A Little of the Old In and Out



(image via hbo)

In: The Soranos. Tony Soprano's coma has afforded David Chase the opportunity to excercise his inner Signor Fellini. Slap-happy Tibetan monks notwithstanding, the rambling fugue-state adventures of Kevin Finity in search of his lost identity ("Who am I? Where am I going?") by way of his lost passport in episode 67 are fucking intriguing. Longtime fans of the show will no doubt lament the lack of gangland-style executions, but The Corsair is, quite frankly, loving the slower pacing of the storyline and the muscular existentiality of this new season.

Tony lies in the hospital, vulnerable, splayed open like a side of beef. (Averted Gaze) One can only think of Dr.William Beaumont, the father of gastric physiology, and his masterpiece "Gastric Juice and the Physiology" in those moments. We have never seen Tony Soprano so vulnerable and brought low.

AJ, like Telemachus to the missing Odysseus, is adrift on a sea of Nothingness himself (he flunked out of school, not insignificantly due to Philosophy) without the guidance of his father at this Either-Or juncture of his development. Chris-tuh-fuh, also Telemachus-ish in his abject rudderlessness, is left to carry out a perceived revenge -- Justice -- against Uncle Junior, the man who put Tony down like a dog.

Meanwhile his former Lieutenents -- like the Thumotic suitors in Homer's Odyssey -- darkly fill the void and divvy up among themselves the House of Soprano. But will "Silv" and the others step aside and relinquish the reins of power so recently aquired should Tony, the Sleeper, suddenly awake?

In other words, true believers: The Corsair loves this new Sopranos season.



(image via michaelynaugh)

Out: Katherine Harris. Priceless. Katherine Harris has finally gone and done it -- she's Jumped the Shark among both the Republicans and Democrat arenas. But that's not going to stop her by now crazy-insane lust for a seat in the United States Senate. Pumped full of Thumoeideutic zestiness, the impossibly ambitious Congresswoman from Florida's 13th district, who is allegedly an embarrasment -- a nightmare even -- to the on-message Roveites, is not heeding the calls from Republican Party bigs to hold off on her Senate campaign, to for the right timing. And she's getting Biblical.

According to TBO (via Drudgie-poo):

"U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris continued her attempt to take her campaign to national television and to add religious overtones to her quest for a U.S. Senate seat with an appearance on ABC News 'Nightline' Tuesday.

"Harris told John Donvan, of 'Nightline,' that she intends to sell all her personal assets to fund the race. 'My husband has real estate, but I will not own anything.'

"Since making a pledge last week to put $10 million of her money into the race, Harris has made the phrase 'putting everything on the line' a new campaign theme.

"'I am willing to take this widow's mite, this pearl of great price, and put everything on the line,' she told Donvan. 'No matter how much you have, are you willing to take what you have and sell it all for a great price?'"

Nuttier than an Almond Joy, this Harris; but she's got the code words down pat:

"... Harris also has added a religious component to her campaign. The phrases 'widow's mite' and 'pearl of great price' both are biblical.

"Widow's mite, in the Book of Mark, refers to a poor widow witnessed by Jesus contributing a tiny amount of money - a mite - to the temple treasury while wealthy people contributed large sums. Jesus said the widow gave more because she 'cast in all that she had.'

"In the Book of Matthew, Jesus refers to the kingdom of heaven in terms of a man selling all he has to buy a pearl of great price - giving his all for a great reward."

We wonder, earnestly (and tongue-in-cheek), what the New Testament says about those tens of thousands in illegal campaign contributions, Congresswoman Harris. Hmm? (Averted Gaze)



(image via entertainment-news)

In: Roger Ebert. Cinematical reminds us that Pulitzer Prize winning film critic and former Oprah date Roger Ebert unveils the list from his Overlooked Film Festival -- Ebertfest -- today. Vole-like auteur Vincent Gallo is thankfully not represented here. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) Says Martha Fisher:

"For eight years now, megacritic Roger Ebert has put together a festival featuring films he loves that he feels have been overlooked and neglected. What's great about the festival is that Ebert's status is such that people pay attention to it, and the attention he bestows on films simply by choosing them can have an impact. Featured at last year's festival, for example, were Murderball and Me and You and Everyone We Know, both of which received tremendous acclaim as the year wore on.

"This year's slate of films is just as diverse as those of past festivals, and includes My Fair Lady (screening in 70mm!), The David Schwimmer-starrer Duane Hopwood (Ebert describes Schwimmer's performance as 'brilliant,' and the film as one of the best indie features he saw last year), Man Push Cart (which impressed Kim at Sundance), and Bad Santa."

More here.



(image via justjared)

Out: Tom Cruise. When not singlehandedly doing battle with the forces of the dred galactic lord Xenu (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment), The Cruiser breaks off a chunk of his busy schedule -- but he was still 45 minutes late -- to cultivate the techies. (Avertd Gaze) Apparently, Tom Cruise visited former Warner Brothers co-chief Terry Semel, presently of Yahoo! at their Sunnyvale headquarters for a little Q & A. Says Valleywag (via iwantmedia):

"Tom Cruise just made it to Yahoo HQ for his Q&A time, says my man on the scene. And he brought Katie! 'Just a few more weeks' til the baby, sez Tom.

"Before Tom made it, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel gave a warm-up, telling the crowd of Yahoos that 'hell no,' they didn't pay Tom to come ('He does a 20mil movie and gets a big part of the gross so he's doing just fine'), and that Top Gun boy flew himself in today.

"My Yahoo correspondent liveblogs via IM, after the jump.

"12:46: creative commons questionie the remix etc is it a threat or an opportunity?

"tom: the potential of the creation of it is excitign. not a threat at all.hm. terry is talking about protecting people's rights and believing in that. seemd an oblique anti cc but not sure tom hints at something 'i don't know if you want to talk about it right now or not. it's up to you terry' paramount and tom are putting some exclusive content on yahoo more than that would be giving away trade secrets

"12:39: terry is talking a lot more than tom, terry's telling an old tale of terry and tom

"tom: 'don't you remember? the guy with the harpoon ...

"terry: 'i'm not gonna go there'"

Oh, come on Terry. Tell us about the guy with the "harpoon" and Tom. Enquiring minds want to know! More here.

Cruise video here.



(image via ohnotheydidnt)

In: American Idol. American Idol is the cash cow that keeps giving. It will keep Simon Cowell buried in supply of fresh porn stars and condoms until at least the next decade. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) Cingular has announced that they will be selling ringtones of live performances from the show -- for $2.49 each -- made within 24 hours of broadcast. And the ratings, according to Drudgie-poo are thus, in characteristic all caps (Averted Gaze), "FOX 'IDOL' BUILDS AUDIENCE OVER PREVIOUS WEEK [AGAIN]... 19.9 RATING/29 SHARE BLOWS OUT ALL COMPETITION TUES. NITE; 45 SHARE MAX IN ATLANTA; 36 SHARE DC; 35 SHARE TAMPA; 34 SHARE MAX IN BOSTON..."