Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I had the distinct pleasure of getting to sing The Day that Paddy Murphy Died to my kids in the car this morning. They were baffled. It put me in the mind of this, from Season 1 and Season 5 of The Wire. (Profanity, so don't watch if that's not your bag).

Miscellany

I don't recommend this to my mother or mother-in-law. Wire fans, have at it.



This, on the other hand, should be right up the grandmothers' alley:



This was the hairstyle he had to have.

My Life Is Now Perfect

I got all the forms to join my union yesterday, and after sending them off today, confirmed on the internets that I am a member of David Simon's old local, Washington Baltimore Newpaper Guild, CWA Local 32035. My life is now complete.

In the Port/Schools/Press bracket

Definitely the weakest, and proof that season 5 didn't really bring it.

Randy yelling at Carver beat Frank Sobotka's talk with his brother 4-0
DeLonda yelling at Namond beat reporters "mother of 4" talk 4-0
Frank visits Ziggy in jail beat Dukie's eviction 4-0
parallel cops/teachers trainings beat "evacuate" discussion 3-1
Prez explaining intimacy beat Donut opening the teacher's car door 3-1
Nicky looking through the fence beat Prez/Bubs seeing eachother at school 4-0
Bunny and WeeBay talking beat "not even Greek" scene 3-1
Kids trying to catch pigeon beat DeLonda and WeeBay talking 4-0

Bracket match-ups: Randy yelling v. DeLonda yelling; Frank/Ziggy v. Trainings; Intimacy v. Nicky; Bunny and WeeBay v. the pigeon

The Police Bracket

Strong feelings in this one

Bunk/McNulty "fuck" scene beat Prez rearranging the board 4-0
Ray Cole's detective funeral beat the questioning of suspects who don't speak English 4-0
Omar testifying against Bird beat Cheryl/Burrell at hospital 4-0
McNulty at brothel beat search for shot Kima 3-1
Landsman throwing Bubbles back beat Omar buying a suit 4-0
Lester discovering the bodies in the vacants beat Lester getting Avon's picture 3-1
Bunk/Omar's jail talk beat McNulty putting the floater in city jurisdiction 4-0
Bunny's paperbag lecture beat moving the desk 3-1.

Next round match-ups are: "fuck" scene v. funeral; Omar testifying v. Jimmy at brothel; Landsman v. Lester; "Man's got to have a code" vs. paperbag.

The Hall Bracket

In The Hall bracket:
There are some problems in this bracket, three ties. Please cast some breaking votes, so we can move this bracket forward.

Clay Davis testifying beats Stringer/Levy paying him off 3-1
Narese talking to Clay beats the Royce BJ scene 3-1
Norman's "sanctity of the voting booth" beat Carcetti turning Terry down on election night 3-1
Norman on blacks voting for whites beat Carcetti hiring Terry 3-1
Bunny and the deacon at PJs tied with Carcetti fundraising
Carcetti's visit to the governor tied with Carcetti's homeless speech
Carcetti at funeral tied with his first budget meeting
Clay Davis getting served beat Cutty's election day run 4-0.

The Street Bracket

To make this easier, I will break these out by bracket:

In The Streets bracket:
Wallace gets killed beats Omar brings clock to Joe 3-1
Stringer gets killed beats "fight on that lie" 4-0
Snoop buying nail gun beats Omar buying Cheerios 4-0
Dukie/Cutty talk beats DeAngelo restaurant scene 3-1
Bug, Duke and Michael's farewell beat Stringer/Avon balcony scene 3-1
DeAngelo's chess game beats Bodie/McNulty restaurant scene 3-1
Bodie/McNulty park scene beats Omar shooting Mouzone 3-1
Omar stealing the whole package beats Mr. Nugget 3-1

So you see, there are some very tight match-ups in the next round. Wallace v. Stringer. Snoop v. Dukie/Cutty. Boys' farewell v. The chess game. Bodie and McNulty v. Omar.

It's brutal. Let me know what you think.

The Wire Brackets, Part 2 - For serious Wire fans only

Back in March, deep in the throes of my work unhappiness, I concocted The Wire brackets. Sixty-four of the subjectively chosen best scenes from this show paired up for showdown. I had four voters, including myself. Herewith, the first round results. By the way, I am just getting to this now because Wednesday is my last day of work, and I need to clear ALL the shit off my desk.

In The Streets bracket:
Wallace gets killed beats Omar brings clock to Joe 3-1
Stringer gets killed beats "fight on that lie" 4-0
Snoop buying nail gun beats Omar buying Cheerios 4-0
Dukie/Cutty talk beats DeAngelo restaurant scene 3-1
Bug, Duke and Michael's farewell beat Stringer/Avon balcony scene 3-1
DeAngelo's chess game beats Bodie/McNulty restaurant scene 3-1
Bodie/McNulty park scene beats Omar shooting Mouzone 3-1
Omar stealing the whole package beats Mr. Nugget 3-1

So you see, there are some very tight match-ups in the next round. Wallace v. Stringer. Snoop v. Dukie/Cutty. Boys' farewell v. The chess game. Bodie and McNulty v. Omar.

It's brutal. Let me know what you think

In The Hall bracket:
There are some problems in this bracket, three ties. Please cast some breaking votes, so we can move this bracket forward.

Clay Davis testifying beats Stringer/Levy paying him off 3-1
Narese talking to Clay beats the Royce BJ scene 3-1
Norman's "sanctity of the voting booth" beat Carcetti turning Terry down on election night 3-1
Norman on blacks voting for whites beat Carcetti hiring Terry 3-1
Bunny and the deacon at PJs tied with Carcetti fundraising
Carcetti's visit to the governor tied with Carcetti's homeless speech
Carcetti at funeral tied with his first budget meeting
Clay Davis getting served beat Cutty's election day run 4-0.

In The Police bracket: Strong feelings in this one
Bunk/McNulty "fuck" scene beat Prez rearranging the board 4-0
Ray Cole's detective funeral beat the questioning of suspects who don't speak English 4-0
Omar testifying against Bird beat Cheryl/Burrell at hospital 4-0
McNulty at brothel beat search for shot Kima 3-1
Landsman throwing Bubbles back beat Omar buying a suit 4-0
Lester discovering the bodies in the vacants beat Lester getting Avon's picture 3-1
Bunk/Omar's jail talk beat McNulty putting the floater in city jurisdiction 4-0
Bunny's paperbag lecture beat moving the desk 3-1.

Next round match-ups are: "fuck" scene v. funeral; Omar testifying v. Jimmy at brothel; Landsman v. Lester; "Man's got to have a code" vs. paperbag.

Finally, In the Port/Schools/Press bracket: Definitely the weakest, and proof that season 5 didn't really bring it.

Randy yelling at Carver beat Frank Sobotka's talk with his brother 4-0
DeLonda yelling at Namond beat reporters "mother of 4" talk 4-0
Frank visits Ziggy in jail beat Dukie's eviction 4-0
parallel cops/teachers trainings beat "evacuate" discussion 3-1
Prez explaining intimacy beat Donut opening the teacher's car door 3-1
Nicky looking through the fence beat Prez/Bubs seeing eachother at school 4-0
Bunny and WeeBay talking beat "not even Greek" scene 3-1
Kids trying to catch pigeon beat DeLonda and WeeBay talking 4-0

Bracket matck-ups: Randy yelling v. DeLonda yelling; Frank/Ziggy v. Trainings; Intimacy v. Nicky; Bunny and WeeBay v. the pigeon

I know, not enough Bubs. Not even enough Omar. Certainly not enough of the kids.

Okay, the floor is open.

Back to The Wire

Now y'all know, I am crazy about two things: Barack Obama and The Wire. And I am over the moon about Obama's election. Sh*t's changing already. I saw a headline today: "Obama plans to close Guantanamo". Amazing. It hasn't even been a week and the cloud is lifting, the sun will shine.

I do have one little lump of worry in my throat, though. The short-hand for all this, in Wire terms: "It's a new day in Baltimore."

For those of you who refuse to take my advice and just watch the damn show, I will give a little context. At the end of season 4, Daniels has been promoted by Mayor Carchetti, who has promised him that much-needed change is coming to the Balmawr Po-leese. Daniels shares with Lester Freemon, a long-suffering homicide detective, the above-quoted sentiment. At the beginning of season 5, we learn that things are worse than they were before, and our heroes spin off in unfortunate and, in some cases, unethical circumstances. Freemon is disgraced by a bogus serial killer created with McNulty; Daniels has resigned under pressure and blackmail. It's a total (excuse my language) fucking tragedy.

And so, I worry. My worry is not alleviated by this:


Please will.i.am, do not doom the Obama administration!

*Hey, Wire nerds, I just realized (when I tried to find Daniels' speech on YouTube) that New Day was also the name of the drug co-op run by Stringer and Prop Joe. Once again, Simon and Burns amaze me with their genius.

A Few More Thoughts

And I won't embarrass myself by enumerating them and then forgetting what they all were.

Betty White, f-in hilarious:



The Reverse Bradley effect. I think this could happen. My only evidence, aside from what I read in the blog-o-net, is that my mom and stepdad in Virginia support Obama.* They would admit it to pollsters on the phone, but my mom has described certain perceived pressures in her neighborhood which would make her reluctant to boast a yard sign for Obama. And George Packer has an anecdote in an article in The New Yorker about voters in southern Ohio about a young man he meets (who answers the door in his underwear actually) who admits to being an Obama supporter, and says he knows others, but wouldn't admit it. The young man didn't go on record, either. I can understand this. I remember in high school that taking an unpopular position (like writing "No Blood for Oil" on your backpack during Operation Desert Storm) could illicit actual anger and derision from other 18 year olds. If you didn't have gumption/chutzpah/brass balls, it could be intimidating. But as Norman from The Wire says, "The sanctity of the voting booth is the cornerstone of our democracy." I just hope my fellow Americans get over it, and do the right thing.

* This isn't shocking coming from my mother. I just hope she isn't annoyed that I have broadcast her preference on the inter-tubes. Like Norman from The Wire, my mother would never disclose who she actually voted for, usually saying, "I wrote in Angela Davis" when I asked her who she voted for.


Some minor ways I am noticing that the economy is way f***ed up: My husband has begun to worry; there were only 3 tables occupied tonight at our local spaghetti joint (called Bottle Running by my son because the above poster is on the wall there) when usually the place is jammed; the parking lot in our office has more spots available, leading to conjecture that there was a layoff in the company on the floor above us. Also my 401(k) is down probably 10%, and that's great news. Awesome timing on quitting my job, huh? I don't think that's what they mean when they say "timing the market."

Unless something incredibly hilarious happens at the wedding I am attending, don't expect any posts this weekend. I am flying to Detroit very early tomorrow. I have to go to a party directly from the airport, and (I've never done this before) so I have to dress nicely for the flight. Usually I am either in work clothes or looking like a hot mess, so I am unusually anxious about this. I have no idea why dressing nicely for a long distance flight freaks me out. Maybe because it is something I secretly criticize other people for doing. What is her deal? Why is she dressed like that?, I hiss, in my mind. I'm mean like that.

Truly Random Thoughts

Today's Most Unsettling Headline: Mukasey Pledges Vigilance on Elections. The dude is a scary Skeletor (okay, so its not exactly Separated At Birth) and the word "vigilance", in the wake of Mugabe's recent "get out the vote efforts", is not what you want to hear from one of Bush's henchmen.

In other news, I have nothing else to report in the way of random thoughts. What's on my mind lately is not random at all. In In increasing order of time spent thinking about each topic, I am preoccupied with:
1. what I should blog about;
2. my car;
3. the Presidential election;
4. my budget;
5. why we have no beer in the house other than Miller High Life and should I have a scotch instead?;
6. my job.

I have these things to say about these topics, respectively:
1. It's evident from this post that I have nothing to blog about.
2. My car is fine now.
3. I really don't have a big problem with Barack Obama's faith-based initiative stuff, and I will explain later why this is, and its not just because I am big sucka for everything BO does and says.
4. It continues to require my participation on the "income" side. As long as that happens, there is nothing to worry about.
5. It's left over from the NASCAR trip, and we ran out of drinkable beer, so yes, probably.
6. It breaks a rule of mine to blog about this topic.

Let me elaborate:
1. Yes, I do.

2. There's a pump that pumps coolant to the hybrid battery and it broke, but they replaced it so now the car won't think its overheating unless it actually is.

3. Obama's faith-based initiatives are not rooted, unlike Bush's, in a desire to end government and spread Christianity. I think he has very explicitly described why his plans do not infringe on separation of church and state, and I think he will be good about enforcing that (dare I say, he'll be vigilant?). The Saul Alinsky model of community organizing encourages the organizer to make coalitions with all willing allies, even if it's just issue-based. In Chicago, churches, mosques and synagogues play a prominent role in alliances for political change, social justice and social services. Obama's ideas grow out of that tradition, not out of the missionary tradition of the evangelical church that Bush paid lip service to. An important component of Obama's program is not that its faith-based, but that it wants to support community organizations. This leads to. . .

My second reason for being interested in his approach - and I will be referring to The Wire in a moment - is that the existing frameworks for delivering services and making social change either don't work anymore or never worked. In The Wire, Bunny Colvin helps implement this school-within-a-school at Tilghman Middle School, where they take the worst kids out of the classes and give them intensive instruction. It helps the wild kids and it helps the other kids to have the disruptive children out of the classroom. But when Bunny and the professor plan to go to the mayor to pitch it on a broader scale, they get shot down by the school district woman and left out in the cold by the mayor's staff, who file their report in the circular file cabinet. If small projects work, why not fund them and let them work? We don't need to make them national. They don't need to be made into their own bureaucracy. Just fund them and see how far they can get on their own steam. Contrast Bunny's project with the No Child Left Behind/teach to the test model implemented in the rest of Tilghman and you will see where the real progress happened. To be corny about it, maybe we don't need a social security blanket, we need a social security patchwork quilt.

6. Knight of Nothing recently asked, "Why do bloggers abandon a post?" It's a good question. (He also inspired me to write the above on Obama). In response, I articulated some rules I have about this blog:

The main reason I abandon a piece is that I have written something that violates a rule of mine, and I can't figure out how to say what I want to say without violating the rule. The rules are things like, speaking ill of someone who can be identified to others, talking about work, talking about my husband or kids in too much detail (so that they could be identified to a casual reader). I also abandon when I have forgotten my point or am failing to make one.

As you can see from the present post, I don't always abandon a post when I tread on a rule. Arguably, this post has violated nearly every rule I have, especially that last one.

*500* It Seems Fitting

It seems so right that a landmark post like number five-hundred would be about nothing much at all, and The Wire.

Here's an interview with David Simon where he talks about a few story arcs he left out of the last episode. I only point it out to note that Mr. Scobie said early in Season 4 that Cheese was probably Randy's father. I am glad that we were spared learning more about that.

Also, there's news floating out there that Joe Lieberman is going to pull a Zell Miller and speak at the Republican National Convention. Some say that this will help McCain with independents and moderates, who are looking to see if McCain can really "cross the aisle". I think the pundits and the Republicans have their heads up their butts if they think anyone gives a sh** what Lieberman has to say.

Bill Bradley - Wire fan

Clearly, Bill Bradley is a fan of The Wire. From Political Wire:

"The bigger the lie, the better the chance they think they’ve got. That’s been their whole approach."-- Former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), quoted by the Times of London, on Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

The Wire Finale

In deference to T&A, there are spoilers in this post. So don't read it if you are worried you might learn something you don't want to know.

I must say, last night's episode of The Wire, an hour-an-a-half series finale, was so great, so satisfying, so happy-making, that its hard to even feel sad about the end of the series.

But before I get into it, I want to revisit my predictions:

1. Michael will kill Omar. I didn't get it right, but I didn't get it wrong either ("This is based on the fact that Omar saw Michael having a meeting with Marlo in that dingy courtyard last season. 'Just a kid,' he says.").

2. Cheese may turn on Prop Joe (with a little help from Marlo). Uhh, ya think?

3. Daniels will get caught up in a police corruption scandal that impedes his rise to the top. Check.

4. The "Rawls is gay" storyline may not go anywhere. I wish I had been more forceful with this prediction. So that's what, 3-1?

5. A cop will get killed. Can't win 'em all.

6. Clay Davis will not avoid indictment but he will take down everyone he can with him (see #3 above, and possibly prove me wrong on #4). Or maybe he will cop to some little thing, and be out in 4 months to become the top-rated radio host in Baltimore, ala Ed Norris. I am not sure which way this one cuts. Davis did not avoid indictment but he didn't get convicted either. Half a point?

7. I think we are going to see Kima's old woman Cheryl back again.

In all, I went 3.5-3. Not great.

As for the rest of y'all, I am waiting for your Wire brackets, so I can tally the first round winners.

As for the show itself, I am just tickled that it accomplished everything it set out to do, and came full circle on all the best (and worst) characters in the show. Simon did not let the shortened format of 10 shows put a crimp in his love letter to Baltimore, with his beautiful shots of the city itself, and its residents. He took every minute he had and stretched it out to say something without hitting us with it over his head. A little bit of the show rang false (Dukie's descent seemed a little too fast, especially for a child of addicts) but only a very little. I bet Bubs sitting down for dinner at this sister's table was a shot that lasted less then 3 seconds, but it means the whole world.

My Big City Cousins

Cousin Kate, Bubs-spotter, Bubs-almost-hitter*, saw the actor who plays Chris Partlow in Brooklyn today. It just ain't fair.

And the reason Kate's in B'lyn is because Cousin Jed is rockin' the Whitney with his bad self. The New York Times has a video about the Biennial and Jed's piece can be seen in the video. Kate describes his piece as "A white panel sculpture that covers a wall and a large multi-colored block."

A better place to see the artwork is probably at the Whitney itself. But I can't carry you there myself....

*I think she almost hit him with her car in a parking lot at his favorite restaurant in LA or something.

The Wire Brackets

Allright. I have done a full 64 scene tournament bracket for The Wire. No joke. But I can't figure out how to post it. So. Anyone how wants a copy, I will email it to you, just shoot me a request. If you need my email address, post a comment to let me know. Remember this was wholly subjective, generated by me and B at breakfast the other morning. Enjoy.

Allright, This Is It For the Night

I still have two topics left to blog about. Then my brain will be empty. (emptier?)

Although Clinton was knocked off balance by Obama's message of hope, I think the response by young people to that message is a product of 9/11. I know that for some people, a terrorist attack on American soil sowed fear (of attack) and loathing (of Muslims). But for many people, there was an upswell of desire to help, to be a part of something bigger. This resulted in greater enlistment in the armed services, tons and tons of donations of goods to WTC "survivors" (never used), and hundreds of articles about people "taking time off", "reevaluating their lives", a "mini post-9/11 baby boom." Blah blah blah, etc etc. But by and large, our country did nothing to capitalize on all this good will. Rather than make calls for sacrifice, Bush passed tax cuts, and sent young men and women into a totally futile war. Bush has tried to force a new Cold War down our throats, but it rings false for all of us who wanted something positive to come out of that disaster. Clinton thought we all wanted protection from the bogeymen created by Bush but a lot of people were tired of that. Obama offers a call to public service and civic change that young people were waiting for since before many of them could vote.

So why, then, did he fare so badly in OH and TX? Well, he didn't fare so badly. Recall, he was down 20 points just a few weeks ago. I am not going to argue that if he just had another week, he could have run away with this. I think that because this primary season has been so long, and the economy is so shitty, that the hope message didn't reach far enough. Obama needs a message of hope on the economy. I trust he will get his sea legs on this and improve the message.
That said, he's still winning.

On to the last topic, and this one is BD's idea. A Wire brackets. The brackets are The Street, The Police, The Hall, and The Port/The Schools/The Press. The only way it works is to combine those last three. I will rank 16 scenes from each bracket and then y'all can vote on the best. I can also vote on the best, but my vote might have slightly greater weight. I'm just sayin'. That's coming up tomorrow.

Oh, and I agree with Seamus.

Mouths of Babes

Tonight, as Mr. S and I stood transfixed by CNN, our older son announced, "I'm tired of Obama." Poor guy. Obama, that is. Li is so skilled at obsessions, I feel back that Barack doesn't have what it takes to be the next airplanes or pirates or dinosaurs.

The rest of you might be tired of Obama too; at least, hearing about him from me. But my Obama overkill is due, in large part, to my dismay about this season of The Wire. I am just not feeling it. There have been some great scenes. Dukie and Cutty? Bunk and Randy? Ohmigod. But generally, the plot is too Without a Trace or something. Just not feeling it. So unless the last three episodes just explode, I am afraid you are stuck with my political obsession until some other thing comes along.

Sorry

Once I got in the zone of blogging like every day, I had hoped to keep up the pace. But even I ain't that witty and original. Plus, we were away all weekend. Here are some highlights from my favorite topics:

The Wire: Stressing me out. Why does Omar need to come back if Butchie's dead? I've seen ep 4 so I don't want to write much more because I want to respect my one reader who gives a crap about this and not spoil it for him. Suffice to say, I am having a really hard time buying this season so far. And there's a good S2 cameo in Ep4. Okay, that's enough. No more.

The kids: Hilarious little people. They loved the snow so much in Tahoe that, driving home, Li broke down crying, "I don't want (sob sob) the snow to EVER melt!"

Barack Obama: All my Edwards peeps, please please please breathe deeply of the reality of this campaign and vote for my guy on Feb 5. I love Edwards, too. But he will not get the nomination, and probably won't be a "kingmaker" at the convention either. I was listening to Hillary on the radio today and all I could think of was Betty Loren-Maltese. And let's be frank. No one ever wants to think about BLM. Plus, can you imagine four, much less eight, years of Bill Clinton lounging on the couch of the Oval Office, eating Funions and proffering his opinion on every damn thing? I assume even Hillary would kick him out by March 3, 2009, but who knows? "Two for the price of one" means two equivocating triangulators* for the bloody 2008 election of one. SO, if you were already planning on not voting for Hillary, them I invite you, nay implore you, to not vote for Hillary by voting for Barack. Thank you.

* whatever that means.

Nelson Marans: Don't worry, he's had letters published recently in the Washington Post and The New York Times (and here), opining about such meaningless topics as Amtrak and Barbara Cook: Songbird.

I don't have much else on my mind. Take it easy.

Off The Rails

The title of this post refers to this blog, not to the Obama campaign, which I will get to in a second. I started off the year fearing that I would hardly post at all (see, e.g., December 2007), and here I am blogging my butt off. Only not about my typical whimsical and lovely nonsense. I have been very centered on the Democratic primary campaign, and I have more to say. On one hand, I recognize that this may be boring-ish for some people, but (on the other) I think I know my readers, and you are as rabidly interested in this as I am, or else we wouldn't be such dear friends. So, back to New Hampshire.

First of all, this is hardly a loss for Obama. Less than a few weeks ago, he was down by double-digits, and instead he lost be 3 percentage points. Isn't that less than the typical margin of error in a statistical poll? Right on, Obama! And as I said before, I think that if Clinton is going to win this ultimately (although I hope she doesn't), she needs more of a trial than she was prepared for. I gotta say, I am SO annoyed by this idea that her little teeny fake nervous breakdown gave her a bump among the Women Exactly Like Her voting bloc. She can cry on command! What a skill for our President to have. You may recall, I am NOT down with the "Girlfriend in Chief" model of campaigning. Please don't tell me that "women" love this, or I may forsake my gender.

And as a tangential correllary*, this reminds me how much Baby Boomers annoy me. Don't ask me why I thought of this. Those of you who also hate Baby Boomers probably understand instinctively where I am going with this, and also can't quite articulate what the bridge is. Here's the bridge: Hillary. She's Woman. She's Boomer. The world is hers for the taking. She has so many "good opportunities" - she's just bursting to unload them on us. I am so tired of that generation (most of whom disavow the rest strongly) claiming they can fix things in this crazy mixed up world. No, you can't. Its messed up. Stop pretending you are a realist and then feeding us horseshit.

Okay, I have clearly lost my train of thought here. So back to an even more annoying obsession of mine: The Wire. Season 5 debuted this past Sunday, and I didn't even mention it because I figured, if you don't watch it yet, you probably aren't going to start now. And that's your damn loss. I will accept you back into my good graces if you watch just one other season of this show without me having to harangue you further. Then I will give you my generous and brilliant thoughts on this season 5. (Actually, I can't, because I watched an episode ahead, and I would feel bad if I accidentally spoiled it for you, so Mr. Scobie will just have to suffer my brilliance alone).

* Mathematicians: Can something be both a tangent and a correllary? Or are they the same thing?