Wasn't staying at The Bellagio, nor were either of the conventions there — just liked the framing of the shot (and the little moon above the minaret thingy) while waiting for a light to change to head into the Caesar's Palace complex.
Luca Carettoni shows off the BlueBag ("A Mobile, Covert Bluetooth Attack and Infection Device") after his and Claudio Merloni's talk at Black Hat.
A close-up of the BlueBag.
Wow, who knew?? There's a topless pool at Caesar's Palace! I was skeptical when my co-worker who I was attending Black Hat and DEFCON with first mentioned it, but sure enough, it was visible from a couple of non-vendor-blocked windows on the convention floor. Sadly, the Treo 700p's low-end camera with digital-only zoom doesn't allow you to make it out, but there's at least one topless woman (the one next to the lifeguard tower, IIRC) in this photo, which was taken from those windows. Not too surprisingly, as you'd pass by the windows on the way to a session, there'd usually be at least one person stationed at them, getting a quick fix of micro-nudity. The con schedule didn't really allow for visiting the pool, so peeking from a window had to do.
The salt-sucker and the Gorn at Star Trek: The Experience. Sadly, I ran out of time to go on the attractions (which are awesome — the costumes, makeup, and immersive interactivity are great, and the Klingon Encounter puts Star Tours so much to shame it's not even funny), but I had a nice relaxing dinner at Quark's while watching Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country on their big screen.
The former site of the Algiers Hotel. This hotel used to be on the Strip just north of the Riviera. The first time I visited Vegas during my adult life, I stayed there. It was a nice no-frills casino-free hotel on the Strip that was extremely affordable, yet not a rat-hole. It was about on par with a good quality Motel 6 or something. The only problem I had when I stayed there was that the sink was clogged, but they quickly sent a maintenance guy out to fix it.
Here's what its sign used to look like. The Neon Survey ("an online exhibition from UNLV Special Collections") has a feature on the hotel's use of neon. Since the time I took this shot, the main neon sign has been taken down and now sits in The Neon Museum's Boneyard. The hotel was apparently torn down after the owner and the city came to an agreement over some kind of funky land-swap deal in 2001.
Strange that they hadn't torn down these dilapidated side buildings (shops, plus a chapel, IIRC) on the property.
Circus Circus is right across the street from the Riviera, where DEFCON was held this year. I decided to stroll over one evening, since I had fond memories of the hotel from my childhood visit in (I believe) 1984, and also because Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of my favorite movies, and I wanted to get another look at the inspiration for the Bazooko Circus.
Yep, there is a trapeze above your head when you're in the casino, as in Fear and Loathing, though not as low as is pictured in the film. Also, I didn't have time to check out the show, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't include any wolverines.
Another shot of the trapeze net.
The ticket exchange area.
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Back in '84, the Circus Circus arcade was the best I had ever been to (and as an arcade afficionado, this was saying something). It really was a video gamer kid's paradise — I was happy as a clam to play there for hours on Mappy, LaserDisc games Dragon's Lair and Cobra Command, etc. etc. while my parents did other stuff. My Dad would come by periodically with a bucket of more quarters than I'd ever seen together before, to continue fueling the fun.
Unfortunately like all arcades nowadays, this one is a shadow of its former self, with mostly unfun and unimaginative gun games and driving simulator games, but there were a few good machines. This was the first time I'd ever seen a Dragon's Lair 20th Anniversary Edition machine in person (wasn't working, unfortunately).
The game's marquee.
Right side of the marquee, with the multiple company logos.
The game's control panel.
There were a few 80s games, mostly reissues, like the Space Invaders / QIX combo machine on the right. Also a kid-sized Ms. Pac-Man cabinet two over from it.
Defender / Defender II combo in another kid-size cabinet, with Ms. Pac-Man / Galaga to the left of that.
And then we have Let's Go Bowling / Centipede / Missile Command / Millipede, with the dead Dragon's Lair 20th Anniversary machine to the left of it.
And a couple of 1991 games I hadn't seen in a long time, Spider-Man and The Simpsons.
A bad shot of a couple of midway skill games.
More midway games.
Surely just a coincidental resemblance to Sulley from Monsters, Inc.
Thought for a minute that they had replaced the old carousel bar with this skill game, but I was incorrect.
Funhouse mirror.
The carousel bar, unstaffed and unoccupied.
A closeup of the bar itself. "Listen, let's get down to brass tacks. How much for the ape?"
Balloon-popping dart game.
Clown mouth squirting game.
The casino below the midway.
"Some angry Rotarian shoves you and you think, 'What's happening here?'"
Kinda looks like one of those midway skill games, but it's the DEFCON Bots competition, where fully automated robot guns competed to shoot the most targets.
A team and their robot gun (out-of-focus because it was mid-shot, I think). They weren't doing so hot, as far as I could tell (though I didn't get to watch any of the other teams' entries).
A couple of participants in the Lock Picking Contest (or were they just practicing?).
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Some guys who danced humorously in their matching costumes at The White Ball. I asked them what it was a reference to, and they said it was something from some website, but it was too loud for me to make out which one / what. Unfortunately after going to all this trouble, the guys had to leave the Ball shortly after they arrived because they were under 21 and word had come down that the Vegas police were going to be raiding shortly to look for under-21-ers. Update, 2008-12: I came across some info on Wikipedia on "Habbo raids", where groups infiltrate virtual environments "wearing" avatars configured to look like Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction — that seems to be what these guys were making reference to.
I also shot a short video clip of the Minibosses playing at The White Ball.
