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woozapooza · 8 months

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I watched Sopranos 3x04 "Employee of the Month" last night and I was thinking about it all day today. I don't remember the last time a TV episode shook me this hard. I just finished writing eight (8) pages in my journal reflecting on it and now my arm is sore. Anyway here are some of the points that I wrote about way more verbosely in my journal:

I hate Dr. Melfi's ex-husband so fucking much holy shit I want to punch him in his stupid fucking victim-blaming face

I read some reviews of this episode on IMDb that made me mad because I felt that they were framing Melfi's choice as one between being a bad victim with punitive urges and being a good victim who takes the high road, BUT these reviews made me realize that the episode itself doesn't frame it that way, which I really like. Instead, it's about (1) not "break[ing] the social compact" that categorically disallows vigilante justice, and (2) not crossing the threshold into Tony's world that she could never uncross. She doesn't cross the threshold, but she's still allowed her anger.

I really wished Tony would have found out what happened, not because I would have like to see him avenge her (although tbh I would like that and I hope someone's written that fanfic), but just because I really wanted to see how he would react, how/whether it would affect his image of her, how/whether it would affect their relationship going forward. The two of them have one of the most interesting dynamics I've ever seen on TV, and it's only season 3!

I'm getting a vague sense of Meadow and Jackie Jr. as mirror images, but I won't say much about that because it could turn out that I'm totally reaching. We shall see.

Within this episode, Janice and Melfi were sort of mirror images, too, at least with respect to Tony.

EDIT: I wanted to explain that last point: what I meant was that Tony has to get involved in Janice's problem even though he really doesn't want to, whereas Dr. Melfi doesn't give him the chance to get involved in her problem, even though he might well have been willing to do so. But also, another anti-parallel between them occurred to me, this time nothing to do with Tony: Janice responds to a traumatic experience by declaring that she's now a Christian. Melfi responds to a much worse experience, and one that she, unlike Janice, did nothing to bring on, by sticking to her principles. Janice gives up responsibility for herself to God. Melfi remains in control of herself.

I loved the conversation between Tony and Christopher about Jackie Jr., especially when Christopher accuses Tony of thinking that Jackie Jr. is too good for the mob life but that he (Christopher) isn't. I can't remember him ever expressing anything like that before and I'm wondering whether it's a harbinger of things to come in their relationship. Again, we shall see!

At the party at the Sacks' house, there's a part where Tony exits the house onto the patio and walks past Christopher and Adriana making out against the wall. That made me laugh so hard oh my god. They're just going at it!

I had no clue that the ancient Romans had proto-Rottweilers! I assumed Rottweilers were invented by Germans. Neat!

#x #The Sopranos #Anna watches tv #Anna watches The Sopranos #the thing I hate about the new post editor is that it doesn't save the capitalization of past tags you've used #so if I want my tags to be properly capitalized (which I do) I have to write them out all over again. bleh.

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literarygoon · 2 years

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So,

I had the perfect spot picked out for her.

While writing my memoir This is how you talk to strangers, I’d embodied a number of characters — including Tony Soprano, as my mental illness progressed throughout the narrative. I’d also been Chris Moltisanti, in a way, but I’d never been Silvio. Owner of the Bada Bing, he would forever be known to me as the killer of Adriana La Cerva. Her death, and the rape of Dr. Melfi, were the two most unforgivable crimes in the show. The greatest tragedy in my book was that of Kessa, an 18-year-old who didn’t deserve to be taken out of the game young. If this was Baltimore, she would be Snoop — but white.

This morning I drove out to Beacon Hill Park with her, and chatted with some friendly people that were collecting and distributing community resources to the many homeless people living there. It made my day. Kessa tried on a couple different hoodies, just for shits and giggles, and then we drove out towards Thetis Lake listening to the original “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones. She didn’t realize it, but I’d brought Andrew Stevenson’s shotgun with me. We slalomed through the streets listening to Mick Jagger introduce myself while I tried to concoct the perfect place to bring this narrative to a close.

I’d been listening to Eminem’s Volume 2 of Music to be Murdered By.

The thing was, I couldn’t bring Kessa to Duncan with me. She was a murder victim, an undead pseudo-daughter, an embarrassing apparition who I never actually met in real life. For years now she’d been the misguided force behind my rage, behind my vision to conjure Nelson on the page with my book. But unlike Ryan Tapp, whose story was already public knowledge, the details of her death were a secret. Though her Godfather had shared his eulogy with me, I didn’t have the family’s blessing to tell her story.

So I left her alone. On the nights when I felt I had imaginary friends riding with me through the streets of Baltimore, she would often sit in the back-left corner and just listen to the music with me. I didn’t even know what her voice sounded like. Sometimes she would cry, and sometimes she would crack the window to smoke. I never saw her smile. This wasn’t the sort of presence I wanted haunting my RAV long-term, and I knew I would have to come up with some sort of ritual to convince her to leave. There needed to be a symbolic gesture of some sort, one that respected her privacy while acknowledging the primal rage I felt at whoever the fuck killed her.

Because that was very real.

“I can’t believe Eminem’s still going. You think he’s done it, he’s reached he’s zenith, and then he just keeps producing,” I said, drawing on a cannabis vape pen. I was alone with her.

“He’s the only person that can get away with saying anything he wants.”

Lately I’d been wearing black because of my sister Kathryn’s death, so I had my hoodie up around my face while I drove. I was beginning to channel Silvio, trying to feel what it would be like to be the type of guy who could kill a woman. I still remember what I felt the first time he slapped a woman onscreen. My entire understanding of him as a character shifted. This piece of shit may play for Bruce Springsteen in real life, but in the Sopranos he was a fucking abomination of a human being. He deserved his coma. Now I was resurrecting him just to kill somebody else.

“How come we’re going to Thetis Lake?” Kessa asked.

“I have this spot I picked out, where I used to hang with my friend Angela. It’s on the opposite side of the lake from where the main tourist beach is, and sometimes people swim nude over the. It’s like a safe like Narnia where you can smoke pot and go cliff-jumping.”

“Sounds dope.”

I think Kessa was already aware of my scheme, but I thought I’d kept it under wraps pretty well. My book was my weapon, and then I was done with her. I couldn’t do the rest of the leg-work because it wasn’t my job. That’s what Police Chief Paul Burkart told me, and that’s what I was sticking to. So I had to find a nice place to drop her off.

“The locals say this is a hiding place for the souls of lost children,” I said, with a smirk — putting it on Twitter so she really knew it was coming. That was all she paid attention to anymore, was Twitter.

“If you ever talk to your Mom, I want you to tell her that I tried to respect your privacy as best I could. And I’m sorry if I made things harder for her. Please make it clear that my apology is legit, that I really mean it.”

Kessa bit her lip, nodded.

We were just flying down Douglas with the windows down, so I changed the CD to the Airborne Toxic Event. There was a particular song, track 7, that I thought would resonate with her. It conjured the feelings I’m sure she was going through in those final days. Sgt. Nate Holt had caught her drunk driving, but he understood enough about the situation to handle her with kid gloves. The gentle treatment wasn’t enough to keep her alive.

“You know, my marriage counsellor Grant said this thing at Kathryn’s funeral about how people look for someone to blame when somebody dies. I think that was my whole issue, is I wanted to catch somebody,” I said.

“But there was nobody to catch.”

By this point the song was going, and I wanted her to appreciate the lyrics. And it starts, some time around midnight...

The Literary Goon

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davidflores100 · 5 years

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Dr. Jennifer Melfi: That Departures magazine out there. Did you give any thought at all to someone else who might wanna read before you tore out the entire page? Tony Soprano: What? Dr. Jennifer Melfi: It's not the first time you've defaced my reading materials. Tony Soprano: You saw that, huh? People tear shit outta your magazines all the time, they're a mess. I try to read 'em. Dr. Jennifer Melfi: I don't think I can help you. Tony Soprano: Well, change them. Bring in some new shit. Dr. Jennifer Melfi: I mean therapeutically. Tony Soprano: What are you talkin' about? I've only missed three appointments since we had that heart-to-heart. Dr. Jennifer Melfi: The new big thing these days is called psychodynamic therapy combined with Anafranil. Tony Soprano: Who? Dr. Jennifer Melfi: A medication. There's a doctor in Bloomfield you could see. Tony Soprano: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, OK? Now what the fuck is this? You're, uh, firin' me 'cause I defaced your Departures magazine. Dr. Jennifer Melfi: I'm giving you my considered medical opinion. Tony Soprano: OK, I should've asked you for the steak recipe. And missin' sessions, unfortunately, is part of my condition. Dr. Jennifer Melfi: What do you know about your condition? You miss appointments because you don't give a shit. About commitments, about what I do, about the body of work that's gone into building up this science!... Go ahead, tell me again I sound like your wife. Tony Soprano: Well, if the shoe fits. [Dr. Melfi stands up] Tony Soprano: We're making progress! It's been seven years! Dr. Jennifer Melfi: Do you want some names? Tony Soprano: [stands up] OK, listen, I'm gonna tell you somethin' and you're not gonna like it. But we can say anything in here, right? Dr. Jennifer Melfi: Go ahead! Tony Soprano: I'm chalkin' this all up to female menopausal situations. Dr. Jennifer Melfi: You're not my gynecologist. Tony Soprano: Well, you don't need a gynecologist to know which way the wind blows. [Dr. Melfi opens the door] Tony Soprano: So, wait a minute. You tellin' me after all this time, after everything we've shared in here, you're cuttin' me loose just as my son got outta the hospital for tryin' to kill himself? Dr. Jennifer Melfi: Since you are in crisis, I don't wanna waste your time. Tony Soprano: You know, I gotta be fuckin' honest. As a doctor, I think what you're doin' is immoral. [Tony walks out to the waiting room. He exaggeratedly places the page back in the magazine, looks at Dr. Melfi angrily and leaves. She closes the door] ... Silvio Dante: Have a seat. Paulie Walnuts: What's up? Silvio Dante: Phil Leotardo. Calls were made to zips. They're coming over from Naples. You contact the guy to contact the guys. Bobby 'Bacala’ Baccalieri: Phil's at his goomar's every Friday night. Paulie Walnuts: T knows about this? Silvio Dante: What? Bobby 'Bacala’ Baccalieri: What kind of question is that? Paulie Walnuts: Watch your fat fucking mouth. [almost started to fight] Silvio Dante: Hey, whoa whoa whoa whoa. What are you concerned about? Paulie Walnuts: I lived through the '70s by the skin of my nuts When the Columbos were going at it. There ain't a bigger cocksucker than Phil Leotardo. I just wanna make sure somebody knows there could be a line of cozarellis a mile long. Silvio Dante: Duly noted. So there's no problem then. ... Butch: Three pops, within a tight time frame. 24 hours, so there's no chance for them to hit back. Top three guys. Petey B.: Paulie Gualtieri? Butch DeConcini: No, management. Tony Soprano, obviously. Plus Silvio Dante, and we think, Bobby Baccalieri. Ray-Ray: That mortadell's number three? He used to be Junior Soprano's driver. Albie Cianflone: And you used to sell laser printers out the back of your Crown Vic.

The Sopranos, The Blue Comet

#sopranos #blue #comet #tony #jennifer melfi #silvio #paulie #bobby #butch #ray-ray #albie #departures #zips #crown vic #quotes

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omcik-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on OmCik

New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/5-strategic-business-lessons-from-2017s-academy-award-nominees/

5 strategic business lessons from 2017's Academy Award nominees

By watching this year’s best picture nominees, advisors can hone in on new ways to connect with clients, develop networks and perfect time management skills. (Photo: iStock)

In the summer of 1987, my best buddy and I left the Deep South for Hollywood.

We went in search of fame and fortune in the movies.

We wound up burning popcorn at the Mann Theatre in Tarzana.

Full Metal Jacket, The Untouchables and Beverly Hills Cop 2 were popular that summer. So were Robocop, Predator and Dirty Dancing.

Related: 25 best insurance movies

We worked double shifts to pay the rent and often found ourselves star struck. At the concession stand, we met Pat Benatar, members of the Jackson 5, and Michael Winslow, the actor known as “the man of 10,000 noises.” You probably know him from all of those Police Academy movies. I knew him as the guy who made a fire alarm noise when I served him popcorn the color of coal.

I felt bad about burning the popcorn, but mainly I was homesick. My buddy and I wrote increasingly forlorn letters each week to our families back home. We called the letters “Tales from La La Land.” We didn’t make it very long there. We were back home just in time for the fall semester of college.

Flash forward 30 years and our pet name for Hollywood has resurfaced: La La Land is one of the best picture nominees.

Although Hollywood sent me packing for home, I’ve never lost my love of the movies. I write about business topics now, but I’m often looking for that intersection of film and commerce. So in these next pages, I offer five strategic lessons to learn from this year’s Academy Award nominees.

Related: 25 best business movies

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Arrival

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

What’s it about: Aliens have landed! The aliens have landed! Military regimes around the globe want to blast twelve alien spheroids back to kingdom come, but a linguistics professor (Amy Adams) wants to break their code not their spaceships.

Why watch it: For the Amy Adams performance. Her character slowly understands things, information that the audience begins to piece together as well, in heartbreaking fashion.

Interesting factoid: Octopuses, whales, elephants, and spiders were all sources of inspiration when it came to creating the aliens, Abbott and Costello.

Business lesson: The art of communication. Of all the movies I watched this year, Arrival connected with me the deepest on a business level. So much of the financial services industry hinges on clear communication, being heard, but also being understood, and the chasm we all have in communicating with one another is palpable in this film.

Memorable scene: I have to be careful here to not give away the ending, but it’s a moment where the linguistics professor has a conversation in Mandarin, and, as the saying goes, the die is cast.

Memorable quote:

Dr. Louise Banks: “Purpose requires an understanding of intent. We need to find out: Do they make conscious choices? Or is their motivation so instinctive that they don’t understand a ‘why’ question at all? And biggest of all, we need to have enough vocabulary with them that we understand their answer.”

Related: 5 ways to go above and beyond for your clients

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Manchester By the Sea

Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler

Directed by: Kenneth Lonergan

What’s it about: An uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew and serve as his guardian after the boy’s father dies.

Why watch it: The strong bonds that form. They don’t come easily. Instead, they take their time to knit together. It follows that these relationships are more like real life than the stuff of movies.

Interesting factoid: This is the first film distributed or co-distributed by a streaming service — in this case, Amazon — to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Business lesson: Mentorship. One of the common threads I hear from advisors is their belief in mentorship programs. So many advisors point to a mentor as a huge reason for their success and they are committed to returning the favor by mentoring other advisors.

Memorable scene: The scene around the ping pong table where a gang of rowdy guys are having a bit too much fun and single mom Randi Chandler (Michelle Williams) breaks up their party and shows the guys that one woman can have as strong a voice as ten men.

Memorable quote:

Patrick: “You don’t want to be my guardian, that’s fine with me.”

Lee: “It’s not that. It’s just the logistics.”

Patrick: “All my friends are here. I got two girlfriends and I’m in a band. You’re a janitor in Quincy. What the hell do you care where you live?”

Related: 8 ways to attract millennials to insurance

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La La Land

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt

Directed by: Damien Chazelle

What’s it about: Boy meets girl. Boy and girl look for their muse and struggle with the choice between a once-in-a-lifetime love or the spotlight.

Why watch it: The music, the song and dance. La La Land is a throwback to the films of the golden era of film when characters were faced with problems or obstacles and they dealt with it by breaking into dance, allowing themselves to be swept away by the beauty of music.

Interesting factoid: La La Land equaled the record for most Oscar nominations, with 14, tying the record previously set by All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997).

Business lesson: Listen to your muse. You got into this business for a reason. Never lose sight of that. Something drives you to help people create and keep a nest egg well into their retirement years. Hold onto that passion that brought you into the industry in the first place and use it to help your clients reach their dreams.

Memorable scene: The final dance sequence, one of the most beautiful and perfectly choreographed scenes ever caught on film.

Memorable quote:

Mia: “Maybe I’m not good enough!”

Sebastian: “Yes, you are.”

Mia: “Maybe I’m not! It’s like a pipe dream.”

Sebastian: “This is the dream! It’s conflict and it’s compromise, and it’s very, very exciting!”

Related: Peak Performance

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Hell or High Water

Starring: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges

Directed by: David Mackenzie

What’s it about: Toby Howard (Chris Pine) and his brother (Ben Foster) decide to rob banks so they can raise enough money to pay off the reverse mortgage that will forfeit their recently deceased mother’s ranch.

Why watch it: Jeff Bridges. “The Dude” is a revelation in this Oscar-nominated supporting role. His Texas Ranger character is facing mandatory retirement, but he is not content to fade away into the dustbin of history. This last case gives him a newfound purpose, a second chance to figure out why he became a ranger in the first place.

Interesting factoid: The phrase “come hell or high water” typically means “do whatever needs to be done, no matter the circumstances.” It also refers to the “hell or high water clause” in a contract, usually a lease, which states that the payments must continue regardless of any difficulties the paying party may encounter.

Business lesson: A family thing. The Howard brothers are pushed to their limit financially. What they do, taking the law into their own hands, is wrong, but the love they have for one another is a powerful reminder of what matters most to people, ensuring that their loved lones are taken care of.

Memorable scene: The beautiful scene between Bridges and his partner that starts out as playful banter, but then becomes a commentary on land, family, and the pull of greed.

Memorable quote:

Tanner Howard: “Maybe we should hit another branch.”

Toby Howard: “You know, you talk like we ain’t gonna get away with this.”

Tanner Howard: “I never met nobody get away with anything… ever, you?”

Toby Howard: “Then why on the hell did you agree to do it?”

Tanner Howard: “Because you asked, little brother.”

Related: Starting relationships in a changing world

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Hidden Figures

Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons

Directed by Theodore Melfi

What’s it about: A team of African-American women mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.

Why watch it: For the history lesson. I love discovering bits of our history and heritage, and this tale of women who were known as “human computers” is both educational and inspiring.

Interesting factoid: Kevin Costner’s third film about the Kennedy Administration. He previously appeared in JFK (1991) and Thirteen Days (2000).

Business lesson: Believe in your team. You’ve done the hard work in researching and hiring the people who work for you. You can train them, guide them, but at some point, it’s time to take off the training wheels and let their talent shine. You believed in them enough to hire them in the first place so believe in them now as an integral part of your team.

Memorable scene: The wonderful moment where Katherine (Taraji P. Henson) works out the flight trajectory of the rocket (all in her head) for the stunned NASA brass.

Memorable quote:

Karl Zielinski: “Mary, a person with an engineer’s mind should be an engineer. You can’t be a computer the rest of your life.”

Mary Jackson: “Mr. Zielinski, I’m a negro woman. I’m not gonna entertain the impossible.”

Karl Zielinski: “And I’m a Polish Jew whose parents died in a Nazi prison camp. Now I’m standing beneath a spaceship that’s going to carry an astronaut to the stars. I think we can say we are living the impossible. Let me ask you, if you were a white male, would you wish to be an engineer?”

Mary Jackson: “I wouldn’t have to. I’d already be one.”