A Ribbon of Dreams will follow two employees of early film mogul D.W. Griffth, one is a buttoned-up nerdy type, the other his cowboy producing partner. They'll encounter a host of the Old Hollywood legendaries—John Ford, John Wayne, Bette Davis.

Chase, who expertly crafted a television Guernica/Pieta/whatever-other-opus of an America in millennial decline with Sopranos, has a rough and raucous past from which to draw for his new period piece. Many of the early pioneers of Hollywood fled the East Coast as a means to avoid the patent fees any aspiring filmmaker had to pay to that greedy baron of power and light, Thomas Edison. They forged a rogue playground of early-times movie makers that was akin to the real Wild West (except, you know, probs a lot gayer). Chase ought to do well treading a seemingly glamorous, exciting world that has large chunks of grit breaking through the veneer. It'll be like the whole thing is set at Vesuvio's or in Carmela's kitchen, except it'll be filled with cigar-chomping movie types wearing suspenders.

Incidentally, the title comes from an Orson Welles quote, who called film "a ribbon of dreams."

File this under Things We're Excited For.

Baer claimed he provided help — arranging meetings with police and prosecutors during a three-day tour of New Jersey mob sites in 1995 and engaging in subsequent conversations — that sparked ideas for what b ecame the hit HBO mob drama that ended in June.

Both men testified that Baer turned down compensation from Chase three times. But Baer claimed Chase agreed to "take care of him" if the show was a hit. Baer said no monetary figure was ever discussed. Chase never offered him a writing job on the show.

Baer's case was systematically undermined over the course of the five day trial. His "three-day tour of New Jersey mob sites" was revealed to be a "three day tour of New Jersey's best places to get a calzone"; Baer's protestations that this constituted a tour of mob sites by default did not sway the jury. Furthermore, Baer's only "meetings with police and prosecutors" will be if he's tried for perjury for swearing under oath to have a dog named "Big Pussy." David Chase, meanwhile, has kept his word. Baer's been taken care of.

• Jury Rules In Favor of 'Sopranos' Creator [WCBSTV.com]
• Lawsuit Forces David Chase To Be Way More Forthcoming With Sopranos' Beginning Than He Was With Their Ending [Defamer]

"There WAS a war going on that week, and attempted terror attacks in London," says Chase. "But these people were talking about onion rings." [...]

Chase says the New Jersey mob boss "had been people's alter ego. They had gleefully watched him rob, kill, pillage, lie and cheat. They had cheered him on. And then, all of a sudden, they wanted to see him punished for all that. They wanted 'justice'...

"The pathetic thing _ to me _ was how much they wanted HIS blood, after cheering him on for eight years."

In the days, and even weeks, after the finale aired June 10, "Sopranos" wonks combed that episode for buried clues, concocting wild theories. (Was this some sort of "Last Supper" reimagined with Tony, wife Carmela, son A.J. and daughter Meadow?)

Chase insists that what you saw (and didn't see) is what you get.

"There are no esoteric clues in there. No `Da Vinci Code,'" he declares. [...]

And as for that notorious blackout in the middle of the Journey power ballad, "Don't Stop Believin'"?

"Originally, I didn't want any credits at all," says Chase. "I just wanted the black screen to go the length of the credits _ all the way to the HBO `whoosh' sound. But the Directors Guild wouldn't give us a waiver."

And while this unexpected finish left lots of viewers thinking their cable service was on the fritz, Chase insists it wasn't meant as a prank.

"Why would we want to do that?" he asks. "Why would we entertain people for eight years only to give them the finger?"

Even though Chase may have intended his answers to defuse any lingering accusations of mindfuckery and slow the procession of fans who interrupt his every public meal with impromptu renditions of "Don't Stop Believin'," all the creator has done was provide Finale Deconstructionists with a new text to study. Armed with quickly dog-eared copies of The Sopranos: The Complete Book, they'll soon gather in TV rooms decorated with Gay Vito Death Cues and discarded Satriale's Pork Store bricks, expending considerable intellectual energy on trying to determine whether their desire to see their beloved antihero's brains splattered all over a Holsten's booth by the Man in the Members Only Jacket was, in fact, "pathetic," or merely a rational and healthy need to see the many dramatically satisfying misdeeds in which the audience was too long complicit finally punished.

• `Sopranos' Creator Defends Famous Finale [AP]
• Previously: David Chase Emerges From Hiding To Reassure 'Sopranos' Fans He Wasn't Just Fucking With Them [Defamer]

The drama series nominees that will return home empty-handed as the TV Academy thanks David Chase for classing up the medium can be seen in the image above, though we must disclose that we may have obscured the title of Boston Legal with a tribute to the most misunderstood show of our generation. On the comedy side, the Academy has recognized Entourage, The Office, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, and Two and a Half Men, though we suspect that last sitcom's inclusion had something to do with a full-page For Your Consideration ad star Charlie Sheen took out in the trades promising that a nomination would be rewarded with a party for Emmy voters "that will make the proprietor of Tijuana's most transgressive donkey show drop dead in disgust."

The rest of the nominations in the major categories follow; Friday Night Lights fans may want to take a moment to compose themselves before continuing on.

Outstanding Comedy Series
30 Rock • NBC
Entourage • HBO
The Office • NBC
Two And A Half Men • CBS
Ugly Betty • ABC

Outstanding Drama Series
Boston Legal • ABC
Grey's Anatomy • ABC
Heroes • NBC
House • Fox
The Sopranos • HBO

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
30 Rock • NBC • Alec Baldwin
Extras • HBO • Ricky Gervais
Monk • USA • Tony Shalhoub
The Office • NBC • Steve Carell,
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Charlie Sheen

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
30 Rock • NBC • Tina Fey
Desperate Housewives • ABC • Felicity Huffman
The New Adventures Of Old Christine • CBS • Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Ugly Betty • ABC • America Ferrera
Weeds • Showtime • Mary-Louise Parker

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
24 • Fox • Kiefer Sutherland
Boston Legal • ABC • James Spader
House • Fox • Hugh Laurie
Rescue Me • FX • Denis Leary
The Sopranos • HBO • James Gandolfini

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Brothers & Sisters • ABC • Sally Field
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC • Mariska Hargitay
Medium • NBC • Patricia Arquette
The Closer • TNT Kyra Sedgwick
The Riches • FX Minnie Driver
The Sopranos • HBO • Edie Falco

The complete list of nominees is here, for those who wish to discover that "Dick in the Box" is among the honorees for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics. (We're not kidding.)

• 'Sopranos' picks up 15 Emmy nominations [CNN.com]

• Complete List of Nominations [Emmys.com]

· Minutes and minutes of fun (and a deepened appreciation for David Chase's genius) can be had with YouTube and the search query "Sopranos alternate ending."
· There's is definitely something a little perverse about a Luke/Vader Father's Day gift set.
· Angelina Jolie wears a $26 outfit (not including shoes) to the NY premiere of A Mighty Heart; if her candidacy for sainthood wasn't already a lock, it certainly is now.
· Catwoman money buys a pretty nice spread in Silver Lake.

· Keyboardist Jonathan Cain signed off on the song's use along with co-writers Schon and Steve Perry. As with every "Believin'" request, they debated the project's merits at length before agreeing. Ultimately, the band decided The Sopranos finale was definitely up there with that scene from Laguna Beach when Stephen picks up LC for their date, and TV history once again was made. [CNN/AP]
· And what of The Voice? Singer Perry says he insisted producers reveal the context of the scene, and once he was assured it would not accompany a slo-mo Soprano family bloodbath, featuring A.J.'s bullet-riddled body convulsing under an order of flying onion rings, he was OK with it. [MTV.com]

"I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there," he says of the final scene.

"No one was trying to be audacious, honest to God," he adds. "We did what we thought we had to do. No one was trying to blow people's minds or thinking, 'Wow, this'll (tick) them off.'

"People get the impression that you're trying to (mess) with them, and it's not true. You're trying to entertain them."

Chase does admit that there was some "conversation" (i.e., "Listen to this, quietly nod your head, then tell me I'm a genius.") about his selection of "Don't Stop Believin'" as his series-ending theme among his crew, who eventually "[came] around" to their boss's selection. Luckily, the showrunner decided to stay with the song's vaguely existential message that things "[go] on and on and on and on," rather than second-guess himself and succumb to brief temptation to replace it with the band's "Any Way You Want It," which would have artlessly telegraphed his desire for an open-ended interpretation of the abrupt, ambiguous ending.

• 'Sopranos' creator's last word: End speaks for itself [Star Ledger]
• The Obligatory 'Sopranos' Finale Post [Defamer]

· Suffering from nervous breakdowns induced by Sopranos separation anxiety? Breathe deeply and whisper to yourself that at least you've got The Walnuts to hold onto.
· Mental health professionals lament The Sopranos' passing, as Tony made those who sit in expensive leather chairs across from manipulative sociopaths seem cool again.
· Maroon 5 manwhore Adam Levine's got a sexy secret...and Us is letting you in on it!
· Ryan Seacrest makes Simon Cowell joke, touches off multiple gossip item trying to stir up Idol controversy.
· Sunset Tan shocker! Spray-tanned corpse not actually a corpse.
· The Office's BJ Novak on how to do old Reveille boss/new NBC boss Ben Silverman: "I've been studying his mannerisms: huge enthusiasm, and then he'll slip in an incredible knowledge of specifics, way deep into a lot of complicated handshakes and backslapping."

Whether you believe that David Chase's choice to end The Sopranos on an open-ended freeze frame so intentionally abrupt that it would trick millions of outraged viewers into believing that their cable boxes and DVRs had malfunctioned—robbing them of the "real" ending where Tony is floating face-down in his pool, his brain splattered upon a flock of peacefully paddling ducks by the escaped Russian from "Pine Barrens"—represents an uncompromising artistic triumph or the worst kind of blue-balling narrative cop-out, we can all agree on one thing: Meadow is a profoundly shitty parallel parker.

The fans who have flocked to HBO's website to register their disgust with or endorsement of the finale might not even be able to reach consensus on that point, as they're busy filling the Bacala-sized hole in their lives by debating if HBO showed different final images—either of Meadow entering the diner or of Tony watching Meadow's entrance—in various TV markets, a discussion that seems to confirm that Chase has so successfully mindfucked his viewers over the past eight years that they now no longer trust their own senses.

Here's a clip of the final scene, which seems to provide an answer—but how can we ever know for sure that Chase didn't beam a different version into a few households, just to see if he could drive a handful of people insane?

• Episode 86: Made in America [HBO.com]
• The Sopranos: Final Scene [YouTube]

Virtually any morning flip through the trades reveals a delightful succession of

While UTA boasts 15 names on its page (though closer inspection reveals some credit-padding dirty pool: Wilmer Valderrama? Really?) and CAA a typically staggering line-up of 14 commission-generators, on a pure per-client basis, plucky APA (all together now, Entourage fans: "Who the fuck invited APA?") outspent its ten-percenting betters in buying a back-cover tribute to its cherished tag-team of Johnny Sack and Bacala. We have no idea what happened to Endeavor's ad—we assume that either they don't rep any Sopranos people, or Ari Emanuel just took the money and made donations in their name to Barack Obama's Democratic primary campaign, entirely bypassing this sloppy round of interagency competition.

[ads via DigiVariety]

· The entire Sopranos story, in just seven minutes! Who's got that kind of time? With some judicious cutting, we bet someone could get it down to a more YouTube-friendly 90 seconds.
· Diddy is brazenly stealing all his freak-you-wild material from Smoove B: "As soon as we landed, we went straight to the Eiffel Tower, drank champagne at the top and just kissed and kissed. Then we went up to my suite and had tantric sex for at least 30 hours, ordering up whipped cream and strawberries while we were at it. As meticulous as I am with my work, I'm more meticulous with lovemaking. I like to do it for a long time."
· Realizing that he hadn't been involved in a petty war of words in nearly 12 hours and desperate for the rush only pointless public confrontation can provide, feud-junkie Donald Trump picks a fight with a golfing magazine.
· No blood for mohel.
· After reading this story, our first thought was: Michael Jackson can't even afford health insurance anymore. How's he going to pay for the upkeep on the 50-foot robot?

Because of "unexpected" knee surgery for series star James Gandolfini, the concluding episodes that were expected to begin in January will be delayed about two months, HBO Chairman Chris Albrecht said.

The surgery alone would have pushed the season start back just a few weeks, but that would have put "The Sopranos" up against the football playoffs and the Super Bowl...

The news reminds us of an old Ojibwe saying we keep pinned to our wall: "Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while a great final eight episodes carry me across the sky." And while we suppose we can wait two more months to find out how it all turns out, there better be a lot more whackings and naked Julianna Margulies and a lot less droning on about restaurant credit card theft to make up for the delay.

• Gandolfini surgery creates 'Sopranos' delay [MSNBC/AP]

The maker of Stacker 2 filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming Gannascoli hasn't been doing enough to promote the product after receiving about $316,000 from the company over the last 2 1/2 years.

He was very difficult to work with all the time," Robert Occhifinto, president of Sussex County-based dietary supplement maker NVE Pharmaceuticals, told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Friday's newspapers. [...]

"I begged them to do things but they wouldn't," he told the newspaper. "They didn't like I was doing the gay thing" in his TV role.

The gay angle, however, seems like a perfect fit for a company that sells diet supplements: Had Stacker 2 signed Gannascoli purely on the assumption that he'd appeal to chubby goombah consumers, the plot twist that turned him into a body fat percentage-obsessed out n' proud Gay could only have expanded their product's visibility into the highly profitable, waist-size-conscious leather-disco-queen markets.

• Diet pill maker sues 'Sopranos' actor [AP]