Dennis Hof, the pimp behind the Moonlite Bunny Ranch that was featured on the HBO series Cathouse, apparently is planning to open an alien-themed brothel to cash in on the Nevada Test Site northwest of Las Vegas. Just what this economy needs.

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This clever time-lapse work was filmed in Las Vegas by Philip Bloom, who wanted to ‘create a sense of colour and insanity that Las Vegas gives you. All from one view point. My balcony’. We think he more than succeeded.

If you live in America, you really don’t need one more reason to get excited about summer. But I’ve got one for you anyway: Mercon, a mermaid convention and charity event that will be happening at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas on August 12 and 13.

And what better place to host an under-the-sea event than in the the most popular city in the desert. Mercon is the first of its kind and will be hosted by the Maui Mermaids, who I assume are leaders in the mermaid profession. So grab your Ariel costume and get ready for some swimming, singing, and top-notch mermaid tail vendors.

This year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas was home to several electric vehicles, yet the eVaro seems to have garnered the most attention, boasting zero carbon emissions for 90 per cent of the time spent on the road and an impressive mpg of 275.

The three-wheeled plug-in hybrid (which boasts better turning performance than traditional vehicles) can go from 0 – 60 in five seconds and can cruise for 90 miles on battery power alone (it takes the eVaro three hours to fully charge). No word on whether the vehicle will ever see commercial production, but the Auto X Prize (US$10 million) is certainly a boost.

This insightful and striking series of artwork by Robert Mars looks at an ‘old Las Vegas that is being replaced by corporate themed mega-casinos’. Of this series, he says: ‘My work is a chronicle of Americana. I am determined to capture the independent aesthetic of the not-so-distant past that has been replaced by homogenized corporate culture and standardized cityscapes. Industrial design, graphic design, architecture and vintage neon all render important roles in my work.

My paintings employ layers of color, subtly collaged printed matter from the 1950’s and 1960’s, and stark, black imagery. Remote, indistinct landscapes capture the once poetic, and now nearly lost highway strips of the American past. Formerly the promise of hope and prosperity; these icons are now a sign of desperation and ruin.

This group of work embodies the past 12 years of my experiences in and around Las Vegas. I wanted to document the fading icons of “sin city”, and in the process, capture the sexuality and decadence that pulses just under the surface of the desert oasis. The flamboyant colors that separate old and new Vegas inspired my palette. The vintage cars, timeless neon, and motor hotels became the primary images.

Las Vegas is a city of extremes. The big time winners share a green felt table with the down and desperate. Cigarettes and alcohol are common vices that fuel midnight to sunrise marathons. Daybreak brings air-conditioned tourists blinking into bleak, 120 degree waves of dry desert heat. Stark contrast is the norm.

I’ve always had a love and hate relationship with Las Vegas. Multiple two week stays over the years proved too long for a visit, but allowed me to absorb the city and all that it has to offer. I miss the vestiges of old Vegas that clung to the strip when I started visiting in 1995. The demolition of what made it great in the 50s, and transition to its current “theme park” vibe seemed to happen overnight. These works are my tribute to the old sin city. Viva Lost Vegas!

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An archaeologist at Stanford, Michael Shanks, has completed an interesting study of the ‘prodigious amount of thought’ given to the design and layout of a casino’s gambling floor, such as the pictured Las Vegas Venetian. ‘Studies have shown that carpeting is often purposefully jarring to the eyes, which draws customers’ gaze upwards toward the machines on the gambling floor. Music is usually mild and soothing, and plays on a continuous loop rather than individual songs, contributing to a trance-like feeling of warmth and comfort in the gamblers. It has even been reported that casinos have attempted to manipulate the air circulation in order to affect the behavior of gamblers’.