Midiman does AVN 2009 - Las Vegas

Midiman Report on AVN

I left home for the airport at 3am in the morning.  I had allowed an extra hour for breakfast once I had checked my baggage. Of course in true Midiman karma, I arrived to find the longest lineup I've ever seen due to flight cancellations over the previous 24 hours.  I suppose missing breakfast was not such a bad trade-off to missing my plane had I arrived at the normal 1.5 hours before flight time.  My light kit was slightly overweight and I had to shuffle some items to my other bag while I got lots of glares from unhappy passengers that were near missing their planes or about to.  Security was without incident...I didn't even have to remove my shoes.  The flight was delayed which gave me a few minutes do visit a deli and grab an omlette which I woofed done at record speed and grabbed the honor of being the last passenger to board the plane. 

On arriving at my seat, I then realized the benefits of boarding early.  There was no room in the overhead for my two carry-ons.  The stewardess took one to the front, while I shoved my overstuffed laptop case under the seat in front of me, leaving very little foot room. I had hoped that with my aeroplan points I could grab frist class, but there were none to be had and I ended up paying a premieum even for the economy seat.

Montreal stopover and flight change was also uneventful.  I was there at around 8am, and although my stomach was in the mood for lunch, only breakfast was being served.  It is the first time however I've had a 20 oz beer for breakfast as I was totally parched.

Flying to Vegas was a cool sight.  The Grand Canyon   was visible and much of Nevada looked like a wasteland of rock and sand. Then all of a sudden this city pops up out of nowhere.  We touched down, I found all my luggage and grabbed a ride to the Venetian Hotel, which I had booked so I'd be close to the action.  Normally one to prefer the driving myself around, in this traffic and road madness, I was somewhat happy to have someone else do the driving.

I thought I'd walked into a bank lineup in the hotel lobby, but then, that is about what one might expect from a 3000 room hotel.  20 minutes later I was entering my room, which at 650 square feet, disoriented me, leaving me thinking I had stepped back into the lobby.

There was no question at this moment, that after near 12 hours of travel I just wanted to lie down and take a rest, however, I had scheduled interviews with Lovable Dolls and Abyss.  So there was no rest for the weary.  It was then that I learned that despite my booking a hotel that adjoined the convention center that the route there would take some 8 minutes of walking - a lot of walking with a portable light kit, high definition camera and two Teddy Babes.  Alas, I was too late to pick up the Teddy Babes that Eighth Wonder had shipped and would have to wait until morning for that.   I had my Bell Boy bring up the cart and escort me to the AEE.  I would have jumped on the cart myself had there been room.

On arrival we were met by ZDRchango one of my newest TDF friends.  I had already purchased a weekend pass, however, had Lovable Dolls not also given me a guest pass, I would not have been able to get through the doors to do the interviews as Thursday was for industry only.

This being my second only Adult Expo - the first being the considerably smaller LA Erotica in June - I was overwhelmed by the size and magnitude of it.

The Lovable Dolls booth was nothing short of excellent in the 'Red Light District' look they gave it.  If I had been taken in blindfolded I would have thought I was in Amsterdam.

The dolls also looked superb unfortunately I did not get any closer than the window that separated us so as to feel, positioning and posing we will have to wait to see the feedback and reviews from the first purchasers.

Their partnering with an established manufacturer - 4Woods - certainly seems
like an excellent strategic move.  No need to reinvent the wheel in
skeleton design.  Also some 4Woods dolls were on display - very nice they were !

Abyss and Phoenix had a bit more space and made good
use of it.  Two tall displays sported their new RealDoll 2 which will
offer the platinum silicone that has now become the standard.

They also sport the removable inserts similar to the BoyToy and have other design
improvements.  They claim no more finger wire pokes.  One of the male
dolls bore an uncanny resemblance to RealDoll owner designer Matt
MacMullen :)  On cute handout from Abyss was what appeared to be a
matchbook, but when opened, contained a condom.  I put some in my
pocket hoping to get lucky before the weekend was over....but arrived
home with a full stock :(

I met a lot of TDF members there....Bill, AdrianaRuthven, Mahtek, ZDRchango, Norbac, Zarnon, Stacy, Jose, litlluvr, Belshanar and Poet.  If I missed anyone, let me know and I will update.

Thursday night we all met at the Kahunaville where we watched bar tenders juggling bottles with the finesse of circus clowns while we downed massive drinks that gurgled and bubbled like some witches cauldron. No one had so much they needed to visit the oxygen bar that sat at the entrance. next we had a great get together hosted by Matt and Bronwen of Lovable Dolls.  Spirits were high, and we all had a great time in a relaxed atmosphere in the large house they had rented.

I was having a great time playing on the grand piano in the living room, when Mahtek pointed out a black box under the right side of the keyboard.  A few minutes later the piano was playing itself...dang...I was outplayed by a machine :(  Oh well, more drinking time :)

Of course all good things come to an end and with a long show day ahead of them, it was necessary to wind things down around midnight.

My two Teddy Babes arrived on Friday morning and I decided to 'test the waters' and appear at the AEE with one in each arm.

 

Mahtek  met me at my room to follow me with my HD Camera on the long route down, through the Casino, Mall and eventually into the AEE.

I didn't get past the first booth without a sexy chick beckoning us over.  She asked, "They're cute!  What are they?"  Which were to become the two most asked questions at the AEE and the reason I would be losing my voice before the weekend was over :)  Noticing I had both my hands full, she slid a Sampler DVD in my pocket...I think I'd have preferred just the hand...oh well... c'est la vie :)

It took nearly half an hour to cover the short distance from the entrance to the LL and RD booths. The Teddy Babes seemed more popular with the females than the males, but hey, I was holding the dolls so that was great!  It was not uncommon to get beckoned to the front of the lineups so they could see the dolls.

I later christened them Teddy BABE MAGNETS.  I will not go to an AVN without at least one at my side.

Friday night I felt was a good time to express my appreciation to the TDF crew and treat them to supper.  Never call the front desk of an expensive hotel and ask if they can recommend an inexpensive restaurant.  The meal was excellent and for $600 it should have been.  The only problem is, the waitress returned with my US Dollar VISA card to say I'd been declined.  NO !  Not another Midiman moment?  There should have been lots of room on the card to cover even the $600 so I placed a call to my TD Bank Visa number on the back of my card only to get an offices closed message.  What kind of VISA company isn't open 24/7?  I'd even have welcomed a barely understandable Asian voice on the other end to get this resolved. We called the merchant VISA from the managers desk only to be told I would have to contact my bank.  Now most any normal person might have just paid the cash at that point or used the Canadian Mastercard I also had in my wallet, but stuck on the principle of things I wanted to save as much cash as possible so after a few tries at higher and higher amounts to see what the card would VISA froze the card.  I told the manager I'd pay cash, but by then he insisted that because it had approved $200 which it was now declining, he would deduct $200 from the bill.  I told him I was fine and could pay cash, but he insisted.  All this happening while the rest of the TDF gang sat at the table probably wondering if I was working out a contract to do dishes. I made a quick trip to the washroom where I had to remove the cash from my money belt which my wife had insisted I take with me, all the time expecting some thug to beat and rob me.  I proceeded back out and paid the waitress, thanked the manager and proceeded back to the table.  All things considered, $200 off a bill for 20 minutes of total embarrassment works out to $600 per hour...NOT BAD!  On return to the hotel that evening I discovered that not only did the hotel preauthorize my card for the room costs, but had also added $150 per day towards incidentals which explained the missing $600.  My room incidentals amounted to $32 for the entire weekend.  Would have been nice if they'd let me know they were pre-authorizing the $600, but they probably just assume that anyone that can afford a $349/night hotel wouldn't miss $600.  The fact is, it was BECAUSE I was in a $349 per night room that I DID miss that extra $600.  Next year I will probably stay just outside of town and rent a Ferrari with the money I save...yeah...that would be fun...OK maybe not a Ferrari, but it would certainly cover a Corvette or Shelby GT :)

The next day was much like the first, with one exception.  ZDRchango, Mahtek and myself decided to grab breakfast at Denneys, so getting a little bolder, I took the babes with me and off we went out into the town for a few blocks.  I walked up to the hostess and asked for a table for three, then corrected myself, remembering I had Mahtek and ZDR in tow.  Once at our table a couple young fellas approached and asked me to introduce them to my friends.  Then our continued antics resulted in an applause from the other patrons.  The meal was good and again, I decided to pay the check...that was until I realized I had left my wallet in my room.  Mahtek was not up to seeing Jessica and Nita becoming dish rags so offered to loan me the money until we got back to my room.  To this day, ZDR continues to crack wallet jokes :(  After breakfast, I continued to walk the show with the Teddy Babes, which had become almost like a drug to me.  Others hung out at the Lovable Dolls and Abyss booths and checked out the show.

That evening Abyss sponsored a reception at my room. We'd lost a couple members who had to fly out Saturday, but still had a healthy gathering.  I took the opportunity to show Mahtek's interview and the Bianca Skydiving Trailer I had prepared, and was pleased at the excellent response they got from both the Abyss crew and the TDF members.  Things wound down later in the evening and Belshanar left with Nita's stand in, leaving me with only Jessica.  I picked up a roommate in Norbac when I found out he had planned to sleep in his truck that night.  Hell, I was paying for a double, and with the size of the room I'd hardly know there was someone in the lower level sleeping on the couch.  As a matter of fact he was so quiet I thought he'd gone comatose :)  Norbac became my new cameraman for the balance of the weekend...a fair tradeoff.

We were running a bit hungry and decided to order a Pizza.  You'd think that at 1:30am on a Saturday night in Las Vegas one could find an open pizza place...NOT:(   Fatique took over and we hit the hay dreaming of a big breakfast in the morning.

Sunday were were dropping in numbers and found our way to a nearby restaurant for a nice brunch.  More of the same hanging out at the show and then Norbac, Bill, AdrianaRuthven and myself met for another meal at Kahunaville, watching more of the juggling bartenders.  This time I think Bill and AdrianaRuthven could have benefited from a trip to the oxygen bar, but we managed to make it back to my room where they flaked out on my bed for an hour while Norbac and I viewed some of the weekend's video footage and surfed the internet on a less than satisfactory wireless that was costing me more than it was worth.

Monday morning, Norbac drove me to the airport where I was unable to locate a coffee shop :(  I had to grab a pizza for breakfast, but at least I didn't go hungry.

I arrived home 14 hours later without incident.  WOW, what a whirlwind trip and a lot of great people.  Thank you to Abyss and Loveable Dolls and all my great TDF friends for making it a great 'Midi' Vegas AVN 2009.

 

Hi-Rez Gallery of over 80 AVN photos

Also check out the large Vegas AVN poster created by Kharn