Back from Morocco, We Get Married by Iman Ahmed bin Rahim, Las Vegas Film
Critics Winners, Yost Studios
Salon & Spa, Slum Tourism, Fortune-telling Leg Stolen, Movies This Week, and
more…
Married in a Muslim Marriage Ceremony.
Iman Ahmed bin Rahim negotiated our Muslim marriage contract and signed it. Our
witnesses were, for me, Margaret Rogers and Jack Banton for John.
Three Days in the Moroccan Desert.
It was so cold, my regulation-issue MV Discovery Antarctica jacket was
inadequate. I froze off 5 pounds even though I wore all the clothes I brought
with me and John heated huge rocks to keep our feet warm at night in our nomad
tent. And I thought camping in Rwanda was tough! Regardless, what an
experience! Next time I’ll wear a Mount Everest climbing outfit.
Las Vegas Film Critic’s Society Winners.
Thanks to Las Vegas Film Critic’s Society member and Variety newspaper
journalist, Barbara Scherzer, we were featured in Variety, the Bible of the film
industry. While I did not place my vote for Best Picture of 2007 to
“No Country for Old Men,” the LVFCS members’ accumulated votes did agree with me
by naming Daniel Day-Lewis Best Actor for “There Will Be Blood”.
Once the votes were tabulated by President and Founder Jeffery K. Howard and
Review Nation’s Derek Sante, “No Country for Old Men” also took the Best
Director category for Joel and
Ethan Coen and Best Supporting Actor to
Javier Bardem.
The LVFCS’s TOP
TEN FILMS FOR 2007 (in alphabetical order) are:
Now in its 11th
year, the Las Vegas Film Critics Society is comprised of 12 print, television
and Internet film critics in the Las Vegas area.
Las Vegas Film Critics Society
Yost Studios
Salon & Spa. Henderson’sYost Studios hairstylists now are certified in a breakthrough, Heaven-sent
Brazilian hair straightening treatment.
I should
know. My slightly wavy hair goes “Frizzy Native” when I’m in the Amazon or by a
puddle of water. While I’m fine in the Nevada desert, others born with curly
hair spend hours attempting to stabilize untamed locks using products that
damage hair.
Henderson-based
Yost Studios Salon & Spa is now providing an alternative to previous methods,
one that promises to get the kinks out without destroying hair in the process. I
visited the Yost Studios to see the procedure firsthand. I was really impressed.
Not only does it work, the process strengthens and heals damaged hair.
The process
makes hair shiny, thick and straight.
In October,
2007, eight of the day spa's hairstylists became certified in the Marcia
Teixeira Brazilian Keratin Treatment straightening method, a breakthrough that
makes straight hair a reality for all hair types,
minus the negative side effects.
Personable
and charming Mickey Yost (pictured), owner Yost Studios, researched the
technique which is a big improvement over the previous highly-touted Japanese
method which, in my opinion, made hair look like pick-up sticks. Yost Studios is
just the second in the valley sanctioned to use this revolutionary process.
The Keratin
Treatments performed at Yost Studios range from $300 to $450 (a bargain
considering what salons around the country are charging), and each application
lasts approximately three months. On behalf of his curly-haired clients who have
undergone the treatment, Yost says they can no longer live without it.
Yost Studios
offers hair styling and coloring, massage therapy, nail services, airbrush
make-up, facial treatments, and botox treatments. Located at 375 N. Stephanie
St., Suite 1514, Yost Studios is open from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Tuesdays
through Saturdays. For more information, visit
www.yoststudios.com.
Slum
Tourism.
When we were in Nairobi, Kenya, a driver we hired to take us around the
city offered to take us inside Kenya’s Kibera slum, one of Africa's largest.
Slum Tours, or “Pity
Tours”, are quite popular and considered part of any city tour! Of course, not
wanting to gloat over the suffering of others, we declined.
Kibera is 1.8 miles long
and home to 800,000 of the nation's poorest in a Nairobi valley.
The Kibera tour phenomenon
is considered the “in” place everybody wants to stroll through seeing others in
abject misery and poverty. We stopped on a hill to take a few pictures (above),
but without Madonna’s bodyguard entourage, we thought it best not go “slum
trawling” through the feces-lined streets liked privileged Westerners on a photo
op.
However, last week Madonna walked through the
narrow lanes of the Ambedkar Nagar slum in
Mumbai, India and visited a
flea market during a holiday with her
family.
Slum
residents showered rose petals on Madonna to welcome her, even though few knew
who the rich celebrity was.
Madonna stopped by at
the well-known Chor Bazaar flea market but did not buy anything for her 1,200
acre Ashcombe House estate in Wilshire, Britain. Madonna was also photographed rriding
a thoroughbred Marwari horse – bred by the ancient rulers of Rajasthan and famed
for their stamina, bravery and
loyalty.
Movies This
Week.
“Over Her Dead Body” (YES, but fluff)
“1st Sunday” (NO)
“The Orphanage” (YES)
“The
Orphanage” is a supernatural drama by young
Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona. It is a strangely dark and creepy ghost
story set in a mansion that once was the new owner’s childhood orphanage. I
liked “The Orphanage” so much I saw it twice.
Fortune-Telling Leg
Stolen. Thieves chopped off a Hindu priest's 'fortune-telling leg' to use its
powers for themselves. Holy men are renowned and awed throughout India for their
healing powers.
An
80-year old Hindu priest was drugged by thieves who then used a sickle to chop
off his right leg, which he claimed had magical powers.
Holy man Yanadi
Kondaiah has a reputation around his local village in Andhra Pradesh State for
using the leg to call on mystical powers which he said allows him to see into
the future.
The thieves decided
they didn't need the priest to tell their fortune – just his leg.
Kondaiah is a
soothsayer who has claimed his right leg possessed a rare mystic power which
made his predictions come true. The locals believe in his powers to cure
spiritual and physical ailments.
The limb thieves became
interested in owning the leg after previous predictions given to them by
Kondaiah turned out to be correct.
We
All Want Superpowers.
Stephan Gaghan, author of “Blink,” has written a screenplay about a 32 year-old
slacker (to be played by Leonardo DiCaprio) who can read minds by observing
people’s faces. The one person he can’t decipher is a sexy exchange student who
turns out to be only 16.) His father wants to use his abilities to buy a steel
company and cancel its pension and health plans.
The above article is the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of Vegas Community Online, its editors/publishers, and/or other Vegas Community Online columnists. VCO respects the right of each author to express their opinion. If you have an opposing viewpoint or would like to send feedback on any article, please send email to feedback@vegascommunityonline.com; state the title of the article and your comments. VCO reserves the right to add any submissions to its feedback page.
Henderson-based
Yost Studios Salon & Spa is now providing an alternative to previous methods,
one that promises to get the kinks out without destroying hair in the process. I
visited the Yost Studios to see the procedure firsthand. I was really impressed.
Not only does it work, the process strengthens and heals damaged hair. 
An
80-year old Hindu priest was drugged by thieves who then used a sickle to chop
off his right leg, which he claimed had magical powers. 
