Viva Las Vegas!

We're home! Well, have been since Friday evening, but I've been sleeping too much to write this until now. Hee. There will be lots of bolding in this entry, to emphasize what simply must be done while one's in Vegas. Let's get started.

Our first day, we got to the Excalibur and checked in. After marvelling at our room and our view for a while, we set out wandering, which leads me to my first recommendation: Check out the Aladdin's marketplace. There's the awesome fake sky that's painted everywhere, and the shops are numerous and varied. Plus, the stuff isn't all as swanky as what you'd find at Caesar's Forum, so there's a greater chance of actually enjoying what you see, instead of just staring in awe at the prices. That night, we saw Tournament of Kings: The Dinner Show back at the Excalibur, and it was excellent. Some tasty soup, a chicken and brocolli, a roll, and a crispy apple dessert - all to be eaten with your fingers. Plus, you get tankards of soda, or cocktails in collectible mugs if you purchase them. I got a strawberry daquiri, and Jaime got what we believe to be a stone sour. Both were cool and delicious, and made the elevator ride back to our room on the 15th floor far more interesting. Plus, awesome mugs! Anyway, the show itself is cheesy and over-the-top, but so very fun. The jousting all looks very real, at least, and the actors really play with the audience, making it very exciting and involving. Never forget - Hungary pwns you. Pwns your soul!

The next day, we saw Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. If you're not an animal fan, skip it, but otherwise, don't miss it! There's even a touchpool with horseshoe crabs, little sharks, and sting rays. I must've petted at least 5 little rays, and the big one. Some will swim away faster after you touch them, while others will stop to be petted more. One even backed up to me! They're very soft and adorable, and my one disappointment is that the shop didn't have any realistic sting rays plushies, other than a very large one that cost $200. The rest of the exhibit is breath-taking - tunnels of water with sharks and other aquatic animals swimming all around; jellyfish glowing and pulsating under black light; golden gators lounging on rocks just feet away. Very very awesome.

That day, we also ate a Todai, a great seafood buffet in Aladdin's marketplace. Eat the mussels with all their topping glory - delicious!!! Then, we walked to the Fashion Show mall, which I'd recommend, and attempted to walk to the Stratosphere, which I would not. I'll come out and say it right now - we never made it to the Stratosphere. I really wanted to, but it's fucking far away from the strip, and it's difficult to find any walkways there. Twice we started an attempt, but we gave up both times when we couldn't find ways to cross the streets, and we noticed that it was still a mile away. Yarg. Anyway, the mall was very neat. Good cheap foodcourt if you're looking for quicker eats than the casino's offer, and a huge selection of stores if you're looking for actual shopping, as opposed to window gawking like you get in some casinos. Jaime picked up Tetris DS at the EB Games there, and while it's not a Vegas specific activity, I'd still recommend it. Try out Mission mode - that's my favorite - or standard two-player with items. The handicap feature makes it nice to play against any of your friends, though the items make it random enough that the outcome of a game isn't certain until someone actually loses. Good, good game. Oh, and also, if you happen to stay at the Excalibur, Krispy Kreme is open 24 hours a day, and they're made fresh from 5-12, both morning and night. Do yourself a favor and get warm breakfast donuts - the glaze is so good fresh, and it's a sweet way to start a day. Mwah.

Wednesday, I'd say, was my favorite day there. I can't remember much of what we did in the morning, but early in the evening, we walked to Bally's and took a shuttle to the Rio. There, we ate at the Carnival World Buffet, and it was easily the best food we had all trip. Everything, absolutely everything, was divine. If I had to pick? The teppanyaki. Whatever sauce they use is strong and savory. Utterly fantastic. Also, make sure you grab some crab legs, and save room for dessert - the gelato is dreamlike. After that, we meandered to Penn & Teller theater and waited for the doors to open. If you do one thing in Vegas, make it seeing Penn & Teller. I can't stress this enough. Go see P&T, go see P&T, go see P&T!!! If you get there early enough, you might see Teller walk in. We did. He was wearing normal street clothes, and talking to someone as he walked. Now, I'd told Jaime before that if I saw Teller, and he talked, I was going to have to kill him for breaking the illusion. Never let it be said that I'm not merciful - I let it slide, and Teller lives to perform again. Anyway, when we first walked into the theatre, two men were playing piano and bass in one corner of the stage, and a posterboard with the date and a manilla envelope sat to stage right, while a sturdy wooden box occupied the other side. Jaime noticed first that the bass player was Penn, and we both giggled about it and smiled at him. He stuck around and played for a while too, until someone took a picture and it hit 8:30. Then, he departed. The full hour before showtime, 8-9, Jonesy played the piano and periodically invited everyone to come on stage, sign the envelope, and inspect the box. He said it in much funnier ways, though, and in a low and soothing voice:

"Don't miss out on the Penn and Teller envelope signing and box viewing experience."
"Bring a friend or a loved one up, to sign an envelope and look at a box."
"Are you with someone who says you never take them anywhere? Well, bring them up to sign an envelope and look at a box."

Very repetitive, very hilarious. Jaime and I signed our names nice and legible, and looked at the box closely. We noted a lot of probably unimportant details about its construction, and went back to our seats pondering how it would be used. We didn't have to wait very long - at 9pm, a stagehand tipped the box over, shut the lid, and departed. Penn walked out and introduced them with the standard "I'm Penn, and this is my partner Teller," at which point Teller climbed out of the box. We were hooked already.

The first act was a very showy one, meant to prove that they're not a Vegas style act due to choice, rather than lack of skill. Pink sequined vests, blaring music, and a man in a box. Classic showy crap. Penn took the box apart and carried it around, but Teller's head just kept appearing where the top segment was ("Blastoff!"), while his hands and legs made appearances in the other locations. Liftoff to love! Anyway, the song then switched to "Ripoff of love!", and they replaced the box and platform they'd been using with transparent ones. Teller head still appeared, this time to declare "Trapdoor!", but now you could see him sliding around in the platform to be where needed to be. Very interesting, and still amusing. A small guy dancing on his back in a transparent platform is good humor. Yes, indeed.

They did a multitude of other tricks. Penn yakked for a very long time and juggled fire, which he purposely grabbed the wrong end of, and broken bottles, which he didn't. And did you know that if he dipped the broken bottles in live Ebola Zaire virus and cut himself up, 43% of the audience would say, "I hope the little guy doesn't get it. He's kind of cute."? Man, I love Penn. What a loud, raucous, offensive asshole. I wanna be just like him. Teller did a nifty trick where he brought a woman up on stage and had her hold a fishbowl while he turned water into pennies. When he tried to return them to the water tank, they stayed pennies. Frustrated, he tried again, and this time a dozen goldfish flew out of his hands and into the water. Beautiful, and astounding. He gave the woman some more money from water in the bowl, and sent her back to her seat with the bowl and the money to keep. Teller did a couple other solo numbers throughout the show. Once, he cut a flower's shadow with a knife and the flower fell apart according. He then pricked himself, and a shadow of dripping fluid appeared, but no blood. He put his other hand to the canvas and rubbed the shadow, and behold - blood smear. As pretty as that was, though, I think I liked his other act better. It was called "Teller's Monologue", and Penn promoted it as the only piece where he says nothing and Teller does all the talking. All dressed in safety garb, Teller rolled a woodchipper out on stage and revved it up. His lips were moving, but we couldn't hear a single word. Perfection! After demonstrating that it was a real wood chipper and would destroy whatever was put into it, he had a guy from the audience pick a card, then he tore one corner off, and sent it through the woodchipper. Of course, he caught it whole out of the air, and the torn off corner matched, confirming that it was the same card. He pulled another card out of the air, missing a corner, without putting anything into the chipper. Funny stuff. Teller then stepped off stage, and returned with a live bunny rabbit. He placed it into a paper bag and tossed it into the woodchipper. Of course, fur came flying out, but he opened his vest to reveal the bunny safe and sound. What makes this trick priceless is that the bunny then hopped out of his hands and into the wood chipper. He stuck his face over the top opening to look in, and was sprayed with blood. Penn walked out afterwards, saying that wanted to see the look on the children's faces after the bunny goes into the wood chipper. He pointed at someone in the front row, and said, "Oh grow up, it's just a rabbit."

Penn demonstrated cold reading, hot reading, and magic trickery to determine what jokes people would pick out of a book. Assistants brought magic books out to the audience, and after the books were passed around for a while, three people were asked to pick one joke each. The first guy, Penn used cold reading on. This guy was a total lameass, not paying attention when Penn was talking to him, answering questions slowly and uncertainly, the works. During the juggling bit, Penn said that he acts as if he has a tricky bottle every show, to make the audience feel special, when in reality, they're not. Well, I'm pretty sure this idiot made our night special. After asking a few broad and leading questions, Penn told him what joke he'd selected:

Penn: You know you have a masturbation problem when certain things don't stop you, such as hiccups.
Guy: Umm...
Penn: Is that your joke?
Guy: Well, kinda...
Penn: Kinda? Is it the joke you picked or not?!
Guy: Not really...
Penn: Could you please read the joke to me?
Guy: You know you have a masturbation problem when certain things don't stop you, such as the hiccups.
Penn: You're saying I got it all right, except I missed the word "the"?
Guy: Yeah.
Penn: SIT DOWN!!!

He referred to the guy as "Mr. The" for the rest of the night. Jaime and I are still laughing about it. Sometimes, idiocy is funny. Nice change of pace from how the current government makes me feel, at least. Mr. The > Mr. President LOL!!!11!11!1111!11!

The hot reading was pretty nifty, and he told the woman what joke she'd selected almost immediately. The trickery was also neat, since that envelope we'd all signed had the punchline in it. I'm still curious as to how they pull this stuff with everyone watching closely and scrutinizing their every move. It's very impressive. They also other acts, such as a piece with various types of animal traps, while Penn talked about his childhood, a bit about the bill of rights and burning the American flag, and an erotic fire-eating scene with Penn and a showgirl named Georgie. Most notably, Penn cleared up the real meaning of misdirection. He brought a live duck (named Lord Duckley) on stage in a wire box, and covered him with a cloth. See, misdirection is not actually making people look somewhere else while you do your trick, but rather making them believe something is going to happen other than what actually does. He showed us that Lord Duckley was still there under cloth, and then came the distraction. Georgie popped out screaming from a side door in the theater, followed by a man in a gorilla suit. As the gorilla ripped her dress off, Penn opened the cage and removed Lord Duckley. He replaced the cloth, and Georgie discovered that it was not a gorilla but a man in a suit, leading her to storm off while the gorilla man wandered away, disappointed. We all waited for it to be revealed that the duck is gone, but when Penn ripped off the cloth, there's Teller, wedged into the cage. See? Misdirection.

For their final act, they did the Magic Bullets trick. They asked for audience volunteers who were familiar with guns, and two policemen came up to the stage. They confirmed that Penn and Teller's guns were real, and that the bullets they had were real. They then initialled the bullet tips, and drew designs (one guy drew a star, the other a cross) on the casing. They were brought down off the stage, while Penn and Teller geared up, took aim through two panes of glass, and fired at each other's heads. The volunteers came back up on stage, Penn and Teller spit the bullets into their hands, and removed the casings from the guns. Sure enough, it was confirmed as the same ones they'd put in, and that the bullets' markings were consistent with having been fired. Now, since coming home, I've read a few theories as to how the Bullet Catch trick, or in P&T's case, the Magic Bullets trick, is done. They'd work, sure, but none to the level of detail that Penn and Teller's does. I am completely baffled as to how they pull this one off. Also, they let the volunteers keep the bullets and casings, so if something was awry, they could notice it later and come forward with their evidence. Yet, to my knowledge, no one has done so. Truly, not only do P&T have incredible stage presence (and fight for the correct side 95% of the time on Bullshit!), but they're astounding magicians as well. I have incredible respect for them.

After the show, they were out in the lobby signing autographs and taking pictures. Unfortunately, we didn't bring the camera, but we did get autographs on our ticket stubs and program, as well as Jonesy's in the program, and Jaime rubbed asses with Penn. Yes, rubbed asses. Allow me to explain. On the Safety Hysteria episode of Bullshit, one of the things they look at is toilet seat covers and whether or not they actually do anything. Their swabbings found that most people's asses are cleaner than their hands, so Penn proposed that shaking hands be replaced by rubbing asses. He even said that if you see him on the street, to come on up and rub asses with him. And so it goes:

Jaime: I just wanted to say, I love your show, and I was wondering if you'd rub asses with me.
Penn: Oh, certainly!
Penn & Jaime: *vigorous ass rubbing*

There you have it. He really will rub asses. Go see their show, and when it's done, try it for yourself! :)

We took the shuttle back, gabbed about the show, got Pina Coladas in these nifty collectible mugs from Paris that look like the hot air balloon out front, and watched a couple fountain shows at the Bellagio. Thursday, we wandered around some more, took the shuttle back to the Rio to get Penn & Teller t-shirts, and watched more Bellagio fountain shows. I even recorded one - I know, it's a super huge file size, but watch it anyway: click here! The video should speak for itself, but I'll say it anyway - absolute breath-taking. Plus, it's free! Go watch!

We also got blended Coffee Bean drinks that night, and I tried a Margarita, while Jaime fell in love with his Martini. The next morning, I had tiny waffles at the breakfast buffet, and we headed home.

The gambling word: Put five bucks into any machine that has Hot Hot Penny. Play 10 lines at one credit per line. Do this first, then press the Hot Hot Penny button, and repeat that bet until you're satisfied. I put five dollars into one of those machines twice. The first time, I walked away with $35, and the second time, with $20. It's fun, too - the animations are entertaining and cute. I enjoyed it, at least.

And so here I am, trying to convince myself to work on 51, and getting ready for the next term. I'm going to head out to breakfast/lunch now - it's 12:06pm! My goodness, I've been writing for a while! Anyway, comment away, my friends! I'll answer any other Vegas questions anyone has. And never forget - Penn & Teller are the best!

Viva Las Vegas!

We're home! Well, have been since Friday evening, but I've been sleeping too much to write this until now. Hee. There will be lots of bolding in this entry, to emphasize what simply must be done while one's in Vegas. Let's get started.

Our first day, we got to the Excalibur and checked in. After marvelling at our room and our view for a while, we set out wandering, which leads me to my first recommendation: Check out the Aladdin's marketplace. There's the awesome fake sky that's painted everywhere, and the shops are numerous and varied. Plus, the stuff isn't all as swanky as what you'd find at Caesar's Forum, so there's a greater chance of actually enjoying what you see, instead of just staring in awe at the prices. That night, we saw Tournament of Kings: The Dinner Show back at the Excalibur, and it was excellent. Some tasty soup, a chicken and brocolli, a roll, and a crispy apple dessert - all to be eaten with your fingers. Plus, you get tankards of soda, or cocktails in collectible mugs if you purchase them. I got a strawberry daquiri, and Jaime got what we believe to be a stone sour. Both were cool and delicious, and made the elevator ride back to our room on the 15th floor far more interesting. Plus, awesome mugs! Anyway, the show itself is cheesy and over-the-top, but so very fun. The jousting all looks very real, at least, and the actors really play with the audience, making it very exciting and involving. Never forget - Hungary pwns you. Pwns your soul!

The next day, we saw Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. If you're not an animal fan, skip it, but otherwise, don't miss it! There's even a touchpool with horseshoe crabs, little sharks, and sting rays. I must've petted at least 5 little rays, and the big one. Some will swim away faster after you touch them, while others will stop to be petted more. One even backed up to me! They're very soft and adorable, and my one disappointment is that the shop didn't have any realistic sting rays plushies, other than a very large one that cost $200. The rest of the exhibit is breath-taking - tunnels of water with sharks and other aquatic animals swimming all around; jellyfish glowing and pulsating under black light; golden gators lounging on rocks just feet away. Very very awesome.

That day, we also ate a Todai, a great seafood buffet in Aladdin's marketplace. Eat the mussels with all their topping glory - delicious!!! Then, we walked to the Fashion Show mall, which I'd recommend, and attempted to walk to the Stratosphere, which I would not. I'll come out and say it right now - we never made it to the Stratosphere. I really wanted to, but it's fucking far away from the strip, and it's difficult to find any walkways there. Twice we started an attempt, but we gave up both times when we couldn't find ways to cross the streets, and we noticed that it was still a mile away. Yarg. Anyway, the mall was very neat. Good cheap foodcourt if you're looking for quicker eats than the casino's offer, and a huge selection of stores if you're looking for actual shopping, as opposed to window gawking like you get in some casinos. Jaime picked up Tetris DS at the EB Games there, and while it's not a Vegas specific activity, I'd still recommend it. Try out Mission mode - that's my favorite - or standard two-player with items. The handicap feature makes it nice to play against any of your friends, though the items make it random enough that the outcome of a game isn't certain until someone actually loses. Good, good game. Oh, and also, if you happen to stay at the Excalibur, Krispy Kreme is open 24 hours a day, and they're made fresh from 5-12, both morning and night. Do yourself a favor and get warm breakfast donuts - the glaze is so good fresh, and it's a sweet way to start a day. Mwah.

Wednesday, I'd say, was my favorite day there. I can't remember much of what we did in the morning, but early in the evening, we walked to Bally's and took a shuttle to the Rio. There, we ate at the Carnival World Buffet, and it was easily the best food we had all trip. Everything, absolutely everything, was divine. If I had to pick? The teppanyaki. Whatever sauce they use is strong and savory. Utterly fantastic. Also, make sure you grab some crab legs, and save room for dessert - the gelato is dreamlike. After that, we meandered to Penn & Teller theater and waited for the doors to open. If you do one thing in Vegas, make it seeing Penn & Teller. I can't stress this enough. Go see P&T, go see P&T, go see P&T!!! If you get there early enough, you might see Teller walk in. We did. He was wearing normal street clothes, and talking to someone as he walked. Now, I'd told Jaime before that if I saw Teller, and he talked, I was going to have to kill him for breaking the illusion. Never let it be said that I'm not merciful - I let it slide, and Teller lives to perform again. Anyway, when we first walked into the theatre, two men were playing piano and bass in one corner of the stage, and a posterboard with the date and a manilla envelope sat to stage right, while a sturdy wooden box occupied the other side. Jaime noticed first that the bass player was Penn, and we both giggled about it and smiled at him. He stuck around and played for a while too, until someone took a picture and it hit 8:30. Then, he departed. The full hour before showtime, 8-9, Jonesy played the piano and periodically invited everyone to come on stage, sign the envelope, and inspect the box. He said it in much funnier ways, though, and in a low and soothing voice:

"Don't miss out on the Penn and Teller envelope signing and box viewing experience."
"Bring a friend or a loved one up, to sign an envelope and look at a box."
"Are you with someone who says you never take them anywhere? Well, bring them up to sign an envelope and look at a box."

Very repetitive, very hilarious. Jaime and I signed our names nice and legible, and looked at the box closely. We noted a lot of probably unimportant details about its construction, and went back to our seats pondering how it would be used. We didn't have to wait very long - at 9pm, a stagehand tipped the box over, shut the lid, and departed. Penn walked out and introduced them with the standard "I'm Penn, and this is my partner Teller," at which point Teller climbed out of the box. We were hooked already.

The first act was a very showy one, meant to prove that they're not a Vegas style act due to choice, rather than lack of skill. Pink sequined vests, blaring music, and a man in a box. Classic showy crap. Penn took the box apart and carried it around, but Teller's head just kept appearing where the top segment was ("Blastoff!"), while his hands and legs made appearances in the other locations. Liftoff to love! Anyway, the song then switched to "Ripoff of love!", and they replaced the box and platform they'd been using with transparent ones. Teller head still appeared, this time to declare "Trapdoor!", but now you could see him sliding around in the platform to be where needed to be. Very interesting, and still amusing. A small guy dancing on his back in a transparent platform is good humor. Yes, indeed.

They did a multitude of other tricks. Penn yakked for a very long time and juggled fire, which he purposely grabbed the wrong end of, and broken bottles, which he didn't. And did you know that if he dipped the broken bottles in live Ebola Zaire virus and cut himself up, 43% of the audience would say, "I hope the little guy doesn't get it. He's kind of cute."? Man, I love Penn. What a loud, raucous, offensive asshole. I wanna be just like him. Teller did a nifty trick where he brought a woman up on stage and had her hold a fishbowl while he turned water into pennies. When he tried to return them to the water tank, they stayed pennies. Frustrated, he tried again, and this time a dozen goldfish flew out of his hands and into the water. Beautiful, and astounding. He gave the woman some more money from water in the bowl, and sent her back to her seat with the bowl and the money to keep. Teller did a couple other solo numbers throughout the show. Once, he cut a flower's shadow with a knife and the flower fell apart according. He then pricked himself, and a shadow of dripping fluid appeared, but no blood. He put his other hand to the canvas and rubbed the shadow, and behold - blood smear. As pretty as that was, though, I think I liked his other act better. It was called "Teller's Monologue", and Penn promoted it as the only piece where he says nothing and Teller does all the talking. All dressed in safety garb, Teller rolled a woodchipper out on stage and revved it up. His lips were moving, but we couldn't hear a single word. Perfection! After demonstrating that it was a real wood chipper and would destroy whatever was put into it, he had a guy from the audience pick a card, then he tore one corner off, and sent it through the woodchipper. Of course, he caught it whole out of the air, and the torn off corner matched, confirming that it was the same card. He pulled another card out of the air, missing a corner, without putting anything into the chipper. Funny stuff. Teller then stepped off stage, and returned with a live bunny rabbit. He placed it into a paper bag and tossed it into the woodchipper. Of course, fur came flying out, but he opened his vest to reveal the bunny safe and sound. What makes this trick priceless is that the bunny then hopped out of his hands and into the wood chipper. He stuck his face over the top opening to look in, and was sprayed with blood. Penn walked out afterwards, saying that wanted to see the look on the children's faces after the bunny goes into the wood chipper. He pointed at someone in the front row, and said, "Oh grow up, it's just a rabbit."

Penn demonstrated cold reading, hot reading, and magic trickery to determine what jokes people would pick out of a book. Assistants brought magic books out to the audience, and after the books were passed around for a while, three people were asked to pick one joke each. The first guy, Penn used cold reading on. This guy was a total lameass, not paying attention when Penn was talking to him, answering questions slowly and uncertainly, the works. During the juggling bit, Penn said that he acts as if he has a tricky bottle every show, to make the audience feel special, when in reality, they're not. Well, I'm pretty sure this idiot made our night special. After asking a few broad and leading questions, Penn told him what joke he'd selected:

Penn: You know you have a masturbation problem when certain things don't stop you, such as hiccups.
Guy: Umm...
Penn: Is that your joke?
Guy: Well, kinda...
Penn: Kinda? Is it the joke you picked or not?!
Guy: Not really...
Penn: Could you please read the joke to me?
Guy: You know you have a masturbation problem when certain things don't stop you, such as the hiccups.
Penn: You're saying I got it all right, except I missed the word "the"?
Guy: Yeah.
Penn: SIT DOWN!!!

He referred to the guy as "Mr. The" for the rest of the night. Jaime and I are still laughing about it. Sometimes, idiocy is funny. Nice change of pace from how the current government makes me feel, at least. Mr. The > Mr. President LOL!!!11!11!1111!11!

The hot reading was pretty nifty, and he told the woman what joke she'd selected almost immediately. The trickery was also neat, since that envelope we'd all signed had the punchline in it. I'm still curious as to how they pull this stuff with everyone watching closely and scrutinizing their every move. It's very impressive. They also other acts, such as a piece with various types of animal traps, while Penn talked about his childhood, a bit about the bill of rights and burning the American flag, and an erotic fire-eating scene with Penn and a showgirl named Georgie. Most notably, Penn cleared up the real meaning of misdirection. He brought a live duck (named Lord Duckley) on stage in a wire box, and covered him with a cloth. See, misdirection is not actually making people look somewhere else while you do your trick, but rather making them believe something is going to happen other than what actually does. He showed us that Lord Duckley was still there under cloth, and then came the distraction. Georgie popped out screaming from a side door in the theater, followed by a man in a gorilla suit. As the gorilla ripped her dress off, Penn opened the cage and removed Lord Duckley. He replaced the cloth, and Georgie discovered that it was not a gorilla but a man in a suit, leading her to storm off while the gorilla man wandered away, disappointed. We all waited for it to be revealed that the duck is gone, but when Penn ripped off the cloth, there's Teller, wedged into the cage. See? Misdirection.

For their final act, they did the Magic Bullets trick. They asked for audience volunteers who were familiar with guns, and two policemen came up to the stage. They confirmed that Penn and Teller's guns were real, and that the bullets they had were real. They then initialled the bullet tips, and drew designs (one guy drew a star, the other a cross) on the casing. They were brought down off the stage, while Penn and Teller geared up, took aim through two panes of glass, and fired at each other's heads. The volunteers came back up on stage, Penn and Teller spit the bullets into their hands, and removed the casings from the guns. Sure enough, it was confirmed as the same ones they'd put in, and that the bullets' markings were consistent with having been fired. Now, since coming home, I've read a few theories as to how the Bullet Catch trick, or in P&T's case, the Magic Bullets trick, is done. They'd work, sure, but none to the level of detail that Penn and Teller's does. I am completely baffled as to how they pull this one off. Also, they let the volunteers keep the bullets and casings, so if something was awry, they could notice it later and come forward with their evidence. Yet, to my knowledge, no one has done so. Truly, not only do P&T have incredible stage presence (and fight for the correct side 95% of the time on Bullshit!), but they're astounding magicians as well. I have incredible respect for them.

After the show, they were out in the lobby signing autographs and taking pictures. Unfortunately, we didn't bring the camera, but we did get autographs on our ticket stubs and program, as well as Jonesy's in the program, and Jaime rubbed asses with Penn. Yes, rubbed asses. Allow me to explain. On the Safety Hysteria episode of Bullshit, one of the things they look at is toilet seat covers and whether or not they actually do anything. Their swabbings found that most people's asses are cleaner than their hands, so Penn proposed that shaking hands be replaced by rubbing asses. He even said that if you see him on the street, to come on up and rub asses with him. And so it goes:

Jaime: I just wanted to say, I love your show, and I was wondering if you'd rub asses with me.
Penn: Oh, certainly!
Penn & Jaime: *vigorous ass rubbing*

There you have it. He really will rub asses. Go see their show, and when it's done, try it for yourself! :)

We took the shuttle back, gabbed about the show, got Pina Coladas in these nifty collectible mugs from Paris that look like the hot air balloon out front, and watched a couple fountain shows at the Bellagio. Thursday, we wandered around some more, took the shuttle back to the Rio to get Penn & Teller t-shirts, and watched more Bellagio fountain shows. I even recorded one - I know, it's a super huge file size, but watch it anyway: click here! The video should speak for itself, but I'll say it anyway - absolute breath-taking. Plus, it's free! Go watch!

We also got blended Coffee Bean drinks that night, and I tried a Margarita, while Jaime fell in love with his Martini. The next morning, I had tiny waffles at the breakfast buffet, and we headed home.

The gambling word: Put five bucks into any machine that has Hot Hot Penny. Play 10 lines at one credit per line. Do this first, then press the Hot Hot Penny button, and repeat that bet until you're satisfied. I put five dollars into one of those machines twice. The first time, I walked away with $35, and the second time, with $20. It's fun, too - the animations are entertaining and cute. I enjoyed it, at least.

And so here I am, trying to convince myself to work on 51, and getting ready for the next term. I'm going to head out to breakfast/lunch now - it's 12:06pm! My goodness, I've been writing for a while! Anyway, comment away, my friends! I'll answer any other Vegas questions anyone has. And never forget - Penn & Teller are the best!