Amanda Henry is the author of the following article. [ A "man" duh? Henry. ]

With a First name that is as unappealing as Brunhilda, but worse yet is 
centered around "man", and her Surname is an unappealing Man's first name, I 
guess one could better understand why Amanda is somewhat "twisted".

Her gender conflict and confusion, manifests itself in on one hand a bigoted equation 
of Italian Americans = Mobster (or the better type of), and seemingly 
"lionizing" these "brutes", while apparently having a complete indifference 
to the "piece of meat" manner that women are treated, when not being, 
battered or graphically and gruesomely "snuffed". Amanda.....Get thee to thy 
Shrink!! You need help badly!!  

Amanda Henry sounds of English Heritage, and what the Brits know about cuisine,
is embarrassing!!  So when Amanda attempts to "flavor" her words with 
"tasteful" gastronomic comments, I would prefer the advice of my Pakistani 
Pizza Delivery person. 
======================================================
>From Manny Alfano of Italian_American_One_Voice@yahoogroups.com
 
FOR A TASTE OF MOB LIFE, YOU'VE GOTTA GO ITALIAN

Caption: Anti-defamation groups may cringe at the thought, but it seems 
you can't make a good gangster movie without a lot of vowels. 

Wisconsin State Journal, Page 8 
By Amanda Henry 
06/20/2002 

It rankled: schlepping over to Blockbuster, paying good money to rent a TV 
show.

I could hear the weighty foreign titles hissing from their shelves, 
"Traitor!" But sometimes you don't want what's good for you. Get thee behind 
me, wheat germ! I want a slice: a big greasy piece with spicy sausage and 
extra cheese. Gimme "The Sopranos ," and let's figure out why this TV show is 
the talk of the town.

Here's what I found, after racing through the first two seasons like a diva 
in a cannoli factory. Entertaining as the HBO series is, it's not the junk 
food of the media kingdom. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie on 
the big screen that was by turns this gripping, hilarious and moving (well, 
maybe "Gosford Park," but it doesn't have quite the same garlic-and-profanity 
buzz). It's hard to know whom to admire more - the brilliant cast or the 
cunning, canny writers. This is the kind of story that's worth every penny in 
rental fees. It might even be worth getting cable.

But while "The Sopranos " gives us our most intimate and prolonged exposure 
to Mafia life, it's certainly not the first filmed entertainment to play on 
public fascination with the Mob. You've got your Mafia comedies, including 
"Analyze This," "Married to the Mob," "The Freshman," "Prizzi's Honor" and 
let's not forget "Jane Austen's Mafia !"; your juror-in-trouble movies 
("Trial by Jury," "The Juror"); and your non-Italian Mob movies ("Miller's 
Crossing," "Little Odessa," "Black Rain"). You'll notice that very few of the 
above movies were directed by people whose names end in "cese" or "oppola." 
In Mafia movies, this is not a good sign.

It's not that "Miller's Crossing" and "Little Odessa" aren't great movies. 
They are, in their own melancholy,  does-the-sun-ever-shine-around-here, 
tobacco-stained way. Although both films were directed by Americans, they 
capture the temperament of the, respectively, Irish and Russian immigrants 
who constitute their crime families. And it's a long way from Tipperary to 
Tuscany.

A lot of what we love about Mafia movies is the Italian-ness of them. Think 
of the great cooking scenes in movies like "GoodFellas." (The fact that Al 
Pacino's character in "Donnie Brasco" makes coq au vin is symptomatic of the 
ways in which that movie feels pale and flattened.) I find it hard to get 
through an episode of "The Sopranos " without wanting a glass of red wine and 
some manicotti (pronounced "maniGOT").

Then there's the Latin character - grown men kissing, loud- mouthed women 
with stiff hair and shiny claws, exclamations and vendettas, etc. Not to 
mention all the weird family/religious stuff. Add to that the labyrinthine 
secret society quality of the Mafia, with its specialized language 
(captain/skipper/made guy/godfather/ whatever) and undeniable aura of power.
 
Even in non-Mafia movies, when bad things happen to good characters in 
movies, I sometimes wish they were connected. So it's illegal - a little 
muscle is still a comforting thing.

And speaking of muscle, the movie has yet to be made that could rub out the 
heads of the Mafia film family. I'm not wild about the type of movies it 
spawned - fast cuts, gratuitous violence - but you can't deny the technical 
mastery of Scorsese's "GoodFellas." Which brings us to the wheezing 
grandfather of them all.

After a steady diet of "The Sopranos ," the period drama of "The Godfather" 
and its first sequel look almost stately. There's a whiff of the Old World 
still hanging about this family saga, with plenty of interior shots that look 
like they were filmed by oil lamp. Besides, what the movies have lost in 
freshness they've gained in iconic buzz: the scene with the horse, the 
cross-cut baptism montage, the character arcs of Michael, Sonny, Fredo et al. 
This is the stuff of myth, rich and tomato-y enough to weather another three 
decades of imitation.

Reach Amanda Henry at 252-6188 or e-mail ahenry@madison.com.
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ACCENTUATE the Positive, ELIMINATE the Negative!!!!

Speaking out with One Voice against Negative Stereotyping 

Italian-American One Voice Coalition is a national network of activists 
enabling the Italian American community to act as one united voice when 
dealing with defamation, discrimination and negative stereotyping.

Member organizations provide a liaison with the IA One Voice Coalition to 
disseminate information to the Italian American community and protest with 
one voice against each outrage against our heritage, culture and character. 

Italian American One Voice - Who We Are 

Web Site:

http://www.italianamericanonevoice.org/iaindex.html