Vegas Saturday Night Strip

The view from Bill's Casino parking garage on Saturday night 11:15.

A fight was held, the Kentucky Derby ran, Seinfeld was at Caesars and Conan was at the Palms.

The weather was nice and people were out walking in a mild breeze.

Belated Earth Day Tribute to Michael Jackson

1.2010 Grammy Tribute to Michael Jackson with his Earth Song, 2. Michael and Paris walking thru Wynn Las Vegas, 3. Salute to Our Oceans Song, 4. 2009 Mississippi River Oil Spill Song, 5. Oiled Birds, 6. Jackson Five at the Sahara 1974 singing Dancing Machine

Earth Song Lyrics

What about sunrise
What about rain
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain...
What about killing fields
Is there a time
What about all the things
That you said was yours and mine...

Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth its weeping shores?

What have we done to the world?
Look what we've done.
What about all the peace,
That you pledge your only son?
What about flowering fields?
Is there a time?
What about all the dreams,
That you said was yours and mine?

Did you ever stop to notice,
All the children dead from war?
Did you ever stop to notice,
This crying Earth - its weeping shores?

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far


what about yesterday
What about the seas
The heavens are falling down
I can't even breathe
What about everything
I given you
What about nature's worth
It's our planet's womb
What about animals
We've turned kingdoms to dust
What about elephants
Have we lost their trust
What about crying whales
We're ravaging the seas

What about forest trails
Burnt despite our pleas
What about the holy land
Torn apart by creed
What about the common man
Can't we set him free
What about children dying
Can't you hear them cry
Where did we go wrong
Someone tell me why
What about baby boy
What about the days
What about all their joy
What about the man
What about the crying man
What about Abraham
What about death again
What about us
Do we give a damn

Photo Archeology Using Google Earth

GOOGLE EARTH'S HISTORY FUNCTION

Last week I posted some satellite images using the new Google Earth 'History Feature'. I was wondering exactly where the former Boardwalk Casino was located on the current City Center property. I'm getting more familiar with using Google Earth and wanted to show these slightly better comparison photos than the ones posted last week.

Click image for large view of this 2002 satellite photo. It shows the old Boardwalk Casino and surrounding properties. You'll be able to see the stick-pin markers by looking at the photo in a larger view. The stick-pins show the current location of City Center's driveway, Crystals Mall, the Mandarin Hotel, the front Veer Tower and the area that is now the covered Hawaiian Market Place.

By comparing the 2002 photo against the 2008 photo, you'll be able to see that the former Boardwalk actually occupied the current location of the Mandarin, the current City Center driveway and a bit of the area of the new Crystals Mall.

The center road-island divider makes the best reference marker for seeing the changes .

In the days ahead I'll post some satellite 'progression photos' that chronicle the development of the full City Center project using sat-images from 1965, and from each year from 2002-2008. I've finally been able to locate the sites of the Harmon and Cosmopolitan Hotels, as well as the exact location of the Eiffel Tower, etc.

Don't ask me why I care to know the exact locations of these things or why I care what occupied the spaces before now. I suppose I have an obsessed fixation - because for 13 years I've been trying to figure out the exact locations of the Last Frontier's swimming pool and the Dunes' driveway.

Little-by-little, using aerial photos and Google Earth's History Feature I might be able to quench my curiosity using this process I call "photographic archeology".

To view this photo properly, click on it for a larger view. It was taken from the Dunes Hotel's south-addition and looks south down the Strip (during the late 1970s).

The old Bonanza Hotel is seen at left. Part of Ballys' south-addition is now located on that spot. The current Eiffel Tower and the Arch of Triumph are marked in the former Churchill Downs' shopping center.

The old (1975) Aladdin Tower is seen further down (on left) as is the Marina Hotel (currently the west-wing of the 1993 MGM Grand). The 1975 Tiffany Tower at the Tropicana is seen further down (on left).

The empty lot, across from Tropicana (upper right) is where the Excalibur is now located. I've marked the general area of the current City Center, Crystals' Mall, the Harmon Hotel and Cosmopolitan (on the right) just beyond the former Denny's and the Oasis gas station.

Using Google Earth's History Feature

For me to make any sense out of certain Google satellite photos I first go to Google Earth and type in "Las Vegas Nevada". Google automatically zooms into a view of Las Vegas. I then look for the airport (because its one of the easiest things to recognize) then I zoom into the Strip using the 'plus sign +' on the controls on the top right of every Google Earth view.

You can easily move the photo around in any direction. Then I click on the 'clock icon' which opens up the 'History Feature' (seen at upper left in this photo). I zoom in and find landmarks I recognize (for example, the Paris Hotel's Eiffel Tower). Then I click the 'Thumbtack Icon' and place markers on various locations.

After the 'stick-pin markers' are placed I then move the 'History Slider' backwards (to the left). Most of the years from 2002-2008 are represented, as are the years 1977, 1965 and 1950. The 1950 images are actually more clear than the 1977 images (mainly due to the 1977 views being taken from farther away by a lower resolution satellite camera than the 1950 aerial images).

In this case I first placed markers showing about 17 reference points. The main thing for me was to first locate the Harmon Hotel. From there I could move backwards in time to see what location the Harmon was built upon. During the 'Time Shifting' I keep the camera position in the same location to avoid getting myself confused.

This is the view from 1977. The Tropicana/Aladdin and Dunes golf courses can be seen. The Flamingo Hotel is at mid-bottom and the Dunes is diagonally above it.

The 1965 view of the same portion of The Strip.

1950 aerial-imagery of The Las Vegas Strip. Flamingo is at the bottom. Notice the harsh looking desert-wash that formerly ran directly thru the current area of the New York New York Hotel.

The use of Google's History Feature can be beneficial to geologists, developers and others in lots of ways possibly not yet thought of.

Harmon Hotel Site - Before and After

This is the former view of the Harmon Hotel site as seen in 2004.

2008 view of the Harmon Hotel.

The Future of Googling Earth

Next week I'll show some good satellite views of the entire City Center property.

In the years ahead - Google Earth will likely be providing us with extreme high-definition satellite images, as well as full-motion videos. Whether or not that's a good thing, we'll eventually see.

Imagine ten years from now, being able to look back into a full-motion past to be able to see cars driving and people walking in the years 2015 or 2019. We'll be able to think of a thousand uses for these advancements in computer and satellite technologies.

Quite possibly, during a morning hangover, we'll be able to use Google Earth to answer the age-old question: "Dude, where'd I park my car". Plus, we'll be able to watch our spouse drive to work or spot our kids at the school playground. For good or bad, such things are coming soon.

Funniest Las Vegas Movie of the 1980s

Lookin' To Get Out - 1982

Lookin' to Get Out is a buddy-film about two guys from New York who lose $10,000 to some hoods and then decide to go to Vegas to win enough money to pay back their debt.

They con their way into a high-roller suite at the MGM Grand (now Ballys) then find a gambling partner to try winning at blackjack for them.

At he end of the movie someone walks away with $432,000 in cash that gets carried out of the casino in a plain, paper shopping bag, without even a security escort, to be divied up in the MGM's driveway.

I actually like this movie a lot, simply because I enjoy watching Jon Voight and Burt Young giggle, which they do thru almost the entire thing. Lots of reviewers give this movie a very low rating - saying it has a weak story line and that the plot is implausible. Well, they can say what they want but I, for one, like seeing implausible and funny gambling stories.

During the 1970s, actor Jon Voight had starred in a string of successful movies like Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance, Conrack, and Coming Home (for which he received the 1978 Best Actor Academy Award).

In the early eighties Voight had a lot of clout with the movie studios and was able to find sufficient backing for this project of his. He was also able to get two of Hollywood's best film-makers on board; movie director Hal Ashby (the director of Coming Home) and cinematographer Haskell Wexler .

I won't recommend this film to anybody, simply because everyone has different tastes in comedy. But, if you're interested in film-making or the history of Las Vegas then this movie does have certain things worth seeing...like Hal Ashby's editing skills and his ability to direct actors without even giving them any advice on how to act (a trait of non-interference that Ashby was known for).

For Las Vegas historians, the movie shows some good glimpses of the original MGM Grand and a good drive down the Strip from the Dunes to the Boardwalk.

Burt Young plays Voight's long-time buddy Jerry. Ann-Margret plays Patti, Jon's ex-girlfriend and mother of his (unknown to him) child. Richard Bradford plays Bernie Gold, owner of the MGM.

This is a great ensemble cast. Astrologically speaking it's a good mix of compatible signs with two Earth signs (Taurus' Burt and Ann) Earth sign (Capricorn Jon Voight) Earth sign director (Virgo Hal Ashby) and the two Water sign leading actors: Smitty (played by Pisces Bert Remsen) and Bernie (Scorpio Richard Bradford).

"What they're doing is insane... immoral...and working!"

Jon Voight's real-life daughter (Angelina Jolie) makes her movie debut at age six towards the end of this movie when Ann-Margret introduces her to Jon.

The actual film-clip of Angelina's scene is in the video-player down below.

Jon, Angelina and her brother Pax.

Angelina Jolie (born June 4, 1975) and her mother Marcia Lynne Bertrand (May 9, 1950 – January 27, 2007). Angelina gives her (former actress) mother full-credit for her interest in acting (not her father). Angelina went on to achieve her film breakthrough in the late nineties movies,: Hackers, Gia and Girl Interrupted (for which she won the 1999 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress). Marcia and Jon were married from 1971-1976.

The Films of Jon Voight and Young Angelina Jolie

1. Looking to Get Out - Coffee Shop scene, 2. Looking to Get Out - Blackjack scene, 3. Looking to Get Out - Leaving MGM scene, 4. Young Angelina and Jon at the Academy Awards, 5. Midnight Cowboy - Movie Preview, 6. Midnight Cowboy - Opening scene, 7. Midnight Cowboy - Coffee Shop with Ratso, 8. Midnight Cowboy - Strictly for Fags scene, 9. Midnight Cowboy - Ending, 10. Angelina and Dad, 11. Angelina Jolie - Story of My Life, 12. Angelina - 2007 Alexander

Film Director - Hal Ashby

1929-1988

Being Hal Ashby - The 2009 Biography

Photography by Erik Wunstell Copyright © 1975-2010

One of my photos from the 1975 Bound for Glory movie set. Hal Ashby is seen in the middle of the photo in the director's chair. Haskell Wexler is behind the main Panavision camera at left. Haskell's son, the sound engineer Jeff Wexler is seen seated (at left with headphones).

Hal Ashby and Haskell Wexler

Hal Ashby started in Hollywood as an assistant film editor in the mid-1950s and worked on several major movies:

The Big Country

Diary of Anne Frank

The Young Doctors

Captain Sinbad

The Best Man

The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Cincinnati Kid

The Russians Are Coming

In the Heat of the Night

The Thomas Crown Affair

In 1970 Ashby switched from film-editing to work as the full-fledged director of:

The Landlord

Harold and Maude

The Last Detail

Shampoo

Bound for Glory

Coming Home

Being There

Spend the Night Together

8 Million Ways to Die

Hal Ashby and Haskell Wexler worked together on the 1964 movie The Best Man, then Heat of the Night and Thomas Crown. They would work together again in 1975 on Bound for Glory (for which Haskell received his second Oscar for best Cinematography) and worked together again on Lookin' to Get Out.

Haskell Wexler started in Hollywood as an assistant cameraman for The Ozzie and Harriet TV Show. He went on to do some notable documentary work and was the Director of Photography for:

Stakeout on Dope Street

The Savage Eye

The Hoodlum Priest

America, America

Virginia Woolf

In the Heat of the Night

Thomas Crown Affair

Medium Cool

American Graffiti

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Bound for Glory

Days of Heaven

Mulholland Falls

Haskell won the 1966 Academy Award for his black and white camera work on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

The Films of Hal Ashby

1. Hal Asby Film & Book Review, 2. Films of Hal Ashby, 3. Shampoo - Hair Salon scene, 4. Shampoo - Beatty and young Carrie Fischer, 5. Last Detail - Nicholson Bar scene, 6. Coming Home - Voight & Fonda Husband scene, 7. Bound for Glory, 8. Cicinnati Kid Trailer, 9. Cincinnati Kid - Poker Game, 10. Thomas Crown Affair, 11. Heat of the Night- Trailer, 12. Diary of Anne Frank, 13. The Russians Are Coming, 14. Captain Sinbad - Trailer, 15. Rolling Stones movie, 16. 8 Million Ways to Die opening, 17. 8 Million - Jeff Bridges Bar scene

Click any slide for more Hal Ashby film info from Amazon.com

Angelina Jolie Poster Store

Is Steve Wynn Leaving Las Vegas?

Please allow a few seconds for this video to load to see NBC's Channel 3 local news report of Steve Wynn's CNBC interview and local reaction from Jan Jones and UNLV's Dr. David Schwartz.

Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, for reasons usually unknown to everyone else. Goodbye Mr Wynn.

How to Try Getting Your Money Back from a Casino

7 minutes and 50 seconds of the casino scene from the 1985 Albert Brooks comedy 'Lost in America'. The story of two Yuppies who decide to quit their jobs to tour America in a Winnebago. Along the way they pass thru Las Vegas and lose their nest egg.

This movie was voted 84th in the American Film Institute's Top American Comedy Films of all time, #80 in Bravo's list of 100 funniest movies and received a 96 rating from 24 Rotten Tomatoes' Website reviewers.

These two video clips (below) are fairly funny and add to this blog's study of Las Vegas in Pop-Culture.







Lost in America DVD - Amazon.com