Trivia Question # 2

What is Omar Little's brother's name, where is he, and why?

Trivia Question #1
For what reason does Avon Barksdale retire is his boxing career?

More Crossover

But this time to FOX, not HBO. Daniels from the Wire and Alvarez from OZ are both on a new X-files-ish looking show called Fringe now. I've only watched half an episode, but it looks interesting so far, and I loved X-files. Me and Liza'll be home from about the 20th until the 3rd or so. Any new years plans?

Old Fasioned Porridge Bread

This is the recipe for that loaf of bread I was raving about some while back. It's pretty basic and has some wholesome ingredients.


Oatmeal
2 Cups Dry Oatmeal
3 Cups Boiling Water
3 Tsp Butter

Yeast Mix
5/4 Tsp Yeast (A Teaspoon and a bit)
1/2 Tsp White Sugar
1/2 Cup Hot Water (Tap hot is hot enough, I used the rest of my boiled water once and it didn't rise)

Dough
1 Cup Milk
2 Tsp Salt
8 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Cup Molasses

To begin throw some water in a kettle to boil. Combine the Oatmeal ingredients together in a large bowl and mix well then set aside to cool. In a separate smaller bowl combine the yeast ingredients and let rise for 15 minutes.

Once risen add to your cooled Oatmeal.

Now add the rest of your ingredients to the large bowl and mix well. Be sure to get your hands in there, but don't go as far as to start kneading your dough.

Let rise for at least 4 hrs or overnight, try not to let the surface dry out to much before converting it into bread pans. This recipe can make 4 reasonably sized loaves. Let rise for at least 1 hour in bread pans before baking it for 1 hour @ 325-350 Fahrenheit.

Some notes I have made.
-Letting bread rise in pans for longer helped with my best batch so far, if you have to leave it over night wait for your 4 hours then split it into the trays and then leave it. Plus then it's ready to be baked for breakfast.
-I have yet to let it sit in the oven for a full hour, and only put my oven on 325, so keep an eye on those loaves.

Howdy Blair. It's been so long since I watched the Wire that I don't think any fresh perspectives are going to wash over me any more. Ah well. I just got the Thighs CD in the mail from S-Dog, it's pretty awesome. Playing in bands is fun. Maybe raccoon should do a christmas show. Or maybe raccon is over forevs and I should move on.
Still haven't found a job, which is super lame and boring. I can't even get a labour job here. Suck. I did just apply to go to Korea for three weeks in January to teach English, but based on my results so far, that probably won't happen. Did CJ ever finish that movie we shot that day at Eau Claire? I'm colab-ing with my buddy shaun on a zombie noir script right now. I'm really sure how much I actually contribute, but it's pretty fun. How's the construction work going? Have you moved up the ladder yet? Bought a house? Did I tell you I saw your bro in Calgary over thanksgiving.
Also, my desktop is now stormtroopers.

Brutal Berriault the Basher

Jeeze John, I don't know what you think Jamie is saying to DW, but you have got to learn to cope.

Cutty and String

On the last episode that I watched, Se3 Ep10(ish), Cutty is looking for the proper permits to open up his boxing club and Herc made the call on Colvin.
When Cutty comes back to the Deacon to explain his frustration I couldn't help think about Stringer and Davis. While Stringer is trying to buy legitimacy he needs Davis to be his liaison through the process. Stringer and Cutty both want something they can't get for themselves and rely on the guidance of politically influential individuals.




hmmm, I read the actor who played Avon Barksdale also played Jimi Hendrix in a made for television Hendrix movie. The review was titled "disappointing".

JON,
So Cj has been to busy making movies and writing papers about other movies to watch The Wire. Her most recent paper was about the film La Bonheur by Agnes Varda. If you can you should find it. I managed to download it some where on the internet, but even just renting the Criterion Collection of her stuff would be well worth the time. The grandmother of French New Wave cinema.

An Indicative Scene?

So, while watching A Serious Man, for some reason a scene from the Wire popped into my head. It was the one in which Marlo steals a lollipop or some crap from a corner store when he knows the security guard is watching, and then when confronted outside says to the guy, "You want it to be one way. But it's the other way." I've been trying to clarify what he is saying. It's important that he says the other way, not an other way. There are, in his view, two possible ways the world can be. One is the way the security guard wants to see it. The first way, the one in which, when he goes outside to talk to Marlo, the security guard engages in a conversation based on mutual respect that ends with Marlo acknowledging that though the law abiding life is not the one he has chosen, it is a valid one. It is a way that, despite the reality of drugs and violence, is based on principles and a kind of moral code. But for Marlo, principle takes second seat to his ego, to his attachment to his "name."
I found the clip on youtube,


and there were some insightful comments following the clip. There were several that caught my attention. The first was about Marlo's obsession with power, which I think is supported very well by the lollitheft. Marlo has no reason not to pay for it, and he makes sure the guard sees him and realizes he can do nothing. The second comment noted the difference between Marlo and most of the other players. Stringer, Avon, Omar, even Prop Joe etc. These men have very different goals from Marlo, and, despite often producing the same results, different ways of operating. I think the closest anyone comes of the four is Stringer, when he mutilates Brandon. I think that "other way" as Marlo expresses it, is the way in which it is whether you win or lose, not how you play the game.
There are many examples of criminals, though breaking the law, following specific rules. The Sunday truce for example, or basically anything Omar does (that guys a walking code of honour). Can you picture Avon stealing that candy, or Stringer. Definitely not Omar, remember the time he robs the stash in that store and then pays for cigarettes?
I think David Simon is demonstrating more than just the differences between these characters. I think that when Stanfield says "it's the other way," he's speaking to us as viewers as well. Most of the characters in The Wire, despite being involved in the drug trade, or crooked police, or part of the structure perpetuating suffering, are sympathetic. We like Avon, we like Omar, we like Brother Muzone. Stringer, maybe not so much, but he is closer morally to Marlo than the others. Marlo is reminding us of the reality. The "game" we see on the Wire, the one Bodie talks about when he is reminiscing about the days before Marlo, is idealized, romanticized, just like what we're watching. The unprincipled reality that we see briefly through Marlo is probably much closer to the real thing than the rest of the show.
Despite the tragedy of the cycle apparent in The Wire, we see Marlo getting "justice" at the end of the series (and here I am deriving from another YouTube comment), through the ruin of his name. This, with the cast of likeable drug dealers and crooked cops, serves to remind us that although this series is closer to reality than the vast majority of crap on TV, we're still watching extremely well written and socially important television. It's still entertainment, and we are seeing it one way, but it's probably the other way.

Now That's Police

In my most recent viewing I caught a few good references. First, Omar and his new boy are sitting in their place when the surviving of the two girls they have been working with walk in. She is distraught about bunk getting to the dead girls family, BUT, what are Omar and his boy watching on TV? OZ I don't know which episode, but it is something heartfelt between Beacher and Keller.
Second, and I think you may have brought this up before. Mrs.Carcetti is listening to Billy Bragg and Wilco - Mermaid Avenue Vol.1 - Hoodoo Voodoo.
I also noticed that Nike Under Armor must be one of the selected wardrobe designers because everyone is wearing it.

For the last 3 weeks I have been one of a team of bitches for a construction site foreman. My job involves a great deal of lifting broken up by some sweeping. BUT, next week I am starting as a "carpenter's aid", or at least that's what the ad claimed.