Brancatto told the jury the job wasn't actually a robbery attempt. He said he was an addict who had befriended a Vietnam vet who'd let him come over and get whatever prescription pills he needed. When he wasn't home, he just broke the window to get inside, which led the cop neighbor to investigate the proceedings. Very bad things ensued:

Brancato admitted to breaking a window at the home, but said it was strictly because he was going through intense heroin withdrawal that night and he said he was trying to wake up his friend to get the drugs.

When Brancato and [friend Steven] Armento entered the home, the next door neighbor —[Police officer Daniel] Enchautegui — came outside to investigate.

That's when prosecutors said Armento shot the officer through the heart with his .357 Magnum.

As Brancato 's already served three years, he could conceivably be released immediately. Armento was convicted of life without parole back in November.

• Sopranos' actor acquitted in cop killing [CNN]

For the boy who...

...likes to imagine he's walking in slow motion and furtively writes screenplays about things like a bookie who falls in love with a hooker and has to shoot his way out of a bad situation: Um, duhhh. The complete Sopranos series on DVD. It comes, of course, with a bunch of extras that he can watch and bone up on so when he's not showing off his new leather coat or talking about the time he went clubbing "in the city" and Vin Diesel was there, he can "impress" ladies with mob minutiae. And it only costs $399.99!

...hung some beads off the rear view mirror of his VW Bug, waits tables at the Cheesecake Factory and calls everybody Miss Thang out of the house but back at home mostly stays in his room, from which muffled sobs and/or singing can be heard: Christmas with a Z, naturally! Buy him tickets to Liza's at the Palace..., the indefatigable Minnelli's latest well reviewed cabaret act cum Kay Thompson homage. It closes on the 28th, so make it an early present. He'll wait by the stage door, meet her, and then drive around town in that silly car of his, feeling a little bit special for a few days.

...always has a slight orangey Cheetos tint to his hands, doesn't shave (if he even needs to shave) a lot, and kinda smells. The whole 'girl' thing seems to elude him thus far, but not in the same way as his Bug-driving cousin. Sometimes when you're driving with him in the car he'll start to say something and you think "this is it... he's finally going to open up" but then he seems to think better of it and you keep driving in silence and you wonder where your little boy went: I dunno, there are a whole lotta videogames for sale, I'm told. Our younger brother site Kotaku has a whole holiday list.

For the girl who...

...will only glumly kick the ball once when it's soccer day at gym, who writes long secret things (poems? songs? love notes?) in her big, well-protected spiral bound notebook. On Friday nights she'll usually make a bowl of Kraft Mac n' Cheese and retreat to her room, where she'll spend hours on internet messageboards and fan sites, listening to the William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet Soundtrack, Volume 2, because it's the one with the sad opera aria on it: Give her something new and contemporary and with it to listen to. Like the Twilight movie soundtrack! There's some Muse, some Paramore, some Black Ghosts. Grim and romantic, just like the vampire teen romance books she can't get enough of. Then tell her she's not allowed to eat in her room anymore.

...looks at the boy with the leather jacket and the clubbing stories and smokes her long cigarette and smiles a little bit and figures, hey, sounds more fun than giving Vinnie Meloni handjobs in his Durango out behind the All City Diner: How about some delicious Sopranos wine which she can drink on the squeaky leather sofa in big gulps while the boy rewinds the scene yet again and says "I mean, he just cuts Ralphie's head right the fuck off, crazy huh?"

...the girl... the girl who has... everything:
Forget gadgets, gizmos, whoseits, whatzits, and thingamabobs. If my research serves me correctly, the girl who has everything only wants one thing: legs. And since you probably wouldn't be friends with someone who didn't have legs (shallow asshole) we suggest the next best thing, stilts.

Happy holidays! (And by that I really only mean Christmas.)

The last show Weiner worked for was The Sopranos, unique in its ability to hit both demographics. Set in New Jersey as opposed to the glitzy Manhattan of Mad Men, it was hardly a glowing portrait of the underclass, but it featured a more accessible, middle class fantasy for those without means. Carmelo Soprano aspired to what being rich is for lower class folks: shiny SUVs, tacky furniture and owning your own home in a leafy burb. It's a vision deeply different from Mad Men's slice of 1960s Manhattan, a sexy playground that's only really available to those who are already wealthy.

The character that those making less than $100,000 should be locking in on is rising copywriter Peggy Olson. Her homosexual-aided transformation from working class stalwart into professional businesswoman comes at the expense of her Brooklyn-based family. Her mother and sister's desire for her to stay rooted in her community was presented as a most unappealing option this season. The local pastor's constant haranguing also tried to make Peggy feel bad for surpassing her modest origins, but in the end she took her rich boss' advice and put the pain out of her mind completely.

The Peggy storyline should attract aspirational viewers who can see themselves in her meteoric rise, but with a such a strong anti-religion, anti-community angle, it's a complicated brew for viewers to digest.

This is not to say the very rich characters of Mad Men aren't similarly savaged — Sterling Cooper exec Roger Sterling is motivated entirely by funding his costly divorce, and new company president Duck Sterling is a power mad dog-hating bastard. After all, this is the advertising industry. But in the end, the rich get their desserts without even asking for them: after Don comes back from flaking on work for three weeks, his company congratulates him with a $500,000 dividend and the promise of a new contract. This is not to speak of how little the men of Sterling Cooper have found themselves working at all this season.

This is a show that values people that drink and screw all day and come up with a miracle pitch by the seat of their pants, a fantasy that bears little resemblance to reality today or back then. Weiner — whose eventual deal with Lionsgate for Season 3 will turn him into a very rich man himself — has said that next season will deal with working class issues more directly:

The economy stuff hadn’t even happened [when he wrote the finale script]. We all thought it was bad but no one knew it was this bad. We’re going to look at this period, from Bill Clinton to 2008, as the Roaring 20s. It’s going to look like a bubble. ... And that’s part of prosperity. Prosperity comes, and you’re already looking at the other aspects of your life, then if it’s suddenly taken away. … I mean, this whole generation — the story of the show — [is that] they were raised in the Great Depression and they never got over it. And we’re about to see some of what that is.

Part I: How David Chase killed Tony Soprano: A look at the directing and editing in the final scene and the “Never hear it Happen” concept laid out by David Chase. Plus a closer look at why the other theories about the end just don’t hold up.

Part II: What does Tony’s death mean? How the themes of the final season and all 86 hours of the show lead to a family dinner in a small diner in New Jersey.

Part III: The Symbology of Holsten’s.

Part IV: The final season and “The Godfather”.

Part V: How 9/11, terrorism and the U.S. war in Iraq unlock the keys to the final scene in Holsten’s.

Part VI: Miscellaneous “Fun Stuff” that could only be created by David Chase.

Part VII: “The Public Enemy” and “Goodfellas” influence on the end of The Sopranos.

[The Sopranos: Definitive Explanation of "The End"]

[Former 'Sopranos' stars Vincent Pastore and Aida Turturro celebrate their new roles in the Broadway musical 'Chicago', Jan 6; image via WENN]

New line from commenter TedSez.

David Chase, the creator of "The Sopranos," returns this week to New Jersey to testify in a federal case brought against him by a former judge who claims he helped create the HBO series and has never been compensated for his work.

Chase is expected to testify about the genesis of the Mafia series and its characters and, in the process, rebut [Robert] Baer's claims that he played a central role in the show's creation (Chase acknowledges spending a few days in 1995 with Baer, a former municipal court judge, discussing mob matters and touring wiseguy hangouts).

The lawsuit, filed in 2002, "limps into a Trenton courthouse," reports The Smoking Gun, with the presiding judge having already dismissed most of Baer's key claims. Still, there's apparently enough there to prevent the case from being dismissed outright, requiring the visionary showrunner to defend his creation—a story he's wanted to tell ever since early childhood, when family acquaintance Ruggiero "Richie the Boot" Boiardo would bounce him on his knee and ask if there was anyone in his kindergarten class who needed a roughing-up—in person.

• "Sopranos" Beginning Controversy Continues [TSG]

"There WAS a war going on that week, and attempted terror attacks in London," says Chase. "But these people were talking about onion rings." [...]

Chase says the New Jersey mob boss "had been people's alter ego. They had gleefully watched him rob, kill, pillage, lie and cheat. They had cheered him on. And then, all of a sudden, they wanted to see him punished for all that. They wanted 'justice'...

"The pathetic thing _ to me _ was how much they wanted HIS blood, after cheering him on for eight years."

In the days, and even weeks, after the finale aired June 10, "Sopranos" wonks combed that episode for buried clues, concocting wild theories. (Was this some sort of "Last Supper" reimagined with Tony, wife Carmela, son A.J. and daughter Meadow?)

Chase insists that what you saw (and didn't see) is what you get.

"There are no esoteric clues in there. No `Da Vinci Code,'" he declares. [...]

And as for that notorious blackout in the middle of the Journey power ballad, "Don't Stop Believin'"?

"Originally, I didn't want any credits at all," says Chase. "I just wanted the black screen to go the length of the credits _ all the way to the HBO `whoosh' sound. But the Directors Guild wouldn't give us a waiver."

And while this unexpected finish left lots of viewers thinking their cable service was on the fritz, Chase insists it wasn't meant as a prank.

"Why would we want to do that?" he asks. "Why would we entertain people for eight years only to give them the finger?"

Even though Chase may have intended his answers to defuse any lingering accusations of mindfuckery and slow the procession of fans who interrupt his every public meal with impromptu renditions of "Don't Stop Believin'," all the creator has done was provide Finale Deconstructionists with a new text to study. Armed with quickly dog-eared copies of The Sopranos: The Complete Book, they'll soon gather in TV rooms decorated with Gay Vito Death Cues and discarded Satriale's Pork Store bricks, expending considerable intellectual energy on trying to determine whether their desire to see their beloved antihero's brains splattered all over a Holsten's booth by the Man in the Members Only Jacket was, in fact, "pathetic," or merely a rational and healthy need to see the many dramatically satisfying misdeeds in which the audience was too long complicit finally punished.

• `Sopranos' Creator Defends Famous Finale [AP]
• Previously: David Chase Emerges From Hiding To Reassure 'Sopranos' Fans He Wasn't Just Fucking With Them [Defamer]

A blast believed to have been caused by a pipe bomb rocked a Chelsea street early this morning, police sources and witnesses said.

Nobody was injured.

"It was just a very loud boom, like a lightning storm," said John Antolik, who works at a hotel near the scene of the 1:15 a.m. blast on 29th Street between 7th and 8th avenues.

The small explosive device detonated outside a theater studio owned by "Soprano's" star Michael Imperioli, and police said they were not sure if there was a connection between the incident and the actor.

'PIPE BOMB' BLAST ROCKS CHELSEA [NYP]

Gannascoli has apologized for the uproar, noting he has other "to Die For"-branded products, and called his endorsement of the pool cue "a coincidence."

Even though Gannascoli obviously regrets the coincidental application of his "To Die For" brand to the sporting good his Sopranos persona actually died for, it looks like he's not ready to abandon the pool cue business entirely: While the original, offending stick is gone, his website promises that "'A NEW cue to is coming soon from Joe Gannascoli," which we imagine will bear his just-created, far less controversial "To Foster A Culture Of Tolerance Of Understanding Of People Of All Sexual Preferences" trademark.

• Billiard Company Pulls 'Gay Vito' Cue [TVWeek]
• Previously: Own A Pool Cue Just Like The One Used To Rape And Kill Gay Vito! [Defamer]

"GLAAD is calling on Rockwell Billiards and Gannascoli to remove the name, 'A Cue to Die For,' from this product immediately and apologize for using such a vulgar symbol of violence and anti-gay bigotry to make a profit," read the GLADD statement.

The "to Die For" slogan has been used for other, less sensational Gannascoli-endorsed products. His mobster novel is called "A Meal to Die For" and he will soon have a cigar lined branded with "A Cigar to Die For," according to his Web site.

Indeed, Gannascoli probably should have limited his "To Die For" line of merchandise to items with which his character was never brutally sodomized by his intolerant crew—no one would have protested a cheap cigar or a bad novel. We expect that the actor will succumb to GLAAD's pressure and soon withdraw his name from the instrument of his hate-crime demise, with the unfortunate incident serving as an example to other castmates looking to cash in by crassly exploiting their big Sopranos moments; given the reactionary climate of restraint in endorsements, Vito Jr.'s Shower Stool Softener will likely never reach the shelves of your local Rite Aid or CVS, and the Big Pussy chain of gentlemen's clubs featuring plus-size performers will probably never open its doors.

UPDATE: Predictably, the cues have been discontinued.

[Photo: HBO]

• 'Sopranos' + Hate Crime + Pool Cue = Marketing Opportunity [TV Week]
• Joe Gannascoli "Vito" Signature Cue [Rockwell Billiards]

The drama series nominees that will return home empty-handed as the TV Academy thanks David Chase for classing up the medium can be seen in the image above, though we must disclose that we may have obscured the title of Boston Legal with a tribute to the most misunderstood show of our generation. On the comedy side, the Academy has recognized Entourage, The Office, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, and Two and a Half Men, though we suspect that last sitcom's inclusion had something to do with a full-page For Your Consideration ad star Charlie Sheen took out in the trades promising that a nomination would be rewarded with a party for Emmy voters "that will make the proprietor of Tijuana's most transgressive donkey show drop dead in disgust."

The rest of the nominations in the major categories follow; Friday Night Lights fans may want to take a moment to compose themselves before continuing on.

Outstanding Comedy Series
30 Rock • NBC
Entourage • HBO
The Office • NBC
Two And A Half Men • CBS
Ugly Betty • ABC

Outstanding Drama Series
Boston Legal • ABC
Grey's Anatomy • ABC
Heroes • NBC
House • Fox
The Sopranos • HBO

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
30 Rock • NBC • Alec Baldwin
Extras • HBO • Ricky Gervais
Monk • USA • Tony Shalhoub
The Office • NBC • Steve Carell,
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Charlie Sheen

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
30 Rock • NBC • Tina Fey
Desperate Housewives • ABC • Felicity Huffman
The New Adventures Of Old Christine • CBS • Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Ugly Betty • ABC • America Ferrera
Weeds • Showtime • Mary-Louise Parker

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
24 • Fox • Kiefer Sutherland
Boston Legal • ABC • James Spader
House • Fox • Hugh Laurie
Rescue Me • FX • Denis Leary
The Sopranos • HBO • James Gandolfini

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Brothers & Sisters • ABC • Sally Field
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC • Mariska Hargitay
Medium • NBC • Patricia Arquette
The Closer • TNT Kyra Sedgwick
The Riches • FX Minnie Driver
The Sopranos • HBO • Edie Falco

The complete list of nominees is here, for those who wish to discover that "Dick in the Box" is among the honorees for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics. (We're not kidding.)

• 'Sopranos' picks up 15 Emmy nominations [CNN.com]

• Complete List of Nominations [Emmys.com]

Though you may not recognize the actor who memorably portrayed "Gay" Vito Spatafore's troubled son on The Sopranos this season without his Goth makeup, the clever tagline placed alongside his headshot should instantly remind you of his pivotal role on the series. Even if their pitch comes a little too late to get young Brandon into the Emmy race, at the very least the ad should have his agent's phone ringing off the hook every time a producer is looking for the perfect kid to defecate in a shower.

[Ad via Digital Variety]

• Brandon Hannon [brandonhannan.net]

• "No one has seen Maura Tierney??? She is in NYC and I have a site description of her walking a new black pug."
• "HELLO
  PLZ DO U CARRY couch WHAT SIZE WHAT TYPE DO YOU HAVE AND WHAT IS THE PRICE OF IT AND WHAT TYPE OF CREDIT CARDS DO YOU TAKE FOR PAYMENT?
  THANK YOU"

• just wrighting coz i read that article about the team zissou shoes. [Ed. Note: Umm from like three years ago. I think I wrote it and I don't even remember it.] your a god damn no talent ass clown. maybe someone just liked the way the damn shoes looked and wanted them, not just coz they saw them on the screen in there living room that feeds them bullshit. my advice to you is stop tellin people what you think they should do, or why you think they like something and go ahead and kill yourself. thanks [Ed. Note: P.S. Didn't you already get in touch with us?]
• "Balloon fetish: Attn Emily Gould—Hi Emily if this has reached you. Caught your comments on balloon fetish on Fox news. Was hoping to follow up. I didn't catch it on TV, but clips get around that community quick as it is larger than you may think. I was thrilled it had a defensive tone to it =) The person you were responding to didn't seem to have done much research on it, but did have a good guess with associating it with inflatable exercise equipment. Wasn't sure if you were doing a piece as well on your site, but I have a oddly addressed site with more information you may be able to use at http://carefreeblowjobs.net The links section may be able to aid you as well. Take it easy"
• "Sir/Madam,

  The BBC's report on the lack of social mobility in the UK (10 o'clock News 25/06/07) was a triumph of government propaganda. The BBC said that this lack of social mobility was due to the dominance of our private schools - but it studiously FAILED to mention that this dominance of private schooling and lack of social mobility is also directly coincident with the destruction of our grammar schools.

  [Ed. Note: Five insanely dull paragraphs deleted.]

  Repeated failures by the BBC to reveal the whole truth to the people of Britain means that it is time the BBC was closed down. It has long ceased to be the independent arbiter of balanced news, deep investigative analysis and instructional documentaries that it once was. Indeed, it has no purpose now except to regurgitate government propaganda, and so it should be put out of its misery. Close it down and expel all those luvvies from their liberal BBC bubble, and let them see what the real (selective and competitive) world is all about.

  Yours, Ralph Ellis"

• "I know the time to bring this fact to everyone's attention has come and gone, but Lorenzo Borghese is not a prince. There is currently only one Princess Borghese, living in Rome, and her son (then his son) will be the next to inherit the title. The family doesn't recognize the American "di Borghese" branch, and give them no honor whatsoever. ABC was clever enough to market this guy (would a real Italian prince graduate from some shit-hole college in FL?) as a prince based on the fact that his American grandmother married the cousin of the real prince, came to the states, used his money to build a cosmetics business, and left a very middle-class legacy. Do some research, you'll see this guy is just another Jersey Eye-talian lucky enough to have been a Network Ho for a season, bought and paid for.
  M :o)"
• "I did not get to see the finale until last week since I was on vacation. I had to watch it several times to absorb it. I went online to read the theories about the finale, one of which was yours, and was disappointed that not one person picked up on a major storyline: that regarding AJ.
  
  First, let me say, I feel there was a lot of foreshadowing in the episode. As to AJ, first, I believe that when his SUV went up in flames, that was foreshadowing AJ watching his dad being gunned down right in front of him. Right after AJ and his girlfriend rolled down the embankment and were watching the flames engulf his SUV, the Bob Dylan song that was playing was right at the lyrics that said, "and with nothing left to live up to." I feel the car symbolized the death of Tony allowing AJ to not have to live up to him anymore. Also, perhaps the flames represent the flames of hell that Tony will be soon burning in.
  
  Second, when AJ was in his therapy session discussing the burning of his SUV, he tells the therapist that he is kind of glad it did burn up. The therapist asks him if that is because the SUV was polluter and he replies that he feels cleansed with the loss of the SUV and that we need to get rid of our dependence on foreign oil. This scene is really about what AJ is going to feel about the loss of his father. The word polluter refers to Tony since he worked in waste management. This clearly foreshadows AJ's feelings that he is going to have with the loss of his father.
  
  AJ could never live up to his dad and now that Tony is gone, AJ is free to be who he wants to be. This brings me to my third point. After witnessing his dad's murder right in front him sitting in that booth (despite the conflict he had with his dad), AJ becomes angry and ends up going into the "family business" and actually succeeds him as acting boss (at some point). I believe this because there was time spent dealing with AJ's desire to join the army after being angry about things happening in Afghanistan which foreshadows his anger over the wacking of his dad and consequently his desire to join mob family. The scene where Tony picks him up while jogging up the hill, Tony tells AJ to get in the car. This getting in the car foreshadows AJ getting into the family business. When Tony is watching AJ run, he starts singing the Rocky theme, "gonna fly now." AJ is going to fly now in succeeding his dad in the mob family. Also, in the final scene in the booth, Tony reaches out and grabs AJ's hand. I believe this is symbolic of AJ becoming a made man. Tony's gesture here foreshadows this. Thus, AJ will become a made man and become acting boss which is one reason for the Journey song which contains the lyrics, "it goes on and on and on." In other words, the mob family and mob life keeps going on and on.
  
  Paulie retires and lives life in the sun (remember Paulie holding up the reflector to get tanned?)
  
  As to Carmela, she finds life in her real estate business. Towards the end when she is looking at the blueprint of a house that foreshadows her new house and new life to come sans Tony.
  
  As to Meadow, I think her difficulty in parallel parking foreshadows that she will be having difficulty in her career since she was going to work at a law firm that conflicts with Tony's businesses. There are some hard times ahead for her.
  
  But David Chase wanted us to "don't stop believing(that the mob way of life can come to end and not go on and on), and hold on to that feeling (our feeling that things can be good from seeing Tony, Carm & AJ happy together in that final scene)." Unfortunately, due to the criminal Tony was, which David Chase reminded us all season long, it did suddenly stop with his death and the death of our very beloved show which was forever taken from us. (There will be no movie.) But life does go on and on.
  
  That's what I learned.
  Thanks.
  Leslie R."
• "Dear Gawker,
  Orzo: pasta or rice? Need to know by 5:15 p.m. ET today.
  Thanks,
  Brock"

  Earlier:Glaring Omissions

I held out until I knew how it would be used. It was like, "Is somebody being massacred while the song's being played?" The Thursday before it aired, they finally said, "We'll tell you, but you have to swear not to tell anybody." When they finally told me how it was going to be used, I thought, that's way beyond awesome. Watching it that night was pretty exciting.

Perry, who is more dubious about Hillary Clinton's campaign parody of the episode, was pleased with the result.

It was done so well, I loved it. Nothing could make me happier than seeing a resurgence of the music I believe in as much as I did when we were doing it. It knocked me back in an exciting kind of way.

Song Rights ... and Wrongs [Newsweek]
[Image: A.P.]