<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!-- OPML generated by OPML Editor v10.1a16 on Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:32:05 GMT -->
<opml version="2.0">
	<head>
		<title>My fifth time through The Wire</title>
		<dateCreated>Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:51:38 GMT</dateCreated>
		<dateModified>Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:32:05 GMT</dateModified>
		<ownerName>Dave Winer</ownerName>
		<ownerEmail>dave.winer@gmail.com</ownerEmail>
		<expansionState>1, 14</expansionState>
		<vertScrollState>1</vertScrollState>
		<windowTop>208</windowTop>
		<windowLeft>1284</windowLeft>
		<windowBottom>1245</windowBottom>
		<windowRight>2369</windowRight>
		</head>
	<body>
		<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:51:38 GMT" ctSaves="26" flPreview="false" server="xmlrpc://cms.scripting2.com:5337/RPC2" storySerialNum="540" text="My fifth time through The Wire" type="scripting2Post" url="http://scripting.com/stories/2010/09/17/myFifthTimeThroughTheWire.html" username="davewiner" versionClient="0.39" versionServer="0.38" whenLastSave="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:32:06 GMT">
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:39:05 GMT" pgfnum="2110" text="&lt;img src=&quot;http://scripting.com/images/2010/09/17/marlo.gif&quot; width=&quot;153&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; hspace=&quot;15&quot; vspace=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;A picture named marlo.gif&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire&quot;&gt;The Wire&lt;/a&gt; is still the best TV show ever. "></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:39:17 GMT" pgfnum="2111" text="I like it so much I've watched all five seasons five times now."></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:39:34 GMT" pgfnum="2113" text="And while I remember every scene, and practically every bit of dialog, it had been long enough since my last complete viewing that I forgot how everything turns out. Who is the police commissioner at the end of the last episode, for example? I didn't remember. What was the ultimate fate of Avon Barksdale? Same deal."></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:41:53 GMT" pgfnum="2114" text="But there are some characters whose exits you never forget. Like Snoop, Cheese, D'Angelo Barksdale, Stringer Bell and Omar. To name a few. :-)"></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:42:39 GMT" pgfnum="2115" text="There are so many cool moments, maybe the best one of all was when the scientists at Quantico give the profile of the serial killer and it fits McNulty to a T. "></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:43:41 GMT" pgfnum="2116" text="I hadn't watched The Wire since its creator &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Simon&quot;&gt;David Simon&lt;/a&gt; went on a campaign to educate the rest of us on why we need to bend over to save the newspapers. How incongruous that is, when he portrayed the news orgs exactly as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.google.com/search?q=define+fubar&quot;&gt;fubar&lt;/a&gt; as the unions, police, City Hall, schools. The recurring theme of The Wire is a few people want to do good work thwarted by those who just want to get by or get ahead. You know it's the same way in tech. They would have you believe that it's all about excellence, but it's not. The little bits of great work happen the same way they happen in Lester's police department. By sneaking something in the back door while the bosses' attention is elsewhere. "></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:47:13 GMT" pgfnum="2117" text="With that in mind, I feel more confident that getting the big institutions out of the way so that the &lt;a href=&quot;http://smallpicture.com/&quot;&gt;Small Picture&lt;/a&gt; can rule is the way to go. I'd love to have a beer with Simon some day and go over this with him. "></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:01:05 GMT" pgfnum="2124" text="At least we (probably) agree on one thing, The Wire is great theater."></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:28:19 GMT" pgfnum="2125" text="The most touching moment: Kima sitting in the window with Elijah, saying goodnight to the neighborhood. Close second, Beadie forgiving McNulty for being so McNulty. Slim Charles paying off Cheese.">
				<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:20:57 GMT" pgfnum="2126" text="&quot;Goodnight moon, goodnight stars, goodnight po-pos, goodnight fiends, goodnight hoppers, goodnight hustlers, goodnight scammers, goodnight to everybody, goodnight one and all.&quot;"></outline>
				</outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:50:19 GMT" pgfnum="2121" text="This time I downloaded sub-titles from the net. This helped a lot, because a lot of the dialog was meaningless to me the first four times I watched. I don't speak the dialect of English they do. But after so much listening to The Wire, I have all their voices and all the things they say running through my head 24 by 7. You feel me? "></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:51:25 GMT" pgfnum="2122" text="Cool Lester Smooth! :-)"></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:52:49 GMT" pgfnum="2123" text="For some reason &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlo_Stanfield&quot;&gt;Marlo Stanfield&lt;/a&gt; makes me think of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Mullenweg&quot;&gt;Matt Mullenweg&lt;/a&gt;. Go figure. "></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:27:53 GMT" pgfnum="2139" text="Trivia: There's at least one actor who played roles in The Wire and Breaking Bad. Do you know who it is?? :-)">
				<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:30:16 GMT" pgfnum="2140" text="&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Costabile&quot;&gt;David Costabile&lt;/a&gt; plays the Managing Editor of the Baltimore Sun Thomas Klebanow in The Wire. He plays &lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.amctv.com/breaking-bad/2010/06/david-costabile-interview.php&quot;&gt;Gale&lt;/a&gt; in Breaking Bad. "></outline>
				</outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:47:19 GMT" pgfnum="2118" text="One more thing -- maybe the best thing about The Wire is all the different &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hbo.com/the-wire/cast-and-crew/index.html&quot;&gt;characters&lt;/a&gt; you can try on. There are some who I don't feel at all like. Cedric Daniels and his wife, for example. Brother Mouzone. But there's a little bit of McNulty in me, and Stringer, and when I fantasize -- I'm Marlo Stanfield or Omar or young Michael. But maybe the most heroic characters on the show are Kima and Bunk and Prezbo. Or Bunny or Bubs. Bodie. Prop Joe."></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:48:46 GMT" pgfnum="2119" text="How about that -- which Wire character is most like you? Which one do you admire the most? Which one gets on your nerves? There's a lot of food for thought here."></outline>
			<outline created="Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:23:40 GMT" pgfnum="2127" text="Update: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/commentary/teaching-the-wire-at-harvard&quot;&gt;They're teaching The Wire&lt;/a&gt; at Harvard this year. :-)"></outline>
			</outline>
		</body>
	</opml>
