I added “darlin’” to the end of that title cos yes, I do like to imagine myself as Mal, the renegade space-cowboy with a heart of gold but precious little else of value. Too bad no one will offer credit based on my golden innards…

I had a weekend of conferencing. Though Day 2 was considerably less ‘fun’ as I managed to attend most of a day conference with a staggering hangover from celebrating the success of Day 1 the night before. Our panel at the conference on The Wire was awesome – collectively, we rocked. Hard. In an academic way. All the papers came together beautifully and everyone aquitted themselves like seasoned professionals (which, of course, we are…). There was a fairly obvious tension at our panel – and apparently, throughout the conference (I’ll take it on the word of my colleagues, who managed to get to some of the other panels – I was teaching) – between academic criticism and fan admiration. A woman in our audience finally directly addressed this during the Q&A with Steve Busfield; she asked why the assumption was that ‘fans’ are less critically aware of The Wire than academics? I think this really does tap into a fairly open nerve in academia – particularly the humanities as we are increasingly asked to ‘quantify’ our research in economic ‘impact’ terms. What exactly do we do that is so worthy? My teaching goal is to equip my students with critical skills – essentially, to teach myself into obsolescence every term. Luckily for my continued (and hopefully, improving) financial blackness, I get to start afresh every term too. I’ve been lecturing this year on nineteenth-century Sensation Fiction and the problem of ‘popular’ genres and criticism. The end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth saw the birth of literature as a degree subject in its own right: one of the most prominent criticisms of this move was that people read books as a hobby – why on earth should we grant a degree for something people would do in any case. Neat, huh? Work is separate from pleasure; degrees are granted for evidence of work. The same line is evident in criticism of media degrees now: people watch television for fun – what makes it work? Of course, ‘what makes it work’ is exactly the question that I think a good media studies academic asks. But I’m clearly one of those people who reads too much into everything, thereby ruining whatever I touch – a sadly reversed Midas.

Conference 2 was a day of ‘Rewrites’ with N presenting an amazing paper on an amazing Canadian writer, Steve McCaffery, and his homolinguistic translation of The Communist Manifesto. I thought it was a brilliant paper – and will make a brilliant article. McCaffery reading it is here.

I did roll my eyes when he started telling a joke that his father used to tell (five Englishmen can get along perfectly well in a bus/broomcloset/pub until one of them opens their mouth), and I shouldn’t have because, as usual, his instincts for the audience were spot on. So public apology – I won’t do it again… I blame the hangover. We went out to ‘The Red Chili’ in the city for dinner: we won’t be going again – far too expensive for the quality of the food and generally your standard gloopy and greasy mess. It’s in a basement in a trendy new development and the decor is…well…just odd actually. The service is polite enough but alienating – I think every waitstaff on that shift brought something to the table at one point or another – and the menu noted often that were we at the Manchester branch, we wouldn’t be able to order X or could have asked for Y. Honestly, considering how much a meal costs, I would think menus suited to each location would be well within the reach of the company.  Next time, we’ll stick with what we know – but as N pointed out, gotta stay out of the ruts.

Last night, I noticed that the wind has shifted again and it smelled like winter: cold and sharp. The dark falls quickly and early and the daylight is just barely enough to make it home. It’s turned cold with none of the summer warmth hanging in the air, even only wishfully. No snow yet  – the persistent rain remains. But, for all that, there is a sharp tang to the city in the winter; the smell of machinery and steel and concrete undulled by hazy sunshine and mellow heat.

What we read while hiding our golf clubs…

• Food is a big part of Thanksgiving. Which food that is, though, depends in part on what region of the country you’re from. Check out this “infographic” which shows where search queries for different Thanksgiving foods came from geographically.

• Excellent news on the horizon for Aziz Ansari fans: Judd Apatow’s production company has picked up three movies from him and Jason Woliner, including one based on the Randy character from Funny People.

• In honor of Tim and Pierre’s massive waste of a live blog of the Grey Cup, here’s some of Chuck Klosterman’s infamous hypotheticals. Don’t see the connection? Scroll down to No. 9. We’re pretty sure Tim’s crystal ball vision was reified on Sunday, November 29, 2009.

• John S offered his take on the most recent season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Here are Alan Sepinwall’s thoughts on the season finale, as well as Jonathan Toomey’s of the TV Squad. But I don’t think you’ve heard the last from NPI on this….

• Ever wonder how those quote excerpts from reviews about movies are chosen and edited? Here’s a mildly satisfactory explanation.

• The Blind Side was just made into a movie and is getting pretty good reviews. Here is Michael Lewis’s original NYT Magazine article on Michael Oher.  Michael Lewis’s seminal sports book, Moneyball,  played a pretty big role in previous posts by Josh and John S.

• Speaking of baseball and sabermetrics, as free agency hits, here’s an older piece from Patrick Brown of The Millions about baseball and its relationship with the Internet, including an in-depth analysis of gamecasts and the polarizing nature of J.D. Drew.

• For people who like movies and graphs, it doesn’t get much better than xkcd’s breakdown of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Jurassic Park in graphical terms. Or does it? Vodkaster put together a subway map of the 250 best movies of all time, with different genres represented as different lines. Excellent stuff.

This general article from 2006 may help you “place” the episodes of The Wire we’ll be discussing in class the first week of December.

Firstly, thank you so much to The Guardian for quoting me when I said am a geek about The Wire. A real badge of honour in this case. It made me sound ever so slightly like a stalker (which I can assure you I’m not), but what the hey. Secondly (and more importantly), it was great just being able to attend an academic conference on The Wire, the first of its kind in the UK I believe. I presented an academic paper (of sorts) on Omar Little, and as an academic it’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Harvard University has already hosted a conference on The Wire and was graced by David Simon’s presence. Our conference was opened by Peter Moskos, a former Baltimore police officer at the Eastern District, who gave us a detailed insight into the reality of working as former cop in a neighbourhood full of challenges for the individual, community and the city.

The only low point was not enough clips of The Wire (including my own paper). I think the conference organisers definately missed a trick not rounding off the conference with a montage or two of some of the finer moments of comedy (yes, The Wire is very funny in parts).

But that’s just nitpicking, as the high points were many. Kimberly Moffitt, from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and a native of Baltimore herself, gave a paper on the representations of Baltimore through the eyes of natives. She’s mid-way through the research, and already there are some interesting themes, particularly around how ‘white ethnics’ are portrayed as heros – very interesting indeed and a great piece of research that’s well worth keeping track off. Fans of Omar Little will be pleased to know that as he’s such a compelling character, he got his own conference slot (not sure McKulty’s ego could cope with that).  All the other presenters before me gave wonderful insights into the man who is easily the favourite of many (even Obama).

Terry Austin from University of Canterbury, New Zealand, gave a joint paper with John Farnsworth on the writers room process. The strength of this process shows in how the story arc can move from the small narrative (corrupted families) through to the grand narrative (urban politics) with such clarity and tightness. He also said that Simon produces the journalist’s traditional beat in telling his story; the street, unions, government, schools and public institutions, and press colleagues.

The best papers were most definately saved till last. The standout papers, for me, were from Natasha Whiteman (University of Leicester) on the response of fans and academics to the cult programme; Daniel Trottier (Queen’s University, Canada) on how the use of new media has made The Wire into a different viewing experience altogether. And finally, an outstanding paper by Linda Speidel (Roehampton University) about how different forms of work were represented throughout the 5 seasons. The characters in their different settings, she says, are all struggling to find an ideal work situation which is forever out of reach, inspite of the compromises they make in striving for this ideal. And she’s right – if you watch The Wire, you’ll see a work situation that you recognise and emphasise with how frustrating it can be, whether it’s in the office or otherwise. You’ll recognise the pettiness and competition that surfaces between colleagues, the emphasis on hierarchies and the ‘rules of the game’ that restrict some and help others.

I wish I’d had time to digest more papers, but that’s the nature of these conferences. More later on The Wire once I’ve gathered some more of my thoughts…..

This week I finished a series called the corner. The corner was made before The Wire, it is only 6 episodes and like The Wire it is based on the corners of drug ridden Baltimore and how it effects people in that community.

It is adapted from a true life book and at the end of the series you meet the people that the book is based on and they do the standard this person was sent to jail for x number of years and that person was killed age x in the end also.

It contains a lot of actors that are in The Wire series all be it most of them are in opposite roles. Although it is a little rushed I still enjoyed it.

It is shot in semi documentary style where someone interviews some of the characters about how the corners are effecting their lives. I think this is done to keep the story flowing as the series is really short, the voice of god style questioning just fills in a few holes nicely.

On imdb it is very highly rated (8.8 at the moment) even though I think it is a little high I don’t think it is unwarranted.

If you have ever seen Homicide: Life on the Street and you enjoyed that then I think this will tickle your fancy..

If you are unsure if you would like the wire or not this is a great short prelude that’ll swing you either way.

If you have seen it already did you enjoy it?

S1E11.
“Dope on the damn table.”

If you wanted to take the entire Wire and spin it on its head, you’d retell the whole thing from the perspective of Rawls. In The Wire, he’s a bad guy—the bad guy. He’s a good cop (he’s clearly never lost his ability or passion) who has learned to play the careerist game. He’s bought into the system. He’s a bottom line guy (especially clear in later seasons), a guy who sees the world in black and white extremes. If, at its core, The Wire is a show about Jimmy McNulty’s attempts to change the way the Baltimore Police Department operates (and yes, that’s what this show is, at its core, about), then Rawls is everything against which Jimmy rebels. He’s a dick, plan and simple.

Flip things around to his side though, and you’ve got an entirely different story. Rawls becomes a hardworking natural police who’s gone through years of assholes like Jimmy McNulty who think they’re bigger than the department. He’s got an understanding of entirety—there are reasons why the system needs to set up distance, needs to adhere to procedure. There are reasons why it’s better to be friends with politicians than enemies—better one’s career, yes, but also for the ongoing (relative) success of the BPD. Rawls is a complex man (we’ll talk in season two about the tiny little moment that could, if you let it, blow everything you think you know about the man entirely out of the water) doing a difficult job, facing resistance from both below and above.

I bring this all up here because my favorite Rawls moments come at the top of episode eleven. The episode begins with a swarming crime scene, every officer who has ever known Kima in place, ready to do anything they can to catch the killer. And of course, they’re all in the way. When Rawls gets to the scene, he immediately asks Landsman (who’s in charge, this being both a homicide and a cop shooting, and therefore an instant “Red Ball” top priority – you should be reading Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets to get caught up on terminology and power structures) what he needs. Landsman references the swarm, and Rawls jumps right into action: if you’re not essential to this investigation, get the fuck off my scene. It’s heartless. These cops may have lost a friend; how can you talk to them this way? How can you tell them they can’t stick around and help? Rawls has absolutely no problem telling them. He’s a no-nonsense commander of men. That’s what he brings to the table. Sometimes, that’s exactly what’s needed.

Meanwhile, our hero McNulty is a basket case. From his perspective—maybe even from the perspective of The Wire, Kima’s shooting is his fault. His detail. His case. His personal pissing match with Stringer Bell. His relationship with the judge. His wire. He’s the arrogant white guy, always out of the line of fire by virtue of his skin color, and his desire to prove that he’s smarter than the system may have just gotten one of the few cops he respects killed. He’s broken, and all you can imagine is him spending the next ninety-six hours alternating between stalking the killers and drinking himself to death.

Rawls hates McNulty. Rawls, in point of fact, blames McNulty for the entire existence of this whole operation, and has had his mind made up for a long, long time to screw McNulty as deeply and painfully as he possibly can when this is all done. But there’s work to be done. And the result is my favorite Rawls scene in the entire series (with the possible exception of that tiny, unexplainable season two moment): he rips McNulty to shreds for being an asshole, but informs him in no uncertain terms that this shooting is not his fault. And Rawls believes it. Yes, McNulty brought this nightmare of a detail into existence, but that doesn’t make him responsible for a criminal shooting his partner. There’s bad police work, there’s a lack of communication and respect for the chain of command—those are internal sins. This is the work of a criminal, and that’s far, far worse. And it becomes clear exactly what role Rawls plays and why he has to play it the way he does: he’s the voice of distance, the guy who has to play by the numbers so the department can function in times of emotional crisis.

It comes down to experience, really. All the experienced members of the department are able to swallow large chunks of that emotion to get back on track. Lester orders Herc, Carver, and Sidnor back onto the rooftops—if someone makes a call about Kima from one of our tapped phones and we miss it…well, let’s just say that can’t happen. Burrell, in a rare showing of accountability, owns up to the disastrous buy/bust as his call—this isn’t a time to play political games. The Commissioner’s response falls somewhere between measured and rash: he demands that detail put “drugs on the table,” basically turning for the moment into Avon after Omar’s robbery. Disrespect like this, in the eyes of powerful men, calls for an immediate and aggressive show of power. It’s about dick size, really: we’ve got to let them know that ours is bigger than theirs, even if it costs us the huge case we’ve been building in secret. And that’s the thing about dick size contests: it’s not about actual size. It’s about perceived size. A series of busts that culminate in a photo op with little pile of confiscated cocaine and heroin on the table lets the city know that the BPD isn’t taking this lying down.

So they make the busts and they take the pictures and there’s more dope on the table than there’s been a long time…and it’s absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. And the wires immediately go dead. And the case is done. And they ultimately didn’t get a whole bunch of anything. Well…they’ve got String and Bey for Brandon’s murder (through Wallace), but we’ll come back to that in a second.

In the midst of all this chaos, this episode features a series of tiny little moments that I could write about forever, but I want to take special care to mention just one. McNulty, in his haste to get back on the trail of the shooters, sends Bubs back into the projects as an informant (McNulty being McNulty, he’s oblivious to the fact that Bubs is trying to get clean and shouldn’t be anywhere near drugs). McNulty even gives Bubs twenty dollars as payment upfront, knowing (in his mind anyway) that the cash is going straight into the pocket of a Barksdale dealer. No matter how many times I watch this sequence, it still kills me—I just know that he’s right, and that Bubs is headed straight back off the rails. And no matter how times I watch this sequence, I always break into a big goofy smile when Bubs returns to the detail’s office, gives them the information he’s obtained…and pulls out the twenty, still unspent, but bunched tight as humanly possible, a clear visual manifestation of the plain and simple willpower that it takes to keep that twenty dollar bill clenched in your hand. It’s a temporary sigh of relief, every single time.

And you’re thankful for moments like that, because this is, after all, The Wire, and heartbreak is just around the corner. This episode ends with a truly amazing shot—Kima in her hospital bed. It’s not amazing for its visual composition (it’s just her in the bed) or what happens in it (nothing—I’m telling you, it’s just her in the bed), but for what it makes you remember: right around this time last episode, one of the main characters got shot, and you’re still not sure she’s going to live, and even while that’s hanging in the air…we haven’t checked in with her at all this week. And you didn’t even notice, because so effing much is happening. And Kima might still die. And that would break your heart.

But the true heartbreak of the episode comes immediately before that shot, when Presbo, in one of his last chances to listen to the wire, overhears Wallace on the phone with Poot, making plans to come home. It’s heartbreaking for two reasons: one small and one impossibly, unpredictably large. Small first: Pres marks the call as non-pertinent, and for him, it drives home the finality of it all—we’re never going to get anything pertinent off these phones again.

Now large: Wallace can’t go home.
You know Wallace can’t go home.
You know it when you watch it the first time.
You know it triply when you’ve seen the whole first season.
You know that he should know he can’t go home.
And the killer, which is both a bad and good choice of words, is that there’s really nowhere else he possibly could go.

More on this—a lot more—next episode.

Mos def

Ya feel me

OK, I’ve been busy: so I’m returning to well-trodden ground. The Wire is still my favourite TV drama of all-time, even better than ER, Six Feet Under, The West Wing and any others I can’t think of right now. I wrote about The Wire a few months ago, when I just completed watching Series 3.

If anything, Series 4 is even better, as it tackles the tragedy of under-funded schools, which only seem to act as feeders for the Corners and drug gangs. We also see much more of the politics behind the streets, and it’s not pretty.  The final episodes of that series are as tough as anything I’ve ever watched. Series 5 maintains a high standard, if only occasionally scaling such awesome heights.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a couple of fantastic Youtube clips that are pretty essential viewing. They’re really only for people who’ve already experienced the show, as some of the spoilers are serious. And they’re definitely not suitable for children or open-plan offices…

A wonderful montage of 100 terrific lines from all five series…

…and a series of clips from the first four series. Not all of these links still work, but there’s still 26 minutes of tremendous TV in here, and I’d wager watching them would be a much better use of your time than, well, almost anything you could do in that time.

happy thanksgiving everyone!

i hope your day was filled with love, laughter, and food. mine was. i am infinitely blessed! : ) god is good, all the time!

thanks for being part of my blessing! have a great rest of the weekend!

I feel to knackered to actually do this post any justice, but I’m forcing myself to do it anyway.  My sincerest apologies for any subsequent mistakes\crapness.

Generation Kill: Channel 4 (Recorded 18th Nov Watched 22nd Nov)

I run the risk of being the world’s worst TV reviewer, but I don’t really have a lot to say about this episode.  I only mention it at all as it was the final episode and it would be totally remiss of me not to at least say goodbye.

The final 15 minutes, including the The Wire-style montage, were incredibly moving and a fitting end to what has been a truly outstanding series.  I just hope that you were all watching.

The Greatest Ever 3D Moments: Channel 4 (R 22nd Nov W 23rd Nov)

Really?  These were really the greatest ever 3D moments?

This programme brought Channel 4’s week long gimmick-fest to a close and it brought the whole concept of 3D in to question.  Most of the clips shown were incredibly lame and the whole thing was utterly pointless.  Even the appearance of several notable “talking heads” specialists (who I actually like), including Andrew “Mitford Sisters” Collins, could do little to relieve the tedium.  Possibly the worst nostalgia/clips show ever.

In Treatment: Sky Arts 1 (R 23rd Nov W 23rd Nov)

The penultimate week of the season began with a shocking episode.  It was partly shocking because there was the surprise death of one of the major characters, but mainly because it was set entirely outside Paul’s office.  It was, however, based at a funeral, and although it was a bit depressing, because it seemed very real, you can’t really criticise because it was so well done.

If you don’t want to know who died, don’t read the bottom review.

Miranda: BBC2 (R 23rd Nov W 24th Nov)

This was actually episode 3 of the series and there’s a reason I haven’t mentioned it sooner.  It really annoys me when people slag off sitcoms that they’ve only seen about 5 minutes of, so I thought I’d watch a few episodes before I decided whether I’d pass judgement or not.  Luckily, I like it, so I’m free to comment.

It’s a very silly, mainstream, studio-based sitcom, and so takes a bit of getting used to.  Once you do get in to the swing of things, though, it is very funny.  It’s helped enormously by Miranda Hart being both funny and likeable.  She’s also not afraid to make a complete fool of herself, and takes a mean pratfall.  Don’t be afraid to like it.

Lie To Me: Sky One (R 17th & 19th Nov W 25th Nov)

I had two episodes of this to watch on my planner, so I thought I better watch one.  I was shocked when, a few minutes later, I decided to give up on it.  I realised that I’ve only been half watching the episodes this season (I’m usually online when I watch it), and I found I had no enthusiasm for it at all.  I did the sensible thing and deleted them, and the series link.  If only I had learned this lesson when I endured the whole first season of True Blood.

It’s hard to say what went wrong with the show, and I’m not actually sure that it has got any worse.  I think that the gimmick probably only had a limited shelf life before it wore off and became effectively another police procedural.

In Treatment: Sky Arts 1 (R 24th Nov W 25th Nov)

I couldn’t help but comment after seeing this episode, so I could praise the performance of Glynn Turman (Mayor Royce in The Wire) as Alex’s father.  It’s the day following Alex’s funeral (following a plane-based accident) and he wants to confront Paul as to his son’s state of mind.  He also brings the value of Paul’s profession in to question and it gave the episode an interesting dynamic.

Alex Sr. seemed to be relatively calm on the surface, but his grief was all too apparent.  It was an incredible, subtle performance by any standards, let alone for a ‘guest star’.  There were times when he seemed frighteningly similar to Alex, especially in the way he made some of his points to Paul, and I don’t know how much of that was due to skill or to a happy coincidence.  The performance culminated in a heartbreaking collapse, towards the end, and was some of the finest acting I’ve seen on TV.  I hope that Turman got some kind of award for it.

We got to see the other side of the man who Alex Jr. painted as a bit of a monster, and why he behaved the way he did.  An exceptional episode of a generally brilliant series.

J and I were meandering through the French Quarter (New Orleans) on Monday night when we spotted a film set and went to check it out. We spoke to a guy with a headset who kept on shouting “That’s a wrap!” to no-one in particular. He told us that they were shooting Treme, which I guessed correctly was the new David Simon, HBO series. We immediately began waxing about The Wire, and the guy told me that in fact, Wendell Pierce was on set. Of course, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to meet ‘The Bunk’ and I tracked him down at the catering table, about to load up on the serious buffet. I asked him for a photo, and he said “yes, of course mate” in a crap British accept (think McNulty doing his fake accent in the brothel; or Octavio). I told him that my mates had met him in London, but unfortunately he didn’t remember a tall, Polish dude… Made my night.

Happy thanksgiving, y’all.

You’d be forgiven at the moment for thinking we were nearing the end of a decade. The interwebs have been awash of late with more countdowns, best ofs, top tens and general reminiscences of the 2000’s then you could poke a digital stick at. Suddenly everybody is a critic, and while some of the countdowns have been insightful and thought-provoking, others have been….well, like this one. For the nostalgic, these countdowns are practically memory-heaven. But for those who don’t buy into that sort of stuff, it gets a little tiring. So, what better than to list some of the best (and worst) ‘best-of’ lists currently clogging up cyber-space?

Pitchfork: P2K

Over the past months American music site Pitchfork have taken an in-depth look at the decade in music. Way back in the dark ages of 2001 the site barely existed, but since then has grown to be one of the most formidable online music news and reviews sites on the net. Not only does P2K count down the best albums, songs and music videos, it also features a series of essays detailing some of the more interesting developments in music over the past ten years. Of particular note is the ‘Decade in Indie’ and the social history of the mp3.

Highlights
Best Album: Radiohead- Kid A
Best Song: Outkast- B.O.B.

Paste Magazine: The 25 best Album Covers

Slightly more obscure is Paste magazine’s countdown of the best album covers. It has been argued that as digital sales boom and physical CD sales decline, the quality of modern album art is going steadily downhill (as this cover would seem to prove). Regardless, Paste have put together an interesting countdown, which includes the likes of The Flaming Lips, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire and Lil Wayne. Whoever decided to award Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone cover as number 1 though needs to go back and re-take primary school art classes.

Highlights
Number 1: Neko Case- Middle Cyclone
Number 2: Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion (and rightly so)

The A.V. Club: The 30 best TV Shows

The problem with critics is often that their views on what is ‘good’ differs from the majority of the viewing public. Which is a shame, but it’s also the reason why most of the shows on the A.V. Club’s list of best TV shows of the decade have either ended or been cancelled. Still, it’s a formidable list. The top 3 (The Wire, Arrested Development and the Sopranos) are undoubtedly some of the finest productions since television’s inception, let alone in this decade. Other notable shows include Mad Men, Lost and The West Wing, just scraping in at number 30. The best part of this countdown though is the shitfight in the comments as to what constitutes a ‘decade’. Hilarious.

Highlights
Number 1: The Wire
Number 15: Veronica Mars
Number 22: Six Feet Under

News.com.au: Moment of the Decade

Oh, News.com.au. Purveyor of fine, quality journalism. Not content with simply telling Middle Australia what the best bits of the noughties were, good old Rupert has gone and encouraged everyone to name their own favourites! For anyone that’s ever read the comments to any article on the site, that should be enough to click your way on over. In case you need any more incentive though, today’s category is ‘Killers, Haters, Tools: Choose the Villian of the decade’. Apparently Kyle Sandilands and John Mayer are in the same league as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Who would have thought? The fun doesn’t stop there. Oh no siree, it doesn’t. For you creative types, you can even have a go at naming what the next decade should be called! An issue of utmost importance, of course. Seriously, the sooner this site becomes paid-only, the better.

Lowlights
Pop Culture
Money
Sex & Life
…actually, just spend a good 15 minutes trawling through the site. It’ll make your day.

Times Online: The 100 Best Movies of the Noughties

Slightly more classy news outlet Times Online went all out and counted down the top 100 cinematic releases of the decade. With everything from political drama Milk to Roman-epic Gladiator to comedy Knocked Up, the list does well to cater for everyone…up until the odd choice of The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum at number 2 (So really it should have been the best 101 movies). And Team America World Police in the top 5? You must be joking.

In Brief
Number 1: Hidden
Number 16: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Number 34: Finding Nemo
Number 64: Anchorman

Well that’s about it. Some of the best (and worst) countdowns of the best (and worst) things to happen in the noughties. Of course, a quick google search will reveal thousands more best-ofs then the ones here. But really, is there much point? When it comes down to it, who gets to decide that Franz Ferdinand is better than Hot Chip? Or that Monsters, Inc. deserves to place ahead of Pan’s Labyrinth?

Perhaps the best countdown of the decade should go to Hungry Beast. They look at the ten best years of the 2000’s. You can check that out here.

]]> http://godardsletterboxes.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/women-sex-and-control/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:19:30 +0000 godardsletterboxes http://godardsletterboxes.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/women-sex-and-control/

We have started watching The Wire. So, four episodes in and I am still trying to work out what everyone’s name is – except of course, McNulty, that would be impossible to have missed. So no spoilers, but even if you told me about what is going to happen to characters I probably wouldn’t yet work be able to work out who you are talking about….

Anyway, I can’t remember whether it is episode two or three, but in one of them, McNulty turns up at the house of the DA woman (see, I really can’t remember names yet), askingg her what he needs to do to get permission to clone a pager. And it then becomes obvious that they had had one of those relationships which are odd and not usual and then she points out that really, coming around and askin for legal advice does not constitute a date. Cut to the aftermath of sex. And she calls his an arsehole.

Now, this whole scene made me reflect on how we constitute responsibility and desire for sex, and what a woman’s proper position in that equation should be. The standard sort of commentary on a woman in that situation is – well, she shouldn’t sleep with him because he is just “using” her and she’ll never end up in a “proper” relationship that way. what I want to know is, why should the woman have to be the one who has to say no. Does it occur to us that, she might just want to have sex? And that might not be just because she is sad and lonely, but because she had made the choice to not have a standard relationship. That sometimes women are not really secretly looking for a boyfriend to hold their hand?

it reminds me of the line in the film version of Dangerous Liaisons (and I honestly can’t remember if it was in the book), when Madame de Tourvel says about the importance of sex for women is “the pleasure that they give to their husband”. It is this notion that for women, pleasure or enjoyment for themselves is not the object of sex, it is about the pleasure given – and the control or manipulation that comes from that. It is still fundamentally considered a Bad Thing that women have sex for sex’s sake – that is why we have words like slut. And even then the sluts involved are usually depicted in the media and popular culture as doing it for some other reason, usually about manipulation or self esteem.

Can’t we just be allowed to enjoy sex – and when we have it with someone like McNulty, which is sometimes the preferred way, have it suffice to make it clear that they are an arsehole. I think that is doing it on one’s own terms enough.

Thank fuck for the dvd player in these times of reality tv. I’m currently working my way through The Wire boxsets and during one episode I heard the most unmistakeable voice.

Meet Calvin “Cheese” Wagstaff a.k.a The Method Man

And this is probably where I first heard that voice. His first Wu feature tune I think

Last week I  was chatting with one of my fellow planners, Cat Collins about things that have had inspired us creatively. She got talking about how the HBO series ‘The Wire’ was an amazing piece of storytelling and that brands could learn alot from this masterful series. So I asked her to do a guest post. Here tis. Thanks Cat, love your work

I believe that The Wire is the greatest work of creativity to have emerged in recent years, maybe even in my lifetime. So surely, there must be some lessons we can learn for our own creative endeavours. Here are 5 observations that I think we would benefit from applying to our work with brands and communications. Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

1.       Don’t be scared of scale.

The Wire is epic. It tells the story of the disintegration of an entire city from every angle – education, drugs, the law, politics, the media, industry, families. A lot has been written on the demise of the big idea as communications becomes more nimble and agile. The Wire shows that a big idea, told through multiple, interwoven stories is a very powerful thing indeed.

2.      Don’t underestimate your viewer.

The Wire makes no attempt to make the show watchable. The dialogue is fast and the Baltimore dialect takes a while to understand. The storylines are complex and you have to be paying attention to know what the hell is going on. I’m pretty sure that the Millward Brown scores for comprehension would be abysmal. But it is the effort that you make to step into the world of the Wire which makes it so compelling and makes the reward for watching that much greater.

3.       Tap into big human truths.

I don’t have much in common with a drug dealer on a West Baltimore corner but the issues the show tackles ensure I relate to every character. Love, loss, moral codes, ambition, family, loss of purpose in life – all big issues which strike a chord with anyone on the planet.

4.      Embrace unconventional heroes.

Omar, the gay, black, stick up boy who whistles while he hunts. Stringer Bell the brutal henchman with a mind for commerce. Snoop, the diminutive girl whose bloodthirsty appetite for violence is extraordinary. All too often in communications we fall back on stereotypes and miss the opportunity to surprise.

5.       Be true to your vision.

When David Simon pitched the Wire to HBO he presented a coherent vision of how all 5 seasons would pan out. He knew the characters stories and had a vision for how theses would be played out on screen. Comparing the pitch to the finished work, it’s extraordinary to see how much of his vision he managed to pull off. Next time you pitch a creative idea and then watch it get pecked to death by 1000 ducks, remember why it is worth fighting to keep the integrity of an idea intact.

My television is a museum piece, it will no longer work when I get it out of storage in January but I’ll keep it anyway for sentimental reasons.  We had one of those until I was pretty old, then I lived for a long, long time without one at all.  Maybe that’s why I won’t be bothering to buy one when I move into a house next year, it’s not something I need or ever really use when there is one.  Yet, to me there is nothing more amazing entertainment wise than a superbly executed, well acted, 24 episode long season of fine television.   I’m a hardcore escapist and I love movies but aside from the occasional epic, 2 hours isn’t enough to truly love a character, 900 minutes is way better.  5 0r 6 seasons of 900 minutes? Now we’re talking.

The Sopranos.  Without the Sopranos there would be no Mad Men, no True Blood, no Breaking Bad, there would be no TV drama  renaissance full stop.  God only knows what we would all be watching but it would most likely suck.  The bar was raised by about a million and TV became something else.  Not that there weren’t great shows before 1999 but nothing like this, not that level of acting, the sublime scripts, the subtle character arcs, the pace of the story, the soundtrack and the eventual conclusion, which in true style managed to just work where other shows would fail.  Who was your favorite? Mine was always Christopher.

So if you haven’t actually watched the Wire and by that I mean actually watched it not just read about it in every magazine, newspaper, blog going.  You really should.  I hate bandwagons, hate jumping on them and I managed to avoid this until season 4 was airing in the USA but when I finally succumbed it was like descending into TV heaven.  For some reason I ended up watching season 2 first and the going back to watching the first season before carrying on with the rest.  Occasionally people tell me they tried season 1 and got bored (insane) so I tell them to go watch 2 first then come back to it, I call it the ‘Charley Way’.  Actually I don’t but it works because the second season is fairly detached from the rest of the plot and then you’re hooked.  There have been so many eloquent love letters to the Wire written by all kinds of great writers since it ended last year, I don’t need to say anymore.  Google them.  Omar, who might genuinely be my favorite character in the world, is worth it.

Ok.  I don’t even know where to start with this one.  I think about it almost every day, I still look in the mirror and get upset that my eyebrows will never be like Sherilyn Fenn, that I will never be like her at all *sob*.  My entire aesthetic has been distorted and designed by watching this show, I’m STILL desperate to live in the Pacific Northwest.  Hearing the theme tune is like a call to arms for dreaminess, owls are awesome, BOB still terrifies me as much as he did when I was 11 and watched it for the first time on late night TV, Agent Cooper is still my dream man, I don’t even care that it gets ridiculous in season 2.  Essentially it’s my favorite show ever and I was going to write something intelligent about why.  Fail.

Six Feet Under.  There is a point with TV shows, usually around season 3 when they start to get a bit silly (excluding my first 2 selections) and this really happened with SFU.  I’m about to go and re-watch it starting from the pilot and I think it’s been long enough for me to forget exactly why that was.  Obviously it was never bad enough for me to stop watching or for those characters to stop being so special or for me to not cry for about a day when it ended.  Recently I’ve come across a lot of people who have never even seen it, especially since the success of Dexter (I’m afraid Michael C. Hall will always be David in my mind) and True Blood, how is that possible?  I’m always happy as larry when I find people who loved it as much as I did.  Favorite character? Brenda, of course but Ruth a close second.

♥

So I guess that’s a top 4.  I could go on but after that the ordering becomes hazy and I can’t decide whether Northern Exposure comes before or after Arrested Development or if I miss Dead Like Me more than Carnivale.  Or if House is my favorite medical drama or whether I have enough guts to say in public that in all honesty Grey’s Anatomy probably is.  Or if True Blood is going to be more of a classic than Mad Men or if 30 Rock might just be the best thing that ever happened to me.

ADDICT.

(proud)

♥

]]> http://talkingthebeat.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/the-best-quasi-cop-show-on-tv/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:36:25 +0000 talkingthebeat http://talkingthebeat.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/the-best-quasi-cop-show-on-tv/

I have been absolutely addicted to watching “The Wire“. Its a TV show that used to be on HBO for 5 seasons. Its easily the most accurate (and wildly innaccurate) portrayal of cops on TV. Working in a harbour city, I could identify with a lot of the stuff on the show. Some parts of the show made me laugh so hard because it was so true!  It also follows an interesting concept of not just focusing on the police, but also drug dealers, politicians, courts, media, etc.

All of which sounded great to me until I hung up the phone and turned to confront a certain Baltimore writer by the name of Lippman, who has penned and published nine actual novels and with whom I share quarters. Her lifework is replete with hardback covers, actual chapter breaks, and descriptive prose that goes a good deal further than “INT. HOMICIDE UNIT/HEADQUARTERS – DAY.”

“First of all,” she informed me, “you just compared yourself to Herman Melville, which even by your egotistical standards is a bit over-the-top. And second of all, if The Wire is really a novel, what’s its ISBN number?”

- Transcript: David Simon on why he created The Wire | Times Online

this rings of a joke only bookeaters can appreciate, right up there with telling someone to go 306.7 themselves.

in the article, simon makes a pretty compelling point about the show’s value as a “visual novel.” it’s an interesting argument to raise among readers. is there such a thing as a literary television show? lost addicts would say so, but i’m firmly of the camp that both shows just use their medium create active engagement. it’s called making quality television and we haven’t had a long history of exposure to be able to see it for just that.*

* this line of thinking also allows me to loop in the complexities of arrested development, which inevitably leads to a discussion on how quality can a network television show be if its still taking commercial breaks. but i suppose that’s a diatribe for another blog.

S1E10
“And then he dropped the bracelets.”

This is the episode where Kima gets shot.

If you didn’t know that, you probably shouldn’t be reading this essay. And I’ll warn you right now, in two episodes, I’m going to start the essay by announcing the big thing that happens in that episode, and it’s the big thing that happens in this whole season, and it’s easily the single scene that transports The Wire from one of the best shows ever to pretty much the best show ever (with later seasons jumping its reputation even far beyond that). So if you’re reading ahead, slow down. Watch the damn show. You won’t possibly be disappointed.

Episode ten all builds up to Kima getting shot, and it’s a direct result of systemic breakdowns through the Baltimore Police Department. The attack takes place during a buy-bust ordered from above – everyone on the detail knows that Orlando can’t lead them directly to Stringer or Avon, but the brass feels that nabbing even Savino will serve as a win for the department. Of course, the Barksdales aren’t going to trust Orlando nearly enough to do a deal with him, even on the lowest level, so Kima is all but being sent directly (and consciously) into a trap. The irony, if it’s right to call it that, is the department’s willingness to throw one of its own into the line of fire for the sake of finding a way out of an investigation that threatens to shine light on the misdeeds of the higher ups. I’m reminded as I write this of the old question about the Republican party: why are so many poor people willing to vote against their own best interests for the sake of the rich? I haven’t completely fleshed out the entire parallel to this scene, but on the surface at least, it feels like the same basic concept. It can be difficult to put self-interest ahead of the interests of the system, even when you’re being asked to take great risk.

The shooting itself is an orgy of tiny breakdowns, Murphy’s Law illustrated to an almost comical extent. Kima is in the car for two reasons: to wear a wire so the back-up can stick close, and to keep a gun in arm’s reach in case things go wrong. The latter plan, we’ll later learn, falls apart due to human error: not enough tape to keep the gun in place underneath the seat. The former is foiled, poetically enough, by Savino’s strict adherence to the Barksdale rules: he gets in the car, turns up the music, and won’t engage in any conversation that might allow Kima to communicate with the rest of the detail. Add to that the simple twisting of street signs (specifically to make the cops’ jobs harder, although not specifically for this moment – an argument for the Broken Windows theory, perhaps?) and the underfunding that prevents the Baltimore Police Department from conducting any technological tracking of their people – we’ll later see such technology used to track a suspect for a bust, but not here to protect an officer’s life – and it’s a complete recipe for disaster.

(Strip away all this intellectual nonsense, and the scene works for what it is: shocking, visceral, emotional. Omar/Bey set the action movie stage back in episode eight, but that was one of our “heroes” attacking the bad guys in a noble revenge plot. This is a good cop {and a female cop, at that} getting mowed down. More importantly, it’s one of the characters that we really fucking like, and as of right now, we don’t know if she’s dead or not. And if you haven’t finished this season yet, I feel that it’s my obligation to let you know that it’s only going to get worse.)

The irony, of course, is that while this ill-conceived plan to bust a lowly legit front (who is, by definition, clean and unable to roll on the higher-ups) is unfolding, the case is already being cracked wide open. Wallace has turned. On Stringer. On Wee-Bey. On everyone (except D’Angelo. “D been good to me,” Wallace explains – he doesn’t say that D is clean, just that his loyalty won’t allow him to put him in for anything). And here’s what I love about this sequence: we never see the confession. It goes against one of the cardinal rules of dramatic writing (“show, don’t tell”), but it’s brilliant for what it does show: Wallace in the interrogation room, sleeping peacefully for what is probably the first time in weeks, if not much longer. The confession’s not what matters here. We’re watching a kid get out of the game, clear his conscience, and fall into the kind of deep sleep that comes with sheer relief. It appears, for a second, that everything’s going to be okay. Maybe, as Herc might say, the good guys have won.

And that feeling lasts for about a second, because you remember that this can’t end well as soon as McNulty says “problem is, what do we do with him now?” It’s a win, a major win for the force, but there’s no plan for a way to protect Wallace. There’s no system in place.

And when you’re on your second (or fifth) viewing of the whole show, you realize that we’ll be right back here in season four with Randy and Carver.

That was just a tiny spoiler. Half a spoiler, maybe.

From The Guardian (online):

‘Studying The Wire

Next week will see quite possibly the most serious gathering ever of those interested in The Wire with a special academic conference in Leeds. “The Wire as Social Science Fiction?” is at Leeds town hall on 27-28 November. You can see the programme here… Steve Busfield will be speaking alongside some much more serious figures from British and American universities.’

Yea…that last line there? That’s me. I am a much more serious figure (apparently). FriendsColleagues and I made our ‘Reading The Wire‘ group into a conference round-table discussion for the upcoming conference. Steve Busfield – he of the Guardian blog ‘The Wire re-ups’ shall be joining our discussion. I’ve been to many a conference – none has ever received this kind of print notice!

So, in the past couple weeks, there have been a few “top tv shows of the decade” lists released. The most notable lists include The Hollywood Reporter, Paste Magazine, and The A.V. Club. Basically, here’s how the lists top tens shake down:

Hollywood Reporter:           Paste:                                                A.V. Club:

10. Modern Family              10. Mad Men                          10. The Shield

9. Lost                                9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer     9. Deadwood

8. 24                                  8. Battlestar Galactica             8. Lost

7. 30 Rock                            7. Lost                                  7. The Office (U.K.)

6. Mad Men                         6. The Sopranos                     6. Breaking Bad

5. Damages                          5. The Office (U.K. and U.S.)  5. Mad Men

4. The Shield                        4. The Daily Show                 4. Freaks and Geeks

3. Curb Your Enthusiasm    3. The West Wing                   3. Arrested Development

2. The West Wing                2. The Wire                              2. The Sopranos

1. The Sopranos                   1. Arrested Development         1. The Wire

As always, I’m gonna have to side with the ol’ AV Club on this one. Even more than I like their list, though, I hate the Hollywood Reporter’s. No Wire? No Arrested? No Breaking Bad? Modern Family after half a season? Pretty rough. So this got me thinking, and even though I haven’t seen as many shows as these critics (my most notable unwatched items are probably Mad Men and The West Wing), I threw together my list:

10. Lost: ABC

Guilty pleasure doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about Lost. The writers cheat, trick you, and jerk you around, but damn it’s fun to watch.

9. 30 Rock: NBC

The show wasn’t really on my radar for a while, until I started seeing episodes after watching The Office. Now I’m lucky to cast the end of Jim and Pam’s happy adventures before turning into NBC’s funniest show since Seinfeld.

8. Curb Your Enthusiasm: HBO

Just saw the end of the most recent season. It was pretty funny, but still a bit disappointing after last season’s ending. Having said that, seasons 3 and 6 were about as funny as TV gets.

7. South Park: Comedy Central

This show was always funny, and at times downright brilliant for so many years. It’s a shame that Parker seems to be phoning it in over the past two or three seasons.

6. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: FX

All the aforementioned lists love Damages and The Shield, but I’ve picked another FX show. Two years ago, Sunny would have been in the top 3, but a couple of lackluster seasons have lowered it in my eyes.

5. The Sopranos: HBO

The show was groundbreaking and provided some truly great drama, but I still have a lot of bad things to say about this “masterpiece.” It is certainly the best acting and cinematography I have ever seen on the tube, but the writing miffed me at times, and the ending was terrible in my eyes (not specifically the infamous final scene, but the entire second leg of the final season).

4. Frisky Dingo: Cartoon Network

Stop the Presses! What?!? Most of you have probably never heard of the short-lived, serialized superhero spoof from Adult Swim, but find someone who has, and they’ll probably quote your ear off.

3. Breaking Bad: AMC

While the rest of the world watches Mad Men, I’m eagerly awaiting the next sneak peek of BB. Bryan Cranston’s acting is more than deserving of his two Emmys, and the character arcs over two seasons have left fans drooling for more.

2. Arrested Development: Fox

What more is there to say? This was the funniest, most clever comedy I have ever seen. I’m still finding jokes I’ve never noticed on fourth and fifth viewings. AD was the perfect combo of subtle humor and slapstick. It was brilliantly written, acted, directed, and damn near everything else (marketing comes to mind as a flaw). Quite frankly, this is the show that made me realize TV could be as funny as the movies…

1. The Wire: HBO

… still, I didn’t have much faith in dramas. Then I saw the Wire.

Nuff said.

Earlier this year Leia Bell hosted ”This Aggression will not Stand Man“  a Big Lebowksi themed print exchange show at her Signed and Numbered gallery  in Salt Lake.  Matt Lloyd’s take on Jesus Quintana aka “the Purple Jesus” was one of the standouts of the show and help earn him a one man show at Signed and Numbered this month.  The main theme of the show is HBO’s “the Wire” series with each print highlighting a character from the show and a related quote. There’s also a sampling from his blues inspired pieces including Professor Longhair and Muddy Waters – you can also check out the Quintana piece, Obama/Lincoln mixandmashed and a few others.  Lloyd made it over to the States from his hometown in Brighton, UK and talked about the insperado and a few of his favorite characters.

Not quite sure how long the show runs but go check out the gallery before they head to their new digs in Sugarhouse and Kilby around the end of next month.

221 EAST BROADWAY (300 SOUTH – under Slowtrain Music)
Salt Lake City, Utah
801-596-2093

Listen to the conversation

Rafael Alvarez has chronicled the characters of Baltimore for nearly three decades as a reporter and fiction writer. He also wrote for The Wire, and his latest book is an encyclopedia of all things Wire.  It’s called The Wire: Truth Be Told, out now from the Scottish publisher Canongate. Tom Hall talks to Rafael Alvarez about the book.

Rafael Alvarez will read from The Wire: Truth Be Told Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Enrico’s in Highlandtown. Enrico’s is at the corner of E. Pratt and Haven streets.

In this edition of Kevin & Bean’s Internet Roundup:

A WGN reporter makes a kid cry, Sarah Palin supporters are interviewed at her book signing , Samson Prince is our new favorite person and more….

There are certain crime stories you read where you literally wonder, “What could that person possibly have been thinking?”

The kinds of cases where you think they should just skip the pre-trial hearings, the pleas, the trial, the judge, the jury, all of that, and just sentence the individual guilty immediately.

Because there are some things for which there is literally, no POSSIBLE excuse.

I present to you the story of Kiara Medlock and her mother, of Ozark, Arkansas. Seems Kiara, age 10 and all of 65 pounds, was wildly misbehaving on the night of Nov. 12, and her mother called the police.

Officer Dustin Bradshaw arrived at the scene, and when he wasn’t able to subdue Kiara, her mother allegedly told the officer to “tase her if you have to.” Which, after Kiara kicked him, Officer Bradshaw did.

The child was then handcuffed and taken to a youth shelter.

This is despicable by the adults here on so many levels. One, by the officer, who sees no other option when outweighing a child by oh, 100 pounds, then to TASE them? Two, by the mother, for suggesting to the officer that he send volts of electric shock into her daughter?

I’m sorry, I don’t care how violent or unruly the kid is, this is despicable. Check out the brief police report here.

**I came late to “The Wire”. Everyone told me the HBO show about drug dealers and cops was truly amazing, and I heard them and didn’t believe.

Finally, I went out rented the first three seasons on DVD. Best. Show. I’ve. Ever. Seen. I positively worship all five seasons, with Season 5 being David Simon’s ultimate masterpiece. I can’t recommend this show highly enough if you’ve never seen it.

If you’re a big fan like me, you’ll enjoy this: Someone put together the 100 best quotes from “The Wire.” Warning: Not Safe for Work (a bit of colorful language, you might say).