Jame Gandolfini also passed away. He was a very good actor but I don't know if he is as great as some are saying. I mean his range was limited. But who the fuck am I to criticize him.
He was not my favorite movie heavy. I would put people like Lee Marvin and Richard Boone and Charles Bronson and Ernie Borgnine over him but he is not out of the discussion.
I have to admit I was worried for him in the last episodes of the Sopranos. I mean he was really fat and he couldn't breathe and was weezing and coughing.
He reminded me of me.
Rest in peace Jimmy. You died too young.
37 comments:
My mother and father had a love hate relationship with Slim Whitman. He was way before my time--hell, he may have been way before most living American's time and place. Anyways, my Dad liked him or at least pretended to like him when my mother was around. There something about him that bugged her. Maybe it was his warbly singing voice. I need to go find the song that bugged her. bbl
Oh and I found it! Indian Love Call. He yodels!
I can see why there was friction between the two on Slim Whitman. That song hit the charts in 1952, just around the time when my dad was in the service in Germany and probably thinking about amorous things with the "natives." My mom would have been around 15 at the time--way too young to find Mr invented-the-porn-stache interesting. Elvis hit the scene a couple years later and that probably defined "going native" in a young teenaged girl's mind (wasn't Elvis part Cherokee?).
Was this at all on topic?
Oh and here's a link between Native Americans and Sicilians: Iron Eyes Cody
Gandolfini hated the press and avoided interviews. He did a lot for veterans. I just saw an interview of a vet who was having psych problems. Gandolfini gave him his cell and told him to call anytime. You don't have to know much more than that. The people who worked w/ him adored him as a person. There are better actors. But, I can think of none that better matched the character he played..Tony Soprano.
Bruce, Are you blowing weed?
@Nick: Hardly. I fail to see what excites people about weed. I got over that phase in HS.
Oh and Slim Whitman passed away yesterday too. I know he was to Blighty what Jerry Lewis is to France, but hey.
I never watched The Sopranos so I'm unfit to judge. I do get suspicious when others fawn so much accolade all at once. Especially a woman who gushed over "Milk" but was reluctant to see "Gran Torino." It just ain't right.
I get along with the mob. I worked alongside the Madison mob. My boss had a heart attack in his 50's but he survived it.
I have been watching The Sopranos for the second time recently. Just finished season 4, last epi "Whitecaps".
I think James Gandolfini did a great job on that show. The creator of the show, David Chase gave him high praise. Those who worked with him said he was a good guy.
All I know is what I see on the screen - and I think he did a great job. Somehow he made Tony Soprano sympathetic - the dude killed more than one person with his bare hands, for cryin' out loud. Yet Gandolfini humanized Tony S. I don't know how many other actors could have done such a good job over 6 seasons and 86 episodes.
On the second go round one notices things that one missed on the first pass - the malapropisms, the accent, Gandolfini's ability to show emotion - he was very good at that. Chase said he was a Mozart of acting. Yeah, Wolfie died too young, too. Bad comparison.
After hearing of his death I did some reading on what took place in the last episode of the series. David Chase is a very good director and story teller - I think I am not so good at watching, after reading his explanation of "Made in America". And while it is obvious that the ending was such that there could have never been a follow-up or sequel, James Gandolfini's death now rules out any kind of rehash of that saga.
As for Whitman, I read Leaves of Grass. I saw Bull Durham and after Nuke Laloosh said what he said, and it being a Durham story and all, I read the poems. Fascinating stuff.
Walt's nickname was Slim, am I right?
Speaking of Walt, I am also watching Breaking Bad - yet another series that is well written and directed. I don't think we would have Walter White if we hadn't had Tony Soprano, just sayin'.
How about the trees in The Sopranos, Sixty. Were they "arboreal"?
I covered Slim Whitman when I heard the news...
As for Gandolfini, he was not the greatest actor for any role, but for the role of Tony Soprano it is hard to imagine anyone doing that job better. He had the perfect combination of regular Jersey guy combined with flashes of sociopathic violence. He was reasonably versatile in other roles. I will miss him.
Gandolfini did a lot of fundraising after 9/11, he helped vets and was respected by those who worked with him. What more can you say?
I am sorry we lost him.
Ever since you schooled us on the fake trees being a reason to dismiss the originality and value of "Justified" I've always noticed the trees. So what about the trees Sixty. Was it all filmed on location in Joy-sy?
I was in the Bay Area when Dan White diminished his capacity and gave us that monster DiFi. I don't need to see any Milk movie to know that story.
Haven't seen Gran Torino - don't like Fords and think Clint has gone kind of wobbly on us - sure, the chair shtick was good, but really Clint? Dirty Harry would have used a .44 magnum, the most powerful (sic) handgun in the world, and sorted out the problem once and for all.
Evi L. Bloggerlady said...
I covered Slim Whitman when I heard the news...
Crap, I should have given you those comments instead of Troop. Sorry.
What about the trees, Sixty...
Trees in Joisey? You fuckin' kiddin' me, you mook?
Actually, it was filmed on location all over northern NJ, but an example of being just plain wrong was the episode "Pine Barrens", which was not filmed any near the actual Pine Barrens, which are in the southern part of the state. All I am sayin' is that the park where it was filmed was mostly pine-free.
But as to the mystery of what happened to Valery, ah, some things we are not supposed to know.
So yes, the trees were correct, the locations were changed to protect the guilty and Jersey has never looked better. Not a freakin' eucalyptus to be seen anywhere. No pepper trees. No redwoods. Just Y*nkee trees as far as the eye can see.
So yes, the trees were correct,..
Arborealistic
Trees in Joisey? You fuckin' kiddin' me, you mook?
I'm pretty sure I couldn't distinguish NJ from DE--people would have to open their mouths and talk.
Though I can easily distinguish a 'Sconish accent from a Minnish one.
We used to vacation in Delaware when I was a yute. Jersey was a place where one rolled up one's windows and tried not to die from the pollution or malevolent forces. Just a place to endure on the way to Cape Cod or Maine.
As far as trees go, the Delmarva peninsula is all pretty much the same. As I mentioned, the Pine Barrens are a unique ecosystem, and one that I have not spent any time in.
For me piney woods are what we have around here - long leaf pines and plenty of Southern Yellow pine varieties and so on.
I remember when I was a kid and we were coming back to the city from wherever (it's all mixed up in my mind now after all these years but it was from either upstate New York, Pennsylvania or South Jersey) there was a bridge, a land bridge, endless girders, that took you over Secaucus and the smell that came up! Nothing helped. Close all the windows hold your nose and still the smell of the pig farms of Secaucus was like a THING to be endured. I don't even know if they have pig farms in Secaucus anymore. Other times other mores. There's latin for that. Sixty probably knows it, I don't. FAIL!
I never watched "Sopranos".
He was great in "The Last Castle".
He apparently yelled at Glenn Beck and freaked out his kids (one of whom has cerebral palsy) at a public restaurant.
I have a Pin Oak in front and a Plane or London Plane as I was taught to call it in back. They're both trees with presence. The Pin Oak has so many trunks that it like sprays into the sky. I have two Maples close to the house that are nothing much. You'd think a Maple of all trees would have character but those two are dud Maples. I have a tree that flowers in the spring, a great froth of white. Then it calms down. An Ash? Lots of Pines that I can't really relate to as the other trees are more withit modern beings, like me! whereas the pines are antediluvian. But all are Yankees. My kinda people.
Bruce, When I lived in KC there were many Slim Whitman ads on late night tv. I think he was big in the Mo., Ak, Ok. region. He fits the category of "I thought he died a long time ago."
Gandolfini was great; no doubt about that. But I'm not going to re-watch ONE episode and steam up my panties about him.
He was a gifted actor who had the benefit of brilliant scripts, and was surrounded by an equally gifted cast.
Slim Whitman saved earth from Matians. That was something.
Martians, dern it.
The Pine Barrens episode was filmed in New York State at Harriman State Park, just across the border from Jersey. The reason was the script called for snow and there was no snow in the pine barrens. Harriman State Park is pretty too, but it definitely is not pine barrens (mostly red and black oaks with hemlocks and some white pine).
The Jersey Pine Barrens are beautiful and very similar to coastal pine forests in North Carolina. A mix of virginia pine and scarlet oaks, stunted from the high acid sandy soil (which is absolutely perfect for growing blue berries and cranberries). Lots of tupelo and some virginia magnolia too. In the fall the oak trees are especially amazing, but because it is so flat you can't appreciate the forest like you can in Vermont.
Still, it is not like seeking Southern California eucalyptus and live oaks passed off as east coast. And for the most part the Sopranos filmed at the locations they were claiming to film at.
Yes Jersey has trees. North Jersey especially does. The stinky parts are around Camden (which is a fucking hell hole) and the industrial areas outside of Newark and Elizabeth.
Slim Whitman ads were common everywhere in the seventies and eighties and then disappeared.
The news stories about him all end with the same line: Slim Whitman told the AP in 1991 that he wanted to be remembered as “a nice guy.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever heard anything bad about me, and I’d like to keep it that way. I’d like my son (Bryon) to remember me as a good dad. I’d like the people to remember me as having a good voice and a clean suit.”
A short list. I'm awed by the fact that he was married to the same woman for 67 years. The wiki says "Paul McCartney credited a poster of Whitman with giving him the idea of playing his guitar left-handed with his guitar strung the opposite way to a right-handed player's." If so, it's another one of those odd ways one life touches another.
The wiki says "Paul McCartney credited a poster of Whitman with giving him the idea of playing his guitar left-handed with his guitar strung the opposite way to a right-handed player's."
This in turn enabled McCartney to stand face-to-face-with John Lennon and "mirror" each other on stage--something which he partially credited with their unique synergy. I can't remember where I read that--it may have been in Keith Richards' biography.
And Slim Whitman sold more albums than the Beatles and Elvis combined...or at least that is what the ads claimed.
Chick, the comments are fine here.
I have a Pin Oak in front and a Plane or London Plane as I was taught to call it in back. They're both trees with presence.
Pin oaks can be a nice tree. They are tough and make good street trees. Generally they do not multi trunk, but they can.
London Plane is a hybrid of American Sycamore and Chinese Sycamore (the x was done in London, hence the name). The American Sycamore is a big tree but it likes river bottoms and wet ground. The London Plane is smaller but thrives in urban environments, a variety of climates, and is pretty disease resistant. Which is why you see them planted all over the world (other than the tropics and far north).
there was a bridge, a land bridge, endless girders, that took you over Secaucus...
Probably the Pulaski Skyway. It runs from Jersey City to Newark over the southerly half of the Meadowlands. You see it in the opening credits of the Sopranos.
There are and were bridges in Secaucus, but not big girder ones like you are describing.
James Gandolfini's last supper...
Like Jon Hamm he was the perfect fit a very well written series. Most TV guys don't make it to the big screen, so JG didn't make much a splash outside of Sopranos.
Yeah Slim Whitman ads were EVERYWHERE in the 70s and 80s. My mother liked him, so I was able to listen to a few of his songs.
I never got it. But then my mother liked Neil Diamond, Tom Jones, Liberace, and Babs Streisand.
Give me Johnny Cash.
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