Trip report 12/1 - 12/6 The Spectacle Trip (Long: 23K)
Arthur Alexander
Trip report: 12/1 - 12/6, The Spectacle Trip
Background: 3 years ago we went to Vegas for the first time. We didn't really
know what we were doing, but we had a great time anyway. This time we knew
what we were doing, had a bit more money, and tried to create a really great
trip.
Last time we were saving dough and stayed at the Palace Station. It was fine,
but the location makes it hard to do a whole lot of things because we were
dependent on transportation. We took the free shuttle as much as possible,
but that restricted our time.
This time we decided to stay at Bally's so we'd be in the center of the strip,
with the monorail to MGM at the back door. This strategy worked nicely.
(Early note to readers: NONE of this report involves downtown.)
*-*-*-* Day 1
We arrive very late at night and head right for the all-night cafe. Instead
of focusing on the buffets, people should review each hotel's all-night cafe -
they're almost as important, at least in how we approached the trip. Bally's
cafe is nice enough, nothing really special.
We get right over the Keno impulse by picking 7 numbers and NOT playing them,
just remembering them to see how many we get. In our 5 days we must see about
60 rounds of Keno flash past. The most we ever get is 3 out of 7.
Bally's regular rooms are very large. Since the hotel has no specific
"theme", it seems a little sparse. Our request for a high floor is met and we
get a decent view looking north. A bit of noise from the street still gets
through into our room - particularly sirens.
*-*-*-* Day 2
Bally's softens their water, but make up for it with a high-pressure shower
head. Nothing to complain about with respect to the basics.
Our first order of business is hitting the south casinos. We take the
monorail to MGM. The monorail is very good, at least at this time of year -
there are no crowds and there is almost always a tram waiting for us to get
on. The trip lasts 3 minutes, taking you behind the dark Aladdin, next to
MGM's park and into the gift shops. The rail is basically between gift shop
areas. We pick up out EFX tickets at MGM and walk over to Luxor.
Luxor has improved its look since we were last here. The wife likes Luxor
because she hit a slot machine for $200 last time. This time, no such luck as
our first blackjack session is unmemorable. Lunch at the Luxor's cafe is good
- a chicken breast sandwich is perfectly done, remaining juicy and fresh. The
layout of the Luxor makes me wonder - is it impossible to get a high-level
room in this place? Its pyramid shape guarantees that there will be a lot
more rooms at ground level than up near the top.
Walk to Excalibur. We miss the fairly obvious walkway between the two places
and go the long way. I am never impressed by Excalibur. Leave this stuff to
the "Cable Guy". If you want to show me the stuff of legends, show me making
15 points in a row, or getting a run of 10 blackjacks with progressively
higher bets.
Over to NYNY. This was very impressive, inside and out, and is definitely
worth a visit. The food/shops area, done to look like a sterile version of NY
streets, is fun and has a lot of interesting detail. There's a steam great
that actually spits out steam, for example. They were apparently unwilling or
unable to recreate the smell of NY streets. A layer of soot, stale pretzels,
stale pretzel vendors, and urine would make this area more accurate.
The finishing touch of that area of NYNY is the sound of the subway. After a
while you realize that it's not the subway at all, but the NYNY rollercoaster.
We decided to try the coaster, and it was just terrific. The initial climb
is incredibly steep!
The gambling areas of NYNY have a good feel, although the layout is more
confusing and bewildering than normal. The irony of including the Motown cafe
in NYNY was somehow lost (Motown is Detroit, y'know).
After a fairly unsuccessful run at the NYNY table games, we went across the
street and down to the Showcase to see the World of Coca-Cola. Sure, it's a
huge marketing ploy, but that's part of the culture, and Coke admits it. One
of the most interesting parts of this facility is the mini-theater where they
show old Coke TV commercials, starting from the fifties. You realize how
ingrained this stuff is to the culture - at least until the early-to-mid 80s
when the commercials become a bit lame. Unstated is the point that Pepsi
bypassed Coke at about that time. And through all the history-of-Coke
displays, if there was a discussion of the whole "New Coke Classic Coke"
debacle, I missed it.
Next door is M&M World, which is not totally finished it seems, and actually a
little hard to find; the Ethel M chocolate area and M&M area seem to be
merged. But we had a great time on the second floor where you can get M&Ms in
all colors - including mostly non-standard M&M colors like white, teal, pink,
maroon, black. You can pick out the colors you want and buy them in bulk.
While all this is, again, marketing, it's still fun, and since you can also
dig into Ethel M goodies and ice cream on the top floor, it's advisable to
skip dessert and come here at least once.
At this point we were pretty exhausted. We went back to the MGM only to find
the usual route blocked by reconstruction of the front entrance, and had to
find the back entrance by the MGM buffet in order to go through the casino to
the monorail. Right now there is no entrance near where the lion's head used
to be.
Back at the hotel room we decide that we are already too tired to bother with
a regular meal, so we head back to the cafe for a quick dinner before catching
the monorail once again for the 10:30 EFX show at MGM.
We booked all our shows well in advance where possible. In this case, with a
low-volume week, we were able to get great seats for every show we went to.
For EFX we were in the third row of tables which was perfect for the show.
EFX is high spectacle. Roughly put, it is amazing sight after amazing sight,
all brought together under a *very* flimsy pretext. How strongly you try to
buy into the pretext will determine how much you like the show. My advice is
to ignore the ridiculous story and just admit that you're there to see a bunch
of really cool things. Otherwise, the story could interfere with the
spectacle. The only other weak part of EFX is the songs, out of which only
one is really on the level of a Broadway musical. But like old-time variety
shows, if there's something you don't really like, just wait five minutes and
you'll see something that will blow you away. There are things in EFX that
will stun everybody. I enjoyed it a lot.
Back to Bally's for a last session of the night. Bally's casino is older and
this is most reflected at the craps table. The moment I walked up to it I
felt like this wasn't going to be fulfilling even if I won. The tables are
faded and so were the dealers - looking haggard, unhappy, and bored to be
there. I played a little anyway, but soon walked away.
*-*-*-* Day Three
Breakfast at Bally's Big Kitchen buffet. Karen doesn't generally like buffets
- "the food gets ooky", she says. She claims it actually costs more in the
long run. I disagree on all counts - I would eat buffet every morning if I
could.
None of this food is "ooky". The brunch buffet means that you can wake up
late and still get breakfast foods - and then move right into lunch. There
are crab legs available, cocktail shrimp and fried shrimp, prime rib... all
the good stuff, plus croissants, whipped cream cheese for your bagel. We eat
a big meal and decide to go on the 2-meal-a-day plan.
We walk to the Monte Carlo. Although this is not a long walk, it's not really
a pretty one; there's not too much to see except the Harley Davidson cafe, and
you get accosted by all sorts of people giving away things or at least
pretending to. CBS TV is there screening some new show. Sorry, no time. The
walk does burn off some of the buffet, though.
We pick up our Lance Burton tickets. The Monte Carlo casino is less difficult
to work your way around, is well-lit and everything is extremely new. I'm
amazed to see $3 craps offered. Karen and I play a little. Then we head off
to figure out what the fuss is over the Wheel of Fortune slots. We put $20
into a 25 cent machine, and spin and spin and spin... nothin'! What a rip!
What's the big deal here, we think, and walk away.
On the way out I notice that the Monte Carlo has a single-zero roulette table.
Nice.
We walk alllll the way back to the Mirage. Here I finally catch some luck.
We play blackjack for about an hour and I'm up $50. I move to craps while
Karen heads to the slots. The table is mixed for a while, then heads on a
slow downturn. I decide to wait it out and just play simple pass-line bets.
3-4 rollers get nothing and I'm about to give up when the next roller hits a
few points and we're back rolling. My $60 in chips builds up to $350 in about
20 minutes - that's the great thing about craps, everything happens so fast.
Karen comes back and sees my load of chips, very impressed, I cash in at about
the $300 mark finally feeling good.
Back to Bally's to catch our breath and change, then we walk down to Treasure
Island where we have an 8:15 reservation for dinner at the Buccanneer Bay
Club. This French restaurant sits on the second floor and overlooks the
pirate battle. After we order and get our soup, the battle is on and we head
to a window to watch it. We saw it from the front before, here's a chance to
see it from the back! Resuming dinner, everything's just great - the lobster
bisque was particularly excellent. The total for this dinner comes to just
over $100 with wine, but this is our splurge dinner.
Then we catch a taxi back to the Monte Carlo to see Lance Burton. Again the
early reservations, again the excellent seating: right up front! It was a
fine show, particularly the sleight-of-hand bits at the beginning. The nice
thing about Lance Burton is that he seems really genuine and human, not full
of himself and entirely pretentious like C*pp*rf**ld.
After the show we taxi back to Bally's. With the combination of the jet lag,
the long plane trip, the hotel existence, the disorientation of casinos, the
different eating, the long walks and the excitement of gambling, we should be
exhausted. It's 4 AM East Coast time. But I can't sleep -- this is just too
cool -- and so I head down to the ground floor for one last hour of gaming.
I began a love-hate relationship with this one particular Haywire machine. I
do believe that Haywire is set up to provide the largest number of what appear
to be near-misses. Tonight it hates me, but I feel I will win it over in the
end.
*-*-*-* Day Four
We woke up pretty late and decided that we couldn't do a buffet, but decided
to check out the cafe at the Mirage. We arrived at about 1 and had a 15
minute wait to get in. Once we got in though, it was very nice. Service in
Vegas is always better than in the "real world".
We did a little gambling at the Mirage, not matching the previous day's
experience but overall breaking even and having a good time. Then we decided
to check out Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden. The day was very nice for
December, about 62 degrees, so it was the right time for it.
The Secret Garden is on the other side of the Mirage pool (which looked
beautiful) and costs $10 to get in. Don't be fooled by the free window where
you can see white tigers - the Secret Garden is a whole different area of the
resort.
A tour guide takes you to a dolphin pool and talks about the dolphins there,
then you go to an underground area, see the dolphins clearly through windows
and watch a video of a live dolphin birth. After that you walk over the a
second dolphin pool where there are more dolphins, and in our case, you get
lucky and there are actual people working with the dolphins, training them and
feeding them. They don't have a bona-fide dolphin show, but this is much
better - instead of an audience of hundreds in bleachers, you have 15 people
milling about, right at the edge of the pool, and the workers will answer your
questions. You can see the dolphins, and one actually came up to us, pushed
himself onto a little ledge, and looked back at us for a little while. It was
amazing to watch.
Then you walk back to the land animals section where S&R's animals are kept.
It's not big enough to be called a zoo, but then, you're not going to be there
all day! You get a tapeless handheld device to hear information and
recordings of Steve Wynn and then of Roy (I think it was) talking about the
animals. This works well and lets you walk around at your own pace, listening
to the recording when you want to and just looking at the beasts when you
don't. We got to see some of the big cats frolicking. In all, the Secret
Garden is a very nice break from all that gambling.
But back to the action, we felt like we wanted to play blackjack for a good
long time, so we went across to the Barbary Coast where we knew we'd find a $3
table. And there were plenty, especially since this was Thursday night. And
we played and played for about 3 hours; after all that, Karen was a little up
and I was a little down. Funny to see how playing solid basic strategy,
different hands against the identical dealer hands can achieve such varied
results.
One note about that, the Barbary Coast has four-deck games and they use a
shuffling machine. There is no break during shuffles. There are two sets of
cards, and you play one set while the other set is being automatically
shuffled. The BC also has a lighter "penetration" into the 4 decks than I've
ever seen - about halfway. None of this bothered Karen or I as we don't count
cards. We prefer to play ideal basic strategy and come what may. The game is
fun that way, no pressure.
That night we had tickets for Jeff Foxworthy at Bally's. This turned out to
be a mistake. Foxworthy is funny enough, and I'd seen an HBO special of his
that was a riot. But there were two big groups of people in town: the auto
body convention and the rodeo finals. Both of these groups are attracted to
Foxworthy, not because he's a laugh riot, but because he's ONE OF THEM and so
he's life-affirming. The redneck bits then stopped being jokes and started to
be evangelism. I think if we had this to do over, we would have gone to one
of the comedy clubs. You take a risk not going with a headliner, but
sometimes it's better... more edgy. On the other hand, 3 years ago we saw
Dennis Miller at MGM... and that was life-affirming for MY sort of people.
Ah well. Back to the hotel room and again I'm too jittery to sleep. I go
back and continue my love-hate relationship with the Haywire machine. This
time it loves me, and pays me a small bounty with which I decide to go play
table games. On a whim I wind up at a $10 blackjack table. I figure I'll win
or lose fast and that will be it. I wind up sitting with a guy who is
probably betting a little over his head. He's starting with $40 hands and
building up to $300 and $400 hands. Next to him is a guy getting slowly drunk
and starting to cause a bit of a ruckus. He's not trouble, you can tell, but
he's a guy who may get loud and may get demanding if he puts back another
drink. The pit person does her best to quiet him down and whatever she did
worked well enough to put him into conversational mode. And then it's a fun
time, with these two talking as if they knew each other forever (they only met
at the table), and I feel like I'm getting to see another show.
*-*-*-* Day Five
Our last full day. As was our wont, we walked to Treasure Island to pick up
our tickets for Mystere. Having heard that the TI slots were tight, we didn't
gamble there.
When we planned the trip, we were going to rent a car on Thursday and drive to
Red Rock canyon to see the sights. When we went to the Bally's lobby to rent
the car, the tour desk was right next to the car rental desk, and while
waiting in line for the car we spontaneously decided to take a tour instead.
Then the counter-person at the tour desk told us that for only $10 more we
could get a tour by 4x4, and it would be more individualized just for us. Hey
cool! That's what we reserved.
And so with one other couple we boarded our big ol' Jeep and headed southwest
towards the desert. Twenty minutes later, we were OFF-ROAD heading down a
trail and climbing a mountain up to an old deserted silver mine in the middle
of nowhere. When we finally reached the point where the mines were, we looked
back at Vegas in the distance, and it was amazing to take it all in. You get
a sense of perspective in the desert - you realize just how big it is. We had
easily driven out and up to our lookout point, but without the modern tools to
do that, it would have taken us all day.
The abandoned mine was interesting - to think that only three generations ago,
a group of people were scraping out a living by digging holes into the side of
the mountain.
Back down the trail, we went into Red Rock and got some really good sights.
But being the cynic, I asked myself - is what I'm seeing now, the grandeur of
these cliffs laden with iron ore, more impressive than what I've been seeing
the rest of the week? Are these naturally-occuring cliffs more of a spectacle
than the man-made spectacle of lights, action, energy and excitement? I had
to answer, NO. It's visually stimulating for five minutes, and I was happy to
go and see it; and it's a little amazing I guess, from the geological
perspective. But I was being honest with myself, and my honesty told me that
in the end it was just another big ol' cliff.
We drove back with some more off-roading, including some really wild
off-roading where I was sure that the Jeep would either tip or bust a spring.
We saw some wild horses and some wild horse manure. The driver-guide talked
about the local plant life, how indians used various plants for various
things. The desolation of the desert was a little striking. Closer to the
main road, you'd see the occasional trailer where some desert hermit had made
a makeshift driveway to a really makeshift home, truly getting away from it
all. But the only thing I could find to admire in their life was that they
were a half-hour outside of Vegas. I suppose it would be OK if you could get
the Internet over satellite dish.
On the way back we talked to the older couple that was along for our drive.
Apparently they had landed at Bally's nearly the same time we did. We asked
what other casinos they had seen. "Oh, none." As we were on the tail end of
our spectacle tour, we found this fact truly incredible, but did not tax them
with the idea that maybe they were missing something.
Back to the hotel and here is the only point where Bally's really erred. We
had reservations for Al Dente, the italian restaurant right in the hotel.
We'd made reservations that morning. When we got there, it was closed!
Totally not open. After some soul-searching we decided that we were still in
the mood for Italian, and caught the monorail to MGM where we ate at their
Italian restaurant. And it was very good.
Taxi to Treasure Island, and on to Mystere. As our fourth show in as many
nights, I wondered whether there would be a burnout factor. But Mystere is
too good. Within the opening moments it was clear that this was something
really special, something we had never seen before. It defies description;
it's at once a concert, a gymnastic act, really great performance art, a
moving picture of beauty and a new type of theatre. "Circus" describes it
only because it involves so many different parts. You can enjoy it on any
level you choose. Just take it all in, because it's a great experience.
I don't want to put people off by getting all heady about it, because I don't
think that's what it's all about anyway. If it's only a beautiful, magical
spectacle that competes with EFX, you can think of it that way and still
really love it. But if I want to get intellectual about it, Mystere, I think,
is to theatre what impressionism was to painting. It really should change
everything. But then again, at the cost to put on this show, it most
certainly can't.
This time, when we retire to our room, I've had it - truly exhausted. No more
gaming tonight.
*-*-*-* Day Six
Our flight leaves at 10PM. There isn't time for much. We brunch at the Big
Kitchen buffet again (and the food is STILL not "ooky"). We walk back to
Monte Carlo because we felt it was nice and I was curious as to whether they'd
still have $3 craps - a major resort with low minimum tables! And they did -
along with $3 blackjack!
We sit down at the $3 blackjack table. We both do well, but I do really well
and eventually move my bets up to $5, $10, once in a while $15 and the
occasional $20. After an hour, we are comped - I could not believe it! The
pit guy comes over and asks whether we'd like dinner at their brew pub. Well
suuure!
This goes against every rule of comping that I've ever seen. My only guess is
that he was happy that we were betting higher amounts at a low-minimum table,
keeping a certain other type from bettor there as Saturday afternoon worked
its way towards Saturday night. Either that or he was appearing the "big man"
to a pair of beautiful ladies who were also at the table at that time.
21-year-old punks with NY state licenses come up and surround us at the table
- they pull out ratty $20 bills to play with - they are soon out of money and
must depart. We outlast every comer, still up after 3 hours of play, finally
tired of the game we cash in.
We find the Wheel of Fortune slots again and play another $20. This time we
actually hit and get to spin a few times, and now I understand how addictive
and fun these particular slots are. I want to keep going, but we need to get
our free meal and catch the plane!
The brewpub meal is, like most brewpubs, good beer and average food. I get
the stout and it's suitably massive for such a brew.
On the way out, I notice that the $3 craps tables are all $5 - reflecting the
Saturday night crowd that is already taking over. We may stay at the MC next
time, the gambling experience was so good. It's a great place to be, all new
and clean and nice, and brightly lit. Hanging part of the franchise on Lance
Burton seems a good thing too.
Well, that's it. Writing this up makes me realize how much we did. But
dammit, that's what it's all about! I probably won't get back for another 3
years. So I hope we got enough Vegas in this time to last us a while.
Jerry Michalak
Enjoyed your report.
Perhaps it is a "woman" thing, my female companion does not enjoy
buffets as much as I do.
Would you mind saying what the room rates were at Bally's?
spencerdo...@usa.net
In article <66llie$hgs$1...@fish.vf.pond.com>,
Arthur;
Want to thank you for writing such an outstanding trip report.
It is really something special for someone like yourself
to take to the time and effort to write such a long and
interesting report. Makes me want to be there.
Being from the east coast also. I do try to get out there twice
a year. No way I could wait 3 years. We no sooner get back from
LV that we start thinking about hte next trip.
Again, Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
Arthur Alexander
Welp, the wife did the negotiation on that, but I think they were pretty good
since it's an off-week... something like $29.95, I'll verify that later.
Porchnoy
Arthur Alexander wrote:
> Unstated is the point that Pepsi bypassed Coke at about that time.
How? Coke is predominant in the world.
co...@isn.net
>Trip report: 12/1 - 12/6, The Spectacle Trip
>
I really enjoyed your report since we have been to Vegas
twice and both times we stayed at Bally's. The rooms are
great it's close to all the strip hotels. The one thing we
really enjoyed about the Big Kitchen was the fresh fruit.
Being from the east coast of Canada the only fruit we get
in the winter and spring is shipped in under ripe and
really never gets to it's peak of flavour.
I've read all the trip reports with interest and longing (we
go about every 3 yrs) and I'm astounded at the number of
places you visit. I get tired just reading about it.
Thanks for taking the time to file your report.
Bill Cole
TeachKinde
Loved the trip report! Very jealous that you get to stay for so long. My trips
are 2 nights, 3 days and back to teaching 5 year olds. Anyway, thanks for
your report. I'm heading back on the 20th. Staying downtown as is my
preference but will certainly visit the strip. Thanks again!
David Berman
Excellent report, Arthur, and very enjoyable to read.
As a fellow devotee of "Mystere" I thought you did a great job of
capturing the essence of that marvelous production.
Thanks for taking time to post. My turn comes in a few days, and I hope
to be doing it in "real-time" from our laptop.
--Best wishes from David in MA
BluesVan
Great trip report. I love the LARGE rooms at Bally's as well. The North Tower
has slightly better rooms in my opinion.
As for the "Big Kitchen" Buffet. Excellent. I especially like the fact that
they offer the old-style hash-browns that are stringy and burnt on top. Only
buffet in Vegas that has 'em.
BluesVan
Jptinnell
>Arthur Alexander wrote:
>
>> Unstated is the point that Pepsi bypassed Coke at about that time.
>
>How? Coke is predominant in the world.
>
>
>
right moves than Coke in the last 10-15 years. Pepsi latched on to Michael
Jackson at the right time (people either thought he was an awesome talent or
felt sorry for him when his hair caught on fire?), and their commercials have
beaten Coke's hands down for at least 10 years.
But you're right, though, in saying that Pepsi has NEVER gotten anywhere near
Coke in market share, even during the "New Coke" fiasco.
Jeff
Arthur Alexander
jpti...@aol.com (Jptinnell) wrote:
>>Arthur Alexander wrote:
>>
>>> Unstated is the point that Pepsi bypassed Coke at about that time.
>>
>>How? Coke is predominant in the world.
>
>Perhaps his point is that from a MARKETING perspective, Pepsi has made more
>right moves than Coke in the last 10-15 years.
Sorry, my old news server was flaky and I probably missed this question.
Pepsi now outsells Coke in the US, which was the target of all the marketing
in the historical Coke advertising theater. From a marketing student's
perspective it seemed like there was a big drop-off in the quality of the
pitch between the 70s to the 80s. In the early 70s were all-time hits such as
"I'd like to teach the world to sing". By the turn of the decade they had
fallen to the point where all they had to offer was Americana and a really
lame slogan ("Coke is it").
Porchnoy
Arthur Alexander wrote:
> Pepsi now outsells Coke in the US
I'm sorry, you are incorrect. Figures for 1996 show that all brands marketed by
Coca-Cola Company outsell all brands marketed by Pesi-Cola 43% to 31%.
Specifically, the Coca-Cola brand itself outsells Pepsi-Cola 20.8% to 14.9%.
EasyR...@webtv.net
Do you really select a soft drink because of advertising? I may TRY a
new product because of advertising, but if I prefer something else, I
will buy it. I don't care how many millions they spend on trying to
convince me that Pepsi is better than Coke, I prefer the taste of Coke
and that is what I will buy! Are people really slaves to what the ad
people tell them? Just my nickel's worth!
~~~EasyRoller~~
Steve
Porchnoy <Porc...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>Arthur Alexander wrote:
Well, one of you appears to be incorrect. I'm going to research it,
(not)
*STEVE*
When she told me I was average, she was just being mean.
SMathai825
> Are people really slaves to what the ad
>people tell them?
Unfortunately, some people are. I know I definitely was as a teenager! Now, I
think Iam not as impressionable and have certain preferences in products that
all the advertising in the world will not sway, like your choice of Coke over
Pepsi, but on products I have no experience with I probably would buy whats
advertised the most unless I had a copy of Consumer Reports lying around. I
wonder what 30 seconds of ad-time on the Super Bowl will be this year?
A. V. Mason
EasyR...@webtv.net wrote:
>~~~EasyRoller~~
My husband prefers Pepsi. I think it's too sweet -- I like Coke
much better.
We buy both -- his and her colas.
Ann
Ugl...@webtv.net
I like whichever one I am drinking - they both taste good. But there
isn't a giant Pepsi bottle on The Strip (yet).
I be de UglyOne - my sister, she be UglyToo
spencerdo...@usa.net
In article <67fug3$r6n$1...@newsd-161.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
EasyR...@webtv.net wrote:
>
> Do you really select a soft drink because of advertising? I may TRY a
> new product because of advertising, but if I prefer something else, I
> will buy it. I don't care how many millions they spend on trying to
> convince me that Pepsi is better than Coke, I prefer the taste of Coke
> and that is what I will buy! Are people really slaves to what the ad
> people tell them? Just my nickel's worth!
>
> ~~~EasyRoller~~
Youe are correct. Coke and pepsi just like to spend hundred of
millions on advertising not because it works but because they
have all this money laying around. It's a good thing they don't
know how you feel or the TV, Newspaper, and magazine companies
will suffer.