We love this "new" magazine. I put it in quotes because Businessweek has been around for years, but it was not until Bloomberg bought it that we started reading it. The magazine strikes the balance between business and cultural information perfectly. You get national and international information in proper size: not too much, not too little, just right. They profile CEOs and small entripenuers. And the graphics are simply amazing. They use the graphics to add to and distill the information presented in the magazine.
Here is a link to the magazine...click here.
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
12.06.2010
7.02.2010
physical exam
How many times have you left the doctor's office only to remember the one other thing you wanted to talk to them about?
I recently ran across the "History and Physical Exam" pocketcard on Amazon. I bought it because it was cheap ($3.95) and I wanted to see what it said. The pocketcard, near as I can tell, is for medical students, to ensure that they are asking the patients the correct questions about their medical history.
The great part of the card is that you could use it to fill out your own history and then take this to the doctor when you go. I think this will be especially useful as we move toward having people shop around more for their health care. What better way to succinctly explain your history than to have thought it through before meeting the doctor?
The card covers things from social history to your neurological system to all of your other bodies parts...some you try not to think about! I would recommend picking one of these up if you have kids as well to plan ahead before doctor's visits, etc.
10.25.2009
store review: j. chocolatier
Friday, we were walking around in Georgetown, going to the library and just having a grand old time, when we stumbled upon the cutest little new chocolate shop: J. Chocolatier. In we went and spent some time checking out the new store, and talking to the owner. She had previously had a 9-5 job and then decided to learn about chocolate. Selling chocolate online morphed into the new store.
We got one each, and then saw this little Buddha chocolate; we just had to have one! We shared him once we got home before taking his picture.
J. Chocolatier
1039 33rd St. NW
Georgetown, DC
(near Cady’s Alley.)
(Click here to go to the website.)
8.30.2009
review: five fingers shoes by vibrim
Last year sometime, I read an article about the barefoot movement. The story began stating that shoes are bad for your feet. Your feet evolved to be the best way for people to get around and putting shoes on your feet, while protecting you from ring worm and cuts on your feet, basically let your feet get lazy. Naturally, the inner hippie in me came right out and I tried to buy the shoes in the article, by Terra Plana. Although the order went through and I remain on the Terra Plana email list, the shoes were in fact out of stock and my order was canceled; the shoes were on back order for months to come. I gave up. (Click this sentence to read the original article in New York Magazine.)Until we went to Missoula last weekend. We went to this great little store, Hide and Sole downtown because Brent wanted to see their version of the barefoot shoe, the Five Fingers by Vibrim. You might know Vibrim because they make lots of soles for other shoes and hiking boots.
We both ended up with a pair of five fingers. Getting your toes into their little spots is hard the first five times, and then I think your toes figure it out. I love that my toes are forced to self articulate, it has been such a long time...I have been wearing mine everywhere but at work. My boss thought they looked crazy, and my friend Patrick was more opposed to them than he even is to the flipflop. (The man HATES flipflops.) I even worked out in them with Sam, which went really well.
When you first get the shoes, you have to gradually increase the amount of time you are wearing the shoes, because your muscles are weak. And boy can you tell it. My feet were sore like after working out, not like after a day of shopping, on my first full day of wearing the shoes.
I really like the shoes. I think they are cute and really helping my feet. At the store, the associate told us that a woman came in who had really bad planters fasciitis. After wearing the shoes for a few weeks it went away...so who knows, maybe they are good for me.
The New York Times did an article about it today, so we know the fad is over now. (Click this sentence to read the article, but the New Yorker article is better above.) I am going to keep wearing mine.
7.27.2009
store review: fibre space
As someone who would love to start a business at some point in the future, I almost hate to write this. But, really, the experience was just too much not to mention.
On Saturday my knitting group and I set out to Alexandria to go to the new store, Fibre Space (formerly Knit-a-gogo: http://www.fibrespace.com/blog/). It just opened and we wanted to show our support. We follow the owner’s blog and have even taken a class from her. (I learned to cable in one of these classes!)
Well, the store was super cute. And all four women working were very nice and helpful, UNTIL we paid. After that, nothing. No love. Sometimes when you buy yarn, it is not in a ball, it is in a twist. The yarn needs to be rolled into a ball. This can be time consuming and, well, boring. But it has to be done. At most yarn stores they will do this for you. But all four women continued to chat and order office supplies on the internet while we tried to turn our yarn into balls. You have to use a loom to do it. We were told that they do not ball yarn. Really? You spend $60 at the store that day, and then order more yarn worth at least another $100 and they can’t ball our yarn. Nice. Ok.
Needless to say, we are done with that store. It is not on the metro line, like our favorite, Knit+Stitch=Bliss, and the people were rude. At Knit+Stitch, they are wonderful. They ball your yarn, they help you do the math, and they make you feel good. And really that is all I want in a store where I am spending money.
On Saturday my knitting group and I set out to Alexandria to go to the new store, Fibre Space (formerly Knit-a-gogo: http://www.fibrespace.com/blog/). It just opened and we wanted to show our support. We follow the owner’s blog and have even taken a class from her. (I learned to cable in one of these classes!)
Well, the store was super cute. And all four women working were very nice and helpful, UNTIL we paid. After that, nothing. No love. Sometimes when you buy yarn, it is not in a ball, it is in a twist. The yarn needs to be rolled into a ball. This can be time consuming and, well, boring. But it has to be done. At most yarn stores they will do this for you. But all four women continued to chat and order office supplies on the internet while we tried to turn our yarn into balls. You have to use a loom to do it. We were told that they do not ball yarn. Really? You spend $60 at the store that day, and then order more yarn worth at least another $100 and they can’t ball our yarn. Nice. Ok.
Needless to say, we are done with that store. It is not on the metro line, like our favorite, Knit+Stitch=Bliss, and the people were rude. At Knit+Stitch, they are wonderful. They ball your yarn, they help you do the math, and they make you feel good. And really that is all I want in a store where I am spending money.
5.30.2009
another review: weight watchers magazine
For my flight back from LA I treated myself to six magazines or so. I did not get to read all of them. I am still working through Harpers, which, frankly, I don't get. I just finished my Weight Watchers Magazine. I have already admitted to loving the true stories in these magazines.
The titles on the May/June issue are:
Get A Summer Body
Be CEO of Losing
Join a Walking Club
Make-it, Match-it Meals
Real Women Tested Swimsuits
And 47 Wallet-Friendly Recipes
My response:
It is May/June. If I don't have the summer body now, I am not getting one this year.
Not sure what to say about the CEO of losing.
The walking club sounds great, but you have to designate a leader the article says...and that person gets to decide where to walk. I want to be the leader, but then well, I really don't want to get involved. HA.
The meals and recipes looked ok, but the recipes include things I don't eat. For instance: margarine. We eat butter in this house. I would go so far as to say we have a no fake food rule. Either it has sugar or not. No artificial sweetener here. I have a story about fat free half and half I will someday report. Needless to say if it says fat free and a prime ingredient in the item is fat, you should run the other direction.
The magazine has a TON of ads for food and for weight watchers. One ad has hundreds of chocolate chocolate chip cookies. I am still thinking about them now. I want one. Anyway, I don't think that is a good idea for a weight loss magazine.
Finally, the stories about people losing weight were ok. It included three people. One woman went from being overweight to a marathon runner. I want to run a marathon...I think.
The titles on the May/June issue are:
Get A Summer Body
Be CEO of Losing
Join a Walking Club
Make-it, Match-it Meals
Real Women Tested Swimsuits
And 47 Wallet-Friendly Recipes
My response:
It is May/June. If I don't have the summer body now, I am not getting one this year.
Not sure what to say about the CEO of losing.
The walking club sounds great, but you have to designate a leader the article says...and that person gets to decide where to walk. I want to be the leader, but then well, I really don't want to get involved. HA.
The meals and recipes looked ok, but the recipes include things I don't eat. For instance: margarine. We eat butter in this house. I would go so far as to say we have a no fake food rule. Either it has sugar or not. No artificial sweetener here. I have a story about fat free half and half I will someday report. Needless to say if it says fat free and a prime ingredient in the item is fat, you should run the other direction.
The magazine has a TON of ads for food and for weight watchers. One ad has hundreds of chocolate chocolate chip cookies. I am still thinking about them now. I want one. Anyway, I don't think that is a good idea for a weight loss magazine.
Finally, the stories about people losing weight were ok. It included three people. One woman went from being overweight to a marathon runner. I want to run a marathon...I think.
5.01.2009
4.04.2009
dryer balls
Ok, stop giggling...Dryer balls are not what you think...I think...
Visiting Maureen a few weeks ago I bought some dryer balls. The balls promised to obviate the need for dryer sheets and reduce wrinkling. Brent immediately remarked that someone put their dog toy in the dryer and realized that it kept the clothes from wrinkling. Said person is now selling dog toys for $16.95 to silly Americans.
The results: We love our new dog toys. They are really helping in the dryer and we are ironing less...well we don't iron but things seem less wrinkled.
3.12.2009
Ion by Euripides
Brent and I don't really take enough advantage of Washington's cultural scene. But this year we became subscribers to the Shakespeare Theater. (It was cheap: 7 plays for $120. A pretty neat season pass program for people under 35.)
Tonight we went to see Ion by Euripides (written between 414 B.C. an d 418 B.C.). The version we saw was partially updated for a modern audience. Billed as "The Greek Tragedy that had a Happy Ending" the play lived up to its billing.
Long story short: three people go to the alter of the god Apollo to ask a question of the oracle. Apollo tells three different stories. (Katerina, look I am not Greek...tee hee.) Anyway, misunderstandings and lies ensue, but all ends well.
The main theme of the story is that though the gods may lie sometimes, they are still in charge. Roll with it.
Though fortune's blackest storms rage on his house,
the man whose pious soul reveres the gods,
assumes a confidence,
And justly: for the good at length obtain the meed of virtue;
but the unholy wretch (such is his nature) never can be happy.
(The final lines of the Chorus in Ion.)
Some of the buses in DC have been running this ad:
"There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
In response, "There definitely is a God. So join the Christian party and enjoy your life" was put on buses in London.
Funny that all these years later, we are still talking about gods and happiness.
Tonight we went to see Ion by Euripides (written between 414 B.C. an d 418 B.C.). The version we saw was partially updated for a modern audience. Billed as "The Greek Tragedy that had a Happy Ending" the play lived up to its billing.
Long story short: three people go to the alter of the god Apollo to ask a question of the oracle. Apollo tells three different stories. (Katerina, look I am not Greek...tee hee.) Anyway, misunderstandings and lies ensue, but all ends well.
The main theme of the story is that though the gods may lie sometimes, they are still in charge. Roll with it.
Though fortune's blackest storms rage on his house,
the man whose pious soul reveres the gods,
assumes a confidence,
And justly: for the good at length obtain the meed of virtue;
but the unholy wretch (such is his nature) never can be happy.
(The final lines of the Chorus in Ion.)
Some of the buses in DC have been running this ad:
"There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
In response, "There definitely is a God. So join the Christian party and enjoy your life" was put on buses in London.
Funny that all these years later, we are still talking about gods and happiness.
12.08.2008
more on the lottery
Can you believe this...the New Yorker posted an audio version of The Lottery, mentioned here a few months ago. Click this sentence to link to the New Yorker.
If you have itunes you can also add the New Yorker fiction podcast, where they pick a fiction story from the New Yorker archives to read each week. I like the New Yorker in theory...but in practice it comes too often for me...and boy is it a dense read.
If you have itunes you can also add the New Yorker fiction podcast, where they pick a fiction story from the New Yorker archives to read each week. I like the New Yorker in theory...but in practice it comes too often for me...and boy is it a dense read.
11.16.2008
the new capitol visitor’s center
Our good friend Christen who still works on the Hill hooked us up with a tour of the new US Capitol Visitor’s center. Since both Brent and I previously gave the Capitol tours, we thought it would be fun to check it out. We were actually on a test tour, since the Visitor’s center does not open for two weeks.
The first thing that caused a bit of concern about the trip were the instructions on the ticket that said no cameras were allowed in. Humm. I noticed this in the cab on the way to the Capitol. Brent had his iphone and I had the flip video with me. What if they wanted to take them away from us? We went through security without incident.
The amazing and really big underground center awed us into submission at first. We could not fathom why it was so big, what where they thinking. And then we realized it was not really a place where people are encouraged to visit, it is more like a cattle yard. Herd people in, herd them out.
The first stop, a 12 minute video, is stirring but lacks a lot of definition. The red shirts then move you along to the tour. On the tour now, you only get to see two actual parts of the Capitol: the Rotunda, and the empty room where the US House of Representatives once met. No more former US Supreme Court chambers, no more former Senate chambers, no looking around. Herd in, herd out. Oh, and the no camera rule: not true. Lots of people had cameras. The poor people who followed the rules were disappointed.
After your tour, you can check out the supposedly interactive exhibits about the Capitol. Admittedly, they have six detailed models of Washington DC showing how the area around the Capitol has changed throughout the years. Other than that, however, there was not much to see.
They asked that we fill out a review of the tour before leaving, but we saw quite a few of these nicely filled out reviews strewn all over the information desks, in no particular order, and decided that they really were not interested in our review. And there was no official place to turn in the reviews.
Overall we give the tour, on a scale of one to five Capitols, two Capitols.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the visitor's center was supposed to cost $300 million, and ended up costing double that: $621 million.
8.29.2008
follow-up to The Lottery
So, Brent read the story and he did not get it. It did not really move him. And he wanted to know what I found so compelling in The Lottery.
I had difficulty articulating what I find fascinating in the story. I guess it reminds me of an article from the Wall Street Journal about Japanese cancer refugees. A cancer refugee is someone who has been denied health care because it costs the Japanese government too much money to treat that person. Japan has basic universal health care for all citizens. (As an aside, 45 million Americans live without health insurance.)
The Japanese government has decided that the policy of universal health care for many is more important than the increased cost of lengthening the lives of some Japanese.
(Also as an aside, until recently, doctors would not tell patients their diagnosis. Patients would just do whatever the doctor ordered.)
I suppose The Lottery epitomizes the tyranny of choosing the many over the individual. It is not stated in the story, but I felt like the town (or towns) was doing this to keep the populations low.
I went on to read, at Wikipedia, that when the story was first published in The New Yorker it caused quite a stir. Jackson received hundreds of pieces of hate mail about the story.
This viceral response to the story is also intriguing. Why did these readers respond so negatively? I was definitely upset by the story. Brent felt that the story got the descriptions and suspense down, but lacked further import.
One critique of the story I found by Peter Kosenko (from the New Orleans Review, Spring 1985) is also quite interesting:
So is the story just about the lottery of life? Most people will do ok but some will end up with horrible lives (or deaths as it were.) Is it more fair that all people in Japan have basic health care or that in the United States we all have the potential to be saved as Lance Armstrong was by an individually created drug?
For me I think the reality I want to live with is a society where everyone is taken care of to the utmost of our ability. I want life to be valued highly, perhaps even above all else.
I had difficulty articulating what I find fascinating in the story. I guess it reminds me of an article from the Wall Street Journal about Japanese cancer refugees. A cancer refugee is someone who has been denied health care because it costs the Japanese government too much money to treat that person. Japan has basic universal health care for all citizens. (As an aside, 45 million Americans live without health insurance.)
The Japanese government has decided that the policy of universal health care for many is more important than the increased cost of lengthening the lives of some Japanese.
(Also as an aside, until recently, doctors would not tell patients their diagnosis. Patients would just do whatever the doctor ordered.)
I suppose The Lottery epitomizes the tyranny of choosing the many over the individual. It is not stated in the story, but I felt like the town (or towns) was doing this to keep the populations low.
I went on to read, at Wikipedia, that when the story was first published in The New Yorker it caused quite a stir. Jackson received hundreds of pieces of hate mail about the story.
This viceral response to the story is also intriguing. Why did these readers respond so negatively? I was definitely upset by the story. Brent felt that the story got the descriptions and suspense down, but lacked further import.
One critique of the story I found by Peter Kosenko (from the New Orleans Review, Spring 1985) is also quite interesting:
- Though it is arguable that the "primary themes are scapegoating, man's inherent evil, and the destructive nature of observing ancient, outdated rituals" this is a common misconception. The actual theme of the short story is that man creates philosophical existences that he is unable to fulfill. This is shown through Tessie Hutchinson. Throughout the story she is joking around about the lottery and carrying on like all the other townspeople, but as soon as her family name is chosen from the black box her perspective takes quite the turn. Suddenly this "isn't fair" when in all reality a lottery is by definition the most fair method of chance.
So is the story just about the lottery of life? Most people will do ok but some will end up with horrible lives (or deaths as it were.) Is it more fair that all people in Japan have basic health care or that in the United States we all have the potential to be saved as Lance Armstrong was by an individually created drug?
For me I think the reality I want to live with is a society where everyone is taken care of to the utmost of our ability. I want life to be valued highly, perhaps even above all else.
8.24.2008
"the lottery" by shirley jackson
Has everyone read this haunting short story? What a great piece of work. If you have not read it, I invite you do so now. Click on these sentences to go to the story.
Oh and I recently realized that commenting was more difficult than it should be...now, anyone can comment without signing in...just leave your name so I know who says what! :)
(Image taken in the GAO.)
11.20.2007
The Wire Review
Every person I tell to watch The Wire says almost the same thing: “There have not been any good cop shows since Homicide, Life on the Streets.” My response is that “Homicide” and “The Wire” are both creations of writer David Simon.
The truth is “The Wire” is just like the crack at the center of the story: the more you have, the more you want. It is the thinking person’s cop show that you mull around and want to talk about hours later. It shows the complexity of inner city life, unknown not only to many rural Americans, but arguably many urban Americans. The destructiveness of drugs, however, is a theme that many Americans can relate to.
The story revolves around the drug trade in Baltimore, Maryland and the various influences on this trade. The focus of Season 1 is the police and the drug gangs. The day-to-day life of both is explored, from the carousing “PO-lice,” as they refer to themselves, to the minor drug dealer with a heart. Both organizations are run in much the same manner: like the McDonald’s corporation, with the small fry franchises having little or no influence on those up the food chain.
What keeps you watching is not cliffhanger endings, because there really aren’t any, but rather the humanity in the show. Just when you start to have a hero, that person goes on a bender, or cheats on his wife. For example, at one point the viewer starts to root for Stringer Bell, one of the main drug dealers, because we see him taking business classes at the community college. We want him to get ahead. But instead of “going legit”, Bell is using his knowledge to bring together the main drug dealers in Baltimore, using Robert’s Rules in meetings, and teaching his corner guys about profit margins. And then three scenes later Bell is planning how to kill one of the corner guys doing time because he is worried he might snitch.
Season 2 finds the police investigating the longshoremen, the linchpins needed to get the drugs in to Baltimore. But as you watch, you are drawn into the drama of life as a longshoreman today, the loss of jobs, the difficulty finding honest work. Take, for instance, Ziggy, the adopted son of the head of the Longshoremen’s Union. Ziggy is an idiot, getting mixed up in every imaginable mess, selling drugs and flaunting the proceeds on a diamond studded collar for his blue-collar pet duck. We learn later on that Ziggy should have gone to community college to work in computers, but his dad could not afford to send him. So instead, Ziggy started working down at the docks without much success because of this small stature and his penchant for annoying everyone around him.
It’s the dark side of globalization, the part that’s destroying the possibility of the blue-collar middle-class, but doing so only inch-by-inch providing just enough hope for the players to cling to, but not enough to change the reality. The drug dealers play a less prominent role in the show, but you still check in on them every so often. The viewer also gets a glimpse of who the really big players in the international drug trade are, but not much more than that.
Season 3 finds us back in the thick of things with the drug dealers, but this time the politicians act as the counter balance in the story. The police are under extreme pressure to reduce the crime rate. One police major seeks to make a difference at the price of legalizing drugs in three central blocks of his district, an area soon named Hamsterdam. The crime rate does drop, but the cost is the creation of three blocks of Hell. In most parts of the district people are out on their front stoops again, children are playing, but a few blocks away the drug trade is plied and free market economics take hold, reducing the cost of drugs, while increasing the drugs’ efficacy.
The director Simon says that he is seeking to create a new kind of drama for the typical consumer, less Shakespearian and more Greek tragedy. In The Wire the characters, try as they may, cannot overcome the wishes of the gods: be they City Hall, globalization, or the Chief of Police. The world is less black and white. The cops aren’t always good, the drug dealers aren’t always bad, but the politicians behave as expected. Simon says they “create doomed and fated protagonists who confront a rigged game and their own mortality.” (The Believer, August 2007)
As a viewer, I can’t wait to get more of these flawed characters, even if they are not going to evolve. The characters are real just because of this lack of growth. We can see ourselves in their decisions.
Some critics of the show might find that it too violent, and I agree - the violence makes me uncomfortable. But the show becomes more authentic through the violence, jolting the viewer out of her complacency. We may be able to understand how difficult living and going to school are when your home is without running water, but what many of us do not understand is how difficult doing this is when bullets are flying through your house.
Season 4 of The Wire is out in December. But you can get your fix off the first three seasons from Netflix until then.
Every person I tell to watch The Wire says almost the same thing: “There have not been any good cop shows since ‘Homicide, Life on the Streets’.” My response is that “Homicide” and “The Wire” are both creations of writer, David Simon.
The truth is “The Wire” is just like the crack at the center of the story: the more you have, the more you want. It is the thinking person’s show that you mull around and want to talk about hours later. It shows the complexity of inner city life, unknown not only to many rural Americans, but arguably many urban Americans. The destructiveness of drugs, however, is a theme that many Americans can relate to.
The story revolves around the drug trade in Baltimore, Maryland and the various influences on this trade. The focus of Season 1 is the police and the drug gangs. The day-to-day life of both is explored, from the carousing “PO-lice,” as they refer to themselves, to the minor drug dealer with a heart. Both organizations are run in much the same manner: like the McDonald’s corporation, with the small fry franchises having little or no influence on those up the food chain.
What keeps you watching is not cliffhanger endings, because there really aren’t any, but rather the humanity in the show. Just when you start to have a hero, that person goes on a bender, or cheats on his wife. For example, at one point the viewer starts to root for Stringer Bell, one of the main drug dealers, because we see him taking business classes at the community college. We want him to get ahead. But instead of “going legit”, Bell is using his knowledge to bring together the main drug dealers in Baltimore, using Robert’s Rules in meetings, and teaching his corner guys about profit margins. And then three scenes Bell is planning how to kill one of the corner guys doing time because he is worried he might snitch.
Season 2 finds the police investigating the longshoremen, the linchpins needed to get the drugs in to Baltimore. But as you watch, you are drawn into the drama of life as a longshoreman today, the loss of jobs, the difficulty finding honest work. Take for instance Ziggy, the adopted son of the head of the Longshoremen’s Union. Ziggy is an idiot, getting mixed up in every imaginable mess, selling drugs and flaunting the proceeds on a diamond studded collar for his blue-collar pet duck. We learn later on that Ziggy should have gone to community college to work in computers, but his dad could not afford to send him. So instead, Ziggy started working down at the docks without much success because of this small stature and his pension for annoying everyone around him. Ziggy ends up dead.
It’s the dark side of globalization, the part that’s destroying the possibility of the blue-collar middle-class, but doing so only inch-by-inch providing just enough hope for the players to cling to, but not enough to change the reality. The drug dealers play a less prominent role in the show, but you still check in on them every so often. The viewer also gets a glimpse of who the really big players in the international drug trade are, but not much more than that.
Season 3 finds us back in the thick of things with the drug dealers, but this time the politicians act as the counter balance in the story. The police are under extreme pressure to reduce the crime rate. One police major seeks to make a difference at the price of legalizing drugs in three central blocks of his district, Hamsterdam. The crime rate does drop, but the cost is the creation of three blocks of Hell. In most parts of the district people are out on their front stoops again, children are playing, but a few blocks away the drug trade is plied and free market economics take hold, reducing the cost of drugs, while increasing the drugs’ efficacy.
The director Simon says that he is seeking to create a new kind of drama for the typical consumer, less Shakespearian and more Greek tragedy. In The Wire the characters, try as they may, cannot overcome the wishes of the gods: be they City Hall, globalization, or the Chief of Police. The world is less black and white. The cops aren’t always good, the drug dealers aren’t always bad, but the politicians behave as expected. Simon says they are “create doomed and fated protagonists who confront a rigged game and their own mortality.”
As a viewer, I can’t wait to get more of these flawed characters, even if they are not going to evolve. The characters are real just because of this lack of growth. We can see ourselves in their decisions. Interesting.
Some critics of the show might find that the show too violent, and I agree the violence makes me uncomfortable. But the show becomes more authentic through the violence, jolting the viewer out of her complacency. We understand how difficult living and going to school are when your home is without running water, but what many in the public do not understand is how difficult doing this is when bullets are flying through your house.
Season 4 of The Wire is out in December. But you can get your fix off the first three seasons from Netflix until then.
The truth is “The Wire” is just like the crack at the center of the story: the more you have, the more you want. It is the thinking person’s cop show that you mull around and want to talk about hours later. It shows the complexity of inner city life, unknown not only to many rural Americans, but arguably many urban Americans. The destructiveness of drugs, however, is a theme that many Americans can relate to.
The story revolves around the drug trade in Baltimore, Maryland and the various influences on this trade. The focus of Season 1 is the police and the drug gangs. The day-to-day life of both is explored, from the carousing “PO-lice,” as they refer to themselves, to the minor drug dealer with a heart. Both organizations are run in much the same manner: like the McDonald’s corporation, with the small fry franchises having little or no influence on those up the food chain.
What keeps you watching is not cliffhanger endings, because there really aren’t any, but rather the humanity in the show. Just when you start to have a hero, that person goes on a bender, or cheats on his wife. For example, at one point the viewer starts to root for Stringer Bell, one of the main drug dealers, because we see him taking business classes at the community college. We want him to get ahead. But instead of “going legit”, Bell is using his knowledge to bring together the main drug dealers in Baltimore, using Robert’s Rules in meetings, and teaching his corner guys about profit margins. And then three scenes later Bell is planning how to kill one of the corner guys doing time because he is worried he might snitch.
Season 2 finds the police investigating the longshoremen, the linchpins needed to get the drugs in to Baltimore. But as you watch, you are drawn into the drama of life as a longshoreman today, the loss of jobs, the difficulty finding honest work. Take, for instance, Ziggy, the adopted son of the head of the Longshoremen’s Union. Ziggy is an idiot, getting mixed up in every imaginable mess, selling drugs and flaunting the proceeds on a diamond studded collar for his blue-collar pet duck. We learn later on that Ziggy should have gone to community college to work in computers, but his dad could not afford to send him. So instead, Ziggy started working down at the docks without much success because of this small stature and his penchant for annoying everyone around him.
It’s the dark side of globalization, the part that’s destroying the possibility of the blue-collar middle-class, but doing so only inch-by-inch providing just enough hope for the players to cling to, but not enough to change the reality. The drug dealers play a less prominent role in the show, but you still check in on them every so often. The viewer also gets a glimpse of who the really big players in the international drug trade are, but not much more than that.
Season 3 finds us back in the thick of things with the drug dealers, but this time the politicians act as the counter balance in the story. The police are under extreme pressure to reduce the crime rate. One police major seeks to make a difference at the price of legalizing drugs in three central blocks of his district, an area soon named Hamsterdam. The crime rate does drop, but the cost is the creation of three blocks of Hell. In most parts of the district people are out on their front stoops again, children are playing, but a few blocks away the drug trade is plied and free market economics take hold, reducing the cost of drugs, while increasing the drugs’ efficacy.
The director Simon says that he is seeking to create a new kind of drama for the typical consumer, less Shakespearian and more Greek tragedy. In The Wire the characters, try as they may, cannot overcome the wishes of the gods: be they City Hall, globalization, or the Chief of Police. The world is less black and white. The cops aren’t always good, the drug dealers aren’t always bad, but the politicians behave as expected. Simon says they “create doomed and fated protagonists who confront a rigged game and their own mortality.” (The Believer, August 2007)
As a viewer, I can’t wait to get more of these flawed characters, even if they are not going to evolve. The characters are real just because of this lack of growth. We can see ourselves in their decisions.
Some critics of the show might find that it too violent, and I agree - the violence makes me uncomfortable. But the show becomes more authentic through the violence, jolting the viewer out of her complacency. We may be able to understand how difficult living and going to school are when your home is without running water, but what many of us do not understand is how difficult doing this is when bullets are flying through your house.
Season 4 of The Wire is out in December. But you can get your fix off the first three seasons from Netflix until then.
Every person I tell to watch The Wire says almost the same thing: “There have not been any good cop shows since ‘Homicide, Life on the Streets’.” My response is that “Homicide” and “The Wire” are both creations of writer, David Simon.
The truth is “The Wire” is just like the crack at the center of the story: the more you have, the more you want. It is the thinking person’s show that you mull around and want to talk about hours later. It shows the complexity of inner city life, unknown not only to many rural Americans, but arguably many urban Americans. The destructiveness of drugs, however, is a theme that many Americans can relate to.
The story revolves around the drug trade in Baltimore, Maryland and the various influences on this trade. The focus of Season 1 is the police and the drug gangs. The day-to-day life of both is explored, from the carousing “PO-lice,” as they refer to themselves, to the minor drug dealer with a heart. Both organizations are run in much the same manner: like the McDonald’s corporation, with the small fry franchises having little or no influence on those up the food chain.
What keeps you watching is not cliffhanger endings, because there really aren’t any, but rather the humanity in the show. Just when you start to have a hero, that person goes on a bender, or cheats on his wife. For example, at one point the viewer starts to root for Stringer Bell, one of the main drug dealers, because we see him taking business classes at the community college. We want him to get ahead. But instead of “going legit”, Bell is using his knowledge to bring together the main drug dealers in Baltimore, using Robert’s Rules in meetings, and teaching his corner guys about profit margins. And then three scenes Bell is planning how to kill one of the corner guys doing time because he is worried he might snitch.
Season 2 finds the police investigating the longshoremen, the linchpins needed to get the drugs in to Baltimore. But as you watch, you are drawn into the drama of life as a longshoreman today, the loss of jobs, the difficulty finding honest work. Take for instance Ziggy, the adopted son of the head of the Longshoremen’s Union. Ziggy is an idiot, getting mixed up in every imaginable mess, selling drugs and flaunting the proceeds on a diamond studded collar for his blue-collar pet duck. We learn later on that Ziggy should have gone to community college to work in computers, but his dad could not afford to send him. So instead, Ziggy started working down at the docks without much success because of this small stature and his pension for annoying everyone around him. Ziggy ends up dead.
It’s the dark side of globalization, the part that’s destroying the possibility of the blue-collar middle-class, but doing so only inch-by-inch providing just enough hope for the players to cling to, but not enough to change the reality. The drug dealers play a less prominent role in the show, but you still check in on them every so often. The viewer also gets a glimpse of who the really big players in the international drug trade are, but not much more than that.
Season 3 finds us back in the thick of things with the drug dealers, but this time the politicians act as the counter balance in the story. The police are under extreme pressure to reduce the crime rate. One police major seeks to make a difference at the price of legalizing drugs in three central blocks of his district, Hamsterdam. The crime rate does drop, but the cost is the creation of three blocks of Hell. In most parts of the district people are out on their front stoops again, children are playing, but a few blocks away the drug trade is plied and free market economics take hold, reducing the cost of drugs, while increasing the drugs’ efficacy.
The director Simon says that he is seeking to create a new kind of drama for the typical consumer, less Shakespearian and more Greek tragedy. In The Wire the characters, try as they may, cannot overcome the wishes of the gods: be they City Hall, globalization, or the Chief of Police. The world is less black and white. The cops aren’t always good, the drug dealers aren’t always bad, but the politicians behave as expected. Simon says they are “create doomed and fated protagonists who confront a rigged game and their own mortality.”
As a viewer, I can’t wait to get more of these flawed characters, even if they are not going to evolve. The characters are real just because of this lack of growth. We can see ourselves in their decisions. Interesting.
Some critics of the show might find that the show too violent, and I agree the violence makes me uncomfortable. But the show becomes more authentic through the violence, jolting the viewer out of her complacency. We understand how difficult living and going to school are when your home is without running water, but what many in the public do not understand is how difficult doing this is when bullets are flying through your house.
Season 4 of The Wire is out in December. But you can get your fix off the first three seasons from Netflix until then.
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