom baby!

File Under Random Celebrity Sightings:

This last week I ran into Michio Kaku at the Bellagio. Totally geeked out. The sad part was, no one I was with even knew why I was geeking out or even who he was. I’m such a science nerd. That said, if I ever ran into Niel deGrass Tyson, I’d probably lose my shit like a 60′s schoolgirl at a Beatles concert.

And speaking of 60′s music, the Beach Boys were popular because they sold the dream, California filled with blue skies, surfing beaches, and convertible cars.

There’s a reason why there’s no band called the Tundra Troubadours that cracked the Top 250 because no one wants to hear songs about freezing your nuts off scraping ice off your windshield, holing up for the 10 month of winter there and smorgasbords. There’s just no dream there, just continuous thoughts of suicide.

That said, great show this week!

http://www.crappersquarterly.com/reviews/lasvegas.htm

I found RiRa to be bland mall type bar food kind of like an Irish Applebees or Chilis. When I visited the service was pretty slow. It did the trick and was better than waiting around 45 minutes for a table @ Burger Bar.

Dan

You know it’s going to happen to someone…

And, as mentioned previously, the sound quality was very good given the circumstances. Keep up the good work!

Were either of you naked during the interview? Because, it really was well done.

One time we went there because we had a coupon for a shot of tequila and a Corona for $2.50. The tequila was grayish-brown and tasted like mouthwash cut with turpentine, but we manned up and drank it anyway. As we were leaving I saw the south side of the marquee that advertised the regular price for a tequila and Corona…..three bucks.

Another late night we were playing $1 blackjack and started pissing off a regular by splitting tens, hitting 19, etc. He stormed out saying “It’s not funny….I play for a living!”

Another time a couple of guys on the corner made a vaguely threatening remark to our group of six. We kept walking and a heavy-set Mexican lady walked up to us and offered to “drop” the hooligans with pepper spray.

Good times.

Great Show… Thanks!

Its actually a very good move by the Wynn, while the details aren’t released yet, they just made XS and EBC the destination for club people from all over the world. He is considered the best electronic music artist out there. It would be like if Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga decided to set up shop in the Colosseum for an extended period of time. Pretty much all of his fans now know that he can be found in Vegas all year.

http://www.caesars.com/cybermonday/

Dead what…. I know I am old… but who the F would watch a guy in a mouse head spinning records!!!

I don’t think the Sapphire Pool was open 3 months in 2009 before it was shut down after the police rail.

I think camino means street, or road in Spanish. Ford started with the El Ranchero (The Ranch) in 1957, and Chevrolet followed in 1959 with El Camino (The Road). I wonder if Dos Caminos means 2 roads or 2nd Sreet?

I think they can use H, O, T, and L from the Hilton sign after they change the name. All they have to do now is get an obviously off-sized and colored E and they will do the cheapest changover of the iconic sign possible. Too bad. I love the Hilton. Greatest upside in Las Vegas, IMO. How a company screw themselves this completely with a Monorail stop, location next door to the Convention Center (including indoor passageway), unrivaled entrance and lobby, Star Trek (or sci-fi at the least) casino and Barry Manilow is beyond me!?

They are like cherished B sides, often overlooked. Also they ooze Vegas atmosphere.

Hope you guys had a winning trip!

http://www.talkvegas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/64778/Confessions_of_a_Rock_Star.html#Post64778

The farther you get south of CityCenter, the more the crowds start to thin out to a comfort level. Since fireworks shoot off starting at MGM (and I think Trop last year), you won’t miss anything.

- I’ve been to The Gun Store. It’s fun but expensive. I think it’s a buck a bullet, which add up really quickly when you’re smoking Osama with an AK-47.

- The hotel at Cosmo has a rewards program relationship with Marriott’s Marquee program but there’s no management relationship. The hotel is run (such as it is) by Unwin and his underlings, same as the casino.

- NYE – I’ve done this a few times… Hopefully you like people – I’ve never seen so many people in one place. You definitely want to plan your trip in advance – you’ll see restaurants and shows do special NYE events. The fireworks on The Strip are fun to watch but again, the masses are very hard to navigate. One good spot is the parking garage attached to The Mirage, though if the dude is staying at Aria, the top of their self-park might also work. Yes, they definitely do close off some hotels to non-guests. It’s pretty insane but if you’re prepared, you can have fun.

Viva.

Feel free to print this post as many times as you like.

That said, I think you should side against posting calls where someone goes on and on about how someone “deserves to be killed” and “should be shot” for something like an architecture decision. It sort of taints the person’s opinion to “whacko” and doesn’t fit the rest of your show.