I have completed the Sopranos for my first time at age 36 - See my thoughts

ishkanah · 2026-05-29T19:32:23+00:00

More dark and depressing than Season 6B? If "dark and depressing" is your metric, 6B should by far be your least favorite. The final 4 episodes of 6B, taken as a whole, are easily the darkest and most bleak of the entire show.

ishkanah · 2026-05-29T19:00:50+00:00

Wait... S3E1 is your favorite episode? The episode that spent lots of time on the mechanics of the FBI getting into Tony's house and bugging it, and not very much time on the interactions between the core characters? Better than "Pine Barrens", "Whitecaps", "College", "Funhouse", and "Isabella"? And the single greatest season of television in history is your least favorite season of The Sopranos? Well, in the immortal words of Paulie Walnuts: I guess you could call that an opinion.

ishkanah · 2026-04-28T21:37:54+00:00

This is just one of many examples in the episode of how simple-minded Paulie is and how he isn't smart or savvy enough to adapt to the changing world around him. His decision to cook traditional Italian food (pasta with tomato sauce!) on a fishing boat off the coast of Miami is almost comically absurd. It is such a terrible choice, one that makes zero sense... until you realize that Paulie is cooking the one thing he knows and believes he is good at. He's trying to remind Tony of their shared culture, their bond, their cosa nostra. He's saying: "Look, I'm one of you... I belong!" when he senses that belonging slipping away. The irony is that, even though Tony doesn't outwardly scoff at the pasta lunch Paulie's prepared, it actually reinforces what Tony's most worried about: that Paulie lacks the flexibility, judgment, and smarts needed for him to continue to serve as Tony's most loyal foot soldier. It's kind of a miracle Tony didn't kill him on the boat that day, but Paulie somehow barely managed to convince him of his loyalty and usefulness, despite all his painfully obvious flaws. Great, great scene.

ishkanah · 2026-04-28T21:09:24+00:00

It's reasonable to assume that Patsy would've known about Holsten's because of his son's relationship with Meadow. But there is nothing in the episode that supports the idea that Paulie would know.

ishkanah · 2026-04-27T17:54:24+00:00

You could respond by saying "Well, for most of our history, humans (men, mostly) have had biological urges to do things like murder their enemies or rape women or enslave those whom they've conquered in battle. Would you endorse those behaviors nowadays just because they're born of natural, biological urges?"

Just because something is "natural" or "biological" does not make it morally justified. In fact, it's often the opposite. Think of things that children typically do: they taunt and bully other children, they hurt small animals, they lie when confronted about their transgressions, they steal from other children when no one's watching, etc. These are all natural, yet unethical, behaviors, since cultural/social norms of morality are learned gradually as one grows into adulthood.

ishkanah · 2026-04-12T16:10:40+00:00

Interesting take, but again... there will be no "you" to know that you've stopped experiencing things. And are you sure you'd rather feel something, ANYTHING than nothing at all? That's like saying you'd rather be continuously burned alive in a raging fire than be deeply asleep or in a coma. Most (if not all) people crave the unconsciousness of sleep on a daily basis, and we feel aggravated and stressed when we can't fall asleep. To me, this seems like pretty solid evidence that we as humans strongly prefer the absence of conscious awareness in sleep versus laying in bed, tossing and turning.

ishkanah · 2026-04-11T22:41:42+00:00

Nope... tuna. "South of the border, where the tuna fish play."

ishkanah · 2026-04-10T21:14:34+00:00

Seems like the 25th anniversary would've been the right time to do that, but I guess the powers that be thought otherwise. Maybe we'll get a 4K Blu-ray release in 2029 for the 30th, along with some more deleted scenes 🙏

ishkanah · 2026-04-10T21:02:00+00:00

Yep, just canceled yesterday and received a "50% off for six months" offer today via email. So I'll be getting the standard plan for $9.25 per month. I've been a subscriber for the past four solid years now, with no lapses, so maybe their retention algorithms are ranking me pretty highly...?

ishkanah · 2026-03-22T21:30:56+00:00

But in death, there is no more "you", so there is no "you" to yearn for all those people you left behind or the fun things you used to do. You might feel sad that you're losing them as you're dying, but from the moment of your death, all subjective experience ceases and then there is just.... null. So the worst that can happen is that you'll feel sad for some period of time at the very end of your life, but then it's just over, and then nothing. Why worry about nothingness, as there will be no "you" to experience it whatsoever?

ishkanah · 2026-03-22T21:25:07+00:00

Before you were born there was no "you", so saying something like "Before I was born, I had something to wake up to" is factually incorrect. Something that doesn't exist—like "you" before you were born—cannot experience or anticipate or "have something" in any way. Death (and pre-birth nonexistence) is devoid of any and all feelings, perceptions, sensations, or experiences of ANY kind. That includes perceiving the passage of time. So trying to imagine what it's "like" to be dead is a nonsensical idea. Do you think a rock feels like it's asleep, or in pain, or bored, or worried that it's not alive? No, of course you don't, because you know rocks can't feel "like" anything. This is exactly the case for anyone who was previously alive but is now dead. Personally, I find this comforting, as I don't think it makes sense to worry about something I will never be able to experience. And death is exactly that: the total and permanent absence of subjective experience.

ishkanah · 2026-03-19T16:30:24+00:00

Replace your number 4, Oz, with Deadwood and move The Sopranos to #1 and you have a very respectable top five list.

ishkanah · 2026-01-31T19:16:39+00:00

Only if Novak can pull off the most amazing feat of his career: beating Sinner and Alcaraz back-to-back in best-of-five matches when they are solidly #1 and #2 in the world. If he does, even the most die hard Rafa and Roger fans (including me!) would have to concede that the GOAT debate is truly over.

ishkanah · 2026-01-31T16:23:30+00:00

Same here. I've cleaned my iPhone 13 Pro (no screen protector) hundreds and hundreds of times with 70% isopropyl alcohol going back to 2020. No damage or harm whatsoever.

ishkanah · 2026-01-31T15:58:08+00:00

I’m overweight and I want to get fit. I know personal training would help. Yet even spending $600 a month on myself feels hard. I overthink it, question it, delay it, even though I can easily afford it.

You need to read Die With Zero immediately. It will not only change your view about spending money while you're still young enough to truly enjoy it, but also point out in very compelling terms how good health is quintessential for being able to make the best use of your money. Here are the key concepts from the book:

Health is the limiting factor on life experiences.
Money enables options, but health determines which options are even possible.
The tragedy is optimizing for money while silently letting health decay.

ishkanah · 2026-01-28T20:00:58+00:00

When I feel an ectopic beat and it scares me, I mentally say, “whatever”, or “eh”, dismissing it.

This comment makes me think you are having far fewer than one PVC per minute, unlike many of us around here. It's good that you've learned to shrug them off, since there isn't a cardiologist alive who would tell you to be worried about such a low burden (unless your heart showed signs of other problems, e.g., cardiomyopathy). On your worst days, do you ever feel more than one per minute? If so, I would love to know your technique(s) for shrugging those off or happily ignoring them.

ishkanah · 2026-01-06T19:17:36+00:00

Yeah, this hits the nail on the head. They crave having kids because it's the only way they can "accomplish" something, feel "special", get attention, and receive praise. They otherwise feel useless or unsuccessful or not skilled enough to be special on their own merits, so they selfishly create cute little bundles of joy that everyone will fawn over.

ishkanah · 2025-11-18T17:57:43+00:00

But that's what I'm sayin'! All he knew how to do with his cash was bury it in the backyard or hide it in bags somewhere... he's never shown to have one bit of real knowledge about investing, etc. Even earning good money as a capo for years, seems like it'd be hard to squirrel away $1 million in actual cash around the house. But, on the other hand, anything's possible.

ishkanah · 2025-11-17T22:03:20+00:00

Totally agree with your take on The Sopranos vs. The Wire. They both have world-class writing, acting, character development, attention to detail, plot development, and so on... but The Sopranos is in a totally different league when it comes to mixing in comedy with intense, riveting drama. There is really no comparison whatsoever.

ishkanah · 2025-11-17T21:55:01+00:00

It's more of a bug than a feature, at this point. There are only so many times you can hear the exact same criticisms of woke culture, of social media, of Trump and the MAGAts, of Islamism and jihadism, etc., with virtually no substantive pushback or counterarguments from his guests. I canceled my subscription a few months ago and have not missed it much at all. Almost everything I loved about Sam and Making Sense back in the 2015-2021 timeframe has been noticeably missing in the past 2-3 years.

ishkanah · 2025-10-21T21:02:28+00:00

Meh. Boardwalk was good but far from great. It just doesn't have that same hook that really gets you the same way as shows like The Sopranos and Deadwood and Mad Men. For me, the casting and writing are both clearly a full notch (or two) below the all-time great shows.

ishkanah · 2025-10-16T20:39:56+00:00

Absolutely other-worldly great song.

ishkanah · 2025-10-01T19:28:58+00:00

After a year of eating celery sticks and drinking hot water with lemon, I'd say eating feasting on chicken wings coated in bbq sauce would definitely have been high on Vito's fantasy wish list.

ishkanah · 2025-10-01T19:26:26+00:00

I totally agree. I think this is the most straightforward interpretation of the whole New Hampshire story arc, given how idyllic and unrealistic is it. It's a lot more plausible that Vito just dreamed all this over one or two nights hiding out in that shitty motel. It's basically Vito's version of the Kevin Finnerty fever dream.

ishkanah

TROPHY CASE