ALOTT5MA TEMPERATURE CHECK: Just gauging -- what is people's level of interest in the World Cup? Is it something we ought to be blogging about here?

SHE DID NOT, HOWEVER, START HER LIFE IN AN OLD, COLD, RUN-DOWN TENEMENT SLUM: I didn't want to interrupt our Bee coverage with this, but ALOTT5MA would not be complete in following through with its regular obsessions if we failed to note that ALOTT5MA FAR ("Frequently Acknowledged Royalty") His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco has acknowledged a second child in a way that basically fits the plot of The Princess Diaries, except for the possibility of actually becoming a princess. Which, by the way, is a cute movie. So is What A Girl Wants, if you're a fan of the genre.

THE WISDOM OF CROWDS: As previously mentioned, I'm going to be in Las Vegas for a conference for a few days at the end of this week. I haven't been there since December 2002, so, what's new? In particular, restaurant recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

MISTAKES WERE MADE: The first half of tonight's Sopranos mid-finale saw a whole lot of poor decisions being made by members of the Family, especially Christopher, leading to an overwhelming sense of dread. Actions have consequences in this universe, after all.

Perhaps. After the breadth of this season, we returned tonight to the core cast, and see where they've been since Tony's hospitalization, and whether they've learned anything at all, or whether old habits are hard to break. (Beyond that, it's all spoilers, really. To the comments!)

edited to add, one more time: Sepinwall:

I've heard all the complaints about this season, but this was the first time all year where I felt genuinely unsatisfied. I know I've been writing for weeks that we were heading towards an implosion, and that I didn't think much would be resolved before January. But it's one thing to predict it and another thing to experience it.

Chase has always had a fondness for zagging when the audience expects him to zig, and sometimes it feels like he goes zagging off just because he can. He wants to wean viewers off of all the TV narrative traditions they've been suckling since birth, but some of those traditions are there for a reason, and have been since long before TV existed. Steven Bochco didn't say that if you show a gun in the first act, you have to fire it by the third; Anton Chekhov did.

I'm not insisting we needed all-out war between Phil and Tony, or Carmela to visit the FBI offices in search of Adriana, or Paulie to die of cancer. But we needed something interesting to happen in one of the arcs, rather than the crude jokes Chase and company tried to disguise as resolutions . . .

THE GERMANS HAVE BEATEN US AT OUR NATIONAL GAME. BUT LET US RECALL THAT TWICE THIS CENTURY WE HAVE BEATEN THEM AT THEIRS. The Germans are none-too-happy with the inflatable Spitfires on their way to the World Cup Finals.

SOMEWHERE, BARNEY STINSON IS CRYING: The only place to play Laser Tag in Manhattan has closed.

PERHAPS THEY SHOULD ALSO HAVE AN ADVISORY THAT "POSIDEON SUCKS. I MEAN, REALLY, REALLY, BLOWS:" Something interesting I observed at the theatre box office last night at the big Loews Lincoln Square--next to each cashier was a small sign warning that "A trailer for the upcoming film World Trade Center appears before The Da Vinci Code and An Inconvenient Truth." Interestingly, I've not seen this sort of signage at any other theatre playing either of these movies, and I'm wondering about your thoughts. Personally, I was more troubled by the fact that the dialogue-free trailer for Marie Antoinette played twice in a row before the latter film, which, while more interesting than "Documentary based on PowerPoint presentation given by Al Gore" would make it sound, is far from revolutionary or shocking.