I'm not sure how I missed these illustrations of The Wire from E. Blake Hicks , but they're great.



Via Karmie

Last week, David Simon was invited to testify in front of the Senate Commerce Committee and had some good stuff to say, along with some ridiculous. (Ridiculous stuff, thoroughly explored in this Gawker post.)

Simon's testimony touches on what he sees as the reasons for the downfall of newspapers. He's mostly right on why newspaper's aren't good anymore, but the lack of quality reporting (which Simon says is due to cuts by management) isn't what keeps me from buying the paper. I doubt that's why you don't buy it, either. Simon has a little Buzz Bissinger in him, dismissing the idea and quality of news-gathering bloggers, but not hating on them in the same Buzzy way. I've heard Simon use snippets of this before in other places, but still worth skimming all the way.

Good:

What I say will likely conflict with what representatives of the newspaper industry will claim for themselves. And I can imagine little agreement with those who speak for new media. From the captains of the newspaper industry, you will hear a certain martyrology – a claim that they were heroically serving democracy to their utmost only to be undone by a cataclysmic shift in technology and the arrival of all things web-based. From those speaking on behalf of new media, weblogs and that which goes twitter, you will be treated to assurances that American journalism has a perfectly fine future online, and that a great democratization in newsgathering is taking place.

Better:

But when that same newspaper executive then goes on to claim that this predicament has occurred through no fault on the industry's part, that they have merely been undone by new technologies, feel free to kick out his teeth. At that point, he's as fraudulent as the most self-aggrandized blogger.

Best:

Similarly, there can be no serious consideration of public funding for newspapers. High-end journalism can and should bite any hand that tries to feed it, and it should bite a government hand most viciously. Moreover, it is the right of every American to despise his local newspaper – for being too liberal or too conservative, for covering X and not covering Y, for spelling your name wrong when you do something notable and spelling it correctly when you are seen as dishonorable. And it is the birthright of every healthy newspaper to hold itself indifferent to such constant disdain and be nonetheless read by all. Because in the end, despite all flaws, there is no better model for a comprehensive and independent review of society than a modern newspaper. As love-hate relationships go, this is a pretty intricate one. An exchange of public money would pull both sides from their comfort zone and prove unacceptable to all.

Be sure to read the whole thing so you can giggle aloud when Simon suggest (teehee!) collusion! (Thanks, Matt)

What better way to start Monday morning than 5 links about The Wire, 2 of which come from TVTattle.

In this article, David Simon talks about an idea for a new project about the CIA. Yes, please. Also discussed is his project on the fight for desegregation in Yonkers' public housing and what happened after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

Also, I must have known about the Treme (pronounced trah-may) pilot, but can't remember hearing about it. It's about New Orleans post-Katrina and is heavy in the music.

Here are 12 interviews between stars of the show and Hobo Trashcan.

While this where are they now is a bit depressing. Would expect some of these folks to get more than guest roles on police procedurals.

Finally, this last link from The Daily Record has a headline saying "Cops use skills from TV show The Wire to trap drug dealers", but then goes on to describe what sounds like a normal police bust. Unless, of course, cops in Scotland spent preceding years using different techniques like "just ask the bad guys to come in" and "pretend there's no crime."

Bonus link: Of course, the above link might stem from the fact that the UK is supposedly going through The Wire fever since it just started airing terrestrially on BBC2 at the end of March.

Here's Part I, but Part II is there, too. (Via)

In a treasure trove of info that will appeal most to die hard fans of The Wire, Kottke has an awesome find from Media Fire of some scripts and other documents related to the show including what appears to be the pitch David Simon used in meetings with HBO. There's also the original names of McNulty, Barksdale, and Bell which you can click through to see.

I'd love to see 3-10 more seasons... Which topics would you want to see them cover most? Health care, definitely, taxes, probably, plus another 4 seasons on the media...

John Cole knocks it out of the park today connecting the first scene of the first season of The Wire to the truly maddening situation of people responsible for this mess capitalizing on said mess. Seriously, check out the whole post.

Suspect: I’m sayin’, every Friday night in an alley behind the Cut Rate, we rollin’ bones, you know? I mean all them boys, we roll til late.
McNulty: Alley crap game, right?
Suspect: Like every time, Snot, he’d fade a few shooters, play it out til the pot’s deep. Snatch and run.
McNulty: What, every time?
Suspect: Couldn’t help hisself.
McNulty: Let me understand. Every Friday night, you and your boys are shootin’ craps, right? And every Friday night, your pal Snot Boogie… he’d wait til there’s cash on the ground and he’d grab it and run away? You let him do that?
Suspect: We’d catch him and beat his ass but ain’t nobody ever go past that.
McNulty: I’ve gotta ask you: if every time Snot Boogie would grab the money and run away… why’d you even let him in the game?
Suspect: What?
McNulty: Well, if every time, Snot Boogie stole the money, why’d you let him play?
Suspect: Got to. It’s America, man.

Also from Balloon Juice, Gail Collins has more:

I am having a tough time dealing with news that the former president of Countrywide Financial, the mortgage company that did so much to dig the hole in which we all now reside, is making a killing buying up delinquent mortgage loans from the government at bargain basement rates.

Via TVTattle, UC Berkeley is offering a class on The Wire in which students will have to read Theodore Dreiser's 'An American Tragedy', among other works.

In something of an obituary, the creator of The Wire tells the story of William Zantzinger. Zantzinger caused the death of a Baltimore waitress in 1963 inspiring Bob Dylan to write 'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.'

Zantzinger lived long enough to see Martin Luther King, Jr., honored with a national holiday and to know that this week Barack Obama would be inaugurated as President. We can imagine him galled at this outcome, a small-minded racist rightly defined by his ugliest moment. Perhaps that’s him, or perhaps he was more than that. At any rate, he knew his part and he played it to the end.

This wrap up of 5 seasons of the Wire is incredible. I've watched it 3 times already. Plenty of spoilers, obviously.



(Via okayplayer)