Earth and AIDS

First off, today is Earth Day.

Two of many things most Americans aren’t too concerned with is the horrible state which our environment is in and the unequal status of the LGBT community in the United States.

Doing our part in conserving energy, recycling and taking care of the earth is a no-brainer. If the air is too polluted to breath, the water too toxic to drink and our food supply too genetically modified to cause more harm in the long run, what else is there? Do we eat dollar bills? Drink the last remaining drops of fossil fuel? It’s not that hard to understand that the human race depends on a clean environment to survive. It’s very simple really.

George and I recycle. We have replaced most of our indoor and outdoor incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient fluorescent ones, and we car pool every day. We don’t turn the heater or air-conditioner on until absolutely necessary. Even during the summer desert heat we have our thermostat set at 84 degrees. Otherwise we’d be working only to pay for mortgage and the already way too high power bill. It’s mind of matter.

The other issue, which is rather alarming, is the fact that people of the LGBT community in the U.S. are becoming third class citizens. For whom exactly does "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," as it is stated in the United States Declaration of Independence, apply to then? Only to rich white guys? Some people want to vote for a federal amendment to ban same-sex marriage. What business is it of heterosexual people whom gays or lesbians love and want to spend their lives with? What gives them the right to take away the right of other people? Not too long ago in this country, women would not even have been allowed to vote on this subject. Or any subject, for that matter. Imagine that, certain white straight people had no equal rights at one point in history of the United States.

Then there is the whole debacle how HIV infected people are being treated and how AIDS in general is being used as a smear campaign by some right-wing, religious fanatics against anything gay or lesbian. The fact that HIV is not only affecting homosexuals, but also heterosexual people, including women and children, is conveniently swept under the rug. The claim that AIDS is a gay disease is not only a lie but also ignorant. And while the endless debates and finger pointing over whether it is an abomination and who to blame rages on; countless people continue to suffer. With no cure in sight, without help or compassion.

One of the few things that help to bring some kind of relief are events such as the annual Las Vegas AIDS Walk, which was held on Sunday. The money raised will help the AFAN (Aid for AIDS of Nevada) organization to provide support and advocacy for adults and children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in southern Nevada.

George and I participated in the walk, as we did last year. It’s our little contribution to a great cause and it’s usually fun too. Some people came in costumes. Many families with children were taking part as well. And as always, there were lots of dogs. Countless dogs in every size and shape were present. The weather cooperated too. It was sunny and very comfortable. Below are some photos of Sunday’s event.

This is actually a picture from last year's AIDS Walk in Las Vegas. Here we are with one of the Sin Sity Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Jump the Shark

Remember when American television used to be great? It was just fun to watch. Stories were told, comedies were hilariously funny, and yes, sometimes it would actually inform us about world events.

Even television commercials were at one point considered to be one of the best in world. The visual presentation used to be top-notch, with superb designs and state-of-the-art motion graphics.

Now, with all the hi-definition, surround sound and other technological advances, one would think we’re in television heaven.

Yet, our super-duper wide-screen HDTV set is off.

There’s simply nothing to watch anymore. Our cable company offers 300+ channels and they all seem to be broadcasting the same crap. How many more reality shows (reality???) do we need? Aren’t sitcoms supposed to be funny? I don’t even remember the last time we watched the news...any news...on TV. News? Do Americans even remember this term anymore?



If we actually do turn on our super-duper HDTV set, then we tune into HD Theater and watch their “Sunrise Earth” series. The picture quality is out-of-this-world. It’s also more entertaining to watch the sun rise over a South American jungle, than having to endure the stupidity of bitching has-been actors or one-hit-wonder rock stars, the unoriginality and formulaic sameness of drama series and sitcoms, or the lies and manipulation of state-controlled “news” programs. Nowadays, everything seems crude, mindless and to be produced for pure shock value. Television programs of every kind are being pumped out cheaply to squeeze out the highest ratings possible, which in return mean huge profits.

Huge profits. Money. That's what it's about in the end after all. Those large multi-billion corporations making even more money off of the little guys. And along the way, the masses of an already uneducated and highly credulous people are being turned into a nation of brainless and biased drones.

Quit frankly, American television as a whole has already jumped the shark a long time ago. But to be fair, most of the contemporary foreign programs don’t fare entirely great either.

Luckily, there’s always HBO or a DVD player.

But then again, who has time to sit in front of the idiot box anyway. We sure don’t. There’s too much to take care of in-between our busy work schedule. And there’s still a life to be lived. The open world out there in real life always looks better than watching it all mashed together as high-resolution pixels projected on a boxed-up screen.

Leave your TV off. Put down that remote. Just once. Give it a try.

Read a book or take a walk outside. Maybe there's a nice park nearby?

Explore reality. You may actually like it.

More Spring in Vegas

Below are more photos from our spring outing on the Las Vegas "Strip" with our friend Margaret a little while ago. Some snippets of what we saw along the famed boulevard. It's an ever-changing scenery. Old things never stay old and the future is always just around the corner.



Outside the Bellagio Hotel & Casino. After visiting the spring flowers and butterflies inside their conservatory, we strolled along the "Strip" and enjoyed the afternoon sun.




Next to the Bellagio is one of many construction sites of future gaming establishments, condominium towers, shopping and entertainment complexes. This here shows the construction of the Cosmopolitan.




An observant George. The "Strip" is the place for people watching.




Greeting from Paris. In the desert, that is. Paris Las Vegas has its own Tour d'Eiffel. It's a half-sized replica though.




The former Aladdin Hotel & Casino was recently turned into a Planet Hollywood Casino. It's contemporary and trendy now. Gone too is the Middle Eastern themed Desert Passage mall. The mall stores are now lined up along the Miracle Mile, named after the business section on Wilshire Blvd. in L.A.




They put a cork into the famous volcano in front of the Mirage. This famous attraction is being completely refurbished and won't spew fire and "lava" again until sometime this fall.




Encore is a perhaps fitting name for the new addition to Wynn Resort. The opening of the second hotel tower and the expansion of the Wynn Casino is not too far away.




One of the rare quiet moments could be experienced on the mezzanine of the Venetian, which overlooks its piazza, gondolas and the Strip below.




It's the real thing. An oversized Coke bottle, gigantic M&M candies and other larger-than-life product placements can be found up and down the "Strip."




Don't blink. You might miss seeing another high rise building going up. See, there's another one. That wasn't there yesterday. This is only a part of the massive City Center, developed by the MGM Mirage, and will bring a new level of gaming and entertainment experience to Sin City.

Spring on the Strip

George and I met our friend Margaret for lunch yesterday. We haven’t seen her in a while and since George has celebrated his birthday recently, we combined the get-together with a birthday lunch at one of our favorite restaurants on the Las Vegas “Strip.” We met outside Tamba, an Indian restaurant, to enjoy their lunch buffet. We talked about this and that, catching up on the latest news, ate a lot of yummified food and had a great time.

Afterwards we decided to walk on the Strip for a bit and “play tourists.” It was incredibly busy. No sign of a recession here. A lot of Europeans were in town visiting, apparently taking advantage of the currently very weak dollar. Las Vegas hasn’t seen such an influx of foreigners since the 9/11 terror attacks. Since the Bush Administration implemented stricter rules and regulations on foreigners entering the United States, foreign tourists simply stayed away. It’s interesting to see how one country’s deteriorating currency can sway someone from never setting foot in one particular country, due to one’s political convictions. Money does rule indeed.

In any case, one of the many stops along the way was the garden conservatory inside the Bellagio Hotel & Casino. They had their annual spring exhibition on display, including a special aviary for live exotic butterflies. Some of the species were just amazing. Thousands of spring flowers were used to create a little natural paradise. Oversized snails, frogs, cranes and ladybugs were created from real flowers and plants, such as roses, moss and coffee beans. Throw in ponds, dancing water fountains and giant watering cans, and you have a perfect spot for everyone to be “ooh-ing,” “aah-ing” and “Oh my god-ing” about.

Below are some sample pictures of the Bellagio conservatory. We took a ton more photos but we will post some of them in the near future.

Typography

That's what George and I do. We do it, live it, breathe it and are it. This and graphic arts or any visual arts. Now, if only other "designers" at all these fancy schmancy agencies would know how to kern.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2o1U4o1bc2k

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Hasi.

Alles Gute zum Gebstag.*

* Just for clarification, it's not spelled correctly. However, someone special will get the point :)

Easter in L.A.

George and I spent the Easter weekend in Los Angeles. Not because it was Easter. That was just coincidence. Rather because we had tickets to see Margaret Cho at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A. She would have also performed at the Palms Hotel & Casino here in Las Vegas, but we had to get out of town for a change of scenery and this was a good opportunity.

We love going to Los Angeles. People always wonder why anyone would ever want to go there voluntarily, dealing with traffic, smog and those “weird” Angelinos.

Quite frankly, these things never bothered us. Granted, we can do without the smog, but that’s not a daily occurrence. And believe it or not, but the traffic in L.A. actually flows better than in Las Vegas. On the surface streets anyways.

We left home early Saturday morning and arrived in a sunny and pleasant Pasadena around noon, where we stopped for a nice cup of fresh coffee and a Dark Chocolate Mocha Freddo at Peet’s. After checking into our hotel in “Hollyweird” and resting for a while, we hopped on the subway and took it to the 7th Street/Metro Center station. Our plan was to re-discover this particular part of downtown L.A., since we haven’t been there in over ten years. We forgot about all the remaining beautiful old buildings, especially along Broadway. There are plans to revitalize the area but not much has happened yet with few exceptions. Nevertheless, there’s still plenty of activity due to the hustle and bustle of the mostly Latino community doing business here.

We visited Pershing Square and the historic Biltmore Hotel and came across a film crew shooting a movie. Naturally, this is L.A. after all. Before heading to the Orpheum Theatre, we had dinner at one of the last of a dying breed of eating establishments, Clifton’s Cafeteria on Broadway.

There already was a long line of people waiting outside the theater, hoping to snap up tickets for that evening’s seemingly sold-out performance. This was our first time to the Orpheum Theatre. We are constantly astounded by the richness of older, established theater venues in Los Angeles. Many of these huge and ornate palace-like theaters were built during the silent movie era and were eventually converted to accompany stage productions. A great example is the Pantages in Hollywood, home to the ever popular and now our favorite musical “Wicked.”

Liam Sullivan opened for Margaret. He’s more known for his alter ego, Kelly. Who hasn’t seen the quirky videos of Kelly on You Tube, singing of “Shoes?” His contribution to the evening was fairly brief but funny. Margaret Cho and her stand-up comedy routine were absolutely hilarious. The audience was laughing their heads off. At times, we were laughing so hard that tears were running down our faces and we almost peed in our pants. Her views on domestic and international politics, religion, race and the LGBT community was to the point, but her delivery funny as hell. We just love her…and yes, WE ARE BEAUTIFUL!

The next day, Easter Sunday, brought us to our favorite coffee house in Brentwood. We always get our supply of fresh Peet’s coffee there and also enjoy freshly brewed cups of coffee and some delicious pastries. In our opinion, Peet’s serves the best coffee. Period!

After we stocked up on coffee to take back home, we headed over to the Pacific Palisades in Santa Monica. It was already unusual warm this early in the year. It is only March after all. It was rather cool in Las Vegas when we left. There was even a cold breeze in Baker when we stopped for a short break. We walked all the way along the ocean from San Vicente Boulevard down to Venice Beach. Luckily we brought sun screen lotion along. Otherwise we both would have ended up looking like red lobsters. The weather was perfect and the surf was great. Tons of people out, enjoying a Californian spring day. A lot of Europeans were out and about as well. The strong Euro makes it more reasonable for them to spend vacations here in the United States than in Italy or Spain. I had to chuckle at some Germans since I fully understand their language. Why do Germans always complain about the most trivial things?

Warscheinlich weil es hier nie etwas richtig deutsches zum Essen gibt. Aber Gott sei Dank, immerhin servieren die dort drueben Erdinger Weissbier. Nochmal Glueck gehabt. Der Urlaub ist gerettet.

In the early afternoon we started heading back home to Las Vegas. When we were driving through the typical Southern Californian hill country, which is typically dry and brown, one couldn’t miss the bursting of fresh green grass and lush vegetation. Millions of flowers were sprouting everywhere. The winter rains came late this year, but left a remarkable impression.

Another short weekend came to a close, but it was fun and sweet. We’ll be back soon for sure.

We love L.A.!

Slow Process

By now it seems obvious that I won't be able to post anything on a daily basis. In part it's due to...how should I put it...life? We're just too busy with work, more work and yes, just a tad bit more work. In the little spare time that we do have, we're trying to catch up on things we can't get around to because of...you guessed it...work.





I'm not complaining by any means. It is what it is.





But we're looking forward to this weekend, though. We'll be in Los Angeles to catch Margaret Cho doing her comedy thing at the Orpheum Theatre. It'll be fun. On Sunday you'll probably meet us somewhere along the Pacific Palisades. In any case, a well deserved time away from usual grind.





And on this happy note...Happy Easter, folks. Ein frohes Osterfest an alle.