I said a bit ago I was going to make a post about The Sopranos, so
here it is. For the uninformed The Sopranos (and The West Wing) kind of
sort of revolutionized drama and story-telling for television. The West
Wing by being deliberately intelligent and snappy on the 'vast
wasteland' of network television, and The Sopranos for being one of the
most subtly intelligent and thought-provoking shows on TV, wrapped in a
mafia drama.
I'll eventually get the gumption to talk about the finale, and the themes present in that show, but one of my favorite little nuances in that show is the concept of "Tony B.". Essentially, a "Tony B." is someone in your life that shares similar traits to you, personality and outlook wise, but for whatever reason has gone down a different path.
Shawn has his Marty
Bret has his Owen
Walter White has his Gale
Essentially Tony B. lacked Tony Soprano's killer instinct, and was doomed for it. Same for Owen, Marty, and Gale.
Who's your "Tony B." Someone in your life you judge yourself against, or see a lot of yourself in, but find yourself either endlessly jealous, or endlessly annoyed with?
Fuckin' Erda. Erda was a kid I went to college with who shared so many similar tastes and thoughts and outlooks that if wrote us both down on paper we'd probably come off as the same person. Our differences were that Erda was endlessly confident and incompetent, whereas I was endless self-conscious and somewhat competent. As a result Erda would get a lot of gigs I was interested in, until he made a first or second impression that kind of soured a professor on the subject. He just did insanely stupid things like white balance on a yellow wall, or type in a quasi-condescending tone.
Honestly the difference between us was the Louis C.K definition of the word 'f***y", one of those people who just consistently have the urge to assert their intellectual prowess, and their 'enlightenment' at the expense of social aptitude "You're NOT wrong, you're just an asshole". All things I personally worry I do, but try to avoid.
Still, it was *insane* to know someone that was quite a lot like me in almost every sense of the word, at least how I saw it from within my minds eye. We eventually got into a Facebook quarrel about 'online bullying' and we haven't talked for several years, which is A-okay with me.
-------------------------------
Blog Otter Award: Parralax1978 and OfficerFarva for reminding me how great Entourage is. I honestly forgot.
1.
I'm going to add Kirk's "Bullshit" from the Star Trek reboot as one of
my favorite swears of all time in a movie. Spock spends about 3-4
minutes attempting to explain, how, exactly, the world got 'rebooted' in
a logical and somewhat competent way, and Kirk, speaking for audiences,
blurts it out. I love it.
2. Speaking of Entourage, if you ever wanted to take a gander at my terrible fiction writing prowess, click here to read my Entourage Spec, which takes place and was written before, season 6. It's not great, and the formatting may be wonky, but I completely forgot about it.
3. Speaking of Tony B, it looks like I'm going to be writing over PTBN along with Caliber....which speaking of Tony B...
I'll eventually get the gumption to talk about the finale, and the themes present in that show, but one of my favorite little nuances in that show is the concept of "Tony B.". Essentially, a "Tony B." is someone in your life that shares similar traits to you, personality and outlook wise, but for whatever reason has gone down a different path.
Shawn has his Marty
Bret has his Owen
Walter White has his Gale
Essentially Tony B. lacked Tony Soprano's killer instinct, and was doomed for it. Same for Owen, Marty, and Gale.
Who's your "Tony B." Someone in your life you judge yourself against, or see a lot of yourself in, but find yourself either endlessly jealous, or endlessly annoyed with?
Fuckin' Erda. Erda was a kid I went to college with who shared so many similar tastes and thoughts and outlooks that if wrote us both down on paper we'd probably come off as the same person. Our differences were that Erda was endlessly confident and incompetent, whereas I was endless self-conscious and somewhat competent. As a result Erda would get a lot of gigs I was interested in, until he made a first or second impression that kind of soured a professor on the subject. He just did insanely stupid things like white balance on a yellow wall, or type in a quasi-condescending tone.
Honestly the difference between us was the Louis C.K definition of the word 'f***y", one of those people who just consistently have the urge to assert their intellectual prowess, and their 'enlightenment' at the expense of social aptitude "You're NOT wrong, you're just an asshole". All things I personally worry I do, but try to avoid.
Still, it was *insane* to know someone that was quite a lot like me in almost every sense of the word, at least how I saw it from within my minds eye. We eventually got into a Facebook quarrel about 'online bullying' and we haven't talked for several years, which is A-okay with me.
-------------------------------
Blog Otter Award: Parralax1978 and OfficerFarva for reminding me how great Entourage is. I honestly forgot.
2. Speaking of Entourage, if you ever wanted to take a gander at my terrible fiction writing prowess, click here to read my Entourage Spec, which takes place and was written before, season 6. It's not great, and the formatting may be wonky, but I completely forgot about it.
3. Speaking of Tony B, it looks like I'm going to be writing over PTBN along with Caliber....which speaking of Tony B...
I guess my best friend in high school qualifies: he actually became a tv sports anchor, albeit in a small market. My one sojourn into the field, in college, resulted in an Albert Brooks Broadcast News situation.
ReplyDeleteMine would be all the people who didn't just leave work to go to the bar at 1130 am when they saw jermey reddick hit a solo hr. I walked into the titled kilt just in time to see vogt score on the pop fly. A's nation baby
ReplyDeleteI keep meaning to see that movie. I love news, I love Albert Brooks, and I love dramedy.
ReplyDeleteSo. Very. AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite quotes:
What's next? The Great Khali vs Ezekiel Jackson in an Iron Man match?
At least Van Dam won, right?
1) Entourage is hot garbage. Just an awful fucking show.
ReplyDelete2) The West Wing didn't revolutionize TV dramas. Oz and the Sopranos? Yes.
I disagree with 1) It's wonderful 'bad' TV. It's completely disposable, but 'One Day in The Valley' is probably the most feel good moment in recent TV history.
ReplyDeleteDoes f***by mean faggy? I absolutely hate when people do that. Either use the word or don't. I can't see what's accomplished by doing that. Its like when people go, n-word or f-word. If your somehow against a word don't use it. Although if the * was part of cks joke then I take it back. I don't know that bit.
ReplyDeleteMy brother was a great athlete without trying and was popular. His attitude with jobs and women were similar: He could leave one at noon and have another by 5PM.
ReplyDeleteI was jealous at first but I got over it. My problem was getting out of his shadow. Because we liked the same things it was hard not to always be compared to him. This one of the reasons I wrestled instead of playing football. I was tired of hearing the coaches compare me to him.
Once I got out of his shadow, my best friend took that mantle for a few years until I went to college. It caused a rift because he thought I was going to be his eternal wingman, but I nipped that shit in the bud.
Fuck I jinxed it all
ReplyDeletehaha it was actually a reference to another Louis C.K joke within the reference of the Louis C.K joke
ReplyDeleteMeekin on movies and you haven't seen broadcast news...dude what the fuck?
ReplyDeleteBrotha, there are tens of thousands of movies, and unfortunately because I have a full time job, gaming writing commitments, and a life to live, I can't see every single good movie. I'm trying though.
ReplyDeleteWhat up Brandon moss!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf you've seen the avengers or a batman movie and you haven't seen that broadcast news I gotta say that's an questionable excuse...either way see that shit dude. Its a fucking classic
ReplyDeleteSee I think the thing is when I was reviewing movies I was going to screenings for contemporary films, and reviewing them to get them out prior to release, i.e like a 'real' film critic. So I've seen a ton of movies and know a fuck of a lot about film theory, but haven't had a chance to double back and see a lot of stuff I want, because I keep getting NEW stuff I HAVE to work with.
ReplyDeleteEspecially when you consider that to finish a game I have to review, it's a time commitment sometimes 10x longer than your typical movie.
WIP-FM everything-doer Marc Farzetta. He and I actually both worked as interns for WIP during the 2005 NFL season. Long story short- his career's taken off, while mine's sputtered out for the time being. I begrudge the guy absolutely nothing- he's got personality and motivation to spare- but I'm still disappointed that I'm nowhere near close to his level.
ReplyDeleteGotcha bro. I consider myself a film buff to the point where I downgraded a few friends to aquitances because they liked silver linings playbook more than the master.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do JT?
ReplyDeleteIt's just something you have to do sometimes. I don't want swears on my Facebook because I do have some professional friends, yet sometimes I'm quoting or I'm saying something that requires an f bomb. Using f**king (or whatever form) lets me get the sense of the word without the visceral effect of printing it. I'm happy with that compromise. It's like when an edited movie uses bleeps instead of overdubbed softened language; the effect is altered in the former but it's still stronger than the latter. In other words, given that I'm avoiding explicit profanity, I'd rather write a$$hole than stupid-head if I'm ridiculing an unpleasant individual.
ReplyDeleteWith the n-word, that's often what you have to do. It's too sensitive a word. Even if you're using the word as the subject of commentary (talking about it rather than utilizing it as a racial epithet) there's still a chance that you're going to wind up in a battle which has nothing to do with your main point. Many won't read past your language to receive your meaning. I disagree with that mentality, but in lieu of political correctness, references to race often set racism detectors abuzz and explicit use of epithets can lead some toward instant condemnation.
A comedian friend of mine opened his set the other day by mentioning in derision that Texas Gov. Rick Perry owns a ranch called "Niggerhead" and the audience wrote him off immediately. He clearly wasn't supporting racism, but they heard the word and tuned out the rest of what he said. I don't think it was a wise opener, but it also wasn't fair to ignore the context in which the word was used.
Up until earlier this year, I was a board operator and assistant producer for Wired 96.5, until I was released- nature of the business, and I was far from the most surprising pink-slip of those past 12 months. Now, I'm working retail while I get back on my feet, as well as helping manage the 8bitX Radio Network, an online station dedicated to video game music and chiptune. It's a volunteer thing, but it's helped keep my skills from falling off.
ReplyDeleteEh, it's worth noting that you can never make people like things the way you do, no matter how hard you try. I love me some PTA, but I'll admit that Silver Linings Playbook is more *entertaining* than say, Magnolia, but Magnolia is definitely the better film.
ReplyDeleteOne's the quintessential 'fast-food' burger, to the point where it transcends almost every 'romantic comedy' out there, and the other is trying to be a completely different kind of thing, and is therefore more challenging and worthwhile, but harder to wrap your head around.
Nice, Radio seems like a really tricky road to hoe.
ReplyDeleteYou're giving West Wing waaaay too much credit. It was a good show, but to mention it in the same breath as the Sopranos is insane. WW has not aged very well at all. Sopranos is timeless.
ReplyDeleteIt is, and I'm still toeing the line between trying to make a career out of it again, or just keeping it as a personal pursuit.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my world. I've made a handy graph to describe the path of people in our field. _/\_/\_/\_________/\
ReplyDeleteWell I'm saying in terms of importance. West Wing revolutionized camera movement and 'flow' in terms of giving television a way to deliver expository dialog in a fresh way.
ReplyDeleteThat last little spike at the end there just made my day. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteEdited for TV movies are unwatchable for just that reason and IMO if your saying a$$hole to ridicule someone you've already lost. If your scared to use adult language come up with something more clever than f**k you. Either use the words or don't. But it looks stupid and childish to do that. Just my opinion but I couldn't imagine even wasting my time reading a Facebook post with edited profanity.
ReplyDeleteI think the key is keeping at it. I'm in a similar lull, writing for free, and all that, haven't touched a control room in years, but I keep on keeping on, and I still enjoy it. If its your passion, you do it, ya know?
ReplyDeleteand give the 'government shutdown' episode a watch sometime and tell me how badly the show aged.
ReplyDeletePretty much. 8bitX has led to some cool things itself- we've livestreamed a few concerts and hosted what has to have been more than a dozen album release parties this year.
ReplyDeleteand yeah, the Blog O' Doom has turned into a nice place to network, hasn't it? I've started following Place To Be Nation from this site, as well as joined an actual functioning e-fed in 2013.
I thought SLP was hot garbage but I get your point. Hey I love the fast and the furious movies toget my fast food fix. My pproblem was SLP in this context was being compared to the master as art. But different movies are good for different things. 100% true
ReplyDeleteOnce Vince fired Ari, the show fell down the shitter. That and the fact they sucked at character development.
ReplyDeleteI have been slacking on sending write-ups to PTB. They wanted samples of SNL write-ups and sports stuff but I havent got the chance.
ReplyDeleteSNL Write-ups could just be embedding the best sketches from Hulu, why they're cool, and I think you'd be good. 300 words tops!
ReplyDeleteMy question to you is, when you saw SLP did you see it when folks told you it WAS OMG AMAZING or did you see it on your own? I saw it when the hype train was fully rolling, and I can see why you'd think that.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.starpulse.com/news/Paul_Meekin/2013/02/02/date_movie_diatribe_1_silver_linings_p
I like to think that I'm two diferent people: the one I am now, sitting at my desk at work, not working, thinking about all the schizophrenic behavior going on in my home, trying to tune it all out, and keeping myself humorously entertained. The second me is the one that moved to western Canada 10 years ago, made a killing in the oil industry, stayed single, and has real sex with a different MILF every month.
ReplyDeleteSopranos is timeless. They are on-demand with Comcast right now. Its season 4. Didnt care for the Furio/Carmela stuff though
ReplyDeleteI liked Turtle's little arc toward the end of the series, but yeah Season 6 was absolutely atrocious. 7 was eh, and 8 was decent.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to rank them:
Season 4 - I loved the process of working with a director like David O. Russel, a mad genius, as it were.
Season 3 - One Day in The Valley is awesome
Season 5 - The struggles of the crew were cool - I liked them. Getting back up from the proverbial turf, ya know?
Season 8 - Decent closure
Season 7 - The drug stuff was meh, but not bad
Season 2 - I don't remember much
Season 1 - Don't remember anything
Season 6 - Blow me.
One Day in the Valley was awesome.
ReplyDeleteI thought Grenier's acting when he was on drugs sucked. He is not a strong actor at all.
Thanks. The site seems pretty easy going.
ReplyDeleteWest Wing no longer holds up.
ReplyDeleteSorry I didn't mean to tell ya what to do, I was just thinking about how I'd like to see something like that as a viewer
ReplyDeleteHere are the best four sketches, what they're about, and why they're funny, and HEY LOOK YOU CAN WATCH THEM RIGHT HERE!
It's tough to place an actor who's an actor, ya know? But yeah he was sort of the weak point, but I think that's maybe the point, the vapid playboy without a care in the world isn't interesting, the people around him? They're interesting.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I plowed through...2 seasons a little over a year ago and thought it was pretty great, if a little dated.
ReplyDeleteI didnt take it that way, not offended one bit. I was going to write a summary about the show. I am a sketch comedy nerd.
ReplyDeleteNice. I love sketch comedy but find its a lot less fun when people like, get into the nuances of improv and start talking about 'yes ands' stuff, and their scenes. I used to frequent the IO in Chicago and it was a riot, especially the Saturday Slam or whatever they called it.
ReplyDeleteVanessa Bayer is on SNL now and he was there I believe
ReplyDeleteJust tremendous.
ReplyDeleteYeah I guess....it certainly is a Sorkin trademark. Sports Night was similar although not as good.
ReplyDeleteI did like West Wing a lot up until the last couple years where it just started to get buried under it's own self-importance.
Are you serious?
ReplyDeleteAll hitler talked about was the jews were holding everyone down and wanted to push Aryans to the top of the card
What sucks about this question is the horrible realisation that you're probably a Tony B! Sad face!
ReplyDeleteI'm content with my rhetorical decisions. Some times a$$hole and f**k are just the right words. Try and imagine Louie CK without his profanity. I don't swear a lot but sometimes it adds to the effect. Americans use "f**king" the way the British use "bloody" and it can be a hilarious adjective. ('f**king maniac' will always be funnier than 'maniac' on its own). Edits can also be funny. The bleeps on Arrested Development and South Park are just as amusing as hearing the actual words.
ReplyDeleteThere's also the consideration in social media that others might not want profanity on their profiles. I'm not going to drop an f-bomb in a comment on a friend's post because perhaps they are content sensitive. Once more, editing gives off the sense of the word without the full offense. It's a cake which can be both had and eaten.
I'm fairly certain I'm not a stupid or childish (most of the time) person so I trust the rest of my socially mediated prose to express this credibility. If you're worried about wasting your time, avoiding Facebook as a whole might be more optimal than scanning posts for mid-word asterisks in order to determine if they are fit for literary consumption. Of course, I say this as a man who has just written over six paragraphs in defense of my decision to self-censor on message boards, so I obviously don't share such a concern.
I saw it in the theater when it first came out. There was some buzz for sure but not as much as would follow
ReplyDeleteEveryone's someone's Tony B.
ReplyDeleteWell Sorkin left after the fourth season, so there's that, and I think 7 years was a bit too long for a kind of high-concept show like that one.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame, because we all know it was those hard working Gypsies keeping the company together.
ReplyDeletePiven got the best hair job in Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the parody of this scene in Iron Sky.
ReplyDeleteGod Damn I love that movie
The problem with The West Wing for me was how "clever" absolutely every character had to be. Nobody talks like that in real life, even in situations where everyone should be highly-intelligent.
ReplyDeleteIt's adorable for being such a lefty wankfest, though. Sorkin COULD NOT have been more left-leaning if he tried, so creating an idealized Democrat is kind of fun to watch.
I don't think anyone talks like they do on TV. And I mean if you're going to write a show about democrats in the white house, you probably wanna be able to agree with them. Plus it's worth nothing that the White House almost always 'lost' their proverbial political battles, so there's that.
ReplyDeleteThe Furio/Carm stuff seemed like it both came out of nowhere, and was there just to provoke some drama. Plus it kind of went nowhere and he just went back to Italy. I wonder if it was just there for female fans (since Furio had a big nose, I'm assuming girls loved him. Girls LOVE that look- Patrick Stewart, Tom "Loki" Eccleston, Ryan Gosling, etc.).
ReplyDeleteTrue, people in real life don't talk like they do on TV (except for Jeff "Um, er" Goldblum), but on The West Wing it was just REALLY obvious- the dialogue was ridiculously rapid-fire and non-stop clever. Really took me out of things. Hell half the time you'd miss a punchline just trying to keep up!
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikipedia:
ReplyDeletehe returns to Italy for the funeral. He seeks the advice of his uncle,
another Mafia member, telling him that Italy no longer feels like home
and that he is in love with his boss's wife. His uncle makes it clear he
had to move on or kill his boss. Upon his return Furio withdraws from
Carmela, presenting gifts to her children but not her. In the season 4
penultimate episode "Eloise",
Furio witnesses Tony's infidelity on a night out at a casino when Tony
is dancing and being flirtatious with a stripper. This enrages Furio to
no end, as he thinks Carmela deserves better. A helicopter has been
arranged to take them home and while Tony is urinating on the tarmac,
Furio suddenly grabs him by his jacket and contemplates pushing Tony
into the back rotor blades of the helicopter, but he comes to his sense
and realizes his fate would be sealed if he were to murder his boss.
Furio then pulls him away and plays it off by telling Tony "You were
standing too close..." Tony is so intoxicated he only seems slightly
fazed and doesn't appear to recall the incident the following day. Faced
with the possibility of being killed by a vengeful Tony — and with
ongoing thoughts of killing Tony himself — Furio packs up, moves back to
Italy and disappears. Carmela later goes to Furio's house and finds
that it is empty and for sale. Carmela is devastated, and eventually
reveals her feelings for Furio in an argument with Tony, to which Tony
replies "If certain men see him, he's a dead man". In Season 5, it is
said that Tony has men looking for Furio in Italy - the last mention of
him on the show.
I really dug the movie, but I'm such a William Hurt fan that I wanted them to call an audible and not do the multiple camera shots scene. Dammit, he should either be the best good or the most evil villain (History of Violence, perhaps).
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Sorkin is pretty cool, but he just makes it so damn hard to like him. Between Sports Night and Newsroom, I've never had shows that I wanted to like so much but couldn't because I couldn't stomach the dialogue and the undercurrent of liberalism (even though Jeff Daniels is supposed to play a moderate Republican in the show). I'm an independent and really can't stand when either side tries to push political ideals within the confines of entertainment.
ReplyDeleteWow, I don't remember the helicopter scene AT ALL. I know I've seen every episode of that show, too. Maybe I just watched it and glossed it over. I do remember the scene where Carmela reveals her crush on Furio, though.
ReplyDeleteTo be clear I'm talking in general and not specifically about you. (Not that you took it personally or anything but rereading my post it seemed a little snarky. I'm only against the concept and not the people who do it.)
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't know what the difference is between fuck and f**k or even n-word and nigger. They both mean exactly the same thing. So to me the real asshole isn't you trying to be considerate, its the hypocrite who pretends to be offended by a word but then is okay with the word if its censored. That's what's fucking childish and honestly really stupid in the most literal sense.
Could have sworn he said something about Steiner.
ReplyDeleteMy brother in law is my Tony B. without a doubt.
ReplyDeleteHe met my sister when I was 5, and we have been inseparable ever since. Sort of. We are great friends, even though he and my sister are divorced.
I've looked up to him professionally for years. I used to look up to him personally, but he's kind of become a loose cannon (like Tony B.)
He's going to do something colossally dumb that will probably get him killed (like Tony B.)
And as much as I love him, I feel like he is gone and never coming back.
The only part where this diverges is that I won't kill him to keep him from suffering worse....but I may lock him in a room for years.
I don't remember a lot of liberalism in Sports Night, but then I was probably 16 at the time. I remember the rat-a-tat dialogue and the constant complaining about corporate dealings, though. Plus a Wise Black Man in charge.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Sopranos will still look awesome another 10 years from now. The West Wing didn't age well.
ReplyDeleteWow, TWO Hitler references in 3 days!!!
ReplyDeleteYou really need to watch that show like 3x to pick up on everything. It's that good.
ReplyDeleteWell I mean those are political shows. News is about politics, and so is politics, so there really isn't a way to make those shows happen without heavily focusing on the politics of the characters.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a good piece to the puzzle, it just dragged on too long and the payoff sucked.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, I'll just copy and paste that into the Raw live thread later.
True that. I think I've seen every episode only once. I just don't want to watch the "Dream Sequence" episodes again- I find those a little too self-indulgent.
ReplyDeleteBut that entire show is about a lack of payoff. 'it won't be cinematic' is the theme of that show.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think the first one was pretty cool, especially when you pick up on ALL the stuff from the prior episodes they threw in it.
ReplyDeleteHaha I'll be honest, I was arguing with Transgendered people yesterday and they almost deleted my post for using the word fag and nigger in the context of "Gays can call eachother fag, and black people can call eachother nigger", so I was a little tepid there.
ReplyDeleteSopranos is an instant period piece, too. It's about people who are 'behind the times' so it only gets better with age. "West Wing" tries to be contemporary and then looks 'dated' in retrospect, but having re-watched the frist few seasons, I think it still hold up once they ditch Mandy.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or are the GTA online servers fucked up
ReplyDeleteTHREADJACK:
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to do a backflip. I tried when I was 22 and it looked like I German suplexed myself. Coincidentally, I was living in Germany at the time.
Who could do one growing up? Can you still do it? If so, FUCK YOU!
I only fully understood that helicopter scene the second time viewing it along with a lot of other scenes that at first I kinda went 'huh', only to go 'OMG they are friggin geniuses' upon the second viewing.
ReplyDeleteI can do one if I'm jumping off a diving board. Standing up on the ground...no way
ReplyDeleteNo but my old school mate who was several stone heavier than me tried to convince me to let him attempt to do a Shooting Star Press off my sofa onto me laying on the floor... I of course refused much to his chagrin.
ReplyDeleteThe helicopter scene was actually one of my favorite scenes of the whole series.
ReplyDelete"You're standing too close."
So many good scenes though. So...many.
When Tony sees the car seat and the branch in the window then kills Chrissy...
The scene that Baccala dies in while buying the blue comet...
The entire Pine Barrens episode...
When Tony kills Ralphie (I marked out. Fuck Ralphie.)
And about 100 more. 1000 if you include all the one liners.
It's like you're inside my head...
ReplyDeleteYeah they're still pretty borked. I'm one of the few who got in early and it's really good if you can find folks to play with.
ReplyDeleteI like how characters died based sort of on their natures, at least a bit. Baccala seemed like a well meaning guy, who went peacefully, more or less, didn't know it was coming (I think?) I can't remember, and doing something that brought him peace.
ReplyDeleteHTF did you make 400K?
ReplyDeleteMy friend Craig was a big dude and he could moonsault into his pool. When I tried, I had zero rotation and just flat-backed it. I can't even touch my toes without bending my knees. And I can't do a cartwheel either. Basically, the smarks in the crowd would chant "You Can't Nothing *clap clap clapclapclap*
ReplyDeleteMy memory about the details of that are fuzzy, but I believe they tried to warn him and he didn't have his cell/answer his cell.
ReplyDeleteJust post a Sopranos discussion thread already! :)
Live vicariously through me. I'm buying Soft Scrub at the grocery store after work. It's a fucking crazy experience.
ReplyDeleteSimilar story with my twin bro, but like you I got over it and we're best friends to this day.
ReplyDeleteI could do it when I was like 8, although I only ever did it on mats and stuff, never so confident as to do in on the sidewalk.. Now? No. Would not even try. Off a diving board, sure.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting to see if a connection I have will let me bug him.
ReplyDeleteI could when I was a kid. Could probably do it today (I've been roughly the same size since I was 15), but with my back problems there's no way in hell I'd try it.
ReplyDeleteI'm liberal, and I got sick of the 'rat-a-tat' dialogue and absolute perfection of the characters on the West Wing. They all just became insufferable after a while. Same with Sports Night. Everyone of the main characters just had an incredible overbearing smugness.
ReplyDeleteYeah, maybe season 5 is where I lost interest. It was fairly gradual, as is often the case when you lose interest in a TV show.
ReplyDeleteSorkin actually had a great appearance on 30 Rock where he made fun of himself. He and Tina Fey's character had a snappy conversation where they just walked in a circle around the office.
ReplyDeleteI did a similar thing at school when I was about 12, I tried doing a 'Pele kick' whilst playing soccer, and landed so hard (on concrete no less) that I busted my pants open and gave myself a concussion. What was worse was after my friends peeled me off the floor and got me to the lunchlady, she cussed me out for not telling her what was wrong with me (because I was seeing stars and dry heaving) and also because my junk was hanging out.
ReplyDeleteThat was funny.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
2011
My "Tony B" is my former best friend Jason (Jay). We're still friendly, but back in the 90's we were inseparable. My father introduced to him to me as a local comedian and after he told me a few jokes we became buddies. Besides jokes he was an aspiring rapper and I was an aspiring DJ/music producer, so we clicked right away.
ReplyDeleteWe worked on music and I helped put together his comedy routine. He performed in NYC clubs alongside guys like Dave Chappelle, Tracy Morgan, Mike Epps and many more. I got to hang with all of those guys back in their pre-fame days and I just knew Jay would be a big star one day. In late 1995, he performed on Def Comedy Jam and he brought me along with him. Right after the show he and all of these agents trying to get him to sign deals.. FRIGGIN' Disney was interested, but he turned them down. He went on to have small roles in movies like Finding Forrester, Marcy X and got beat up by Christian Bale in the remake of Shaft.
He had all the tools to be at least a steady working actor, but his motivation died when he spent more and more time smoking weed. I don't smoke it, so we spent less time working together and he hasn't had a role in years. He doesn't even perform standup anymore, he just sits at home smoking weed and making really bad music. I now shoot videos and make documentaries with some of the same people I hung around with in the comedy clubs and old school rap artists that I met during our friendship. Even though I have love for the guy.. I feel like he wasted his god-given talents. He's content to be a neighborhood celebrity, while I want to see the world and get paid doing it..
I've seen that so many times, super talented person doesn't have the hutzpah to really take it to the next level, so you occasionally see flashes of brilliance. It's like with Kayne west, he has like 4-5 songs that absolute BLOW THE DOORS off my face, if my face had doors, but then he does all this other kind of meh sophmoric stuff.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to think we need to galvanize the BOD community to make something special. It'd be a cool project.
Godwin's Law is not being held in abeyance.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't bumped into these yet, by all means, keep seeking them out... that is, if you found it funny. There's a lot of good ones that have been put up there over the last 5 years.
ReplyDeleteThere was an interesting story float around about how the owners of the footage (the producers or studio or whomever) tried to take these down at first... but because it brought awareness to their film and some were funny, they eventually stopped their quest to ban/sue.
There's plenty of ways for a show to be about politics without pushing politics. And Newsroom could have been tried to been more like Season 5 of the Wire and tackle ethics within its own realm, but Sorkin's knee-jerk, left wing stuff wins out.
ReplyDeleteHow much NewsRoom have you seen?
ReplyDeleteIm half asian so have the vertical leap of an elephant, so no.
ReplyDeleteThe entire first season and then the first couple episodes of the second season. Yes, I understand they talk about journalistic merits and ethics....but not really. Instead, it became a push-pull thing with tea party crap as the face of the debate. AND did anyone really fall somewhere in the middle or feel good about compromising...shit that happens in real life... ? Nope.
ReplyDeleteTheres nobody I really judge myself against. I always wake up, trying to do a little better then the day before. Theres always going to be someone smarter, in better shape, who makes more money then me. Alot of real succesful people always say life is about the process as opposed to the result. I truly believe this.
ReplyDeleteWill lets that Republican fellow go on about drones, he worked with the journalist to kind of stymy a stupid story she was writing, but I see your point.
ReplyDeleteThough I will say absolutely no one compromises these days. My way or the highway is the way to go.
Of COURSE Hitler is a smark. What other group repeatedly uses his artwork as an excuse to continue to appreciate a child killer? JK JK
ReplyDeleteThe payoff was that Furio leaving put Carmela in a place mentally where she just snapped when finding out about another of Tony's mistresses. The end game for that storyline was Carmela kicking Tony out in Whitecaps, one of the best TV episodes ever.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree with you there. I don't think anyone should be offended by any words in isolation or in the context of a well constructed and intended statement. Ignorant, cruel, or demeaning mindsets are what should be revolting against, not the 7 taboo words they won't let people say on network TV.
ReplyDeleteThat's part of why I'm so willing to self censor. There are many people who will stop at the word and won't proceed to the intent if you use words like the aforementioned epithets. It's unfortunate and some might say they aren't worth discussion if they'll halt at so shallow a level, but it's also a mentality our society has bred and it might not be worth ending an otherwise fruitful discussion.
ReplyDeleteYeah that's part of the reason why I love those Plinkett Reviews so much, he says smart things in a dumb way. It's great.
ReplyDeleteDamn, I didn't know Hitler was an IWC windbag who is never pleased with anything, and thinks every talented mid-card should be champion.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a mirror me because I killed him through my jealous and vengeful ways. That'll teach the bastard for attempting to be a successful rounded confident version of me.
ReplyDeleteFegelein is booking this. FEGELEIN! FEGELEIN!!
ReplyDeleteThat's some deep insightful shit, man. And I'm not being sarcastic.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
ReplyDeleteIm really fucking smart. Jk
My favorite episode
ReplyDeleteI disagree, I think it holds up even more in the current climate
ReplyDeleteI always thought the problem was that he wasn't good looking enough to be the heartthrob he is supposed to be... then again any actor that is good looking enough to play that role is probably going to be too successful for that role... if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteDoes he counsel you, does he understand, does he talk to you?
ReplyDeleteI can occasionally pull it off. It is a kip up that has always eluded me... I can do all sorts of acrobatic shit... but that is just fucking impossible for me for some reason.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Carm/Tony fight was AMAZING when she just finally goes nuts on him. Didn't she dare him to actually hit her, too? INTENSE acting from both Edie & James.
ReplyDeleteHitler should have loaned one of his pencils of doom to the people he liked.
ReplyDelete