Saturday, March 07, 2009

Viva Las Vagrants

Angus and I are both in the land of the "What the F***?", for the Public Choice Society meetings.

Not just the usual bad suits and autism. You can see those at ANY academic conference.

No, I mean Vegas itself.

When you see this.....
Yes, that is a Denny's, right between Madame Tusaud's and Harrah's. Breakfast for the masses.

And this:

That's Bill Shughart, Ed in Chief of Public Choice, and Nick Philipson, Springer Senior Editor for Business and Economics. In front of a store called "Theory." WTF? (though, es verdad, Shoogie necesita mas teoria, ahora mismo). Note the mannequin. I think she has had PLENTY of theory.

Tonight: The Angus - Mungowitz summit dinner, at Chinois, then off to see Ray Romano's and Kevin James' comedic stylings. I predict: fun. Also always nice to see the lovely and charming Ms. Angus. Angus made the arrangements. And though we disagree on some things, I am happy to be in his capable hands on scheduling. He is psychotic about getting things right, and in terms of taste, I must admit that he is a recreational genius. It took me a while to admit this, since many people who CALL themselves "recreational genius" are just rank poseurs. But Angus is the real deal.

Another WTF treat: Giant flying saucer building with nothing under it. In the picture it looks pretty big, but in person it looks much bigger, and even more pointless.

Finally, a WTF lagniappe: when you walk on the strip, right between the Venetian and Ceasar's Palace, there is a long line of Latino men and women, wearing matching t-shirts that say, "GIRLS! Direct to you! 20 minutes to your room."

They are snapping little pornographic cards and trying to give them to everyone who walks by. There are 20 or so people, standing shoulder to shoulder, trying to sell "girls." And the ground is littered, at both ends of the line, with all the little cards. Printed on the cards are some pretty remarkably tasteless poses of women wearing...well, nothing. The strangest sales campaign I have ever seen. But, presumably, they get enough customers to make it pay. Ick.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got some of those escort cards one time, and for fun put them on church vans around town.

Anonymous said...

When you have a product that's in demand, it doesn't matter if your advertising sucks.

And you mean to tell me that a bunch of PhDs actually chose to stay at the Imperial Palace? Was the reasoning there to avoid actually enjoying your trip in order to focus on the PC meetings?

Tom said...

My wife and I went to Vegas last spring. So, there I am, walking down the street, holding hands with Barbara... those Mexican are STILL trying to hand me a "girl in 20 mins." card.

Anonymous said...

Is there still a Subway in Casino Royale - the same building as the Dennys. The wife and I spent most of an afternoon in there a few years ago.

http://www.casinoroyalehotel.com/

has a good map of the strip.

Anonymous said...

The latino pimps are very persistent. I have been to Vegas several times with the wife, and as Tom's experience shows, they will still keep trying to put them in your hand even though you are with someone.

Just for giggles one time the wife and I accepted everything that was given us on the walk from Harrah's to Caesar's. We ended up with 120 pieces of advertising, so then I organized them by unit price (as in 2 girls for $150 an hour is better than one girl at $100 per hour) and then the wife and I started rating the merits of the 'offer'. We did not contact any of these entrepeneurs, merely used the marketing materials as comedy fodder, and then left them at the breakfast buffet the next morning. I love Austin's idea though, when I go again to Vegas in May I will have to try that.

Review Daddy said...

Nice

Brown Suit said...

Thanks for this post,That flying saucer is to huge I can't imagine.