Currently...
Dec. 26th, 2006 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khaosworks[x-posted to Vox]
Watching: The Wire, Season 3. Can't say enough good things about this series, and I'm just sorry I didn't get into it sooner. By moving to HBO, David Simon has managed to do things with this show that he never got to do with Homicide: Life On The Street, and as good as that latter show was, in some ways this is even better. It's not a typical cop show, and while good and evil certainly play their way around in the streets, it's more about the system that traps everyone who's in it. "Play or be played," says one of the characters in the first season, and no matter which side of the fence you're on, the Street or the Law, the Docks or City Hall, ultimately it's about how one is inevitably compromised by the organization you're in, from pawn to King. Middle management's pain is that you're low enough to have to listen to what people are saying, but not high enough that you can do whatever the fuck you want. By Season 3, things have settled into a familiar rhythm between the cops and the drug dealers, but the new focus is on the politics of the city, and it's turning out to be just as fierce as the street, even if it's words that are being thrown around rather than bullets. Going straight, or going legit, doesn't mean that one leaves the game — it's just trading one set of rules for another. Superb and compelling all the way, this is a show that is made to be watched on DVD.
Reading: The First World War by Hew Strachan. Trying to educate myself a bit more on this slice of history. I know much about World War II and how everyone says that World War I set the stage for it, and I know a bit about the US involvement in World War I and vaguely the standard world history line about how it started, with shifting alliances and treaty obligations pushing the nations of Europe into a collision course. Time to get to know the details.
Listening: Rhythms Del Mundo - Cuba. A Buena Vista Social Club-esque mix created for Artist Project Earth and its Natural Disaster Relief and Climate Change Awareness programmes, i.e. the 2004 tsunami and global warming. Truth be told, I just picked it up because I've been in a Latin-y kind of mood lately, and the stuff they have here isn't bad, ranging from Coldplay to a Cuban version of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and of course the obvious inclusion of "Fragilidad" by Sting; you can't really escape the man if you pick up a charity album.
Watching: The Wire, Season 3. Can't say enough good things about this series, and I'm just sorry I didn't get into it sooner. By moving to HBO, David Simon has managed to do things with this show that he never got to do with Homicide: Life On The Street, and as good as that latter show was, in some ways this is even better. It's not a typical cop show, and while good and evil certainly play their way around in the streets, it's more about the system that traps everyone who's in it. "Play or be played," says one of the characters in the first season, and no matter which side of the fence you're on, the Street or the Law, the Docks or City Hall, ultimately it's about how one is inevitably compromised by the organization you're in, from pawn to King. Middle management's pain is that you're low enough to have to listen to what people are saying, but not high enough that you can do whatever the fuck you want. By Season 3, things have settled into a familiar rhythm between the cops and the drug dealers, but the new focus is on the politics of the city, and it's turning out to be just as fierce as the street, even if it's words that are being thrown around rather than bullets. Going straight, or going legit, doesn't mean that one leaves the game — it's just trading one set of rules for another. Superb and compelling all the way, this is a show that is made to be watched on DVD.
Reading: The First World War by Hew Strachan. Trying to educate myself a bit more on this slice of history. I know much about World War II and how everyone says that World War I set the stage for it, and I know a bit about the US involvement in World War I and vaguely the standard world history line about how it started, with shifting alliances and treaty obligations pushing the nations of Europe into a collision course. Time to get to know the details.
Listening: Rhythms Del Mundo - Cuba. A Buena Vista Social Club-esque mix created for Artist Project Earth and its Natural Disaster Relief and Climate Change Awareness programmes, i.e. the 2004 tsunami and global warming. Truth be told, I just picked it up because I've been in a Latin-y kind of mood lately, and the stuff they have here isn't bad, ranging from Coldplay to a Cuban version of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and of course the obvious inclusion of "Fragilidad" by Sting; you can't really escape the man if you pick up a charity album.
