Let Her Go by Passenger

New thing today, loving this new song Let Her Go by Passenger. Heard it on the radio and well, just really liked the lyrics and the song. Just a sad beautiful song.

Lyrics - Passenger - Let Her Go

Well you only need the light when it's burning low

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow

Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low

Only hate the road when you’re missin' home

Only know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go

Staring at the bottom of your glass

Hoping one day you'll make a dream last

But dreams come slow and they go so fast

You see her when you close your eyes

Maybe one day you'll understand why

Everything you touch surely dies

But you only need the light when it's burning low

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow

Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low

Only hate the road when you're missin' home

Only know you love her when you let her go

Staring at the ceiling in the dark

Same old empty feeling in your heart

'Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast

Well you see her when you fall asleep

But never to touch and never to keep

'Cause you loved her too much

And you dived too deep

Well you only need the light when it's burning low

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow

Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low

Only hate the road when you're missin' home

Only know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go (oh, oh, ooh, oh no)

And you let her go (oh, oh, ooh, oh no)

Will you let her go?

'Cause you only need the light when it's burning low

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow

Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low

Only hate the road when you're missin' home

Only know you love her when you let her go

'Cause you only need the light when it's burning low

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow

Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low

Only hate the road when you're missin' home

Only know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go

On the side, I saw this on the same day and thought it was appropriate :)

I Love Burger - Palazzo - Las Vegas

New thing of the day, my review of I Love Burger at the Palazzo Las Vegas. I was very excited to try this place, as the menu looked amazing.

Caprese Burger - eh ok. Husband thought it was just ok, better than average but not great either.

Wagyu Kobe Truffle Garlic burger - disappointing! It looked so promising on the menu. Meat was undercooked and cold. I was so sad because it looked so good. I probably should have sent it back but oh well. The crispy prosciutto was pretty good though.

Poutine Fries - saving grace. These were quite good. Had mushrooms, brown gravy, onions, cheese & yummy goodness. Mmmmmm.

I also got a special soda something that was alcoholic. I remember that being quite tasty and red, but I don't remember what it was called.

In the end, we did NOT love the burgers, but fries & drink were worth it! I would try it again. Maybe it was a bad burger night for them - but shouldn't their burgers knock it out of the park? Eh.

Purses!

New thing today, sharing my bag purchases. I don't gamble but I like to shop. They have so much shopping on the way to Vegas and in Vegas. I'm a purseaholic.

We went to the Las Vegas Premium Outlets. Make sure to bring your AAA membership card to the info booth and you'll get a discount coupon book. That saved me a good amount of money. You get the book free with AAA membership or just pay $5 for the coupons.

Below are the name brand bags I got at a ridiculous amazing discount. The styles are old and it seems like they were getting rid of their stock, but I didn't care! A great bag is a great bag. The outlet also has the biggest LeSportSac store of bags I've ever seen. Pretty fun!

I also splurged on a checkered black & white with red strap bag below from a booth at Caesar's Palace called Ollin Arm Candy. They recycle materials and fold up old candy wrappers to make the plastic pattern. I'm sure you've seen these types of bags around. I thought it was super cool and couldn't resist.

I love bags. I think I probably have too many. Anyway these are the latest! Great sales!

Ginseng 3 - 24 hour Asian food - Las Vegas

New thing of the day, ate at Ginseng 3 - 24 hour Asian food - Korean, Japanese & Chinese cuisine at the Quad.

It was surprisingly delish! I was a little worried as it was generic Asian food and in a Vegas hotel, might be more of a rip off or just whatever food. We were hungry around midnight so we tried it. VERY GOOD FOOD!

It might be a bit weird/hard to find. You have to find signs and take 3 escalators up to the 5th floor. Then it's this little restaurant.

Egg Rolls - Eh OK. No photos but these were ok.

Sushi Combo B - 8 pieces of eel rolls and tuna, salmon and snapper sushi. Excellent!

Pineapple sorbet in a pineapple - Really tasty!

The place seems to be a family run place - with good food, 24 hours, and reasonable Vegas prices, check it out :)

High Roller - World's Largest Observation Ferris Wheel - Las Vegas

New thing of the day, some photos from building of the High Roller - World's Largest Observation Ferris Wheel - Las Vegas.

I originally saw the article in the LA Times - Las Vegas: High Roller Ferris wheel changes the city skyline again. We happened to be staying at The Quad (previously Imperial Palace) where our room had an awesome view of the wheel being built. It will be ready in 2014. In the meantime, it was incredibly interesting to see and we can't wait to try it when it opens.

Here are some photos from our trip of the wheel. Very exciting and cool.

Wikipedia Article - High Roller Ferris Wheel Las Vegas 

Time Article - Largest Ferris Wheel Near Completion in Las Vegas

Views from our hotel room

From Koval Lane, behind the Vegas Strip

Driving by the Wheel

Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health - Las Vegas

New thing, saw up close the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. We were driving on the 15 in Las Vegas going places, and out the window I got a glimpse of this building. It looked really cool, so when we were leaving Downtown Freemont Street, I asked the husband to drive towards the area. It's near the Las Vegas Premium Outlets too.

This building is way cool. It reminds me of the LA Walt Disney Concert Hall. We drove around twice and I took photos. Anyway photos speak louder than words. Look up the images on Google and check out my photos - very neat :) You might want to drive by it if you're in the area.

Gordon Ramsay's Pub & Grill - Las Vegas Caesar's Palace

New thing today, food review of Gordon Ramsay's Pub & Grill in Caesar's Palace Las Vegas. We ate there twice during our trip, and overall it was good, not great, but overall pretty good, ok like a 7 out of 10 or so. I love the service and oddly enough also love the wait staff's uniforms. They wear these rocker weird getups. The girls have cute outfits, waitresses have a printed black and white pattern and the hostess has like a newsprint dress which is very cool. The guys all wear these suspender things - I guess it's a pub German rocker feel or something, but I like the outfits. The atmosphere is very cool casual. They have comfy chairs, living room feeling settings and lots of TVs playing the latest games.

My favorite thing I tried was probably the mustard that came with the pretzel breadsticks for dinner. It was amazing. The pretzel breadsticks were super yummy too, but the mustard - OHHHHH! It also came with a horseradish sauce that was also super tasty.

The Magic Hat #9 - I just had to try this beer just from the name. Good stuff and I was glad I got to try a new beer. Haven't had a new beer in ages :)

Bangers and Mash - Lunch. The mashed potatoes excellent. The bangers were good. The gravy sauce was a little too sweet for me. I noticed that the more beer I had, the better the bangers tasted. If it's paired with the beer it's far tastier. Overall quite good.

Truffle Fries - Lunch. Yum! I preferred regular fries though. Truffle fries came with some killer aioli sauce though. Ok to good if you like truffle fries.

Regular Fries - AMAZING! The fries are thick cut yum. I don't even like thick cut fries but they're good. The lunch fries were better than the dinner fries. 

Pub Burger - Lunch. Delish! I was jealous of my husband's order and he really liked it - excellent and well done burger & fries. They did this basic very well!

Rillettes of Duck and Pork - Dinner. It's like pate and pretty good. I like pate. The husband preferred the duck and I prefer pork. Also a new thing, I haven't ever had rillettes before, so it was interesting appetizer. Came with thick crunch outside bread, the killer mustard and pickled veggies.

Fish and Chips - Dinner. Tasty and good. Husband liked the mushy peas. I thought overall it was good but not anything incredible.

Braised Pork Belly - Dinner. Excellently and expertly cooked. Super fatty and unhealthy. I prefer more salt and seasoning, but it had really great texture. If you want a fatty soft and juicy meat, that's not beef, then this is quite good. It has a thin slightly crisp outside and the rest is soft. 

So that's what we thought of the Ramsay Pub & Grill. I'm a fan of the TV chef with Kitchen Nightmares and all. I love pubs, and his pub was good to great. 

Price - It's a lot pricer than we can regularly afford. I think the irritating thing about expensive places is the food has to be awesome to impress me. It can't just be good if I'm paying $40-$50 for my meal. So overall this was a little disappointing just being "good" and not every bite divine. But if we found this hole in the wall pub, and the dishes were less expensive, I'd recommend this place to give the people good business. Ramsay needs very little good press, and the food here is good if you can afford it. 

Variety - The trouble is, we only had 2 meals here. I would have gladly come here multiple times as I was curious about a ton of dishes on the menu. I'd say fair maybe 5 times, try all the different dishes, then put in my final review. For the 2 meals we had, it was good. I would demand the mustard and the fries again, and maybe the Magic Hat #9, just for sentimental reasons. Have a drink, relax and try something new at this place. 

Penn & Teller Show - Rio Las Vegas

New thing today, went to a Penn & Teller show at the Rio in Las Vegas. We were excited, as my husband is a fan of magic and we heard great things about the show, so we were looking forward to it. My overall feeling about it was "eh" and I don't know if we'd see another show of theirs. Here's the breakdown.

Really great stuff - there were two acts/tricks that we absolutely loved and were impressed with. One was an elaborate coin trick from an aquarium and it was really neat. The other was a video trick done with a TV projector screen at the top and the act at the bottom. Those were really fun tricks and their magic was good. My husband also got a kick of a gruesome and funny moment with the sawing in half trick. They poked fun and had jokes and a sense of playfulness in their show - not taking magic too seriously and showing people these are just fun tricks, not serious magic. They also like to show you how they did it in some of their acts, which is just neat. Also I think the pairing of Penn and Teller is good. I personally favor Teller, as he is the quiet straight guy to Penn's more chatty and showman character. Although Penn can be loquacious and tiring in my opinion, they're both a good match for each other and enhance each other on stage. Alone I believe they wouldn't be as memorable or successful.

The bad news - some parts got really long and preachy. I'm not sure how much of the chat was setup for their act, but a lot of times it felt very preachy with a lot of talk. We actually like their show Bullshit! which talks about some great issues and brings some interesting, different and thoughtful perspective into a lot of things. Some of the acts in this show felt like mini Bullshit episodes, except we came to see a magic show. We're in Vegas and here for a not so serious fun time. Although they have some very important and poignant points they make, such as freedom of speech and their discussion on the 4th Amendment and metal detectors at airports, I felt like there wasn't a whole lot of magic in those acts. We also had seats a bit far away, and we used to go to the Magic Castle in LA, so we're used to seeing magic closer up and I enjoy the theater of it all, but it just felt long and far away and at times I just got bored. Maybe there were a lot of long acts or maybe I just like things quick. It just felt really long at times. I was so glad when it was over, sad to say.

The mixed review - the bad and good. They do this really cool thing where they go outside after the show and hang out with people afterwards - photos, autographs and such. I thought that was really really great, except the way they hang out with people is they just stand in the entrance/exit area hallway and cause traffic as people are leaving. There should be a designated roped off area for people who want to meet and see them, and people who want to just leave, not have one hallway for everyone. Maybe I just want something a little more organized. I got very nervous and freaked out at the amount of people crammed into the hallway and the stampede type shoulder to shoulder crushing crowd feeling - I do not like that. There were people standing/loitering and trying to get near the magicians, mixed in with people trying to find their way out. It just felt a little claustrophobic to me. But I'm glad they do go outside and hang with the crowd afterwards - incredibly cool.

So that was that. It's just my opinion. I know a lot of people loved the show, and I'm glad they did. It just didn't really turn me on or get me that interested. Maybe it was an off night for us or them. I don't doubt their magic is very good and they totally had me looking in the wrong direction and they did dazzle with some of their tricks, but in the end I was a little tired and bored. Overall "eh" for me. I hope more people liked them then didn't though. They're a good pair, and its a good show, running 12 years (so they say but never trust a magician :)) at the Rio and counting. In the spirit of Penn & Teller - Don't just read my review, see it and judge for yourself! You may think I'm full of it.

Dock Dogs

New thing today, watched Dock Dogs. I had never heard of it before either. We were waiting for a show at the Rio Las Vegas (which I will blog about another day), when there was a fair going on outside the hotel. We decided to go check it out. I had seen the local news talk about the Dock Dogs competition, but I didn't realize how much fun it would be live. 

Basically the one we saw was a jumping competition. The dogs are trained to run, jump and catch a floating stick in their mouth, and then their fall is caught by a large pool of water. The location of the stick changes height and length and dogs are eliminated over time as the stick changes positions. 

It's super fun and cute to see the dogs get excited, their owners pep talk the dogs into jumping, and then the athleticism and acrobatics as the dogs go for the bone. Some dogs are itching to jump. Some miscalculate the distance of the bone. Some get super excited and then don't jump and stand on the edge. Some can't find the bone or see it. One dog missed the bone, but when he fell in the water, he kept swimming up right under the bone, trying to swim under, jump and get it. One dog missed the bone then immediately jumped back onto the ramp, and before they could reset everything, made another go for it. Anyway it's fun and cute. 

It is super cool when they do get the bone! The crowd is also highly invested, cheering along and ahhhhhs of sadness when the dog misses, or shouts of Ya and joy when the dog makes it :)

This might have been the coolest unexpected activity we stumbled upon. It was ridiculously fun and surprising how entertaining it was. Wholesome fun in the city of Sin :) I highly recommend going to something like this if you can!

Bellagio water show with Panorama shot

New thing today, took a panorama shots during the Bellagio water fountain show in Las Vegas. The photos turned out Fab! Also, we were blessed with a beautiful moon.

I personally think the show looks most beautiful when watching it from the Bellagio, with the Paris and strip behind the show. Most people see the show facing towards the Bellagio with the Bellagio behind it. I personally love the view from the back, looking out to the strip :) maybe it's because the moon was there. How romantic either way.

Rock of Ages - Venetian Las Vegas

New thing today, we saw the Rock of Ages musical at The Venetian in Las Vegas. It was awesome and nothing but a good time. It's a musical based on hair metal rock from the 80s. Husband and I enjoyed the movie as we also loved this live show. The stories are different and the songs are a little different too, but we love both versions.

Another thing I really love about this show is the fun and campiness of the whole thing. It's very cheeky. Makes you laugh and not take anything too seriously, but also speaks to your inner rocker.

We got there early and got upgraded to the 2nd row middle!!! Amazing seats!!! Felt like a rockstar! The music and show were all great.

At the end we were very enthusiastic and a little sad to hear it all end. That's when they set you up to go to the Bourban room. See rocker guy with flashing lights and arrows on his body and crotch. He has a megaphone to direct you to the Bourban room, where if you bought a ticket, you get a free shot. It was delish and they kept the party vibe going with an air guitar contest and music to rock out and dance too. The host after hours was a little cruise ship cheesy at certain parts "where you all from?" and "Texas in the house!" getting the crowd loosened up and all that, but we still had fun.

Overall if you like rock music, you may love this musical :) I saw plenty of dudes rocking out and I might say even enjoying it more than their dates or wives. It's a little raunchy and CPU but excellent music and great fun! Best show I've seen so far in Vegas!

Mob Museum Las Vegas Downtown

New thing today, checked out the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. Very cool! It's more like interactive history that brings the Mafia to life. I learned about how the organized crime and gang families rose, and some interesting stories about mobsters, police, witnesses and all that stuff. They also go into stories of the Mafia in movies, pop culture & tv. It is very interesting. Tons of media and interactive touch screens. My favorite was "catch the grift" or something like that, where they show casino footage and you have to find the cheater or scam, and they explain how the players were cheating.

The museum has a nice tone to it. It doesn't glorify the Mafia, but shows the gritty hard dark edge to the world. It shows the great rise of the Mafia empires and the violence and competition within the world. It shows the danger of that lifestyle, both within the Mafia and as the people fighting to bring it down. I suppose it's most like being witness to the rise and fall of empires, with dramatic and intense characters, battles, alliances, strategy, business and all that stuff.

It starts off with a police lineup where you can stand there like you're a bad guy in a Usual Suspects lineup. They have a few gun shooting interactive games. It shows the perspective of the police trying to take down these murderous cold blooded thugs. It goes into undercover work of cops and the intrigue behind people who fought the Mob.

They have REAL artifacts. The Valentines Day Massacre wall, suits & personal items of mobsters, real guns and weapons on display and all sorts of stuff. There's great style to the building and 20s Art Deco style to the place. The museum is in a converted courthouse where real investigations into organized crime occurred. They have real photos and footage of grizzly murders and hits "Mob's Greatest Hits" and all.

I now want to watch all the tv and movies about Mafia. I love the Godfather, Casino and the Departed. We have Boardwalk Empire on our Netflix Queue and I want to add The Sopranos, Donnie Brasco, Goodfellas and all sorts of other movies. Some of the real life stories were incredible and you appreciate the movies more as you can totally tell the stories behind the Police & Mafia inspired those movies or tv shows.

I highly recommend this activity to anyone visiting Las Vegas. There's so much info. Could take 2 hours or 4 depending on your level of interest. Nice thing is you buy an all day pass, so go, take a break, and if you want, go back later. It's about a block away from Fremont Street so good to go while you're down there and maybe make a day of Downtown Las Vegas. It's a lot of good stuff to take in all at once. I glazed over a lot and I'm not telling you everything, so you should go because you'll get something else or more out of it.

I recommend doing research and watching movies, tv or documentaries before you go - so when you're standing in front of the exhibit, you really appreciate and understand the significance of seeing this stuff in person. A very neat museum.

Doggie Sitter

New thing today, left our dog with a friend to dog sit for a few days. Going on a trip and needed a dog sitter. New thing is we've never had this friend watch our dog before. She's pretty awesome. She has 3 dogs of her own, one similar to our stray mix who we think is a shitzu/lhapso apso or whatnot? She loves dogs and has dog sit before so we were confident & happy she is in charge. Only thing is, I think I'm going to miss our dog. We got her in March this year. The only other time we left her to go on a trip was April, so this is different because we've bonded with her so much more, she's our girl now. Anyway, going to enjoy our trip, just will miss the wagging tail, the happy steps in the house and some dog kisses. But we'll be home soon. Just away for awhile.

Haircut at a Cosmetology School

New thing today, got my haircut at a Cosmetology School. Scary right? Well I had this interesting older lady cutting my hair. It started a little rocky because she washed my hair twice with shampoo like, oops I thought that was conditioner, and then finally found the conditioner somewhere in the salon. Then there were a bunch of labels like "CLEAN" for lots of drawers. She used hair clips from a container that said in big letters "SOILED" so when I confronted her about it, she claimed it was wrong and that the hair clips were clean.... Ya ok. Also when the hair people ask you to turn down your head, tuck your chin in and such, they're pretty gentle. She would like push the back of my head down and grunt annoyed "put your head down" or mumble it after she pushed my head down. Ya. Not so nice. Then the instructors seemed a little wary too, and explained things patiently. Overall though she managed to cut my hair alright, it just took awhile. What I hope it will look like below. Katie Holmes looks fabulous on that Elle cover. Anyway, we shall see?

My friend went with me and she said it looked cute and she's honest and I think she would say if it looked bad, so I think it must look alright? Eh? I still tipped to be nice, but overall, eh. Maybe I will hope for a better person next time, or maybe I'll pay the $70 (instead of the $12) to get my hair cut but a super professional. The past few years its been Supercuts ($15-$20). Awhile ago I used to get my hair done by pros and it always felt better. Eh. Time will tell I suppose if it was a good haircut.

Carbonara Chips

New thing today, I ate the whole bag in one sitting, under 20 minutes. Didn't think I would, but I did. I've had Carbonara chips before. They're from Cost Plus World Market, they're French and they're delicious. Anyway, that happened. Happy Monday.

Pacific Rim

Today, we are canceling the apocolpyse! We watched Pacific Rim at our local cheap theater. Greatest monster robot movie ever! I loved it! Loved loved loved it! It was a ridiculous popcorn monster vs robot fighting movie, good human characters, awesome monsters and a really fun and well told story overall.

So the Kaijus are the monster aliens trying to take over earth, and the Jaegers are the giant robots humans built to battle them. The Jaegers are machines that require two humans to work in sync through a mind meld type thing to work the giant machine. Below are my personal favorite highlights of the movie, some spoilers so do not read further if you want to see it surprised.

The War - So I really love how it's not half a movie on figuring out what the monster is and building a robot. The story is good because the movie is set it in the middle/end of the war between these Kaijus and humans. It tells the backstory of how they show up, how originally it was really tough to take them down, and then how humans had the upper hand in building the Jaeger robots, and how they start to lose the fight and the battle. Great back and forth. Both the humans and monsters evolve in their struggle and fight and war for the planet, so it makes it less one-sided and a more dynamic story.

The Director - Guillermo Del Torro. I love Pan's Labyrinth, I love this movie, and I think I'm going to become a fan of his work. It's hard for me to "love" movies. Most range from like to "eh", but this guy produces some really fantastic creatures and monsters, and he has a way with story telling and characters I like. I didn't love the Hellboy franchise, but I may give it another shot. Will have to add his other movies to my list of new things to try.

The sentimental stuff. The most emotional and touching scene, was one between a father and son before going into battle. It wasn't the girl/boy romance crap, it was something else that was highlighted. This father/son story resonated a very strong but different emotional note, and I love that. I absolutely love that. The girl/boy romance at the end, guess what, they didn't kiss. They're both hardened warriors who just finished doing battle, and they bump heads and sort of hold each other, and I found that more intimate and real and I love that they didn't kiss at the end - I LOVE IT! They never kiss! Also, there's obvious chemistry and the fact that they'll hook up or get together in the end, but the way he admits it to her is a very short and side scene before a battle he says "all those years I spent living in the past I never did think about the future.  Till now.  I never did have very good timing." I love that they don't waste precious movie time on a lame romance, but put it as part of the story, but within everything very appropriately. No kiss, just a fast intimate romance and focus on the battle and war is fantastic. Its so nice when there's not obvious irritating popular formula movies follow.

Different characters - They have a variety of different types and characters. They have peppered in comedy relief and goofy divergent characters. One is named Hannibal Chau. I love that the girl heroine Mako isn't proportionally a female asian model typical beauty feature. She's got curves, she looks different, she's not dainty and she fits in as a warrior. She's not emotionally fragile in the typical sense, and she's a good kind of different female character.

Also, the actor Idris Elba that plays the main general Stacker Pentecost is also the gatekeeper Heimdall from the Thor movie series who I loved. In the Thor movie - Heimdall is the all-seeing and all-hearing guardian sentry of Asgard who guards the rainbow bridge. Badass!

Monsters and the epic battles - Another part I love is the focus was all on the Kaijus monsters and the battles with the Jaegers. I love visual scale scenes and these huge giant monsters fighting robots just brings out a kid in me. It reminded me a bit of Voltron and Godzilla, but it was just so much cooler. There are some great scenes and images of the battle and fights. There's a Pacific Rim - "Destroy All Kaiju" Featurette on YouTube where Guillermo Del Torro talks about the monsters and says "the big money shot was the monster". I love when we see the monsters and when the villains are scary, epic or interesting. This makes the hero so much more grand and important when he defeats the villain. Honoring the villain honors the story and the sacrifice and the quality of the heroes in a story.

I also love how it feels very international. Sometimes you can't understand the Australian guys talking, and the accents are all different in the movie, so it feels more like a worldwide fight against monsters instead of an American only fight. More international, more UN type which appeals to me. Of course everyone speaks English, but with all different accents. Also the story seems to nod to Japanese and asian influences it seems, so I like that too. Just a different more international perspective in the movie.

Of course, there are the usual movie plot holes and possibly some story inconsistencies, but overall despite this my husband and I really enjoyed ourselves in watching this. The previews make it look like it will either be super interesting and epic, with the usual movie potential to be absolutely terrible and awful, but we were really happily surprised that it turned out so well and so fun to watch. I will definitely own this one when it comes out on DVD and enjoy the ridiculousness of battle, monsters, robots and all of it many more times.

Thank you Guillermo Del Torro and everyone who worked on this movie :) Very enjoyable!