Saturday

Man, we're having a lazy weekend. I'm supposed to be out having all sorts of interesting experiences to relate, but what I'm actually doing is watching season four of the Sopranos* on DVD. That's because we've just wrapped up season five of the Shield,* DVDs purchased last weekend while we were ostensibly computer shopping. Since these shows are still ongoing as of press time, I'll not talk about them too much (especially since I'm the one very much behind on the current product because I almost always wait for the DVD release to watch anything anymore). But the Sopranos seems to find no limit to my high regard, and I like each character and episode even more with each additional Soprano I come into contact with. The Shield is holy crap awesome too, and seeks a similarly inexhaustible supply of my shocked credulity. Plus, the Shield manages the very nadir of an evil, but compellingly charismatic, protagonist with a panache that seems implausible: I can't believe that I find myself actually pulling for this bastard episode after episode. I'm scandalized, actually, to be made into a contact villain by the allegiances this show prompts me to bear. This latest season (for me) marks another minor story arc which spreads like a malignancy from the final three Kid Rock charged minutes of the very first episode, a construction that tightens the idea of seasonal arc television into a taut apotheosis. Season seven will begin, if it has not already, with the stakes at their highest, the dwindling characters painted into an equally dwindling corner. Ah, television. Regulating any personal headway to the penultimate sentence here, but I've managed to upload another few pictures from our increasingly distant New York field trip. Perhaps they benefit from the acuity of hindsight? [Cavin]