Shook the Spot
March 12, 2006
The New York Times spills a thousand words plus on the sale of the newspaper giant Knight Ridder to McKlatchy Company. But all they really needed to say was contained in this one screen shot . . .
OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT . . . THE SOPRANOS — SEASON 6, EPISODE 1 . . . "MEMBERS ONLY"
"What are you, a hockey player? You took an oath. There's no retiring from this."
No worries, no spoliers here . . . though we do have the entire Yeah Yeah Yeahs album . . . word. But with the street light out my window illuminating a pretty fucking dope fog crawling down my suburban street, it's time we take a few hits off the violin and deconstruct tonight's Sopranos premiere. About half of ya didn't catch that shit tonight 'cause of some nonsense . . . guys, when you fail out, it's HBO 24/7 . . . but you can join the discussion tomorrow. For those of us not stuck in Harvard Square without a decent cable connection, hit up the comments with some insights at the barrel of a gun. One question that needs to be answered . . . what was that song that played at the start and over the credits? Also, who needs to be arrested for giving AJ that awful haircut?
And bonus question if you stayed up . . . Was Big Love not so terrific? Or holy fucking shit terrible?
Comments:
Side note . . . has anyone checked out the NCAA tournament bracket whatever it is on Facebook? That shit's sponsored by Fox News, and the ads are the creepiest shit ever. Just noting.
# posted by 
: March 13, 2006 12:26 AM
: March 13, 2006 12:26 AM
It's William Burroughs reading "Seven Souls". Briiliant opening. Brilliant episode. Even before the last five minutes, but oh those last five minutes!
Thank you! William SEWARD Burroughs . . . Can we the text anywhere?
# posted by : March 13, 2006 10:44 AM
: March 13, 2006 10:44 AM
Another famous relative?
The full text is at http://web.ukonline.co.uk/
gary.leeming/burroughs/
westernlands.htm
But here's what we heard:
The ancient Egyptians postulated seven souls, Top soul, and the first to leave at the moment of death, is Ren, the Secret Name. This corresponds to my Director, He directs the film of your life from conception to death. The Secret Name is the title of your film. When you die, that's where Ren came in.
Second soul, and second one off the sinking ship, is Sekem: Energy, Power, Light The Director gives the orders, Sekem presses the right buttons.
Number three is Khu, the Guardian Angel. He, she, or it is third man out…
Number four is Ba, the heart, often treacherous…
Number five is Ka, the Double… The Ka, which usually reaches adolescence at the time of bodily death, is the only reliable guide through the Land of the Dead…
Number six is Khaibit, the Shadow, Memory, your whole past conditioning from this and other lives.
Number seven is Sekhu, the Remains.
The full text is at http://web.ukonline.co.uk/
gary.leeming/burroughs/
westernlands.htm
But here's what we heard:
The ancient Egyptians postulated seven souls, Top soul, and the first to leave at the moment of death, is Ren, the Secret Name. This corresponds to my Director, He directs the film of your life from conception to death. The Secret Name is the title of your film. When you die, that's where Ren came in.
Second soul, and second one off the sinking ship, is Sekem: Energy, Power, Light The Director gives the orders, Sekem presses the right buttons.
Number three is Khu, the Guardian Angel. He, she, or it is third man out…
Number four is Ba, the heart, often treacherous…
Number five is Ka, the Double… The Ka, which usually reaches adolescence at the time of bodily death, is the only reliable guide through the Land of the Dead…
Number six is Khaibit, the Shadow, Memory, your whole past conditioning from this and other lives.
Number seven is Sekhu, the Remains.
So Slate posts a Google-dump-masquerading-as-analysis of last night's ep (http://www.slate.com/id/2137946/). Mommavoz is a better critic than this hack (I bet she didn't wiki that quote). I'm waiting for Heff to chime in, but in the meantime....
Fuckload of eating in this episode. McDonald's, Artie's, sushi, Tony cooking spaghetti right before he goes splat!... I'm also getting this fatalistic 'Match Point' vibe about the importance of chance... Hesch's son-in-law getting hit by the car; Tony's cell dying; some other stuff that I can't remember right now.
Sorry this is vague but maybe it will strike up some more convos...
Fuckload of eating in this episode. McDonald's, Artie's, sushi, Tony cooking spaghetti right before he goes splat!... I'm also getting this fatalistic 'Match Point' vibe about the importance of chance... Hesch's son-in-law getting hit by the car; Tony's cell dying; some other stuff that I can't remember right now.
Sorry this is vague but maybe it will strike up some more convos...
# posted by : March 14, 2006 12:45 AM
: March 14, 2006 12:45 AM
yeah, clearly the times has to get heffernan deconstructing each of the final 20 episodes, like she did for some of the final 6fu's...doubt it's gonna happen though...she'll probably chime in halfway through the season or something...
eating was definitely key...how bout the fbi agent going in for a sandwich at the mob establishment? (and vomiting beforehand??? that never really played out)...sushi was a terrific addition -- tony getting a little too close to the fishes?
eating was definitely key...how bout the fbi agent going in for a sandwich at the mob establishment? (and vomiting beforehand??? that never really played out)...sushi was a terrific addition -- tony getting a little too close to the fishes?
# posted by : March 14, 2006 12:50 AM
: March 14, 2006 12:50 AM
I was talking about the 6FU Heff essays earlier! Those were incredible: every Monday morning a badass intellectual breakdown.
Agreed on getting too close with the sea-chow -- the foreshadowing was intense in this one. The weight gain, digging a grave at the beginning (Thanks Slate), all the life/death talk, then the whole red herring plotline with Gene getting more and more desperate.... I thought his wife was gonna shoot Tony in the end -- she still may!
Fish have played important roles before, espec. with Big Pussy and the food poisoning. The sushi last night seemed to suggest a challenge to Tony's masculinity. The feminized, fetishized food; the metrosexual dance music in the background. There was something sinister after Tony ate there alone, and Carmela's subsequent reaction. The feminine space was okay with his wife, but by himself? Was he becoming weak? Too material? Too fragile? (Has he ever weighed himself before?) I think Tony made himself vulnerable in this episode, and paid the price. Luckily nothing brings out the man in you like getting shot in the gut.
--M.
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Agreed on getting too close with the sea-chow -- the foreshadowing was intense in this one. The weight gain, digging a grave at the beginning (Thanks Slate), all the life/death talk, then the whole red herring plotline with Gene getting more and more desperate.... I thought his wife was gonna shoot Tony in the end -- she still may!
Fish have played important roles before, espec. with Big Pussy and the food poisoning. The sushi last night seemed to suggest a challenge to Tony's masculinity. The feminized, fetishized food; the metrosexual dance music in the background. There was something sinister after Tony ate there alone, and Carmela's subsequent reaction. The feminine space was okay with his wife, but by himself? Was he becoming weak? Too material? Too fragile? (Has he ever weighed himself before?) I think Tony made himself vulnerable in this episode, and paid the price. Luckily nothing brings out the man in you like getting shot in the gut.
--M.
# posted by : March 14, 2006 1:44 AM
: March 14, 2006 1:44 AMStay on the Scene
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