Oscars 2017 - a recap of the show we'll never forget

Normally I do a blog with my Oscar picks and predictions, but I wasn't feeling very well before the show so I thought I'd wait this year and do a recap entry; and boy am I ever glad I did.

It's impossible to not start at the top, with the debacle surrounding the announcement of Best Picture. If you have been living under a rock for the last 16 hours, you missed quite an event.

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were the presenters, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of their huge film, Bonnie and Clyde. After the announcement of the nominees, Beatty opened up the envelope and looked genuinely bewildered. Moments passed while everyone awaited the announcement, but he seemed to be looking in the envelope for another card (at the time I thought maybe he was looking for a second card because the first one indicated a TIE!). He then showed the card to Faye Dunaway, who announced the winner as "La La Land".

Oops. Beatty had been given the wrong envelope (still shots of the envelope before he opened it clearly show the envelope said "ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE"). It read "Emma Stone, La La Land", and when Beatty showed the card to Dunaway, she obviously just saw "La La Land" and blurted out the 'winner'.

Oops. Since Emma Stone says she NEVER put down the envelope containing her name, there was obviously a duplicate, unopened, Best Actress envelope which mistakenly ended up in Beatty's hand. You can argue that Beatty should have just said something when he noticed the card just didn't make any sense, but in the moment, I guess confusion took over.

So La La Land, the producers, actors and crew, storm the stage to accept their award. There is no confusion at first; let's face it, this was the favorite to win the category anyway so there was no reason to be surprised. After a couple of speeches, we noticed producers in headsets mulling around, looking for envelopes. At this point, the correct envelope gets into the hands of La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz who, with uncanny poise and professionalism, walked to the microphone and announced that the actual Best Picture winner was Moonlight. He showed the card to the camera.

Unreal. Warren Beatty asked for the microphone to explain what had happened, that he wasn't trying to be funny, that he had been given the wrong envelope (which was later confirmed by several sources) La La Land left the stage, Moonlight came on to accept the Oscar. Host Jimmy Kimmel took the blame, although it's impossible that he had anything to do with it. The next morning, a statement from PWC was posted:

"We sincerely apologize to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. [sic] We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.

We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation."

Oops. So there are two sets of envelopes, one set with one of the PWC Accountants on one side of the stage, one side on the other of the stage, and somehow both Best Actress envelopes ended up being used; one correctly announcing Stone as the winner, and then the second one minutes later incorrectly for Best Picture. What an incredible moment.


So Moonlight is our Best Picture. Did the Academy get it right?



IMO, no, they actually had it right the first time. I have seen all the Best Picture nominees except for Hacksaw Ridge (which I will watch soon) and I can unequivocally say that La La Land was by far my favorite film of the year and was deserving of the Best Picture prize. Moonlight, which I enjoyed, didn't even crack my Top 10, in fact. The Academy voters cast their ballot for the more important film, the more important story; and although I disagree with the choice, I can respect it. 


Let's look at the other major awards and see how they did.


Best Actress - Emma Stone, "La La Land".


She really was terrific, and was deserving, but my pick would have been Ruth Negga in "Loving". Negga's performance was emotional yet understated, controlled yet passionate, and it was my favorite performance of the nominees.

The ACTUAL winner should have been Amy Adams for Nocturnal Animals (or, hell, even for Arrival), but I think she paid the price of having given two exemplary performances in the same year; her votes were split.


**note, I didn't see Isabelle Huppert in "Elle"


Best Actor - Casey Affleck, "Manchester By the Sea"



This was one of the great performances in recent movie history, and a deserving winner. It could have also gone to Denzel, and I wouldn't have been too disappointed, but Casey was my pick.


Best Director - Damien Chazelle, "La La Land"


A slam dunk, to me, and at the tender age of 32, Chazelle becomes the youngest Best Director winner in Oscar history.


Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Mahershala Ali, "Moonlight"


He gave a great performance, no question, but I would have given the award to, well, ANYONE else. Ali was in the movie for such little time, his impact to the film wasn't anywhere near what the others were. Think of it this way: Take him out of the film, replace him with a lesser actor who did just a decent job in that role, does the film suffer much? I don't think so.


You could argue that Lucas Hedges wasn't as central to his film either, so let's eliminate him (although he was very good).

Now do the same with Dev Patel in Lion. He gives a Lead Actor performance in half of the film.
Do it with Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals.
Do it with Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water.

Those three performances are CRITICAL to the film. Lesser actors would drag those films right down with them.


My pick, if I had to make just one, would have been Jeff Bridges. Hell or High Water was a brilliant film, my #2 pick of the year, and his performance was one of the main reasons behind it.


Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Viola Davis, "Fences"


This might have been the runaway of the night. All the nominated performances were great, but this one carried the film. She was perfect. 
Best Original Screenplay - Kenneth Lonergan, "Manchester By the Sea"

Interesting to see La La Land lose here, perhaps this should have been a sign that it might not win Best Picture. My choice would have been Hell or High Water or La La Land but this was also a well-conceived screenplay. Hard to argue.

Best Adapted Screenplay - Tarell Alvin McCraney and Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight"


Some controversy here as this qualified in the "Original Screenplay" categories at some other awards shows, due to (I believe) the fact that the play it was based on was never completed or produced. Arrival would have been my pick here.


Best Animated Feature Film - Zootopia
A total no-brainer here, with all due respect to the terrific "Moana". Zootopia was the #1 film on my list for most of the year, and it is probably the best animated film since "Up". It should have been nominated for Best Picture, but that hasn't happened since they created this category.
Best Original Score - Justin Herwitz, "La La Land"
Duh.


Best Original Song - City of Stars, "La La Land"


This is one of those songs that gets stuck in your head. It's catchy, it's terrific, and it fit the story. No issues here, but if I had to pick, I would have gone with How Far I'll Go from Moana.


So that wraps up the major awards. Host Jimmy Kimmel did a great job, keeping the show going with lots of fun bits including a running gag with Matt Damon and a terrific bit where they brought in a tour group that thought they were going to see an exhibit of Oscar gowns; and ended up right in the middle of the action! Talk about a story they have for the rest of their lives.


Here is my list of the top 10 films of 2016, with some honorable mentions below. Two of the films that only made the 'honorable mentions' were given 4.5/5 stars, which is quite an achievement. A great year for movies!!

10. The Edge of Seventeen
9. The Jungle Book
8. Fences
7. Captain Fantastic
6. Manchester By The Sea
5. Arrival
4. Nocturnal Animals
3. Zootopia
2. Hell or High Water
1. LA LA LAND

Honourable mention (in alphabetical order):
Captain America: Civil War
Deadpool
Dr. Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Finding Dory
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moana
Moonlight
Star Wars: Rogue One

Fuck You, 2016.

I am glad I am not charged with preparing the "In Memoriam" segments in the various upcoming awards shows. I mean, come on.

2016 had to be the worst year in memory in terms of celebrities who left us; but not just celebrities, ICONS. LEGENDS. Not sure? Here is a list of some of them we lost in 2016, and I suspect you will know most or all of them, without my mentioning a single name.

Ziggy Stardust, The Purple One, The Greatest, Mr. Hockey, Jason Seaver, Carol Brady, Larry Sanders, R2-D2, Professor Snape, The Okie from Muskogie, and just yesterday, our dear Princess Leia.

And so many others that will live on in our memories.

John Glenn, Nancy Reagan, Janet Reno, Arnold Palmer, Gene Wilder, George Michael, Patty Duke, Harper Lee, Joe Garagiola, John McLaughlin, Abe Vigoda, George Kennedy, Garry Marshall, Robert Vaughn, Doris Roberts, Ron Glass, Leonard Cohen, Maurice White, Glenn Frey, Morley Safer, Anton Yelchin and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Oh, and Harambe.

And that's hardly a complete list.

That's a pretty bad year, and I haven't even mentioned the worst thing that happened to the world in 2016: the election of a misogynistic, racist, narcissistic, untruthful, grandiose, unstable, attention-seeking, homophobic, arrogant piece of human garbage to the highest office in the land. Certainly it wasn't a secret that racism and homophobia still existed in the USA, but Drumpf has brought it to the forefront, and made it 'cool' again. The next four years are going to be a nightmare.

And we can't leave out how incredibly stupid the general population continued to be this year. Fuck you, Pokemon Go. Fuck you, Mannequin Challenge. And to all those creepy clowns, well go fuck each other you sadistic lunatics.

Not a spectacular year personally, either. In March we lost our dear old cat, Madeline, and we miss her every day. My mom was diagnosed with Lupus and although her medication is allowing her to manage the disease fairly well, her age has really caught up with her. Two years ago I would have said she was "75 going on 50". Now, sadly, she's "77 going on 100". Her memory is failing, physically she is starting to break down, and a month or so ago she lost her longtime common-law husband to cancer. And since he had not updated his will to include her, there is a (likely long) legal battle ahead to settle his estate and make sure she is taken care of.

My amazing wife continues to be the reason I get out of bed every day, but she fell ill this year as well and was diagnosed with a condition called Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease (UCTD), which is basically a hodgepodge of auto-immune diseases. Some Lupus, some Rheumatoid Arthritis, some Psoriasis. Lots of fun. She was put on some medication (the same medication that has worked well for my Mom, actually), and promptly had a significant allergic reaction to it, ending up in the ER (on my birthday!) with hives all over most of her body. They lasted for almost two weeks. In order to try to 'cure' the condition, she has taken the recommendation of several people and eliminated gluten and dairy from her diet. She has done incredibly well, and we are optimistic that between these changes and her new medication, the symptoms will be manageable going forward. I am so proud of her. There are no circumstances under which I could be able to give up gluten OR dairy, let alone both of them.

It wasn't ALL bad, though; we had an absolutely incredible vacation in March/April, consisting of a spectacular cruise in the Caribbean and then two weeks at Disneyworld. It's tough to imagine a better vacation. But we will try!!

We also spent a lovely week in Vegas in July. It had been over two years since Tracey had been to Vegas, and she made up for the time lapse with a phenomenal amount of relaxation.

Great wine continues to be our passion, and we certainly experienced lots of that this past year, not only at home, but with several great trips to the Okanagan (see the wine blog). And we both got lots of amazing wine for Christmas. In fact, the year ended perfectly from a personal standpoint, as we had another wonderful Christmas. It is our favorite time of the year and we, admittedly, tend to go a little overboard.

So that's basically it. A year that started well and ended well, sort of, with a lot of not-so-great in between.

To sum it up, here is John Oliver with a little clip that puts a bow on this tire fire of a year fairly well.

Here's to 2017. Let's face it, it can't get a helluva lot worse. The bar has been set pretty low (that's not a challenge, Drumpf).

The best 150 days of the year!!!!!

Seriously, being an NFL fan is torture. SuperBowl 51, and by definition the end of the NFL season, is 150 days from today. Jesus.

Let's hope those 150 days are filled with some great football. If you don't want to know who is going to finish where, who is going to win what, don't read any further. Spoilers below.

NFC EAST:

1. NY Giants 10-6
2. Washington 8-8
3. Dallas 8-8
4. Philadelphia 4-12

NFC SOUTH:

1. Carolina 11-5
2. New Orleans 10-6
3. Atlanta 9-7
4. Tampa Bay 7-9

NFC NORTH:

1. Green Bay 11-5
2. Detroit 9-7
3. Minnesota 9-7
4. Chicago 4-12

NFC WEST:

1. Arizona 13-3
2. Seattle 9-7
3. San Francisco 7-9
4. Los Angeles 6-10

Wild card teams: New Orleans, Detroit

AFC EAST:

1. New England 10-6
2. Buffalo 9-7
3. NY Jets 9-7
4. Miami 6-10

AFC NORTH:

1. Pittsburgh 11-5
2. Cincinnati 10-6
3. Baltimore 8-8
4. Cleveland 3-13

AFC SOUTH:

1. Indianapolis 11-5
2. Jacksonville 9-7
3. Houston 8-8
4. Tennessee 5-11

AFC WEST:

1. Kansas City 12-4
2. Denver 11-5
3. Oakland 10-6
4. San Diego 4-12

Wild Cards: Denver, Cincinnati

NFC Championship Game: Arizona 27, Green Bay 17

AFC Championship Game: Kansas City 31, Cincinnati 10

SUPERBOWL 51:

Arizona 27, Kansas City 24

MVP: Carson Palmer, Arizona

Defensive Player of the year: Khalil Mack, Oakland

Offensive Rookie of the year: Sterling Shepherd, NY Giants

Defensive Rookie of the year: Brandon Williams, Arizona

Coach of the year: Andy Reid, Kansas City

Comeback Player of the year: Andrew Luck, Indianapolis (honorable mention to RGIII, who I expect to have a really good season despite the fact that the team is so bad they can't win many games)

Please, people, I implore you...no wagering.

FOOTBALL IS BACK!! WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Vacation Blog VII, The Voyage Home....but first, a new reigning Fajitas champion

8:00 AM - Up in time to pack and have copious amount of bacon and waffles for breakfast before checking out and leaving our beautiful resort.

10;00 AM - Check out time and no complaints about the check-out process.....a 10 second phone call to the front desk and we're in the car and gone. Heading right over to The Mirage to visit some long-lost relatives of our fur babies.

Lions.

Tigers.

And Bears. Oh My.

Oh, and leopards and dolphins, too.

We went early in the morning hoping that the animals would be a little more active, but even at 10AM it was well over 100 degrees so the kitties weren't exactly interested in putting on a show.

Noon - After killing just enough time to make sure that Rhumbar was open, my Pina Colada count went up to 3. That's actually a little embarrassing.

On the way to our next stop, we walked through The Cromwell and decided to put a couple bucks into a very enticing vintage Batman slot machine.

Quite a bit of fun. Tracey didn't get anything interesting but I got to a few bonuses and ended up with a ONE DOLLAR PROFIT! WOO-HOO!!!! Any slot profit feels like a million bucks.

12:30 PM - To Cabo Wabo for lunch. In the past, I've really enjoyed their fajitas, and I would rank them as the 3rd best I've ever had. Cactus Club was the long-time reigning champion, and in second place was.....

Damn I can't actually remember. Old age is creeping up on me. I know it's not local.....it's somewhere we have to travel to......but damned if I can put my finger on it.

Anyway, Tracey and I decided to order the combo fajitas for 2, with grilled sirloin and chipotle chicken. We added on a new option (or at least, new to us), "served over melted cheese skillet, $4". A game changer. GAME CHANGER.

They take the onions and peppers, grilled to perfection, and dump about a pound of cheddar cheese on them and melt it. Then they serve the meat on top, along with the normal fajitas accompaniments (shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole). We also added on the beans and rice which were fine but, IMO, unneccessary.

The winner, and newwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Fajitas Champion of the World, CABO WABO!!!

Incredible.

The goodness didn't stop there.....the chips and guacamole we started with was terrific (perhaps the best guacamole I've ever tasted), and I ordered a fantastic glass of white sangria. What an absolutely perfect last meal of this Vegas trip.

3:30 PM: With a few hours left before our flight, we decided to find a good movie theatre and enjoy a movie in the comfort of air conditioning. We got a HELL of a lot more than air conditioning. For those of you reading this who enjoy, as we do, the lush comfort of the seats at our VIP theatres, well, you ain't seen nothing.

We went to a theatre called Galaxy+ not too far from the airport, where we enjoyed Pixar's latest offering, Finding Dory. The movie itself was very good but the winner of this day was the theatre itself. Although there was no in-seat food and beverage service like we are treated to at our VIP Theatres (you can get alcohol in the lobby if you like), the seats, man, the seats.......they weren't actually seats, they were FULLY AUTOMATIC LOUNGE CHAIRS. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that there is so much room to recline your chairs that it is physically impossible for anyone behind you to kick your chair (believe me...I tried). With one push of a button, your chair reclines to whatever level you wish, and it has a pull-out shelf for your food and beverage (just like our VIP theatres have). Holy shit...talk about game changers. If I'd known about this we could have come earlier and had a nice nap before our flight.

6:20 PM - We arrive at our gate after a very small lineup through security, although we did have a delay while they searched one of our carry-on bags. We had two laptops in the bag and apparently having them back to back makes it impossible for the X-Ray machine to properly screen them so they had to be hand searched. No huge deal, it took 15 minutes or so but we were in no hurry.

7:10 PM - Our flight boards right on time.

Shortly after take-off, we get our meal. Actually it's considered a "snack".

This is one of the reasons we fly First Class when we can. Absolutely fantastic food. Even the salad was great, and normally my opinion is that salad is what you move out of the way to get to the food.

Sitting right behind us is a lady with her therapy dog. He couldn't possibly be better behaved. Honestly we wouldn't have even known he was there if we hadn't seen him. What a good boy.

10:00 PM - Nothing to interesting happens and we land about 10 minutes early. But landing early is nice if you can actually get off the plane, but because we are early we have to wait on the tarmac while other planes get out of our way.

It's pouring rain in Seattle. Pouring. Welcome home, Engemoens.

Uneventful drive home.....we pick up some wine which we had sent to our package depot and head to the border. We have 6 bottles, two more than we are technically allowed, but because we are so far under our other purchase exemptions it's quite possible they won't bother to make us go in and pay the duty.

Nope. The border guard is a bit of a dick and he sends us in. The guy inside is nicer and he seems to be considering letting us get away with no duty, but in the end he charges us $52 for duty on the two extra bottles. Oh well, not a huge surprise, and well worth it for the quality of wine we just picked up.

2:00 AM- Home, finally. What a week. What a trip.

If you enjoyed reading the blog half as much as I enjoyed the trip, well, I obviously had twice as much fun as you did.

Vacation Blog VII, Part 7, our last full day in Vegas

10:00 AM - Well I am sleeping a little later every day. If I had another week here I'd be sleeping until dinner time. Wouldn't that be nice?

10:05 AM - HAHA I still beat Tracey by five minutes :)

11:15 AM - After breakfast, it's back down to the pool. Today we are going to head up to the main pool and see if we can get any spots there. It's not crazy busy here since the end of the 4th of July weekend.

The main pool has lots of room, but it also has slightly colder water than the other pool.....so back to the other pool we go. After my requisite hour, I leave Contented Pool Bear to her own devices and head back up to the room to relax.

1:50 PM - Just after I finished my leftover pizza (which was STILL outstanding, BTW), Tracey arrives back in the room to have her lunch and then we are heading to Bellagio. First up, to the Atrium where we discover that the current theme is "Under the sea".

The mermaid's tail consists of 1500 flowers

Nice exhibit, but we've seen better. We also both noticed this one was considerably less fragrant than past exhibits.

Next up, to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, where the current exhibit is a fascinating look at some of the most iconic people of the 20th century, as captured by renowned Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh.

We were allowed to take pictures but with only an Iphone, it was tough to get good shots without an overabundance of glare.

PRINCESS Elizabeth, a year before her coronation.

I was going to take this one home with me but Tracey was convinced the guards would stop me. Might have been worth a shot anyway.

Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was totally shocked by how moving this exhibit was. Some of these photographs felt like you were interrupting an intimate moment - glancing right into the subject's soul.

After we were done here we stopped to partake in some gelato (my first experience with Snickers gelato, and probably not my last) and then do a little more shopping at the shops between Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. It was there, in the Gucci store, that we happened across The World's Biggest Douchebag.

I wish I had a picture to show you but he wouldn't stand still long enough for me to get one. He was wearing a Gucci shirt (an ugly one), Gucci shorts (more below), Gucci shoes (horrifically ugly), carrying a Gucci man-bag, and holding his big wad of cash in his hand in the way a crab might hold your finger if you were stupid enough to put your finger into a crab's claw. Boisterous and loud enough so that everyone in the store could hear him proclaim how much Gucci stuff he owned (as if the fact that Gucci had already puked up on him wasn't enough indication...I particularly like the blue Gucci shorts that were about the same size as the ADIDAS tennis shorts that we all used to wear back before we realized just how ridiculous we looked in those things). You remember: these things.

So in your mind, just replace the Adidas logo with Gucci's logo (all over the shorts) and turn them blue, and you pretty much have it.

Talk about a certified piece of Euro-trash. The only thing surprising is that he wasn't wearing these monstrosities on his feet:

At least, not yet. He DID still have a wad of cash in his claw that he seemed intent on spending.

Las Vegas: Where literally ANYTHING is possible, even wearing Bigfoot's shoes.

Anyhoo, after our mocking of GucciBoy was over, it was time to head back to Bellagio for our buffet dinner. This was another one of our MyVegas redemptions, so it was 2-for-1, but the even BETTER part was that it entitled us to skip the line and go through the Express Comps line....so about 2 minutes in line as opposed to the 75 minute lineup the regular people had to endure. Hee Hee Hee. Suck on that, regular people :)  Honestly the skipping of the line was more important to me than saving the $38 on the dinner. What a nice bonus. Dean doesn't like lineups. Lineups and Dean kinda clash.

8:00 PM - After dinner it's time to head back to the room, open up a nice bottle of Chardonnay and prepare to leave our lovely resort. We don't fly out until 7:50 PM tomorrow so we still have another day of Vegas fun ahead of us, but we have to check out of the resort at 10AM.....so tonight, we pack!

Tomorrow, after check out, we'll see what the day brings. But dammit, there will be at least one more frosty Pina Colada before I leave this town!!!

Vacation Blog VII, Part Six: Another relaxing day followed by an evening of merriment

9:00 AM - Hmm so this is the first night I've had a good 8 hours of sleep. so why am I so damn groggy? Takes me a good half hour to shake it off and get moving.

10:00 AM - I hear rumblings from the Bear's Den. And here she is!! Pleasant Morning Bear! Slightly discombobulated still, but more alive and alert than normal.

Not too much excitement to report this morning; we feast on a breakfast of bacon and eggs (I am fairly certain I have consumed more bacon on this trip than in the rest of 2016 combined) and hit the pool. I go down early to grab a couple of primo lounge chairs while Tracey finishes getting into pool mode.

While I'm sitting on the chair waiting for Tracey to come down, a group of six women comes barging into the pool area and I hated them almost instantly. The leader of their little group was one of those people who thought she was much more important than she really is. It was obvious by the way she commanded the rest of them to follow her plan to commandeer any free lounge chairs and move them over to where they wanted to sit, and do it quickly before anyone else might have the nerve to want to sit on them. I was actually quite pleased when she was visibly frustrated that there weren't enough chairs to go around for her little coffee klatch. She started eyeing the chair that I was holding for Tracey and I was PRAYING that she would come over and try to take it so I could kick her fat ass into the pool. Alas, she did not. I never get a break.

When Tracey arrives, I head off to the gym for a little workout. "Little" being the operative word there, as the joint was packed! All the cardio machines were full, a guy was using the free weights and a girl was on a yoga mat in the middle of the room doing some serious core work. I spent 15 or so minutes using the weight machines that were free and then headed back to the pool. Earlier this week when I went to the gym there was not another soul around.

Into the pool which is pleasant but much cooler today than it was on Monday. There is a stiff breeze that seems to be cooling things down. Most of the coffee klatch is already in the shallow end of the pool so I spend some time in the deep end. Most of them are behaving themselves but Sergeant Annoying is loud and obnoxious. I'n my mind, I'm gouging her eyes out just for the fun of it. Dare to dream.

After my obligatory hour of pool time, I leave Contented Bear to enjoy her day at the pool while I head back up to the room to relax for a couple hours. After an hour or so I take her a sandwich and an apple for lunch. Certainly can't have Contented Bear turn into Hungry Bear!! Hungry Bear is a handful, let me tell you!

We have plans to hit Caesar's and do a little shopping, then dinner at Trevi. After dinner, over to the Wynn for some charcuterie and wine at La Cave, our favorite wine hangout in Vegas. Should be a fun night.

3:15 PM - Tracey comes back from the pool and The Process (TM) begins. Meanwhile I log onto our yoga studio website and sign us up for our classes for the next week, starting on Sunday. Wow, it's hard to believe that this trip is almost over and it's just about time to head back to reality! Not that our reality is lousy or anything - far from it - but it's not Vegas!!

5:00 PM - We are into the car and off to Caesar's, where we do a great deal of window shopping and a little actual shopping. The Forums Shoppes are terrific, every high-end designer you could possibly think of in one spot.

6:30 PM - Time for our reservations at Trevi. We've eaten here 3 or 4 times and always had a great meal. The ambiance is terrific too, sitting right next to the huge Trevi fountain. Tonight's meal is no exception. We both start off with appetizers, I have butternut squash ravioli and Tracey orders Mozza sticks....but these are nothing like your traditional Mozza sticks. They are the best I've ever tasted. My ravioli is also fantastic.

For dinner Tracey has "Pollo Tre Pomodori", described on the menu as such:

CRISPY PARMESAN CHICKEN BREAST WITH A ROMA, CHERRY AND SUN-DRIED TOMATO BIANCO SAUCE, PAPPARDELLE CACIO E PEPE

It's absolutely fantastic, some of the best breaded chicken either of us have ever tasted, and the bianco sauce that coats the pappardelle pasta is phenomenal.

 I am leaning towards ordering the same Chicken Carbonara dish I enjoyed on our last visit, but then something else caught my eye: A Meatzza Pizza, covered in meatballs, pepperoni, sausage and pancetta. First I confirm they have a defibrillator standing by, and once confirmed, I place my order.

It is one of the 5-6 best pizzas I have had in my life. It's as close to perfect as pizza comes, I think. And huge. This is what it looks like after I've eaten half of it:

It's too good to waste so we have it packed up to take back to the resort for lunch tomorrow. It's a bit of a pain to carry around with me all night but it's worth it.

Oh, and our bill, including one glass of wine and a generous tip (TERRIFIC service from Eddie), was $108. Superb value. This is a must-do restaurant for all of our Vegas trips.

One more point: Since we knew we were going to La Cave later tonight we didn't have a bottle of wine here, but they have a fantastic wine list. It's small, but they have a little something for everyone at every price point.

After dinner we finish off the shops in the mall and then start the walk to the Wynn, where we are planning to get our "fine wine drink on". First though, we come across this:

A carousel made of flowers!!

The Wynn has really outdone themselves this time, it's truly amazing. We'll see what the Bellagio has in store in their Atrium which we will see tomorrow.

8:50 PM - We arrive at La Cave, disappointed to realize that they close at 10....so we will probably only get one bottle of wine. And WHAT A BOTTLE WE FIND. Wow.

Those of you who are regular readers of my wine blog might recognize the winery and the vineyard here. We recently tasted the 2013 vintage of this wine and it was the best red wine we have ever had. If you'd like to read the review, here it is.

Is this vintage as spectacular as that one? No, but it's still pretty damn good, and we were so surprised and pleased to find it on their wine menu. I'll do a full review of it, and the other wine we've had on this trip, this weekend when we are back home.

We also ordered some charcuterie which we knew we weren't going to be able to do justice to after the huge dinner we just had, but even a little bit here and there improves the wine so we nibbled a bit and then took the rest back to the resort, which we will probably enjoy with the 2 bottles of wine we still have back at the resort.

A little more shopping after we left La Cave (yes, the shops in the Wynn mall are still open) and then back to Caesar's to get our car and head back. We had considered walking home if I was too drunk to drive, but that certainly isn't the case, especially after the 20-minute walk back to Caesar's.

Off to bed, tomorrow we are going to have another relaxing morning followed by a trip to Bellagio to see some art and enjoy a little buffet dinner tomorrow.

Vacation Blog VII: Mon Ami Gabi and whatever else we manage to fit in today

9:30 AM - Well this is not so bad but considering what time I got to bed last night, not quite what I was hoping for. My brilliant prognosticating skills are predicting a nap in short order.

I head out to Target to replenish a few supplies that we need, starting with milk because some fucking dumbass didn't notice that the skim milk he purchased the other day was ALREADY expired. It's tough to find skim milk in the States, which might explain why the population of this country is so goddamned fat. It might be one of 1000 reasons (what's that? For $9.99 I can buy 100 Chicken McNuggets or three broccoli crowns???? Cluck cluck cluck!!!).

We have breakfast in the resort and relax a bit, and then it hits us....the nap monster has arrived.

2:30 PM - We both wake up. I had a good nap and Tracey's nap was fair to middling at best. Time for our leftover Chinese food to get us through to our late dinner tonight.

3:30 PM - Off to the Venetian for a little shopping, and sightseeing, and an opportunity for me to grab a lot of hot girl's asses.

What? Really?

Really.

Lindsay Lohan really was quite pretty before she turned into a total trainwreck.

Not to be a pig, but I swear her boobs are bigger in real life.

Full disclosure: I really wasn't grabbing any of their asses (although J-Lo looked like she was about to kick my ass).

But Katy Perry's cleavage was tough to ignore.

Most of the wax figures were very lifelike, but there was one that almost took my breath away.

Sandra Bullock. I'm not her biggest fan by any stretch, but this was so lifelike I felt like she was looking right into my soul. The eyes, man...the eyes.....they didn't look like a wax figurine at all. I swear I expected her to move at any second. Really, really well done.

"Well, you made a long journey from Milan to Minsk, Rochelle, Rochelle. You never stopped hoping, now your in a Pinsk, Rochelle, Rochelle. When the naysayers 'nay' you picked up your pace. You said nothing's going to stop me so get out of my face. I'm having adventures all over the place, Rochelle, Rochelle!!!"

At this point I swear it doesn't matter what Bette Midler has done in her career before or after, I will never think of her as anything but Macaroni Midler from Seinfeld.

She really is the Wind Beneath My Wings. She is so freaking talented.

And here is a little tribute to a few greats we've lost recently:

Was Whitney really THIS tiny?

Purple Picture, Purple Picture

and the wife got in on the action with some of her gentlemen friends as well.

FINALLY, THE ROCK HAS COME BACK IN LIFELIKE WAX FORM TO LAYETH THE SMACKETH DOWN ON ALL YOUR CANDY ASSES!

I think JT is auditioning for the next Bond movie.

I don't know who this guy is.

And of course, if you want to take true STAR POWER....you want to talk about the BIGGEST STAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD...you are clearly talking about this cool cat.

Yup, Grumpy Cat has his own figurine. Actually pretty cute, and it moved.

A brand new Dean in the Rat Pack.

I heard that Wolfgang Puck is pouring an '84 Sassicaia.

So that's about it for Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. We had not been there in several years, quite fun. And man some of those figurines were so lifelike it was creepy.

7:00 PM - We grab the car and head down to the Paris where we are going to have dinner. No huge hurry for a table, since we are planning to sit outside and soak up the atmosphere. They aren't that busy tonight though, so we actually head to do a bit of shopping where I pick up a couple of T-shirts (one that says "Pardon My #($@)@!$@ French". I swear, is there a more appropriate T-shirt for me to wear???) and then it's time to hit Mon Ami Gabi for dinner.

Although I was planning on a nice bottle of wine to celebrate my tourney winnings from last night we decided on a carafe of their Frangria (Sangria + French...get it???), which is the best I've ever tasted, anywhere. Normally Tracey is the Sangria whore.....and I'm pretty lukewarm on it....but this is spectacular. We are both having Filet Mignon for dinner so I order just a glass of a nice Bordeaux to pair with my steak better than the Frangria would. The wine is a perfect complement to a beautiful piece of meat. We both leave fully satisfied and the price is terrific, as our bill is $140 all in. Incredible food and very good value as well.

11:00 PM - After we donated a couple bucks to the local economy in the form of some slot play, we are both tired and head back to the resort to hit the sack. Another big day tomorrow...although there will be some sleeping in and probably some napping, we are planning some shopping and dining in the Caesar's Palace Forum shops and then up to the Wynn for some spectacular wine and charcuterie at La Cave, our favorite wine bar in Vegas. Can't wait!!