Therapists scratch heads over latest 'Sopranos' move

NEW YORK -- Therapists, we've long known, are among the biggest fans of "The Sopranos."
So pleased were they with the credible therapy scenes between Tony Soprano, pop culture's most famous mobster/patient, and the appealing Dr. Jennifer Melfi, played by Lorraine Bracco, that the American Psychoanalytical Association once gave the show and Bracco an award.

But professionally speaking, they could only scratch their heads at the latest developments on HBO's hit drama, which aired its penultimate episode last weekend.

Just as Tony Soprano's life seemed to be imploding with dangerous speed -- in short, just when he needed some really good therapy -- Melfi and her own therapist made some highly questionable moves.

Not only therapists were distressed. Some patients were actually furious when they showed up for appointments this week, said one New York psychoanalyst.

"You wouldn't believe the outrage I am hearing," said Dr. Arnold Richards, who'd missed the episode, but was filled in by his patients. He was talking Mind-boggling," pronounced Richards. "I do not recall ever being told the name of a patient in treatment."

Colleagues agreed. "That dinner party was just very upsetting to me," said Dr. Joseph Annibali, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in McLean, Va. "What he did was outrageous. He's never had control of himself, and this just fits in with that."

Why did Kupferberg commit such a sin? He didn't think Melfi should be treating Tony, whom he considered a manipulative psychopath. Be that as it may, his disclosure was "a very egregious ethical violation," said Dr. Jan Van Schaik, chair of the Ethics Committee at the Wisconsin Psychoanalytic Institute.

"A patient needs to know that what gets said in the doctor's office stays there," said Van Schaik, who's never witnessed such a violation. "I've been at gatherings where people talk about patients in a more disguised form. Even that can be inappropriate. A good therapist should do the best they can to protect the anonymity of patients."

It's a shame, Van Schaik added, because "prior to Sunday's episode, 'The Sopranos' was the best portrayal in the popular media of a therapist-patient relationship." Annibali agreed: "We're so used to seeing therapists presented as incompetent hacks. Or as people who are more disturbed than their patients!"

What's been nice about Melfi, the Virginia therapist explained, is that she's a complex and caring figure -- she's not ideal, but she tries to help Tony even as she struggles with the idea of treating him.about a serious ethical lapse by Elliot Kupferberg, played by Peter Bogdanovich, at a dinner party full of therapists. Across the crowded table, the character callously revealed -- over Melfi's protests -- the identity of her star patient.

The Pen-Freaking-Ultimate Episode

Before I make a few little points about last night's tense, mind-blowing, excellent episode of "The Sopranos," I have to warn readers that there are SPOILERS in this entry, and they are SPOILERS you will definitely want to avoid until after you've watched.
My whole body was on edge during the show, which built quickly to full-on gang warfare after years of moving in that direction. "Ready for the rapture?" was the FBI agent's comment to Tony, and to us. As soon as I realized it was Phil and his evil-looking goons against the likes of Tony, Sil, Bobby, and Paulie, I knew the New Jersey guys were doomed. I loved the little bit of "Raging Bull" between Tony and Sil while they strategized in the restaurant; another nice passing homage to Martin Scorsese.

Tony is now without his best ally, the comatose Silvio, who'd earlier in the episode made a malapropism about his wife being "terminally" ill. There was a brief moment during the shooting when Silvio was crawling in the car that reminded me of the way Adriana crawled before he shot her (an important reminder, since I tend to romanticize Sil's loyalty). And Bobby was nixed in a great shooting scene that built slowly and eerily at the train store, the center of Bobby's innocence. I loved it that kids were screaming; they were delivering the sounds Bobby, the eternal child, couldn't.

TV REVIEW: The end is near for 'The Sopranos'

Not Sil.

That's all I could think during the white-knuckled final minutes of last Sunday's episode of "The Sopranos."

For a long time, I've thought it would make sense for Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) to die as the series closed (and that's just a guess, I have no inside information).

But I never really pondered the thought that there could be a lot of carnage around Tony as the series' end approached.

Are you, like me, wondering if this episode might be better than next Sunday's series finale? Ever notice that many programs (and so many prior seasons of "The Sopranos") have a second-to-last episode that is much better than the actual finale? I wonder if that'll be the case here.

Regardless, Sunday's second-to-last episode was a classic. As long as you ignore most of the A.J. (Robert Iler) stuff. (Yeah, yeah, the sins of the father are visited on the son. I get it. Enough already.)

But back to Silvio Dante. The dapper, understated linchpin of Tony's crew. Always the one with the perfectly timed shrug. The brow wrinkled just enough for Tony to sigh, "What's wrong?" Silvio wasn't a shouter or a tough guy or a bundle of rage (in other words, he's not Paulie Walnuts).

He was everything Tony needed in a confidante. Wise, trustworthy and loyal. And, as played by the talented Steven Van Zandt, dryly witty when circumstances allowed.

I don't want Sil to be dead. As Sunday's episode closed, doctors didn't think he'd regain consciousness. His near-death is bringing it home to me, finally - "The Sopranos" is ending. For real. Who allowed this to happen?

OK, truth be told, I have long thought that the sixth season (which includes the most recent batch of episodes and the group of episodes before that) has had too many sluggish moments, but hey, it's still "The Sopranos." I can't not watch. And the last few episodes have been really good.

Since the shocking death of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), a lot of momentum has built up in Tony's world. A world in which all due respect must be paid, but also a world in which no sins are forgotten. The Russian in the forest from so many episodes ago? He's forgotten. But all of Tony's sins have come home to roost now.

Hence Tony finishing out last night's episode sleeping with his gun, just as John Wayne might have in some heroic Western.

On the chalkboard in A.J.'s classroom in a recent episode, a quote from Wordsworth: "Getting and spending, we lay waste to our powers."

Somehow that doesn't strike me as a harbinger of good things to come for anyone in the "Sopranos" family.

And I'll certainly miss the absorbing give and take between Tony and his psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), which, as of Sunday's episode, also appears to be over.

How many silent reaction shots has Bracco filmed over the last eight years? It has to be more than a hundred. But she never made them less than fascinating. But that's nothing compared with scenes in which her character sparred with Gandolfini's - that's some serious, world-class acting there.

Some other things I'll miss:

-The way Paulie Walnuts says, "Eow!," the all-purpose interjection on "The Sopranos," which can be used in any number of sentences: "Eow! There he is!" to "Eow! Did you just disrespect the Bing?"

-The show's opening credit sequence, one of the all-time greats.

-Gandolfini as Tony and Edie Falco as Carmela. Honestly, have two actors playing a married couple ever done more absorbing work or been more perfectly cast?

Lou Piniella kicks dirt on the umpire

way to go Lou,..

iphone ad june 29th never been an ipod

New Yorks New Ticket Scalping Laws..

Some Ticket Scalping Rules Are Changing

NEW YORK -- For decades, ticket scalping was a thing done in the shadows, but those days of ducking into alleyways and dodging police are fading fast.

New York is poised this week to become the latest in a string of states to ease or eliminate decades-old restrictions on the resale of tickets to sporting events, concerts and shows.

Under the proposed rules, the state would discard its long practice of capping prices for tickets sold on the secondary market.

Some old regulations would stay in place. Scalpers would still be banned from selling tickets within 1,500 feet of large arenas like Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium. Smaller venues would get a similar 500-foot buffer zone. Brokers who sell large numbers of tickets would still need to get a license.

But the change would, for the first time, make it entirely legal for average fans to scalp their seats on the Internet.

For better or worse, it would also allow anyone holding a hot ticket to a Mets playoff game or Broadway musical to sell them off for whatever buyers were willing to pay.

"If you have something to sell, you should be able to sell it for what it is truly worth,'' said Sean Pate, spokesman for the online ticket broker StubHub Inc., which lobbied hard for the change.

The state assembly voted for the bill Tuesday. The Senate is expected to follow suit, and Gov. Eliot Spitzer could sign the measure by Friday, when the state's old anti-scalping law expires.

New York is far from alone in its redrafting of scalping rules.

Minnesota tossed out its old anti-scalping laws this spring. The state previously allowed tickets to be resold only at face value.

A bill that would ease Missouri's ban on selling tickets to sporting events at more than face value passed the legislature and is now being considered by the governor.

Saks Fifth Avenue Shoe Department Gets Own ZIP Code: 10022-SHOE

- Saks Fifth Avenue says its new shoe department is so big and fancy it's getting its own ZIP code.

The quintessential Manhattan store is revamping its shoe department, and when it moves from the fourth floor to the eighth floor in August customers will be able to send mail to 10022-SHOE.

"We believe it's such a big move for us it deserves its own ZIP code,'' Saks spokeswoman Lesley Langsam Kennedy said Thursday. "We wanted to make it a destination.''

The retailer worked with the U.S. Postal Service on the new ZIP code -- but only the last four characters, which aren't necessary when you're mailing something, are specialized. The rest of the midtown neighborhood, which includes St. Patrick's Cathedral, shares 10022.

The new 8,500-square-foot Saks showroom at the flagship Fifth Avenue store will have more shoes, more service and more stock room capability, Langsam Kennedy said. It also will feature a VIP room for private shopping, spacious seating, refreshments and shoe repair on hand, she said.

Saks operates 54 stores in 25 states and two stores in the Middle East.

American Idol has spoken !!!!

Jordin Sparks, a teenager with a big voice and big dreams, was crowned Wednesday as the newest and youngest "American Idol.''

Sparks, 17, of Glendale, Ariz., prevailed over beatboxer Blake Lewis, 25, of Bothell, Wash., after a triumphant performance Tuesday that wowed the show's judges and the viewers who gave her the majority of the record 74 million votes cast.

"Mom, Dad, I love you,'' Sparks, the daughter of retired NFL player Phillippi Sparks, said after hugging Lewis.

New Yorks Plaza Hotel update....

Subway Hero' Blows Chance at Million

Megan Manni Reporting
NEW YORK -- Wesley Autrey, famed for jumping on the tracks of an oncoming 1 train in January to save a man who had had a seizure and fallen off the platform, fell just short of $1 million Monday.

Autrey was a guest contestant on the NBC game show "Deal or No Deal" with Howie Mandel. "Deal" features 26 cases, each with a labeled monetary value inside. The contestant chooses a case for his or her own to be opened at the end of the show.

In the meantime, the contestant must choose cases to open one by one, and whatever value is shown inside is not the value the contestant's case holds.

Autrey chose case number 7, and the game began.

At first some of the highest values were knocked out - $400,000, $300,000, $500,000. But the middle values remained, until Autrey was left with the extreme ends of the spectrum - values like $.01, $10, $25, $5,000, $10,000 and the million-dollar case.

Every few cases or so, a "banker" calls Mandel, the host, to offer the contestant a guaranteed sum to leave the show and give up the chance to win more money.

Choosing cases that turned out to hold the lower amounts would make the bank offer skyrocket, but winding up having chosen the higher amounts would reduce the bank's risk of payout, thereby reducing their monetary offer to the contestant.

The man dubbed "the subway hero" was offered $65,000, then $96,000, then $148,000, then $209,000 as he got closer to the end of the game without uncovering the million dollar marker. At each and every turn, Autrey said, "no deal.

APPLE STORE 5TH AVE

New Yorks Apple Store is 1 year old

Woman Falls Through Sidewalk Grate in Midtown

A pedestrian was injured when she fell at least 10 feet through a sidewalk transformer vault Thursday in midtown Manhattan, authorities said.

Plaza Hotel Owners Develop Vegas Complex

Plaza Hotel Owners Elad Group to Develop $5 Billion Complex on Vegas Strip Using Plaza Brand

Commercial real estate development firm Elad Group, which owns New York's Plaza Hotel, said Wednesday it is developing a $5 billion multi-use complex on the Las Vegas Strip under The Plaza brand.

Cleaning Chemical Found in Tap Water in Queens

A tiny amount of a common dry cleaning chemical contaminated tap water in part of Queens but posed no known health risk to the roughly 64,000 people affected, the city Department of Environmental Protection said.

Officials said the chemical was found in water in sections of St. Albans, Cambria Heights and Hollis.

Still, the agency suggested residents use bottled water and take shorter showers if they were concerned.

Some, such as Jenny Delgado, were.

"I'm not going to use the water. I don't feel safe yet,'' she said. "I'm going to wait a couple of days and get a little more information before I give my kids the water.''

Levels slightly above the standard for the chemical -- tetrachloroethylene, or PERC -- were first found in a sample collected during routine testing May 1 in the Hollis area, the DEP said. The chemical is used mostly in dry cleaning and auto body repair, the agency said.

Exposure to large amounts of PERC can affect the nervous system, and very long-term exposure can increase cancer risks, but the ``minute amounts'' found in the water were not expected to cause health problems, the DEP said.

The highest PERC concentrations detected in the water have been 13 parts per billion, compared to a standard of 5 parts per billion, the agency said.

"In these levels, for this amount of time, there are no known ill health effects,'' said spokeswoman Ann Canty.

The problem was limited to an area bounded by Linden and Farmer's boulevards, Hempstead and Jamaica avenues, and the Cross Island Parkway, the DEP said.

N.Y. Mets Fan Whose Back Was Broken at Ballpark Files Lawsuit

The New York Mets fan whose back was broken by an apparently drunken 300-pound man who fell on her at Shea Stadium during the team's home opener has filed a lawsuit because of her injuries.

Ellen Massey, 58, says in court papers that on April 9 she was in the second row of the right field upper deck near a "visibly intoxicated'' man who was "acting in a rowdy, boisterous and dangerous manner for a long period of time.''

Around 3:30 p.m., court papers say, the man, who has not been found or identified, "in an intoxicated condition fell upon plaintiff causing her to sustain severe personal injuries.''

Massey's lawyer, Stephen Kaufman, said Monday that the fall by the drunk, who was described as a blond 300-pounder, cracked several of the woman's vertebrae.

"He got up and left,'' apparently uninjured, Kaufman said. "We have information that one of the security people might have spoken to him and let him leave.''

Two emergency medical technicians sitting directly in front of Massey gave her first aid and comforted her until an ambulance arrived, Kaufman said.

Massey underwent surgery for spinal injuries at Jacobi Medical Center and was hospitalized there for about two weeks, Kaufman said. Doctors put rods and screws in her back and will have to operate on her again, he said.

Massey was at the game with two adult nephews when the incident occurred between the sixth and seventh innings, with the Mets behind 5-3. The home team went on the beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-5.

Massey, a Manhattan lawyer, named Sterling Mets L.P., owner of the baseball team; Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., the beer vendor; the Service Employees International Union Local 177, whose members are security guards at Shea Stadium, and "John Doe,'' the unidentified man who fell on her, as defendants.

Massey's court papers say that Sterling Mets had a duty to provide reasonable safety for stadium patrons, that Aramark should not have sold alcohol to spectators who appeared to be already drunk and that the union employees should have prevented unruly behavior.

Times Square Generates More $ Than Economies of Panama, Bolivia

Times Square, the area of midtown Manhattan that's evolved over the past century from a bustling theater district to a symbol of crime and decay and now to a sanitized entertainment mecca, pumps about $55 billion a year directly into the city's economy, more than the combined economies of Bolivia and Panama, according to a new study.

Times Square's financial contribution to the city exceeds the city's budgets for public libraries and for the Departments of Parks & Recreation, Youth and Community Development, Cultural Affairs, Small Business Services and for the Aging, said the study commissioned by Times Square Alliance, a privately funded non-profit dedicated to improving the area.

In the past 15 years, the area has become a financial and media hub and a tourist destination and has positioned itself as the city's "economic engine,'' said Tim Tompkins, the alliance's president. Another $35 billion is generated indirectly, such as when a company in Times Square buys services from another business elsewhere in the city, the study said.

"This report affirms and provides evidence of what we have long suspected,'' Tompkins said. "Times Square is not just one of New York City's most popular destinations; it in essence represents its own distinct and powerful economy within the city, pumping tens of billions of dollars into the local economy. In this way, Times Square is a vital organ to New York City, a critical element in the city's financial landscape.''

The study, the first of its kind of Times Square since its most recent transformation, analyzed the economic impact of jobs, entertainment and other spending at the Crossroads of the World.

Eight of every 10 of the millions of annual city tourists visit Times Square, the study said. They and others spend billions of dollars on hotels (one of every four Manhattan hotel rooms is in Times Square), restaurants and retail stores, on Broadway shows and at other entertainment venues, the study said.

Apple Store NY Construction

The 3rd Apple Store in New York City is to be located at 401 W. 14th Street in the Meatpacking District. The new store is said to provide 32,000 square feet of floor space, significantly more than their existing Apple Store SoHo (21,577 sq feet) and Fifth Avenue (25,000 sq feet) locations.

Roger Clemens to NY

Roger Clemens returned to the New York Yankees, making a dramatic announcement to fans from the owner's box during Sunday's game against the Seattle Mariners. At the end of the seventh-inning stretch, Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard told fans to turn their attention to the box, where Clemens was standing with a microphone. As the video scoreboard in right-center showed Clemens, who made the announcement himself.

It's not getting any easier to breathe in New York City.

The American Lung Association has a new report showing that air quality has deteriorated across all five boroughs in the past year. The eighth annual air pollution report said that ozone pollution or smog is highest on Staten Island, and particle pollution, otherwise known as soot, has substantially worsened on Staten Island, as well as in Brooklyn and Manhattan.