House of Sin Date Wednesday, April 24, 2024 - 07:19 PM PST Topic Entertainment It's been a long time since I was in a real Casino. As you descend to the base floor from the parking garage, you immediately inhale 6 years of cigarette tar in to your lungs, and while the first time you smell burnt tobacco it can have a musk to it reminiscent of a campfire of sage, more than 6 minutes of it is like a campfire made of poison ivy. Casinos are starting to put cigarette dispensers back on the all-gaming floors, a not neccesarily daring move but a smart one, which are the kinds of moves that keep casinos alive and running the one armed bandits into success. Girls in skimpy but smart suits wander around the floor with aggravated looks on their faces serving drinks to old ladies and slightly younger men who shouldn't have any more to drink and with looks of disdain pull small bills that have been recently shoved down their bras and slide them under empty glasses on their trays, waiting for an interesting gambler(which, of course, are nonexistent given that the interesting people are too smart to gamble) or their smoke break. Security guards move quietly in loose suits trying to look indiscreet with wires in their ears and the sag of a pair of clips on the inside pockets in each of their suit jacket pockets, surveying the premises with smiles that have nothing to do with profit. When you see a woman in their proffession it is rare and disorienting, moreso when you have one walk by you and grab a drunk yardworker from the cashiers station who is bickering with the clerk about cashing his check and proceed to haul him into a small mirrored door in one of the walls. There are mirrors all over Casinos; mirrored ceilings, walls, bathrooms, floors.. Luxurious casinos have painted glass, others attempt to stylize the obvious security precautions out of the atmosphere with little success, butr all of them have mirrors. Because mirrors see all things while not being seen. And they can see you. Recently restaurants have become en vogue in Casinos; Las Vegas Casinos are now sporting restaurants with Emeril and Bobby Flay and other big names behind them; trademark dishes becoming recognized by worldwide food critics, with good reason. In the New York New York casino you can buy a supple, soft steak that has been aged for 75 days with a special kind of mold growing on it that breaks down the bonds in the tissue-- while not an elegant thought, its taste is indisputably amazing. Mushroom Raviolis known throughout the world, made with some of the softest and finest tasting pasta and specially shipped in mushrooms harvested fresh that day and flown in to beat the climate. Fine wine vaults looked after by world-renowned sommoliers- all for your dining pleasure. Showrooms now no longer have the air of sleaze about them-- washed-up second rate singers and comedians can't even get a job in some of the second-rate casinos, pushed out by broadway productions and world-touring songsters. It's been a long time since I've been to a casino. And it'll be a long time before I go back. Because no matter how much lipstick you put on any pig, it's still a pig. And no matter how many good things you put in a Casino, it's still built on broken dreams of compulsive people. And that can still leave a sour taste in my mouth no matter how good the steak is. This article comes from Shmeng http://www.shmeng.com/ The URL for this story is: http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=390