Year
of the Rat, Chinese New Year’s Celebrations in Las Vegas, PK Party, The Bank
opens at Bellagio, and more…
Year
of the Rat.
On Monday we celebrated Chinese New Year (or Spring Festival) at the LV Hilton
with a cocktail reception followed by the live show.
Divine
Performing Arts sends two companies on the road for a non-stop touring schedule
encompassing 120 shows in 60 cities worldwide. The grand celebration features
operatic vocalists, dancers, performers and a live symphony orchestra. The
costumes and sets were extraordinary.
A time of
reflection and renewal, the Chinese New Year is the most important holiday of
the year. Shared by virtually every Asian country, it is an opportunity to
reflect on one’s own heritage and look ahead towards the future.
The
Chinese New Year is celebrated appropriately in Las Vegas with much pomp and
splendor. The MGM Mirage is offering
ancient Chinese culinary tradition
in a seven-day feast modeled for a king. In February, Diaoyutai State Guesthouse
will partner with Pearl Restaurant at the MGM Grand to present the Diaoyutai
State Guesthouse Culinary Festival. Recalling the imperial tradition of Chinese
Emperors, Diaoyutai will prepare traditional delicacies from the Imperial Court.
Movies This Week.
Well, Rambo opened this past Friday but without a promotional or press
screening. In fact, I heard that for the press junket for the movie, interviews
were done but press was not shown the movie! There was a Red Carpet and
screening in Las Vegas but only for friends of Planet Hollywood. No press
allowed!
Identifying
the True Structure of a Hit Movie.
I thought a movie’s three-act structure
was set in stone. There’s the ticking clock action-thriller scenario – the hero
has a short number of hours or minutes (see Al Pacino’s upcoming film, “88
Seconds”) to stop the bomb from going off or his pre-teen daughter from being
raped by a serial killer. See “The Secrets of Action Screenwriting” by William
C. Martell. There isn’t an action movie without the ticking clock recipe. My
favorite was “Crank” (2006). Yet, now comes the definitive analysis of how to
structure a winning screenplay. From the New York Post’s Page Six comes this
item:
“STRIPPER-turned-screenwriter
Diablo Cody (pictured) still has sex on the brain. Cody - who's nominated for a
Best Screenplay Oscar for Fox Searchlight's smash "Juno," about a pregnant
schoolgirl - tells the Times of London: "I heard that films are structured
around the male orgasm, the way they climax. Though, if it were modeled on the
male orgasm, it would just immediately cut to black."
Even
though Chev Chelios
died a violent death in “Crank,” there will be a “Crank 2.” Chelios, a hit man,
was given a Chinese cocktail injection by a rival madman. He has 60 minutes to
live. He is told there is no antidote. The poison will kill him unless he keeps
his adrenaline on
high. Chelios gets his revenge, but at the end of “Crank” he
jumps from
a helicopter, slams into the roof of a car and bounces off onto the pavement.
The last shot of Chelios is a close-up of his eyes wide open as the screen goes
black.
But a huge
hit means sequel.
In
the sequel, Chelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly
indestructible heart (so he survived!) and replaced it with a battery-powered
ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working.
PK Party.
The American Board of Hypnotherapy held its annual conference at the Alexis
Park Resort in Las Vegas. The
“Reaching Within” conference was designed to help people discover their hidden
potential, unrealized dreams and passion in life. Their website says:
“We are
combining the wisdom of the pioneers in the field of hypnosis and a new
generation of esoteric thinkers – providing you with cutting edge knowledge.
These teachers, authors and practitioners will open your mind, providing you
with numerous tools and resources to take home and use in your practice or
everyday use.
The ABH offered 3
pre-conference certification workshops with keynote speakers Tad & Adriana James
(experts in hypnosis and NLP), Shelley Stockwell-Nicholas (hypnotherapist and
trance channel) or David Shephard (NLP Master). In addition, on Thursday evening
our friend Jack Houck taught his PK 101 (more popularly known as “spoonbending.”
(www.jackhouck.com/pk.shtml)
The
Bank opens at Bellagio.
After bending spoons, we went to the VIP Grand Opening of The Bank. Bellagio’s
The Bank nightclub has been designed specifically for catering to, as its
promotional material says, “a discerning audience with higher sensibilities.” In
keeping with the Five Diamond rated Bellagio, The Light Group’s newest venue
boasts European bottle service and an awareness that the Bellagio expects to
keep its flawless position for excellence in Las Vegas. The Bank intends to be
the most desirable cosmopolitan nightclub in our city.
The Bank has a stunning
6,600 square foot space elegant VIP booths that layer the dance floor in a
multi-tiered environment. A glass encased dance floor, set at the lowest tier,
is slightly raised creating a brilliant focal point in the center of the room.
www.bellagio.com/nightlife/the-bank.aspx
The
4th International Amazonian Shamanism Conference: Magic, Myths and
Miracles. The 4th IASC, organized by Alan Shoemaker, will
be held again in the shamanic
center of the Upper Amazon in Iquitos, Peru from July 19 to 27, 2008. The
Conference website is:
www.soga-del-alma.org.
You can contact Alan directly at
alanshoemaker@hotmail.com.
