Celebrities (VegasSummer 09, entertainment)

This post concludes my posts about my trip to Vegas. Ten days in Vegas really is a long time and it's so easy to feel out of touch with reality. I'm pretty sure during my first three nights there I asked people "what day is today?" at least 4 times.

The Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson deaths happened while I was in Vegas, and some of the chatter at the poker table were Michael Jackson jokes. I will include here a few of my favorites. If you are easily offended or just tired of them, skip ahead as there's more in the post after the jokes.

1. So Farrah Fawcett dies and arrives at the Pearly Gates. Saint Peter tells her, "You have lived a good life. I will grant you one wish." Farrah thinks for a little bit and answers, "I want all the children in the world to be safe."

2. Since Michael Jackson had so much plastic surgery, after his death they are going to melt him down and make Legos out of him so that little kids can continue to play with him.

3. CNN reports that Michael Jackson actually died of food poisoning. He ate twelve year old nuts.

4. Q: What are Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson getting for Christmas?
A: Patrick Swayze


Since I was alone I didn't go partying, and didn't see any clubbing celebs. My only celebrity sightings are in the two pictures below

The first picture is not clear, not only because my phone camera sucks, but because I took a quick picture from across the craps table and he left pretty quickly before I could get a better picture. If you look closely, you might be able to identify him from his famous accessory. Yes, that guy with the cap is wearing a clock. That is Flavor Flav. Former hype man for Public Enemy and reality show star with three seasons of his own show and the predecessor to 80% of VH1's current programming. They say he shows up at South Point every now and again.

On my last night at the Bellagio, as I was walking back to my hotel room at about 3am after losing as much as I was willing to lose, I saw this fellow who looked kind of familiar right next to the gift shop opposite the hotel elevators. I was so tired that I wasn't sure if he was who I thought he was, so after confirming with the guy who checks keycards at the elevators, I followed him into the gift shop and asked him, "Are you Phil Ivey?" He said yes and agreed to a picture. His expression was stoic as usual, and it was nice of him to muster up a smile as the gift shop employee was having trouble with the camera on my phone. He was taller than I thought he was. Turns out he's 6'2.

So the question is, which was the bigger celebrity sighting? My first thought was that it was clearly Flavor Flav, since Public Enemy was one of the most influential rap groups of my generation and the reality show Flavor of Love is pretty well known in pop culture. However, I've also noticed that some of my friends who haven't spent a lot of time in the states would still know Phil Ivey but have never heard of Flavor Flav. So who do you think was the bigger celebrity that I saw?