Last week I saw the live Glenn Beck movie. Cost me twenty freakin' dollars! Anyway, here's my review:

One ticket for the live Glenn Beck movie,” I said.

“Twenty dollars,” the girl behind the glass replied.

“One ticket,” I repeated, thinking the girl must have misheard me.

“Twenty dollars is how much one ticket costs,” she said.

I frowned, gave her my credit card, walked into the Regal Village Square multiplex, found theater No. 9 and took a seat next to a married couple named Chris and Christina. They told me that they watch The Glenn Beck Program, that they read Beck’s book Common Sense and that they “went through parts of” Beck’s latest book, Arguing with Idiots.

“Did you guys know tickets were going to be 20 bucks?” I asked.

Chris said he didn’t, and then he frowned, too.

I met a second married couple, Art and Debbie, who told me that they also watch Beck’s show. Every single day.

“I like that he encourages people to do outside research into what’s really going on in the world,” Debbie said. “I like that he teaches people how they can protect their liberties and freedoms.”

“So where do you, personally, go to do your outside research?” I asked

“Random Internet sites,” she replied, demurring and adding, “I should probably do more…”

Fifteen minutes before showtime, with the theater lights still on, Beck appeared on screen and welcomed everybody to the show via pre-taped message. He was sitting before a bookshelf filled with books, and every last one of ’em was The Christmas Sweater, by Glenn Beck.

Cut to a shot of a theater stage on which a choir of children sang Christmas songs. Maybe two of the 20 kids were white. Contrast that with the people at Regal Village Square; everybody sitting in the theater was white.

(You can read the rest of the story by clicking HERE or at LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM).

I believe the girl on the piano is "doing the mashed potato." Anyway, you can read my Las Vegas Weekly story on Pete's Dueling Piano Bar by clicking HERE. 

If you're intrigued, then you can read the full LAS VEGAS WEEKLY story by clicking HERE. And here's the introduction...

If you watched sitcom television in the 1980s, you probably remember that on Thanksgiving you’re supposed to go around the dinner table and say what you’re thankful for. You probably also remember that, ultimately, the only acceptable thing for which you can be thankful is “family.”

Yet, saying you’re “thankful for family” is kind of like saying you enjoy eating pizza or that you’re attracted to Megan Fox—it goes without saying. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with eating pizza or desiring Megan Fox in moderation. But if you spend all your time eating pizza in fantasyland, you’ll never make it to the new Hawaiian restaurant down the street, which is particularly unfortunate for you, seeing as the cute server who works there just broke up with her boyfriend.

This analogy carries over. When you say you’re “thankful for family” every Thanksgiving, your gratitude muscle atrophies. So earlier this week I ventured out into this uncertain city to find a new person, a new place and a new thing for which I could be thankful.

Pete's Dueling Piano Bar opened at Town Square this week. I went on opening night and had a really fun time. Those piano players have more shtick than a Liberace impersonator doing a kids party. And the audience ate it up. Hopefully I'll get a chance to audition to be a piano player there before I leave for Chicago/Michigan next week. What a fun, fun job that'd be....

(Photo Credit goes to J. Ludwig at Night Vissions)

The trouble wasn't that the guy wouldn't shut up; the trouble was that everybody at the table (except for me, obviously) was EATING UP everything this guy was saying. "I'm a professional gambler. I'm a sports bettor. The reason I look ten years younger than I am is that I sleep with a different woman every night." That sort of thing. And EVERYBODY was buying it. At first I assumed they were just egging him on, but it soon became clear they were drinking the Kool-Aid. The guy won about $100, but he was VERY, VERY lucky. Catching all sorts of good cards. The end. 

This week I visited a medium and contacted my "dead" mom. In reality my mom is alive and in Michigan (and developed the backend for this website)...but I didn't tell the medium all that. :) You can read the whole story by clicking HERE.

ALSO this week I went to a PICKUP ARTIST convention and learned how to pick up women. You can read about that by clicking HERE.

A lot of reading assignments, I know. If you just have 3 min, go for the first story. But if you have 10 min, go for the second.  And enjoy!

-Ricky

This is a photo of a restaurant by my house. The green sign reads "LIVE TACO MAKER." Now, that's all fine and dandy, but honesty, given that the place serves tacos, I would have assumed they had a live taco maker. So I'm not that impressed. Now, if they employed a robotic taco maker, that might be sign worthy, but given that they don't, I think a sign is unnecessary. (Obviously a zombie taco maker would warrant a sign as well.)

On Saturday night I saw my roommate Ally’s friend Tala perform in Matt Goss’s new lounge show at the Palms. (She's one of the "Dirty Virgin" dancers.) Coolest lounge show I’ve ever seen—easily. But not so cool that I’d feel uncomfortable bringing my parents; this is a show for everyone.

Special kudos to whoever did Goss’s musical arraignments. The two guitarists, bassist, keyboardist, 3 horns (sax, trumpet/flugelhorn, trombone) and two female backup singers filled up the sound at virtually every moment of Goss’s hour-long set (but not obtrusively. In the Dave Matthewsian way that makes you feel like you got your money’s worth.( Oh, except for the one break during which Goss sang a slow song at the piano. (I saw the show with four of my roommate’s female friends and oh how they loved this part….)

Couple quick notes on the pics. Pic 2) This was not a camera effect; this is how the digital picture came out. The point is, Elliott is Neo.
Pic 3) Right after we took this, a guard told us "No pictures in the exhibit." Yeah, then why did the artist make such a photogenic piece of art--huh?

I feel confident that nobody will be breaking into my bathroom stall today.