leaving las vegas....

as you all know (all 3 of you) i was in las vegas for the better part of this week. i attended a trade show with a friend and therefore i went basically for free except for the money that the golden nugget hotel stole from me via their rotten, cold hearted roulette tables.
i actually had a great time, drank lots of good tequila, ate at craft(owned by top chef dude, tom colicchio) in the mgm grand and generally had a gay old time.
which brings me to ben sanderson: shown in the photo above shopping for liquor in las vegas; liquor that he will consume on his way to drinking himself to death in the film, leaving las vegas...which by the way he never does unless you count in a pine box via a hearse.
now, if i wanted to kill myself, would i choose the slow agonizing method of death by alcohol poisoning? (which by the way, is graphically demo'd in this terrific though downbeat film)
i think not. for a week or so, ben does have a great time staying drunk most of the time as most of us would also enjoy. then...the fun stops, his body rebels and he mostly just lays about being ministered by the gorgeous elizabeth shue: she of the large breasts and doe eyes. though i am unapologetically gay, i probably would stop drinking if asked nicely by ms. shue...but one of the hooks of the film is that in order to remain by his side, ms. shue promises not to ask this question of our boi ben. though all of this is very dramatic in a days of wine and roses way (jack lemmon and lee remick...yes i do know films pretty well...and what i don't know my uncs knows)but the nagging questions are: why doesn't ben just swallow some valium along with his daily diet of 3 quarts of whiskey and be done with it and how is it that such a sexy, beautiful woman such as ms shue just doesn't leave...i mean the film is titled LEAVING las vegas, right? well, the short reason is pretty simple, innit? we wouldn't have a movie then, now would we?
so, elizabeth goes out and hooks on las vegas blvd by day and shares a couple 100 shots of whatever with ben at night until he succumbs to ye olde devil liquor.
those of you out there think you have relationship problems should take a gander at the central relationship of this film and thank your lucky stars (why is it that i am using every cliche' in the book today?) that ben is not your man.
ok: nicolas cage as ben. he's charming in a loosey-goosey way, he has beautiful toes, he's tall but c'mon: wouldn't the film have more resonance among gays or women if ben were played by george clooney or brad pitt??? the str8 guys have elizabeth shue to ogle here, who do we have? nicolas cage...though the rumor is that he has a huge penis...we never see it which is downright ridiculous as the dude is magnificently plastered for most of the movie. certainly after a certain point he would remove all vestiges of his clothing as he sheds all vestiges of his former and future life through the careful inhalation of as much alcohol as he possibly can injest, right?
anyway, check this film out but if i were you i would have a quart of something nearby: something stronger than diet coke...if you know what i mean
peace,
tyler
listened to laura nyro all day which seemed a fitting tribute to ben and ms shue.