The Wire

Alright so I've decided that I'd like to get up to 10 blog plosts at least. At this point I'm allowed to put my blog on some directory so more of yous get to visit my blog. Now I want to thank those who have put up with my drivel so far as there has been much of this. I'd especially like to thank all the hearty citizens from Russia that have come by. Perhaps I can write a blog about Putin, Kruschev or Vodka at some juncture and we can formulate a nice discussion. But thanks for viewing and apologies for the offensiveness and all the other shlock being thrown every which way like a monkey hurling their feces. I digress.

Writing five more entries seems like much work. As jowly a character that I am, I'm not always so much into putting effort into stuff. What I might do is that I'll have haiku's for each entries. Each entry will simply consist of a nice 17 syllable ensemble articulating things to talk about a lot. That'll be cheap and easy. Then you guys can come visit and more of you will come visit. You can click on my ad's that I'll have covering every single possible spot on the screen, and then I can start collecting and hoarding all the money which has been my intention from the beginning. Well, haiku rhymes with "hi poo"  which is fecal and I'm not in the mood for fecality today and thus will begin a new entry that will be too long for anyone's good.

Many folks (well just 1) have shown curiosity about the pictures I have at the top of each blog entry. These pictures are of course are from the hit show "The Wire" that was aired on HBO. This show was the best show that has ever been made and only a Nihilist could disagree. I'd thus like to write about it, offer some commentary, and talk about how this show influences most of the actions of my life in some way. Now, many bloggers have various writings about this show, so I'm really contributing nothing new to the on line discourse by having this entry. The show also ended in 2008 so you've probably moved on with your life by now. Mind you, I haven't moved on and I don't care about you, or your family, or your needs in terms of reading this. I'm going to provide my insights into this epic show which I hope to not sully too much in doing so.

I'm sorry, I do potentially care about you, and the family, and thanks for being here...

The show relates much to the writings of this blog as they're both about society. Lots of things can be about society, but the Wire is often about that and so is my blog. Thus there is a relevance in this entry. As I will conclude at the end of the entry, The Wire proves to be a historical, sociological and gastronomic masterpiece that provides an engaging array of historical fiction that can be used as an incredibly rich tool for learning in our cold, dark and boring world.

Everything is important when viewing this entity. The main focus, especially at season one is the the drug war that is carried out between the police and the drug dealers. The War on Drugs is the backdrop of the show and what the writers do intend to speak out against. The show might be seen as another "cop" show like NYPD blue or that Hill Street Blues show of the 80's, however, nothing can be further from the truth.

By episode four, you'll start to be introduced to a wide buffet of colorful and amazing characters. You'll start to crave the show, much like Bubs craves his heroin in such heroic form.  In essence the main character is the city of Baltimore. It's inhabitants and institutions make up it's various parts and personalities.

You'll meet the various police officers and gangsters that are often paralelled with one another. Mcnulty is paralleled to Stringer, Daniels to Avon I believe in season one. They do that for some literary reason that is too brilliant for me to understand. You'll meet Bubs, who though homeless and addicted to heroin is rich in personality, connections and is a very good person that the world continually dumps on. Then Omar will pop out of left field, always watching in the shadows, navigating the Urban environment patiently until the exact right moment when he can stick up a corner or stash house with a sawed off double barrelled shotgun, robbing gangsters and dealers of their cash, drugs and anything else valuable (while blowing out their knee cap wrathfully). Then as most of us know by now, he's not only one of the most badass characters in the show but also one of most homosexual. Well he's gay which they added on as an amazing twist and very nicely pull it off. The characters are all amazing which is amazing cause there are so many of them. Even minor characters leave their mark on your conscious through the series teaching us about something meaningful and insightful if we're willing to listen...

The show builds upon itself, exploring the various parts, workings and institutions that make this city (and many other major urban areas) function or not function. You're introduces to the port and the dock workers in season two led by union leader Frank Sobotka whose just so stressed by so many stressful things that the guy is crapping out ulcers the entire season. Season three adds the element of politics into the mix and you're introduced to Carcetti and his whorish ways. Season four looks at Urban Schools. You're introduced to four amazing young 8th graders struggling with the incredibly tough realities that the world hurls at them. The last seasons introduces us to the media and how it affects life in the city and how it is sustaining itself/ struggling as an instituion.

The writers meant it to be this way generally. With season three for example, the writers wanted to see how the politics affected the realities of inner city baltimore. How do the various well-intended, careless and self serving moves of mayors, city councillors, and their decions affect what goes on for the average citizen in Baltimore and the war on drugs? Season four (which might rip your heart out and demolish it with sadness after using it as an enema) focuses on how the major gangsters you meet got to be the way they are. How do the streets affect the kids growing up and coming of age in our Urban environment infused with poverty, drugs, and crime? Season five, looks at the forces of the media shaping the events of the city by putting the pressure on everyone else in power and often becoming the typical 21st century crappy media where people can say whatever they want and call it valid (much like I like to do... ha ha ha ha :-()  )

I might be getting this all wrong to by the way as I've watched some of the commentary on season five's disc but have failed to watch other season's commentary and have done myself nothing but an immense disservice by not giving the show enough of my complete and undivided time and attention.

What really makes The Wire even more astounding is that much of it is quite valid. Events in the show are based on events or people that the writers became familiar with in Baltimore. That being said, the writer Ed Burns was both a teacher and a cop in Baltimore and David Simon was a handsome journalist. They have an expertise of insight into these institutions and the others that The Wire looks at. As other publications have written about and I'm merely copying them in their ideas, The Wire is a lot of current history efficiently kneaded and twisted together into a fine German Pretzel. It's fiction, and there are definitely parts of it that are unrealistic but much of it is so incredibly realistic (I can verify some of this especially in season four with my dumb 20 years of life that I've had) that you can't do anything but learn an immense about important issues and questions and contract a hernia.

I'll come back to this later as I have to attend to some buisness (and yes sometimes I do have a semblance of some level of responsibility). Readers (which might merely be my boy K-dawg), share your thoughts on things if your so inclined to. Have you watched the Wire? What have you thought was so good about it? If you didn't like it, what flaws in your character allow for such a result to occur? If you could invite one of the characters over for a pot roast dinner, which character would you do that for?

Apologies again for the ridiculousness, please don't take my writings too seriously and thanks.