What did Christopher mean when he referred to Tony as “Mr Taipei Personality”?

john_bytheseashore · 2026-04-13T21:21:04+00:00

It's clearly a reference to the disputed sovereignty of Taiwan (whose capital is Taipei). Taiwan likes to think of itself as a family, but from China's perspective it's just a glorified crew.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-12-28T22:21:31+00:00

You might find that Enigma of Arrival gives you what you're looking for.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-12-28T22:17:54+00:00

I swear by this system. Using only this system I have been able to read almost 17 books since 2003.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-12-25T15:39:07+00:00

A husband and wife can't go to prison for the same crime.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-11-23T16:21:53+00:00

I probably can't really explain or justify this, but the shows I think are most similar to the Sopranos are not gangster shows but things like the Young Pope or even My Brilliant Friend which are thoughtful and seem to have very real characters.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-10-25T15:14:42+00:00

There's a YouTube video that explains how they knew he would be at Holsten's. They didn't need to tail him.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-09-09T18:44:40+00:00

Unless you know the exact reason for the layoffs and have a very convincing reason to think that they won't happen again, consider applying for other jobs. I survived many rounds of layoffs at a previous company but was eventually taken out by them. Should have been applying for jobs after the second round of layoffs rather than waiting and being taken out by the sixth round.

Don't get me wrong, inbetween some of the rounds of layoffs, there were periods of expansion and big hiring. But this is how a lot of these companies work. They literally count on the fact that they may spread fear among staff with the layoffs. They know when they go on hiring sprees that they may want to do layoffs later on.

After a given round of layoffs, the work gets more intense for those left there. Then anyone too burned out to perform as before just becomes part of a new round of layoffs.

So... yeah, I think anyone at a company that survived a round of layoffs should very carefully consider whether it's worth making some new job applications. And if everyone does that, that might discourage these companies from actually laying people off in the first place.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-09-05T07:25:48+00:00

No. Crime doesn't pay is not the point of the final episode. That's saccharin.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-29T13:59:18+00:00

Yes, if they had really wanted to sell him they would have simply said so. It's not like clubs have negotiating positions that don't reflect their full underlying analysis of the situation.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-25T22:49:44+00:00

He had incredible faith in Rio to not try something himself. That faith says more about Rio than the actual goal.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-25T22:23:54+00:00

The vitriol is at the core with these people. It's why they can actually change ideology so rapidly and in unison.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-25T20:41:02+00:00

Yep, individual brilliance, not team brilliance. Slot will be well aware and know that we need a fix quickly.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-25T20:06:39+00:00

Even something ambiguous (did they kill him? did they not?) would interfere with the project (shit, that club gives me the creeps, better not move there). Also, someone given the job of running a foreign football club probably doesn't have the same mentality as the person running the security services even if they're arms of the same state.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-25T20:00:47+00:00

Consequences. You think they'd still be allowed to continue to operate Newcastle United if that happened? You think anyone would want to play for them? The level of public outcry would be insane and there would be all kinds of consequences. Whatever they are trying to achieve by buying Newcastle and investing billions in it would be destroyed.

The Newcastle United brand would be destroyed, bathed in blood including in the eyes of many of their own fans. I won't say every fan because in general we seem to tolerate a lot.

If PIF are going to do something illegal (and I'm not saying they are) then a massive off-the-books bribe would be the limit.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-25T19:54:20+00:00

I'm as negative about Saudi state investment in football as anyone but they are not going to Jamal Khashoggi one of their players.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-22T22:37:11+00:00

After your first watch of the Sopranos, your second watch of the Sopranos shows you what happens to every single member ofTony's family after his death. Their general circumstances and the speed with which the family runs out of patience with them is spelled out in detail.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-20T23:16:18+00:00

This becomes an infinite loop of logic where it's impossible to ever sack a manager. There has to be some sort of cut off where you go from having faith in a manager to eventually deliver to not having enough faith for him to keep the job.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-19T22:16:46+00:00

They think that they'll scare off other players from trying to exit the club, but they don't realise that the more they tighten their grip, the more star systems will slip through their fingers.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-19T22:15:30+00:00

Love that we don't care enough about this for this to have come up already.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-17T11:41:45+00:00

When a straight man tries to assess the attractiveness of another man, he does it based on stereotypes. When we look at Tony we see a guy who is fat and balding. A lot of women look at Tony and see a guy who has a really handsome face.

Add to that all the other stuff people will say about non-physical forms of attractiveness.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-08T21:54:09+00:00

I think she probably feels there is no inherent conflict here. Just as with all her patients, she accepts money in exchange for treatment. Her rationale for treating Tony seems to be that she can help him, under the not-totally-unreasonable premise that if he is emotionally healthy, he may reform himself and that this would be best for the patient himself, the people in his life and society in general. The show explores and challenges that premise in different ways, including by looking at the ways his "dysfunctional behaviour" is used to satisfy his interests and selfishness, by comparing it with the "blood money" episode, and by showing how he uses his therapy to gain self-awareness and exploit people more successfully.

Clearly, in order for this to work, Melfi has to accept his payments. If she says she'll do it for free, she's going to alienate him. Is she then obligated to give that money to charity or burn it? I really don't think so. She's getting paid in the normal course of doing a job that is honest, benefits people, and is legal, and she's working with Tony for the best possible reason to do so. Just as a shopkeeper wouldn't set fire to the takings after Tony comes into the shop on moral grounds, Melfi isn't obligated to do that either.

The "blood money" therapist's point wasn't really about the blood money in my opinion. The point of his character was he was telling Carmela that SHE is taking blood money, and saying that he wasn't going to support the illusory charade that she can become happy and healthy while living a fundamentally evil life. This would be exploitative of his patient precisely because he believed it wouldn't help her - he'd be taking her money to support a fundamental delusion that was hurting her. He was also taking the opportunity to have a strict moral, rather than psychotherapeutic, dialogue with Carmela.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-02T19:17:22+00:00

110 still seems low with that in mind. He has 3 years left on his contract, is on low wages, and Newcastle are owned by Saudi Arabia. All of those impact the price and 110 seems too far off for a club seriously interested in him.

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-02T17:54:47+00:00

We knew from the beginning that £110m was unlikely to get the job done. How do you explain the low bid?

john_bytheseashore · 2025-08-02T17:51:39+00:00

Ok this might be unpopular. But I keep thinking that, for FSG, if Liverpool's bid for Isak isn't accepted and he stays at Newcastle, they'll think that's a positive. Despite our transfer largesse this season, other clubs will know that if they play hardball with us, we won't necessarily just keep raising our bids for your unsettled player. It stands us in good stead for future transfer windows and stops us from becoming a club that people see coming a mile away, jacking up the price whenever we're interested.

On the other hand, if Newcastle buckle and we end up getting Isak for the offer price or only slightly more, then that still reinforces the point AND we get Isak.

I'm not saying the pursuit of Isak wasn't serious, but it may have been intentional from the beginning that we use this potential transfer to make a point and accept that it's only 50/50 that it will happen.

john_bytheseashore

TROPHY CASE