Controlled Chaos

Wait...Ozzie swears??

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ May 21, 2007 -> 01:54 PM) The long and winding road There has to be a twist I rode my motorcycle in the rain. flirtin with disaster He's going the distance Gonna eat a lot of Peaches And I was standin' on the side of the road Standing in line, marking time, waiting for the welfare dime Then I saw her face The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes A brown eyed girl in hand me downs Blinded me.....with SCIENCE She was the best damn woman I had ever seen Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds She ain't exactly small 42-39-56 BABY GOT BACK! She knows she got everything a woman needs to get a man, yeah. One Bourbon, one Scotch, one beer. I don't wanna touch you too much baby 'cuz making love to you might drive me crazy Cause southern belles are hell at night I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride Cowboy take me away Slob on my knob, like corn on the cob Lie back and let me unlock you I've got a brand new pair of roller skate, you've got a brand new key She's a super freak, a super freak, she's super freeeeakaaayyyyyy Why don't you come with me little girl, on a magic carpet ride? You aint seen nothing yet But with a magnifying glance, I just sort of look her over. Now I'm back in the ring to take another swing And I fell in to a burning ring of fire Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno! Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down, yoh! Yeah Im hot blooded, check it and see Feel the fever burning inside of me Lord amighty! I feel my temperature risin' I'm so hot for you and you're so cold Why can't I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold, cold heart Let's get together Before we get much older. Because I'm turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese I really think so Walking on thin ice, I'm paying the price For throwing the dice in the air. You're as cold as ice. You're willing to sacrifice our love I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouche,scaramouche will you do the fandango- Turned cartwheels cross the floor Like the circles that you find In the windmills of your mind I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning. Ride a painted pony let the spinnin' wheel spin. And it stoned me to my soul, stoned me just like Jellyroll Everybody must get stoned That Ain't no way to have fun, son Some people claim there's a woman to blame Young girl, get out of my mind My love for you is way out of line And they called it puppy love Tonight's the night for you to hit it doggie style If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ May 21, 2007 -> 09:13 AM) I like these recaps by this Sipenwell guy and had to avoid the thread last week until I could catch up on a missed episode. Thanks for sharing. Very minor point, but he's probably making a bigger deal out of Chris still being in the credits. The Ahmed and Mohamed actors were in the credits last night too, apparently because their likenesses appeared as still photos when the feds showed them to Tony. Similarly, Chris showed up as a photo from the Cleaver set on the wall at Satriele's (sp?), so Imperioli probably had to appear in the credits. I was thinking the same thing...he would have to be in the credits if they showed his picture. Not to mention Sopranos has about as many credits as a small movie...what's one more.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ May 21, 2007 -> 09:04 AM) No doubt. His columns follow the exact same formula, and he is usually a week late on his declarations Yeah this goes back to last year. A mini Marriotti It also seemed to me Marriotti was ripping on some fellow columnists.

Sopranos Rewind: The Second Coming Posted by Alan Sepinwall May 21, 2007 12:29AM Categories: The Sopranos WARNING: This column contains major plot spoilers for last night's "Sopranos" episode. Sometimes, it's not the fire that burns you. It's the juices. Two episodes ago, in "Walk Like a Man," Tony suggested that Chris pull a steak off the barbecue because it would continue to cook in its own juices, even away from the flame. At the time, it was an apt metaphor for the growing resentment Chris and Tony were feeling for each other in the aftermath of Adriana's death. But it applies even more to last night's "The Second Coming," where nearly every character is stewing in the juices of some very old beef. Phil is still after Tony about the ancient murder of his brother Billy; he makes a not-so-veiled reference to it when he says of Chris' widow that grief takes longer the closer the dead person was to you. A.J. botches a suicide attempt, then tries to justify it with sob stories from seasons past. Carmela finally unloads on Tony, not only for passing on "The Soprano Curse" to their son, but because she's tired of hearing about his depression: "You have any idea what it's like to spend day after day with somebody who is constantly complaining?" When talk of A.J.'s near-fatal plunge into the Soprano family pool leads some of the other Family captains to acknowledge their own children's shaky mental health, Paulie suggests it's all the toxins these kids have been exposed to for their entire lives (in an episode where Tony's guys are still dumping asbestos into the Meadowlands). In this environment, it doesn't matter when the initial exposure or tragedy was; it stays with you for years, maybe your whole life. A.J. tries to kill himself -- in the pool where Tony's beloved ducks once represented his desire for a happy family -- after too much time studying the W.B. Yeats poem that lends its title to the episode. It's the second time someone on the show has quoted it; in season five's "Cold Cuts," Melfi used the famous "Things fall apart" line with Tony, and Yeats' bleak outlook on the future of civilization applies to this whole season. The center of Tony's world -- the men he loved and trusted most -- is coming undone. Bacala. Junior. Paulie. Hesh. Chris. Either humiliated or marginalized or dead at Tony's hands. The week after killing his surrogate son, Tony barely gets home in time to save his actual son's life, in one of the more harrowing sequences the show's ever done. And then there's Phil. Question: If you locked Phil and Paulie in a room together, whose air of entitlement and martyrdom would suffocate the other one first? But where Paulie's too dumb and relatively low-ranking to cause much pain and suffering through his woe-is-me routine (save to the odd civilian like Minn Matrone or Jason Barone), Phil is just clever enough and far too powerful to be dismissed. No way his man Coco feels confident enough to harass Meadow, the daughter of a boss -- even the boss of Jersey -- unless he knows he'll get Phil's backing on it. Back in "Stage 5," Phil told Butchie he was done with compromises, and here he explains to Tony -- who's never done any significant prison time -- that in the can, "compromise" meant, at best, getting a very pale imitation of what you wanted. Phil won't compromise on the asbestos deal because he's itching for a war with Tony -- a war he's willing to wage only because of his huge manpower advantage. (Witness the way he hides from Tony and Little Carmine in the little turret of his suburban castle; he's a coward at heart.) But the show's built up to wars before -- both within New York and between New York and New Jersey -- and always backed off at the last minute. With only two episodes left, is there still time for one? Whatever happens over the final two hours, don't expect anyone to get out of the life. We've been told time and again over the last two years -- with Eugene and Vito and Chris -- that there's no escape from the Family, and "The Second Coming" provides even more reminders. Midway through the episode, Melfi's own therapist, the smug Dr. Kupferberg, tells her of a study suggesting not only that sociopaths can't be helped by traditional "talk therapy," but that it can make them worse, help them justify their worst traits. As omniscient viewers of the TV show, we know that Kupferberg has a point, that Tony usually lies too much to get anything useful out of Melfi (last week's dream session where he confessed to killing Pussy and Tony B. was more productive than most of the real ones), and that he sometimes uses her to map out strategy. Most times, he's running a scam on Melfi, which is why he's able to spot A.J.'s lame excuse-making in that endless family session with Dr. Vogel. But Tony -- who's not even bothering to hide his newfound Livia-ness with multiple "Poor you!"s -- does have the occasional moment of insight, as he does when explaining part of the meaning of his "I get it!" peyote revelation from last week. Mothers, he says, are like buses: "They're the vehicle that gets us here. They drop us off and go on their way, they continue on their journey, and our problem is we continue trying to get back on the bus instead of just let it go." Only someone with Livia for a parent would view motherhood that way, but the Family functions as a bus, too, one that everyone's either afraid or incapable of staying off for long. Meadow reveals that she's dating another son of a wiseguy (Patrick Parisi, whom Patsy had earlier acknowledged "can be a moody (expletive deleted) sometimes") and has now given up on med school in favor of becoming a lawyer -- two choices guaranteed to keep her involved in her father's lifestyle in some way. (Meadow being Meadow, she lets the man in her life talk her into it.) Meadow had her chance to get off the bus for good, but instead she's inching towards a lifetime bus pass. Carmela had two chances -- first when that elderly shrink told her to leave Tony, then when she actually threw him out -- and both times she couldn't do it. Vito drove home to his own death, so great was the pull of his old life. Adriana couldn't leave Christopher and died because of him. Chris in turn couldn't leave Tony, and now he's gone to Hell for him. Getting back to Yeats, one of the lines that transfixes A.J. is the notion that "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." On this show, "best" is a relative term -- of the regular characters, Melfi's the only genuinely good person -- but there's no lack of contenders for "worst." And they're all filled with their own stupid, destructive passionate intensity, even if what made them passionate happened so long ago that -- like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that vexes A.J. so -- they can't really remember how the fire got started. But so long as those juices keep flowing, they'll keep cooking. Some other thoughts on "The Second Coming": -If you're Silvio Dante, will there ever be a more useful book to read than "How to Clean Practically Everything"? Maybe he can loan it to the waitstaff at Coco's restaurant. -Michael Imperioli remains in the opening credits, while Vince Curatola (Johnny Sack) has been gone for weeks. Show of respect to an original castmember, or hint that Chris will pop up in a dream sequence soon? -One of the readers of the Sopranos blog reminded me last week of Tony's story from "Soprano Home Movies" about the brain dead little boy who fell into a pool, and the season has been littered with talk of dead children and babies, including all of Tony's infant car seat references last week. So what does Tony say after he gets A.J. out of the pool? "You're all right, baby. You're all right." -What kind of finesse has to be involved in a curb-stomping like the one Tony gave Coco without actually killing him? -As usual, the show is taking Memorial Day weekend off, so the next new episode won't air until June 3, with the series finale on June 10. Alan Sepinwall may be reached at [email protected]

QUOTE(elrockinMT @ May 20, 2007 -> 08:51 PM) Thanks! I watched the game on WGN and Masset was really good. That curve of his was fantastic. I see that Ozzie issued a challenge directed at Sisco and Aardsma and I hope they tyake it to heart and step up their game a lot. Anyone else think Massett's curve was kinda Jenksish? Congrats!! The way the first two games went I actually liked having this Massett start. It gave the team something to rally around. It was one of those times where everything looks like it favors the opposing team. Ace on the bump. Going for the sweep. Sox in a terrible offensive slump. Rookie BP guy getting his first ML start. Home field. Pretty much every single positive going in to this game was for the Cubs and a lot of times when that is the case...the underdog can use it as a rallying cry and get the mental edge. These are the types of games where the team bonds together to pull one out. Sort of an all the chips are stacked against us thing. And they pulled it off in a big way. Hopefully they can carry the momentum forward.

Lets tack a couple on here

come on mark...1 more!! NICE!

strand his punk ass!!

Please don't give a dong up to Aram this series. I can't stand him!!!!

and just like that Hall is our best hitter. .500

inning ova

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ May 18, 2007 -> 02:05 PM) Buerhle needs to shut them down here, and the Sox should score a couple next inning. Toby Hall will be stepping to the plate. I hope Hall studied the Cubs hitters...cause Mark pretty much throws whatever number you put down.

YES!!!!!

QUOTE(mr_genius @ May 18, 2007 -> 01:53 PM) what were they talking about when they said Ozzie went crazy on some radio show? which show, what did he say? go check 670thescore.com

f***!

I dare you to put the bat in MB hands!!!!!!!!!!

Singleton: Looks like he got fisted there.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ May 18, 2007 -> 01:03 PM) Buzz. Lets not have a repeat performance of last year, Mark. It's redemption time!! Let's go MB!!

QUOTE(aboz56 @ May 18, 2007 -> 12:30 PM) North is an idiot. I guarantee he wouldn't talk to Oz face to face like that. It was like he got a chance to yell. Ok yell once say respect me and go on with the interview. But North had to keep yelling the same thing over and over...It was just a chance for him to scream.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ May 18, 2007 -> 11:49 AM) there is something very unnerving - and at the same time fascinating - about someone who has zero impulse control. AJ is the one who should keep a lid on it, IMO. I would like to have heard what AJ said. Of course AJ wants to play. Especially against the Cubs and Barrett. I have no problem with him saying so. Now if he said Ozzie is an idiot and this is Bulls***...I shoud be starting, then AJ would be wrong.

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ May 18, 2007 -> 11:20 AM) BTW, the audio is on the score webpage. http://www.670thescore.com/ North is such a loud mouth. He got to scream and yell about one thing and he kept at it.

The long and winding road There has to be a twist I rode my motorcycle in the rain. flirtin with disaster He's going the distance Gonna eat a lot of Peaches And I was standin' on the side of the road Standing in line, marking time, waiting for the welfare dime Then I saw her face The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes A brown eyed girl in hand me downs Blinded me.....with SCIENCE She was the best damn woman I had ever seen Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds She ain't exactly small 42-39-56 BABY GOT BACK! She knows she got everything a woman needs to get a man, yeah. One Bourbon, one Scotch, one beer. I don't wanna touch you too much baby 'cuz making love to you might drive me crazy Cause southern belles are hell at night I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride Cowboy take me away Slob on my knob, like corn on the cob Lie back and let me unlock you I've got a brand new pair of roller skate, you've got a brand new key She's a super freak, a super freak, she's super freeeeakaaayyyyyy Why don't you come with me little girl, on a magic carpet ride? You aint seen nothing yet But with a magnifying glance, I just sort of look her over. Now I'm back in the ring to take another swing And I fell in to a burning ring of fire Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno! Burn baby burn! - Burn that mama down, yoh! Yeah Im hot blooded, check it and see Feel the fever burning inside of me

QUOTE(Y2HH @ May 18, 2007 -> 09:27 AM) Judging by your pictures, aren't you a tad young to be posting here? Nope....I can yell with the best of ya!!!!!!!!!