'The Sopranos Five-Year Cut to Black" by Steven Hyden - Grantland.com

If you're a Sops fan this is a must read. Great article about the final episode of Sopranos, which is about to be five years old. Two things to say about this. One, I think it's pretty obvious that Tony died. The conversation he had with Baccala on the boat earlier in the season about how when you get shot you probably don't even know it was an obvious foreshadowing. But also I was watching The Godfather this weekend and noticed that whats-his-face in the Italian bar that Michael shoots with the cop, he says just before he dies "try the veal, it's the best in the city" which is almost word for word what Tony says about the onion rings "try the onion rings, they're the best in the state" just before it all goes black. Too much of a coincidence for me.

I used to think that the ending was more nuanced than that, and was supposed to be a meta play on the viewership, sort of chastising them for caring about a fictional bad guy. But now I think it's more cut and dry than that. RIP, Tony.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7634326/revisiting-finale-sopranos-s-place-history-television

"ACI: A New Way to Measure Pretentiousness" by Calvin Trillin - Slate.com

This article is great. I might even stamp it a Poop Reads must read. Calvin Trillin describes his ACI measurement, aka, Asshole Correlation Index. Any activity, interest, or predilection gets a number, which represents the percentage of people who do it who are assholes. Here's a few of my own.

People who do coke regularly: 65
Men who order fish at steakhouses: 80
People who love the jersey shore(place not show): 45
People who hate the new jersey shore: 90
Bros who wear their hats at angles: 35
People under 40 who like jazz: 60
People who refer to themselves as "foodies": 80
Lcd soundsystem fans: 70
People under 31 who decant wine at restaurants: 100

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/low_concept/2012/01/calvin_trillin_offers_a_new_way_of_measuring_pretentiousness.html

thanks phil the dood

"The Silent Season of a Hero" by Gay Talese - Grantland via Esquire

I'm not 1,000% sure what happened here. Grantland took an Esquire piece from 1966 written by the great Gay Talese about the also great Joe DiMaggio and published an annotated version of it? I dunno, they basically just wrote an introductory paragraph. Not sure how this happened. Either way, it's considered one of the greatest pieces of sports journalism of all time, and it's definitely worth your time.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7115592/silent-season-hero

"Friday Night Lights recap" - Slate.com

Friday Night Lights is the best show on television right now, bar none. In fact, this season is so good, that it's edged out the Sopranos as my second favorite TV show of all time. Behind, obviously, The Wire, which will never be unseated. The king stays the king, nahmean?

Slate.com has some really smart people writing these recaps that I swear to you will make the show even more enjoyable. It's pretty incredible. Like having notes at the bottom of the page while reading Shakespeare. Real talk. Shakespeare.

If you clicked on this article, I'm probably preaching to the choir, so I'll just end it like this. "They came here looking for a party, I say we go out there and give 'em a fistfight!"

http://www.slate.com/id/2291458/entry/2277347/