{"id":814,"date":"2009-03-12T14:17:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-12T22:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blogs\/dmckee\/index.cfm\/2009\/3\/12\/Case-Bets-Fasolt-etc"},"modified":"2009-03-12T14:17:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-12T22:17:00","slug":"case-bets-fasolt-etc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/case-bets-fasolt-etc\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Bets: Fasolt, etc."},"content":{"rendered":"

A reader has asked how Fasolt<\/strong> got his name. I'm to blame for that, because he was called "Marble" when I met him. He was living in a foster home in Minneapolis<\/strong>, after a woman had thrown out her boyfriend and his cat, but not before her bratty kids has smeared bubble gum in his (the cat's, that is) fur. "Marble" was a logical reference to his coloration but it's also cold, smooth and impersonal … in short, nothing like the friendly and gently inquisitive — albeit huge<\/em> — cat to whom I was introduced.<\/p>\n

Fifty bucks later (the best $50 I ever spent), the mega-kitty was mine but the name had to go. Casting about for inspiration, my mind fell upon Fasolt<\/a>, the soft-hearted giant from Richard Wagner<\/strong>'s opera Das Rheingold<\/em>. In it, Fasolt has a surly brother, Fafner<\/strong>, who clubs him to death in an argument over some gold. Fasolt, to his credit, only had eyes for the goddess of spring, Freia<\/strong>, but once the brothers are persuaded to take mere money instead, they're at each other's throats in nothing flat. (Allegory much?)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fasolt, the giant, as portrayed in the Bayreuth Festival's 1980 revival of<\/em> Das Rheingold.<\/p>\n

Since Fasolt is the only character in the Ring of the Nibelung<\/em> whose morality doesn't come into question at some point, he made a perfect namesake for my new feline friend. It's been the despair of veterinarians, who always misprononounce his name "fasOLT," but they've come to love him so much, I no longer mind. He lives with two Norwegian Forest Cats, Shadow<\/strong> and Mr. Bit<\/strong>, so that's a lot of plus-sized felines lumbering around my little pied-a-terre<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Magic's a Drag<\/strong><\/em>: I was persuaded to see it<\/a> last night and, yes, it is indeed a drag. How anyone can justify $50 a ticket for such a cheaptastic show is beyond me — especially when you can now get into Cirque du Soleil<\/strong>'s Love<\/em> for as little as $60<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dix Nix Snix:<\/strong> Some gay-bar hanky-panky (third item<\/a>) will cost Snick's<\/strong> $50K and a sex-, er, six<\/em>-month loss of its slot route, unless the Nevada Gaming Commission<\/strong> overrules an already lenient settlement. Moral<\/em>: Sex and slots don't mix.<\/p>\n

Actually … I can think of some off-color variants of that lesson, but I'll spare you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader has asked how Fasolt got his name. I'm to blame for that, because he was called "Marble" when I met him. He was living in a foster home in Minneapolis, after a woman had thrown out her boyfriend … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,4,99,6,25,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}