"City of Entertainment." That's what the big sign on the MGM Grand says, and as more big-name shows head to Las Vegas, the more the nickname is justfied. Avenue Q is about to open at the Wynn resort, and -- joy of Monty Python joys -- Spamalot is coming there next year, too! It's enough to make me burst into a rousing chorus of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." Continue reading »

"Let's make a movie!" The proliferation of affordable cameras and editing software has made such exhortations far easier to act upon than they were in the olden days of celluloid and splicing. Thanks to digital technology, more and more people every day are indulging their inner Spielbergs. With so much creativity finding its way onto hard drives and DVDs, it's no wonder that phenomena like the 48-Hour Film Project are in growth mode. Continue reading »

It doesn't take much to describe the weather in Las Vegas. There's hot, really hot, and #@!*!$%# hot. That's pretty much it, right? Well, no. That's just what the rest of the world thinks. Once you get here and hang around for a few months, you find out there's a bit more to the meteorology of the eastern Mojave. Continue reading »