"The Wire" on HBO

really want to to be watching new jack city rn

I think the reason people like it is because the "aaaah in your face Levy" element is funny.

yeah, pretty much. I think it's weird that nobody has mentioned how charismatic omar is in this scene. he has a funny suit on, he's playing with his tie, he's reveling in a chance to incriminate sticky fingaz from onyx, etc...

I think that's mostly why people like the scene. that quote is the climax.

Next time I have a speeding ticket: "You got the siren, I got the radar detector"

ha, just heard Slaughterhouse quote the "plural of pussy" line in "Microphone"

I know that I should still start a thread and I will once we start watching this at work but thought I'd update since ppl seemed interested.

Things are still good. I am a little overwhelmed as I know have 20 ppl on my caseload. Most of them are young women but I have five guys. All of my girls are either already mothers or currently pregnant. This is an issue I'm trying to work out how to address. Even the ones who are struggling with one or more kids now are reluctant to get on birth control and I can't quite figure out why. It's sort of mystifying and fascinating and infuriating all at once.

I am going to drug court with one of my guys on Friday. He's facing 2.5 years but hopefully it'l be OK because he's doing really well right now. I am actually really invested in this kid already and am hoping with everything I have that things work out in his favor because I really believe he's ready to make a change. We'll see.

Got asked recently if I smoke weed. That was strange because I sat there for a second debating how to answer. The truth is that yes, on ocassion I do smoke weed. These days it's a rare occurrence but I didn't feel right lying so I didn't. I told the kids present the truth but we ended up in a really great discussion about moderation and control and life choices etc. Still . . . weird.

Am also now in charge of the GBLT group which is proving interesting and sort of amazing. We have three guys all under 20 who have all been involved in prostitution and it's just mind blowing to hear their stories.

Yeah, I guess that's it really. I still love it and tbh these young ppl teach me things every day and I can only hope that they're learning 1/2 as much from me as I am from them.

kind of impressed with where your life has taken you

Where - to the ghetto? I joke but my favorite participant is a 6 foot four Puerto Rican gay dude who is basically my new bff and has taken it upon myself to school me in ghetto talk/life etc. I've refused his attempts to get me to talk ghetto but the other night I busted out with ghetto speak and sorta blew him away. We bonded. It was good.

My wife had a hard time watching season 4 while teaching sp. ed in the bronx

Was given a book of essays on The Wire for my birthday yesterday. It looks to be an interesting read, but these things can go either way.

you want it to be one way

OT but the complete series of Homicide on DVD is on sale at Amazon for $65

http://www.amazon.com/Homicide-Life-Street-Complete-repackaged/dp/B002BLNGTS/ref=sr_1_47?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1264717071&sr=1-47

damn, that is seriously tempting.
i think that's the first thing i'm buying once i get a new job

after drugs.

yeah, of course.

> eh the chess scene is too writerly and on-the-nose

Rewatching season 1 recently I noticed a speed chess game being played (in the background, out of focus) when Stringer is advising D how to find out who the leak in his crew is. I slapped myself kinda hard.

Was given a book of essays on The Wire for my birthday yesterday. It looks to be an interesting read, but these things can go either way.

― Freddy 'The Wonder Chicken' (Gukbe), Thursday, January 14, 2010 3:43 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you want it to be one way

― The tendrils INTERTWINE with gentle undulations. (forksclovetofu), Thursday, January 14, 2010 3:46 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark

somehow that never gets old

maybe that is because it is a ~buddhist truth~

did you ever think of THAT, hoos

DID U

Is it the one with "urban decay" in the title?

guy

never really understood the appeal of "you want it to be one way" -- such a flat, uninspired line to be one of the show's signature catchphrases imo

it's just kinda ice cold

i guess, but even as far as ice cold gangster shit there's much better stuff from the show you could quote

I disagree

it's just kinda ice cold

OTM. I should use it at work every day. Cuts through reams of crap.

I just finished reading this:
http://img.amazon.ca/images/I/51Y1wL1LyfL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU15_.jpg

i think the "you want it to be one way" is so flat, so 4chan, so utterly boneheaded that it fits well on the corner or the boardroom. I could totally have seen it being a line that caught on during the banker apology tour. From either side!

oh brother

i dunno - i think it's like that quote from The Departed that everyone likes (including me) - "I'm the guy that does his job, you must be the other guy."

re-reading your take on the line, forks, I can't tell if you're saying you like or dislike it, but I don't get the 4chan reference at all.

I like how matter-of-fact it is, and coming from a menacing dude adds another layer. Definitely wouldn't sound cool coming out of a banker's mouth, though.

maybe it would to other bankers?

could be

i'm not really a fan or a non-fan of that line. It seems right for Marlo.
4chan ref is to the inexplicability, vague non sequitur, brutally inarguable qualities of "Yeah, but no."

just watched the scene again, some dude OTM

xp - it's hardmanesque.

I like the line cause it fits marlo's character at the point of being a paper gangster- like he wants to really come up with some awesome riposte to the security guard but he can only come up with that. so then he just has him killed instead. and then of course marlo's actions afterwards gives the line much more weight than it otherwise would have. like sarahel says, it's hardmanesque

I mean it doesn't even make sense cause why are there only two ways - but whatevs, I say it in my head to everyone now

i like it a lot better than "you cant always get what you want"

dyao's take is pretty otm, although i still think that makes it weird that people like to quote it, since it has none of that weight without context. also the difference with the Departed quote is that line actually has some snap to it.

that's the one i'm reading sarahel.

xposts

It's his reaction to getting schooled in the poker game by the older dudes.

It's also all about contrasting Omar with Marlo. When Omar sticks up the gangsters' poker game later he's dropping great lines the whole time "these four-fives beat a full house", "money ain't got no owners only spenders" and "you got me confused with a man who repeats himself"... Marlo bullies a working man and his philosophy and language have no finesse, no depth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=409Pjtq7jzY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbq-WgE6yo

And he repeats himself.

One of the essays in the book is about the contrast between the familiar, almost feudal mode of organization of the Barksdales and the dockworkers vs. the monetary global capitalism represented by the Greeks and Stringer. But it seemed like Marlo's organization isn't either of these things - it's closer to a Fascist state, and I'd kinda hoped that the essay would draw historical parallels with Capitalism and the rise of Fascism, but no dice. Maybe I had unrealistic expectations?

The essays do come from a variety of disciplines, which is interesting - though there's a lot less in depth textual analysis than I had hoped/wanted.

brio otm
ship, i think what people like about that line is that it mirrors their own sense of "gotta be a big fish among little fish" casual brutality. It's a helpless, hopeless, artless sort of thing to say; what is meant to pass for wisdom among warriors. as is too often the case, what we're supposed to take as a warning becomes chic.

One of the essays in the book is about the contrast between the familiar, almost feudal mode of organization of the Barksdales and the dockworkers vs. the monetary global capitalism represented by the Greeks and Stringer. But it seemed like Marlo's organization isn't either of these things - it's closer to a Fascist state, and I'd kinda hoped that the essay would draw historical parallels with Capitalism and the rise of Fascism, but no dice. Maybe I had unrealistic expectations?

when cultural studies professors attack... how in the name of all that is holy are the dockworkers feudal? (or indeed the barksdales?) gangsters have often been metaphors for the onward march of capitalism n e way.

what kind of parallel do you think should be drawn between the bmore drug trade and the rise of fascism?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feLqz1udhtY&feature=player_embedded
(ripped off from the hitler ranting thread)

i dont know about feudal but its hard not to see how the dockworkers and avon represent an "older" sort of organization/lifestyle--an economy predicated on "honor" or something--vs. the greeks and stringer who are dyed-in-the-wool free-marketeers

yep. i think the show effectively undermines that, the kid visiting his dad in jail, and one of the kids herc and carver pick up, saying: we're always being told it gets worse and worse.

coz the new breed of more ruthless and more capitalist gangster is a pretty old idea. it's even in the godfather, really, with the refusal to move drugs. but the claim that the old way os honourable is usually bs -- either way, if you're going to do that, be more specific and don't use "feudal".

"paternal" then

the essay used the term "feudal" - in the sense that their operations were based on territory - they lived off the land in a certain respect. Different locals and different drug gangs had their own fiefdoms, and there was a status hierarchy that wasn't dissimilar. It was contrasted to Stringer and the Greeks that weren't concerned with territory, but with money. It uses the conflict between Avon and Stringer in Season 3, where Avon wants his corners and Stringer just wants to make money wholesaling as an example of the difference between these approaches.