Many yoga practitioners spurn watching television and some don't even like reading the newspapers. In the spirit of full disclosure, I'll just say that I'm not one of them. In fact, I watch a lot of programming. I am discerning. My interest in good programming started way back with a couple of brilliant shows called, "The West Wing" and "The Sopranos"*.
I felt sad last night when I heard that James Gandolfini,  the star of the "The Sopranos" had passed away. Apparently he was on holidays in Italy with his family and had a sudden heart attack.
Gandolfini played the mobster, Tony Soprano. He was a real family man - rich provider for his wife and kids, but his earnings were ill-got from his mafiosa life of crime.
I was a loyal viewer of "The Sopranos" for the six seasons that the show ran. The series portrayed a violent and corrupt bunch of people, but Tony was conflicted when we met him in the first episode - probably suffering from a mid-life crisis. He ended up in the office of a psychiatrist, and over the 86 episodes of programming, we kept hoping his therapist could help him change his ways, but it wasn't meant to be.
Why do I feel bad about Gandolfini's passing? Maybe it's that I feel nostalgia for the hours of amazing drama the show provided, but also, from my vantage point, 51 years old seems way too young to die. Whether you watch films and television or not, Gandolfini was a consummate actor. His director, David Chase, said he was one of the finest actors of our times.
Ciao Tony/James.... R.I.P.
*The Sopranos in its time was considered the most financially successful series in the history of cable television, and has been called, by some, the greatest television series of all time.