11 responses to “Ah, well.”

1. 

   brian stouder said on March 13, 2006 at 10:00 am

   Fuhgetaboutit!

   The Sopranos have nothing on the McLatchys! Nance’s old News-Sentinel is getting whacked

   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11802770/

   “In addition to the papers in Philadelphia, San Jose, and St. Paul, McClatchy also intends to sell the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio; the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; the Aberdeen American News in South Dakota; the Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota; The News-Sentinel in Ft. Wayne, Indiana; the Contra Costa Times and The Monterey County Herald in California and the Duluth News Tribune in Minnesota.”

   Oh, well. At least this didn’t come ‘like a thief in the night’ – thanks to the early warnings here in NNC* land.

   But I WILL say (to scurry back ‘on topic’!) – that I have begun to rent selected hbo shows off the dvd rack at the local video emporium (when the available movies are not enticing enough), and they never disappoint.

   *My ears perked up when I heard the term “NNC” on teevee this weekend….you might have a trademark issue with NASCAR Nextel Cup

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2. 

   Dorothy said on March 13, 2006 at 10:52 am

   Riveted, I mean RIVETED we were to the tube last night during Sopranos. We all know Tony isn’t going to be dead – what would be the point of the show if he were gone? Plus scenes from upcoming episodes cleary show he’s alive. But this is so much more than him getting his ear dinged by some punk in his car a few years ago. Why the frig couldn’t they show us some previews from next week’s show, like they always used to do!?

   I was so focused on HBO last night I completely missed the new epsiode of West Wing. Can anyone fill me in?

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3. 

   John said on March 13, 2006 at 12:04 pm

   That the show decided to deal with Uncle Junior’s Alzheimer’s was hilarious enough. Tony digging holes in the yard and asking Junior if he “wrapped it right.” Great stuff. But the creators pulled off a great trick of plot makers. They threw something in there that seems obvious in hindsight, after it knocks everybody off their chairs. It makes perfect sense that a mafioso with alzheimers and guns all around the house would shoot someone. But I didn’t see it coming.
   And how about the pained look on Janice’ face as she looked down at her breast-feeding daughter? And Bobby Baccala with his model railroad!
   The suicide didn’t quite do it for me. Gripping scene, of course. But it hadn’t quite earned its place in the story. I would have liked to feel that guy go through a little more pain. Maybe it’s just me. I’m not sayin’. I’m just sayin.
   Bottom line, though, it rocked.

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4. 

   Nick said on March 13, 2006 at 1:26 pm

   I liked the red herring of Gene Pontecorvo wiping the blood from the hit off of his brow onto the road map. It totally makes sense to me that he hanged himself after learning he couldn’t get away from the life by playing along with the FBI or Tony. The inheritance from his Aunt would have totally set him up for life if either the feds or the boss would have let him go.

   I call BS on Tony digging holes in Uncle Jun’s backyard – that is a job to be delegated for sure. The bullet in the gut was priceless after the you-can-only-count-on-your-family speech to A.J. and the session with Dr. Melfi.

   Dorothy, here’s your West Wing “The Cold” 6 point recap:

   Santos pulls to even with Vinick in the polls (and even ties in CA)

   Josh and Donna celebrate with a spontaneous kiss that (surprise, surprise) goes nowhere

   Pres. B decides he has to send 140,000 troops to get between China & Russia in Kazakstan

   Pres. B invites Santos & Vinick to the WH to tell them that no matter who wins, they are about to inherit one helluva mess becuase they have no exit strategy

   Sheila resigns and puts herself up as the sacrificial lamb to the Republican party strategists so Bruno can stay on board the Vinick campaign

   Vinick finishes the episode with a look on his face that says “I really don’t know if I want this damn job”

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5. 

   Dorothy said on March 13, 2006 at 1:53 pm

   Thanks Nick! The NBC website puts up such very little information. I will re-program the VCR to catch the next episodes. I watch so few programs anymore, and I was a latecomer to the West Wing bandwagon. I don’t care if it was better in the early years, I still like it. Sundays are now wall-to-wall with NBC, then HBO.

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6. 

   Kim said on March 13, 2006 at 2:40 pm

   Oh, Gene’s exit was perfect for me. Plenty enough back story to get him from goon to gone in 60 minutes. Gets incredibly lucky and tries to buy his freedom with a bit of this windfall. Can’t. Wipes the blood from beneath his eye (tears, baby!) as he looks in the rearview (his past, baby!) then ahead (the future!). Then gets that call from the FBI (surprise, huh?) and realizes in the federal back seat (brilliant!) that his people are starting to flip and it’s just a matter of time till David Chase stops writing these great stories. I mean, till he gets caught up in flippage. Then considers the “happy” past with family (real family, natch) photo albums. Then (probably) considers what sort of defense $2 mil will buy him if he survives as a witness, compares it with what it will buy his desperate family, no comparison, up you go, but not without some regret.

   Then cut to Tony (with a chipper musical accompaniment) pouring rigatoni into boiling water for soon-to-be murderous Uncle Jun.

   Agreed that Bobby in his train boy hat and Janice’s breastfeeding infant and the Stones tattoo — oh, man.

   Nance got it right. It rocked the llama’s ass. And then some.

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7. 

   John said on March 13, 2006 at 7:30 pm

   I agree with everything that was said about Gene’s garage hanging … but I still think it should have waited until the next episode. Everything was leading up to it. I just needed to see a little more pain. A little more angst.
   My good wife Mary, an experienced Sopranos watcher, agreed. But she also noted another brilliant aspect: The hanging left us feeling that a big moment had been set up and fulfilled in highly graphic fashion, leaving us relaxed and ripe to be slammed by the toothless Uncle June scurrying down the stairs, snarling: “I got you Arty Malenga!” and popping the nephew.
   And though I’ve never heard the expression “rocked the llama’s ass,” it did.

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8. 

   Mary O said on March 13, 2006 at 8:02 pm

   I tend to think of Gene as the disposable Star Trek character, you know, the ones who would beam down to the planet with Kirk and Spock, only to be killed within the first few minutes of landing.

   That was a gruesome scene. And after he finished swinging, which seemed to me like an eternity, and as Tony prepared dinner for Uncle Jun, my husband and I were wondering just who was supposed to be the big surprise hit of the show; everyone who died or got hurt seemed to be relatively minor.

   Then — BANG! I turned to my husband and said, “Satisfied?”

   That scene of him trying to get the phone was just excruciating.

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9. 

   brian stouder said on March 13, 2006 at 8:04 pm

   And though I’ve never heard the expression “rocked the llama’s ass,�? it did.

   http://www.lovelongears.com/about_mules.html

   This talk about ‘llamas’ and ‘asses’ is indeed an interesting bit of wordplay….unless we mean the holy man ‘lama’ – who seems to be a bit of an ass

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10. 

    ashley said on March 13, 2006 at 10:55 pm

    “rocked the llama’s ass” came from Wesley Willis, who I became familiar with while a DJ at a college radio station. Nance, afaik, only heard it from me, but I defer to Mr. Willis, who was the third in the bad things come in threes deal, along with Warren and Johnny Cash.

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11. 

    Dorothy said on March 14, 2006 at 8:16 am

    Nick – Bravo ran “The Cold” episode last night at 8 PM. I missed the first 15 minutes. I’m glad I didn’t miss the rest. You didn’t tell me about Donna sliding her room key over to Josh, only to have another staffer pick it up. They missed their chance! Is a rendevous in their future?! Stay tuned!

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