"The Wire" on HBO

theyre not stellar but theyre funny and heartbreaking and resolve lots of storys. its like youve gotten to page 480 of a 500-page book and are like... oh well why bother

― max, Monday, November 16, 2009 10:02 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

I have done this many times

I'm also stalled halfway through season 3, not sure if these are related phenomena

http://www.youtube.com/user/hh1edits#p/u/0/-Sgj78QG9Bg

― cutty, Monday, November 16, 2009 6:10 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

did i miss it or did they skip "pinstripe lawyerly affectations"

I'm also stalled halfway through season 3, not sure if these are related phenomena

that is absurd

perhaps edward iii should pitch a slate article about this

did he have hands? did he have a face? yes? then it wasnt us

to be fair that's some pretty profound shit to hear if you're a 16 year old drug dealer

I know that conversation was yesterday, but I find myself very much on Tracer's side about this: what's an embarrassing metaphor to ilxors is not necessarily embarrassing to all, including not only 16-year-old drug dealers but also corporate managers, readers of motivational texts, churchgoers, and really basically 90% of America

that said, as a viewer it's not exactly like some deep stuff, true

I know that conversation was yesterday, but I find myself very much on Tracer's side about this: what's an embarrassing metaphor to ilxors is not necessarily embarrassing to all, including not only 16-year-old drug dealers but also corporate managers, readers of motivational texts, churchgoers, and really basically 90% of America

My issue with it was that it was incredibly close to the content of a scene from the movie Fresh.

yeah and Fresh >>>>> The Wire

sorry guys but its true

*folds arms*

Shakey went too far.

fresh is better than the wire vs traffic is as good as the wire

hahaha i am so glad wire threads will never die so i can never stop getting disproportionately pissed off by stuff people say about it.

^^^

did he have hands? did he have a face? yes? then it wasnt us

that's one of my favorite lines.

it's not so much d's delivery of it, but rather that the other two otherwise street smart guys take it hook line and sinker and pretend it's some great apercu

― 囧 (dyao), Monday, November 16, 2009 7:17 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark

Wallace and Bodie weren't particularly street-smart (by wire standards at least) at this point of the show

and they're more like 14 than 16, no?

bodie was, wallace wasn't

seriously think for one second about all the shit that blew your mind when you were 16

http://www.youtube.com/user/hh1edits#p/u/0/-Sgj78QG9Bg

― cutty, Monday, November 16, 2009 6:10 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

did i miss it or did they skip "pinstripe lawyerly affectations"

― hoos-kingofthedrugs (deej), Monday, November 16, 2009 6:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yep. "tweedy impertinence," too. no Jay quotes, no cred.

yeah these are some preachy ass 100 quotes

i love the wire 4ever but fuck if i hear another quote about 'the game'

Not reading this, as am only near the end of season 2, but is Omar the best character on TV ever?

Indeed.

Omar's role in the series always seemed kinda obvious and irritating to me - he's the one guy that's unbeholden to any of the institutions that trip up everyone else, and he has this moral code that he lives by, he only robs/kills criminals, he loves his momma, etc. And as an extra bone to all us open-minded liberals out there, he's GAY! Its all just so ridiculously idealized. This from a show that otherwise prided itself on its realism...

anyway my favorite character was Prop Joe.

I see what you're saying, and yet he's just so much damn fun to watch.

xpost
His performance makes it easy to forgive all that, for me anyway.

yeah Omar is fun. he allows the viewer some rare moments of satisfaction re: people getting what they deserve, etc.

xxxp shakey - i don't think he feels much for his momma, he was raised by his grandmother.

shakey omar is based on a real person

realism is not very fun. the wire is fun. the wire is not realistic. it takes place in a realistic environment. i know people clown the whole "dickensian" bit and maybe the show clowns itself w/r/t it, but it's not far off the mark.

lolz "based on a true story!"

what are you, 12 years old

shakey omar is based on a real person

this doesn't mean Shakey has to "believe" in Omar, though

dickens had realistic environments with characters who were just a tad unrealistic and OTT. not sure why this is a negative about the wire, if anything it's a positive.

hmm I had never made the Dickens connection before but that is a really good point of comparison, def a lot of parallels

"he's the one guy that's unbeholden to any of the institutions that trip up everyone else"
Did you see the ending? That he actually is beholden is his undoing. Also, he has Spider-man powers.

james morrison, stop reading this thread btw

come back later when you've finished

i.e. "that's some spiderman shit right there."

Did you see the ending? That he actually is beholden is his undoing. Also, he has Spider-man powers.

haha nah, I stopped at the end of season 4 and everything I've read about season 5 sounds super-silly. altho yes the glory of wikipedia has clued me in as to the conclusion of Omar's character arc

'thats some spiderman shit right there' is based on a real thing that happened to donnie andrews. watch the commentary

that really was the only scene where i liked Marlo.

Is it true that Donnie (Andrews, the inspiration for Omar) in real life jumped off a balcony the same height that Omar did?

Actually, two floors higher.

Two floors higher?

The Murphy Homes. He also jumped off the rail bridge at Poplar Grove, onto the rail bed. That was probably about three stories. And he hurt his ankle. It’s just true. Those jumps, by an athletic person, can actually be made and are made, routinely. By a non-athletic person? if I made it, I’d be all over the pavement and they’d pick me up with a spoon. If you made it, they’d pick you up with a spoon. When 28-year-old Donnie Andrews makes that jump because he has to, sometimes he makes it. It’s funny: I’m doing this thing now with recon Marines, “Generation Kill.” And some of them had no problem with the jump. They just started telling stories about recon training. I don’t know whether to believe them or not, but I do believe Donnie.

It was a story I actually used, I wrote about the first time back in 1990. That story was all through the ghetto: “They had him cornered, and motherfucker jumped off the railroad bridge and kept running. Did not want to die that day.” But we did want it to feel a little bit mythic, and “What the fuck?” because it fit with the general arc of Greek tragedy.

season 5 isn't super-silly, although it has some super-silly moments / episodes.

(btw, donnie andrews wasn't gay deej)

isn't/wasn't whatever

well that changes everything!

Marlo was also sympathetic early on when he showed his love for pigeons.