Governor Bacala

I think it's time for you to start to seriously consider salads. -- Tony Soprano

On the Couch

As a huge fan of the Sopranos, I couldn't wait to dive into this book. I wasn't disappointed. First, let me say what this book is NOT. It is not a gossipy, name dropping tell-all of her glamorous, movie star life. Instead it is a memoir that is refreshingly candid, revealing intimate details of her family life, her career, her loves, and her bout with depression.

As it read it, I kept thinking, wow, if I wrote a memoir of my own life could I even go that deep? Reveal that much? At times I feel like a voyeur reading her journal. Reading about her custody battle over her daughter Stella was gut-wrenching. I felt like I was on a seesaw with her... one day up...next day down, wondering how could it get worse? And then seeing it happen.

And through it all, she seeks to work through her mistakes and keep going.

Yes, there are a few good "Sopranos" stories and insights. Like how she was first offered the part of Carmela, and why she turned it down. What it was like to be Tony's psychiatrist, and other little tidbits that fans will like.

It is one of those books where, when you turn the last page, you feel sad because you lost a friend. There is a consolation prize. In the back she serves up a list six "lessons from the couch." The list offers sound advice for anyone--- not just those suffering depression.

You can hear an archived interview with Lorraine Bracco about the book at NPR.

Remembering the Sopranos...

I really miss Paulie Walnuts. This episode was one of the best. Pine Barrens.

Need a Tony Fix

I've been missing the Soprano's lately. I see Paulie Walnuts on the Denny's commercials. I guess it pays his bills.

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I decided to look and see what projects the man formerly known as Tony is taking on. Check them out for yourself here at this link at the IMDB. Not much catching my eye.

Hmmmm.

There's this movie-- Sexual Healing. Shall we re-open the Bing?

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Nah... he's going to play the part of Marvin Gaye's manager, promoter Freddy Cousaert.

The Absolute Last Word on the Sopranos

Remember the big deal about the last scene of the last show of the Sopranos when the screen

went black at the end?

David Chase, the executive producer of The Sopranos, has"broken his silence" ---giving an interview to the AP and it caused a stir last week. Some people are using it to justify Tony not being dead. I say.... HORSE PUCKEY.

If you read the whole thing, it is quite obvious to me that he is doing what Judge Judy calls 'pot stirring.' Whether you choose to believe Tony is dead, or you do not, there are certainly no

explicit or implicit answers in this interview, as I see it.

So... what now? I say the bleak and inconclusive ending was NOT appropriate. If he wanted to give us "life goes on," he would have. He did not, and if he thinks he did, it was pretty lame. If cutting off the scene with the onion rings and going to black meant "life goes on" to him, well, I didn't get it. The range of choices for "life goes on" is staggering. This choice wasn't the best.

That said, the ending some fans like myself believe in, that he indeed is dead, is actually a more brilliant and interesting interpretation. I think he should take credit for it, even if the "da Vinci code-type meanings" were unintended on his part. (which I doubt)

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But he is selling a book now. And the pot stirring gets people talking.

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And talking people generate interest in buying books.

Possibly My Last Sopranos Post

ASK NOT FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS...

I am officially lining up with the Tony is Dead camp. I may even spring for the bumper sticker... at TonyisDead.com . In the mean time, I looked at the Zapruder tape, which is a frame by frame disection of the last moments, and also read the analysis there. Some of it is way out -- a little too much analysis even for me to accept without a debate, but most of it, I believe is right on. Most of what I hang my hat on is the sequence of "Tony's perspective" camera shots in the restaurant, and the timing of when it all goes to black. He heard the bell...and nothing else. Never heard the bullet. Never saw Meadow walk in. No more perspective. No audio, Nada. Dead. A deliberate 10 seconds of black. Not a gimmick, not a red herring. Not a fade to black- happy ending. It hits you like an anvil. The Member's Only Man killed him. Who is he? We'll never know. A motive? Don't really need one there. Any Way We Want It. The Mobster rules governing hits, get broken all the time. Tony hurt a lot of people, and had enemies. That is enough for me. Despite whatever truce he put together, he continued to be edgy. Always aware of his surroundings. That is his life. Always was. With good reason.


Plus, I went back and looked. Yes, he was eating an orange when he went to the Spec house to see Carmela. We know what happens when Oranges appear. (The link has all the Oranges in The Godfather.) I just love that touch. A tribute? Likely. For a laugh, you have to see this YouTube video... Godfather, Sopranos Style. Just click it. And also, incase you haven't seen it, the Pirate Parrot version.

The Last Episode of the Sopranos

Where to begin? Since I had to watch the show tape- delayed a day late, I managed an all day media blackout today so as not to spoil the ending. Little did I know that my personal blackout would be a metaphor for what was to come. My friends and co-workers were understanding. No one said a word about the show itself, though I sensed a disappointment.

As I watched the episode tonight, I couldn't help but feel rushed, like everything was in fast forward.... scene to scene...let's wrap up Meadow's life- future inlaws... future job? a baby... not now... let's put AJ in the Army, no wait, in the movies... and Janis... what will happen to Janis.... Silvio in the hospital... TV commercials play in the background... life goes on without him... and Uncle June... oh, he's gone. Really lost his mind. Carmela meeting with Carpenters, Tony... still whining about his mother.... Life just.... goes on. Unless you are Phil Leotardo. I didn't really get a chance to appreciate his death, but that's something else.

Life does go on.. with you and without you. And hopefully you never do feel the bullet or see it coming. Several theories abound on the net. I don't hang my hat on any of them really, except to say maybe I agree the audience got whacked. We never saw it coming. And their lives just go on without us.

However, the view below is certainly worth noting.

Here’s the “Tony is dead” theory, as posted on Digg:
In the last scene:

..."everytime someone comes into the door you hear the bell then the camera view
shows tony, then switches to his point of view to show who is entering the restaurant. this pattern happens 3 times (first with curly haired lady who looks like janice, then trucker dude with USA cap, then carmela, then hitman followed by AJ, then meadow) When meadow enters the restaurant you hear the bell, see
tony and then it is black. The view from his perspective is black - he is dead."

Don't Talk to Me till Tuesday

It's billed as The Television Event of the Year. And it ain't the Tony Awards. It's Tony Soprano. Will he live, will he die, will he end up in prison? Enter the Witness Protection Program? Be abducted by space aliens? Choke to death on calamari?

Most of the world is going to be watching the final episode of the Sopranos tonight, and, since I do not have HBO, I am in this pathetic, leftout group of people who must watch something inane like reruns of Andy Griffith or, heaven forbid, the Tony awards, then struggle to avoid any form of human communication until we can see the taped final episode of the Sopranos Monday.

My whole routine will be filled with landmines tomorrow. I can't even put odds on if I'll make it through the day without knowing Tony's fate. I certainly can't put the TV on in the morning, even to catch the weather. To dangerous. The radio on the way to work is off limits, too. Some DJ is bound to comment on it, or read a news story that will give the whole thing away.

I even considered a sign for the office door, just in case there are people who want to talk about the episode in the hall within earshot. No internet all day. Period. Email is out. The slug itself on the email may be a 'spoiler' from one of my friends who doesn't realize my circumstances.

The Mystery of the Cardboard Silvio

I missed it the first time I watched The Blue Comet episode of the Sopranos, but the second time... in the safe house before they ordered the Pizza... in the shadows, there it was:

The Cardboard Silvio. I haven't found a "still shot" of it, or I would post it. Theories are few and far between, and I've come up clueless.

Sopranos: The Blue Comet

It's like watching the walls of your house collapse in a terrible fire. The structure is disappearing fast and soon nothing recognizable will be left. I guess that best summarizes how I felt when I watched The Blue Comet which is the next to the last episode of the Sopranos. It's been a part of my life for several years now, and it is hard to watch it cave in piece by piece. Silvio and Bobby taken out in gunfire, and now Tony holed up in a safe house, I fear THIS episode really is the final nail in the coffin. There's no turning back. No happy ever after-type ending ahead......no future movie where the castmembers will once again hang out in the Bing, talk about old times. It ain't over till it's over, but we know. It is.

Will Pauli Walnuts be the last man standing? After all, he "made it through the New York gang wars of the 70's."

Tony Soprano as Hemingway? It's a Stretch

I wonder what is the latest on the Hemingway project? As of March, I read it wasn't even in Pre-Production. It may be something to look forward to after The Sopranos is over.

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If it falls through, there could always be a Frank Cannon movie, or.... uh... Mr. French? Well, maybe not that.

Slouching Toward Bethlehem?

I talk to myself a lot. I'll admit that. So as I watched Second Coming, (this week's episode of The Soprano's) this Little Voice in my head kept nagging at me.... The Second Coming? So... who is our Savior here? Can he wrap this up in two more episodes?

M.J.: Well... it must be Tony... right? He said he... "Get's It." He told Dr. Melfi, "All I can say is, I saw, for pretty certain, that this, everything we see and experience, is not all there is."

Little Voice: Somehow I don't think this is leading to his repentance. And just what does all
this gibberish mean as Tony rambles on? "Maybe...This is gonna sound stupid, but I saw at one point that our mothers are the bus drivers. They are the bus. They are the vehicle that gets us here. They drop us off and go on their way. They continue on their journey, and the problem is, we keep trying to get back on the bus. Instead of just letting it go. "

M.J.: Livia Soprano, rest her soul. That horrible, nagging, guilt machine of a mother. I wonder what path this show would have taken, had she lived?

Little Voice: What about the Poem? Any clues to how the show will end there? (They teach College students this? haha). In the poem William Butler Yeats warns us that:

"Things fall apart...The centre cannot hold...Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,...The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere..The ceremony of
innocence is drowned."

M.J.: Aha! It's entropy! Just as I said after the last episode. Things fall apart. That is it. Nothing Gold Can Stay. This show is not going to end on a happy note, no matter who slouches into Bethlehem. But I can end this post on a happy note. How about MY favorite Yeats poem?

( P.S. I learned it in College!)

A DRINKING SONG

Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.

Kennedy and Heidi--Sopranos Episode # 18

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." -


Lao Tzu



This quote came to mind today while thinking about the latest episode of the Sopranos. I can still remember my one and only acting class, when the professor looked hopelessly at me and said that I was too busy being myself to be anybody else. He was probably right.



There's been a lot said already regarding Christopher's demise... perhaps some of it a bit too esoteric, like this in depth analysis of the song choice for that fatal ride, "Comfortably Numb."

Okay, "I get it!!!!" --(with regard to the lyrics)-- "The child is grown, the dream is gone... I have become comfortably numb. " You don't have to PLAY IT LOUDER.


I can easily see the "child" connection to Tony and/or Christopher, and the obvious drug reference. I started to drift into the great performance by Van Morrison, Roger Waters and The Band with only a surface level appreciation of what grander scope that song takes in, sung in that particular venue in Berlin, after the fall of the Wall.



Here's my take:

Tony Soprano's epiphany at the end is open to interpretation. I choose to think he uttered those words "I get it," in his drug induced state, because he finally felt free of his own delusions of who he is, and now understands he could become the great leader he might be.
Perhaps it wasn't his first dabble with drugs, given his lifestyle, but this time the experience freed him from the "paranoia," and from the constant chatter of thoughts in his head, and that need for approval. His mental problems stem from trying to straddle two worlds, and be the best at each one. With the collapse of his organization, money problems, marital strife, kid problems, problems with his earners, his associates, etc., he is not making it in either world.



You see, from the very start, this show was about the dichotomy of those two worlds and the tensions which resulted from straddling them. (Meadow's College visit episode comes to mind.) Now I believe the end of the show will reveal how he will ultimately be caught up in the entropy of this downward spiral.
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Update: 5/17/07

If you still haven't had enough analysis of the Sopranos... read on... You could probably OD reading Sopranos analysis here. You want to look on the list down the right hand column till you see SOPRANOS. There are a bunch of posts to choose from. Thanks JT for the link. Wish I had this weeks ago.

TV Moms, Part Two

I got to thinking about Ginny Sacrimoni of The Sopranos as one of my TV Mom picks for my Mother's Day post here on the Goosepath. But when I tried to research Ginny, there really wasn't much information about her.

For example, when I tried to find a nice portrait or photo.... I did a Yahoo- Image- Search and ... I got this response:

We did not find results for "Ginny Sacrimoni". Also try: Check your spelling.- Try more general words.- Try different words that mean the same thing.-

Yet --GO FIGURE....when I Yahoo- Image- searched Meadow Soprano, (not as a Mom... but just as another cast member)..... sheesh.... well.. look for yourself HERE.


One of the sites I did find (on just a regular search) for Ginny Sacrimoni was a short interview excerpted below--- talking about how she got onto the show, and a little about her. Her real name is... Denise Borino Quinn. I found out from the IMDB she had been a manicurist and legal secretary before she landed the Sopranos' part. And she is a Jersey Girl... and of Italian decent.

(snip)

On July 23, 2000, Denise and her friend were one of the 15000 people
who descended upon the town of Harrison, New Jersey for the open casting call held by The Sopranos. She didn't have much hope that she'd be picked, and basically ended up there to support here friend and watch the antics of the crowd, who patiently waited in line for hours, hoping for a chance to score a role on the HBO show..

Well.. the rest is history. Or almost history. There are only four shows left. :(

A Borrower Nor a Lender Be

Is it really fair to torture yourself wondering who is going to be dead when this series turns out the lights? Is it possible to just let it unfold and let it go gentle into that Good Night? Not for me.


I thought Tony and Hesh were friends. Yet it got to the point where even Hesh wondered if it would be easier for Tony to settle his debt by killing him. Hesh. Of all people. He is one Soprano's character who was always in the background, under the radar, quietly supportive and under-utilized. Maybe Hesh will come out alive, I don't know, but if I were Hesh, a lack of real sympathy on Tony's part over Renata's death, and the Attitude of that "Pork Chop" from Jersey would be enough to make me want to knock him off. People die in this show for less cause. Maybe Hesh will be Tony's killer. Or this show may have been the last of Hesh. Sitting alone with the gold records from the music business hanging on his wall and a bag of money on the livingroom floor.


Or maybe that Crazy Russian guy from the woods will come back and kill Tony:

(From the Episode guide) -- As of the sixth season, the whereabouts of Valery, the
Russian remain unknown, despite demand for continuity from many fans. David
Chase has said in the past that the episode was not intended to evolve into a story arc. HBO's promotional material lists him as dead, although it does so with a
question mark.)

I wouldn't bet on Phil killing Tony at this point. Too bloody obvious. (Pardon the pun!)



Favorite Line in this week's show:


(Setting it up)--Vito's son is accused of hanging the neighbor's cat. Tony tries to comfort the kid's mother, Marie Spatafore..... saying that it's to be expected "with Vito passing and all that that entrailed."



Music Note:

I wish Southside Johnny (who made a guest appearance) would've sang instead of Nancy Sinatra.... Give a listen!




PS.... Here is a cool list of all the deaths in the Soprano's Series ---by Wikipedia.

Sopranos Recap for the Memory-Challenged

If you are fan of the Sopranos and feel a bit "lost" watching the new episodes , there is a GREAT....and I mean *GREAT* Sopranos refresher right here-- a You Tube video that summarizes, in a very funny way, the previous episodes of the Sopranos....all in seven minutes. It goes by really fast, so I recommend watching it twice.... but you will want to, because the narration is hilarious. My hat is off to the guy who came up with this. It is very entertaining, and also jogs your memory a bit so you can keep some of the story lines straight.

Sopranos: First Show of the New Season

Overall: Not bad. It was like spending time with old friends. But as you watch you can't help but wonder who will die first.... My pick is Anthony, Jr. (Something about the way Tony is obsessing over the child that nearly drowned, and ended up brain dead, with a lot of people around.)


Tidbits:


1. Would have liked to see the guys from the Bing. I miss Pauli, he had only one scene.
2. Christopher missed the Big Guy's Birthday? Yikes.
3. We all know Drinking and Driving is bad, but now I'll think twice before I drink and play Monopoly!


Best lines:

If you have hollow point bullets in anything, take them out today. (Janice)
Under the boardwalk... (Tony)
I told you guys I didn't want any presents--- just some kind words. (Tony)
Happy Birthday! ( Carmella)
I'm a little hyper...It must be these estrogen pills. ( Janice) (Yeah... right. She is really nuts.)
The Parker Bros. took time to think this all up. I think we should respect that. (Bobby)

Two More Days

Two more days till the Sopranos. I'm still looking for my Sopranos Connection, as I do not have HBO.

What Women DON'T Want

Amazon has this list of bad Valentine's Day Gifts. I'd have to say my favorite is a bottle of St. John's Wart --an herbal treatment for depression--to try to put your significant other in a good mood.

Billy Bass here comes in second for me. When he was first sold, I thought a talking wall mounted fish was bizarre, but cute. Now all I can think of is Tony Soprano getting that fish as a Christmas present from his daughter Meadow. He associated the fish with one in a fishmonger's display---and he kept seeing the head of his dead friend Salvatore Bonpensiero.