Charles on… anything that comes along

So someone was asking the other day in a comment about that scene where the New Joisey boys in the Sopranos try to shake down a Starcostabucks, only to get told that “every last f’ing bean is in the computer”.

Hey, turns out that it’s out there. This is still my favourite scene out of the whole canon, because it demonstrates something that we feel is happening in our modern world: it’s all getting out of our control, it’s all done by computers, head offices somewhere else, there’s nothing left for us, the individuals, to do at our discretion. Which in this case turns out to be a blessing. And have to say, the actor playing the manager of the coffee shop plays a blinder with his one scene. Great stuff.

And now, enjoy.. (and it’s here if you want to see whatever gets related to it.. hmm, not much that you’d really call “relevant” except for having “little guy” somewhere near the title).

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• From the end of the Sopranos back to the beginning (30 October 2007; score: 33.94%)
• My review: the Mad Men series on DVD (30 June 2008; score: 30.21%)
• Real-life Sopranos in the 'burbs (14 April 2008; score: 29.18%)

More stuff goes up. First, the podcast, which is getting closer to what I’d really like it to be like - interviews (here with the BPI and ISPA over the “three strikes and out” proposition) which sound like proper radio cut-and-thrust (hopefully more like Today than You&Yours). Scott, our producer, is ex-BBC, and is gently but firmly steering us to better practice, as well as pointing out - always politely but never leaving room for doubt - when we’re doing it rubbish.

Tech Weekly podcast: action on illegal filesharing and Britain’s broadband future

Aleks Krotoski and the team dissect moves to force ISPs to prevent filesharing, the government’s lack of vision for super-fast broadband, and news on Facebook, eBay and YouTube

And with the China Olympics coming up, who’s to say that the media won’t find that certain sites won’t load? And that athletes won’t be proscribed for not blogging within tight enough limits? It’s crazy, I tell you. Another planet entirely.

Will Olympic athletes be gagged and blindfolded in Beijing?

We know blogging will be severely restricted and podcasts forbidden for Olympic athletes in Beijing, but will their internet access be censored as well?

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• At the Guardian: the Tech Weekly podcast (13 February 2008; score: 66.89%)
• Guardian Tech Weekly podcast: the second one (30 December 2007; score: 59.51%)
• My latest at the Guardian: why do we want people to be computers, and three podcasts (10 February 2008; score: 56.43%)