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escape artist posted:Thing is, we all have our own style. Frankly, I think Jerusalem is more insightful than me. I'm more of a behind-the-scenes and paralleled characters and repeated lines type of guy. I'd be stoked to see multiple writeups of episodes (even if they were out of order) specifically because of the different approaches you guys take. Like, absolutely season 3 is an allegory for the war in iraq, but it's more than that, and I'd be keen to see what escape artist and jerusalem pick out of it.
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Mar 10, 2013 21:56
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BattleCake posted:It's a bit soul-crushing how the ending to each season is mostly depressing, or at best bittersweet. There are no (or at least very few) "happy endings" on this show. Bubbles  (I read an interview before season 5 came out that said they felt like they had to give ONE character a happy ending or it would just be too depressing)
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Apr 14, 2013 12:35
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Spoilers Below posted:.... He's more upset about losing his rosary than anything else, perhaps because it has some personal attachment, but even that he dismisses in the end with a simple shrug.... Probably worry beads, not a rosary - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worry_beads
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Apr 15, 2013 22:54
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Jerusalem posted:
Hilarious backstory for this one http://davidsimon.com/gus-triandos-1930-2013/
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Jun 14, 2013 01:06
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Jerusalem posted:Stringer's big mistake (and it's not really one you can blame him for) was that he sent Bodie as an equal to talk to Marlo This is interesting, because a lot of Stringer's mistakes are of this type. He doesn't understand the street - you can see it in this with Marlo, you can see it the conversation he has with Brother in the hospital, you can see it in a lot of his dealing with Avon (about the deal with Joe). It's what gets him killed, in the end; he doesn't understand that Omar and Brother won't/can't just forget about him.
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Jun 14, 2013 23:29
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KPC_Mammon posted:I never understood why people held that decision against Carcetti.
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Jun 15, 2013 08:43
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escape artist posted:Slim is a tough guy and a killer, no doubt, but he's not without emotions. This sentimental motherfucker just cost us money!
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Jul 3, 2013 01:49
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escape artist posted:*Slim and Avon look at each other and crack up* Marlo was giving out free money to kids for their school stuff. I can see a difference in that Marlo was doing it with his name attached, whereas Avon didn't want his name on the boxing gym. Marlo wasn't a huge fan of being turned down, but I can't imagine Avon taking that disrespect very well either.
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Jul 4, 2013 00:58
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Fragmented posted:Yeah it's a really sad story. He was a kind soul who became an addict in like the worst place a nice person could become an addict. I really liked the corner because Simon acknowledges this solution (legalized, lots of rehabs) would be better than what we've got now, but it wouldn't really change much for addicts. It's an amazing book and everyone should read it.
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Jul 27, 2013 04:31
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Fragmented posted:It's true that when everything is decriminalized the amount of users doesn't really change, but that also means there aren't more addicts just because it's easier to get drugs. And the people who are addicts don't have to worry about jail time, harassment, etc. It would be a HUGE change for addicts. When i was hooked on pills i had to go to a loving methadone clinic to get off them and most people that go to those places don't get off methadone like ever, i feel lucky i did. I see your point about free vs paid-for rehabs, but the fact remains that users (let alone addicts) generally don't want to stop using. But yeah more rehabs would make it easier for the (relatively) few who want to quit to do so. But talking strictly about the situation described in the book, the fiends were often getting arrested or beat on for things they were doing to get their dope money, not for possession. They'd still be getting harassed, arrested etc because even with legal drugs they still need to get money somehow. If the only thing you changed was making crack legal, fiends would rob dispensaries instead of dealers. The whole point of The Corner, in my mind, is that there's no quick fix. You can up welfare, you can legalize drugs, you can keep arresting people, you can do basically whatever you can think of and not much will change unless society as a whole actually starts giving a gently caress about the underclass. FE: its a good book everyone should read it
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Jul 27, 2013 10:44
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the black husserl posted:Actually I kinda hate the NA narrative that you have to "want" to get clean, I dont think drug addiction has anything to do with desire or willpower. I believe that drug use is the adaptive response of a human being who lives in poo poo conditions. The rich medicate their depression/anxiety with alcohol and pills, the poor medicate with crack and heroin. You can't "want" your way out of mental illness and the subsequent self medication. I'm not disagreeing that wanting to stop is insufficient, for the reasons you outlined, but I do think it's necessary.
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Aug 5, 2013 10:59
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Orange Devil posted:Addiction is caused by alienation, and guess what alienation is caused by.
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Aug 5, 2013 22:25
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the black husserl posted:No I'm pretty sure "you must hit Rock Bottom* and have your Moment of Clarity before you can overcome your addiction" is exactly the narrative created by AA. I am curious, although we've gone quite a long way off topic by now - how do you propose rehabilitating addicts who have no wish to stop using?
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Aug 7, 2013 01:09
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SubponticatePoster posted:I think in those cases you move to harm reduction - clean needles, drugs that aren't cut with rat poison and other poo poo, and medical treatment for any problems that develop. Addiction is a continuum, not an either/or. It's possible to be addicted to something but still functional and not catching HIV or dying from sepsis helps with that. quote:Actually I kinda hate the NA narrative that you have to "want" to get clean
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Aug 7, 2013 04:50
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Ainsley McTree posted:I don't doubt it. And I imagine that somebody in that position spends so much time watching the political machine at work that after a while, they probably almost don't care who wins, since they're all going to end up doing the same things anyway. He started drinking the Carcetti kool-aid over the course of the season, only to have his expectations bust up when Carcetti wouldn't take the school money. Remember that scene with Norman and Royce's CoS? "They always disappoint", I think the quote was.
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Aug 8, 2013 23:07
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cletepurcel posted:It should also be noted that Whiting's use of "Dickensian" (as well as the title of an upcoming episode, "The Dickensian Aspect") was probably a jab/nod at critics who often described The Wire as "Dickensian". I think Simon was trying to make the same "You people are missing the point" thing that he's done recently with people who watch The Wire and then just argue over who was the best character or whatever. I mised this before but david simon interview posted:
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Nov 18, 2013 07:01
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Atlas Hugged posted:No disagreement that the show isn't really about the wiretaps, but it's hard not to be annoyed at the literal plot even when the themes are interesting. Just because I'm not watching a show that's "about" wiretaps doesn't mean they don't feature prominently and repetitively into the plot. I think this is just a quirk for you that maybe other people don't share very much. But fair enough, different strokes. You're right about the 5th season tho.
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Dec 6, 2013 04:47
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drunken officeparty posted:I know he isn't supposed to be talking to the judge about things, I don't know why though. I mean they are on the same team and everything right? Have you ever worked in a large company before? It's like that, but more so. Unhealthy office politics, people stabbing other people in the back to get ahead, people getting very very upset when someone screws them, petty vindictiveness, etc.
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Jul 17, 2014 02:08
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drunken officeparty posted:NO not Wallace you assholes how could you 
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Jul 22, 2014 01:07
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MrBling posted:Lester might seem like a nice guy, but he's sort of a dick. What? That was because he felt guilty about bodie, it had nothing to do with lester.
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Jul 30, 2014 21:29
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Protect and serve, lieutenant, protect and serve.
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Jul 31, 2014 21:30
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Hahaha it's way way funnier and more accurate if you pretend its about namond's mom not about snoop. e:vvv i read some of his books and now I feel the same way X-MOTHERFUCKIN-D awesmoe fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Aug 7, 2014 |
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Aug 7, 2014 21:55
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Finndo posted:Or, put another way, if they had the muscle to force everyone off the corners to Hamsterdam, they had the muscle to keep them off the corners, period. e: there was no real downside to hamsterdam from the dealers pov, so they moved there with not too much resistance. The same wouldn't have been true for just not dealing at all. awesmoe fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 23:23
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KaosPV posted:Yeah, I guess those kind of things were the ones that were pushing me towards my previous idea. But I think thathonkey got it right, and maybe those "ideas he implemented" were just lucky guesses or stabs in the dark he took. Kind of like making him delusional he was actually that businessman genius, until he got, well... rain danced. Gotta love that dialogue, btw. He kinda tried to run when he should have been crawling. The basic economics stuff (rebranding etc) worked for him where he was at, going into property development didn't.
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Sep 16, 2014 00:21
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thathonkey posted:Speaking of related books, I bought a copy of The Corner accidentally (long story, not a loaded statement). Is it worth reading? I've already seen the HBO miniseries based on it (which was excellent and I'm pretty sure most Wire fans would enjoy it, the entire thing was on Youtube for a while but it looks like it got pulled, sorry y'all). It might be an exaggeration to call it life-changing. maybe.
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Sep 16, 2014 22:05
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nwin posted:So I'm not going to go through the whole thread, but did anyone ever find out the reason for the trains and train tracks coinciding with the episodes?  ? What do you mean?
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Dec 31, 2014 02:20
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bucketybuck posted:So if Stringer was a little bit smarter, instead of saying "not on the phone" he should just always end a call like that by saying "I have to go"?
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Jan 27, 2015 20:21
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Ithaqua posted:I'm just finishing up season 2 on my HD rewatch so this isn't exactly fresh, but I remember it being a bit more nuanced than that. He gradually found some common ground and ways to reach out to the kids and put the material he was teaching in terms that made sense to them, and also became better at making due with the resources he had available. Very similar in some regards to Wallace with the young kid in season 1, where the kids can't handle a simple addition/subtraction word problem when it's in terms of passengers getting on and off a bus, but is able to do the exact same thing easily when it's put in terms of keeping the count of drugs right. Also, the major trouble-makers were removed from his class
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Mar 10, 2015 19:34
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theblackw0lf posted:President Obama and David Simon sat down together to talk about The Wire and the issues it raised I find it endlessly amusing and not at all surprising that david simon even interrupts the president
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Mar 27, 2015 02:41
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Ginette Reno posted:I dunno, The Greek is arguably more sympathetic than Marlo. The Greek murders people, true, but he does so out of self preservation. Marlo has people killed because he likes the reputation it brings. With the Greek, if business is going smoothly, nobody is getting murdered.
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Jul 19, 2016 01:43
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nerdman42 posted:Meanwhile, I am immensely concerned about these kids. None of those stories can end well.
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Jul 19, 2016 02:37
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Jerusalem posted:"Sure I told him I was going to drown him in the harbor, let the crabs eat his body, then give the crabs to his family to eat..... but I did NOT tell him to put on a hoody and come to my neighborhood so I could shoot him!" I mean i might have told him to put on a hoodie and come to my neighbourhood so I could shoot him. I don't recall saying that. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of what I say to who, you know?
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Aug 10, 2016 07:46
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Pocket Billiards posted:Michael's transformation into an Omar type of stickup man is no where near as hamfisted as Dukie becoming a junkie I thought. what's he gonna to, NOT take the one magical substance that will make him forget about his lovely failure of a life?
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Jan 11, 2017 11:03
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1-800-DOCTORB posted:I didn't realize James Franco was playing two characters until they both showed up in the same scene. Professor Shark
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Sep 7, 2017 03:13
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Ginette Reno posted:I actually wasn't a huge fan of that. It felt kinda self serving to me. Like it was what David Simon really wanted to say to someone so he had Mcnulty say it to Templeton. he (simon) was way too emotionally close to the newspaper stuff for it to have the same perspective as everything else on the show
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Feb 27, 2018 22:52
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exmachina posted:Yeah, but cynicism about their occupation comes a lot more naturally to teachers than to journalists, especially at the time the wire was made. And thinking about it now, the teachers (not admin staff) are also all longsuffering saints, iirc. But it’s written better so it’s easier to forgive.
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Mar 1, 2018 10:39
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feedmegin posted:I'm British and I got a watered down glass of wine with Sunday lunch once I hit my teenaged years so he's completely right, then
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May 18, 2018 22:27
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:McNulty picked Bodie up at jail, without Bodie knowing about it. That is directly why Bodie got shot. bodie got shot because marlo was a monster who ordered people murdered at the slightest hint of suspicion or of disrespect
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Jul 15, 2018 03:12
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The bribes were in exchange for davis telling them which areas the city was planning on redeveloping. Barksdale would bribe davis to get that info, buy up the properties in those areas dirt cheap cos they were basically vacant/busted, then the city would buy them back from him (at inflated rates that he got to control) for redevelopment. There's a scene in probably the second to last episode with lester at the board pinning up a newspaper on it when he explains it to prez.
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Oct 4, 2018 21:31
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Basebf555 posted:He's a great example of how someone can do bad things for ultimately the right reasons, and how little that matters to the people who have to directly experience the negative consequences of those decisions.
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Feb 18, 2019 20:03
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