Lonely Death

Discover twice the city in half the time as Lonely Planet's local travel experts reveal all you need to know to plan the ultimate short trip to Las Vegas.

Roger Waters' album "Amused to Death" returns in a remastered release from Columbia Records / Legacy Recordings. "Amused to Death" sounded the alarm about a society increasingly – and unthinkingly – in thrall to its television screens. Twenty-three years later, "Amused to Death" speaks to our present moment in ways that could scarcely have been anticipated two decades ago.

An unblinking look at an entertainment-obsessed society, Amused to Death addresses issues that have only grown in complexity and urgency over the past two decades. With Amused to Death, Roger Waters sounded the alarm about a society increasingly — and unthinkingly — in thrall to its television screens. Twenty-three years later, Amused to Death speaks to our present moment in ways that could scarcely have been anticipated two decades ago. In 2015, television is just one option in an endless array of distractions available to us anytime, anywhere, courtesy of our laptops, tablets and smartphones. With eyes glued to our screens, the dilemmas and injustices of the real world can easily recede from view. The 2015 SACD edition of Amused to Death features a new 5.1 surround remix of the album completed by longtime Roger Waters / Pink Floyd collaborator and co-producer, James Guthrie. The art has been updated for 2015 by Sean Evans, the creative director of Waters’ 2010-2013 “The Wall Live” tour and movie.

In the late 1940's, Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez were America's notorious "Lonely Hearts Killers". Their lethal scam was simple; they would swindle and then viciously murder lovelorn war widows who would answer their personal ads in which Ray would describe himself as a sexy Latin Lover. Ironically, Ray's initial introduction to Martha was as a prospective mark. But when they met, it was love at first sight, perhaps as a result of their penchant for kinky sex and their mutual love for duplicity and easy money. With Martha posing as Ray's sister, they bilked elderly spinsters and widows of their savings and then viciously murdered them in a bloodbath of sexual frenzy. When they were arrested, Martha and Ray confessed to 12 killings, although it is believed the actual number is closer to 20. At their sensational trial, Martha and Ray cooed, held hands and seemed as though they could not get enough of each other. Their plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was rejected, and on August 22, 1949, the homicidal lovers were sentenced to death. After numerous appeals, they were electrocuted on March 8, 1951, side-by-side in Sing Sing prison.

Stories from outposts of the Southern Ocean, the windiest, roughest, most isolated and most important ocean on the planet. Venture to the deep south and you will experience a world like no other – forbidding subantarctic islands, astounding sea creatures, death-defying plants, the constant company of birds and, if you travel far enough, the towering ice cliffs and dead valleys of Antarctica.