#'top gun got people back ti the movie theaters' in what universe. did we all collectively firget no way home last year

[cinnamon-toast-cronch]

watching top gun getting nominated for prestigious awards while nope has gotten jack squat is my joker moment. if I have to to watch top gun maverick win a fucking oscar I'm going to go ballistic

[aion-rsa]

The Sopranos Didn’t Terminate Robert Patrick, They Busted Him Out

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The Many Saints of Newark will tell stories about things our friends, and friends of friends, did before the events on The Sopranos. We’ll see a young Paulie Gualtieri, Silvio Manfred Dante, and Artie Bucco, all who knew Tony Soprano as a kid. One childhood friend you might not see is a prequel version of Davey Scatino. Last we heard, in the appropriately named episode “The Telltale Moozadell,” he’s now “in a mental health facility in Nevada.”

Robert Patrick is probably best known for playing the cyborg T-1000 in Terminator 2. It is an iconic role in science fiction cinema, as memorable as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character. Patrick had to fill the shoes, suits, and unimaginative ties worn by David Duchovny’s Fox Mulder when he stepped into the last two seasons of The X-Files, as Agent John Doggett. He stumbled into playing against himself on The Walking Dead. Patrick is a skilled antagonist. Whether torturing misfits on the football field in The Faculty or making Joaquin Phoenix’s Johnny Cash Walk the Line, villainy comes quite naturally to the veteran actor. Patrick went in a seemingly different direction on The Sopranos, playing a pathetic, losing gambler who gets in too deep. But is he really a victim, or is this his most antagonizing role?

“When a guy hands you a light envelope, it’s just the beginning,” Richie Aprile (David Proval) warns Davey. Scatino is a nickel and dime player when he first sits in at Aprile’s card games, but when the numbers get large, Aprile does the honorable thing: He bars Davey from any game in town. Richie is not the bad guy here. “I know, it’s just a stutter step,” he offers, understandingly.

Davey doesn’t double down, though. That’s for suckers. He gets into the “Executive Game” with high rollers like Frank Sinatra Jr. and the New York family boss. It costs five boxes of ziti just to buy in. Davey lies to crash the high stakes game, lies to Christopher Moltisanti about how much money he can lay out, and has the balls to act surprised when Richie generously offers to stab him in his eye. Again, not the bad guy, or he would have done it, and with justification. Scatino is down $45,000 at the end of the night. This is on top of what he owes Aprile.

“What you think? I’m still the kid on the school bus,” Tony asks Davey before everything comes tumbling down. We don’t have to be told. This is not a new problem. Tony had Davey pegged from the time he landed at his school. The army brat who’d lived all over never learns his lesson. He makes bets he can’t cover and plays until he’s empty. Even Artie Bucco knows not to lend Stacino $20k for some “breathing room.” Artie says he has to pay for a new roof for his restaurant, but it’s because he already knows everything is going to fall on his friend’s head, and he’d never get his money back.

First Davey tells Tony’s collection guy he has a dentist’s appointment, forcing the boss himself to make a house call. Then Davey tries to leverage how their kids are so close, go to the same school, and how he pegged a guy in the head on some trip. As a show of goodwill, he offers up his son Eric’s SUV as a down-payment. Tony accepts and gives it to Meadow, who has driven in it enough to know where it came from. Carmela gives Tony agita over it because Davey’s brother-in-law is close to the provost at Georgetown, and she might have to make more ricotta pies for Meadow’s college.

“This kid’s father, he’s a fuckin degenerate gambler, but he’s also a respected businessman in the community and everything that goes along with that,” Tony tells his therapist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). “So, it becomes my fault that he lost his kid’s car? I gotta look after him because he’s a sick bastard?”

Davey’s arc starts in Season 2, Episode 6, “The Happy Wanderer,” when we meet him and his son, Eric, while they are checking out colleges. He also appears in “Bust Out” and “Funhouse.” Patrick “met David Chase for a film a couple of years prior to him coming up with the idea, or at least selling the idea, of The Sopranos,” he told Movieweb. “Then he sent me the script for “The Happy Wanderer” and said, ‘I see you in this role. It’s against type, you’ll never be cast this way, but I think it’s a brilliant idea.’”

While the character Davey is only vaguely familiar with the concept of luck, the actor was on a roll. The unfortunate gambler role came while Patrick was preparing to work on All the Pretty Horses, and director Billy Bob Thornton “asked me to go on a starvation diet, really lose some weight and try to look deathly for this character,” he told Movieweb. “David didn’t know that I was that light and that vulnerable. But anyway, it just worked.”

This is where the acting genius of Robert Patrick is most evident. He knows playing the victim on a show about villains makes him the antagonist, and he started early. While speaking on the podcast “Talking Sopranos,” Patrick told Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa that he started needling the star of the show from the moment they met.

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“I had never met Mr. Gandolfini,” Patrick said in the interview. “I am out front on a bench smoking a cigarette with Jimmy after we’d just done this read through. And we’re trying to get to know each other a little bit because we’re supposed to be high school buddies. As the conversation was winding up, I said to him, ‘You know the scene where you come to get your money, you better bring your fucking A-game.’ And he looked at me said, ‘Oh, I’ll bring my fucking A-game,’” and flicked his cigarette at the former T-1000.

The first scene the two actors shot was when Tony shows up at Ramsey Sports and Outdoors to collect the high-stakes game money. In the “Talking Sopranos” interview, Patrick said Gandolfini told him was hungover, they did it in “one take, and he scared the living shit out of me. I was so intimidated. What a fantastic experience.” He also said he attended a Gamblers Anonymous meeting to prepare for the role, and learned that a lot of people got hooked on gambling because “it made them feel powerful, like John Wayne or Sean Connery.”

That power fades as fast as any promise a scorpion makes a frog when Tony yells “get the fuck back in your fuckin hole now” to the kid he knew on the school bus, before offering a consolatory “Davey, you’re doing a good job.” In “Bust Out,” Tony and Richie become partners in Ramsey Sports and Outdoors. When David married his wife Christine, her father owned the sporting goods store, and after he died it went to her. Because Christine’s name is on the title, Davey can’t mortgage it, so Tony’s crew takes inventory.

The Soprano/Aprile venture runs up credit for bulk orders, buying barber scissors, airline tickets, and red picnic coolers. “Everybody wants one, nobody has a fucking idea how much they cost,” Richie says. “You put a Nigerian selling these on the streets for a couple/three bucks apiece, who’s not gonna say gimme one?” In a friendly late-night chat, Tony says it’s just bankruptcy fraud, and Davey will be “free and clear” when it’s over. It could have gone the other way, Tony says, explaining how he would then be crying. It’s business. His business.

Davey doesn’t even notice his kid gets into Georgetown. He’s got the muzzle of a gun in his mouth at one point, and is almost begging for his brother-in-law, Victor Musto, to beat him senseless. It is a brilliant demise on a series filled with shallow graves and burials in deep seas.

Liquidation trucks take away whatever’s left of Ramsey Sport & Outdoor except the property for sale sign. During Meadow’s high school graduation celebration in “Funhouse,” Davey tells Tony that Eric is going to Montclair State University, paid for by his brother-in-law. He also says he’s divorcing Christine and got a job as a ranch hand out west. Not too far from Vegas.

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The Many Saints of Newark hits theaters Oct. 1 and will stream on HBO Max for the month of October.

The post The Sopranos Didn’t Terminate Robert Patrick, They Busted Him Out appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Jamy Ann Caballero

Emeli Sande grew up in northern Scotland as the daughter of a Zambian schoolteacher father and British mother. In an interview with Matt Diehl of interviewmagazine.com, Sande says that growing up biracial in a “completely white community” made her feel “very different, and couldn’t find a place to fit in, which made me very shy and introverted. But I found refuge in music.” Gospel music, specifically. In another interview with Rolling Stone, Sande states: “I just love gospel… That’s one of the first genres of music I started to listen to as a kid. It’s something I really identified with being up in Scotland and feeling like I didn’t really fit in.”  Prior to her music career, Sande studied Clinical Neuroscience at the Glasgow University before making the decision to pursue music full time. It was not until the creation of her debut album Our Version of Events in 2012 that Sande came to the US to share her music--a year that was rumored to be ‘end of the world’.

In lieu of Sande’s burgeoning music career, 2012 also brought about a number of political and environmental (specifically, global warming) conflicts in American history: the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting; the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting; the death of 2,000 American troops due to the 11th year of the Afghan War (CBS News); Hurricane Sandy killing nearly 300 people; the beginning of the North American drought that had “nearly two-thirds of the continental US...suffering from moderate or extreme drought” (Mark, Top Ten Environmental Stories of 2012), and the anti-Obama riot at Ole Miss that took place in response to President Obama’s 2012 re-election (Hahn, Political Racism in the Age of Obama).

2012’s pop-culture scene also includes the rise of British soul vocalist Adele, with whom Sande shares a first name with. This becomes an important detail in the process of creating Sande’s public image. In an interview with Matt Diehl of Interview Magazine, Sande shares, “When I started seeing how well Adele was doing, I thought, Man, I have to change my name! I needed to distinguish myself as an artist”. Sande’s statement supports a quote from Decurtis’ discussion of performing units regarding the ‘role’ rock stars adopt during their careers: “Rock stars do not transform or animate the creation of another; they make themselves up as they go along” (Decurtis,15). This is exactly what Sande did in her decision to adopt her musically inclined Zambian grandmother’s name ‘Emeli’, Sande stating in an interview with Kate Waterhouse of The Sydney Morning Herald, “I kind of feel like it helps me get into entertainer, work mode.” The fact that Sande describes the name‘Emeli’ as a signal that puts her into “work mode” further supports Decurtis’ emphasis on the artificiality of performers, and how “performers are constructs” (Decurtis, 17).

Additionally, to further distinguish herself from the already nationally renowned soul singer Adele, Sande is notably tied to her short, platinum blond hair, a hairstyle decision she made after leaving the medical field to pursue music in London. In an interview with Glamour.com, Sande claims her shorter hair gives her “that sense of liberation...when your hair is so big or defining it starts to get in the way, so I can feel that liberation that’s kind of spreading now.” The ‘liberation’ Sande describes is a mutual feeling often felt by women throughout the ages during counter-hegemonic movements (ie. flapper girls acting ‘non-lady-like’ in the 1920s, women entering the workforce during WWII, etc.) . Short hair is a polysemy that can be decoded as symbolism for change, a rejection and redefining of feminity against social norms, or even dishonor in some cultures. For Sande, choosing to utilize her edgy short hair as part of her signature look to distinguish herself from Adele’s long, golden locks, is, therefore, a contributing factor to her performing unit, or public image, as a performer. The utilization of short hair as a polysemy can be compared to the in-class lecture discussion of the role of safety pins in punk culture (ie. punk culture appropriation of safety pin as a fashion staple vs. middle-class suburban interpretation of safety pin to hold diapers together).  

Emeli Sande’s song ‘Hope’ is a part of her 2012 album Our Version of Events. It was co-written with famous R&B singer and mentor to Sande, Alicia Keys. Keys, who is known to be actively involved in charity work, is also an ambassador and co-founder of Keep a Child Alive, a charity program that aims to combat the fight against HIV/AIDS.

In this video, depicted is Sande performing at the 2012 Sports Relief concert, a British organization that donates proceeds earned from athletic fundraisers to vulnerable populations in the UK and across the world. Aspects that make up Sande’s performing unit for this show include dark blue hues of lighting surround Sande as a single a single spotlight shines on her playing the piano, while pictures of children living in poverty are shown in a video in the background. The blue lighting accompanied by images of impoverished children in the background is intended to evoke emotions of guilt in viewers, persuading them to donate to the Sports Relief cause. Though Sande did not write this song specifically for this event, I feel Hope  is the perfect song for this event, for Sande’s lyrical writing makes is so impactful, each line in containing a plea for action: “Louder I cannot hear you/ How can things be better left unsaid?” & “See nobody here is blameless/I hope that we can fix all that we’ve done”.

As the song progresses, Sande lists the changes she wishes to see in the world, covering topics from racial discrimination:“I really hope Martin can’t see this/I hope that we still have a dream”, child poverty: “I hope that that the world stops raining/stops turning it’s back on the young”, selfishness, greed, and judgemental ideology that dominates society: “I hope we start seeing forever/Instead of what we can gain in a day” & “I hope we start seeing each other/ Cause don’t we all bleed the same?” gun violence: “I really hope someone can hear me/That a child doesn’t bear the weight of a gun”, environmental pollution: “I hope we stop taking for granted/All of the land and all of the sea”, and the seemingly ‘hopeless’ state of the world: “I’m hoping that change isn’t hopeless/I’m hoping to start it with me/ I just hope I’m not the only one” and “Call me, call me a dreamer/ But it seems that dreams are all that we’ve got left”. The fact that each of these very pertinent issues during the 2012 political atmosphere was addressed shows how Sande takes every opportunity to use her platform and give the voiceless a voice. In an interview with Aimee Cliff from The Fader, Sande states “It made me realize my responsibility is even greater than I thought. To be a black woman in this position, and have a voice--that’s even more special. I want to speak for a lot of people. Especially [after] my trip to Zambia, especially people I’ve met on the journey, and everything you see in the news at the moment.”

Works Cited

  "2012's Top 10 Moments in World News." CBS News - Breaking News, Live News Stream 24x7, 8 Feb. 2013, www.cbsnews.com/media/2012s-top-10-moments-in-world-news/4/. "403 Forbidden." Daily Record & Sunday Mail - Scottish News, Sport, Politics and Celeb Gossip, www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity-interviews/theyve-made-many-sacrifices-emeli-12581127. "About Sport Relief." Sport Relief, www.sportrelief.com/about-sport-relief. "Emeli Sande Dishes on Her Makeup Routine and What She Thinks of the Short Hair Trend." Glamour, 30 Aug. 2013, www.glamour.com/story/emile-sande-on-her-makeup-phil. "Emeli Sande Strugged with Being Bi-racial in Teen Years." CTVNews, 13 Aug. 2012, www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/emeli-sande-strugged-with-being-bi-racial-in-teen-years-1.911944. "Emeli Sande." Interview Magazine, 22 May 2012, www.interviewmagazine.com/music/emeli-sande.

  "Emeli Sandé - Hope (Sport Relief 2012)." YouTube, 23 Mar. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbndRIrF1UQ.

"Emeli Sandé Learned How To Say No. The Result Is Her Best Music To Date." The FADER, 16 Sept. 2016, www.thefader.com/2016/09/16/emeli-sande-long-live-the-angels-interview.

"Emeli Sandé ? Hope." Genius, 10 Feb. 2012, genius.com/Emeli-sande-hope-lyrics.

Hahn, Steven. "Opinion | Political Racism in the Age of Obama." Breaking News, World News & Multimedia - The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/opinion/sunday/political-racism-in-the-age-of-obama.html. Leight, Elias. "Emeli Sande Talks Gospel-Fueled Reinvention, Shock of Sudden Fame." Rolling Stone, 11 2016, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/emeli-sande-talks-gospel-fueled-reinvention-shock-of-sudden-fame-187569/. The People History -- Steve Pearson. "What Happened in 2012 Inc. Pop Culture, Prices and Events." The People History from 1800 to Present Day News, Prices, Popular Culture and More, www.thepeoplehistory.com/2012.html. "Singer Emeli Sande Shares Her 'Version Of Events'." NPR.org, 15 Feb. 2013, www.npr.org/2013/02/18/172116677/singer-emeli-sande-shares-her-version-of-events. "The Top Ten Environmental Stories of 2012." Earth Island Journal, www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/the_top_ten_environmental_stories_of_2012/. "UK Singer Emeli Sande Thanks Her Zambian Roots." UKZAMBIANS, 13 Apr. 2014, ukzambians.co.uk/home/2014/04/13/uk-singer-emeli-sande-thanks-her-zambian-roots/. Waterhouse, Kate. "Emeli Sande Reveals the Best Advice She's Received (and It Came Via Alicia Keys)." The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 Feb. 2017, www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/emeli-sande-reveals-the-best-advice-shes-received-and-it-came-via-alicia-keys-20170220-guh9a7.html.