forget it chris... it's baltimore
― I just want to give a shout-out to Buzzy Beetles (forksclovetofu), Monday, 7 March 2011 19:41 (thirteen years ago) link
wtf indeed the stevedores are some of the best characters on the series & are entirely central to telling the story of baltimore. wtf alfred
― deej, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 17:10 (thirteen years ago) link
interested to know what jordan's probs w/ omar are
yeah me too
― kl0p's son (k3vin k.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:21 (thirteen years ago) link
great show, but my one qualm has always been the casting of the red-head politician... um, lady
really? this woman is desirable to ALL of you? (hello, i'm a recovering sexist)
― yeah (kelpolaris), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:23 (thirteen years ago) link
well i think that for a show that is so grounded in realism & is so proud & pompous about how 'real' it is & is perceived to be, that it's a bit odd to have a character like omar that is so unrealistic & practically superhuman -- on the one hand it's a wonderfully acted character, but i think omar undercuts a lot of what the show stands for
i mean, an openly gay rebel gangster (who just so happens to find tons of other gay gangsters to be his boyfriend AND partner in crime) that can steal hundreds of thousands worth of drugs just by showing up and walks around in a trench coat as kids flee the streets and go "oh my god it's omar" -- it's just really fantastical nonsense at times -- and i ALWAYS resented how this superhuman character was not able to kill avon from point blank range in the beginning of season one, which sorta undercuts the whole notion of the character
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:29 (thirteen years ago) link
a show where everything was like real life would suck
― gr8080, Saturday, January 15, 2011 10:01 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark
― gr8080, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:37 (thirteen years ago) link
then maybe they shouldn't have created a show based on the premise of it being the most 'real' show ever
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:40 (thirteen years ago) link
maybe you should come at such a show with adult expectations
― gr8080, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:45 (thirteen years ago) link
what should i have expected
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:46 (thirteen years ago) link
dunno if you listened to these, but in some of the commentaries simon talks about omar bits as the least realistic and most crowd-pleasing and western-y they did, more for the sheer fun value. so at least there is the recognition that not everything in the show was created with the same tone or effect in mind. if intent matters!
― goole, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:46 (thirteen years ago) link
what would've been the sopranos equivalent of this?
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:47 (thirteen years ago) link
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, March 9, 2011 3:40 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark
that's not the premise of the show at all, though, more the terms people decided to praise it on. there was always a lot more heightened reality in the show beyond Omar than people gave credit for.
― JaySeanLilWayne (some dude), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:48 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.thesterlingedgeduo.zoomshare.com/files/thats_entertainment_gold.jpg
― gr8080, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:48 (thirteen years ago) link
like, vito comes back w/ the diner short order cook and starts robbing all of tony's spots as little italian children drop their ham sandwiches and scramble off the street
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:49 (thirteen years ago) link
i mean i kinda roll my eyes when people focus on Omar or trumpet him as the best character on the show but i don't really mind the charged element he brought to the show
― JaySeanLilWayne (some dude), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:49 (thirteen years ago) link
― JaySeanLilWayne (some dude), Wednesday, March 9, 2011 3:48 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark
well i understand "heightened reality", but omar is a huge outlier
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:50 (thirteen years ago) link
it's not like the character ruined the show for me or anything -- i still love the show & think it's one of the best things i've ever watched, i just find the character to be problematic is all
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:51 (thirteen years ago) link
i understand & appreciate the purpose of having omar being killed by a random corner kid & not dying in a firefight w/ omar's ppl but maybe they shouldn't have had him survive a six story fall off of a balcony, is all i'm saying
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:52 (thirteen years ago) link
w/ marlo's ppl*
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s235/revmyspace2/graphics/Misc/Bling_Pimp/bling_tony_soprano.gif
― gr8080, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:53 (thirteen years ago) link
http://i40.tinypic.com/710i1x.jpg
are you saying the six-story fall was too comic booky? like some spider-man shit?
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:54 (thirteen years ago) link
lol
― JaySeanLilWayne (some dude), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:54 (thirteen years ago) link
― yeah (kelpolaris), Wednesday, March 9, 2011 3:23 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark
i can't even tell who you're referring to -- maybe Rhonda Pearlman? but she wasn't a politician and i thought her hair was more dirty blonde (although i could be wrong about that)?
it has to be rhonda pearlman tho she only had relationships w/ two ppl on the show, also kelpolaris is a troll so let's not bother
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:57 (thirteen years ago) link
probably the most oddly bad performance in this show was the woman carcetti hires to help run his campaign in s3. but i don't think that's the one we're talking about.
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:57 (thirteen years ago) link
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, March 9, 2011 2:52 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
this was based on something that actually happened!!
― deej, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:58 (thirteen years ago) link
o rly
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 20:59 (thirteen years ago) link
Pearlman was cute but it was all about the campaign manager McNulty and Carcetti both got with
― boots get knocked from here to czechoslovakier (milo z), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:00 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?172531-Interview-with-David-Simon
― deej, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:00 (thirteen years ago) link
also yes sobotka/the stevedores are plenty relevant to the show's theses re: decay of the city/abandonment of the working class/racial hostility fueled by resentment over economic irrelevancy + approaching death/whatever. plus sobotka's walk down the pier in the penultimate episode of s2 is like the best thing on tv ever.
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:01 (thirteen years ago) link
oh yeah i have a question -- maybe i'm forgetting something, but did they ever explore the connection b/w cheese & randy aside from them both having the same last name? like, i don't think it was ever brought up in s4 that randy was related to cheese & joe? feel like this might've been important?
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:01 (thirteen years ago) link
that just came to my mind as the series winds down & cheese becomes a bigger player towards the end
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:02 (thirteen years ago) link
I feel like the "realness" applies more to the way the various plots develop, the sprawling way that stories and character arcs play out, and less to the characters themselves. There are some great characters, but they aren't necessarily the realest-seeming people around, and they occasionally give speeches or make remarks that have no relation to how people talk. And you can view that as a flaw, but I think there's a consistent balance between "realness" and a kind of operatic (and sometimes didactic) nature; see the quotes at the end of the opening credits. How real is a show in which every episode contains a pithy quote that reflects on the episode's theme?
I do share your reluctance about Omar, but I wonder if a character like Lester is that much more realistic.
whoa xxxxp
― clotpoll, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:03 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah basically, this was a show that totally had dramatized & archetypal characters, what was 'real' was how it dealt w/ sociopolitical issues, not the characterizations w.in that framework. omar is an awesome character and his heroism is directly contrasted w/ his invisibility to anyone who isnt in the hood -- thus his death being knocked off the newspaper
― deej, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Though the relationship was never established on the show, creator David Simon revealed Cheese to be Randy's biological father.[1]
^^ thought it was maybe alluded to in the show but i guess it wasn't -- the last name thing seemed too deliberate to be a coincidence anyway
― JaySeanLilWayne (some dude), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:03 (thirteen years ago) link
are any of you watching that new chicago "wire"-like show with the unfeasibly hot police commissioner and a polish mcnulty?
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:04 (thirteen years ago) link
I think the deal w/cheese & randy was that it was just a little thing they threw in, and there wasn't really any plausible reason to go any further with it.
― clotpoll, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:05 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah this girl. adorable but then i can't speak objectively to this since she resembled in almost every detail of personality the first girl i ever kissed (who now actually does work for the democratic party). but the first girl i ever kissed played this part way, way, way better than the actress in the wire, who came off flat and awkward to me every time she tried to say anything witheringly hobbesian.
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:07 (thirteen years ago) link
brother mouzone was as stupid a character as omar too. this show was good but is massively and ludicrously overrated for some reason. both mad men and breaking bad are ten times the show this is.
― I see what this is (Local Garda), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:07 (thirteen years ago) link
i'll kill you
― horseshoe, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:08 (thirteen years ago) link
brother mouzone is not a great character, but he's an outlier in that sense
― horseshoe, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:09 (thirteen years ago) link
i think brother mouzone was based on something real too /deej
― goole, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:10 (thirteen years ago) link
realism as in dealing with subject matter that actually happens and realist in style are two different things, although the later isn't particularly well-defined.
― horseshoe, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:11 (thirteen years ago) link
brother mouzone is hilarious
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:11 (thirteen years ago) link
― JaySeanLilWayne (some dude), Wednesday, March 9, 2011 4:03 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark
thank u ship
― little humma boy (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:12 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah there's no way there are two central characters w/ the last name wagstaff & it is a coincidence
brother mouzone gets a pass for being From New York and having all the characters talk about how he's Come In From New York and is going to use New York Tactics and it's actually pretty funny when he turns out to be a tarantino cartoon.
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:12 (thirteen years ago) link
tbf i agree like...the whole "it's so realistic" is prob mostly this show's stupid thing people say about it. on a number of levels it's stupid cos why would a tv show being realistic even be a definite quality or positive anyway?
― I see what this is (Local Garda), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 21:17 (thirteen years ago) link