Guess the casino, #934

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.

Answer: Luxor

Phillips Collection

Today Cardgrrl and I went to the Phillips Collection, a relatively small private art museum. Though a few old masters are represented (I think today was the first time I've seen an El Greco work on display), it's mostly 20th century stuff--some beautiful, some interesting without being beautiful, some just weird and incomprehensible. For the most part, it was work by people I've never heard of, though there was the scattered Monet, Cezanne, Matisse, and Mondrian thrown in.

One of the most interesting pieces is a brand-new exhibit, a two-part thing called "Skin" by A. Balasubramaniam. The outdoor portion is a steel sculpture, vaguely shaped like a human heart, with channels running through it, confounding one's conception of what is the piece's interior and its exterior, reminding me of a Klein bottle. (It pleases me to have a girlfriend who knew what a Klein bottle was without needing to have it explained.)

The inside portion is a series of five small works that use the wall of the gallery itself as the medium. One looks like a fist has attempted to punch through a wall made of rubber, and got stuck. Three look like skin has been bunched up and is being held in place with nails. One looks like an ugly gaping wound, as if in the middle of a surgical procedure.

You can see a 5-minute video of the installation work of both parts here.

There wasn't a lot that made me think, "Oooo, I wish I were rich enough to own that," but all in all, it was a nice and educational sampling of the last hundred years of art history.

Then we walked a couple of blocks to Dolcezza, a little shop with amazing gelato and sorbet, in unexpected but delicious flavor combinations.

Even though these people in D.C. do strange things like mix lots of moisture with their air, this whole not-working-for-a-while thing is pretty nice, I must say.

Addendum

Cardgrrl's photos from the museum are here.

Guess the casino, #933

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.

Answer: Gold Coast

Guess the casino, #932

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.

Answer: Circus Circus

Guess the casino, #931

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.

Answer: Aria

Guess the casino, #930

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.

Answer: Riviera

Outta here

I'm leaving Wednesday morning for a week in D.C. visiting the wunnerful, wunnerful Cardgrrl. With much to do before flying off, I anticipate no more posts of any substance until sometime after I return. On the other hand, if we end up doing something of touristy interest I may manage to put up a story and/or pictures about it.

Dirty poker

I learned of this YouTube clip from Christian Harder asking Matt Savage on Twitter what he would do as a tournament director if faced with the situation. Watch the hand beginning at about the 6:50 mark.

The angle-shooting victim here, by the way, is Eugene Yanayt, who was at my starting table in the WSOP Main Event. (He was the one who knocked out Greg Raymer.) He is a good player and was always perfectly cool and polite--a trait that serves him well in this clip.

Savage said he would give the offender, Ivan Freitez, a two-round penalty, plus a warning that he would be disqualified if it happened again. I think that's too lenient. Since he had already been given a warning once before, I would have disqualified him on the spot.

Guess the casino, #929

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.

Answer: Flamingo

Guess the casino, #928

To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.

Answer: Buffalo Bill's (Primm)