Snakes and Sparklers

10 Ways 'The Sopranos' Could Have Had Steven Van Zandt and Silvio Dante Exist Simultaneously

This is what it's like when worlds collide

Jul 18 • 

Brendan Menapace

June 2025

A Song In Portuguese That I Don’t Understand (But I Don’t Have To)

Finding the shortcut to a lifetime of experience in just a few minutes. Or at least that’s what it felt like from where I was standing

Jun 20 • 

Brendan Menapace

May 2025

Pitch Emails: At The End of the Season, We're All Just Staring Out Into the Bus

If you leave the cameras rolling long enough, reality creeps in after the euphoria fades away

May 29 • 

Brendan Menapace

John Mulaney Is Doing Whatever He Wants

I wrote about the music of "Everybody's Live with John Mulaney" and having the freedom to book whoever you want whenever you want

May 16 • 

Brendan Menapace

3 Stories From My Chemo Phase

Three years without cancer, so I wrote three essays reflecting on the process so far, and tried to find some room to laugh about having cancer. Even…

May 9 • 

Brendan Menapace

4

Closing Chapters, But Not the Book

Feeling like you're in the light at the end of the tunnel, and the transformative power of New York rich kid indie rock.

May 9 • 

Brendan Menapace

I Know Why It Happened

When you're a grownup, you deserve what you get for some reason or another. It's just a matter of figuring out why.

May 9 • 

Brendan Menapace

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The Problem With Cancer Movies

The movies use cancer as a tidy shorthand plot device or condense the experience into two hours. It's unrealistic, in my experience, and very much not…

May 9 • 

Brendan Menapace

April 2025

The 'Bar Movie' Is Good And Important

Zoning out on junk food is actually healthy for you.

Apr 22 • 

Brendan Menapace

3

The Ghost

Even in death we aren't free from a disappointing life. This is a work of fiction

Apr 4 • 

Brendan Menapace

2

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February 2025

I Have Been Bitten and Fooled So Many Times

They keep digging up the corpse and I keep asking if I can pay to see it. We're both to blame.

Feb 18 • 

Brendan Menapace

This Was the Super Bowl for Haters

WOP WOP WOP WOP - Stop! Stop! He's already dead

Feb 10 • 

Brendan Menapace

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