8 Days to Act: Project 551

Been to Seaworld at San Diego and managed to get this shot at the Shamu Show. I was reminded of my photo submissions [also here, here, and here] to International Fund for Animal Welfare's IFAW] Project 551.

Watching these so-called "killer whales" in action again; after more than ten years at the same venue, gave me a renewed appreciation of the fine rescue and scientific work Seaworld is doing for these and other animals.

By the way there is only eight days to act and support IFAW's Project 551.

Mandalay Bay and Luxor

"On December 31, 1996, the Hacienda was imploded to make way for the Mandalay Bay. During construction engineers discovered that one side of the tower had sunk about two feet (600 mm) stopping construction. Construction was delayed while a solution was designed and tested. Eventually they were able to add material below the structure to carry the weight. Since then, there have not been any reports of this problem recurring.The gold colouring of the hotel is a result of gold leaf used on the windows.

Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino is a 39-story luxury hotel casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas. It is owned by MGM Mirage. The top five floors (floors 35-39) of the main hotel building are used by the five-star Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas.[1] It is connected by the free Mandalay Bay Tram to its sister properties, Excalibur and Luxor.

In keeping with the resort's tropical theme, it features a saltwater aquarium, the Shark Reef Aquarium, which contains the third largest tank in North America. Shark Reef Aquarium contains numerous other exhibits, including two tunnel-shaped, walk-through aquarium. Another popular attraction is the House of Blues, a venue for live music and a restaurant, with a capacity of approximately 1,800. On the top floor of the hotel is the House of Blues Foundation Room, featuring a dining room, private dining rooms, and a balcony looking down the Las Vegas Strip.

There are 24 restaurants and cafés at the resort.[3] Michael Mina, Charlie Palmer, Hubert Keller, Wolfgang Puck and Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger (Too Hot Tamales) are all associated with restaurants on the property."

[Source Wikipedia.]

MGM

"The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip, which opened as a Hollywood themed resort. The MGM Grand Las Vegas is the second largest hotel in the world and second largest hotel resport complex in the United States behind The Venetian[1][2]

Originally, the main entrance on the Strip was inside the mouth of a giant cartoon-like version of MGM's mascot, Leo the Lion, but this entrance feature was changed to a more traditional entrance; many Chinese gamblers avoided the casino or entered through the back entrance, due to the feng shui belief that entering the mouth of the lion was "bad luck." [8] In 1998, a large bronze statue of Leo was added above the entrance to keep with the MGM Lion theme, while not scaring away their more superstitious guests. The statue weighs 50 tons, and at 45 feet (14 m) tall, on a 25-foot pedestal, is the largest bronze statue in the U.S. [4] (Source wiki)"



Above is a detailed photo of one of the numerous statues in front of the MGM Grand. Pictures taken hand held [no tripod], no flash, just cropped to show more details.

Le Reve at Wynn

This is one of the very few (a couple at most) pictures I took before this show started: Le Reve or The Dream. The show was one of the best I've seen ever, see a youtube snippet here - obviously this low resolution version does not do justice to the whole production. I was not game enought to contravene the usual directive of "no photography or video" rule, as this will also take away the experience of being in a "series of imperfect dreams".

We paid half price as you can get tickets at half price of the normal retail amount from various outlets (we got ours from my nephew who is a US military retiree). The seats were the best as the theatre was arranged, as you can see from above picture; in a circular pattern. The higher I guess the better as you can see better the production from that vantage point.

How can I explain the experience? Like a dream - It is so theatrical with hints of magic, dancing, acrobatics, synchronised swimming, etc. - much like the genre that Cirque du Soleil pioneered. Obviously with Franco Dragone one of the creators of Cirque, hence the "Cirque-ness" production similarities.

"Le Reve was created by internationally acclaimed director Franco Dragone and you will noticed the similarities to a few other shows in Las Vegas. (Celine Dion’s A New Day, 'O', Mystere), Le Reve, takes place in the spectacular aquatic in-the-round dome theater conceptualized by Dragone and it gives you a sense of feeling involved in the show. You will feel as if you are in fact a part of the show instead of the show happening in front of you." 1

According to Dragone: "My aim with Le Reve is to create an entirely new universe, to transport everyone into a world where the theater, performance and audience become one and the same reality." 2

If we had enough time (and money!) in Vegas, we would have seen more shows in this genre plus the usual Vegas revues and less time on the poker machines!

The Cloud over Vegas

Pedestrian View

Taken from the pedestrian bridge: left, Las Vegas' Fashion Show Mall, the old Frontier sign and the Wynn Hotel and Casino building. I was fascinated by the flying saucer architectural feature of the Fashion Show building.

The flying saucer like feature is actually called "The Cloud, at The Strip entrance and is about 128 feet (39 m) above the sidewalk and is 480 feet (150 m) long. During the day, the structure provides shade for the entrance and at night it serves as a movie screen.

Fashion shows occur in the Fashion Show Mall every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. For the winter holidays, the mall has scheduled snow storms inside."

Under construction

Common sight in the Vegas strip. Close pedestrian strips and constructions going on.

F/4.5, 1/180 sec at ISO 250, focal length 180mm. Hand held, no flash and cropped.