R.I.P Paul Harvey; "The Rock," & Vegas On The Cheap
8:58 PM March 1, 2009
A trifecta of posts for you blog fans.
Here we go.
"The Rock's" teeth shine like pearls. You have to admire Dwayne Johnson, he has better made the transition from superstar athlete to superstar movie star, than just about anyone. Sorry, Shaq, any of us who saw "Shazam," know that is is not going to happen for you in front of the movie camera. But Dwanye is another story. He has made it work in action films, comedy and now family-action films in the new "Race to Witch Mountain."
And his teeth....his teeth are whiter than the brightest lights on Broadway. If he is using Crest-White Strips; they are best Crest-White Strips.
While I am writing this the Southwest flight attendant is having a massive fight with the guy in the row in front of my. He wants more vodka and the flight attendant won't serve him any more. "Sir, you are drunk. Would you like the police to meet you when you get off the plane,". I hate drama on planes especially.
Back to Dwayne. Maybe the lesson here is pure discipline, and super white teeth. On a day that filming began at 6 a.m....he was up at 3 a.m. for two hours in the gym. "My daily workout is my anchor, and I will not skip it." He told me. He also told a very funny story of a fan who wanted to take a picture of his arm. Not his face...not a picture with him and the fan...just a picture of his arm with a large Samoan based tattoo. I am not a fan of tattoos at all, but maybe when contrasted with those teeth it somehow works.
One other Dwayne note. He was wearing a watch I have long had my eye on; by a company called Panerai. These are somewhat large watches, very stylish; the first time I saw one Hugh Grant was sporting it. Anyway, I can't afford one; at around $4,000 I don't most anyone can afford one. I noticed Dwayne's and pointed it out. He said, "Sometimes you just have to treat yourself, go out and get one."
I think Dwayne has a little more economic optimism than I do.
And now, page three.
I love Las Vegas...and I especially love it now that at a time when we all have something in common --- do you know anyone who feels that they have any spare money, I don’t --- So now when we are all collectively broke, there has never been a better time to go.
Like the rest of the economy Vegas is facing challenges to be sure. You might have seen our coverage Monday Morning of the brand new 25 million dollar Volcano at the Mirage...cool, yes.....but I wonder if now they wish they had spent 25 million on the thing.
In the meantime, the multi billion dollar City Center is going up down the street next to the Monte Carlo. With a huge number of major buildings, I sort of lost count; 4 or 5 HUGE hotel and condo complexes...the City Center is scheduled to open towards the end of 2009. The timing not exactly perfect. The scale and scope of the project is AMAZING....but will the addition of what has to be at least 10,000 new rooms be what Vegas needs at the time the rooms are ready. I tend to think not.
Prior to failing out of my economics classes at Occidental College; (I hope and assume my classmate Barack Obama was a better student of economics than ours truly), we learned all about the concept of elasticity. The market expands and contracts depending on a variety of factors. Demand, price, quality. If you can sell 100 ice cream cones for $1 each.....you might be able to see 200 ice cream cones for 50 cents each. If you make the best ice cream in the world, maybe you can sell 100 cones at $2 each. All depends.
Vegas understand this concept of elasticity better than most; and thus, at the moment, there are some pretty amazing bargains. I was staying in what I would deem a B+ luxury suite at the Mirage. Large living room, big better room, and a bathroom considerable more specious than my two-car garage. Given my elite status as a television reporter bringing the vital story of the new 25 million dollar volcano to thousands of viewers in Los Angeles, the suite, for me...was free. But what about for you. Checking out this morning, I asked, 'say what would that suite go for?.' I know, having tried to book similar accommodations for myself as a private citizen, I have been quoted as much as $1200 on a weekend night. This week, you could get that suite, for $189. Wow. And it just goes on. Regular rooms at the Mirage now are less than $80 bucks. The sage advice from the PR people is to check out the individual web sites for the specific hotels. MGM Grand has insane deal, the Excalibur has rooms for less than $40 a night. Make sure you ask for one of the newly remodeled one.
For food fans, the prefx menu is back. Tons of food, several courses at a set price. To my taste, Mirage's best restaurant 'Stack' has a super deal at less than 50 bucks. Many other restaurants are making similar offers.
Happy travels.
Posted by Sam Rubin | Permalink | Comments (37) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted by: Simonn | 03/21/2009 at 05:04 PM
Just to clarify, Shaq's movie was named "Kazaam" not "Shazam" which oddly enough Dwayne Johnson has slated to play the bad guy if it gets made.
Posted by: Christopher P | 03/16/2009 at 11:26 AM
Sam:
Ok I like to watch American Idol...but last night Paula Abdul looked like Wilma Flintstone in that outfit....and what exactley do they put in those Coke cups???? Sometimes a little slurry words??????
Posted by: Debi Crawford | 03/11/2009 at 07:22 AM
JARED:
Thank you for the link to "Horton Foote." I'll never forget the first time I saw TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. May Mr. Foote rest in peace.
Posted by: jozielee | 03/04/2009 at 10:49 PM
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Horton Foote R.I.P.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_en_ot/obit_horton_foote
Posted by: Jared | 03/04/2009 at 06:58 PM
PLM said:
"No I didn't get a free Indian!!! What a rip!! My son would have loved getting the free Indian! But I paid very little. Golden Compass ... yes GREAT family movie night flick... we loved it too!"
That's too bad. The old classic live action films that Disney did are great as well. Another one if you can find it, is the The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo. Where he plays characters in literary classices as Gunga Din and Don Quixote.
I think they have all the stories on on CD. Great way to introduce the classics to kids.
Posted by: Paul | 03/04/2009 at 03:33 PM
Hey Paul, Jozie & Mike
Paul wrote:
"Did you get the copy with the plastic Indian with it? "
No I didn't get a free Indian!!! What a rip!! My son would have loved getting the free Indian! But I paid very little. Golden Compass ... yes GREAT family movie night flick... we loved it too!
Jozie wrote:
"AUSTRALIA. Beautiful scenery. Gorgeous costumes. Excellent sets. Good acting. But the story . . ." Sounds fantastic!!!
Thanks for your description Jozie...my sis wouldn't tell me just said I had to watch it!
The film sounds great..and it's on pay per view too, Yeah! Guess we've got our family weekend movie and Blue whales.. too cool!
Mike wrote:
I clicked on the entertainment bar above and there now seems to be a movie section. Are we actually being listened to? Hey, its a start I guess....
Thanks for the tip on the entertainment news link, and Yes I think Sam IS listening... I noticed Sam talked about Barney this morning...as well as neighborhood video stores going out of business. I blogged about Barney, and my neighborhood video store going out of business yesterday..
Listening to us? How about reading us!
Posted by: PLM | 03/04/2009 at 10:22 AM
-mike WROTE: "I clicked on the entertainment bar above and there now seems to be a movie section."
Cool.
Posted by: jozielee | 03/03/2009 at 09:17 PM
m- said:
"I clicked on the entertainment bar above and there now seems to be a movie section. Are we actually being listened to?Hey, its a start I guess...."
Hmmmm, interesting that Sam has never mention this? He would have saved himself a lot of criticism, but again maybe he likes the attention.
Posted by: Paul | 03/03/2009 at 06:27 PM
AUSTRALIA. Beautiful scenery. Gorgeous costumes. Excellent sets. Good acting. But the story . . .
This movie is about the Stolen Generation. In the early 1900s children of mixed-race were taken from their homes, put in Christian camps and farmed out to white families as servants. They were neither black or white. They were called "creamy." They lost their Aboriginal culture and family ties.
In 2008 the Australian government offered them a public apology.
In real life, Australians Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman have both adopted mixed-race children and are raising them as their own. We all know Kidman has a son, Connor, who she adopted with Tom Cruise; and Jackman has 2 children he and his wife adopted here in the US.
Very interesting movie. I plan to see it again before sending it back to Netflix.
Posted by: jozielee | 03/03/2009 at 06:12 PM
Jozielee, PLM, Paul, & Dan:
I clicked on the entertainment bar above and there now seems to be a movie section. Are we actually being listened to?Hey, its a start I guess....
-m
Posted by: mike | 03/03/2009 at 05:18 PM
PLM said:
"BTW Jozie we watched Indian in the Cupboard..a example of a $4 movie find I bought at the Circuit City closing sale.."
Did you get the copy with the plastic Indian with it? That's the one I got my little nephew, he loved that film. For Xmas, I got him a bunch of Golden Compass toys along with the film. His dad is out of his life, so it's up to the uncle's (3) to step in. He loves the flying ship and the talking Polar Bear in that film. They had the toys on sale at Big Lots. Great place to shop and save, especially in these troubled times.
Posted by: Paul | 03/03/2009 at 02:02 PM
NARNIA. Yup, I loved the first one, too. Looked forward to CASPIAN. Good movie. One of these days I'm going to read the books.
The monthly Netflix bill is annoying but considering what a movie ticket costs it's a bargain for us. Netflix has a nice variety of Independent movies, which I tend to miss because I don't live close to an artsy movie theater.
Posted by: jozielee | 03/03/2009 at 10:05 AM
BTW Jozie we watched Indian in the Cupboard..a example of a $4 movie find I bought at the Circuit City closing sale..
It was very sweet movie about a 9 yr old who puts plastic toys in a magic cabinet and they become real tiny people. Every kids fantasy. It was charming. I'm sure my son will watch it again He loved it! So it was worth it's $4 investment. one package of Good Popcorn in the market cost about the same amount so to me it was a bargain!
We've seen NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN and the Lion and the Wardrobe...my kids love the series. We're hoping there's a 3rd one in the series.
Posted by: PLM | 03/03/2009 at 09:29 AM
Yes Jozie,
I suspect that is true! Never the less ... a monthly nut is a monthly nut!
Just goes to show that people and their movie habits will go on even in the worst of times!
Posted by: PLM | 03/03/2009 at 09:06 AM
PLM WROTE: "I hear NetFlix business is up...go figure!"
People are staying home, entertaining themselves and friends.
Posted by: jozielee | 03/03/2009 at 08:52 AM
Paul,
Yes there are certainly mysteries afoot...would you say?
Jozie,
My local movie rental store Hollywood Video which i has a similar netflix sitch with closed down. and with this economy I haven't wanted to commit to another program like Netflix.Which BTW, I hear NetFlix business is up...go figure!
Posted by: PLM | 03/03/2009 at 08:37 AM
PLM said:
"Here's a thought... maybe LAT doesn't want Sam to "write" reviews of movies since they have Ken Turan "writing" the reviews...could it be a conflict of interest that is keeping Sam from giving us our movie reviews?"
If that was the case, then why doesn't Sam just say so? Plus it makes no sense, some people don't read the LAT and some people don't watch KTLA for their news. Also he didn't talk about the Oscar's, the biggest award show of the year.
And what does he talk about? How white Dwayne Johnson's teeth are. Odd. And Dwayne happen's to be in a new Disney film. Sam won't talk about anything unless it's Disney related.
Posted by: Paul | 03/03/2009 at 04:00 AM
PLM WROTE: "Blue Whale"
I watched NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN tonight. Good movie. Previews included a Disney movie available April 2009 called PLANET. Parallel migration of a polar bear family, an elephant family, and a whale family. Your son might like it. We love nature films. Watched the entire Planet Earth series a few times.
I'm not a collector by nature. I don't buy movies because we rent so often. Netflix is phenomenal at turning around their stock. Sometimes we can't watch fast enough.
Technology does change, but also picture quality upgrades over time, e.g., BlueRay. It's so cheap to rent I never felt owning a movie was that important unless I was concerned about the film going out of print like MARCH OF THE PENGUINS. Love that film.
I keep a TiVoed copy of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Keira Knightly version) on hand and I play it when I get tired of the news. Beautiful background music. Lovely dialog. Sweetly romantic. Better yet, it's commercial-free. I really should buy it.
Unfortunately the box office made very little money off us this last year. We only saw VOYAGE TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH in a movie house. We're die-hard Jules Vern geeks.
Posted by: jozielee | 03/02/2009 at 11:33 PM
Jozie,
I have an enormous collection of movies that I own. It started years ago with my buying kid movies for my little ones all the way back to Barney..then it was every great Disney film in VHS...ughh..my husband was right when he said "you should stop buying those- the technology is going to change and we will be stuck with all these outdated movies"! Geez... sometimes he's actually right! And boy was I stuck..most of the best of our Disney films the Cinderella, Toy story, Dumbo, and on and on, are sadly mostly on VHS. I only started buying DVD's a few years ago, but I have over 10 years worth of classic VHS in my collection. I know I can record them on CD but who has time?
I just make sure that I keep a good working VHS player in my house in case they stop selling those someday soon too!
Any who after I owned an enormous collection for the kids.... well...my own personal stash of movies was a natural progression.:D I own practically every movie I have ever loved!
They're so cheap it's hard not to. Wal mart sells a bunch for $5, and I went to Circuit City the other day to their going out of business sale, and the only thing selling were the DVD's! It appears I'm not the only that likes to own one's favorite movie...you wouldn't know it was a recession from the line to get movies at 60% off. They were so cheap even the latest releases.
But my movie fetish has of course been subsided by the economy:(
Fortunately the box office enjoyed one of it's best years on record in 2008. It's good for all of us... that at least one CA industry is still profitable. But you wouldn't know it from the big lay offs in studios like WB.
Thanks for the tip on Sam and the Reelz channel. Maybe THAT is the reason he won't blog about movie reviews here?
I'm glad you will have your movie tomorrow. On second thought...I may rent it since the price will be high the first few weeks...and if I like it. I CAN see if it's worthy of becoming a member of my collection...once the prices drop after a month or two.
ANYWAY, this Sunday night...our official DVD movie night, we will be watching National Geographic Channel's special on the Blue Whale...my son's favorite whale. It airs at 8pm on Sunday.
Pass the plankton...please.. (that's popcorn to Whales) Yum!
Posted by: PLM | 03/02/2009 at 07:24 PM
What irony. I just got an email from Netflix that I'll have AUSTRALIA tomorrow. YAH!!!
Posted by: jozielee | 03/02/2009 at 05:36 PM
PLM:
So as not to step on Sam's toes or reviews, I'll tell you whether I like AUSTRALIA or not. That's all.
The trailer reminds me of FAR AND AWAY, which I love, and watch at least once a year. Plus I'm eager to learn more about the history of Australia, the country. Haven't been there yet, but we will someday, when the economy recovers.
My mom and I saw GWTW at the Pantages Theatre BEFORE the major renovation. What a fantastic film, especially on the big screen. The theme of the decaying South, contrasted against the shabby interior of a once-beautiful palace, added to the experience.
GWTW was on TMC last week - their nod to the Academy Awards. A nice way to see that mega long movie without commercial breaks.
As a rule, I don't buy movies. My collection is estimated at 25 films, mostly musicals like OKLAHOMA, STRICTLY BALLROOM, MOULIN ROGUE, LA BOEHM. I guess you could say I'm a Lurhman head. AUSTRALIA looks too beautiful to pass up. I can't wait.
You do know Sam Rubin does movie reviews & interviews for the Reelz channel, don't you? Maybe you can find what you're looking for over there?
http://www.reelzchannel.com/
Posted by: jozielee | 03/02/2009 at 05:19 PM