Vegas, Baby

While I'd like to claim that I wasn't posting all weekend because I was working on my script like a madman, actually the Wife and I went to Vegas, to meet up with my parents. My dad had never been there before, and I think I turned him into a slot jockey.

Otherwise, there isn't much to report, other than the fact that technology is ruining Vegas. Everything is now just as much about selling you overpriced stuff as it is taking your money at the tables -- though there is a monorail running up the strip, just to get to a monorail station involves running a gauntlet of about a half-mail of shops, and then when you get off you have to run another gauntlet to get back to the strip. Plus it costs $3 a ride; if you are with a group of 3 or more, it's cheaper and a lot easier just to grab a taxi.

But the worst is the slot machines (file this under "Important Stuff To Know If You Are Writing a Vegas Script".) Only a few casinos now even have slot machines that take or dispense coins any more; they only take bills, and if you do cash out you get a slip of paper to redeem at the cashier. With the exception of a few casinos, there is no longer the satisfying sight of a stream of coins plunking into the tray at the bottom of a machine; instead, when the slip of paper prints out, the machine tries to fake this same sound, badly and shamelessly.

So if a waitress asks you "Is that a roll of quarters in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?" it's probably the roll of quarters, stuck in your pocket because there are no longer any machines to put them into. Call it the blanding-out of gambling.