If you're looking to adopt a pet, consider Royal Pet Resort (4700 W. Russell at Decatur).

Because of a lack of funding, TLC Animal Rescue has to close, leaving 80 cats and dogs homeless.

The pets have currently been taken in by pet daycare Royal Pet Resort and are seeking immediate adoption.

For more information, call (702) 873-7722 or Royal Pet Resort at (702) 646-7387.

Or you can stop by Royal Pet Resort daily until 5 p.m.

Silverton has a delicious promo through the end of this month.

From now through July 31, earn points from midnight to midnight, and you can get free breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And the points don't come off your account

For slots:

100 points = breakfast ($5.99)
200 points = lunch ($8.99)
300 points = brunch/dinner ($13.99)

One voucher per person, per 24-hour period.

Video poker is the same but triple the points (300 points = breakfast).

Food vouchers are good at the Sundance Grill, Mi Casa Grill, and the Mermaid Lounge. Vouchers cannot be redeemed at Twin Creeks.

For the buffet, the lunch and dinner vouchers will get you in, even on weekends. We stopped by last weekend on Friday night when the dinner buffet (with Alaskan crab) is $19.99 (Saturday-Sunday brunch is worth $16.99). That's an extra $6 value. Plus, every Friday at Silverton gives 5x points (you still have to earn 300 points for dinner, but it's credited at 1500 points, worth $1.50 in comps).

Also nice is being able to use the dinner voucher for breakfast (because there isn't exactly a timeline for breakfast in Las Vegas).

Points are earned at 1 point = $1 on slots.

The one catch is you must redeem the voucher within 24 hours.

In 2004, actor Ewan McGregor took his friend Charley Boorman and started on a motorcycle journey that would span the world across 15,000 miles.

A film crew followed.

For one night only, see the movie that resulted in Scotland to South Africa to Egypt and all around in Long Way Down.

For more information on the documentary, click here.

Long Way Down plays July 31 at 7:30 p.m. at the following theaters in Las Vegas:

Casinos: Sunset Station, Texas Station, Red Rock Station, Santa Fe Station, Sam's Town, The Orleans

Civilian theaters: Colonnade (8880 South Eastern Ave.), Village Square (9400 W. Sahara)

Ticketdeals Partners and Wynn Las Vegas have a special discount on the water acrobatic show Le Reve for this summer.

Now through Aug. 31, premium and splash zone (don't worry, you won't get wet much) seating are $86.90, including tax ($9.95 convenience charge is not included). Tickets for these sections are normally $137.50 and $108.90 (including tax), for a savings of almost $50.

To purchase, visit this link, select the date you want, enter quantity, and enter code TMDEAL under the "Ticketdeals Partner Offer."

Children should be at least 5 to attend, and children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Note that this is the revamped show by Steve Wynn.

Le Reve performs Thursday through Sunday at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. No show today or tomorrow.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

By and large, articles of this nature are from a historical perspective, so let's do something different. With faces forward and upturned at just the right angle to catch the light emanating from a glorious future ahead of us, let's have a look at possible "bumps in the road" for the Degenerate Mecca Family Friendly Las Vegas, in no particular order.

The LasVegasVegas.com list of Top 5 Las Vegas Disasters are:

1. Water...O' brother can you spare a drink?

2. Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump...Wanna glow in the dark?

3. Collapse of the real estate market...I'll gladly pay you on Thursday for a house today.

4. Gasoline...Nuff said?

5. Earthquake...Imagine your house atop a giant bowl of neon jello.

Read on after the jump for a detailed report of our Top 5 Vegas Disasters...

By today's close of trading, shares of Las Vegas Sands jumped 9.4 percent to $42.20.

This could be because of the buy rating from Jeffries & Co., which stated that the company that owns The Venetian and The Palazzo is outperforming the market and gaining market share.

But we'd like to think it's because of The Real Deal!, the new live poker show announced today at The Venetian.

No, this isn't the All-In musical debacle gearing up at Rio and Harrah's.

Similar to the live stage game show The Price Is Right at Bally's, audience members will use mobile devices to participate in poker hands with their favorite poker celebrity.

And there's a chance at a $1 million prize for a royal flush.

Revolving poker celebrities appearing on stage include Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Jr., Antonio Esfandiari, Gavin Smith, Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Phil Laak, Scotty Nguyen, and Todd Brunson.

More info on the show as it evolves can be found at this link The Real Deal! will premiere in the fall at The Venetian Showroom and will alternate with other shows six days a week.

Next time you're on the Strip looking for something to do, look no further than the little concierge contained right in your cell phone.

Vegas.com has launched a free Mobile Concierge that provides that day's and the next day's shows and tours in Las Vegas.

Text 777 to VEGAS (83427) to receive the up-to-the-second show information.

Phones with Internet access or mobile devices can go to mobile.vegas.com.

There you can get a directory of hotels, browse shows and tours with short descriptions, see times and prices and locations, and then when you're ready to purchase, click "Buy Tickets" or the showtime.

This will reserve your ticket. Then call the number listed, and you'll speak to a live operator who will take your name and payment information. No more having to fumble with entering dozens of credit card numbers into your phone.

Your tickets will be waiting for you at the box office, or you can even use your phone itself as your ticket.

At some locations such as Wynn Las Vegas, your ticket will be shown as a barcode on your phone display. The ticket taker will scan this barcode to let you in.

How's that for saving paper?

Brenden Theatres (at The Palms) and CineVegas offer a free pass for two to see the new movie American Teen on Tuesday, July 22 at 7 p.m. -- a month ahead of its Aug. 15 opening.

A hit at film festivals including Sundance, the documentary follows 10 months in the daily lives of five teenagers, all throughout their senior year of high school in a midwestern town.

Reviews are calling it "a modern-day Breakfast Club."

Lake Las Vegas has filed for bankruptcy.

Seeking protection under Chapter 11, the upscale 3,600-acre resort near Lake Mead claimed debts between $500 million and $1 billion. The economic downturn was one of the factors cited.

Just six months ago, when the master-planned community defaulted on $540 million in loans, Atalon Group assumed ownership.

They do have $127 million of financing in place to keep daily operations and employees paid. Bankruptcy will let Lake Las Vegas continue doing business while restructuring.

As if you didn't already know, tomorrow night is the premiere of The Dark Knight.

In celebration of the new Batman flick, DC Comics artist Lee Bermejo appears Friday at Brenden Theatres (at The Palms) from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. to sign these awesome, specially commissioned collector's cards of The Joker in front of The Palms hotel-casino.

Bermejo will then continue to sign autographs Saturday at Comic Oasis (3121 N. Rainbow) from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

At Brenden Theatres, The Dark Knight plays in IMAX ($14) and regular 35mm ($10) pretty much around the clock, with late showings at midnight, 1:10 a.m., and 2 a.m.

Actor Nicolas Cage is selling his Las Vegas digs for $9,950,000. Actually, he has been for the past few months, but until now, the owner wasn't disclosed.

His 14,000-square-foot mansion, at 5100 Spanish Heights Dr. (215 and Trop/Durango), is fully furnished and includes game rooms, movie theatre, a view of the Strip, seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and garage parking for 16 cars.

Cage purchased the property for $8.5 million in 2006, along with another smaller property on the same street for $2.25 million (which he sold in 2007).

To request a showing of the property, contact Robert Sibulkin at (702) 498-9115 or email robertsibulkin@yahoo.com.

The need for a new terminal at McCarran International Airport is necessary, with constantly increasing numbers of visitors (as long as you don't count this year).

And the cost has been estimated at a cost of a Strip hotel-casino -- $1.2 billion.

And that's just the low bid.

The new Terminal 3 will be alongside Russell Road, and expects to have 14 gates across 1.87 million square feet when it opens in four years. It will cater mainly toward international travelers.

Starbucks has announced the first wave of 600 locations to be closed, or over 5 percent of its 11,434 locations in the U.S.

The number of stores to close used to be 100, but the economic downturn (presumably going hand-in-hand with consumers unwilling to pay $4.50 for gourmet coffee) led to 600.

Many of those locations are stores that opened recently, within the past couple years. Next year, the chain will open 200 fewer locations.

Six hundred jobs will be cut. Those employed at closing locations will be transferred to nearby stores.

Breakfast sandwiches and other items will also be eliminated.

By the end of this month, the following Las Vegas stores will close:

#6633- DESERT INN & DECATUR
4810 W DESERT INN RD

#10393 - TROPICANA & EASTERN
2510 E TROPICANA AVE

#10462 - CHARLESTON & BRUSH
5181 W CHARLESTON BLVD

#10872 - LAKE MEAD & RANCHO
3720 LAKE MEAD BLVD

#11647 - SKY POINTE & BUFFALO
6515 N BUFFALO DR

All were deemed underperformers and unprofitable. None are inside casinos.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Looking for a job?

Wynn's new Encore hotel-casino begins hiring this weekend.

Up for grabs are 5,300 positions, all of whom will be hired online. (About a third will be moving from Wynn Las Vegas, so those empty spots will also need filling over at Wynn.)

Encore is on track to open by the end of this year, and reservations are now being accepted after February 2009 (just in case any mishaps cause delays, no reservations may be made in December or January until closer to the opening date).

Encore is Steve Wynn's $2.2 billion project with 2,034 rooms, almost doubling the size of Wynn (which went at $2.7 billion for 2,715 rooms).

We hear a rumor that more major plans are in the works, with more encore towers behind Wynn, possibly taking up the space of the golf course.

Kinky Friedman makes an appearance tonight at 7 p.m. at the Clark County Library (1401 E. Flamingo).

He'll be promoting his new humor book, What Would Kinky Do? How to Unscrew a Screwed Up World, with a reading and book signing.

Along with his own brand of cigars, he'll also be at the Sands Expo for the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Trade Show today through July 17 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Friedman is a singer, songwriter, detective novelist, and even politician (he ran for Justice of the Peace in Kerrville, Texas). Many consider him to be a modern-day Mark Twain. His persona also goes hand in hand with irreverent movie critic Joe Bob Briggs.

Nevada gaming is seemingly in a freefall, earning 15.2 percent less in May 2008 than in May 2007. Put another way, it's the worst May in 10 years.

The decline is across the board, with the Strip at 16.4 percent less, downtown at 17.3 percent less, Mesquite at 3.2 percent less, North Las Vegas at 29.4 percent less, and Boulder Strip at a whopping 30.2 percent less.

Gambling on tables and slots were shown to be down approximately the same amount, at 15.7 and 15.1 percent, respectively.

One interesting trend was that while multidenomination slots were down 11.2 percent, penny slots were up 9.6 percent.

In table games, blackjack was down 26.2 percent, craps was down 7.3 percent, roulette was down 27.7 percent, and baccarat was down 0.6 percent.

The downturn also equates to less tax money going to the state, almost $19 million less.

The more this continues, the more budget cuts will be necessary and perhaps even raise taxes, which Gov. Jim Gibbons is hoping not to do.

Former Hollywood Madame Heidi Fleiss once planned a Pahrump brothel catering to women (a "stud farm" containing all men) and is now running a laundromat called Dirty Laundry.

She also was arrested Feb. 7 for a DUI and possessing Vicodin without a prescription (authorities even took her to her house so she could produce evidence of a prescription).

Toxicology results have now come in, and also swimming around her bloodstream at the time of her arrest were methamphetamines.

Fleiss will now be charged with driving under the influence of a controlled subtance.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Follow the action from the 2008 WSOP Main Event now into Day 3 of play. It's all happening at the Rio Resort in Las Vegas and continues daily through Monday, July 14. Sometime in the early morning hours of next Tuesday morning the final table players will be determined and receive their golden ticket to the November Championship final table. The 6844 hopefuls that started the event last Thursday will be pared down to the lucky nine that have a chip, chair and a shot at the $9,119,517 in cash, the coveted diamond encrusted platinum championship bracelet and a permanent place in the history of poker.

If you can't be in Las Vegas to see it live then you should be reading Dr. Pauly's daily WSOP Recaps featured on the Poker Prof's Blog. Get the news and Flipchip photos of the players, rumors, sights and just plain weirdness surrounding the greatest spectacle in poker, the World Series of Poker.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Last December, our fine neon city was run over by excited Brits chanting "There's only one Ricky Hatton."

That wa short-lived, when Hatton lost his only defeat in 45 feats against Floyd Mayweather.

Now Hatton is back.

Originally intended to take place in New York,
Hatton will be return to Las Vegas this November (date not confirmed, but either Nov. 15 or 22) at the MGM Grand to match up with New Yorker Paulie Malignaggi (International Boxing Federation light-welterweight champion).

Hatton has previously said he'd do just two more fights and then retire, while earning as much as $25 million a piece.

The second and final fight will most likely be Manny Pacquiao.

Jim Belushi and the Sacred Hearts play The Orleans Showroom, and if you use code JIM, you can get two tickets for the price of one.

When Dan Aykroyd wanted Belushi to join him as Brother Zee in the Blues Brothers Band, Belushi prepared by watching rehearsals of The Sacred Hearts, the house band of House of Blues. Watching led to performing, and soon he became part of the band.

Performances are July 11-12 at 8 p.m. at The Orleans Showroom.

Tickets run $30.25 to $46.75.

To purchase tickets, visit this link.