I dreamt that my parents and I were driving somewhere and we took a wrong turn. We drove slowly through a thicket and found ourselves on the backlot of a Sopranos set. Our car literally drove into a scene they were filming. We were very apologetic, and they were friendly, though most of them must have been bit players because I didnt' really recognize anyone. Tony? Carmela? Nowhere to be found.

Rupert Everett was there, though. I've always been a big fan of his, in part because I had a crush on my gay friend Alan in college, and they look very much alike. (And just incidentally, I continue to think ((delusionally, probably)) that Alan was a little crushed out on me too. He came to visit me in Philly once but it was tense and awkward. I wish I could remember his last name so we could be in touch. Alan, if you're out there, email me!)

So in the dream I went up to Rupert and said hello. He was very gracious, though he didn't say he wanted to visit me in Philadelphia. Meadow complimented me on my cute pants, and I thought that maybe they'd let me be a regular on the show because they saw I was stylish.

I love The Sopranos, perhaps because the throughline of the show is Tony's mental suffering. Yes, he's a monster of sorts, but the series satisfies my need to understand the abnormal psychology of a person who does terrible things, who believes terrible things. The relationship between Tony and Dr. Melfi is fascinating as well. It's a very rich show, very layered. I think people forget that when they see the guys in the bar dropping their gerunds. And in terms of representation of Italian-Americans, I know the show is problematic. Yet why do we respect Mean Streets and The Godfather and deride The Sopranos for reinforcing stereotypes? Seems inconsistent to me, though of course those two films were made decades ago, and you'd think we'd have evolved somewhat in terms of our portayals of American ethnicity.

Organized crime in Philly and New Jersey have over the years been similar, so that's another element that compels me. I have a friend who says people from the East Coast like The Sopranos and people from the West Coast prefer Six Feet Under. I think that's an interesting perspective, and it rings true to me.