All This Time, Were You This Unprepared For War, Mr. Soprano?

I know I’ve already written a bit about the The Sopranos setup for the series finale next week….but I have to wonder….

I know there are some who think I might take this a bit too far, but I’m a strong believer that only when you allow art to suspend your disbelief — whether that be during a movie or reading a Stephen King book or playing Grand Theft Auto or listening to a song by Erykah Badu — do you allow yourself to truly enjoy the experience. And thus is the case with The Sopranos.

My, how the mighty have fallen. It wasn’t long ago after that fateful day on September 11 that I felt a bit of pride after getting an e-mail with this picture attached…

….and now, the crew from New Jersey has been relegated to this???

This is Patsy — you might not be able to recognize him when he’s haulin’ ass.

And with that and other recent events, I’ve got not other choice but to express my thoughts to the big man……

Why iPhone?

It’s been a little while since I’ve written anything even remotely tech related. Lately a lot of the questions I’ve been asked have been related to the soon-to-be-released (hopefully) iPhone from Apple. When it was first announced there seemed to be this incredible buzz. People who weren’t even into tech all that much knew about it. After a few weeks, reality set in and the mood went from, “I’ll give my firstborn child for one” to, “well, how great can it be?” Many of the inquiries seem to be coming from people who know the phone is going to be great, but want to understand more specifically how it will equal a better experience. (A la Windows Vista.)

Now that we’ve been given the actual release date – June 29 – it’s time to start deciding. Quantities are going to be limited. And with that, I’ve put together a truly random list of the reasons why I’m considering ditching Verizon Wireless after seven years of ups and downs and going with the iPhone and AT&T Wireless.

1. Signature “Apple” Industrial Design – I’ve owned several products from Apple and the one thing that is consistent across every product that you buy (among other things) is the fact that the industrial design will be great. I just bought an Acer laptop (which I took back after about 8 hours, but that’s another story). It was the complete opposite of my experience with my MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, G4 PowerBook and iPod. Each of those products wreaked of quality from the moment you open the box. Nothing feels cheap or plastic-ey. Feels good to the hand. Ergonomically friendly. Just everything about the experience of holding the devices makes you feel less self-conscious about spending a little bit more for the box with the white Apple logo on the box.

And this leads up to our expectations with the iPhone. Jonathan Ive (or Sir Jonathan Ive to you) has been the mastermind behind the incredible industrial design of the PowerBook, the iPod and so many other designs at Apple and he’s got his hands in this one too. Every feature that has been promised on the iPod works exactly the way that you expect it to. And while the iPhone may prove to be a bigger challenge than any of those previous attempts (I mean, after all, he’s effectively cramming OS X into a phone with only a touch interface) somehow I think he’ll deliver her just as he’s done in the past.

The Sopranos: The End of An Era

(This post will contain spoilers. If you haven’t ever watched the show, don’t read. Instead, go pick up Season 1 on DVD and try not to keep picking up the rest of the seasons until you’re at the point where the rest of us are….. one episode to go. Ever.)

OK…..with that said….

I was going to title this post, “In a World Where Bacala’s Aren’t Safe”, but as vague as that might seem to one who doesn’t watch the show, it would still be criminal (pardon the pun) to rob someone of the experience of watching this incredible fictional story unfold.

I recall seeing commercial after commercial one year during the Super Bowl about this new HBO series called, “The Sopranos“. I remember seeing the shots of James Gandolfini thinking, “this guy’s gonna be a wimp”. (Boy, would I learn!) With a name as strange as “The Sopranos” and knowing that the show would feature “organized crime”, I somehow concluded that this would be a show about a guy who was in the witness protection program because he “sang like a soprano”. Well, of course we know by now that the Soprano family has nothing to do with the witness protection plan (although they’ve stopped a few folks from partaking in it.)

I wasn’t an instant fan. When the DVD box set came out, I took a strange interest in the packaging. That coupled with all of the buzz about this show led me to buy Season 1 on DVD. Like everyone else, you’re immediately taken by the way that it’s shot. Every episode is more closely aligned to being a movie than a television show. And then after a few shows, you realize that either the casting was so well done that either one of two things is going on: 1) the actors are basically playing extensions of their own personality or 2) these folks have some serious acting chops. After having watched all but the final episode, it’s clear that there is truth in both of those conclusions. These actors have played their characters so well that it carried us through some of the show’s less eventful episodes. Whether it’s the acting, she storylines, the directing or the incredibly filmwork, this show deserves all of the acclaim that it has received.