Drea de Matteo from "The Sopranos" collected an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress last night for her final season as Adriana, who was whacked in an unforgettable episode of one of my favorite shows. Ms. de Matteo looked like she wanted to win very very much and didn't want to jinx it by having a speech prepared. From everything I have read about her, I like her. I wish they could get it together and produce new episodes faster. Seems funny that there are three episodes of Law and Order every night, and we have to wait two years for the next 6 episodes of The Sopranos. I happen to love the character of Adriana, and I have read that Drea de Matteo is just a very real, very together person in real life. They say she is nothing like Adriana, but I must admit that what I saw of her last night...she looked just like how Adriana looked with the piled up hair, and lots of makeup. Adriana was a survivor, but...alas, she got "whacked". People who play with the mob have short lives. I happen to like shows about gangsters. Maybe because when they get killed you don't mind, since they are all asking for it anyway. It is not like watching someone you care about. Maybe it is because they are all living the dark side of life where money is so plentiful it's a sickness. Casino is my one of my favorite gangster movies, along with Goodfellows and Scarface. I like the clothes worn by Sharon Stone in Casino. Sharon Stone is terrific in this role, and I have seen Casino about eight times at least. Las Vegas is so artificially over the top.
I went to Las Vegas three times, mostly on business trips, in the 80's before Disneyland took over. I watched someone, who a friend introduced me to, play $500 a hand blackjack one night. It was exciting. They had two casino suits standing behind him...watching to make sure he made a trip to the window afterwards. I heard he lost $40,000 that night. Probably didn't matter to him. He was the financial vp of a Minneapolis company owned by another high stakes gambler. They were just dipping into the company till. It was all rather glamourous I thought at the time. I perched on my stool in my glitzy black dress and watched and smiled like I belonged there, which I didn't. I still have some beaded bags that I bought there one night after winning pretty big at the slot machines. That night I couldn't lose no matter what I did. They are pretty and I'm glad I have them. It was a crazy night. Money grew on trees. I guess the glamour of the old mob controlled Las Vegas is gone now. When casinos decided to attract families and kids, they changed forever. So now I have cancelled HBO until the Sopranos get it together again sometime in 2006. But I will miss Adriana!
