Comments on: Late To “The Wire” Party http://larryherzberg.com/wordpress/2010/01/18/late-to-the-wire-party/ Larry A. Herzberg's Blog Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:03:43 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: John Whitney http://larryherzberg.com/wordpress/2010/01/18/late-to-the-wire-party/comment-page-1/#comment-11106 John Whitney Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:11:54 +0000 http://larryherzberg.com/wordpress/?p=691#comment-11106 Ah, now there's a topic. What's a "real" instrument? It's like what's a "legit" music (I term I've never really understood) LOL I agree for the most part. Wait's original is hard not to like. Ah, now there’s a topic. What’s a “real” instrument? It’s like what’s a “legit” music (I term I’ve never really understood) LOL I agree for the most part. Wait’s original is hard not to like.

]]> By: Larry http://larryherzberg.com/wordpress/2010/01/18/late-to-the-wire-party/comment-page-1/#comment-11105 Larry Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:30:57 +0000 http://larryherzberg.com/wordpress/?p=691#comment-11105 Thanks for the link, John. Since I'm a sucker for real instruments (season 1's track) and Waits' voice (season 2's), I have to vote for those over the others. And if push came to shove, I'd go with season 1, maybe because its where I first fell in love with the series. Thanks for the link, John. Since I’m a sucker for real instruments (season 1′s track) and Waits’ voice (season 2′s), I have to vote for those over the others. And if push came to shove, I’d go with season 1, maybe because its where I first fell in love with the series.

]]> By: John Whitney http://larryherzberg.com/wordpress/2010/01/18/late-to-the-wire-party/comment-page-1/#comment-11104 John Whitney Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:10:43 +0000 http://larryherzberg.com/wordpress/?p=691#comment-11104 I see someone has posted sound clips of each of the 5 seasons theme music. It's interesting to compare each artist's interpretation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire#Music I see someone has posted sound clips of each of the 5 seasons theme music. It’s interesting to compare each artist’s interpretation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire#Music

]]> By: John Whitney http://larryherzberg.com/wordpress/2010/01/18/late-to-the-wire-party/comment-page-1/#comment-11103 John Whitney Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:47:16 +0000 http://larryherzberg.com/wordpress/?p=691#comment-11103 I'm glad you found the series. It's one of my favorites and probably the best example of what HBO has done to create an essentially new form of drama, i.e. what is really a "long form" movie with as much depth and intricacy as you'd expect from the best quality movie, but pushed even further to break out of the 2 hour time limit and carefully develop characters and real relationships between them. The end result is more lifelike characters and stories where there is no black and white/good vs. evil. Sometimes that leaves us feeling disturbed when there is no tidy resolution, but then real life does that too and it's healthy to remember that we don't live in a TV drama that offers superficial solutions to complex problems. I discovered The Wire in season 4, which is still my favorite. It follows one of the characters who decides to quit being a cop and try his had teaching at an inner city school. I guess being a teacher, that plot line grabbed me, especially as it wove thru the reality of what education can really be like and never slid into the classic Hollywood "teacher changes the world" plot line. The story arc for each season is always fascinating and doesn't usually reveal itself for a few episodes. There is also an overall series arc which is even more involved. As Obama tackled and won the presidential election, I was continually reminded of one of the stories following a young, upstart candidate in the Baltimore mayoral election as he slowly works his way thru several seasons trying to make a genuine difference, but becoming entangled in all the hopeless corruption and limitations that have brought down his predecessors. Since I started with Season 4, I wound up going back and watching the other seasons out of sequence as HBO re-ran them. I plan to someday go back and watch all 5 in order and really focus on the many story lines. I can't believe you're able to digest that from a treadmill. Very impressive! I found if I didn't sit down and really watch it without any distractions, I was hopelessly lost and would have to re-watch and episode to get back in sync. The theme song, "Way Down in the Hole" is recorded each season by a different artist. It is originally a Tom Waits tune, and I believe his version is used on Season 2. My favorite version of the tune is actually in Season 5 by Steve Earle, who I'm embarrassed to admit I'd never heard before the show. After researching him a bit, I discovered the rest of his music and that he actually plays one of the minor characters on the show - a recovering hard core drug addict - which he is in real life. I went to see him perform in Milwaukee not long after that and it is still one of my favorite concerts. His music is very hard to nail down as far style. Bluesy-country-pop maybe? Whatever he is, he's a gifted song writer and performer, and having been married 7 times makes him quite knowledgeable on relationships as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Earle I’m glad you found the series. It’s one of my favorites and probably the best example of what HBO has done to create an essentially new form of drama, i.e. what is really a “long form” movie with as much depth and intricacy as you’d expect from the best quality movie, but pushed even further to break out of the 2 hour time limit and carefully develop characters and real relationships between them. The end result is more lifelike characters and stories where there is no black and white/good vs. evil. Sometimes that leaves us feeling disturbed when there is no tidy resolution, but then real life does that too and it’s healthy to remember that we don’t live in a TV drama that offers superficial solutions to complex problems.

I discovered The Wire in season 4, which is still my favorite. It follows one of the characters who decides to quit being a cop and try his had teaching at an inner city school. I guess being a teacher, that plot line grabbed me, especially as it wove thru the reality of what education can really be like and never slid into the classic Hollywood “teacher changes the world” plot line.

The story arc for each season is always fascinating and doesn’t usually reveal itself for a few episodes. There is also an overall series arc which is even more involved.

As Obama tackled and won the presidential election, I was continually reminded of one of the stories following a young, upstart candidate in the Baltimore mayoral election as he slowly works his way thru several seasons trying to make a genuine difference, but becoming entangled in all the hopeless corruption and limitations that have brought down his predecessors.

Since I started with Season 4, I wound up going back and watching the other seasons out of sequence as HBO re-ran them. I plan to someday go back and watch all 5 in order and really focus on the many story lines.

I can’t believe you’re able to digest that from a treadmill. Very impressive! I found if I didn’t sit down and really watch it without any distractions, I was hopelessly lost and would have to re-watch and episode to get back in sync.

The theme song, “Way Down in the Hole” is recorded each season by a different artist. It is originally a Tom Waits tune, and I believe his version is used on Season 2.

My favorite version of the tune is actually in Season 5 by Steve Earle, who I’m embarrassed to admit I’d never heard before the show. After researching him a bit, I discovered the rest of his music and that he actually plays one of the minor characters on the show – a recovering hard core drug addict – which he is in real life. I went to see him perform in Milwaukee not long after that and it is still one of my favorite concerts. His music is very hard to nail down as far style. Bluesy-country-pop maybe? Whatever he is, he’s a gifted song writer and performer, and having been married 7 times makes him quite knowledgeable on relationships as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Earle

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