Hello, yes, I'm 32 years old and have finally watched The Sopranos, one of the greatest television programs of all time!
I seem to recall Alex and I floated the idea early on during the pandemic, in a "the world's on fire, let's do something crazy" sort of way. Organized crime shows are not my jam, but I was aware that The Sopranos is consistently recommended for fans of Mad Men (🙋🏻♀️) or anyone who loves a good antihero, so figured it was worth a go. And it was a good excuse for Alex to get in touch with his Italian-American roots. So after almost a year of saying we'd do it, we finally took the dive.
Screencap by @oocsopranos, from this article (which I thoroughly enjoyed)
As you might imagine, I hated the violence but loved the mundane drama, mafioso home life, and family tree of complicated, layered characters. Watching one or two episodes a night became our ritual, and we slowly let the show seep into the rest of our lives. The therapy scenes inspired me to start writing in my dream journal again. We made so much pasta and fazool. Our spectacularly botched renditions of "Con Te Partiro" echoed through the house. It was great.
But also, six years' worth of fictional mafia tension is exhausting. Not gonna lie, I was relieved when it was over. By the end, everything on the show was spiraling into bleakness, and I was ready to just go on YouTube and watch all the fan vids (because I think I enjoy that more than watching any actual show??). We finally finished the series last week, and now I'm debating whether or not I should listen to the Talking Sopranos podcast (2+ hours for each episode, that's even more of an investment!).
Anyway, 4 dollars a pound here's a bunch of YouTube links, thinly veiled in a list I'll call Nikki's Favorite Things About The Sopranos:
- Surreal (but not overdone) dream sequences. There's some really great dream logic/dialogue ("Where were you? We were about to call the hospitals.") and also an extended coma scene that was probably my favorite part of the whole series, but I won't post any clips from that because I don't want to spoil anything.
- The gabagool. I'll never eat it because "it's all fat and nitrates", but it's absolutely the greatest Italian word to throw around. Alex got it on a sandwich recently in honor of the show (his review: "I'm not sure I like it.").
- Early 2000s ephemera. Ahh, to relive the ubiquity of AOL trial CDs and Nokia phones and Big Mouth Billy Bass.
- Silvio Dante. I'm sure Sil being my fave had at least a tiny bit to do with a mafia man being played very convincingly by Steven Van Zandt, guitarist for the E Street Band. Mostly I just loved that Sil looks like such a caricature, yet he's possibly the least over-the-top in terms of personality: a level-headed mediator and trusted confidant (unless you're trying to sweep cheese from under his feet).
- Nice-guy Finn being a Padres fan. What a fun surprise for Padres fans! (Although I know it's because the writers needed to pick a historically bad team. 😭) When we first watched this scene and Vito goes "the Pads haven't had a team in 20 years" (the year being 2004) I blurted at the screen "EYYY WHAT ABOUT '98" right as Finn was saying the same thing. Maybe the most relatable character in the whole show.
- The ohs and hos.
- Sunday dinners. Scenes at the Soprano house are my favorites. I'd watch an entire series of Carmela Soprano doing housework and yelling at Tony. This is still my favorite 45 seconds of the show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IS-GZ4q340
While I'm at it, I wanted to do a little amendment to my earlier Life During Quarantine list (seeing as quarantine life may actually be ending soon?!). Here's an abridged version of Notable Things I've Consumed Since Last Time:
- LODGE 49. Equal parts inspiring and depressing, with a good dollop of anti-capitalism thrown in. And SoCal scenery! A highly underrated show, IMO.
- DERRY GIRLS. The 2 seasons of Derry Girls were just a delight. Beyond the spastic dialogue and teen humor, it was quite educational. Between this, The Crown, and Downton Abbey, I've really learned a lot about English-Irish tensions. Speaking of which....
- DOWNTON ABBEY. I really wasn't into watching this when it first came out, but golly it was an easy binge. It also has the distinction of being the show that occupied our lives after moving into our house(!), so I think I'll always have fond memories of watching it in our unfinished den while sitting on camping chairs and eating takeout.
- SKETCHY, Tune-Yards. The latest Tune-Yards slaps! So grateful to have new music and video content from Merrill and Nate. I'm a bit obsessed with the video for "nowhere, man".
- UNCANNY VALLEY, Anna Weiner. Seemed like a must-read for anyone adjacent to the SF tech industry in the early-to-mid-2010s. And it's a fun little game of Guess the Proper Nouns. There wasn't really anything new to me here, and towards the end it got a little tired, but it was a good reminder to always keep a healthy level of skepticism when it comes to tech.
- BILL GRAHAM PRESENTS: MY LIFE INSIDE ROCK AND OUT, Bill Graham and Robert Greenfield. This was research for another piece I wrote for The San Franciscan, but even if it wasn't, it's still right up my alley. Bill Graham's early life was remarkable: he was orphaned and escaped Nazi Germany by way of France and a ship to New York. Then he made a home in San Francisco and became the biggest promoter in rock. You go, Bill.
- MOBY DICK, Herman Melville (in progress). Our friend Eugene started a virtual book club, or perhaps I should say Moby Dick book club since I'm not sure if any other books are planned after this. I've never read MD before, but have to say it's been a lot more entertaining than I was expecting. Haven't yet gotten to the extended interlude about whaling, but oddly looking forward to it.
To end, the latest new names for Coop:
- Cooze Cusamano (Sopranos-inspired, if you couldn't tell)
- Christopher / Chris-ta-fuh (also Sopranos-inspired)
- Crispy Taco / Risky Taco
- Zombie (most often enunciated à la the backing vocals of the Fela Kuti song)
Counting down the days until April 15...