Omens, writers and stars — one man's behind-the-scenes memories of Siegfried and Roy’s animated Father of the Pride Omens don’t beg for attention in Las Vegas. Everyone’s on the lookout for them.

Daytime cooking show queen Giada De Laurentiis has a lot to prove with her first restaurant. She does just that — with surprising flair and flavor Unless you’re a diehard fan of Food Network personality Giada De Laurentiis, it would be difficult to visit GIADA — her new namesake restaurant — without a critical eye.

1 “Downtown Summerlin, for all its aesthetic and commercial comforts, will lack the essential ingredients for an actual downtown,” Geoff Schumacher declared in our July issue. Summerlin Senior Vice President Tom Warden replies: Downtown Summerlin is much more than a glorified mall.

Grab your clipboards, kids, for the zany,complex game of citizen law-making! You’ll probably lose, but boy, will you have fun!So, you want to pass an initiative?If you’ve reached this point, you’re frustrated. You’ve spotted a problem, and you think you’ve got a solution.

The 2014 Fall Culture Guide: Visual Art | Music | Lit and ideas | Family food and festivals | Theater and danceSo, how's your schedule look next week? And the week after that? And the week after that? Whether you're an art-lover, a dance aficionado, a foodie or a live music fan, our culture guide's got the goods for one very busy fall. And we mean busy in a good way - this year's calendar is brimming with sights, sounds and tastes to engage, inspire and entertain you.

The 2014 Fall Culture Guide: Visual Art | Music | Lit and ideas | Family food and festivals | Theater and danceSo, how's your schedule look next week? And the week after that? And the week after that? Whether you're an art-lover, a dance aficionado, a foodie or a live music fan, our culture guide's got the goods for one very busy fall. And we mean busy in a good way - this year's calendar is brimming with sights, sounds and tastes to engage, inspire and entertain you.

The 2014 Fall Culture Guide: Visual Art | Music | Lit and ideas | Family food and festivals | Theater and danceSo, how's your schedule look next week? And the week after that? And the week after that? Whether you're an art-lover, a dance aficionado, a foodie or a live music fan, our culture guide's got the goods for one very busy fall. And we mean busy in a good way - this year's calendar is brimming with sights, sounds and tastes to engage, inspire and entertain you.

Ones to watch: Perris Aquino | Brittany McKay | Sarah OConnell | Chris Ramirez | Javier SanchezThis accidental cinephile is building a homegrown film industry, one frame at a timeThe Motel Life is set in Northern Nevada. Based on the novel by Willy Vlautin, it’s a film about two orphan brothers fleeing Reno after a tragic hit-and-run accident.

A terrific new bio of Benny Binion tells the whole, unvarnished storySomehow, Doug Swanson, in his new biography of Benny Binion, successfully conveys two seemingly discordant messages: (1) that Binion was a gangster as cold-blooded as a Mafia hitman; and (2) that he was one of the nicest fellas who ever walked the planet.In other words, Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Invented Vegas Poker (Viking, 310 pages) aims to tell the whole story of Benny Binion, because, indeed, he was both an organized crime kingpin and a community treasure.

General Tso’s chicken wings at F.A.