RIP James Gandolfini

[freeradical]

What's with the # before words?

[Blankity Blank]

guitarist wrote:
Unfortunate that we live in an age where a notice of a death of a beloved talent is immediately followed by a scold "let this be a lesson to us".

I have a better idea. Let's not.

A person's demise needn't be a lesson, or a message, about anything. Better to respect the life they lived and the choices they made, they were their own. And be grateful. And save the finger-wagging for something more appropriate. Like training a dog, or lecturing a child.

It's possible to honor someone's life, and talent, without the obligatory PSA about smoking, drinking, overeating, or whatever ancient human vice they enjoyed. By habit, and by choice, not without pleasures, and not without risks. People who spend their lives avoiding unhealthy or improper behaviors, and carefully managing risks, drop dead, every day. Just like people with habits we don't approve of do. None of us escapes death.

We loved your work, James. You will be missed. You were one of this generation's finest actors, and left behind an indelible body of work. We will treasure it.

This message to reject the tyranny of socially-reinforced disapproval messages was brought to you by the Screen Actor's Guild, film lovers, TV fans, and Italian Americans everywhere.

1. Thank you. Well said.

2. RIP, and thank you Mr. Gandolfini for many, many hours of great entertainment.

[tenders]

freeradical wrote:
What's with the # before words?

Those are "hashtags." The #, or "hash sign," signals that they are index words in Twitter and Instagram. So, if you go to Twitter, and search for #Holstens, you will find that tweet as well as those of anyone else who tweeted about that restaurant and tagged it thus, or about anything else named "Holstens".

[john dough]

guitarist wrote:
What are some favorite Gandolfini film roles? The non-Sopranos stuff.

I'm fond of his small role in "Get Shorty"

And his role as a General, in that droll political comedy...what was that movie's name?

In the loop. That the film premiered at the Sundance film festival that he went to and we met him during the reception after the movie An in-law worked at the festival and scored us passes for the after-party when we met him and talked for a minute or so.

[miK.]

guitarist wrote:
What are some favorite Gandolfini film roles? The non-Sopranos stuff.

First saw him as the hitman in True Romance who tunes up Patricia Arquette's character.
Small role, but a major scene... and just wow.

[robfilms]

rip.

may yuor family take solace in your many good deeds.

be well.

rob

[Blankity Blank]

Vanity Fair's "An Oral History of the Sopranos" (There's also an expanded ebook version available).

A very touching obit by writer Matt Zoller Seitz. 
"James Gandolfini had an authentic connection with viewers. Everyone who watched him perform, in a starring role or a bit part, came away feeling understood. You watched him act and you thought, “Yes. He gets it. He understands.”

He wasn’t one of them. He was one of us.

"I'm an actor,” he once told a reporter. “I do a job and I go home. Why are you interested in me? You don't ask a truck driver about his job."

In the wake of James Gandolfini’s death – of a heart attack, at the appallingly young age of 51 – I keep coming back to that realness, and the source of it, his goodness. I got to know him a bit as a reporter, and I can testify that what you’ve heard is true. He was a good man." 
More.

An hour long Inside the Actors Studio interview with James Lipton.