{ the jaunty magpie }

Bright light city, gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire -- most likely due to the fact that it's hotter than the surface of the sun in the state of Nevada, which is where this Bird is headed to in a few days! This Magpie is flying the coop to spend the very last of her frequent flyer miles on a trip to Las Vegas to meet up with her Jaunty parents who will be there for a college reunion. Seems like a strange reason to fly to Vegas, especially considering I don't gamble and the years in Washington have left my pasty skin sorely unprepared for the 100-degree heat, but it just came down to saving some Jaunty dollars by trading miles to travel a shorter distance to get in a family visit. Just call it "fuzzy math" in the new economy-class economy. Also, one of my very best friends lives in Las Vegas, so it will be a chance to visit her -- honestly, I could be visiting the middle of the South Pole for all I care, but it will most assuredly be a Jaunty visit, being able to see a good friend and my parents for a few days.

But to get into the travel mood, I thought of some Vegas-themed movies that I thought were particularly Jaunty and didn't include obvious choices like The Hangover -- which is totally hilarious, but I wanted to list some other favorites: {1} Oceans Eleven for hipster coolness (both the original as well as the remake, which was quite good as far as remakes go), {2} Honeymoon in Vegas for the best wedding scene, like, ever, {2} Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas because it's Bat Country and Johnny Depp as the mighty Hunter S. Thompson, {4} Casino for its mobster love letter to the 1970s Vegas of polyester yore. Watching any combination of these movies will most likely feel like a weekend in Vegas. With any luck, my actual visit to Sin City will not result in any quickie marriages or tigers trapped in my hotel bathroom.


Jaunty Fine Print: images from IMDB.com