Tag: Believe

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Some Accolades Are Best Forgotten

August 26, 2011 at 1:15 PM | by | Comments (0)

We're not going to rehash ancient history. Clearly, when it comes to Criss Angel there are those that have always believed, those who now believe and those who will never beLIEve.

Luxor's website, obviously, keeps the faith and uses celebrity endorsements to mindfreak get guests into the, errr, show. But, even the most high-profile praise should be forgotten sometimes:

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What's The Best And Worst Show You've Ever Seen In Vegas?

June 29, 2011 at 3:14 PM | by | Comments (9)

Moving is the worst. The task took a turn from tedious to OMGish for us a few days ago, tho, as we started going through all those mementos we all tend to stick into drawers, boxes, coat pockets and promptly forget about.

First we hit upon the stray Vegas room key for Bellagio, ARIA, The Signature and such. Then, we started finding show tickets and that's where we lost it down memory lane.

Tickets for shows we had seen and loved, like LOVE, George Wallace and Folies Bergere. Shows that were just passing through, Cheval, Chicago, Annie. Shows that were ok, if you're into that kind of thing, Blue Man Group, Menopause, Mystere. Shows we hated, Criss Angel Believe. ('nuff said.) And, shows that we had completely forgotten about and for good reason, We Will Rock You, Storm, EFX. (Gah, for some reason we saw the Crawford, Tune and Springfield versions of that show. On the up side, we've erased them all from memory.)

So, it got us wondering, what's the best and the worst shows you've ever seen in Vegas? Share your picks with us in the comments below!

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Surprise Surprise, Another Person Refuses To Believe The Criss Angel Relaunch Hype

Where: 3900 Las Vegas Blvd S [map], 89119
March 18, 2011 at 4:54 PM | by | Comments (0)

Ruh-roh Criss Angel. You may have the old guard professing your show changed and brilliant and your house ever so nice, but it’s harder to pull the wool over the rest of our eyes (we, if you recall, deemed it “poorly staged, poorly acted, poorly thought out, poorly executed and poorly received by the audience.”)

The two latest Vegas scribes to see the revamped Believe are Steve Friess and Richard Abowitz (who, incidentally, purchased their own discounted tickets as we did, rather than sitting in for free). Abowitz has yet to publish his verdict, but from the sounds of his tweets, we’re thinking it’s not going to be as gushing schoolgirl as one D. Roselli’s.

In the meantime, we have Steve Friess’ review in the Weekly, who says, as we did, that being a “better” show does not make the new Believe a “good” show. He also points out that, like it or loathe it, personality is an integral part of magic shows:

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Who Will You Believe in The Great Criss Angel Debate?

Where: 3900 Las Vegas Blvd S [map], 89119
January 14, 2011 at 4:54 PM | by | Comments (8)

Something odd has been going on in the world of Vegas magic recently. Some of the famousest faces in the [insert fanfare here] Vegas Media Scene have been returning to Believe and pronouncing it changed. Good. Criss Angel a worthy headliner, even. You may gasp, but it is for realsies.

First, it was Dayna Roselli. Then, it was Norm Clarke. The latest: Johnny Kats. But while the pundits were offering olive branches to Angel, we were still having readers tell us about their "profound disappointment" and even friends who’d got freebie tickets lamenting that they’d wasted an evening watching it. We felt mindfreaked. Who should we Believe?

And then two weeks ago those nice people at Cirque announced a Twitter offer of $35 tickets for a couple of shows, so we snapped them up so we could make our own judgment.

A note before we start (Dayna, pet, hopefully next time you Google yourself and reply to a post a couple of months late, you will catch this): no, we hadn’t seen the show before it was revamped. We weren’t in town for freebie media night, and the reviews were so uniformly appalling that we didn’t want to spend our money on it. (On a side note, Dayna, as anyone who’s been following the Spiderman saga on Broadway will tell you, “sold out” has zero to do with being “good”.) We thought the best we could hope for was that it’d be so bad it was good.

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Another Bad Criss Angel Review But Will It Be The Last?

Where: 3900 Las Vegas Boulevard [map], 89109
December 20, 2010 at 7:30 PM | by | Comments (4)

So we're still waiting to see what changes Criss Angel has brought to Believe at The Luxor. Norm Clarke recently tweeted that it was a completely different show and despite our love for Norm, we're still rather skeptical.

But 'tis the season and we really wish Criss the best success in 2011. Until then, we have this review from someone who attend the show in early November, after the revamp that took place in the fall. She writes:

My daughters planned my birthday gift/trip around our love of MINDFREAK shows - we have watched re-runs numerous times. Going to Vegas to see Criss Angel was really exciting and we were stoked.

We ordered our tickets on-line/phone confirmation and were told to get them a half hour before the show. I decided to pick them up just after we checked in to the hotel - days before the show - the line was short but the wait was crazy. It might have seemed worse as we had been up a long time traveling from Canada... We had no problems getting in and were seated just in time.

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Trust Us, No One Wants an Evil Criss Angel Bunny For Crissmas

December 17, 2010 at 7:25 PM | by | Comments (0)

Sadly, that bunny is not wearing an eyepatch. It's just the tag.

We're still reeling from Norm Clarke's recent tweet about Criss Angel's revamped magic show but regardless of how this show plays out now, we'd still advise anyone in the market for Vegas-themed Christmas gifts to avoid buying one of these---evil "Believe" bunnies.

We spotted the bunnies in the Luxor gift shop at McCarran Airport as we were trolling for some last-minute gifts ourselves. Admittedly, they don't look all that evil but they are oddly-sized and they aren't quite the snuggle buddies we expect from stuffed animals. In short, do not do.

(Bonus points if you can spot the Criss Angel Magic Kit in the photo below!)

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Either Criss Angel Mindfreaked Norm Clarke Or Believe Is Better

December 17, 2010 at 11:45 AM | by | Comments (0)

Norm says he's ok. Could that be true?

If you read VegasChatter enough, you might have noticed that we’re not the biggest fans of Criss Angel. So when we read the news that his Mindfreak store at Circus Circus had closed down, we didn’t think “oh boy”, we thought “oh good”.

However, we might be prepared to mellow just a little bit because our favoritest gossip cop in the world ever, Norm Clarke, went to his show last week and tweeted that it was actually rather good:

Congrats to @crissangel on shows No. 999 and 1,000 at Luxor tonight. We saw a completely different show -- it was YOUR show. U own it.

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You Too Can Be Criss Angel If You Dare (Wish)

Where: 3900 Las Vegas Boulevard South [map], 89119
November 2, 2010 at 4:33 PM | by | Comments (3)

He's behind the box and he's ON the box. It's magic!

As you probably know we have a love hate relationship with Vegas’s favorite whipping boy, Criss Angel. As you probably do not know, we were talented, budding young magicians back in our childhood. Maybe not so much talented or budding but we did own a Harry Blackstone magic kit and recall a Happy Meal prize of a disappearing coin trick amusing us for all of ten minutes once.

Since today’s young-in's likely won’t know who Harry Blackstone is, (frankly we really had no idea either) there is the Criss Angel Platinum magic kit to fill the void. The kit targets itself at magic wannabes of all ages with over 250 mindfreaks, an instructional DVD starring Criss himself, and more usefulness like Criss’s Secret Floating Device. Whatever the f that is.

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Are Things Really Going To Turn Around For Criss Angel? Depends Who You Believe

Where: 3900 Las Vegas Blvd South [map], 89119
October 29, 2010 at 11:19 AM | by | Comments (2)

It’s been a while since we indulged in a Criss Angel snarkfest but everyone’s least favorite magician has sparked our interest again this week. Dayna Roselli saw Believe and reckoned it was actually good:

I attended the revamped version last night and the OLD BELIEVE is no longer there. It’s a completely different show. It’s all about magic now. You will learn about Criss’ history, how he became a magician, and why he does certain stunts. There is also quite a bit of comedy.

Angel’s tricks were definitely amazing and high energy. He hung from the ceiling above and wiggled his way out of a straight jacket in 30 seconds. He disappeared and reappeared in the audience. He cut a woman in half in front of our very eyes and wheeled her away off stage — in half. A pair of real legs walked across the stage without a person visible above the waist. Oh, and a woman also punched her way out of a flat painting.

I think things will turn around for this show.

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Criss Angel Doesn't Care if He's a Magic Joke, Because He's 'Already Paid'

August 20, 2010 at 4:28 PM | by | Comments (3)

We all know how reviled controversial Criss Angel is here in Las Vegas (even Carrot Top makes fun of him) but Angel's reputation in the magic world is an actual joke (Yeah, despite that whole Magician of the Century award.)

At the Magic Castle in Los Angeles (which is THE academy for magicians), Criss Angel's "magic" was ridiculed several times onstage during one act from a magician-comedian who called Angel's magic secret "editing" and said his next TV show after "Mindfreak" would be called "Brainfart." Magician catfight!

Later when we mentioned to another magician that Angel was an actual joke during the act, that magician said, "He should be." So it's safe to say that Criss Angel will probably not be welcomed with open arms inside The Magic Castle.

He also will not be welcomed with open arms at the house of this angry show-goer who left a review of "Believe" on our sister site, HotelChatter. GoldHunt writes:

We attended this worthless show on Aug 11, 2010 the last night of our honeymoon. What a complete letdown and horrific waste of our time and money. We were ripped off to the tune of $144.00 by false advertising (read lies) from the show promoters.

More from Goldhunt can be found below.

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Even a Vegas Deal Listing Recommends Avoiding 'Believe'

May 17, 2010 at 10:57 PM | by | Comments (0)

Remember how we told you last week that Cirque du Soleil tickets were on sale this summer, starting at $50 a ticket? Well, when we went through the booking process, we went through Spoofee.com, a random but useful deals site that likes to editorialize the deal options. This is what they listed for Criss Angel's Belive show at The Luxor:

Stay away from this

Not even $50 is a good enough deal for Believe. Then again, free is probably not a good enough deal for Believe.

Here's what else is on in Vegas:
· In case you didn't notice, the Miss America Pageant happened in Vegas [AP]
· Encore's Beach Club gets ink in the NY Times [NYT]
· Surprise, surprise, Holly Madison is making yet another appearance at Sugar Factory [Twitpic]
· The Flamingo has a so-so pool special that includes a FUN cup [Vegas Hotel Special]
· Donald Trump does Vegas and hangs out with Victor Drai [Daily Fiasco]

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Criss Angel Is Doing Magic Tomorrow And You Better Believe It

Where: Lake Havasu City, AZ [map]
May 7, 2010 at 2:57 PM | by | Comments (0)

Criss Angel with one of his many fans

Sometimes Vegas can just be a bit too much, y’know? And sometimes the stuff on the Strip gets boring (anyone else stopped even noticing the fat man who stands outside Paris and yells at douchebags?).

If this is you, we have a daytrip suggestion for you. Tomorrow, everyone’s favorite douchebag self-promoter "magician" magician, Criss Angel, is attempting "the most dangerous stunt of his career".

Actually performing a magic trick? Letting the scales (hur hur – see pic) drop from his fans’ eyes? No: being chained up, roped up, chucked off a bridge into the Colorado River and left to drown unless he can escape.

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