Ay, don't get me wrong, love me some Screeching Weasel. But the Fat Wreck bands are so fucking tame and poppy. Don't get me wrong, I love pop-punk, but it needs some kick to it, something none of those bands have.

I'm into Titus Andronicus, Gaslight Anthem, Against Me, Ceremony, Screaming Females, Government Warning; I dunno, lotta good bands these past couple of years. I'm personally not a fan of Epitaph/Fat Wreck stuff. As The Clash said, "You think it's funny/turning rebellion into money."

im pretty much the odd man out on this, but i love their first album, but their others bug the fuck out of me.

Agreed. This past decade has gotten a little bit better for punk compared to the NOFX tastic 90s; a lot of really great hardcore punk bands too.

Valentina
Much as nobody likes seeing Gandolfini naked, god bless that hotel sex scene.

I love The Sopranos, but they definitely didn't plan a lot of the plot out, unlike say, the Wire, which seems to have been brilliantly plotted out before season 1 even aired.

Jesus christ, I love that scene. "Hey, Mr. Type A Personality over here!" Imperioli is probably one of the funniest characters on the show. Also, Tony's pious little moment when Carmela notes that Chris was high at Livia's funeral. "My own mother's wake…"

i thought the phil sequence was brilliant. 'YOU POKED THE BEAR, KIDS!" And when he gagged even as he told the girls it was just hair. Ty Burrell is so good at finding this sweet, wimpy man. "Sweet and sour cherry!"

What? That makes no sense. The point is that as much as Tony talks and rants about Italians and how they were prejudiced against and exploited, and how they built so much shit, he exploits the lower class and doesn't even bother to visit the church he upholds as this symbol of Italian achievement. In short, he's full…

adriana's arc
is one of the best things the show ever did, an improvement on Pussy's informant plot. just agonizing. i always liked when tony talks about the church his forefather built, but aj then says, "then how come we don't go?" once again, tony pays lip service to an ideal he never, ever upholds.

yeah
not a great episode, but pretty good. i always liked the line when tony tells christopher that "youre going to bring the mob into the twenty first century" and chris says "but we are in the twenty first century, ton". it's not the best line, but it's a reminder of how the mob is a relic, and that tony's world is…

haha fair enough. if were talking pure music, id say lcd soundsystem as well.

If
there's any pop artist who defined the last decade, it's probably Kanye West. A lot of people hate him, he's controversial, his music sells a ton, and it's a mix of pop, rap, soul, gospel, and, at times rock. I dunno, makes sense.

good article
i agree that pop music as a whole has splintered, for better or worse. but i can say, from the perspective of a guy who goes to punk shows (and not the warped tour), that music at it's most basic has not. the underground punk rock shows i go to in san francisco and the bay area are very interconnected;…

theres a very funny henry rollins spoken word where he guests on batman and is amazed by (hes never named, but its obviously him) conroy's voice. he goes "how do you do that?" he goes, "i dunno, it just happens."

i cant say ive ever seen his other films (though i've heard nothing but praise), but i liked network's cinematic feel but how sterile it is too, like a lot of television looked, at least in the 1970s before the HBO era. perfect scene.

more fetishistic shots of blonde chicks and awesome set pieces of monuments…but yeah, pretty close. the arthur/joker scene he would've approved of.

"Well look at the size of that CAKE, man!"

I love
the Joker laughing right before he disappears, totally accepting the chaos around him; I think his jaw is a lot bigger here than in other episodes, and it makes him look even crazier. It ranks up with SPOILER the Batman funeral episode, with the Joker sighing in grief, pausing, then saying "Well that was fun!…

Maniacal laughter and psychological studies of villain/hero dynamics?