NOTES AND OTHER STUFF ...
Local Internet site guru Ivy Hover, who runs sincitysounds.com and , is making an appearance in Comedy Central's newest quiz show, "BEAT THE GEEKS." She's "The Sopranos" expert who answered "Sopranos-related trivia questions and tossed Mafia-themed insults at the contestants." Ivy's reign lasts for five episodes starting Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. I would tell you to tune in, but you should be weening yourself from that network crap already.

I'm crying," said Sue Sadik, anticipating the deprivation she expects to feel after the final episode of this season's "Sopranos" tonight at 9.

"What's even worse is, I'm crying because I know what happens. But I'm not telling you. I'm a made woman. I'm very careful about what I say."

Sadik, known to aficionados of the hit HBO series as Soprano Sue -- the keeper of detailed dossiers on the fictional North Jersey mobsters -- hasn't actually seen the season's finale. That's a pleasure she and millions of the show's fans await anxiously, knowing that its satisfactions will have to last till next year.

Sure, there are reruns. There are videos. There's the shrine Sadik has installed in her living room to the dysfunctional glories of Tony Soprano and his extended family.

But there's no getting around it -- Sadik is in for a long wait.

"These people I've been with for months -- I'm going to miss them," she said. "Not just the actors, but everybody associated with the show. To me, everyone that has anything to do with 'The Sopranos' is a star. You know what I'm saying?"

An awful lot of people know exactly what Sadik is saying. Nearly 9 million people watch the show each week, a remarkably strong viewership for subscription cable.

For many, the whole day leading up to it is a special occasion, with friends and family gathering for chianti and cannoli.

Or they might take Location Tour's four-hour bus tour, visiting Satriale's Pork Store in Kearny, N.J., and Satin Dolls, the exotic dance club in Lodi that doubles as the show's Bada Bing club.

Or they'll drive up and down the dead-end street in North Caldwell, N.J., pulling into the driveway of the house owned by Victor and Patty Recchia -- that is, Tony and Carmela's home on the show.

They'll spend an inordinate amount of time visiting Web sites such as Ivy Hover's "Sopranoland.com" -- a site that gets some 50,000 hits a day.

Mostly, though, fans talk and think about the characters on the show as if they were friends and family. That, after all, is what makes watching "The Sopranos" such a satisfying experience. Although it deals with sometimes murderous mobsters, its concerns are like real life, where nothing is at all certain.

Indeed, that's what makes the wait for tonight's finale so so fretful -- it's a feeling time is running out and something bad is bound to happen.

As HBO's gangland phenomenon heads for the finale of its third season this Sunday (9 p.m. ET), everybody from mom-and-pop entrepreneurs to Madison Avenue big guns are trying to cash in. Sopranos "family" business is a killer for others, too.

... Online auctions: The show has spawned a flourishing online community of buyers and sellers. A check on eBay this week found 897 Sopranos-related items filling 18 Web pages. Items range from cast photos to spaghetti sauces to a commemorative "Big Pussy" license plate.

HBO tracks Web sites to search for bootleg merchandise, Cusson says. "It's the responsibility of the seller to list items accurately," says eBay's Jennifer Chu. "But if something is illegal or counterfeit, we remove the listing." Some photos from the Sopranoland.com fan site have been illegally scanned and peddled on the Web, says Sue "Soprano Sue" Sadik. "I stopped that. My pictures are copyrighted," says Sadik, a former private eye.

Fashion: The Sopranos are having an impact on fashion trends. "People want to know where they can buy the tiger dress that Adriana wore. Or they want to dress like Paulie Walnuts," says Las Vegas resident Ivy Hover, 32, who created Sopranoland.com.

Some women are wearing the hairstyle favored by Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco), says Salzman. "That's one of the weird signs that a show is moving into the mainstream and impacting pop culture. She's bringing back wings. I see the Carmela haircut taking on a whole new life, like Jennifer Aniston on Friends."...

Now you too can look like a made man. Sopranoland.com--a portal for all sorts of Sopranos swag--has been making a killing with shirts sporting logos from the hit show's capo hangouts. Sure to spark some goomba talk at the watercooler on Monday mornings are the trendy Badda Bing tees and retro bowling shirts from Satriale's Meats--"We Grind Our Own." (Alas, no pinky rings.) The logo duds (coming soon: "Beansie Pizza and Pasta" shirts), as well as the site's T-shirts, are even a hit with the HBO show's cast and crew. "They can't get enough," says Sue Sadik, a New Jersey-based Web reporter and die-hard Sopranos enthusiast. And according to April Wier, spokesperson for emerchandise.com, which distributes the goods, the Sopranos tees sell at a rate of about 1,200 per month. Badda Bing? Sounds more like Ka-ching!

Everyone wants a piece of The Sopranos action... At Sopranoland.com, a guide to Tony's hangouts is supplied by local snitch "Soprano Sue."

... The Web has spawned a fan base that is hungry for "The Sopranos" information. A local Web designer was one of the first to get in on "The Sopranos" action in October 1999 with Sopranoland.com. Las Vegan Ivy Hover created the site as a way to experiment with page design, as well as work through the grief of losing her 36-year-old husband, Kevin Kew, to kidney failure earlier that year. The endeavor became a full-time job. "I never thought I'd be an expert on a TV show," Hover said. "But the characters, the plot are not contrived. People can relate to them." Within six months she downloaded the first and second seasons' transcripts, and obtained photos and interviews with cast members. Fans follow the cast members offscreen because they seem so down to earth, Hover said. "They are not huge stars," Hover said. "They are just people like you and me doing something that they like and they were fortunate that they got to do it."

Andrea Sacker, fan-club producer for the Internet television guide gisttv.com, said that aside from the official HBO site, Sopranoland.com has the most innovative and current information on the Web. "It was the best site out there," Sacker said. "It has the most extensive research, features and it's always up to date."

"The Sopranos" cast members have learned of Sopranoland.com through fans and word-of-mouth. Dominic Chianese, who plays Corrado "Junior" Soprano, Steve Schrippa (Bobby Baccalieri) and James Cerbone (Jackie Aprile, Jr.) are among those who have been interviewed for the site. Schrippa, a supporting character for the past three seasons, left his post as the Riviera's entertainment director last May to work as a full-time actor. Between gigs in New York and Hollywood, Schrippa lives in Las Vegas until "The Sopranos" begins taping each Aug. 1. "Besides the HBO 'Sopranos' site, there's no other that's as knowledgeable," Schrippa said of Sopranoland.com. "I don't think there's a better one than that." ...

... Ivy Hover, a local Web designer, thought it would be a hoot to start a "Sopranos" Web page. So she launched "Sopranoland" 18 months ago. "After three months I was so excited to be getting 1,000 hits a day," she said Tuesday. A year ago at this time, the hits climbed to 5,000. Then she and her site were mentioned last week in The New York Times and the New York Daily News. Monday, the day after the season premiere, she had 43,000 hits. ...

...Yes, New Jersey's biggest cultural export -- about six million viewers are expected to tune in -- is a lightning rod for controversy. And nowhere do emotions run stronger than here on the show's turf. On the one hand there are the fans -- O.K., a bit daft -- who treat ''The Sopranos'' like the home team. These are the people who will show up today at a pre-premiere baked ziti party at Mae's Pub in Clifton organized by ''Soprano Sue'' of Sopranoland.com. Part of the sport is hearing Tony ask Junior to hand over Bloomfield, or to spot on television a parking lot or bridge you pass every day. If Tony Soprano is a star, then those who live in Essex or Union or Hudson Counties are close enough to gather some of the magic fairy dust...

There are many ''Sopranos'' fans, but none more devoted than a 40-year-old Clifton woman who calls herself Soprano Sue. Soprano Sue, aka Sue Sadik, was a geography major at William Paterson University, and she runs a courier service in Jersey City, both of which she credits for her talent in recognizing the Jersey locations on the show. ''Locations are my thing,'' Ms. Sadik said. ''That's what my degree's in. I drive all day. Then it became a game, picking out where everything was.'' Not only can Soprano Sue identify all 22 locations in the show'sng credits, she has also made herself its No. 1 self-appointed paparazzo. She regularly uploads digital images of ''Sopranos'' shoots to a special page of her fan site, ''Sopranoland.com''

The first time she stumbled across the site of Satriale's Pork Store, the Kearny location where Tony and his gang discuss strategy, it was like a revelation. ''I came over a hill and I look and, oh my God, I found it, I found it!'' Ms. Sadik recalled recently. ''It made my whole night.'' She considers the North Caldwell residence used as Tony's house on the show ''hallowed ground'' and refuses to give out the address because she doesn't want others to invade the privacy of its owner.

Soprano Sue has a coterie of fellow fans and other sources (including a well-informed auto body mechanic and a woman who lives in an apartment across from Satriale's) who keep one another current on the status of filming. One of her biggest coups was finding the substitute location used after Mr. Treffinger forbade filming in South Mountain Reservation. ''The crew members were betting whether I'd find them,'' she said. She did, in Harriman State Park in Orange County, N.Y. Ms. Sadik keeps a wall of photographs from her ''Sopranos'' shoots -- including one with her and Mr. Gandolfini -- but her prized possession is the picture taken with her and Mr. Chase.

''Nobody has a hobby like mine,'' she said. ''I want to get buried on the cemetery on Newark Avenue -- Jersey City Cemetery on Newark Avenue,'' she said, referring to the cemetery where the ''Sopranos'' filmed the funeral of the character Livia Soprano, played by the Nancy Marchand. ''I belong in there and everybody knows it."...

After months of waiting, millions of cable-TV viewers finally can re-the dossier on "The Sopranos." The HBO suburban-gangster series, which begins its third season Sunday night, has been called the "Sgt. Pepper's" of TV dramas for its unprecendented creativity. In the show, New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, portrayed by Emmy Award-winning actor James Gandolfini, juggles modern domestic life, old-school organized crime and the stresses that arise. Fans' burning concerns for the new season include: whether Tony continues his therapy with Dr. Jennifer Melfi; and how his long-suffering wife, Carmela, is coping with his depression. Inquiring minds also want to know: Will Uncle Junior regain his position in the mob hierarchy? What's new down at the Bada Bing and in Tony's garbage business? Can Silvio's pompadour get any higher? Can Adrianna get any trashier?

Avid "Sopranos" fan Ivy Hover, the Las Vegas-based Webmistress of the fan-oriented Web site Sopranoland. com, compares the fresh approach of "The Sopranos" to David Lynch's short-lived early-'90s series "Twin Peaks." "Both shows are good examples of how TV creators actually do something different now and then," she says.

Thanks to advance videotapes and information released by HBO, we also know that:

• Machiavellian matriarch Livia Soprano briefly will return, despite the fact that Nancy Marchand, the actress who played her, died last June at age 71 of lung cancer.
  
  
• Melfi will play an increased role this season, after being underused in season No. 2. And Carmela will take an active part in Tony's therapy.
  
  
• Tony's sister, Janice - who left town last season after knocking off her abusive husband, Richie Aprile - will return to New Jersey to arrange Livia's funeral.
  
  
• The FBI will continue its clumsy attempts to close in on Tony's gang by spending the entire first episode trying to bug the Sopranos' home.
  
  
• Tony's impetuous nephew, Christopher, will become a "made man," but has a hard time coping with his own success.
  
  
• Meadow, Tony's headstrong daughter, will find a new boyfriend during her freshman year at Columbia University.
  
  
• And Paulie Walnuts will indulge in a soon-to-be-classic rant about bacteria on shoelaces.

Through 26 previous episodes, viewers have thrilled to the trials and tribulations of Tony's two families - one biological, the other criminal. "I love the show," says John Giorgianni, a former New Jersey resident who owns the Tucson restaurant Greasy Tony's (and its Tempe sister) with his father, Tony. "It's very realistic when it comes to showing Jersey," says the Trenton native, adding that he's acquainted with characters similar to those in the show (minus the mob connections, of course). Tony Giorgianni, also a fan, appreciates how the show captures the flavor of New Jersey's inhabitants. "I know characters back there just like that," he says. "It reminds me basically of back home."

Indeed, some love the show simply because it's on their home turf. Sue Sadik, from Clifton, N.J., says New Jersey residents have taken the show to their collective bosom. "Everybody in northern New Jersey has a 'Sopranos' story," Sadik says. "Either they're related to one of the cast, or they ran into them, or they just know something that happened to them related to the show." Known on the Internet as SopranoSue, Sadik covered most of the New Jersey-based shooting for season No. 3 of the series, posting her reports and photos on the Web.

Created by longtime TV producer and writer David Chase, "The Sopranos" is popular with viewers because it breaks TV rules about narrative and heroism. So says Jeanie Callaghan, who operates the Atlanta-based Web site Dining With The Sopranos. And she doesn't mean simply the increased sex, violence and language allowable on pay cable. "We're supposed to cheer for the hero, but Tony Soprano is alternately an empathetic husband and a cold-blooded killer," Callaghan says. Viewers understand Tony's family problems in spite of his criminal lifestyle, Callaghan adds. "And yet, not unlike Dr. Melfi, while we abhor what he does, we cannot help being fascinated as well."

The show often is compared, in scope and production values, to such cinematic forebears as Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" series and Martin Scorsese's "GoodFellas." Deborah L. Jaramillo, a graduate student in media arts at the University of Arizona, is attracted to "The Sopranos" by its gangster-movie references and sophisticated plotlines. "It's more cinematic than a network drama. It's shot on location and is not interrupted by commercials," she says. But Jaramillo also sees the show as a marketing tool for a monopoly - namely AOL Time Warner - that also owns movie studios, network TV outlets, record companies and book and periodical publishing operations. Investigation of those connections is the meat of Jaramillo's analytical paper "All in the Family: The Sopranos, HBO, AOL Time Warner and the Construction of a Quality Myth."

Speaking of HBO, it promises new characters played by Joe Pantoliano ("The Matrix"), Charles S. Dutton (the actor who directed the HBO mini-series "The Corner") and Peter Riegert ("Local Hero," "Traffic). Most of the regulars mentioned above will be back, too. The lovable turncoat, Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bompensiero (played by actor Vincent Pastore) took a chest-full of lead last season, so he's not likely to return. But Pastore has a new gig as a recording star. He appears on the new CD "Mob Story." Coordinated by veteran rock producer Jack Douglas, "Mob Story" is an album of original rock, hip-hop and r&b music focusing on the story of the fictitious crime family of Don DeVito, says executive producer Mayra Colon. The disc also features musical performances by Chuck D., of the rap group Public Enemy, as well as Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of rockers Aerosmith.

For further insights into the world of "The Sopranos," check out these Internet sites:

* HBO's "The Sopranos" page
* La Famiglia - The Sopranos FanClub at GIST
* "The Sopranos" Unofficial Fan Site
* Dining With The Sopranos
* "Mob Story" Web site

A lot of people are "visiting" New Jersey these days to sample some of the home grown talent. That's because from Queen Latifah to "The Sopranos," the World Web Web's Garden State connections are becoming an excellent source of entertainment. Thanks to streaming technology, you can watch videos and listen to music on the Web almost as easily as turning on your television or radio. That makes it a great way to keep up with your favorite New Jersey entertainers, sports teams and politicians.

The Web is a convenient way to keep up with what New Jersey's most famous folks are doing. The following is a quick tour of some of the best sites.

New Jersey's newest acting star might be publicity-shy, but James Gandolfini is already a web fixture. Gandolfini, of Westwood, is featured on "Sopranoland" at , and has his own page at www./actors/gandolfini/films.html. Sopranoland includes transcripts of every episode that has aired about New Jersey's favorite fictional crime family, and Gandolfini's site includes information about his movie appearances.

Gandolfini was the inspiration for Sopranoland, created by Las Vegas Web developer Ivy Hover. Hover, whose company Poizen Ideas creates professional Web sites, took on Sopranoland as a labor of love. "I'm a big James Gandolfini fan from way back," Hover said. "I really liked the show and was looking for a little project to work on."

Sopranoland went live in October and Hover said the site averages 1,000 hits a day. She keeps fans coming back by updating the 100-page site after each episode, adding scripts and new video footage. She expects to be streaming video soon, but for now offers clips through video captures. "I just clean it up and put pictures in," she said of the transcripts.

Woke up this morning, got myself a Web site.

When it comes to entertainment series, the rule of thumb is that fan-built sites are far better than the official sites put up by, say, television networks. But since HBO's "The Sopranos" has broken all the other rules, it's only natural the official site would be the exception.

That's not to say there aren't some good fan sites. Fans do it for the love of the show rather than for the paycheck. And frankly, if someone were getting paid by the hour, the webmaster at Sopranoland could buy Tony out. The design, the content ... this is a slick, professional job here. The folks at Sopranoland even digitally rearranged the Sopranos' logo to use the gun also for an L.

But the kicker is the set of transcripts. Somebody is playing back the tapes and typing frantically. Grammar? Punctuation? Even capitalization? Not here, but the running dialogue is. This is dedication.

Webmistress Note: Why do people always think I actually sit around and type the transcripts? It's called a video capture card, my friends, and it transcribes the closed captioning. That's why there's no grammatical structure, punctuation or capitalization. You can only do so much running them through a spell checker, and I honestly don't have time for any more than that.

In the Mafia--or at least in Mafia movies--talking too much is never a good thing. But when it comes to TV shows, especially ones that generate as much buzz as The Sopranos has, talking is the thing, whether that means discussing the show with other fans and friends (or mobster-tomobster, as has been reported) or just listening for the series's sharp dialogue and budding catchphrases.

At www.Sopranoland.com Gandolfini's big mug greets you first, but the site is more text-oriented than theng page suggests. An episode guide, the site's centerpiece, has complete transcripts (nabbed from a closed-captioning device) of all 13 episodes (except for installments eigth and, natch, nine, the "Boca" episode.) Reading them and visualizing the actors working through the lines is almost as entertaining as a real viewing, and catches me up nicely. For example, I learn that in the first episode, Tony loses consciousness at a family barbeque and is reluctantly carried off to see Bracco's Dr. Melfi. "Stress?" she asks later, in a scene that sets up the series's premise. "I don't know," Tony answers--painfully, I imagine, and with one of Gandolfini's trademark grimaces. The site also offers electronic wallpaper for your desktop, audio snippets of captured dialog and Annie Leibovitz's photo of the cast posing a la The Last Supper. (The photo was scanned poorly, of course; that's the Soprano way, I'm learning -- bighearted but a little sloppy.)

Webmistress Note: The site got almost 5 column inches of the article and they did mention the transcripts and SoundBytes but I'm still irked considering I had to put 3 pieces together for that picture. My first magazine article, I guess I should just be happy for the press, huh?