Unholy Ghost - Google Book Search: includes "One Cheer For Melancholy" by Susanna Kaysen 'writing about depression for the first time since Girl, Interupted' p38-43, and this from last p.43:
The worst thing about depression -- the thing that makes people phobic about it -- is that it's a foretaste of death. It's a trip to the country of nothingness. Reality loses its substance and become ghostly, transparent, unbelievable. phantom. (Melville)
When I'm feeling good, I sometimes think of feeling depressed, when what I see has a shimmer of not-thereness and what I feel has a slippery way of falling off after a minute, so that I can't sustain the sensation of being alive. But it's far away at that moment -- as far as vivacity is when I'm depressed.
as far away as health. (S Plath) .. as _ as and as _ as alone (maggie and milly and molly and may). and awoke far on ..
I know they are both real. It is a world but there's another.
. . .
"Last night I dreamt I was in the labyrinth And woke far on. I did not know the place." --Edwin Muir
“Oh these deceits are strong almost as life, / Last night I dreamt I was in the labyrinth, / And woke far on. I did not know the place.”
"It is a world, perhaps; but there’s another."
Muir you wrote the poem most mine about this did you it is a world but yes okay yes there is another.
Since I emerged that day from the labyrinth,
Dazed with the tall and echoing passages,
The swift recoils, so many I almost feared
I’d meet myself returning at some smooth corner,
Myself or my ghost, for all there was unreal
After the straw ceased rustling and the bull
Lay dead upon the straw and I remained…
I could not live if this were not illusion.
It is a world, perhaps; but there’s another.
For once in a dream or trance I saw the gods
Each sitting on the top of his mountain-isle,
While down below the little ships sailed by…
That was the real world; I have touched it once,
And now shall know it always. But the lie,
The maze, the wild-wood waste of falsehood, roads
That run and run and never reach an end,
Embowered in error – I’d be prisoned there
But that my soul has birdwings to fly free.
Oh these deceits are strong almost as life.
Last night I dreamt I was in the labyrinth,
And woke far on. I did not know the place.
That was the real world; I have touched it once
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
I enjoyed the NBC three well enough tonite: Chuck, Heroes, Journeyman.
Laurel likes Chuck a lot, her favorite new show. better than Reaper (I am guessing I will agree)
2007 September 24 Laurel’s TV Picks - Featured Pick Series premiere of Chuck : The title character is a twenty-something guy who works for the “Nerd Herd” at “Buy More” despite being a smart guy with good college degree. Don’t confuse Chuck with Reaper, which has a vaguely similar premise and will debut later tomorrow on the CW. In that show, the characters work at a Home Depot knock-off, not a Best Buy knockoff. And the supporting players on that show are pretty darn annoying (one in particular). That show is cruder and ruder, though fun at times (in the first one, I haven’t seen additional episodes yet). This show has more to it and should appeal to a broader audience (assuming they can take a chance on it and just go with the premise).
TeeVee also says Chuck is best hourlong premiere and notes similarity with Reaper in premise
TeeVee.net - Fall 2007 Preview: Chuck : Do Not Adjust Your Set: Wait a minute... nerdy hero stuck in boring, go-nowhere job... Sucked into a world of intrigue and adventure by forces beyond his control... Semi-annoying sidekick. I thought "Reaper" was on Tuesday nights.
int, Mo Ryan does not like Chuck much: The Watcher - 'Chuck' and the dangers of 'spy-fi' dramedy
and, huh, Mo Ryan does like Reaper, esp Ray Wise as the Devil: The Watcher - The fine 'Reaper' shows some sympathy for the Devil
I like the character of Chuck. like Jim on The Office.
..on actor Zach Levi's imdb a forum comment also said that. others said he's hotter - and photos show the actor looking rather different, darker..
and Sarah Lancaster maybe has a decent role here, likeable as sister.
on Heroes, I mainly only like Clare scenes. think I like that actress, Hayden Panetierre or so.
the lead on Journeyman was pleasant enough to watch, though plot seemed to move too fast him getting used to idea that he is someone who takes trips and his wife not listening at all and then completely* when he digs ring up from below patio. I am int by ' his late fiancee Livia (Moon Bloodgood).'
..looks to me like James Woods. a lot. but I enjoyed his char more than that of Woods on Shark. on imdb did not find that comparison, but rather to whathisname from Breakfast Club Michael ah Anthony Michael Hall. I see that aspect, he looks like a cross btw the two maybe, coloring and sth from Hall, expressions like Woods. in forum they say Daniel Craig the new James Bond instead of Woods. who I have not seen so..
Tim Goodman: Reviews: 'Journeyman,' 'Chuck' and 'Bionic Woman': Unfortunately, his erratic behavior has his editor believing he needs to find a 12-step program, and his wife, Katie (Gretchen Egolf), doesn't know what to think. That's part of the problem, however. She's not curious enough - more annoyed that he's missing for stretches than intrigued by the idea of time travel. yeah that's what bothered me.
On the other hand, the series steps up a notch, revealing an innate sense of humor (cell phone jokes, references to the changing times, styles, etc.). huh like people looking at him funny bcs of his cell phone ear piece I guess. It also allows McKidd to shine as Mr. Fix-It, even though he never wanted the task. Some of the subtext needs more episodes to provide breathing room. For example, his fiancee, Livia (Moon Bloodgood), who died years ago, is popping up in his time traveling (and not always in context). And there's the little issue of his wife having dated his brother Jack (Reed Diamond), a police officer. The four of them hung out quite a bit back in the day, before Livia died and Dan stole Katie from Jack.
While that might provide romantic fodder for future episodes, the time traveling and problem solving is the real core of "Journeyman," and if you can overlook some distressing questions about how he does it without getting caught (or divorced or institutionalized), this is a series that may overcome its own contrivances to really succeed.
Laurel likes Chuck a lot, her favorite new show. better than Reaper (I am guessing I will agree)
2007 September 24 Laurel’s TV Picks - Featured Pick Series premiere of Chuck : The title character is a twenty-something guy who works for the “Nerd Herd” at “Buy More” despite being a smart guy with good college degree. Don’t confuse Chuck with Reaper, which has a vaguely similar premise and will debut later tomorrow on the CW. In that show, the characters work at a Home Depot knock-off, not a Best Buy knockoff. And the supporting players on that show are pretty darn annoying (one in particular). That show is cruder and ruder, though fun at times (in the first one, I haven’t seen additional episodes yet). This show has more to it and should appeal to a broader audience (assuming they can take a chance on it and just go with the premise).
TeeVee also says Chuck is best hourlong premiere and notes similarity with Reaper in premise
TeeVee.net - Fall 2007 Preview: Chuck : Do Not Adjust Your Set: Wait a minute... nerdy hero stuck in boring, go-nowhere job... Sucked into a world of intrigue and adventure by forces beyond his control... Semi-annoying sidekick. I thought "Reaper" was on Tuesday nights.
int, Mo Ryan does not like Chuck much: The Watcher - 'Chuck' and the dangers of 'spy-fi' dramedy
and, huh, Mo Ryan does like Reaper, esp Ray Wise as the Devil: The Watcher - The fine 'Reaper' shows some sympathy for the Devil
I like the character of Chuck. like Jim on The Office.
..on actor Zach Levi's imdb a forum comment also said that. others said he's hotter - and photos show the actor looking rather different, darker..
and Sarah Lancaster maybe has a decent role here, likeable as sister.
on Heroes, I mainly only like Clare scenes. think I like that actress, Hayden Panetierre or so.
the lead on Journeyman was pleasant enough to watch, though plot seemed to move too fast him getting used to idea that he is someone who takes trips and his wife not listening at all and then completely* when he digs ring up from below patio. I am int by ' his late fiancee Livia (Moon Bloodgood).'
..looks to me like James Woods. a lot. but I enjoyed his char more than that of Woods on Shark. on imdb did not find that comparison, but rather to whathisname from Breakfast Club Michael ah Anthony Michael Hall. I see that aspect, he looks like a cross btw the two maybe, coloring and sth from Hall, expressions like Woods. in forum they say Daniel Craig the new James Bond instead of Woods. who I have not seen so..
| Why It Will Be First To Go: | You know what kind of time-travel shows people have always embraced? heh: Ones that take themselves seriously. Deadly seriously. Emphasis on "deadly." |
| Why It Won't: | Bringing up the rear of the "Chuck"-"Heroes" Parade o' Silly Sci-Fi for the Kids, you figure that the mighty inertia of the geek demographic will keep this show afloat long enough for it to lighten up a little bit. |
Tim Goodman: Reviews: 'Journeyman,' 'Chuck' and 'Bionic Woman': Unfortunately, his erratic behavior has his editor believing he needs to find a 12-step program, and his wife, Katie (Gretchen Egolf), doesn't know what to think. That's part of the problem, however. She's not curious enough - more annoyed that he's missing for stretches than intrigued by the idea of time travel. yeah that's what bothered me.
On the other hand, the series steps up a notch, revealing an innate sense of humor (cell phone jokes, references to the changing times, styles, etc.). huh like people looking at him funny bcs of his cell phone ear piece I guess. It also allows McKidd to shine as Mr. Fix-It, even though he never wanted the task. Some of the subtext needs more episodes to provide breathing room. For example, his fiancee, Livia (Moon Bloodgood), who died years ago, is popping up in his time traveling (and not always in context). And there's the little issue of his wife having dated his brother Jack (Reed Diamond), a police officer. The four of them hung out quite a bit back in the day, before Livia died and Dan stole Katie from Jack.
While that might provide romantic fodder for future episodes, the time traveling and problem solving is the real core of "Journeyman," and if you can overlook some distressing questions about how he does it without getting caught (or divorced or institutionalized), this is a series that may overcome its own contrivances to really succeed.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Salon: A classical masterpiece: Laura Miller argues for "The Wire"
'The Wire' is also not like the crime novels produced by some of its most celebrated contributing writers (George Pellecanos who writes for The Wire do you realize that Laura Miller?, Dennis Lehane, Richard Price) because, as is only proper, those books deal in questions answered and narratives resolved. Novels end, but the vast, fascinating, unspooling mess that is the Baltimore of 'The Wire' can have no conclusion. The storytellers may stop telling it, but the story itself will go on.
What "The Wire" is about is the game. The "game" is what the show's black characters call the drug business, but the smarter players know that the game's boundaries are not so finite. Although the series is scrupulously realistic , there is one improbably romantic character: the maverick stick-up artist Omar Little -- beholden to no one, afraid of nothing, resolute in his abstention from curse words and the injury of "taxpayers," and, last but not least, gay. Leave it to Omar, the show's only true outsider, to state the series' premise while pulling off a bit of prime courtroom rhetoric in a scene from Season 2. Testifying against a soldier of the dreaded Barksdale gang, accused by the gang's sanctimonious lawyer of leeching off the drug trade, Omar coolly tells the shyster: "Just like you ... I got the shotgun; you got the briefcase. It's all in the game."
But, like I said, Omar is the exception. The rest of the characters in "The Wire" are trapped, and depending upon their intelligence and insight, they are more or less at peace with that fact.
When thinking about the mood, the ethos of "The Wire," what comes to mind (rather than "War and Peace" or "For Whom the Bell Tolls") is a moment in the last book of "The Iliad" David Simon says he sees as insprtn for The Wire not Shakespeare but the Greek tragedicians when old Priam, the king of Troy, sneaks into the camp of the Greeks to plead with the Greek warrior Achilles to return the body of his son, Hektor. Priam implores Achilles to remember his own father, who hopes to see his son again someday, and who (both men realize) never will.
"A single, all-untimely child he had," Achilles replies speaking of his own father, relenting, "and I give him no care as he grows old, since far from the land of my fathers I sit here in Troy and bring nothing but sorrow to you and your children." From the hotheaded Achilles, this comes as a weary sigh. He is far from the father he loves, embroiled in a pointless war, mourning the death of his best friend and facing a grieving man whose son's corpse he has desecrated in a fit of misdirected rage. Someday he, too, will be similarly bereft. Yet how could it be otherwise? These men are warriors, born to fight; this is what the gods who control their destinies decree. yes I see, this is an ethos like The Wire. and very good Laura Miller substantiates:
The Iliad" is only one poem from a series known as the Epic Cycle ("The Odyssey" is another; the rest are lost), full of dead heroes and the fathers (and mothers and wives and children) who mourn them. This story, too, goes on and on. Death, loss, enslavement, the ruination of all their hopes and dreams, and yet in the midst of realities inevitable as the wine darkness of the sea and the rosy fingers of dawn, there can be heroism, courage, honor.
The characters in "The Wire" inhabit such a world. The gods may have different names; instead of Apollo and Juno pulling the strings, it's the bureaucracy, party politics, the free market: all equally capricious and implacable. Anyone who tries to alter the system -- be it Stringer Bell aiming to turn legit businessman right, Bunny Colvin experimenting with decriminalizing drugs in "Hamsterdam" right or Frank Sobotka struggling to save his beloved stevedores union from its inevitable demise season two? -- will be crushed. The best they can hope for is to clean up one little corner of their world; Bunny may not be able to save the neighborhood, but at the end of Season 4, he managed to save one kid. is that the kid with the shopping cart whatshis name, Bubbles? closed w his view of the world, being expressed to a kid walking with him. they stop at the pile of demolished Hamsterdam and briefly speak with Bunny who is standing there, then they walk on. To thrive, you have to learn to fly low and kiss up right, and if you're unfortunate enough to be afflicted with a sense of vocation unfortunate ~ vocation ~ ambition, you play it like that smooth operator, Bunk Moreland McNulty's partner?, not like that perennial troublemaker, Jimmy McNulty.
The characters in American popular culture are rarely shown to be subject to forces completely beyond their control. American culture is fundamentally Romantic, individualistic and Christian; when it's not exhorting you to "follow your dream" it's reassuring us that in the eleventh hour, we will be saved. We don't do doom. huh. and so, does seem American's like the Odyssey better than the Iliad maybe, at lst it gets popularized more right? bcs it's a journey, has a goal. I'm not the only one who finds in the Iliad more grandour, splendor, despair. oh Achilles, who would not live long. (Auden, The Shield of -.)
"The Wire" is not Romantic but classical: what matters most in its universe is fulfilling your duty and facing the inexorable with dignity. I can't argue that the classical view is superior to the Romantic one; to even introduce the idea that art is meant to nudge us toward moral improvement and social awareness is to concede to Romantic hope. But for some people, in some places, the classical view is more true, and in such cases, the artist's duty is to show us that these lives are no smaller for that. And it is -- as we always, always seem to forget -- not depressing but strangely exhilarating to see this truth about humanity acknowledged for once.
____________
this is very good. very well done Laura Miller. very of a whole: story - is the game - beholden to it - as in the Iliad - classical truth of "Death, loss, enslavement, the ruination of all their hopes and dreams." make me a syllabus: introduce with this article. watch The Wire. read The Iliad. and Rebecca Bespallof's essay (and can also read the Simone Weil essay republished with it by NYRB, pleasing me as always so specifically - the two small books had been together on my shelf since 1998 in Annapolis - this and NYRB childrens list early on republishing Charlotte Sometimes, it's as if the list is being chosen *by* me)
'The Wire' is also not like the crime novels produced by some of its most celebrated contributing writers (George Pellecanos who writes for The Wire do you realize that Laura Miller?, Dennis Lehane, Richard Price) because, as is only proper, those books deal in questions answered and narratives resolved. Novels end, but the vast, fascinating, unspooling mess that is the Baltimore of 'The Wire' can have no conclusion. The storytellers may stop telling it, but the story itself will go on.
What "The Wire" is about is the game. The "game" is what the show's black characters call the drug business, but the smarter players know that the game's boundaries are not so finite. Although the series is scrupulously realistic , there is one improbably romantic character: the maverick stick-up artist Omar Little -- beholden to no one, afraid of nothing, resolute in his abstention from curse words and the injury of "taxpayers," and, last but not least, gay. Leave it to Omar, the show's only true outsider, to state the series' premise while pulling off a bit of prime courtroom rhetoric in a scene from Season 2. Testifying against a soldier of the dreaded Barksdale gang, accused by the gang's sanctimonious lawyer of leeching off the drug trade, Omar coolly tells the shyster: "Just like you ... I got the shotgun; you got the briefcase. It's all in the game."
But, like I said, Omar is the exception. The rest of the characters in "The Wire" are trapped, and depending upon their intelligence and insight, they are more or less at peace with that fact.
When thinking about the mood, the ethos of "The Wire," what comes to mind (rather than "War and Peace" or "For Whom the Bell Tolls") is a moment in the last book of "The Iliad" David Simon says he sees as insprtn for The Wire not Shakespeare but the Greek tragedicians when old Priam, the king of Troy, sneaks into the camp of the Greeks to plead with the Greek warrior Achilles to return the body of his son, Hektor. Priam implores Achilles to remember his own father, who hopes to see his son again someday, and who (both men realize) never will.
"A single, all-untimely child he had," Achilles replies speaking of his own father, relenting, "and I give him no care as he grows old, since far from the land of my fathers I sit here in Troy and bring nothing but sorrow to you and your children." From the hotheaded Achilles, this comes as a weary sigh. He is far from the father he loves, embroiled in a pointless war, mourning the death of his best friend and facing a grieving man whose son's corpse he has desecrated in a fit of misdirected rage. Someday he, too, will be similarly bereft. Yet how could it be otherwise? These men are warriors, born to fight; this is what the gods who control their destinies decree. yes I see, this is an ethos like The Wire. and very good Laura Miller substantiates:
The Iliad" is only one poem from a series known as the Epic Cycle ("The Odyssey" is another; the rest are lost), full of dead heroes and the fathers (and mothers and wives and children) who mourn them. This story, too, goes on and on. Death, loss, enslavement, the ruination of all their hopes and dreams, and yet in the midst of realities inevitable as the wine darkness of the sea and the rosy fingers of dawn, there can be heroism, courage, honor.
The characters in "The Wire" inhabit such a world. The gods may have different names; instead of Apollo and Juno pulling the strings, it's the bureaucracy, party politics, the free market: all equally capricious and implacable. Anyone who tries to alter the system -- be it Stringer Bell aiming to turn legit businessman right, Bunny Colvin experimenting with decriminalizing drugs in "Hamsterdam" right or Frank Sobotka struggling to save his beloved stevedores union from its inevitable demise season two? -- will be crushed. The best they can hope for is to clean up one little corner of their world; Bunny may not be able to save the neighborhood, but at the end of Season 4, he managed to save one kid. is that the kid with the shopping cart whatshis name, Bubbles? closed w his view of the world, being expressed to a kid walking with him. they stop at the pile of demolished Hamsterdam and briefly speak with Bunny who is standing there, then they walk on. To thrive, you have to learn to fly low and kiss up right, and if you're unfortunate enough to be afflicted with a sense of vocation unfortunate ~ vocation ~ ambition, you play it like that smooth operator, Bunk Moreland McNulty's partner?, not like that perennial troublemaker, Jimmy McNulty.
The characters in American popular culture are rarely shown to be subject to forces completely beyond their control. American culture is fundamentally Romantic, individualistic and Christian; when it's not exhorting you to "follow your dream" it's reassuring us that in the eleventh hour, we will be saved. We don't do doom. huh. and so, does seem American's like the Odyssey better than the Iliad maybe, at lst it gets popularized more right? bcs it's a journey, has a goal. I'm not the only one who finds in the Iliad more grandour, splendor, despair. oh Achilles, who would not live long. (Auden, The Shield of -.)
"The Wire" is not Romantic but classical: what matters most in its universe is fulfilling your duty and facing the inexorable with dignity. I can't argue that the classical view is superior to the Romantic one; to even introduce the idea that art is meant to nudge us toward moral improvement and social awareness is to concede to Romantic hope. But for some people, in some places, the classical view is more true, and in such cases, the artist's duty is to show us that these lives are no smaller for that. And it is -- as we always, always seem to forget -- not depressing but strangely exhilarating to see this truth about humanity acknowledged for once.
____________
this is very good. very well done Laura Miller. very of a whole: story - is the game - beholden to it - as in the Iliad - classical truth of "Death, loss, enslavement, the ruination of all their hopes and dreams." make me a syllabus: introduce with this article. watch The Wire. read The Iliad. and Rebecca Bespallof's essay (and can also read the Simone Weil essay republished with it by NYRB, pleasing me as always so specifically - the two small books had been together on my shelf since 1998 in Annapolis - this and NYRB childrens list early on republishing Charlotte Sometimes, it's as if the list is being chosen *by* me)
The best TV show of all time | Salon - p2: A classical masterpiece: Laura Miller argues for "The Wire"
For a while, people -- not just critics, but the show's creators, too -- were going around claiming that "The Wire" is like a novel. What can this mean, except that the series is not like what most of us think of as TV? Specifically, it's not like the cop show you're picturing as I tell you that "The Wire" is about the Major Case Squad in the Baltimore Police Department and the black drug dealers it tries to bring down. The series is complex, with a lot of characters, and it's never going to hold your hand through each season's story line. You have to pay attention, even when you're not sure what's going on. But since a novel may or may not share these qualities, since a novel can be just about any kind of story these days, it might help to know that "The Wire" is also not like, say, a Dickens novel. It indulges in neither sentimentality nor moral goading. (mc disagrees? complains of the praise for what its 'hysterical realism' ~ that it is hysterically pessimistic ~ ?)
I have good associations with Laura Miller (though wasn't there at lst one article of hers wh I was not into her view? on a book probably) and this encourages them, since yes exactly a novel (if not in its earlier 'historical' conception ~ specifications, than at least "these days" now that its 'form' has been 'challenged' or subverted or whatever and it basically is a book that one does not call non-fiction and presents as a whole) can be many kinds of story, as can tv.
this is one of my what? not to say pet peeves. standing irks. what gets me hot under the collar:
--free will v determinism dumbness (so, junior paper: The Freedom of Merit and of Fault without complaint).
--force v matter dichotomy dumbness.
--description v explanation dumbness.
which is sort of a name for above, argued under both names in junior lab re Newton etc, I remember dB with me against the rest in discussion re Maxwell paper: there's not something called "cause" that is at base any different from a "this then that" description. nonetheless dB also agreed when I said -later, in chicago- maybe my issue against these dichotomies as sloppy thinking is somewhat wrong bcs too abstract, I do not appreciate lived experience, people experience some things as causes and therefore by analogy some descriptions as categorically different, causal? but not to me. bcs IN THOUGHT there is no categorical difference. maybe I dunno sth like that.
all the same issue. that fundamentally this dichotomy is not thinkable. you do not ever explain. you always 'only' describe. you get more local, or closer to a sequence of events that is familiar as a cause, a mechanism. but - yes Hume - you are always just saying: a ship same over the sea. rolling metal ball 1 touched metal ball 2 and metal ball 2 started rolling.
and matter or force just different descriptions. can think matter IS force: where you experience resistance, where your eye sees a boundary.
and you can't be free in sense of undetermined, if you are anything at all, you are something to begin with. you can't make a choice without an inclination and you can't have an inclination without being something already distinct wh is to say determinate (though no not ness determined BY something)
oh and don't say necessarily unless you mean it. don't say something is necessary unless you know specifically what you are saying it is necessary for, and that what wld not be possible without the necessary thing. got me?
ok we could call this my bugbear. intellectual code (I like Abe's"hot under the collar" bit about having to have a moral code. "Mine's that I'm against the burning of witches. Whenever they burn a witch I get all hot under the collar.")
what gets me going is dichotomies that I see like I see through and am impatient to the point of incredulity that other people don't see their disappearance (that the dichotomy does not hold). always that.
I'm against WHAT IS NOT NECESSARY. and esp, assuming what is not even true. (ie I am for necessity, logical as otherwise. be exacting be specific. I really want you to be.)
--AND, as at hand: assumptions about what a novel is, what tv is.
as if can't tell various kinds of stories thr various mediums.
manifests esp as someone assuming all tv-watching is mindless entertainment, though one cld watch a tv show thoughtfully and be challenged, just as one cld read a book as diversion and not be.
and now back to Laura Miller re The Wire
Each season has a social theme -- FIRST SEASON the failure of the war on drugs, SECOND SEASON at the docks the collapse of labor unions, THIRD SEASON the hash of local politics and, last time around, FOURTH SEASON the crippled public school system -- but "The Wire" lacks the Victorian naiveté to believe that any of us will be sufficiently riled up by these tragedies to do anything about them, or that we'd succeed if we tried.
For a while, people -- not just critics, but the show's creators, too -- were going around claiming that "The Wire" is like a novel. What can this mean, except that the series is not like what most of us think of as TV? Specifically, it's not like the cop show you're picturing as I tell you that "The Wire" is about the Major Case Squad in the Baltimore Police Department and the black drug dealers it tries to bring down. The series is complex, with a lot of characters, and it's never going to hold your hand through each season's story line. You have to pay attention, even when you're not sure what's going on. But since a novel may or may not share these qualities, since a novel can be just about any kind of story these days, it might help to know that "The Wire" is also not like, say, a Dickens novel. It indulges in neither sentimentality nor moral goading. (mc disagrees? complains of the praise for what its 'hysterical realism' ~ that it is hysterically pessimistic ~ ?)
I have good associations with Laura Miller (though wasn't there at lst one article of hers wh I was not into her view? on a book probably) and this encourages them, since yes exactly a novel (if not in its earlier 'historical' conception ~ specifications, than at least "these days" now that its 'form' has been 'challenged' or subverted or whatever and it basically is a book that one does not call non-fiction and presents as a whole) can be many kinds of story, as can tv.
this is one of my what? not to say pet peeves. standing irks. what gets me hot under the collar:
--free will v determinism dumbness (so, junior paper: The Freedom of Merit and of Fault without complaint).
--force v matter dichotomy dumbness.
--description v explanation dumbness.
which is sort of a name for above, argued under both names in junior lab re Newton etc, I remember dB with me against the rest in discussion re Maxwell paper: there's not something called "cause" that is at base any different from a "this then that" description. nonetheless dB also agreed when I said -later, in chicago- maybe my issue against these dichotomies as sloppy thinking is somewhat wrong bcs too abstract, I do not appreciate lived experience, people experience some things as causes and therefore by analogy some descriptions as categorically different, causal? but not to me. bcs IN THOUGHT there is no categorical difference. maybe I dunno sth like that.
all the same issue. that fundamentally this dichotomy is not thinkable. you do not ever explain. you always 'only' describe. you get more local, or closer to a sequence of events that is familiar as a cause, a mechanism. but - yes Hume - you are always just saying: a ship same over the sea. rolling metal ball 1 touched metal ball 2 and metal ball 2 started rolling.
and matter or force just different descriptions. can think matter IS force: where you experience resistance, where your eye sees a boundary.
and you can't be free in sense of undetermined, if you are anything at all, you are something to begin with. you can't make a choice without an inclination and you can't have an inclination without being something already distinct wh is to say determinate (though no not ness determined BY something)
oh and don't say necessarily unless you mean it. don't say something is necessary unless you know specifically what you are saying it is necessary for, and that what wld not be possible without the necessary thing. got me?
ok we could call this my bugbear. intellectual code (I like Abe's"hot under the collar" bit about having to have a moral code. "Mine's that I'm against the burning of witches. Whenever they burn a witch I get all hot under the collar.")
what gets me going is dichotomies that I see like I see through and am impatient to the point of incredulity that other people don't see their disappearance (that the dichotomy does not hold). always that.
I'm against WHAT IS NOT NECESSARY. and esp, assuming what is not even true. (ie I am for necessity, logical as otherwise. be exacting be specific. I really want you to be.)
--AND, as at hand: assumptions about what a novel is, what tv is.
as if can't tell various kinds of stories thr various mediums.
manifests esp as someone assuming all tv-watching is mindless entertainment, though one cld watch a tv show thoughtfully and be challenged, just as one cld read a book as diversion and not be.
and now back to Laura Miller re The Wire
Each season has a social theme -- FIRST SEASON the failure of the war on drugs, SECOND SEASON at the docks the collapse of labor unions, THIRD SEASON the hash of local politics and, last time around, FOURTH SEASON the crippled public school system -- but "The Wire" lacks the Victorian naiveté to believe that any of us will be sufficiently riled up by these tragedies to do anything about them, or that we'd succeed if we tried.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Tim Goodman. The Bastard Machine : Live blogging the Emmys. Come join the stupidity!: Ricky Gervais: Where the hell are you? But still, God, that was the funniest moment of the Emmys when Steve Carrell came up to claim the award. Lead actor, comedy. Yes! Either one!
Tim Goodman. The Bastard Machine : Worst. Emmys. Ever. Day 2 fallout: It's not the shows, it's the show. [with youtube clips of Colbert & Stewart. this year & last]
Still a lot of good chatter about a very bad night at the Emmys. After live blogging it (and living to tell about it) last night, I think the early impressions still hold true. And they are:
1. The awards ceremony itself, not so much the predictable lapses in judgment as it relates to winners, was the real issue. The night was boring. The production flawed, cheap and amatuerish. Ryan Seacrest proved critics right - he was woefully bad. The "in the round" concept was atrocious and ill-advised. And that bloated middle made for a rushed conclusion (as usual).
2. Despite "getting it right" more than they have in the past (with both nominations and wins), Emmy voters seriously blundered when it came to James Gandolfini and Edie Falco. Look, James Spader and Sally Field do fine work in their respective series. But forget about being in the same league. They're essentially playing different sports. Those two oversights were inexcusable.
• Even James Spader seemed embarrassed that he won over Gandofini.
• Agree about Sally Field. Acceptance speeches just aren't her thing.
• About the only redeeming scene was Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert deciding to give Ricky Gervais's award to Steve Carrell.
• I've seen better produced school plays.
Posted By: lieber
-Gandolfini and Falco can take comfort in the fact that they are a class apart. If one had won and not the other, it would have been worse.
-Thank you for posting the Stewart/Colbert clips. I didn't watch the show last night (or last year, for that matter); those were the only two guys I cared about seeing. Of course I also spent way too much time at work this morning reading last night's live blog and all the comments. Just saying: this is the hands-down greatest site to lurk at yeah (and very occasionally post on). What an eclectic population of smart, snarky, funny, decent-when-grumpy people.
Posted By: LizaInSF
______________________
I'm skimming re Emmys now. live blog, after -omment.
also a pre-comment and link to his column breakdown by award: nominees, who will win, who shld win. but I am not that into it. tired ~ maybe will return to this (the possible fun of compare contrast, who will who shld who did, what everyone thinks) or maybe not.
big tv premiere week next week. can watch pilots in evening after busy text rush days.
and from prvsly, still on tap to do:
-read re waldies,holeys,&crocs (dlww, incl dlcs marks)
-do some final rdg re theresa duncan (ggl ntbk marked pages esp dream's end & seaword but I am off the hook on that one bcs now private blog? and anyway changed fr v pleasant look to less so, with one post per page, not easy to scan backward)
Tim Goodman. The Bastard Machine : Worst. Emmys. Ever. Day 2 fallout: It's not the shows, it's the show. [with youtube clips of Colbert & Stewart. this year & last]
Still a lot of good chatter about a very bad night at the Emmys. After live blogging it (and living to tell about it) last night, I think the early impressions still hold true. And they are:
1. The awards ceremony itself, not so much the predictable lapses in judgment as it relates to winners, was the real issue. The night was boring. The production flawed, cheap and amatuerish. Ryan Seacrest proved critics right - he was woefully bad. The "in the round" concept was atrocious and ill-advised. And that bloated middle made for a rushed conclusion (as usual).
2. Despite "getting it right" more than they have in the past (with both nominations and wins), Emmy voters seriously blundered when it came to James Gandolfini and Edie Falco. Look, James Spader and Sally Field do fine work in their respective series. But forget about being in the same league. They're essentially playing different sports. Those two oversights were inexcusable.
• Even James Spader seemed embarrassed that he won over Gandofini.
• Agree about Sally Field. Acceptance speeches just aren't her thing.
• About the only redeeming scene was Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert deciding to give Ricky Gervais's award to Steve Carrell.
• I've seen better produced school plays.
Posted By: lieber
-Gandolfini and Falco can take comfort in the fact that they are a class apart. If one had won and not the other, it would have been worse.
-Thank you for posting the Stewart/Colbert clips. I didn't watch the show last night (or last year, for that matter); those were the only two guys I cared about seeing. Of course I also spent way too much time at work this morning reading last night's live blog and all the comments. Just saying: this is the hands-down greatest site to lurk at yeah (and very occasionally post on). What an eclectic population of smart, snarky, funny, decent-when-grumpy people.
Posted By: LizaInSF
______________________
I'm skimming re Emmys now. live blog, after -omment.
also a pre-comment and link to his column breakdown by award: nominees, who will win, who shld win. but I am not that into it. tired ~ maybe will return to this (the possible fun of compare contrast, who will who shld who did, what everyone thinks) or maybe not.
big tv premiere week next week. can watch pilots in evening after busy text rush days.
and from prvsly, still on tap to do:
-read re waldies,holeys,&crocs (dlww, incl dlcs marks)
-do some final rdg re theresa duncan (ggl ntbk marked pages esp dream's end & seaword but I am off the hook on that one bcs now private blog? and anyway changed fr v pleasant look to less so, with one post per page, not easy to scan backward)
The Buffy in its second year (2005) - Salon.com By Salon's A&E staff :
The awarding of last year's Buffy, our first-ever award for the most underappreciated show on all of television, was an easy choice. "The Wire" is simply everything we want out of a TV show: We bond forcefully with the characters of David Simon's Shakespearean urban drama and become deeply invested in the plot. ..
This year, deciding who was truly worthy of following in 'The Wire's' footsteps was a tougher assignment. Following the advice of people we trust, we have become fans of SciFi's 'Battlestar Galactica.'
We're continually irritated that 'The Daily Show' isn't given much Emmy prominence, the way it's shoved into the category of variety, music or comedy series -- let's face it, the show's a lot more influential, and hilarious, than anything nominated for best comedy series, and it's daily.
Also, we really do have a soft spot for 'Gilmore Girls,' and the devilishly crisp writing on 'Nip/Tuck.' well Salon A&E staff arent you critics after my own heart. esp this after this warm up the announcement is that they are giving the Buffy to VM:
We could go on and on and on about the terrific debut season of Veronica Mars. Oh wait -- we already have. First, Heather Havrilesky swooned: ..Veronica is busy and efficient but never flustered, snide but never unjust, full of feminine wiles but never slutty and pathetic. She's a role model not just for high school girls, but for grown women.
Then Stephanie Zacharek swayed: At the beginning of the season, in particular, 'Veronica Mars' seemed like just the salve for all those still-in-mourning 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' fans out there (myself included). The two shows are similar in some ways. They both feature teenage girls -- blond California girls, to be exact -- with heavy-duty responsibilities: One has to solve a crime that has affected her deeply; the other merely has to save the world...
I like Stephanie Zacharek. like what she says. I do not esp like Heather Havrilesky.
And what more, really, can we say? Except for something obvious to us, and most of you, but probably needs to be explicitly stated for those who still haven't fallen for the charms of "Veronica Mars" and fear it's just another well-done teen drama, with tears and fears and important lessons about life and love: "Veronica Mars" is as smart a whodunit as any that have appeared on recent TV, and its season-long arc was every bit as tautly written and engrossing as -- dare we say it -- last season's spectacular installment of "The Wire." Don't let its hard-candy colors fool you. "Veronica Mars" is a gritty noir with nail-biting plot twists.
via tvtattle (and then linked by sonofabastard in comments on tim goodman's liveblogging of emmys Tim Goodman. The Bastard Machine : Live blogging the Emmys. Come join the stupidity! ) to:
Salon: "Friday Night Lights" wins the Buffy Award
and "The Sopranos" vs. "The Wire" - SALON Which is the best TV show of all time?
...still to look at...
The awarding of last year's Buffy, our first-ever award for the most underappreciated show on all of television, was an easy choice. "The Wire" is simply everything we want out of a TV show: We bond forcefully with the characters of David Simon's Shakespearean urban drama and become deeply invested in the plot. ..
This year, deciding who was truly worthy of following in 'The Wire's' footsteps was a tougher assignment. Following the advice of people we trust, we have become fans of SciFi's 'Battlestar Galactica.'
We're continually irritated that 'The Daily Show' isn't given much Emmy prominence, the way it's shoved into the category of variety, music or comedy series -- let's face it, the show's a lot more influential, and hilarious, than anything nominated for best comedy series, and it's daily.
Also, we really do have a soft spot for 'Gilmore Girls,' and the devilishly crisp writing on 'Nip/Tuck.' well Salon A&E staff arent you critics after my own heart. esp this after this warm up the announcement is that they are giving the Buffy to VM:
We could go on and on and on about the terrific debut season of Veronica Mars. Oh wait -- we already have. First, Heather Havrilesky swooned: ..Veronica is busy and efficient but never flustered, snide but never unjust, full of feminine wiles but never slutty and pathetic. She's a role model not just for high school girls, but for grown women.
Then Stephanie Zacharek swayed: At the beginning of the season, in particular, 'Veronica Mars' seemed like just the salve for all those still-in-mourning 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' fans out there (myself included). The two shows are similar in some ways. They both feature teenage girls -- blond California girls, to be exact -- with heavy-duty responsibilities: One has to solve a crime that has affected her deeply; the other merely has to save the world...
I like Stephanie Zacharek. like what she says. I do not esp like Heather Havrilesky.
And what more, really, can we say? Except for something obvious to us, and most of you, but probably needs to be explicitly stated for those who still haven't fallen for the charms of "Veronica Mars" and fear it's just another well-done teen drama, with tears and fears and important lessons about life and love: "Veronica Mars" is as smart a whodunit as any that have appeared on recent TV, and its season-long arc was every bit as tautly written and engrossing as -- dare we say it -- last season's spectacular installment of "The Wire." Don't let its hard-candy colors fool you. "Veronica Mars" is a gritty noir with nail-biting plot twists.
Introducing ... the first Buffy! THE WIRE Salon's first annual award honors the season's most unjustly ignored TV show.
The second Buffy VERONICA MARS Salon's second annual award for the most underappreciated television show in all the land.
And the third Buffy goes to... BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Our third annual award to the most underappreciated show in all of TV land.via tvtattle (and then linked by sonofabastard in comments on tim goodman's liveblogging of emmys Tim Goodman. The Bastard Machine : Live blogging the Emmys. Come join the stupidity! ) to:
Salon: "Friday Night Lights" wins the Buffy Award
and "The Sopranos" vs. "The Wire" - SALON Which is the best TV show of all time?
...still to look at...
az- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Seasons 1 & 2: DVD: Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
-Anybody can make a comedy about a gang of hard-drinking idiots who get into amusing situations. But it takes genuine perspective and brains to make that kind of humor work on more than one level, to make it pay off with any kind of irony, to make it say something about culture and society and that old cold cruel finger of fate.
saw opening two episodes of third season a few evenings ago, loved charlie dancing in the green suit "lizard - where? where? - I don't like lizards" so just used my az $25 gc arrived today to purchase this (just 2.99 left to go on az vs). but hmm says will arrive 25 Oct. a month. 'ships in 3 - 6 weeks'. wonder why it's not in stock. seems unlikely they ran out ~
-Anybody can make a comedy about a gang of hard-drinking idiots who get into amusing situations. But it takes genuine perspective and brains to make that kind of humor work on more than one level, to make it pay off with any kind of irony, to make it say something about culture and society and that old cold cruel finger of fate.
saw opening two episodes of third season a few evenings ago, loved charlie dancing in the green suit "lizard - where? where? - I don't like lizards" so just used my az $25 gc arrived today to purchase this (just 2.99 left to go on az vs). but hmm says will arrive 25 Oct. a month. 'ships in 3 - 6 weeks'. wonder why it's not in stock. seems unlikely they ran out ~
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
New TWoP homepage design -- just seen, after not looking at site for ~ a week, while in H'w'i. looks like just changed, comments about it are from "today" and... mostly not favorable? any compliments?
Recap, Ad, and Other Non-Forum Technical Issues - TWoP Forum p43:
I just saw the new homepage for the first time, and like many people I miss the clip art & color coding. Hwvr, y've obvsly chosen a different direction, wh is fine. And, I might be more into th pictures when shows I like are on again
p42: Overall, I don't really like the new layout. I agree with all the previous posters who have said that it seems too commercial and lost a lot of the TWoP uniqueness that originally drew me in.
p41: Ok, I know I'm just one fish in a rather large pond. I can deal with the new homepage, even when Ryan Seacrest haunts it every so often. But please, I am begging here, PLEASE don't change the forum pages. I know I can't make demands, and you guys are so awesome and the content on this site is still the best. I don't even go anywhere else, if there is something I need to know, I'll find it on the forums. I don't know why I'm so attached to the damn clip art, but I am. If the forum pages stay the same, I'll kiss the homepage pictures every day.
p40: I'm trying very hard to like the new site, but I'm missing the clip art, too. The design of the homepage is making my eyes dart everywhere, and it's giving me a headache. The old site was nice and linear and kept the focus on the recaps. I feel like the new design is pulling me in a bunch of different directions - to recaps, contests, polls, and especially the photos. The photos seem to be the focus. The design reminds me of TMZ - big and flashy.
p39: Mmm... vanilla. As a wise man once said, 'we fear change.' I liked my TWoP the way it was, like my favorite pair of jeans that I will never ever give up. On the other hand, hooray for innovation, blahblahblah, oooh shiny! ...BUT... The homepage is bloody BORING now. Looks like it was designed by and for The Man. ...oh wait....
MissAlli: I'd ask that you not turn what we're trying to keep as a constructive discussion into a referendum on The Man. We're really, really trying to hear you, but that's really, really not helpful. hmm. snotty sounding.
p37: I liked the old homepage better - the clipart, the color-coding, blah blah blah whateveryoneelseissayingcakes - but then, I'm cantankerous and old and resistant to change.
-Eh, you know what? I like it. I gotta say, when I read all these posts, I went, 'Huh, maybe I was wrong earlier, let me look again and maybe I'll hate it too.' But I looked again, and no. I think it looks clean and colorful. I liked the clip art, but I like the photos too. (shrug) As long as the content, and the tone of the content, stay the same then I'm good with how the front page looks. Suddenly I feel like Joey eating the Christmas trifle. 'What's not to like? Custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, goooood.'
p35: I miss the quote taken from a recap that used to be at the top of the home page, because, like the icons, I felt that it encapsulated the purpose and personality of TWOP. Pull quotes have actually intrigued me enough to make me start reading the recaps/watching a show that I wasn't watching before.
If it matters, may I respectfully submit an official second of the following suggestion? Taking another look at it, I realized what makes the homepage look 'generic' to me is simply the photographs. If you were to replace them with the familiar drawn icons, I think it would look lovely--functional and unique.
how far back does this discussion go?
p33: Am I correct in understanding that the last time the basic layout changed was over 5 years ago?
Over 6 years, in my recollection. It's been unchanged (aside from the site name change from MBTV to TWoP) since at least my first visit, which was almost exactly 6 years ago, fall 2001.
-I don't like it, because it's so generic, but then my browser is configured to take me straight to the forums when I log on, so I don't know that my vote should count.
p32: Thanks, Miss Alli. That yellow banner has the look and feel of a banner ad; it never occurred to me that it would take me 'Home.'
Miss Alli: Okay, but...it says 'Television Without Pity' in big giant letters and contains the site navigation, so it's clearly not a banner ad. Let's work together to solve this stuff, okay? Thanks. sschna tee. let's work together, okay? the comment sounded like working together, your response does not. yours sounds insulting. don't insult your reader. with whom I agree: it does look and feel like a banner ad. for the site, maybe, if one even reads the "big giant letters" (snotty - I think I am off you Miss Linda Alli - just rise above, don't get defensive and pissy, and especially not toward someone is not even criticizing just stating own experience). one takes in the banner of bright color and cld easily not notice that some of what is on it is navigation.
I've seen a lot of redesigns in 10 years of working on web sites. I channel Tim Gunn to say, I'm not really responding well to this one. Having been through the process a bunch of times myself (and survived, mostly), I appreciate the amount of work it takes and the amount of countries that need to be heard from (and mollified) so I'm not minimizing how much effort went into it, but if it's honest feedback you're looking for, as an end-user, I give this a D-. If I had a bigger monitor and could see the whole screen, I'd bump it up to a D+. Everything that was charmingly well-designed -- both in look/feel and functionality -- has disappeared from the home page. It's Generic McPlain Page. I guess it's the price of success and I've seen it happen to almost every web site that gets bought out. A small site is acquired because of its success and then the process begins to slowly muffle all of the unique qualities that made it a success in the first place, until it turns into something that looks pretty much like everything else.
ah I think I found the first comment on the design. I guess maybe new homepage went live at midnight on Monday which was "yesterday" - so there are comments all through that day to last midnight which was last nite, and then today. Almost 48 hours. from p28 to p43.
p28: Yesterday @ 12:43 pm Post#408 Wow guys the new homepage sure is bright. This may impede my TWoP time during boring staff meetings. Thanks for your continued hard work and all the new offerings this season.
Recap, Ad, and Other Non-Forum Technical Issues - TWoP Forum p43:
I just saw the new homepage for the first time, and like many people I miss the clip art & color coding. Hwvr, y've obvsly chosen a different direction, wh is fine. And, I might be more into th pictures when shows I like are on again
p42: Overall, I don't really like the new layout. I agree with all the previous posters who have said that it seems too commercial and lost a lot of the TWoP uniqueness that originally drew me in.
p41: Ok, I know I'm just one fish in a rather large pond. I can deal with the new homepage, even when Ryan Seacrest haunts it every so often. But please, I am begging here, PLEASE don't change the forum pages. I know I can't make demands, and you guys are so awesome and the content on this site is still the best. I don't even go anywhere else, if there is something I need to know, I'll find it on the forums. I don't know why I'm so attached to the damn clip art, but I am. If the forum pages stay the same, I'll kiss the homepage pictures every day.
p40: I'm trying very hard to like the new site, but I'm missing the clip art, too. The design of the homepage is making my eyes dart everywhere, and it's giving me a headache. The old site was nice and linear and kept the focus on the recaps. I feel like the new design is pulling me in a bunch of different directions - to recaps, contests, polls, and especially the photos. The photos seem to be the focus. The design reminds me of TMZ - big and flashy.
p39: Mmm... vanilla. As a wise man once said, 'we fear change.' I liked my TWoP the way it was, like my favorite pair of jeans that I will never ever give up. On the other hand, hooray for innovation, blahblahblah, oooh shiny! ...BUT... The homepage is bloody BORING now. Looks like it was designed by and for The Man. ...oh wait....
MissAlli: I'd ask that you not turn what we're trying to keep as a constructive discussion into a referendum on The Man. We're really, really trying to hear you, but that's really, really not helpful. hmm. snotty sounding.
p37: I liked the old homepage better - the clipart, the color-coding, blah blah blah whateveryoneelseissayingcakes - but then, I'm cantankerous and old and resistant to change.
-Eh, you know what? I like it. I gotta say, when I read all these posts, I went, 'Huh, maybe I was wrong earlier, let me look again and maybe I'll hate it too.' But I looked again, and no. I think it looks clean and colorful. I liked the clip art, but I like the photos too. (shrug) As long as the content, and the tone of the content, stay the same then I'm good with how the front page looks. Suddenly I feel like Joey eating the Christmas trifle. 'What's not to like? Custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, goooood.'
p35: I miss the quote taken from a recap that used to be at the top of the home page, because, like the icons, I felt that it encapsulated the purpose and personality of TWOP. Pull quotes have actually intrigued me enough to make me start reading the recaps/watching a show that I wasn't watching before.
If it matters, may I respectfully submit an official second of the following suggestion? Taking another look at it, I realized what makes the homepage look 'generic' to me is simply the photographs. If you were to replace them with the familiar drawn icons, I think it would look lovely--functional and unique.
how far back does this discussion go?
p33: Am I correct in understanding that the last time the basic layout changed was over 5 years ago?
Over 6 years, in my recollection. It's been unchanged (aside from the site name change from MBTV to TWoP) since at least my first visit, which was almost exactly 6 years ago, fall 2001.
-I don't like it, because it's so generic, but then my browser is configured to take me straight to the forums when I log on, so I don't know that my vote should count.
p32: Thanks, Miss Alli. That yellow banner has the look and feel of a banner ad; it never occurred to me that it would take me 'Home.'
Miss Alli: Okay, but...it says 'Television Without Pity' in big giant letters and contains the site navigation, so it's clearly not a banner ad. Let's work together to solve this stuff, okay? Thanks. sschna tee. let's work together, okay? the comment sounded like working together, your response does not. yours sounds insulting. don't insult your reader. with whom I agree: it does look and feel like a banner ad. for the site, maybe, if one even reads the "big giant letters" (snotty - I think I am off you Miss Linda Alli - just rise above, don't get defensive and pissy, and especially not toward someone is not even criticizing just stating own experience). one takes in the banner of bright color and cld easily not notice that some of what is on it is navigation.
I've seen a lot of redesigns in 10 years of working on web sites. I channel Tim Gunn to say, I'm not really responding well to this one. Having been through the process a bunch of times myself (and survived, mostly), I appreciate the amount of work it takes and the amount of countries that need to be heard from (and mollified) so I'm not minimizing how much effort went into it, but if it's honest feedback you're looking for, as an end-user, I give this a D-. If I had a bigger monitor and could see the whole screen, I'd bump it up to a D+. Everything that was charmingly well-designed -- both in look/feel and functionality -- has disappeared from the home page. It's Generic McPlain Page. I guess it's the price of success and I've seen it happen to almost every web site that gets bought out. A small site is acquired because of its success and then the process begins to slowly muffle all of the unique qualities that made it a success in the first place, until it turns into something that looks pretty much like everything else.
ah I think I found the first comment on the design. I guess maybe new homepage went live at midnight on Monday which was "yesterday" - so there are comments all through that day to last midnight which was last nite, and then today. Almost 48 hours. from p28 to p43.
p28: Yesterday @ 12:43 pm Post#408 Wow guys the new homepage sure is bright. This may impede my TWoP time during boring staff meetings. Thanks for your continued hard work and all the new offerings this season.
Television Without Pity TV Bigshot: TWoP Staff Picks
Joe R: Big Shots. Look, I know it looks bad. Strike that, it looks terrible. And a criminal waste of Michael Vartan's immaculate face. But it premieres right after Grey's Anatomy, which, quality issues aside, still pulls in a hefty number. No one ever went hungry in Hollywood by being too cynical.
Joe R: Big Shots. Look, I know it looks bad. Strike that, it looks terrible. And a criminal waste of Michael Vartan's immaculate face. But it premieres right after Grey's Anatomy, which, quality issues aside, still pulls in a hefty number. No one ever went hungry in Hollywood by being too cynical.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
dlcs trail of my research into crocs...
#Crocs Inc - beach to z0709 shop a-before ... saved by 6 other people
Womens sm (6-7) md (8-9). $29.99. $24.00 aafes. got khaki medium but ~ return.
#I Hate Crocs dot com. to z0709 a-before ... saved by 10 other people ... 2 days ago
via prvs =crocfans turned littlerubbershoes bcs Crocs demanded the url : I wonder if our friends over at IHateCrocs.com have received a letter?
#Crocs Demand Transfer of CrocFans.com Domain -- [new name] littlerubbershoes.com/post/185 to z0709 a-before
Needless to say the whole situation has left a bad taste esp since I have spent a signif amnt of time creatg a site th supports, promotes, & helps further the Crocs brand. Although I still like the shoes, I am not as impressed with the company./no doubt.
#Holey Soles or Crocs -- Who came first? --My Sole is Holey @ tribe.net to z0709 a-before
at one time were manufactured by the same factory/so how does that.. ?/ both started manufacturing & marketing within same time frame. Crocs continued order thr sm factory; HoleySoles took their productn ovrseas. ..identical in quality, only diff in rivets & positi
#Let the lawsuits begin - littlerubbershoes.com/post/59 comment-20441 to z0709 a-before
Tony: Crocs has factories in China, Mexico, Canada, Florida, Italy, Romania; Holey Soles produces theirs in China. Having more capital, a stronger market and advertising power, Crocs purchased the “original” formula and bought the only Canadian factory.
#More Croc knock offs - littlerubbershoes.com/post/40 to z0709 shop a-before advertis business
These are called Holeys //hmm.rg said crocs stole holeys. seems a lot of varied beliefs on this point. also "Waldies" mentiond as original holey foam shoe. all three orig produced in sm factory in Quebec ~ if so how did three brands (come to) coexist?
# Laser Scanning News, Reverse Engineering News, Digital Modeling News (Direct Dimensions, Inc.) The Short, Strange Trip of Waldies Comfy Clogs to z0709 business a-before
ok answers here, in longish article: Waldies were invented in 2001 by a small Canadian manufacturing company called Foams Creations. asked Walden Kayaks if willing to carry & market. A year later Crocs approached.. Shortly after, anothr seller Holey Soles asked...
#Crocs Inc - beach to z0709 shop a-before ... saved by 6 other people
Womens sm (6-7) md (8-9). $29.99. $24.00 aafes. got khaki medium but ~ return.
#I Hate Crocs dot com. to z0709 a-before ... saved by 10 other people ... 2 days ago
via prvs =crocfans turned littlerubbershoes bcs Crocs demanded the url : I wonder if our friends over at IHateCrocs.com have received a letter?
#Crocs Demand Transfer of CrocFans.com Domain -- [new name] littlerubbershoes.com/post/185 to z0709 a-before
Needless to say the whole situation has left a bad taste esp since I have spent a signif amnt of time creatg a site th supports, promotes, & helps further the Crocs brand. Although I still like the shoes, I am not as impressed with the company./no doubt.
#Holey Soles or Crocs -- Who came first? --My Sole is Holey @ tribe.net to z0709 a-before
at one time were manufactured by the same factory/so how does that.. ?/ both started manufacturing & marketing within same time frame. Crocs continued order thr sm factory; HoleySoles took their productn ovrseas. ..identical in quality, only diff in rivets & positi
#Let the lawsuits begin - littlerubbershoes.com/post/59 comment-20441 to z0709 a-before
Tony: Crocs has factories in China, Mexico, Canada, Florida, Italy, Romania; Holey Soles produces theirs in China. Having more capital, a stronger market and advertising power, Crocs purchased the “original” formula and bought the only Canadian factory.
#More Croc knock offs - littlerubbershoes.com/post/40 to z0709 shop a-before advertis business
These are called Holeys //hmm.rg said crocs stole holeys. seems a lot of varied beliefs on this point. also "Waldies" mentiond as original holey foam shoe. all three orig produced in sm factory in Quebec ~ if so how did three brands (come to) coexist?
# Laser Scanning News, Reverse Engineering News, Digital Modeling News (Direct Dimensions, Inc.) The Short, Strange Trip of Waldies Comfy Clogs to z0709 business a-before
ok answers here, in longish article: Waldies were invented in 2001 by a small Canadian manufacturing company called Foams Creations. asked Walden Kayaks if willing to carry & market. A year later Crocs approached.. Shortly after, anothr seller Holey Soles asked...
Laser Scanning News - Reverse Engineering News - Digital Modeling News from Direct Dimensions, Inc.: News/Events SmartCEO May 2006 Happy Feet The Short, Strange Trip of Waldies Comfy Clogs A tale of 21st century manufacturing By David Callahan Photos by Bryan Burris
The speed and structure of business today is mind-boggling. Take, for example, a locally-owned shoe brand named Waldies. Waldies introduced the world to a new single-mold foam shoe category that grew to annual sales of well over $100 million in just four years. This year, as big retailers like Wal-Mart enter the fray, it's reasonable to expect the category could double, triple, or maybe even quadruple from there. If you haven't seen the shoes yet, it's doubtful you'll make it through the summer without doing so. They are hard shoes to miss - bright, fun and ugly as sin. • It's also doubtful that any of the shoes you see will be Waldies, even though Waldies appears to be (in this writer's judgement) the highest quality shoe in the new market segment. Waldies, you see, is undergoing a kind of rapid resurrection, a back-from-the-dead miracle play that is partly due to the efforts of a local Owings Mills company named Direct Dimensions.
read full article (saved as draft) to get actual answer on development of three brands. producing company offered to Walden to sell for kayaking. then a year later Crocs asked to sell for boating. a sort of gentlemans agreement to respect each other's market share or sth. and soon after that Holey Soles asked to sell ~ as fashion or sth.
yup, here's what we get:
.Waldies were invented in 2001 by a small Canadian manufacturing company called Foam Creations. That company decided the shoes might work well in the kayaking world, because, among other things, the shoes float. They contacted Walden Kayaks and asked if Walden would be willing to carry and market the shoes. Walden Kayaks agreed and decided to brand the shoes “Waldies.” To the surprise of almost everyone, the shoes sold quite well.
More than a year later, another startup named “Crocs” approached Foam Creations and asked to sell the shoes also. “They put a little plug in the shoe so that instead of saying ‘Waldies,’ it said ‘Crocs,’” explains Abramson. “Same mold, same factory, same exact product, just a different name. And the gentlemen’s agreement was that Crocs would sell to the boating industry.” Crocs took the shoes to the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in November of 2002 and quickly realized the product had high potential.
Shortly thereafter, another seller named Holey Soles also approached Foam Creations, looking to focus on a broader fashion segment. very little about them in this article, what's their current situation?. Crocs began to sense both the opportunity and the pressure to expand. In any unsettled market with potential for high “buzz,” pressure to act fast can be quite strong. And the rewards for gaining first mover advantage can be huge, as they have been for Crocs. “Crocs saw where it could go,” says Abramson, “and they decided to go fast, far and no-holds-barred.”
Meanwhile, Foam Creations in Canada could not keep up with the demand generated by its three selling partners. “They had shoddy quality control,” says Raphael. “Nothing ever came out the way it was supposed to. You ordered green, but got pink. You ordered XL, but got XS.”
Crocs became so frustrated with demand not being met, that they decided to buy the manufacturer in 2004, Abramson says, freezing the other brands out.
Holey Soles secured another manufacturer and Waldies joined in, but the formulation of the foam was all wrong – the friction bumps on the soles were too tough on your feet. ...
...was that "the more later"? on this earlier bit of reporter's personal expereince: I checked online ~2003~ and found that Waldies was said to be defunct, but that a place in Virginia had bought up much of the “last remaining” Waldies inventory. A quick phone call and soon two pair (one dark blue, one teal) were headed my way for a half-priced bargain of only $15 each.The shoes that arrived were the same design as the original pair, but they were much stiffer and took a lot of time to break-in. Turns out they were really “Holey Soles” brand shoes with a Waldies logo glued in. They were from a small batch made when the production side of the industry was in turmoil (more on that later).
...
Waldies was the first foam shoe -– the originator – brand of the snobby ugly shoe purists.Waldies may be the first mover, but it didn’t secure first-mover advantage. That title clearly went to Crocs. Waldies may have developed the category, but Crocs, without a doubt, popularized it. and Holeys, where do they fit in now? To grow as fast as possible, Crocs apparently allowed quality control levels to slip. Crocs grabbed ownership of factories in Canada and Mexico that may wind up proving to be albatrosses compared to the partners Waldies has found in Asia. Crocs has been in the top ten the last two years and this year they ranked number one for most difficult supplier to work with. They burned a bridge with the outdoor retail market,” says Raphael [of Direct Dimensions, partner in Waldies]. “It left us a wide open opportunity. Our sales reps came to us with their jaws dropped saying they’d never seen a customer revolt ever – let alone one like this. I’ve never seen a whole industry say, ‘We hate you.’ [The buyers] think our material’s better. They like the design. They think it’s a better product.”
The material Waldies are made out of is a trade secret – a foam called “Comfotek.” The Comfotek brand is merchandised just as prominently as the Waldies brand, similar to the way Gore-Tex is marketed on windbreaker jackets. The development of Comfotek is the real story behind Waldies. If you compare it to the many knockoff brands now popping up in the market in places like Wal-Mart and Payless, its superiority is obvious (the material used in the shoes at Wal-Mart feels more like Styrofoam). Besides being stronger, springier and more comfortable, the Comfotek material is anti-microbial, which keeps the shoes from smelling funkified by bare feet.
The uses for a soft, strong, durable, lightweight and comfortable anti-microbial waterproof material covers everything from the mundane (toilet seats and trash cans) to the specialty (bicycle seats and child safety seats) to the industrial (automobile and airplane interiors).
..my little corner of the world..
The Waldies story is significant not because the product innovation is so profound, but because it is the perfect example of what a 21st century American manufacturing startup looks like.
As Domino Sugar rusts away out in Baltimore's harbor Domino brand of sugar is a Baltimore company? and locals fret about the loss of GM, the new face of consumer product innovation and speed to market is on display in a small company splitting its brain-trust operations between a tech company [Direct Dimension, who do 'scanning'] in Owings Mills, MD and a warehousing headquarters facility in Fitchburg, MA.
Waldies began life under the ownership of a 20th century kayaking company, but had to shed that old world structure to have any chance of survival. well... the kayaking company folded right, and the new buyer Bill Hearn who was bankrupt kept only the Waldies brand. Today, it is owned and run like a 21st century technology company and those survival chances have much improved. Structurally, the company carries little risk - it can profit from sales right away. From a synergistic standpoint, it has the right kind of partners to quickly broaden its technology. laser scanners? tech company Direct Dimensions. And from a manufacturing standpoint, it has finally established a quality beachhead on the right continent - Asia. This is the story of how a new brand finally found its way to the support structure it needed to survive.
Bill Hearn, the president of Effervescent Inc. (maker of the resurrected Waldies) comes from a modestly famous Maryland family of canoe and kayak enthusiasts. His brother competed in three Olympics and his sister competed in two, most recently coaching the Italian Olympic team in Athens. Bill himself competed in World Cups and World Championships events and spent a lot of his younger years training on an artificial kayaking course near the Pepco plant in Dickerson, as well as making runs near Great Falls and, more often, Little Falls, which is a section of the Potomac along the feeder canal near the DC line. Hearn grew up in Garrett Park, a stone’s throw from Kensington hey my world where another sportsman-turned-entrepreneur named Kevin Plank also can claim to run a company that originated a new breakout category of technical clothing. [which was what? "Under Armour" form-fitting, moisture-wicking performance apparel]
The speed and structure of business today is mind-boggling. Take, for example, a locally-owned shoe brand named Waldies. Waldies introduced the world to a new single-mold foam shoe category that grew to annual sales of well over $100 million in just four years. This year, as big retailers like Wal-Mart enter the fray, it's reasonable to expect the category could double, triple, or maybe even quadruple from there. If you haven't seen the shoes yet, it's doubtful you'll make it through the summer without doing so. They are hard shoes to miss - bright, fun and ugly as sin. • It's also doubtful that any of the shoes you see will be Waldies, even though Waldies appears to be (in this writer's judgement) the highest quality shoe in the new market segment. Waldies, you see, is undergoing a kind of rapid resurrection, a back-from-the-dead miracle play that is partly due to the efforts of a local Owings Mills company named Direct Dimensions.
read full article (saved as draft) to get actual answer on development of three brands. producing company offered to Walden to sell for kayaking. then a year later Crocs asked to sell for boating. a sort of gentlemans agreement to respect each other's market share or sth. and soon after that Holey Soles asked to sell ~ as fashion or sth.
yup, here's what we get:
.Waldies were invented in 2001 by a small Canadian manufacturing company called Foam Creations. That company decided the shoes might work well in the kayaking world, because, among other things, the shoes float. They contacted Walden Kayaks and asked if Walden would be willing to carry and market the shoes. Walden Kayaks agreed and decided to brand the shoes “Waldies.” To the surprise of almost everyone, the shoes sold quite well.
More than a year later, another startup named “Crocs” approached Foam Creations and asked to sell the shoes also. “They put a little plug in the shoe so that instead of saying ‘Waldies,’ it said ‘Crocs,’” explains Abramson. “Same mold, same factory, same exact product, just a different name. And the gentlemen’s agreement was that Crocs would sell to the boating industry.” Crocs took the shoes to the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in November of 2002 and quickly realized the product had high potential.
Shortly thereafter, another seller named Holey Soles also approached Foam Creations, looking to focus on a broader fashion segment. very little about them in this article, what's their current situation?. Crocs began to sense both the opportunity and the pressure to expand. In any unsettled market with potential for high “buzz,” pressure to act fast can be quite strong. And the rewards for gaining first mover advantage can be huge, as they have been for Crocs. “Crocs saw where it could go,” says Abramson, “and they decided to go fast, far and no-holds-barred.”
Meanwhile, Foam Creations in Canada could not keep up with the demand generated by its three selling partners. “They had shoddy quality control,” says Raphael. “Nothing ever came out the way it was supposed to. You ordered green, but got pink. You ordered XL, but got XS.”
Crocs became so frustrated with demand not being met, that they decided to buy the manufacturer in 2004, Abramson says, freezing the other brands out.
Holey Soles secured another manufacturer and Waldies joined in, but the formulation of the foam was all wrong – the friction bumps on the soles were too tough on your feet. ...
...was that "the more later"? on this earlier bit of reporter's personal expereince: I checked online ~2003~ and found that Waldies was said to be defunct, but that a place in Virginia had bought up much of the “last remaining” Waldies inventory. A quick phone call and soon two pair (one dark blue, one teal) were headed my way for a half-priced bargain of only $15 each.The shoes that arrived were the same design as the original pair, but they were much stiffer and took a lot of time to break-in. Turns out they were really “Holey Soles” brand shoes with a Waldies logo glued in. They were from a small batch made when the production side of the industry was in turmoil (more on that later).
...
Waldies was the first foam shoe -– the originator – brand of the snobby ugly shoe purists.Waldies may be the first mover, but it didn’t secure first-mover advantage. That title clearly went to Crocs. Waldies may have developed the category, but Crocs, without a doubt, popularized it. and Holeys, where do they fit in now? To grow as fast as possible, Crocs apparently allowed quality control levels to slip. Crocs grabbed ownership of factories in Canada and Mexico that may wind up proving to be albatrosses compared to the partners Waldies has found in Asia. Crocs has been in the top ten the last two years and this year they ranked number one for most difficult supplier to work with. They burned a bridge with the outdoor retail market,” says Raphael [of Direct Dimensions, partner in Waldies]. “It left us a wide open opportunity. Our sales reps came to us with their jaws dropped saying they’d never seen a customer revolt ever – let alone one like this. I’ve never seen a whole industry say, ‘We hate you.’ [The buyers] think our material’s better. They like the design. They think it’s a better product.”
The material Waldies are made out of is a trade secret – a foam called “Comfotek.” The Comfotek brand is merchandised just as prominently as the Waldies brand, similar to the way Gore-Tex is marketed on windbreaker jackets. The development of Comfotek is the real story behind Waldies. If you compare it to the many knockoff brands now popping up in the market in places like Wal-Mart and Payless, its superiority is obvious (the material used in the shoes at Wal-Mart feels more like Styrofoam). Besides being stronger, springier and more comfortable, the Comfotek material is anti-microbial, which keeps the shoes from smelling funkified by bare feet.
The uses for a soft, strong, durable, lightweight and comfortable anti-microbial waterproof material covers everything from the mundane (toilet seats and trash cans) to the specialty (bicycle seats and child safety seats) to the industrial (automobile and airplane interiors).
..my little corner of the world..
The Waldies story is significant not because the product innovation is so profound, but because it is the perfect example of what a 21st century American manufacturing startup looks like.
As Domino Sugar rusts away out in Baltimore's harbor Domino brand of sugar is a Baltimore company? and locals fret about the loss of GM, the new face of consumer product innovation and speed to market is on display in a small company splitting its brain-trust operations between a tech company [Direct Dimension, who do 'scanning'] in Owings Mills, MD and a warehousing headquarters facility in Fitchburg, MA.
Waldies began life under the ownership of a 20th century kayaking company, but had to shed that old world structure to have any chance of survival. well... the kayaking company folded right, and the new buyer Bill Hearn who was bankrupt kept only the Waldies brand. Today, it is owned and run like a 21st century technology company and those survival chances have much improved. Structurally, the company carries little risk - it can profit from sales right away. From a synergistic standpoint, it has the right kind of partners to quickly broaden its technology. laser scanners? tech company Direct Dimensions. And from a manufacturing standpoint, it has finally established a quality beachhead on the right continent - Asia. This is the story of how a new brand finally found its way to the support structure it needed to survive.
Bill Hearn, the president of Effervescent Inc. (maker of the resurrected Waldies) comes from a modestly famous Maryland family of canoe and kayak enthusiasts. His brother competed in three Olympics and his sister competed in two, most recently coaching the Italian Olympic team in Athens. Bill himself competed in World Cups and World Championships events and spent a lot of his younger years training on an artificial kayaking course near the Pepco plant in Dickerson, as well as making runs near Great Falls and, more often, Little Falls, which is a section of the Potomac along the feeder canal near the DC line. Hearn grew up in Garrett Park, a stone’s throw from Kensington hey my world where another sportsman-turned-entrepreneur named Kevin Plank also can claim to run a company that originated a new breakout category of technical clothing. [which was what? "Under Armour" form-fitting, moisture-wicking performance apparel]
and a few other notes...
original first holey.soles crocs waldies - Google Search
STLtoday - June 2, 07 - Life & Style - Crocs make a come back: You know some of the rest. Crocs had revenue of $1.2 million in 2002; for 2007, it expects to take in $670 million to $680 million. That’s — what? — a 56,000 percent growth rate? It’s 23 million pairs of $30 Crocs. No wonder they seem to be everywhere.
Meanwhile, Crocs has announced plans to introduce a line of shoes that will combine foam wedges with traditional materials like leather, suede and lamb’s wool and will sell for $70 to $200.
The Canadian company that makes Holey Soles has turned itself into a 'lifestyle company,' and is using its reformulated foam in things like hats and beach bags — and a number of things it won’t talk about yet — as well as shoes.
The kayakers who made Waldies went bankrupt, but have re-emerged with a bouncier foam and some interesting new shoe designs.
Crocs shoes are ugly? Who cares! - Nov. 2, 2006 -money.cnn.com: When Crocs attack, an ugly shoe tale. With a battle plan based on 'thinking bigger than you are,' the maker of the world's ugliest shoe takes the footwear business by storm. Business 2.0 MagazineNovember 3 2006 It's quite a tale: Three pals from Boulder, Colo., go sailing in the Caribbean, where a foam clog one had bought in Canada inspires them to build a business around it. Despite a lack of VC funding and the derision of foot fashionistas, the multicolored Crocs - with their Swiss-cheese perforations, cushy orthotic beds, and odor-preventing material - become a global smash.
Croc On - Rob Walker - July 15, 2007 - New York Times: After a while, all the comfort talk starts to sound a little bit like a guy with a Mohawk saying he simply wants to spend less time washing his hair. “I liken it to Apple computers,” the Croc fan Chidester suggests. “It’s something different, people get behind it and if you say something bad about it — well, by gosh you’re wrong.”
Not Such A Croc - July 31, 2006 Washington Post: Not Such A Croc Might a Fad Shoe's Health Claims Stand? By Jennifer Huget Special to The Washington Post Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Page HE01 You've tried to ignore them, but they've spread like vermin. Crocs are everywhere. That's often the way with shoe crazes -- think Birkenstocks, Earth shoes, Dr. Scholl's.
Crocs - Topix -We used to carry the Holey Soles, and have seen many knock-offs. CROCS are by far the best ones we have tried on. I wear them more than my running shoes. That says a lot.
-i have a pair of crocs but by far i prefer my waldies, waldies have more cushion what make them more comfortable for short and long periods, and what is best they have a unique design not the simple round holes.
original first holey.soles crocs waldies - Google Search
STLtoday - June 2, 07 - Life & Style - Crocs make a come back: You know some of the rest. Crocs had revenue of $1.2 million in 2002; for 2007, it expects to take in $670 million to $680 million. That’s — what? — a 56,000 percent growth rate? It’s 23 million pairs of $30 Crocs. No wonder they seem to be everywhere.
Meanwhile, Crocs has announced plans to introduce a line of shoes that will combine foam wedges with traditional materials like leather, suede and lamb’s wool and will sell for $70 to $200.
The Canadian company that makes Holey Soles has turned itself into a 'lifestyle company,' and is using its reformulated foam in things like hats and beach bags — and a number of things it won’t talk about yet — as well as shoes.
The kayakers who made Waldies went bankrupt, but have re-emerged with a bouncier foam and some interesting new shoe designs.
Crocs shoes are ugly? Who cares! - Nov. 2, 2006 -money.cnn.com: When Crocs attack, an ugly shoe tale. With a battle plan based on 'thinking bigger than you are,' the maker of the world's ugliest shoe takes the footwear business by storm. Business 2.0 MagazineNovember 3 2006 It's quite a tale: Three pals from Boulder, Colo., go sailing in the Caribbean, where a foam clog one had bought in Canada inspires them to build a business around it. Despite a lack of VC funding and the derision of foot fashionistas, the multicolored Crocs - with their Swiss-cheese perforations, cushy orthotic beds, and odor-preventing material - become a global smash.
Croc On - Rob Walker - July 15, 2007 - New York Times: After a while, all the comfort talk starts to sound a little bit like a guy with a Mohawk saying he simply wants to spend less time washing his hair. “I liken it to Apple computers,” the Croc fan Chidester suggests. “It’s something different, people get behind it and if you say something bad about it — well, by gosh you’re wrong.”
Not Such A Croc - July 31, 2006 Washington Post: Not Such A Croc Might a Fad Shoe's Health Claims Stand? By Jennifer Huget Special to The Washington Post Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Page HE01 You've tried to ignore them, but they've spread like vermin. Crocs are everywhere. That's often the way with shoe crazes -- think Birkenstocks, Earth shoes, Dr. Scholl's.
Crocs - Topix -We used to carry the Holey Soles, and have seen many knock-offs. CROCS are by far the best ones we have tried on. I wear them more than my running shoes. That says a lot.
-i have a pair of crocs but by far i prefer my waldies, waldies have more cushion what make them more comfortable for short and long periods, and what is best they have a unique design not the simple round holes.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
The Wit of the Staircase: The Only True Seer: Oddly Curated Ode To L.A. Artist Dame Darcy: "She's the only real true seer I've ever come in contact with. She sees people's present, past and future. I think she's really beautiful, too. I think she's exquisite, let's put it that way. I wish I knew her in high school." -Thurston Moore
Sunday, September 2, 2007
mcassimatis' bookmarks tagged with "mystery" on del.icio.us
to look into:
Carol O'Connell's books re police srgnt Kathleen Mallory. LibraryThing talk topic -- Favorite Detectives: -Kathleen Mallory by Carol O'Connell -I am also a Mallory fan. She might be the most unusual female detective I've come across. -Mallory is great.
Dennis Lehane. A Drink Before War. I remember that Paul L (who was hired at same time as me and was the other Paul not Paul Constant) at Elliott Bay recommended Lehane especially.
oh and! Ross MacDonald tht to be even better than Chandler and Hammett?!
sites to remember if looking for rvws of an author: thrillingdetective, booksnbytes, ~colette's reviews [georgewood.net/tw3/clist...]
to look into:
Carol O'Connell's books re police srgnt Kathleen Mallory. LibraryThing talk topic -- Favorite Detectives: -Kathleen Mallory by Carol O'Connell -I am also a Mallory fan. She might be the most unusual female detective I've come across. -Mallory is great.
Dennis Lehane. A Drink Before War. I remember that Paul L (who was hired at same time as me and was the other Paul not Paul Constant) at Elliott Bay recommended Lehane especially.
oh and! Ross MacDonald tht to be even better than Chandler and Hammett?!
sites to remember if looking for rvws of an author: thrillingdetective, booksnbytes, ~colette's reviews [georgewood.net/tw3/clist...]
Salon | The female dick:
salon.com > Books Oct. 29, 1999
In the early '80s, when women began to refashion the hard-boiled detective novel using female private eyes... The femme fatale of the tradition -- you know, the blond with the diamonds in her eyes and the pearl-handled revolver in the top of her stocking. Chandler and Hammett believed in her absolutely. She usually turns out to be the murderer. Even if she doesn't, she is corrupt, vile, and enthralling. It is in her persona that the form's ambivalence toward evil is lodged, and this ambivalence still gives the form its unshakable power.
Sara Paretsky, one of the earliest and most successful of the refashioners, went looking for a substitute and found a similar inner tension in class anger. ...
Sue Grafton, another early refashioner, has simply shorn the detective novel of anything that doesn't suit a female heroine, and as a result there is something limited about her mysteries. hmm something cozy, maybe.* Millhone's -- and Grafton's -- concerns are not large. But heroine and writer share an underlying decency yeah, and I think their commercial success tells us good things about our society. We really do like to imagine a wiseacre woman doing a competent job in an uncluttered fashion.
In the first several pages of "Lost Daughters," the latest Micky Knight mystery, J.M. Redmann uses the words "love" and "lover" a dozen times. Knight is in a very supportive lesbian relationship, as are most of her friends. ... Redmann's whole reconception is sweet in its own way. Early on she describes sharing things, from spices to drills, with a gay male couple across the street: "Contrary to conventional wisdom, they had the drill and we had the spices." It's as if Micky is so butch she doesn't have to prove herself the way her heterosexual compeers do. (She doesn't wear you out by describing her exercise routine, for instance.) yeah both Millhone and Warshawski go running all the time.
* huh I did not realize 'cozy' was a term used for a subgenre! after typing that comment above -- cozy seeming an improvement on 'homey' which I told dad the kinsey books were, as opposed to cornwall's thirdperson (and gory) thriller -- came across this: Sue Grafton - booksnbytes.com/authors: "Not quite cozies, the Grafton books are generally good reads."
so... google first hit: Cozies -- Definition of Cozies for Mystery Writers: Cozies are mystery novels that feature very little violence, aside for the murder, and few gory details. Agatha Christie's Jane Marple novels typify the subgenre. Hard-boiled detective novels are the opposite of the cozy. huh.
cozy: Definition, synonyms and more from Answers.com:
# Snug, comfortable, and warm. # Marked by friendly intimacy. # informal. Marked by close association for devious purposes: a cozy agreement with the competition. [Probably of Scandinavian origin.]
salon.com > Books Oct. 29, 1999
In the early '80s, when women began to refashion the hard-boiled detective novel using female private eyes... The femme fatale of the tradition -- you know, the blond with the diamonds in her eyes and the pearl-handled revolver in the top of her stocking. Chandler and Hammett believed in her absolutely. She usually turns out to be the murderer. Even if she doesn't, she is corrupt, vile, and enthralling. It is in her persona that the form's ambivalence toward evil is lodged, and this ambivalence still gives the form its unshakable power.
Sara Paretsky, one of the earliest and most successful of the refashioners, went looking for a substitute and found a similar inner tension in class anger. ...
Sue Grafton, another early refashioner, has simply shorn the detective novel of anything that doesn't suit a female heroine, and as a result there is something limited about her mysteries. hmm something cozy, maybe.* Millhone's -- and Grafton's -- concerns are not large. But heroine and writer share an underlying decency yeah, and I think their commercial success tells us good things about our society. We really do like to imagine a wiseacre woman doing a competent job in an uncluttered fashion.
In the first several pages of "Lost Daughters," the latest Micky Knight mystery, J.M. Redmann uses the words "love" and "lover" a dozen times. Knight is in a very supportive lesbian relationship, as are most of her friends. ... Redmann's whole reconception is sweet in its own way. Early on she describes sharing things, from spices to drills, with a gay male couple across the street: "Contrary to conventional wisdom, they had the drill and we had the spices." It's as if Micky is so butch she doesn't have to prove herself the way her heterosexual compeers do. (She doesn't wear you out by describing her exercise routine, for instance.) yeah both Millhone and Warshawski go running all the time.
* huh I did not realize 'cozy' was a term used for a subgenre! after typing that comment above -- cozy seeming an improvement on 'homey' which I told dad the kinsey books were, as opposed to cornwall's thirdperson (and gory) thriller -- came across this: Sue Grafton - booksnbytes.com/authors: "Not quite cozies, the Grafton books are generally good reads."
so... google first hit: Cozies -- Definition of Cozies for Mystery Writers: Cozies are mystery novels that feature very little violence, aside for the murder, and few gory details. Agatha Christie's Jane Marple novels typify the subgenre. Hard-boiled detective novels are the opposite of the cozy. huh.
cozy: Definition, synonyms and more from Answers.com:
# Snug, comfortable, and warm. # Marked by friendly intimacy. # informal. Marked by close association for devious purposes: a cozy agreement with the competition. [Probably of Scandinavian origin.]
Kinsey Millhone -- thrillingdetective.com/millhone.html
Private eye KINSEY MILLHONE is probably the most popular, and certainly the best of the female gumshoes to make their big splash in the eighties -- or at least one of the top two (a case could certainly be made for Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski).
first book in series: A is for Alibi (1982)
V.I. Warshawski - thrillingdetective.com/warshawski
Along with Kinsey Millhone, with whom she will probably always be linked, V.I. WARSHAWSKI is one of best known of the new lady dicks, a Chicago private eye specializing in corporate skullduggery. I just read free found copy of KillingOrders (3rd bk, 1985).
first book in series: Indemnity Only (1982)
P AUTHORS: V. I. Warshawski is one of the best developed characters in the history of the genre. More hard-boiled than Grafton’s Millhone, Warshawski is a major contribution to the genre. ok yeah more hard-boiled I guess: more urbane. her nice suits & italian shoes.
and V.I. cooks and wants to buy her own house (gets enough money to buy a co-op at the end of the one I read), whereas Kinsey does not cook or dress up and seems happy renting the garage from her 80yrld landlord and friend. so I identify a lot more with Kinsey. anyway she is probably more likeable, the books are a bit lighter more easygoing. sunshine california...
G AUTHORS: Kinsey Millhone’s alphabetical adventures is a great series from a great lady.
The Whole Wired Word: Colette's List 7: King, Grafton [L is for Lawless, 1995], Paretsky [Tunnel Vision, 1994]y:
[Grafton's] plots, long modeled on Ross MacDonald's family dramas ah neat. I'll look into MacDonald. and, I suppose this is another aspect that makes Grafton more appealing to me than Paretsky who it seems tends to deal with corporate crime.
CRIME/MYSTERY; Miss Marple They Ain't - October 8, 1995 New York Times:
In January 1982, Sara Paretsky's 'Indemnity Only' was published, introducing V. I. Warshawki, the Chicago-based private investigator (white-collar crime a specialty) who has been known to whistle Mozart while cleaning her Smith & Wesson.
Just three months later came ' 'A' Is for Alibi,' the debut of Kinsey Millhone, Sue Grafton's equally unflappable gumshoe, ferreting out insurance frauds over in Santa Teresa (read Santa Barbara), Calif.
Kinsey, a funky former police officer and a laid-back loner, proved irresistible from the get-go, a wild yet vulnerable charmer. Unfortunately, Ms. Grafton's fledgling plots were rarely as fresh as Kinsey's narration.
The early V. I., on the other hand, was more politically correct than engagingly complex, and her untangling of corporate and municipal corruption schemes often seemed labored.
Private eye KINSEY MILLHONE is probably the most popular, and certainly the best of the female gumshoes to make their big splash in the eighties -- or at least one of the top two (a case could certainly be made for Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski).
first book in series: A is for Alibi (1982)
V.I. Warshawski - thrillingdetective.com/warshawski
Along with Kinsey Millhone, with whom she will probably always be linked, V.I. WARSHAWSKI is one of best known of the new lady dicks, a Chicago private eye specializing in corporate skullduggery. I just read free found copy of KillingOrders (3rd bk, 1985).
first book in series: Indemnity Only (1982)
P AUTHORS: V. I. Warshawski is one of the best developed characters in the history of the genre. More hard-boiled than Grafton’s Millhone, Warshawski is a major contribution to the genre. ok yeah more hard-boiled I guess: more urbane. her nice suits & italian shoes.
and V.I. cooks and wants to buy her own house (gets enough money to buy a co-op at the end of the one I read), whereas Kinsey does not cook or dress up and seems happy renting the garage from her 80yrld landlord and friend. so I identify a lot more with Kinsey. anyway she is probably more likeable, the books are a bit lighter more easygoing. sunshine california...
G AUTHORS: Kinsey Millhone’s alphabetical adventures is a great series from a great lady.
The Whole Wired Word: Colette's List 7: King, Grafton [L is for Lawless, 1995], Paretsky [Tunnel Vision, 1994]y:
[Grafton's] plots, long modeled on Ross MacDonald's family dramas ah neat. I'll look into MacDonald. and, I suppose this is another aspect that makes Grafton more appealing to me than Paretsky who it seems tends to deal with corporate crime.
CRIME/MYSTERY; Miss Marple They Ain't - October 8, 1995 New York Times:
In January 1982, Sara Paretsky's 'Indemnity Only' was published, introducing V. I. Warshawki, the Chicago-based private investigator (white-collar crime a specialty) who has been known to whistle Mozart while cleaning her Smith & Wesson.
Just three months later came ' 'A' Is for Alibi,' the debut of Kinsey Millhone, Sue Grafton's equally unflappable gumshoe, ferreting out insurance frauds over in Santa Teresa (read Santa Barbara), Calif.
Kinsey, a funky former police officer and a laid-back loner, proved irresistible from the get-go, a wild yet vulnerable charmer. Unfortunately, Ms. Grafton's fledgling plots were rarely as fresh as Kinsey's narration.
The early V. I., on the other hand, was more politically correct than engagingly complex, and her untangling of corporate and municipal corruption schemes often seemed labored.
thrillingdetective: Kinsey Millhone
Kinsey's turf is the sun-blinded streets of southern California's Santa Teresa (actually Santa Barbara, the same streets Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer prowled). ah in R is for Ricochet, the blurb I noticed must've been about Macdonal - yes:
The greatest P.I. series written? Probably. LEW ARCHER stands with the Continental Op, Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe as one of the few P.I's who actually define the genre. What makes Archer unique among this group is not just the fact that the books are a sustained narrative spanning three decades, but that they also made the genre relevant to a changing society. Where Hammett revolutionised crime writing and Chandler romanticised it (Macdonald called his predecessor a "slumming angel"), Macdonald by his own account "gradually siphoned off the aura of romance and made room for a complete social realism." Lew Archer made possible all who followed.
thrillingdetective: Authors and Creators: Ross Macdonald:
"No once since Macdonald has written with such poetic inevitability about people, their secret cares, their emotional scars, their sadness, cowardice, and courage. He reminded the rest of us of what was possible in our genre." -John Lutz, in January Magazine
Kenneth Millar, under the pen name of Ross Macdonald, arguably forms the third point of what is now considered the Holy Trinity of hardboiled detective fiction, the other points being, of course, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and is, to many, the most critically and academically respected of the three. wow.
Although born in Los Gatos, California, December 13th, 1915, he was raised and educated in Canada by his mother, a never particularly healthy woman, and a succession of relatives, after she and his father, a sometime sailor-poet-writer, separated. 'I counted the number of rooms I had lived in during my first sixteen years, and got a total of fifty,' he has written. This rootlessness, and the hole left by an absent parent, was to become a recurring motif in Millar's fiction.
Kinsey's turf is the sun-blinded streets of southern California's Santa Teresa (actually Santa Barbara, the same streets Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer prowled). ah in R is for Ricochet, the blurb I noticed must've been about Macdonal - yes:
Grafton has cited the late great Ross MacDonald, creator of the sun-drenched-noir Lew Archer novels, as an influence. Twenty years into Kinsey's run, she's become his rightful heir. -Entertainment Weekly
thrillingdetective: Lew Archer:The greatest P.I. series written? Probably. LEW ARCHER stands with the Continental Op, Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe as one of the few P.I's who actually define the genre. What makes Archer unique among this group is not just the fact that the books are a sustained narrative spanning three decades, but that they also made the genre relevant to a changing society. Where Hammett revolutionised crime writing and Chandler romanticised it (Macdonald called his predecessor a "slumming angel"), Macdonald by his own account "gradually siphoned off the aura of romance and made room for a complete social realism." Lew Archer made possible all who followed.
thrillingdetective: Authors and Creators: Ross Macdonald:
"No once since Macdonald has written with such poetic inevitability about people, their secret cares, their emotional scars, their sadness, cowardice, and courage. He reminded the rest of us of what was possible in our genre." -John Lutz, in January Magazine
Kenneth Millar, under the pen name of Ross Macdonald, arguably forms the third point of what is now considered the Holy Trinity of hardboiled detective fiction, the other points being, of course, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and is, to many, the most critically and academically respected of the three. wow.
Although born in Los Gatos, California, December 13th, 1915, he was raised and educated in Canada by his mother, a never particularly healthy woman, and a succession of relatives, after she and his father, a sometime sailor-poet-writer, separated. 'I counted the number of rooms I had lived in during my first sixteen years, and got a total of fifty,' he has written. This rootlessness, and the hole left by an absent parent, was to become a recurring motif in Millar's fiction.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
graphpaper.com - Me vs. You (vs. i) :
Almost every web design team I’ve ever worked with has had to, at some point, wrestle with the “Me vs. You” question. In this great debate, the winner was You over at YouTube and YouSendIt.com, and many years ago You won at U-Haul. But the winner was Me over at MyYahoo!, and at MySpace, and at countless other personalized “my.foo.com” sites. This debate between Me and You, or My and Your, comes up whenever we try to name a personalization feature, or when we need a name the part of the site where personalization appears, or whenever we want to communicate directly to the user in a conversational way. How shall we, the designers, address the user when speaking to them this way?
You’re reading computer generated text about your books, your account. Maybe some site designers feel as if the site’s voice should be your voice, as if you were talking to yourself. (e.g., “This is my site!)
Frequently-asked-questions are also usually told with My voice (”How do I format my Windows hard Drive?”), while instruction manuals are generally addressed directly to You. Product designers, copywriters, and information architects will argue about this forever, but we get really agitated when we see Me and You alternating on the same page! Thank you for being a Beta user for My Times? Wait, whose Times is it? Is it My Times, or is it Your Times?
--Well, if you’re here, and I’m here, doesn’t that make it Our Times?
--Spicoli! yeah.
I appreciate the use of second person at sites like flickr where some effort has been made to make you feel like there are actual humans with a sense of humor behind the site. The use of informal prompts mixed with first person buttons (”I’m not sure of the exact time”) adds to the friendly feeling of the site. By contrast I find that more often than not the first person feels patronizing, like the designers think I am an inexperienced user that needs to have every folder labelled cute things like “My Pictures.” I agree.
Almost every web design team I’ve ever worked with has had to, at some point, wrestle with the “Me vs. You” question. In this great debate, the winner was You over at YouTube and YouSendIt.com, and many years ago You won at U-Haul. But the winner was Me over at MyYahoo!, and at MySpace, and at countless other personalized “my.foo.com” sites. This debate between Me and You, or My and Your, comes up whenever we try to name a personalization feature, or when we need a name the part of the site where personalization appears, or whenever we want to communicate directly to the user in a conversational way. How shall we, the designers, address the user when speaking to them this way?
You’re reading computer generated text about your books, your account. Maybe some site designers feel as if the site’s voice should be your voice, as if you were talking to yourself. (e.g., “This is my site!)
Frequently-asked-questions are also usually told with My voice (”How do I format my Windows hard Drive?”), while instruction manuals are generally addressed directly to You. Product designers, copywriters, and information architects will argue about this forever, but we get really agitated when we see Me and You alternating on the same page! Thank you for being a Beta user for My Times? Wait, whose Times is it? Is it My Times, or is it Your Times?
--Well, if you’re here, and I’m here, doesn’t that make it Our Times?
--Spicoli! yeah.
I appreciate the use of second person at sites like flickr where some effort has been made to make you feel like there are actual humans with a sense of humor behind the site. The use of informal prompts mixed with first person buttons (”I’m not sure of the exact time”) adds to the friendly feeling of the site. By contrast I find that more often than not the first person feels patronizing, like the designers think I am an inexperienced user that needs to have every folder labelled cute things like “My Pictures.” I agree.
Yes, HBO's 'Wire' is challenging. It's also a masterpiece.| Tim Goddman, sfgate:
After the death of drug dealer and entrepreneur Stringer Bell and the incarceration of his partner and empire-ruling (and ruining) leader Avon Barksdale in Season 3, 'The Wire' returns yet again to dilapidated Baltimore to explore what remains. And much of it does.
The wiretapping of young gang leader Marlo is up and running, producing encouraging results for Major Crimes detectives Freamon and Greggs. McNulty seems happy walking a beat as a street cop, and the mayoral race between incumbent Mayor Royce and the white challenger, Councilman Tommy Carcetti, is heating up.
The big hook this year is that former officer Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski -- who accidentally killed a cop in Season 3 -- is now teaching in one of Baltimore's tougher grade schools. The whole gist of Season 4, in fact, revolves around education. And not just in the wildly dysfunctional, borderline hopeless Baltimore public schools system, but as has been the way of "The Wire" -- a series that has managed to contrast the mundane failures of office work (police) with the mundane failures of being a drug dealer running a syndicate -- the show will explore all facets of education, from what volunteer boxing instructor Cutty brings to young kids trying to stay off the street to what kids on the corner are learning about the drug trade from older dealers to what "Bunny" Colvin the repudiated major in the police department (who tried to set up a legalized drug experiment Hamsterdam) can do to help a Maryland university study at-risk kids.
Simon has decentralized the cast structure that nominally hadMcNulty as the lead and Bell (Idris Elba) and Barksdale (Wood Harris) as co-leads. Now the enormous cast serves as one lead (how they act when they bump into each other -- wonderful plot elements at every turn -- should delight longtime fans without overly confusing new viewers, which is a structural marvel all to itself).
Yes, McNulty is back. Bunk is back. Pretty much everybody is back. Best of all -- "Omar back."
As in seasons past, it's not until the third episode, where directions announce themselves, that the myriad stories pile up with irresistible pull and depth. By the fourth and fifth episode, once again you're caught in a bracingly complex, enriching tale you don't want to end.
"The Wire" is an inherently sad story. Though Simon and his writers infuse it with street-smart humor and even a droning quality that strips workplaces and government institutions to their flawed core, the heart of "The Wire" is a dark one, as always. The tale that Simon has told for three seasons can best be summed up this way: "It doesn't work."
Simon on dvd commentary for season three finale says that The Wire steals not from Shakespeare or Chaucer but from Euripides and Sophocles. greek tragedy. where the gods batter you. here, the institutions are the gods ~who have to appease and whose protection you need.
this is prompted by mention of Avon and Stringer as tragically flawed. Avon as heart, Stringer as mind, the two needing each other, falling when broken apart.
The war on drugs is flawed not only from a police procedural standpoint but also because the department is beholden to the mayor and the mayor to special interests. Even the most cleverly constructed, forward-thinking drug gangs are flawed because the greed, hopelessness, laziness and fearlessness of others always intervenes. Politics fails because so much of Baltimore is in the death grip of immediate need, of decadeslong failure that demands reparation.
And now we see how the education system doesn't work, from a strapped school district that advocates "social promotion" so that teachers don't have to deal with bigger, stronger troublemakers, to the cruelty of poverty and how it strips away chance and, ultimately, to the much more damning, complicated notion of historical nonparticipation of poor families in the very idea of necessary education for betterment.
Season 4 follows the lives of a band of grade-school kids who will find out sooner than they should that their world begins and ends at the corner.
After the death of drug dealer and entrepreneur Stringer Bell and the incarceration of his partner and empire-ruling (and ruining) leader Avon Barksdale in Season 3, 'The Wire' returns yet again to dilapidated Baltimore to explore what remains. And much of it does.
The wiretapping of young gang leader Marlo is up and running, producing encouraging results for Major Crimes detectives Freamon and Greggs. McNulty seems happy walking a beat as a street cop, and the mayoral race between incumbent Mayor Royce and the white challenger, Councilman Tommy Carcetti, is heating up.
The big hook this year is that former officer Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski -- who accidentally killed a cop in Season 3 -- is now teaching in one of Baltimore's tougher grade schools. The whole gist of Season 4, in fact, revolves around education. And not just in the wildly dysfunctional, borderline hopeless Baltimore public schools system, but as has been the way of "The Wire" -- a series that has managed to contrast the mundane failures of office work (police) with the mundane failures of being a drug dealer running a syndicate -- the show will explore all facets of education, from what volunteer boxing instructor Cutty brings to young kids trying to stay off the street to what kids on the corner are learning about the drug trade from older dealers to what "Bunny" Colvin the repudiated major in the police department (who tried to set up a legalized drug experiment Hamsterdam) can do to help a Maryland university study at-risk kids.
Simon has decentralized the cast structure that nominally hadMcNulty as the lead and Bell (Idris Elba) and Barksdale (Wood Harris) as co-leads. Now the enormous cast serves as one lead (how they act when they bump into each other -- wonderful plot elements at every turn -- should delight longtime fans without overly confusing new viewers, which is a structural marvel all to itself).
Yes, McNulty is back. Bunk is back. Pretty much everybody is back. Best of all -- "Omar back."
As in seasons past, it's not until the third episode, where directions announce themselves, that the myriad stories pile up with irresistible pull and depth. By the fourth and fifth episode, once again you're caught in a bracingly complex, enriching tale you don't want to end.
"The Wire" is an inherently sad story. Though Simon and his writers infuse it with street-smart humor and even a droning quality that strips workplaces and government institutions to their flawed core, the heart of "The Wire" is a dark one, as always. The tale that Simon has told for three seasons can best be summed up this way: "It doesn't work."
Simon on dvd commentary for season three finale says that The Wire steals not from Shakespeare or Chaucer but from Euripides and Sophocles. greek tragedy. where the gods batter you. here, the institutions are the gods ~who have to appease and whose protection you need.
this is prompted by mention of Avon and Stringer as tragically flawed. Avon as heart, Stringer as mind, the two needing each other, falling when broken apart.
The war on drugs is flawed not only from a police procedural standpoint but also because the department is beholden to the mayor and the mayor to special interests. Even the most cleverly constructed, forward-thinking drug gangs are flawed because the greed, hopelessness, laziness and fearlessness of others always intervenes. Politics fails because so much of Baltimore is in the death grip of immediate need, of decadeslong failure that demands reparation.
And now we see how the education system doesn't work, from a strapped school district that advocates "social promotion" so that teachers don't have to deal with bigger, stronger troublemakers, to the cruelty of poverty and how it strips away chance and, ultimately, to the much more damning, complicated notion of historical nonparticipation of poor families in the very idea of necessary education for betterment.
Season 4 follows the lives of a band of grade-school kids who will find out sooner than they should that their world begins and ends at the corner.
The Shield in Jump The Shark:
DO NOT compare the wire to the shield. They're the two best things on television for the reason that they ARE opposites. The Wire is #1 because it unpacks like a novel with real characters (head writer on the show is a pretty good novelist), and it has a 40-person PRIMARY cast. It's drama, not really a cop-crook show; the characters just HAPPEN to be one or the other (or politicians or casualties). The Shield is great because it is extremely fast with a small circle of non-expendables, and FOR THE RECORD they ARE extremely well-developed. It's greatest strength, though, is that it does ONE thing that is completely anti-HBO: it never lets go of a plot point.
DO NOT compare the wire to the shield. They're the two best things on television for the reason that they ARE opposites. The Wire is #1 because it unpacks like a novel with real characters (head writer on the show is a pretty good novelist), and it has a 40-person PRIMARY cast. It's drama, not really a cop-crook show; the characters just HAPPEN to be one or the other (or politicians or casualties). The Shield is great because it is extremely fast with a small circle of non-expendables, and FOR THE RECORD they ARE extremely well-developed. It's greatest strength, though, is that it does ONE thing that is completely anti-HBO: it never lets go of a plot point.
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