The Company American Bistro restaurant, at the Luxor hotel-casino in Las Vegas, which just opened last month after shuttering for a “rebranding,” is the plaything of celebrity investors like Nick Lahey, Nicky Hilton, and Wilmer Valerrama. It’s run by Pure Management Group, the same outfit that runs hotspots Pure and LAX, and is the middle of an IRS audit over allegations of undisclosed tips.

So perhaps it’s those financial woes which can explain this advertisement for the eatery?

(Click for larger version)

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Like everything Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt related, news that they’re relationship is on the rocks this week is a perfect opportunity to plug the two different Las Vegas hotels they’re staying at: She’s at the newly opened Palazzo and he’s at the Hard Rock.

Stay tuned for a list of every vodka brand they imbibe and every store and restaurant they visit.

Oh wait, too late: People mentions they dined at Dos Caminos and CUT Steakhouse.

NO ALARMS AND NO SURPRISES On Super Bowl weekend, Sunday Styles is bereft of its happy couples from Ivy League colleges and/or schools that cost as much Ivy League ones, and must turn to trends. The latest: celebrities living it up in Vegas, where they given freedom to pimp themselves on their own terms. “In Vegas, I don’t have to worry about photographers waiting outside my house every day because they can’t wait outside my hotel room,” Spencer Pratt says. His girlfriend, Heidi Montag’s thoughts on the matter, or any matter whatsoever? Silence. [NYT]

Over the weekend, we sent Mollygood editor Cord Jefferson to Las Vegas for the opening of The Palazzo, the new hotel and casino from The Sands Corp., which also operates The Venetian. Cord pulled down levers, sheets, and a few stories to tell as part of his stay. And while he already shared some of his trip on our celebrity site, he sent this extra goodness in just for us.

On the final day of press happenings at the Palazzo Resort and Casino’s opening weekend, reporters from around the country were invited to tour the Canyon Ranch SpaClub, the Palazzo’s offshoot of the wellness brand made famous by intoxicated celebrities. I was tired and am largely uninterested in wellness, but I felt obligated to attend the tour because it was one of the few events I could make (and because earlier someone had sent the concierge to my room with an aromatherapy kit).

Our guide, a smallish woman, tremendously nice in the way that people employed by casinos are, waited patiently as journos – many of whom appeared to share my lack of interest in health – trickled into the facility, which requires its own floor of the hotel in order to contain its reported 134,000 square feet. I introduced myself to a woman standing next to me who was from Los Angeles and whose name I forgot; she appeared to lack interest in me. When the tour started, I moved away from her toward the rear of the group.

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Is Mischa Barton suffering a case of Lindsay Lohan? After getting arrested for DUI, the ex-O.C. star suddenly finds herself in a precarious situation: she’s due to host a party in Vegas this New Year’s Eve.

Will she be forced to call things off? A rep emails us: “We are aware of Mischa Barton’s incident last night, but at present she is still expected to host the CatHouse Grand Opening at Luxor Las Vegas on December 29th. We will let you know if anything changes.” Decisions, decisions.

[Photo: WireImage]

MTV is undergoing a facelift. That stodgy TRL? They’re getting the hell away from it. Those underperforming reality shows? Well, more than likely, that inexpensive programming will probably stick around. But the network’s approach to award shows is changing: Not only is MTV moving its Video Music Awards from New York to Las Vegas and, according to TMZ, setting up tents at the Palms, but they’re making all sorts of changes to the way things are done.

The broadcast will be live! It won’t repeat on TV! The date is moving back to September!

And then there are some things that never change: Last year’s viewership dropped 28 percent. Surely there’s more we can do to drop those numbers.

• “Britney was drunk off her ass. She was completely trashed. She couldn’t walk straight, she couldn’t stand up straight. She was completely gone.” Funny, as this describes only one evening in the life of America’s pop queen.

• Michael Jackson returns to the U.S. to hit Las Vegas, home to a former molestation accuser and perhaps his latest attempt to earn an income.

• Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner baptize baby Violet, refuse to let thetans take over her mind.

• Britney Spears breaks things off with Paris Hilton, insists it’s not personal.

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We knew Google was taking cash to put ads on its maps when Sopranos-branded locations started popping up in Google Local all around Jersey. But from the sound of Maxim’s self-congratulatory press release (and aren’t they all?), they did one better: Ed Needham & Co. constructed a copy of its Eva Longoria cover so large, Google’s imaging satellites had no choice but to pick it up. Publicity buzz TK, they thought.

MAXIM Magazine, the #1 best-selling menÂ’s lifestyle magazine in the country and the world is celebrating their momentous milestone of reaching 100 issues by constructing a colossal special issue cover in the Las Vegas desert. MAXIM has teamed up with the City of Las Vegas so that everyone can see Eva Longoria’s (last year’s MAXIM Hot 100 winner) sexy new special cover in Google Earth by visiting Maximonline.com. The structure stretches 75 x 110 feet and is erected on floor of the Las Vegas desert.

“Leave it to MAXIM to do something so creative and so wild to celebrate their 100th issue. I guess space is no longer the final frontier! I am flattered, to say the least, to be TV’s Sexiest Earthling,Â’ Longoria said.

EVA LONGORIA COVER BY THE NUMBERS:
Size: 75Â’ x 110Â’
Material: Vinyl Mesh windscreen
# of stakes in the ground to hold it down: 125
Crew to install: 9
# of hours of printing: 25
# of feet of airline cable to hold in place: 2400Â’
# of hours to install: 15 hours

And how. Except when we went to look for the Longoria cover spread out in the Las Vegas desert – at 35 degrees 37′ 12.23″ north and 115 degrees 22′ 58.77″ west – in Google Earth, we didn’t see so much as a Dennis Publishing shrine but undeveloped desert situated next to some sort of complex the president has likely yet to tell Congress about.

(Top to Bottom: Regular Google Image view; Google Image view with Maxim data file loaded. Click each photo for larger version.)

As any novice geek knows, Google Earth isn’t in real time — but Maxim’s claim that you can spot their supersized cover surely is. So it takes clicking on the Google Earth data file on Maxim’s site (currently generating “page not found” errors to no end) to actually see the cover — that is, loading the Maxim-brand data file into Google Earth, which is akin to pasting just about any Flickr pic onto a satellite image, then issuing a press release.

Except Maxim actually did construct the jumbo cover and, for their credibility’s sake, there were actual photographers on the scene to document the grandiose attempts at buzz.

The full laddy-laden release, after the jump.

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