Las Vegas musing

Got a little down time in the Las Vegas airport. As a matter of fact, it seems I spend quite a bit of time here. Las Vegas as most of you know is the conference capital of the universe. Thank god the airport WiFi is free. This time I stayed in Caesar’s a triumph of comfort and terrible taste—yes that is saying something for Las Vegas, but I didn’t come here to slag Caesar. Going to Vegas and complaining about the decor is kinda like going to Hawaii and saying it was nice, but we didn’t like all that water.
And as I say, Caesar’s is a comfortable hotel. It’s got great pools, restaurants, and enthusiastic gamblers but still all those faux Roman statues and rebuilt ruins under a carefully painted Michelangelo sky are an assault upon reason. The Renaissance and ancient Rome are all mashed up here and I always wonder what the gorillas might think.
You know those Planet of the Apes gorillas who come after we’ve blown the place up. They’ll make their way from the New York Subway and the Statue of Liberty and stumble across Paris, the Eiffel Tower, and Caesars. They’ll see the David, and the Chanel store, and the Charioteer of Delphi all better again and what in the hell are they supposed to think? Do you think they know we got irony? Come to think of it, do we?
When it comes to the architectural and decorative excesses of Las Vegas, I’m overwhelmed. My internal irony machine has to run too hard and it kind of breaks down. Is this fun? funny? appalling? Then I tell myself to just shut up and go to to the pool. There’s a special on margaritas at the Venus pool. Just dive in.