California bound; M changes hands and style

Yes, MGM Resorts International, Boyd Gaming, Las Vegas Sands, the great state of Illinois and I don’t know who all else have been reporting revenues this week, and Mississippi is under water.. And I’ve not had time to cover any of it! Instead, I’m shoulder-deep in resarch on home-schooling kids and Vegas’ upcoming Fringe Festival and a few others things … plus rescuing a rooster. On Easter Sunday, my wife and I were “adopted” by a vagrant rooster. He’d been badly mangled (probably by from a cockfight) and was missing his coxcomb — and his scalp. Jennifer named him “Plucky,” due to his resilience and he’s been cadging food and water around the neighborhood, just a short walk from the Strip.

Eventually we were able to catch and contain fleet-footed Plucky (who now enjoys a nice, steady diet and fertilizes my veranda), as we continued to seek a permanent home for him. Boos to the Nevada SPCA and to Lied Animal Shelter. Both would have killed Plucky outright and the SPCA would have made us pay for the privilege of having him put to death. Several other parties, such as Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and sundry farms, were more far helpful and, as of this writing, it looks as though Plucky has found a new home in Animal Acres, a farm-animal sanctuary to the west of … God has a sense of humor, no? … Victorville, planned destination of Sig Rogich‘s Desert Xpress (aka Choo-Choo to Nowhere), familiar to readers of S&G. So we may be heading off to Acton tomorrow, with Plucky riding in air-conditioned comfort.

Part of Animal Acres’ mission is to promote a vegetarian lifestyle. Steve Wynn would approve, don’t you think?

CineVegas? CineWhat? Yeah, remember CineVegas, the film festival that was euthanized a couple of years back? This week’s Las Vegas CityLife asks the question, Do we miss it? Film scribes Kevin Capp, Matt Kelemen and Mike Prevatt all recall it fondly. Yr. Humble Blogger renders a minority opinion from the bench.

Changes at M. Even before the sun set on the Marnell era at M Resort and Penn National Gaming took over, we noticed a change or two on-property. Most conspicuously, the much-hyped self-serve beverage stations are gone, never to return. They ran into innumerable problems, such as customers spilling drinks everywhere or kids running around the casino and lobby all jacked up on caffeine and making messes. Worst of all, people would pull up in front of M, run in, brazenly grab a free beverage and skedaddle. One hopes Penn applies to some new thinking to the casino floor, whose combination of low-hanging light fixtures and tall slot machines feels like a series of cattle chutes. Moo!