Wednesday, April 22, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

Howdy, everyone. I’ve posted the photos for the Celtic Festival and Highland Games held this past weekend here in Las Vegas. I guess nagging does work because I didn’t watch TV tonight so these photos would be posted and I wouldn’t have to eat crow tomorrow. That’s right, I missed “Lost” and “Ghost Hunters” for you, Tina and Lisa. Thank God for DVR. Click here to view the photo page.

Just a few other things of note. There’s a rumor going around that there is lawsuit against Twilight series writer Stephenie Meyer from her college roommate claiming that Twilight is based on a short story she wrote in college at BYU. Rest easy because the lawsuit isn’t true and the hoax is certainly not affecting the filming of the next movie in the series, New Moon. In other Twilight news, SciFi posted a photo of the new members of the Quileute wolf pack on their web site (see below).

Photo from SciFi.com. Pictured left to right: Paul (Alex Meraz), Sam (Chaske Spencer), Jared (Bronson Pelletier) and Embry (Kiowa Gordon).

Wow, I definitely cannot wait for that movie to come out now! New Moon will be out in November closely followed by the next installment in the series, Eclipse. They are wasting no time making preparations.

In other vampire news, SciFi has posted a teaser clip for season 2 of “True Blood“, starring Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer. If you haven’t seen “True Blood” and you love the genre, it’s time to get on the bandwagon! It’s a great series, not kid-friendly or for the faint of heart mind you. “True Blood” is so great I even forgive writer/producer Raelle Tucker for leaving “Supernatural“. =]

I’ve read all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels and I can’t wait for the adventure to continue on HBO. I’m not usually into blondes but I have to say, I love the norse vampire character, Eric Northman, who is played by Alexander Skarsgård on the show. Charlaine Harris‘ next Stackhouse novel, Dead and Gone, comes out May 19. I’ve already pre-ordered on Amazon.

Time to walk the dog and go to bed. Talk to you soon.

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Monday, April 20, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

It is a happy Monday for me. Today marks the end of the first class of my Master’s degree. Yeah! Only nine more classes to go! The next one starts tomorrow. If I don’t take any breaks in between I should be done by mid May 2010. This class didn’t wipe me out too much so I think I can make it.

I’m downloading pictures from my camera as I type so I may actually post some of last year’s travel photos here this week. I haven’t down loaded my photos in a while so there were 1121 to download! iPhoto’s been chugging along for a few minutes, so I think I’m going to have to keep up with that better in the future.

I took a bunch of photos at the Las Vegas Celtic Festival and Highland Games yesterday so I’ll have to post some of those as soon as I get them ready. I had a great time. There’s something serene and wonderful about bagpipes. I’ve always liked the sound of them. There was some good food too. I had the best lamb stew on the planet at the McFadden’s Restaurant & Saloon booth. Okay, I concede may be exaggerating just a little bit, but it was really good. McFadden’s is located at the Rio Resort and Casino in case you want to sample some for yourself. I didn’t get to do the mead tasting. It was just as well considering it was 87 degrees. I’m a lightweight anyway, so blistering heat and inebriation would not have mixed well for me.

On another note, I wanted to let you guys know that I’m participating in the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Southern Nevada Race for the Cure® on May 2. If you’re feeling charitable or just want to check out more info, visit my race page at
http://race.komensouthernnevada.org/goto/alexandria.harper. I’ll be doing the 5K walk–no runnin’ for me. I leave that to my more adventurous friends.

Just a quick follow up to my previous post Is Vegas Bust?… The unemployment rates are in for March and Nevada’s rate went up .1 points to 10.4%. I hope this economic hailstorm clears up soon because Nevada’s getting pummeled!

Last, but not least, I know that the last couple of email notification didn’t include the link for my blog post. I’m going to blame gremlins. To attempt to alleviate this issue I’ve switched the notifications from Plain Text to HTML format, which give you the whole post anyway. If you don’t like this format let me know and I’ll change it.

That’s all for tonight. Catch you later!

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Thursday, April 16, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

These two things are not directly related, unless Gerard Butler decides to show up at CineVegas. We can only hope!

The Las Vegas Celtic Society is sponsoring their annual Celtic Gathering and Highland Games this weekend, April 18-19, 2009 at Floyd Lamb State Park in Tule Springs. There will be games, entertainment, booths and, best of all, men in skirts. Ah, there’s nothing like watching a burly kilt-wearing Scot toss a caber (that’s a wooden pole for those of you non-Celts).  A few friends and I plan to be in attendance on Sunday. Come on out and join us!

The CineVegas Film Festival has posted the 2009 festival lineup. I wasn’t able to attend last year. Maybe I’ll find some time to check out a couple movies. There are a few that look interesting including the opening night film Saint John of Las Vegas.  It’s got a great cast including Steve Buscemi, Sarah Silverman and John Cho. Mercy, Patriotville, 500 Days of Summer, Adam and Moon look like they’re worth checking out too.

It’s Thursday so I’m going to go watch some TV. Catch you later!

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

As you well know, today is last day to file your tax return without penalty. All you procrastinators get online and file your return or shoot on down to the Post Office and snail mail that puppy before midnight tonight or the government’s gonna come a-knockin’.

Speaking of procrastinators, did you know that Las Vegas is the number 10 city for tax procrastinators? As if we don’t have enough dubious honors. For the record, I am not one of them. I filed way back in February. I knew I was getting money back so why wait? Of course it went straight to my credit card bill. I’m still paying off the air conditioner I had to buy when my out-of-warranty decades-old unit died last July. Perhaps the reason why Las Vegans are so reluctant to file their taxes early is most of them owe Uncle Sam. I don’t blame them for waiting if that’s the case!

On to some TV news…

There’s been some more speculation regarding TV cancellations in past few days. Entertainment Weekly’s web site has stated that “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is terminated. There’s still no official word yet from Fox.

Joss Whedon was interviewed at the Paley television festival in L.A. this week. First, let me give a shout out to my friends from Whedonopolis who are attending the event. Now, on to what Joss had to say…

He’s hopeful Fox will renew “Dollhouse” but because of what he calls “soft” ratings it doesn’t look good. I don’t know if you heard but Fox decided not to air the 13th episode of “Dollhouse”, opting to add it to the DVD release in July as an exclusive bonus feature. I’m sort of bummed about that because I just learned that Felicia Day from “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog” is a guest star in the episode titled “Epitaph One”. If the show does get cancelled, maybe they should just rename the episode “Epitaph” and call it a day.  Fox is counting on we loyal Whedon fans will shell out the money and buy the DVD set just to see the lost episode. What they don’t realize is we’ll buy it anyway; there’s no reason to pull a cheesy stunt like that. It’s akin to Sci Fi splitting the Battlestar Galactica seasons up and naming them like they’re a software update; or worse releasing one of the made-for-TV movies on DVD and then including them with the next season release six months later. Argh!

Now all we have to look forward to from Joss is the release next February of his foray into the horror movie genre The Cabin In The Woods. He says it’s about halfway through filming and it’s “going to be gorgeous”. I hope so, brother… I hope so.

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Saturday, April 11, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

The regular TV seasons are almost over, some already are, and with sweeps coming around the bend TV fans are starting to chew their nails at the prospect of cancellation for their fave shows.

“Life” and “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” both had their season finales this week and there is speculation (see here and here) that it will be their last. Personally I’m bummed about that; I like both of those shows and “Terminator” has particularly stepped up to the storytelling plate this year. The finale of “Life” rounded out the story nicely, but “Terminator” left me wanting more. However, it’s not about how good a show is or what we, as fans, want, it’s about how a show performs in the ratings. Strictly based on ratings these two shows are goners.

Let’s talk about some Joss Whedon alumni and the state of their shows. Two of the shows are in the Monday line-up on NBC and ABC respectively.

Adam Baldwin is why I started watching “Chuck” but the total sum of the show is why I keep coming back for more. The whole world stops at 8 p.m. on Mondays (and Thursdays but I’ll get to that later). I record all of the shows I watch on my DVR. You know a show is good when I can’t wait for it to DVR before viewing! That’s right, I’m willing to suffer through commercials for “Chuck”–I love it that much. Word is “Chuck” may be on the chopping block despite critical acclaim and average ratings. You may have Jay Leno to blame for that. Hopefully another show will take the fall (Law & Order has run long enough!).

Nathan Fillion’s new show “Castle” started out strong but hasn’t performed well lately in spite of the fact that it’s awesome. I think that has something to do with the time slot; 10 p.m. is late for us hardworking people, although I have been watching “Castle” live since it debuted. I really hope ABC gives this show a chance. If you haven’t checked it out you should catch up on the show at ABC’s web site.

Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku’s “Dollhouse” has seen poor ratings too. Is that Friday night time-slot really cursed (“Firefly” and “Dark Angel” anyone)? While adding in DVR numbers ups the ante slighty for “Dollhouse,” it’s not doing well enough. Granted, I don’t feel as married to this show as previous Whedon fare. There is a lack of Whedon’s trademark humor and a darker feel, but the last few episodes have been really good–last night’s in particular. So what if “Dollhouse” wasn’t a great show from the start? With only 3 episodes left, I won’t be surprised if Fox cuts its losses on “Dollhouse”, just a bit sad for Joss. I hope he’ll take the hint and jump over to the CW or maybe even one of the NBC-Universal cable networks. He could do so much more if he wasn’t hogtied by network TV executives.

I’ll keep you guys posted if (or when) the official axe comes down.

On a lighter note, “Smallville” and “Supernatural” received early pick-ups last month. I was disappointed in “Smallville” last season but this season has been really great, and not just because hunky Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) is a regular. =] The storytelling has improved over last season and I have to say I don’t miss Lana or Lex that much (sorry Kristin and Michael). “Supernatural” is my favorite show on television right now. It just keeps getting better and better. Last week’s episode, “The Monster at the End of This Book” was awesome! You gotta love a show that doesn’t mind poking fun at itself. The only thing I have to complain about is that the CW won’t be showing another new episode of my Thursday night boys until April 23. I’m seriously going into withdrawal!

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Sunday, April 5, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

1. We’ve got the space for any sized event
Las Vegas is home to 9.8 million square feet of exhibit space and three of the top 10 convention centers in the United States are right here. The Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) alone has 2.3 million square feet and is home to some of the biggest convention events in the country, including the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and construction industry convention CONEXPO/CONAGG. If the LVCC doesn’t strike your fancy, there’s always the Sands Expo and Convention Center (1.8 million sq. ft.), Mandalay Bay Convention Center (1.7 million sq. ft.) or countless other hotels and casinos that offer meeting rooms for conventions great and small.

2. Experienced staff
Conventions are big business for Las Vegas. An average of over 22,000 meetings and conventions are held here every year. That means the staff at all of the venues in town know how to help you make your convention or meeting a success.  Many of the major players in the convention industry have corporate or district offices in town, which means corporate office staff knowledgeable of local information and hands-on customer service at your venue of choice.

3. Plenty of places to stay
Need a room? No problem, we’ve got over 140,000 of them, most of them are in hotels that resemble small cities and offer every accommodation you can imagine. Now is the time to book too. Many of the hotels are running great specials now  to lure back the tourism and convention industry. For instance, The Orleans Hotel and Casino, one of my favorite local casinos is offering $34 a night May 25-28 if you book online. The Red Rock Hotel and Casino (I see A LOT of movies there) is offering a Dinner and a Movie package that includes one night of deluxe accommodations, two movie tickets, two buffet passes for around $100. And when they say deluxe, they aren’t kidding. I’ve stayed at the Red Rock and was extremely impressed with the accommodations. Swanky and affordable!

4. Beautiful weather
With average temperatures in the mid-60s, super low humidity and 320 days of sunshine a year, Vegas’ is a great place to hold a convention. No worrying about rain delays! The winters are mild and the summer weather is tolerable. Las Vegans love their weather and it’s one of the major reasons why we live here. Make it one of the reasons you visit us!

5. We can get you where you’re going
Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport is one of the busiest in the nation, with flights from over 130 cities, many of them non-stop. And once you’re here, you can get around town by taxi, bus or monorail. Many of the larger conventions offer shuttle bus services from major hotels to the convention centers for the convenience of the convention attendees.

6. Activities galore
The nightlife in Las Vegas may have given the town a bad rap but there is plenty of other things to do in town that are less lascivious. If you’re traveling with your family, check out the Lied Children’s Discovery Museum (it’s fun for adults too), The Springs Preserve or the Adventuredome at Circus Circus. There are great places to explore near Las Vegas too. Visit Hoover Dam, Bonnie Springs, the Valley of Fire State Park or the Red Rock National Conservation Area or even take a drive to Death Valley National Park. Not everything is expensive, either. You can come to Vegas and stay within your budget. Check out this list of 25 Free Things to Do in Las Vegas.

Statistics courtesy of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Authority.

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Sunday, April 5, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

If you were ever in doubt about the power of the Presidential office, what I’m about to discuss will convince you. One off-hand, irresponsible comment has set off a chain of reaction so severe that our city is in jeopardy. [Please note that “irresponsible” pertains to the comment made only. No mail bombing me for saying Obama is an irresponsible president, and if you do you’re only proving the point I’m trying to make in this post.]

On February 9, 2009, President Barack Obama was speaking at a town hall meeting in Indiana about the state of the economy and, specifically, the role of financial institutions in its downturn. He chastised the institutions involved in the Bail-Out and stated that they shouldn’t take trips to “Las Vegas…or…the Superbowl on the taxpayer’s dime”. He also called for them to practice “accountability and responsibility”.

As a taxpayer, I agree wholeheartedly with companies focusing on accountability and responsibility for their actions and, above all, not wasting my hard-earned money. Also, I do not dispute that American public have misinterpreted what President Obama said. Somehow, his statement regarding the misappropriation of funds by troubled financial institutions became “stop going to Vegas for any reason whatsoever.” Clearly, that is not what Obama meant to happen, but the average American isn’t going to examine what he said closely. They take what the President says as gospel and if he says, “don’t go to Las Vegas,” they’re going to drop this city like a hot potato. He’s new to game and we all make mistakes. However, he should know that most people regard the President as an authority on all subjects, faulty logic or no.

The sad fact is that our city was singled out in the statement and our major sources of revenue, tourism, conventions and meetings, thrown into suspicion. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman felt so strongly that he penned a letter the very next day asking for an apology. He later rescinded the request stating he was satisfied that the word is out there and that the President wasn’t trying to “disparage Las Vegas”.

On March 12, the White House issued a “clarification” stating that the President recognizes the importance of business travel to the tourism industry and encourages business travel for meetings. According to Metro Networks Communications, Obama is also planning a trip to Vegas for a fundraiser for Senator Harry Reid during which he is expected to talk about “talk about the importance of leisure and business travel.”

I commend him for making an effort; however, I don’t think Harry Reid is the path to winning back the hearts and minds of Las Vegans. I personally wouldn’t align myself with him. I’ve met the guy and I would say you’d be hard pressed to locate a more arrogant, self-interested waster of taxpayers money. Chalk it up to Obama’s newness once again. But I digress…

Now, we must ask ourselves, is it too little too late? Is the damage is already done? Some damage is evident at least.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that 340 conventions have been cancelled in the last 90 days, costing our city $131.6 million in non-gambling projected revenue. What does that mean? More than just trouble for our economy, it means that thousands of people are going to lose their jobs.

As of February, the unemployment rate in Nevada was already at a staggering 10.1 percent. The last time it was that high was 1983 due to the recession in the early 1980s.

So what can we do to turn it around? Get the word out and I’m about to give you the ammunition in my next post. I’m splitting the post because this one is long enough and I’d like to highlight the next individually.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 by Alexandria Harper.

I know it’s April Fool’s Day, but I’m not the jokester type. No foolin’ going on here.

Oh, and by the way, I’m not playing hooky. I’m at home waiting to work on my team assignment that’s due today. I need all the pieces and parts from everyone else before I can put all of them together with my  pieces and parts. Sounds dirty but it’s not…moving on.

I am sad to report that Andy Hallett best known to Joss Whedon fans as Lorne on “Angel” passed away from a heart attack last week at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. He was only 33. I know he suffered heart problems for a while but we will certainly miss him.

On a more personal note, my friend Peggy Zellner passed away Saturday in her sleep. For those who didn’t know her, Peggy was a Naturopathic Doctor who also held gatherings each Tuesday at her office, Reflexology Management, in Las Vegas. Peggy was a bright light in this world and everyone whose life she touched will sorely miss her. Here’s to you, Peggy! See you on your next journey, my friend.

That’s the sad stuff, on to the glad…

Buffy alum Alyson Hannigan received the best birthday present ever on March 24— baby girl Satyana. How cool is that they’ll share the same birthday? Congrats to Alyson and her actor hubby Alexis Denisof (also from “Buffy” and “Angel”)!

Happy Birthday, Debbie Reynolds! She turns 77 today. “Singing in the Rain” is one of my all-time favorite movies so I feel the need to tip my virtual hat to Ms. Reynolds. Rotten Tomatoes recently interviewed her and I was pleased to find out that she hasn’t let the passing of years slow her down. She’s still touring and making the media rounds promoting the Warner Bros. movie archive collection.

I highly recommend checking out the interview. She’s a delight.

Until next time, kids.

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