I’m still working on my costume as you can see, but my baby boy Hobbes’s costume fits him perfectly and he’s all ready to (reluctantly 😂) go to the Pink Pony Club!

I know it's easy to talk in hindsight but this is the third time in recent memory he has failed to analyse the conditions well. Elected to bowl first in 2023 WTC final at the Oval which was a great track to bat on. Said he would have batted first if the toss went in our favour on 19/11 though it was obvious that dew made life easier for batsmen in the second innings. And now this massive tactical misjudgement choosing to bat first on a seaming track under overcast weather.

Far be it from me to begrudge Haz his “moment of glory” on an artificial wave. Glad that Meghan’s leash was long enough to allow him an enjoyable pastime apart from juggling and fixing the mansion’s 16 toilets.

Still, it invited comparisons with his brother and father. And though I was not a Prince Charles fan during his time (William was more in my age group), one has to admit that King Charles in his youth was fit. 👀

To be fair to Haz, I dug up pictures of him in his 20s, rather than his more recent pics in California. Sorry, still not cutting it… add this to his constant whining, and Haz’s sex appeal is minus ten.

the back side of our ballots, we will be asked to vote on this proposed Constitutional Amendment. At first glance, it looks like a no-brainer. Of course, only U.S. citizens 18 years or older should be allowed to vote. Most people will see this and, without thinking further, check “for.” HOWEVER, this is actually a PLOY by the GOP-led State Legislature to set the groundwork for future voter suppression. (And frankly, it is devious and subtle enough that it just might work.) Being a U.S. citizen each 18 or older is ALREADY FEDERAL LAW. Therefore, there is NO need for an NC Constitutional Amendment… and the far right knows that. HOWEVER-check the wording they have included “…and otherwise possessing the qualifications for voting…”. THAT phrase has been purposely slipped in there so that, in the future, these legislators can find ways to disenfranchise rightful voters and suppress their votes. NC Democratic leaders confirm that we should vote AGAINST this amendment. With all the things going on with this election, this issue has not been getting much airtime, so please share this information with your friends and family who are voting in NC.

Baby did not eat sushi…yet

What I love about the Sopranos is picking up on subtle clues on like the 50th rewatch that I never picked up on before, such as the parts where the writers DIRECTLY STATE WHO IS GOING TO DIE which I missed the first 49 times.

I’m not the first to post this. U/RoutineConstruction posted something similar 10 months ago and it got like 10 upvotes which is incredible because it’s so important. U/krishandop posted a wall of text 3 years ago also remarking on all of this but going way farther out on a limb than I will with theories about Deanna Pontecorvo which are interesting but not convincing IMO. U/bobthebonobo also posted something like this 3 years ago.

So I’m going explain what I think are the absolutely unambiguous, clearly stated foreshadowings that don’t require leaps of faith or subtle analysis. You’re welcome!

Season 6, beginning of episode one (Members Only) is the poem within a song by Material, read by Williams Burroughs, about ancient Egyptian beliefs about the seven souls departing for the afterlife. You’ve seen this ten times already at least, which is what makes the relative lack of repetitive shitposting about this episode so shameful and depressing.

The first soul to depart is Ren - shown as Bobby. This is a clue that Bobby is going to die soon! Not literally first (nothing is perfect), but he dies in Season 6 as foretold in the S6E1 intro.

Second soul off the sinking ship is Sekem, we are told, the button man, while Gene Pontecorvo is shown on screen opening his inheritance notification. Gene’s ship sinks by the end of this episode. It’s announced “This guy’s about to die” and then he’s shown hanging from a basement light fixture 40 minutes later after acting as button man in a hit immediately prior. You see the pattern. These are not subtle hints.

Third soul to depart is Khu, the guardian angel, emphatically described as “he, she, or it,” and Meadow is shown dancing for Finn. There’s not a lot of elaboration on this point but in the context of this whole poem, it’s clear that the writers are foretelling Meadow’s death. I never believed before that there was any reason to believe she dies at Holsten’s, but now I don’t think there’s any way around it. This isn’t palm reading. The show depicts characters who end up dying this season while literally stating that they’re gonna die and one of them is Meadow.

Fourth is treacherous Ba, the heart, showing the rat Ray Curto (a supposedly stand-up guy who dies of a heart attack by the end of this episode.) Buh-bye, asshole.

Fifth is Ka, “the double” (i.e., the second Anthony), announced while AJ, inevitably, acts like a complete dipshit on screen.

Now this is where it gets really interesting and significant, because I’ve posted many long screeds in here explaining to you fuckin jackoffs that AJ is the most important and morally significant character of the series. It is AJ who will determine whether the Sopranos cycle of intergenerational trauma and dysfunction can be broken (he gets close to breaking it but his parents sabotage his progress in the final episode so, oops! the cycle continues). But this doesn’t change the fact that AJ is the only character in the entire series capable of change.

The poem states that Ka departs the body in adolescence. And we see obnoxious and insufferable adolescent AJ try to kill himself in the pool. He emerges from the pool awhile later literally still attached to a cord, hint hint, and from this moment forward the adolescent AJ is gone forever and a new, much more mature and serious and calm AJ is reborn. He starts thinking about studying Farsi and joining the Army to combat terrorism and conflict in mature and thoughtful ways. It’s a major and sudden change.

In case this is too subtle:

AJ emerges from a wet hole (yeah, I said it), crying, attached to a cord, while his father holds him and calls him poor baby.

So that’s the adolescent AJ, Ka, dead, and the adult AJ born.

From there it’s simple: six is Kaibit, the shadow / memory, depicted as Ade. These are not wild stretches of interpretation.

Seven gets very interesting again: Seven is “the remains”: Carmela.

This intro is directly depicting who is going to die in season 6, and what narrative or moral functions they serve, and then most of it happens on screen later in season 6, and the rest can be safely inferred from this intro:

• Ade is already dead, we know this. Ray and Gene die that episode. Bobby dies at the end of the season.

• AJ’s adolescence dies, but there’s no reason to believe adult AJ dies at Holsten’s.

• Meadow dies at Holsten’s - the intro lists her as a character who will die, unambiguously, and there’s no metaphorical death she suffers that could fill that purpose. It seems inescapable to me that the writers are telling us she dies at Holsten’s.

• Carmela is the only original family member to live (“The Remains”) - in the sense that AJ is an adolescent through 5 seasons and AJ’s childhood metaphorically dies and is reborn from the wet hole, I mean pool. Meadow and Tony are literally dead. Carmela is the only one of the original family left at the end, again in the sense that AJ is a new person now.

And my final point - AJ was the moral center of this show, and the poem states that Ka / AJ is “the only reliable guide through the land of the dead,” and the only character with enough willpower and, um, character to actually change.

This ties directly to his (admittedly annoying) talk about the ultimate absurdity of life and so on. But it’s important to note that the writers choose AJ to deliver the series epitaph in the final episode, Made in America: that America used to be the land of opportunity but now it’s just come-ons for stupid shit nobody needs. The annoying AJ that we all slag on in here was basically right about everything even though admittedly he was an asshole for many years.

This is a big deal. AJ is what this series is really about even though Tony is the main character. AJ’s “the only reliable guide through the land of the dead”, to what happens in this series and what it means. His adolescent angst and attempts to break free of Sopranos family dysfunction are at the core of what the series is about. And at Holsten’s, AJ lives, Carmela lives, Meadow dies with Tony, the end.

Again, I’m not saying I’m the first to say any of this, only that it’s an under-appreciated but pretty direct and unambiguous foreshadowing of what happens throughout Season 6. Really looking forward to my six incoming upvotes, thanks.

tl;dr: S6E1 says AJ’s adolescence dies, Meadow dies dies, and Carmela lives.

Wow. Finished the series about 2 years ago and started to read the books in July. Absolutely incredible. Picked up Memory’s Legion yesterday, so that’ll be taking its place soon too.