FlaSoxxJim

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Jun 12, 2007 -> 01:57 AM) Chase interview with Sepinwall http://blog.nj.com/alltv/2007/06/david_chase_speaks.html

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Jun 12, 2007 -> 01:22 AM) So where would you put this in terms of series finales all-time? Slightly better than seinfeld but nowhere near MASH? I really disliked the MASH finale. By the end of the run, the series had been well past its prime and Alda just seemed like an insufferable prick. The last thing I needed was 2 hours (or however long it was) of that drek. And that is coming from a pretty diehard fan of MASG through most of its run. On the other hand, I realize I'm the only one on the planet who quite liked the last Seinfeld and all of the self-referential elements that went into it. The whole trial thing was a convenient vehicle for all of the cameos, sure, but it really did get you thinking that, yeah, pretty much the whole group was pretty much a bunch of jerks and ruined a lot of lives during the course of the series. I also liked the ending scene with them all stuck with each other in confinement for a year (again, a pretty stupid plot vehicle I'll concede), where they just start talking about the same innane nothing stuff they've been talking about from the start. Hands-down, the worst sitcom series finale ever: Rosanne. Just awful.

Picture yourself on a boat on a river. Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river. Old Mississippi, she's calling my name Why don't you come along and mosey on down, I said down, come on down, down by the lazy river. She sits on the dock a fishin' in the water uh, huh. She's so very nice, you should break the ice, let her know that she's on your mind. Across the streams of hopes and dreams where things are really not. Have to believe we are magic, nothing can stand in our way. Look here, Brother - Who you jivin' wit dat Cozmik Debris? When that moon gets big and bright, it's a supernatural delight. You wish upon a star that turns into a plane Don't know when I'll be back again Take my chances on a big jet plane - Never let 'em tell you that they're all the same Big ol jet airliner, don't carry me too far away Take off to the Great White North, take off... it's a beauty way to go. I'm freezing, I'm starving, I'm bleeding to death, EVERYTHING'S FINE!!!!!!! Might as well go for a soda, nobody drowns and nobody dies She put the lime in the coconut, she drank 'em both up. Yes I like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. I'm a juvenile product of the working class, who's best friend floats in the bottom of a glass. Don't let them call you a juvenile delinquent. Don't let them say, say that you're bad. Some people call me a walkin' disaster - Just a waitin' for a place to occur smile.gif Dont try to turn my head away, I'm flirtin' with disaster every day. And if you give me weed, whites, and wine and you show me a sign, I'll be willin' to be movin'.

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Jun 12, 2007 -> 12:36 AM) Agreed, I don't think the whole feeling would have been ruined had the music and picture faded away instead of the abrupt ending. I have to question it when it makes everyone think their cable went out. But the strange end seems to be some kind of attempt to cement the Sopranos legacy or something. And I figure with a lot of serious people comparing his work to SHAKESPEARE I'll let David Chase get away with this one. I don't know about the comparisons to Billy the Shake. The abrupt cut, rather than a pull back and fade down, was used IMO to highlight the uncertain future of Tony and his family/Family. Pull back/fade down would have put everybody at ease, and you'd know there were still unresolved issues but you wouldn't feel it in your gut lie with the abrupt cut. I rewatched the ending scene today and, yeah, right when they cut Tony has a look of comprehension on his face and he is reaching for something under the table/in his pocket. It may be no more than him recognizing Meadow walking in and reaching for his wallet, or maybe it's not her and he's reaching for his cell phone to call her. Or it could have been something entirely different, and darker. Karmic sh*t is going to catch up with Tony sooner or later, that is a given. Since he lasted through the series and it won't play out in front of us, it's academic whether he pays the piper in 10 minutes of 10 years.

Picture yourself on a boat on a river. Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river. Old Mississippi, she's calling my name Why don't you come along and mosey on down, I said down, come on down, down by the lazy river. She sits on the dock a fishin' in the water uh, huh. She's so very nice, you should break the ice, let her know that she's on your mind. Across the streams of hopes and dreams where things are really not. Have to believe we are magic, nothing can stand in our way. Look here, Brother - Who you jivin' wit dat Cozmik Debris? When that moon gets big and bright, it's a supernatural delight. You wish upon a star that turns into a plane Don't know when I'll be back again Take my chances on a big jet plane - Never let 'em tell you that they're all the same Big ol jet airliner, don't carry me too far away Take off to the Great White North, take off... it's a beauty way to go. I'm freezing, I'm starving, I'm bleeding to death, EVERYTHING'S FINE!!!!!!! Might as well go for a soda, nobody drowns and nobody dies She put the lime in the coconut, she drank 'em both up. Yes I like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. I'm a juvenile product of the working class, who's best friend floats in the bottom of a glass. Don't let them call you a juvenile delinquent. Don't let them say, say that you're bad. Some people call me a walkin' disaster - Just a waitin' for a place to occur

Picture yourself on a boat on a river. Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river. Old Mississippi, she's calling my name Why don't you come along and mosey on down, I said down, come on down, down by the lazy river. She sits on the dock a fishin' in the water uh, huh. She's so very nice, you should break the ice, let her know that she's on your mind. Across the streams of hopes and dreams where things are really not. Have to believe we are magic, nothing can stand in our way. Look here, Brother - Who you jivin' wit dat Cozmik Debris? When that moon gets big and bright, it's a supernatural delight. You wish upon a star that turns into a plane Don't know when I'll be back again Take my chances on a big jet plane - Never let 'em tell you that they're all the same Big ol jet airliner, don't carry me too far away Take off to the Great White North, take off... it's a beauty way to go. I'm freezing, I'm starving, I'm bleeding to death, EVERYTHING'S FINE!!!!!!! Might as well go for a soda, nobody drowns and nobody dies She put the lime in the coconut, she drank 'em both up. Yes I like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. I'm a juvenile product of the working class, who's best friend floats in the bottom of a glass.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jun 11, 2007 -> 08:41 PM) I LOVED Hilton Head. I didn't know you and Paris dated.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Jun 11, 2007 -> 02:03 PM) Im really excited about the new HBO show "Flight of the Conchords", so when I saw this film starring one of the bandmembers, I was pretty interested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xVMkqaOUS0 I assume you've already watched the first episode of Flight of the Conchords online, yes? If not, enjoy. BINARY SOLO!!

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Jun 11, 2007 -> 04:05 PM) Perfect analogy! I don't think so. Baseball games have well defined end points. After the last out is made, it's game over. Life isn't tidy like that. And in striving to make the Sopranos "real" (which is what made us all fans of the show in the first place), Chase decided he wasn't going to tie it all up nice and neat in the last episode. If he wanted to write tidy television where everything resolves itself at the end, he'd have written for Everybody Loves Raymond or some other disposable product. And really, we're only talking about the lack of a resolution for Tony. Short of the whole family being killed off, we knew there were going to be lots of unfinished character storylines beyond the final episode. So, we're left with the ambiguity as to what becomes of Tony. That just feels appropriate to me. He was maybe the most ambiguous character ever made for television – clinically depressed mob boss, loving family man with a tedious habit of sleeping around and killing people, etc. Tony Soprano built a life for himself that will never resolve itself simply and cleanly. Final resolution will come only when he's dead or locked up to rot in federal prison. Until then (and both of those endings would have been predictable and trite), it's the same anxiety-inducing lifestyle, the same dysfunctional Family and family, whether it happens on screen of off.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Jun 11, 2007 -> 03:34 PM) Did I hear trout streams? You betcha'. We had one flowing right in front of our cabin. I'm not much of a fly fisherman (saving that for my golden years), but there were fishermen in waders with fly rods and nets and hip creels all over the place.

Stay the hell away from Florida and nobody gets hurt! I guess I've had my fill of touristas. retro mentioned Asheville NC, and although it's not coastal I agree with him that is a spectacular area. A few years ago we rented a cute little log cabin for a week about 20 minutes outside of Asheville and it was awesome. Hiking the Blue Ridge Mountains, postcard-perfect trout streams everywhere. That one trip convinced me I could retire there and be a very contented person.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 11, 2007 -> 11:50 AM) So one of them is a zombie? Ah-ha!! There's the twist. He ate Tony's brains. I gotta say, I never saw that coming.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jun 11, 2007 -> 10:53 AM) The company CEO will be making a visit on Thursday. If I happen to meet him how should I address him? "Chairman," "Mr.," "your greatness," or just plain ol' "Bob?" Call him "Mr. Dumbass" like in that root beer commercial.

I like wings done dry as a change of pace, but dripping wet and lip-searing is what i think of when I think buffalo wings. That said, different places do some special twists really well and they are always a treat. The neighborhood sportsbar does up classic wet and hot wings well, so that's what I get when I'm there. Then there's a raw bar that does amazing hot garlic wings with huge chunks of fresh chopped garlic covering the wings, so that's what I get when I'm there and in a mood for wings. Finally, theres' a place by where I work that puts a little Caribbean flair into their stuff, and they do a Jamaican jerk wing that people make an hour-long drive for. Theme and variation is what it's about with me for wings.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 11, 2007 -> 07:41 AM) It was literally the worst possible episode. Let me put it like this... If you are taking your final, and you leave the most important question blank, you are probably going to fail that test, no matter how well you did on the rest of it. That's this episode for me. It was great up until the end, but that completely ruined it for me. Its almost like David Chase wrote the whole episode, and then brought in the Sox middle relievers to finish it. You have my wife's back in this debate. We are bitterly divided on the last episode. I liked it, and I like the final scene more and more the more I think about it. My wife strongly disagrees. The last scene was like a perfectly set up Hitchcock scene, like the orchestra hall scene from the Man Who Knew Too Much remake. Everything is set in motion and all of the players and elements of the scene are established through the quick cuts. The suspense builds toward some inevitable climax with random elements fueling the tension (Meadow's problems parking the car, the mystery guy at the counter, the random hoodlums at the juke box, and the table conservation between Tony and AJ centered on the importance of focusing on the positives. Now for me at this stage, the predictable climax would have been to see Tony get clipped right there. And the weak limp off would have been to have Meadow sit down with them, have the counter guy and the thugs walk out and to fade to black. For me, the unexpected cut to black just before any sort of resolution to the tension IS the climax. Life continues on pins and needles for Tony and his family. He's heading off for a stretch in jail or he'll get killed, or he'll have a heart attack in two years, but resolution in that scene would have been forced. Maybe the imminent indictment could have been moved up to have taken place in the body of the episode. But it wouldn't have made sense for Tony to get clipped once Phil was out of the picture. The handshake deal that let the Jersey crew do what they had to do to get at Phil was order being restored to the two syndicates - everybody's business was going to continue to suffer until order was restored. The New York crew agreeing to stand down for the sake of restoring order took the target off of Tony's back. Him being killed after that wouldn't have made sense unless it was completely random or a doublecross. Tony being hauled off to jail on the other hand. . .

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 10, 2007 -> 10:22 PM) So I'm the only one that thought it was outstanding? Tony is about to be indicted and probably go to prison but everything is just peachy to him because he's on top, he won. His family is safe from danger, healthy and well on their way to big things and even more importantly legitimate big things. He makes it through the biggest war yet with his family fully intact and proporous. The tension created in the final scene was epic, amazing work. No, I thought it was a great, suspenseful buildup and really the only ending that would have fit once they killed Phil. Left with a 90% certainty Tony is getting indicted and the life goes on angle, I think that was a good end.

Six BBQ sauce-smothered thumbs WAY UP for Chaos Ribs!!

QUOTE(CrimsonWeltall @ Jun 10, 2007 -> 03:34 PM) Sure they do. President is his job title. Benedict's job title is Pope. If you don't believe the guy has some kind of divine qualities or his position makes him holy, why should you address him as "His Holiness"? Personally, I think expecting people to address you by a nickname that compliments you is lame. "His Holiness" is the proper salutation - as is "Mr. President" or "Your Highness" or "Your Honor", etc. I'm not particularly bent out of shape by the gaffe. Our president is a boob and his inability to carry himself properly surprises noone anymore.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Jun 10, 2007 -> 02:08 PM) well right it doesn't seem like that big a deal but come on, how hard is it to just call him by his title? i just think Bush doesn't think anyone's more important than him in the world so he can do whatever he wants right? the whole world's texas to him. Hey, at least he didn't try to give the Pope a shoulder rub. QUOTE(CrimsonWeltall @ Jun 10, 2007 -> 02:16 PM) Bush isn't Catholic. He has no obligation to refer to Benedict as "His Holiness". Being Catholic or not has nothing to do with being appropriately respectful. Non-US diplomats refer to the President by his title, "Mr. President", out of respect for the office, no?

Hot Damn, I got four beautiful slabs of back ribs in the oven as I type - doin' 'em up Chaos-Style! Doing two slabs with Chaos' sauce choice, Sweet Baby Ray's, which we only started getting with regularity in Florida a year of so ago. Doing the other two with a hickory smoke sauce that caught my eye, so we'll see how they go. I'll let y'all know how they turn out. Thanks for the recipe, Chaos. QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Jun 9, 2007 -> 08:41 AM) it's a great lager. the black and tan is good as well. Even Dr Beer Flasoxx complimented it. Oldest brewery in the US. Yeah, I gotta say that sometimes Yuengling does the trick, especially when you're stuck somewhere where the only other draft selections taste like they were brewed through a clydesdale.

Picture yourself on a boat on a river. Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river. Old Mississippi, she's calling my name Why don't you come along and mosey on down, I said down, come on down, down by the lazy river. She sits on the dock a fishin' in the water uh, huh. She's so very nice, you should break the ice, let her know that she's on your mind. Across the streams of hopes and dreams where things are really not. Have to believe we are magic, nothing can stand in our way. Look here, Brother - Who you jivin' wit dat Cozmik Debris? When that moon gets big and bright, it's a supernatural delight. You wish upon a star that turns into a plane Don't know when I'll be back again Take my chances on a big jet plane - Never let 'em tell you that they're all the same Big ol jet airliner, don't carry me too far away Take off to the Great White North, take off... it's a beauty way to go. I'm freezing, I'm starving, I'm bleeding to death, EVERYTHING'S FINE!!!!!!! Might as well go for a soda, nobody drowns and nobody dies

I'm so very thankful for all the people who have more posts than me. Like an alcoholic hanging out with even bigger alcoholics to feel better about himself, I guess. As they would say in the Bud Light Real Men of Genius ads - Post on, Mr. 20K Post Post-Whore, Post on.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2007 -> 01:02 AM) Link (Is probably a low-alcohol beer, but still...) It is low alcohol, they showed the bottle. Avrovosis and other bloggers are making a big deal out of it and I'm just not. Yes, he's a recovering alcoholic, and yes he shouldn't have ANY alcohol, I get that. But if he decided to have a German beer in Germany with other dignitaries, and he had a 0.5% beer, I'm not going to call for his head. Lots of other reasons to call for his head, but I don't think this can be construed by a long stretch as falling off the wagon. Yeah, he did have some stomach sickness right afterward, and maybe itr's related. Maybe he went back to his room and chugged another 12-pack, I dunno. But a picture of him having a 0.5% beer in a country where beer is part of the cultural fabric isn't sending me into a rage. jmo, of course.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jun 8, 2007 -> 09:10 PM) So, you know what removes wallpaper borders and whatnot really well? Joint compound. At work, we use it on borders to remove them. Let it sit for a little while, and it comes right off. A waste of perfectly good pot if you ask me. Oh. . . wait, you didn't mean that kind of joint compound, did you??