You Gotta Love The Onion

TV Critics Admit To Never Having Watched The Wire

Heath Ledger

I have to say I am truly shocked at the news of Heath Ledger's death. I first saw him in The Patriot but it was Monter's Ball where I really took notice. It was a pretty small role but an integral part of the plot and I thought he was totally convincing in the role. Although I wasn't big fan of Lords of Dogtown or even Brokeback Mountain, it was clear Ledger was much more than a pretty face. He had a way of making a character his own by creating a distinct look, demeanor and voice for each one. In Lords of Dogtown I remember thinking his portrayal of Skip was kind of like watching Heath Ledger playing Val Kilmer but when my brother suggested I watch Dogtown and Z-Boys again I realized how close his performance was to the real Skip Engblom. I probably can't name more than five actors under thirty who I really look forward to seeing in a film but Ledger was one of them because even if the film was bad (and he did some awful ones) he always seemed to bring his all to the project.

I was always a bit disappointed in the Tim Burton Joker played by Jack Nicholson, partly because we've seen Nicholson play that same basic character several times but also because I didn't think it captured the essence of the Joker in the Batman comics. There were rumors before Nicholson was cast that Ray Liotta was being considered. Now Ray Liotta has the laugh of the Joker. Whenever I see him being interviewed and he laughs, it gives me the chills.

Even before the Dark Knight series, the Joker was supposed to be a homicidal maniac. He was the face of madness. He wasn't motivated primarily by power or money; he was crazy and took pleasure in causing pain and destruction for its own sake. There was a bootleg trailer floating around the internet awhile ago, which has now been released on the official website, that makes it look like Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight captures the true madness of the Joker. "Nothing in his pockets but knives and lint". I'm a big Christian Bale fan and having Ledger cast had me doubly sold. It looks like a great performance by Ledger and it's sad to think he won't be around to appreciate the accolades. The saddest part for me (besides the impact this will have on his young daughter) is the fact that I don't believe we have seen anything close to Ledger's best work. And I don't think he will be remember as the great actor he truly was.

The Unix way of life

OK, I'm all for the continuation of the Unix way of life, the CLI and such things but this is a bit ridiculous.

S5, Episode Two

"This ain't Aruba, Bitch" -The Bunk

When exactly did Bunk become The Bunk? He's moving up in the world.

It's good to see that this season is going to be taking a more indepth look into Bubbles' struggle with recovery and his relationship with his sponsor, Waylon, played by Steve Earle. Waylon was first introduced in season one when Bubbles hears him speak at an NA meeting he is forced to attend as a condition of his parole. They talk in a couple episodes and it is clear they have a mutual understanding even though Waylon is clean and Bubbles is not. Then he reappears in the season finale of season four, setting up the dynamic to come in this season. David Simons mini-series "The Corner", like The Wire, dealt with the Baltimore drug trade but it revolved more around the users and hoppers, with police and major traffickers barely registering as minor characters. It is also based on a real-life Baltimore family (whom director Charles S. Dutton interviews at the end of the final episode) and their struggles with drug addiction. Fran's brother Scoogie has been clean for some time and Blue and Fran makes attempts to get clean throughout the course of the series but there's very little information about the process of seeking to recover from drug addiction. I am interested to see how Bubbles recovery is portrayed during the rest of this season.

And ofcourse the other side of Bubbles' recovery from heroin addiction is Jimmie McNulty's descent back into alcoholism and the disastrous effects it threatens to have on everyone around him. The one positive thing you could say about a low-bottom dope friend like Bubbles is he is so withdrawn from and marginalized by society that his addiction has minimal effects on anyone but himself. The same is not true of McNulty and I suspect it will become more evident as the season goes on that high-functioning addicts/alcoholics manage to bring more people down with them because they are still an active member of their community. I found it very realistic that while McNulty was sober, Bunk and others seemed to resent his abstinence and now that he is drinking again they have quickly realized that they were better off when he was sober.

I'm glad to see Marlo and Omar will be getting back in the mix soon. Omar is one of the few characters on the show who almost always comes out on top so I'm not too concerned for his safety, even with Chris and Snoop gunning for him.

Season 5, Episode One

"the bigger the lie, the more they believe" - Bunk

I recently re-watched season 3, including some of the DVD extras. One of the comments David Simon made during a panel discussion was people complained "nothing happened" in the season three premiere. The audience had just finished watching the premiere prior to the panel discussion so he reviewed the new characters and themes being introduced. Knowing how the story unfolds and looking back on the premiere, I could clearly see how the groundwork was being laid for the next twelve episodes. They mentioned two other interesting facts - the actors receive scripts one episode at a time and they are never sure if the series will be picked up for another season. Season four in particular seemed as though it was moving toward a series finale until the final two episodes when it became clear they were going to get the old gang back together again for one more go. I often wonder about the process of developing a story arch over a season of episodes (particularly on shows like Lost). How much is determine by the time the premiere is completed and how much is developed from episode to episode?

So I went into this season's premiere assuming it would setup up the characters and themes which will play out over the next twelve episodes. I also assumed, since it has been acknowledged season five is the final season, the story line over this season is probably more fully developed from the beginning, so the premiere would be expected to have even more foreshadowing of the events to follow.

The Wire, in general terms, deals with the heroin trade in Baltimore, Maryland but each season has additional themes specific to the season. For more details on the themes explored in each season see the Wikipedia entry. Season five will presumably continue to look at wiretap technology, the drug trade, political corruption, police bureaucracy and the corner kids from season 4 while introducing the new theme of the media. Since Dave Simon worked for the Baltimore Sun for twelve years it should prove to be an interesting look at the MSM (as the bloggers say) or main stream media. It was good to see Clark Johnson has joined the cast as a veteran journalist. Johnson is probably best know for playing Detective Meldrick Lewis in all seven seasons of David Simon's other police drama Homicide: Life on the Street. He has also directed episodes of The Wire in season one.

Beyond the introduction of the media as a theme we know the "new day" promised at the end of season four has not materialized, McNulty is back to his old ways in more ways than one, Carver has been promoted to SIC, Herc has been busted out of the force and is doing PI work for Levi (former house counsel for the Barksdale crew) and Bubbles is staying clean. Marlo is stirring up trouble in the co-op and scoping out Prop Joe's connect in an attempt to get that good package all to himself. And, sadly, no Omar. Oh yeah, the photocopier/lie-detector bit was priceless.

I can't say I cared much for Steve Earle's version of the theme song but its better than the version by DoMaJe. Steve Earle's version will probably grow on me over time.

Steve at The Sneeze gives the best Xmas presents

The kids love this one
Be sure to peruse the best of the Sneeze (I, II and III) on the right. He's got some classic stuff in there, especially the "Steve, don't eat it" series.

Iowa

I guess it's a good thing that Obama took the Democratic race in Iowa. Personally I would like to see Edwards stay in the race. My problem with Obama is that he keeps talking like he's going to win the presidency and then all the kids in the schoolyard are going to play nice and that's just not going to happen. One side of a bitter feud can't end the feud alone by deciding to be civil. The Republicans thrive on being the opposition party because ... well they can't govern for shit and they like to think of themselves as the victims of big government. Other than that I like Obama just fine. At a different time in history I think he would make a great president and maybe he will in 2009. Edwards clearly understands that he's going to have to go to the mat to make real changes and sounds like he's prepared to do what's necessary even if the other guy calls foul - over and over and over again, everytime Edwards so much as clears his throat.

I'm opposed to Hilary simply because I'm against the idea of another Clinton presidency. According to Harper's index for Jan.2008, a quarter of Americans have lived their whole lives under presidents named Bush and Clinton. If Hilary wins the presidency and manages to server two terms, that number goes up to a third. There's just something fundamentally flawed in a system where two families control the presidency for twenty years. Add on eight more years for Hilary and George H.W. Bush's terms as Vice President and you get two families running the country for 36 years. That's certainly not a recipe for change. Besides we all know the Clintons are evil hillybillies who sell drugs and murder their friends and associates at the slightest provocation and I'm not sure I can stand that in the news for even another four years. God knows they'd probably decide to re-open Whitewater.

On the Republican side I have to agree with Tristero that Huckabee's rise is a very, very bad sign of the state of the Republican party. The only positive I can find, other than the fact that I don't believe he has a hope in hell of actually winning in November, is the fact that he's a bass player.

Some Wire related stories

Just a few stories related to The Wire I found over the past couple of months.

First the real life Fran Boyd, whose life and struggle with addiction is chronicled in the book and HBO mini-series The Corner (also co-written by The Wire creators David Simon and Ed Burns), married Donnie Andrews this past summer. Andrews is one of the real life characters on which Omar Little is based. Their story was featured in this NY Times article.

Also in the "real life basis for the character" category is "Little Melvin" Williams. Williams is the primary model for the character Avon Barksdale. He has an IQ around 160 and is often credited as the man who brought heroin to Baltimore. He was brought down in a wiretap case by The Wire co-creator Ed Burns and server 26.5 years in prison. He currently plays the role of the Deacon on the Wire.

And finally Felicia "Snoop" Pearson who plays Felicia "Snoop" Pearson in seasons 3 & 4 of The Wire has released an autobiography detailing her life. She was a three pound crack baby at birth and was sentenced to 8 years for second degree murder when she was 14 years old. In season 4, Snoop and her partner (in crime) Chris were murdering their competition, dumping the bodies in vacant homes and nailing them shut again to hide the evidence. Here's Snoop in the first scene of the season 4 premiere -



If women come any harder than Snoop, I don't want to know about it.

The Wire: The Chronicles on HBO's website

There are few good The Wire "historical" vignettes on the HBO website. Of course I particularly like the episode with Omar. Does anyone remember who Anthony (part of the stickup crew) is? He is mentioned at least three times in season one.

Youtube also has the following teaser for season 5 (The music sounds like The Roots to me) -



As well as this behind the scenes look at season 5 -



McNulty is drinking again ... I heard this was going to be a bleak season.

Was Iraq all about Oil?

I've read in many different places that the Iraq war was not "all about oil". I consider Gwynn Dyer (and Scott Ritter) proof that not everyone, prior to the Iraq war, believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction as frequently asserted by the Bush administration. In Ignorant Armies Dyer describes in great detail why the impending war is not about weapons of mass destruction and what is likely to follow. However all of his books on the Iraq War (Ignorant Armies, Future Tense and The Mess They Made) argue that oil is sold on the global open market so it unnecessary for the US to invade Iraq to get Iraq's oil - they can just buy it. I have alot of respect for Dyer's opinion so for a long time I was inclined to accept this view. He points out that Iraq continued to sell the majority of its oil to the US right up until the invasion in 2003. But I've always felt there was something missing. And I think I know what it is.

The difference between Iraq selling its oil on the open market and any other oil producing nation is Iraq (under Saddam) doesn't get the money. The Food for Oil program run by the UN receives the money. Saddam managed to siphon some money off, funnel some into bribes and kickbacks and the UN would spend some on medicine, etc. But the majority of that money went into the Food for Oil fund. According to this 2005 article in the Guardian -

The US Congress also voted to spend $18.4bn of US taxpayers' money on the redevelopment of Iraq. By June 28 last year, however, when Bremer left Baghdad two days early to avoid possible attack on the way to the airport, his CPA had spent up to $20bn of Iraqi money, compared with $300m of US funds. The "reconstruction" of Iraq is the largest American-led occupation programme since the Marshall Plan - but the US government funded the Marshall Plan. Defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Bremer have made sure that the reconstruction of Iraq is paid for by the "liberated" country, by the Iraqis themselves.

So the reconstruction of Iraq involved spending up to $20bn in Food for Oil money, which rightfully belongs to the Iraqi people. Had this money been used for "reconstruction", this expense might be justified but if you see the film No End in Sight or read "Imperial Life in the Emerald City", its clear that little or no reconstruction took place. Or better yet read Matt Taibbi's The Great Iraq Swindle. He refers to screwing the American public out of taxpayer money but keep in mind that its $20bn of Iraqi's oil revenue to $300 million of US taxpayer money. That money goes directly to US contractors (virtually no Iraqi's are directly involved in Iraqi reconstruction ... go figure) who provide little or no services in return. These contractors, such as KBR (and its parent Halliburton), Bechtel, Custer-Battles, DynaCorp and Blackwater, in turn make huge contributions to the campaigns of Republican politicians and the Republican party itself. The US buys oil from Iraq and a large percentage of that money goes directly back to US companies and Republican politicians. So the US, in effect, buys the oil and gets to keep the money - including the money for all of the Iraqi oil it has bought in the previous 10 years.

Its sort of like if I bought your house and when the transaction was finished I got the house and, minus a few transaction fees, I also got to keep my money. And you basically get nothing.

Day one on A Man Gotta Have a Code

I've been thinking about setting up a blog for awhile now so today is the day. I was prompted by this article - http://salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/01/03/pakistan_policy/(via digby). Why is it the Bush administration thinks a free and democratically elected Pakistani government is going to make peace with Isreal? I'm pretty sure that's not a priority for the population of Pakistan. Not that I believe for a minute that the US cares if the elections are free or fair.

Discuss ....