catesta

hehe

That was profoundly disturbing. I think I need to take a shower. Why are they all grinning like that? (Shitfaced?) And why does the big sign suspended above the orchestra say "Dodge"? And how in God's name do you make a majestic instrument like the Hammond sound so bad? (Maybe trying ever-so-hard not to upstage the accordions?) I have no answers to your questions, except the Dodge sign. Dodge was obviously the sponsor of the horror show.

I thought at the end they were going to disclose the dude was lip-synching and it was spoof. Not the case.

If you bet big you have increased chances of winning big, no surprise there. But this..... "Candy held a raffle for her Charity, L.A.'s Best (an afterschool program). The grand prize was a Prius. Candy bought tickets for everyone on her staff and kept one for herself. She won! She told TMZ, "I'm gonna drive it!" The gracious thing to do would have been to allow another ticket to be drawn.

No doubt you have a place in mind. I'll drop you a line when the schedule settles down.

Oh yeah, the magazine selection was great. Something there for everybody, it even had that porno store floor wax smell.

I too will miss the show. On the death of Marchand, that may indeed be the case. Maybe Chase really never wanted to go much beyond the twisted relationship between Tony and his mother. I always thought that part was mis-casted though. Marchand was more like an Edith Bunker than an Italian wife and mother.

Meadow as a criminal defense attorney is one thing, her getting involved in the business and taking over would be total fiction and further proof that Chase has lost it. Another bad move would be for them to all of a sudden have A.J. get caught up in the life. They (the writers) have demonstrated time and time again that he is not cut out for it. To change now would be a major screw up. As for Paulie. That character is a character to say the least. It didn't take much for Tony to make him agree to his request. What did he say? Something along the lines of "I'll give it to Patsy" and Paulie fell right in line. "Superstitions" aside, he's a typical middle management guy that will remain loyal. The fact that he was the one to accompany Tony to the sit down only shows he has become the number two. That's about all he could hope for. Of course none of these opinions matter much unless they plan on a series revival in the future or something for the big screen. Right now, I don't see it. Gandolfini seems to be the one that most wanted the series to end. So maybe, maybe after a while he is up for a movie or two playing the Tony role. Honestly I'd be curious to see if Chase would be able to fill 90+ minutes without side tracking scenes of parallel parking do's and dont's. We shall see what the future holds.

Maybe Chase was tired of everyone finding hidden meanings and ambiguities in everything on the show, and he wanted to say, this guy is really REALLY dead--no way will he get up and come after Tony again in the upcoming movie--don't even start your blogs about it. Maybe, but on the other hand we all might just be giving Chase a little too much credit at times. The final episode right down to the bullshit ending was loaded with little things for people to try and find those hidden meanings and formulate their theories. The series in whole has been one of the best ever, but I still can't help but look back on the shitty episodes, the inconsistent history, often meaningless story lines and think that Chase owed a little more to the end. For the record, I take back what I said before about this season making up for the bad. The final one blew it for me.

I think Chase has taken somewhat of a "cartoon" attitude of late. Another example was Bobby's hit. The miniature train station with the little men covering their eyes. I hear you.

Criticisms? Did some of the story line seem forced and done to take uo time? I mean, what the hell was the deal with the SUV running over Phil's head?

The State Assemblyman you're thinking of was named Ron Zellman. That was not the name mentioned.

Agent Harris was definitely pulling for the "home team".

Me too... Oh well, guess there'll be a series of movies in the theaters starting next year maybe.. Shit, if Chase makes a movie like he did this show over the last 9 years, there will be 10 months between scenes.

Oh well, I guess that's it. I thought the writing was a bit lazy. Not the first case, but I expected a little more for the finale.

I'm thinking you're right. I can't remember the last time there was this much hype surrounding a series final episode. Maybe Seinfeld? Let the countdown begin.....

Dan's right, of course, about bringing as much "popular music" as I can -- so I'm one step ahead of you, Dan. FYI, a strong majority of the people where I work are women, average age probably about 40 to 45. So, here's all the pop/rock I'm bringing (and already had packed before I even started this thread)... ABBA - Greatest Hits (Gold) Beatles - Love (the new mish-mash thing, sort of a Greatest Hits) Blondie - Greatest Hits (Best of...) Death Cab for Cutie - Plans (their latest release) -- stupid name for a band, but GREAT music Eurythmics - Greatest Hits Evanescence - The Open Door (their 2nd album) -- think Jim Steinman's "Meatloaf"-type material, but with a female singer The Fixx - Greatest Hits Ben Folds Five - Reinhold Messner (their last album before Folds went solo) Peter Gabriel - So Genesis - Greatest Hits (Platinum Collection, Disc #1 - the more recent 3rd of the 3-disc set) Don Henley's - Greatest Hits (Actual Miles) The Impressions - This is my Country / The Young Mods Forgotten Story Elton John tribute - Two Room, Celebrating The songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin Billy Joel - Songs in the Attic (live collection of deeper album tracks) k.d. lang - Ingenue Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstacy The Police tribute - by Modern Rock artists (forget the title) R.E.M. - Greatest Hits ('88-'03, Best of WB years) Snow Patrol - Eyes Open (their most recent release) Steely Dan - Greatest Hits (Gold) Sting - All This Time (live in front of a studio audience "career overview" type thing) Tears for Tears - Greatest Hits U2 - Joshua Tree The Rainmakers (Kansas City band from the 80's) - Tornado (1987) Bob Walkenhorset - The Beginner (lead singer of The Rainmakers, and a personal friend of mine) Steve Winwood - Greatest Hits (Chronicles, just his solo-work - so no Traffic, Blind Faith, etc...) Then the jazz... Nat Adderly - Saying' Somethin' Miles - Kind of Blue Diz & Bird - Townhall Russ Long tribute - Time to Go Brad Mehldau trio - Day is Done Monk and Trane - Carnegie Lee Morgan - Standards Pablo Ziegler 4tet (w/ Stefon Harris) - Tango meets Jazz Rooster_Ties - Blindfold Test, Disc #1 Korngold - Symphony in F-sharp (yes, that Korngold, the movie-soundtrack guy) 13-hours in a van is a LONG time. That's a lot of cds, dude. Personally, I'd be more worried about the farts in such close quarters for 13 hours rather than the tunes. If the van had satellite radio it would save you a lot of trouble.

Yeah it's Steinlager, on sale, $10 for a twelve pack. A very refreshing beer for summer.

Steven Raichlen's Buffa-Que wings with grilled corn. I've been marinating the chicken since 7:00 am. Recipe

Weirdo

Believe me, there is an enormous number of people in this country and around the world who believe it is news. Well, it is news, not important news, but it is news. Unfortunately it will now be in the news for the next 45 days. The L.A. County Sheriff turned this into a much larger circus when he cut her loose.