Whine & Cheese

Woke Up This Morning

... though did not get myself a gun.

For those of you wondering what the heck I am talking about, that's the opening lines of the song that opened up The Sopranos.  The last time I was in NJ, I decided to take Todd on a little tour of some of the spots highlighted in the opening montage... some of them I was quite familiar with, while others I had to do a little research.

One of them is the picture below, the oft-seen storefront of Satriale's Pork Store.  A few months after our stop (which appears to be June 2007), the building was demolished to be replaced by condo project (named Sopranos Court if I recall)...

So why I am sharing this with you today, well this picture become my 26th picture to enter the 300+ View Set I created on Flickr... the 9th (of a total of 16) Sopranos related picture to reach that milestone.  I don't tend to hawk my photos all too much within Flickr, so 300 hits is pretty significant and I find very specific subject matter is what will get attention... i.e., no one cares to see an upteenth picture of the Statue of Liberty, but the real/fictional home of the Soprano clan... bingo!

Anyhow, not much going on (as you probably figured out)... still trying/struggling to get back into a routine... or minimally, at mustering up some momentum... work is still sketchy on the good news front I think I am emerging form that that pre-holiday funk and the during/post blissfulness of nothingness... but until I get rolling, blogging may be a little light... though whenever I say something like that, I usually end up making myself a liar... but, as always, keep your eye on the sidebar or Twitter (140 characters or less is fairly effortless).

Express Lane: Issue 40

'The Office's' Angela Kinsey Pregnant - No word if her 'Office' namesake will be in the family-way as well, but wouldn't be great fun?! That is, if the Writers' Strike ever ends!  Other trivia: 'Toby' is Kinsey's real-life brother-in-law. (11/21/07)

Super-Californication-Titular-Litigious - The Red Hot Chili Peppers sue Showtime, accusing the network of 'stealing our identity' over the title of the David Duchovny sex-fused dramedy 'Californication.' (11/20/07)

Donny Osmond apologizes to Larry King - Don't think this is in order... didn't LK & Co. still ambush Marie live on the air?  Couldn't they have told her BEFORE the show, that they knew about it and that tabloids were going to break the story. (11/19/07)

Paige Davis returns to 'Trading Spaces' - After being unceremoniously dumped from the show in 2005 -- and likely when most folks stopped watching (I hadn't realized it was still on!) -- Davis and many former designers are coming back to the TLC makeover show. (11/15/07)

Ken Follett is latest Oprah pick - Finally a book selection pick that I've already read!  Though it was years ago, so I don't really remember all that much about it! (11/14/07)

DWTS' Karina Smirnoff Gets Nose Job - Check out Karina's 3-week old 'new' nose when she returns for the season finale on Nov 27th.  (11/13/07)

Sopranos' pork store no more - Satriale's has been whacked, demolished to make room for condos... glad we got to see the Kearny, NJ store front this past summer (you can see my Sopranos pix here). (11/11/07)

Express Lane: Issue 38

This week in Celebrity Drunk Driving: 48 Days in Jail for '24' Star Sutherland and Ex-'Lost' Star Rodriguez Gets 6 months. (10/11/07)

Lindsay Lohan says rehab was `sobering' - Ummm...  "pardon the pun"? (10/9/07)

`Sopranos' regulars join `Chicago' cast - 'Janice' (as Mama Morton) and 'Big Pussy' (as Roxie's husband Amos) are the latest to sign up for what is increasingly the stunt casting musical of all-time! (10/9/07)

Broadway 'Rent' Gets New Mark and Roger - Here's a switch!  Saw both these guys the last time 'Rent' came through town on the national tour.  Congrats to Broadway debutantes, Declan and Harley... well deserved! (10/4/07)

Paula Abdul refused to do more 'Hey Paula!' which she says was "disturbing"; wants a child - I agree with the first half (it was pretty much 'trainwreck'), but not so sure about that second half. (10/1/07)

Sopranos Tour of NJ

One of the fun things we did on our trip back East was a Sopranos Tour of NJ!   Now, you can pay $40-something and go on the "official" tour... but given that I spent a good chunk of my early years in the Garden State, I said who need some f#ckin' tour bus!?!  Thanks to Google searches and Yahoo! Maps it was pretty easy to create our own tour.

Heck, for the first few pix I didn't even need a map or directions... I have been driving by them all my life! 

Here are the Sopranos landmarks we visited:

Pulaski Skyway

This is an elevated road near Jersey City... it is seen in the opening credits and the visual after the closing credits.  This shot was taken on a NJ Transit train coming back from NYC.

Drive Safely Tanks

When I first started watching The Sopranos this was the first thing that caught my eye in the opening credits.  These tanks are near the Carteret exit of the NJ Turnpike... the exit to my parent's (and my one and only childhood) home.  I have likely passed these tanks thousands of times.

Goethals Bridge

Another familiar site for me... again on the NJ Turnpike and from our house to my grandparents.  The Goethals is seen in the opening credits and connects Elizabeth, NJ with Staten Island, NY.

The remainder of these pix are ones that I located via the Internet and had to search for...

Satriale's

Tony and crew hung out on the sidewalks of this Kearny, NJ storefront... Satriale's Pork Store.  Not very distinctive for sure... we drove right by it!  Good thing I recognized the church (upper left picture - total coincidence that a MINI Cooper just happened by), that could be often be seen when the guys were outside of the store.  We met a very nice local who told us they only put out the pig and signs when they were filming and that even the neighboring Irish club agreed (probably for a nice fee) to swap in/out an Italian flag during filming.  Despite being a landmark, this building is set to be demolished later this summer and replaced with condos... though the spirit will live on... rumor has it, the development will be called Sopranos Court.

Pizzaland

Just 5 minutes up the road from "Satriales" in North Arlington, NJ is Pizzaland.  Though the characters never visited this very tiny building, it has become legendary for its appearance in the opening credits.

The Bada Bing

The Bada Bing... or as it's actually known... Satin Dolls in Lodi, NJ.  My very best friend from college lived in Lodi for several years, so who knew the famous Sopranos strip club was just a couple of miles away.  The building, highway, and even parking lot (where Silvio had that unfortunate run-in near the end of the series) were all instantly recognizable. 

Casa Soprano

While all the other Sopranos sights were very cool... the "wow!" moment of our tour was pulling up to the Sopranos house.  While the interiors were shot on studio sets (but allegedly true to the original), exterior shots were still filmed at this amazing home in North Caldwell, NJ.  I do not believe this location is on the official tour... we tried to be respectful and just do a quick drive-by of the house since it in a very nice residential neighborhood.

Holsten's

Appropriately enough, the last stop on our Sopranos tour was to Holsten's in Bloomfield, NJ... the location for the much-talked about last scene of The Sopranos.  Can you picture Tony walking in the front door or Meadow struggling to parallel park from the vantage point of this shot?

Here's a shot of the inside:

Ha!  Sorry, even before I took one shot I knew this "picture" would be part of my post! ;-)

Sopranos Finale Revisited

If you have still not watched The Sopranos series finale and successfully avoided hearing about what happened... SPOILERS AHEAD...  but if that is the case, what the heck are you doing reading this... go watch it already!??! 

After a few days of digestion, not surprisingly we are getting the inevitable backlash to the backlash... it was quite the furor the first 48 hours or so... but now, folks are starting to say how great it was...

A couple blog degrees of separation from this one, I stumbled across one such entry... this one comment to the entry got me:

I thought it was a fantastic ending. Just brilliant. People who really understand the show appreciated the ending. People who just wanted to see Tony get shot never understood the point of the show in the first place.

First off, one of my major blogging pet peeves is the the voluminous cyber-ass kissing that regularly goes on in the comments.  I haven't experienced here either because a) I am not reach uber-blogger status,  b) no one agrees with me, or c) no one knows what I'm talking about.  I just wish one time, one of these bloggers was aware of it and wrote a post suggesting that all kittens and puppies should be drowned immediately... just to see if everyone would agree with them on that!

Ok, secondly the content... to which I respond... well, excuse the frak me... I don't like the ending, now I don't understand the show?!  You know what, I did see Tony get shot... when Uncle Junior popped him, I had to sit through a half a season of Tony's hallucinations and I certainly didn't like that all too much... granted that was in the middle of my not understanding what was going on! ;-)

(Haha... can you tell I am cranky over a client today?!)

Oh, well.  Seriously, I haven't wasted much time on this (present blog entry excluded)... and I never said I needed closure, but I still stand by my statement that the end was too gimmicky... and more to rile folks up and make it water-cooler worthy... mission accomplished, Mr. Chase.

Now let's talk about other parts of the finale... my favorite non-"WTF? with the ending" theory was via JD who offered up that the cat that was tormenting Paulie and obsessed with Chrissie's picture was a re-incarnation of Adriana!  Discuss.

Journey's End

Just a mixed bag of TV stuff from over the weekend... including a little bit about The Sopranos finale, so if you are somehow managing to dodge all the talk about the finale skip the end of this post.

Over a month after our margarita-heavy Cinco de Mayo viewing of the first half of PBS' The Mormons, we finally got around to part two... c'mon, it's pretty tough for us to block out two hours of non-commercial television and be in documentary mode.  As in any religion, I know there are varying degrees and you can't put everyone in the same box... but I still think it's pretty odd... from shedding it's racist and polygamist past, now it seems like they just have to be enlightened about gays and women, the latter who seemed to be trapped in 1950s subservient housewife role (of course, woman are allowed to have jobs... but must keep up with the family and church duties).  The overall secrecy, schoolyard-like "must be accepted" to gain entry to the temple, missionary life, and financial and time commitments to the church... among other things, all continue to be a bit headscratching to me as well.... different strokes!

Interesting Big Brother news.... Live Big Brother 8 feed will air on Showtime.   Whille there has always been the live Internet feed, I always thought it would be cool if there was a PPV channel... which, go ahead and judge, I would probably subscribe to... but now, we'll get that (sorta) via Showtime.  ShoToo will air 3 hours a night of the live feeds... what feed you will see is at a producer's discretion, but nudity (doubtful) and foul language (very likely) will be part of Big Brother: After Dark.  Julie Chen and a new gang of houseguests return July 5th... which shows airing Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.

Okay... onto two of the reasons for the title of this post...

Watched a bit of the Tonys last night ... the recently closed Journey's End did win Best Revival of a Play, otherwise it just seemed like Spring Awakening and The Coast of Utopia were taking turns winning awards.   While I do enjoy watching the performances, I have to admit that even being a theater lover it is hard to get really get into the show since the nominees are for performances I'll never see.   This morning one of the local TV morning guys said he watched a bit of the show and that it was "pretty flamboyant"... which was his nice way of saying "gay"... at first I was a bit offended, but then I kind of had to agree.  Todd noted that he didn't think there was a straight guy in the house... and I certainly questioned a time or two when someone thanked his wife... huh?!

*** SOPRANOS SPOILER ALERT ***

Finally... onto that Sopranos season finale.  We decided to forgo the HD and watch the East Coast HBO feed "live" since we knew it was likely there was no way we can avoid it today... and boy were we right!  Whatever your thoughts, the final episode is certainly the buzz this morning

... however, it will likely forever make me skip Don't Stop Believin' by Journey (Journey's End and a Tony too!) any time it should happen to come up on my iPod.  After reading every one and their mama's (or guma's?!) guesses on what would happen, I was preparing myself for lack of closure... and after the action-packed previous episode, it didn't take too long into the finale to gather we were headed into some foggy territory.  Again, I could have lived with it, but the abruptness just ticked us (and apparently quite a few others) off. 

I think David Chase was laughing his ass off thinking of all the folks reaching for their remotes to figure out what had gone "wrong" with the screen... and that made it just too cute-sy of a technique to end the series.  But there are plenty in the "David Chase is god" camp, he can do no wrong... our local newspaper critic, who is nothing less than masturbatory about the show, admitted it wasn't a satisfying conclusion but ultimately give it his blessing... but continuing on that theme, I thought the last scene in the diner was masterful... the increasing tension making me literally squirm... I just wish it didn't leave me with a case of figurative blue balls! 

Get Your Emmy Nominations

The Emmy nominations were announced this morning. 

This year there was the promise of something new as blue-ribbon panels picked the final nominees from the top ten vote-getters from the Academy's general membership.  I don't know how much "new" there is, but there were some surprises... and, of course, some major overlooks (in my humble opinion)...

The Sopranos - The show gets the expected nod for  Best Drama, but the big surprises were the absence of the usually slam-dunk nods for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco.  Now I am not familiar with all the shows/actors, but I found it particularly insane that the wooden Geena Davis, for Commander In Chief, earned a spot over Falco.  Michael Imperioli did get a nod for Supporting Actor.

Desperate Housewives - I agree the show has slipped in its sophomore season... but last year's winner for Best Comedy was pretty much shut-out in the major categories.  None of the leading ladies were nominated (including last year's winner, Felicity Huffman). If anything, I thought the lone non-nominee last year, Eva Longoria, might get one this time around.  Craziest?  The only major acting nod was Best Supporting Actress for ... Alfre Woodard?!?!  I love Alfre, but the Applewhite storyline is what I felt really dragged down this entire season.

Six Feet Under - It seems like such a long time ago since we said goodbye to the Fisher clan, but the stellar final season was just eligible for this round of Emmys.  While I hoped it would earn a final Best Drama nod, it did not... Peter Krause and Frances Conroy earned lead nominations... but none for Michael C. Hall and Lauren Ambrose, both who broke my heart (multiple times) over those last few episodes.

Lost - As with Housewives, last year's winner for Best Drama was totally shut out of major nominations this year... no acting nominations, lead or supporting... only Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond) earned a "guest actor in a drama series" nomination.

The Comeback - One the nominations that made me the happiest... Lisa Kudrow for Best Actress in a Comedy series.  Valerie Cherish may have got the shaft, but at least Lisa knows she's being heard.

The Office - Earned nods for Best Comedy as well as for Steve Carell.  But no Emmy love for Jim and Pam (John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer) in the supporting categories.

My Name Is Earl - Perhaps eclipsed by The Office, I felt the freshmen comedy was a bit slighted.  No nominations for Best Comedy or Jason Lee or Ethan Suplee -- but all is well in Best Supporting Actress-land with a well-deserved nod to Jamie Pressly.

Arrested Development - The show eked out one more nod for Best Comedy series... but was on the short-end when it came to acting.  Only Will Arnett (Gob) squeaked in for supporting.  Where or where was my Jessica Walter nomination?!?

Will & Grace - Also, in its last hurrah.  The show fails to be up for Best Comedy... but 3/4's of the cast are nominated one more time (sorry Eric McCormack).

The West Wing - Gets its last (and, in my opinion, well-deserved) nod for Best Drama... with the usual suspects nominated in the acting categories... Sheen in lead, Janney in lead, and Alda in support.

24 - The show with the most nominations, including Best Drama.  Now while I think that this is technically a very good show, it's not one I watch for its fine acting.  Nevertheless, Kiefer gets a lead acting nod... and the devilish First Family, Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart, earn nods in support.   What no Chloe?!   Guess we need a "best comedic performance in a drama series" category for Mary Lynn Rajskub.

Weeds - A very good show over at Showtime... didn't expect a Best Comedy nod, but thought the deliciously sly Mary Louise Parker (and Award show fave) would make the cut for Lead Actress, she did not... the only major nod was Elizabeth Perkins in support.

Scrubs - Ok, I am thrilled for the Best Comedy nod... but WTF?!!!? Where are the acting nominations?!?!   Zach Braff made it onto the list last year, so I thought we were past all of this... and again, it is just inexcusable that John C. McGinley has never been nominated as Dr. Cox.

For the full list of nominess... and to see if your favorites have been nominated from the few shows I do not watch (i.e. the very much nominated Grey's Anatomy)... go here:
Yahoo! TV - Coverage of The 58th Annual Emmy Awards

A more "easy on the eyes" list can be found here:
EW.com | Here are the Emmy nominees

Season Finale Wrap-Up

We were on vacation for most of the season finales... so just getting around to getting some thoughts down... 

We watched the "biggies" as quickly as we could upon our return, but it took us to this past weekend to wrap them all up (mostly sitcoms that we were behind on prior to vacation).

Given my propensity to surf the Web and read entertainment magazines, I was "spoiled" on most shows... though, believe it or not, 24 and Lost were two shows I managed to remain spoiler-free. 

Okay here we go...

The Sopranos - I pretty much already covered this one.  Maybe I am just not enough of a die-hard Sopranos fan, but I was not let down by the much maligned season finale. Perhaps, my memory fails me, but does anything really big ever happen in a Sopranos season finale?  Most time it seems as if the "shocker" is an episode or two prior to the finale.  This time around we had Vito getting (pretty predictably) killed off, but with some surprising ramifications between the dueling mob families... and, as mentioned, I think the whole ChristaphaChristufuh/Julianna thing will have some serious ramifications... and the whole Adriana thing keeps bubbling up too!

24 - Surprise, surprise... Jack Bauer saves the world again, but looks like he is in some deep sh&t "tomorrow."  Having set the "shock" bar so high in previous seasons, I wasn't quite floored with this year's twist.  I predict a quick resolution to Jack's kidnapping early next season... and then we'll just get on with the usual crazy business at hand.  Let's just hope that next season they can find a way to keep First Lady Martha (deliciously played by Jean Smart) and Aaron Pierce in the loop.

Lost - This gets my nod for best finale of the season.  To no surprise, the show got totally flipped... with the cast we have grown to love (or hate) over the past two seasons, now just seemingly secondary (and innocent) players in a crazy scheme by some big-wig to keep his daughter away from a guy.  I think this by far topped last year's hatch ender.  Now, I think the best thing that could happen to this show is to give it a "finish" date.. say 3-5 more seasons max... and work towards "resolution."  That said, I suspect it'll never happen... from what I gather JJ Abrams and Co. don't work that way (and despite what they may say, I don't think they have a "plan")... and ABC will make their decision solely based on ratings (good or bad).

American Idol - Since we were still in the U.S., we found out Taylor won the very next morning.  But even knowing the result, the finale still seemed to have little tension... and, in five seasons, I think it was the worst finale.  Of the 3 songs they performed, Taylor and Kat only squeaked out one good one... and the guest-star duets were particularly dreadful.   Toni Braxton's duet with Taylor was a complete train wreck (for Toni, not Taylor!)... I think Mary J. Blije forgot Elliott was even on the stage... and the strangest of all, the Kat & Meatloaf creepy duet.  That one only got stranger after the fact... Kat admittted to not even knowing who Meatloaf was... and, due to paralyzing stage fright, Meat didn't even remember doing it.  The "new" songs were, as always, pretty pathetic.  Kudos to the judges for pointing that out!  Next year, cut the show down to an hour and be done with it (again, that'll never happen).

My Name Is Earl - Not much to say, since there was no cliffhanger... but still it was nice for the show to return to the scene of the crime (literally).  I suspect Emmy nods for Jason Lee and, if there is any justice in this world, Jamie Pressly.

Scrubs - Going into the finale, I knew about the "surprise" new pregnancies.  But props to my other half for almost immediately suspecting that JD is the not the father of the baby.  Makes total sense... storyline-wise it would not be such a great thing... and personally, I didn't quite warm up to Dr. Kim.

Will & Grace - While I think the show was clearly in decline, I still was not as down on it as many other folks.  That said, the series finale was a disappointment and most certainly paled to the hilarious series retrospective.  I just didn't like that they had Will and Grace "break up." I hate when "drama" infiltrates a sitcom (this happened before on W&G... with the classic blunder being Mad About You).  But I think it was just totally untrue to the characters, that they would let anything get between/separate them for far too long, let alone decades!  And the whole having their kids meet and marry was just insane.  I know its fiction, but they coulda done better.

The Office - Again, I knew about "the kiss"... but my-oh-my, it was whole other thing to see how it all played out between Jim and Pam.  Contradicting myself, this was a wonderful dramatic sit-com moment... I know it made me gasp... kudos to the always terrific (adorable! loveable!) Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski... achingly perfect.  Now, my worry... what happens next?  Word to creative team of The Office... Please. Don't. Screw. This. Up!!

MINI Cooper: Sopranos Style

An entry in the MINI Cooper Chronicles not about my recent "event"... how refreshing!

So, we're innocently watching the season finale (or the "half" season finale) of HBO's The Sopranos... and what motors onto our screen...  a MINI Cooper!

Above, Christapha speaks with MINI Cooper owner/real-estate agent Julianna (played by ex-ER Nurse Hathaway Julianna Margulies... just a coincidence that the character and actress name is the same?). 

While it was nice to see a Cooper, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.  Granted she works with commercial property (wheeling and dealing for Jamba Juice)... but don't real estate agents generally have fancier (or at least bigger!) cars to cart around clients?  I guess the driver's side window came in handy during the filming of the sex scene... those side windows seem much bigger than other cars!

We also thought we saw another Cooper in the previous episode...  when Ro and Carmela were dining in Paris, we are pretty sure there was a grey MINI stopped outside the restaurant window.  I didn't get a chance to screen-cap that one... I was just relieved that Carm had shut the f*ck up about her f#ckin' spec house for one god-damn minute!  (Sorry, this show makes you talk like that sometimes)

I am a bit surprised over the negative criticism about the season finale (`The Sopranos' ends on disappointing note) - geez, for the most part James Gandolfini can sneeze and critics are hailing him a shoe-in for an Emmy... and our local newspaper television critic is nothing short of orgasmic about the show. 

Personally, I have always thought the show was/is a bit over-hyped... that said, it's still easily on my short-list of best shows on television... but even I didn't have any problems with the finale.  Sure, on the surface, it appeared to end with a whimper... but there are a lot of things simmering.  But I guess since it didn't have a "shocker" (though, for me, the Julianna developments certainly qualify)... folks were left wanting a little more.  One of the nice things about this show is that it doesn't rush.  Unlike some other shows, I have confidence that David Chase & Co. will get where they want to, when they want to.

Spoiled

I certainly feel spoiled these days... but I will avoid talking about the thing that has dominated W&C over the past few days (well at least for one day)... I'm talking television spoilers.

The way I cruise around the Web it is hard to avoid TV show spoilers... so we pretty much decide what we must watch on television the night it airs based on "spoiler" probability... so that's most reality shows as well as shows with unexpected twists and turns.

But alas, I was spoiled a couple times in the past week... though I will do my best to avoid perpetrating the same thing here.

First off, 24, which definitely qualifies as a show with unexpected twists and turns.  While Todd was away, I saved up the episodes.... since this isn't a show that holds up great to repeat viewing (if you know the cliffhanger finish, why re-watch the 55 minutes it took to get there?!).  So this past Saturday night, we caught up on 4 (!!!) hours (thankfully this translated to about 3 TiVo hours), but thanks to websites and magazines that arrived in my mailbox, I knew what happened in the last 5 minutes of that 4th hour.  Now it would have been quite the shocker... but I guess that is the price paid for waiting... good thing there were a couple of more surprises in last night's episode... at least that quelled any lingering resentment over the other one.

Now, Entertainment Tonight really pissed me off last night.  Since it re-airs 52 more times on 11 HBO channels, we decided to delay watching the premiere of The Sopranos in favor of first-run episodes of The West Wing and Desperate Housewives on Sunday night.  Now I was well aware that there was a shocking ending... and all day long, I had successfully avoided finding out what it was... websites danced around it, but were good about not fully exposing it.  But then, ET goes ahead with a segment that I tried to "la la la la" out, but as I go to turn off the TV they show the very scene that would have dropped my jaw.... c'mon, like I really needed another reason to be annoyed at Mary Hart?!!

On a positive spoiler note, Todd finally watched the finale of Dancing With The Stars this past Friday night... and even 2+ weeks later he managed to not know the winners...  though, like most us, it was fairly evident who they were once the 3rd place couple had to "leave the competition right now!"