a. fish

PBS Tonight: The Ramones, End of the Century

UPDATE: It was as good as I remember. Does anyone else find Johnny, Joey and to a lesser extent Dee Dee as metaphorical for our red state/blue state divide as I do? Maybe I'm just mental, and see politics in everything now.

It will repeat this Saturday and Sunday night. Check your local listings.
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You don't have to know or even like The Ramones to enjoy this documentary, airing Tuesday and Saturday on PBS, which follows over thirty years the group that blazed a punk trail in the early to mid 1970s. You don't even have to like punk. Or rock. Or music (ok, that might be stretching it.)

This is one of those nonfiction pieces that make you wonder how the folks behind the camera got so lucky; their footage fit so neatly into the classic "arch" that Hollywood screenwriters consider a staple, and had some romance, family tension, and heartbreak to boot. Or it makes you scratch your head wondering how many other documentary filmmakers have to scrap their footage when they realize there's no story here.

Joey, Johnny, DeeDee and the rotating Ramone #4 came onto the scene when there was a real hunger for some pep, some energy, in a corner of New York known as CBGB's with a $1 cover charge. In a time dominated by lethargic folk rock, when in the words of one character, "you couldn't get laid unless you gave them some rap about macrame,"  this angry pop style that came to be known as punk was right on time, though it took a while to catch on. And took thirty years to receive proper recognition.

When the credits roll it's questionable whether this was a movie about music or culture, families or politics. This is a movie that illustrates George Lakoff's strict father model (read: Johnny) vs. caring nurturer (Joey) model and how they balance each other out, and where the fringe anarchists (DeeDee) fit in to it all. It's a film about a tenacious, even puritan work ethic. It's a film about a lot of things, under the guise of a biopic about four black-haired misfits who the world barely knows by name, but is quite familiar with what change they wrought.

Chicken, Egg. Life, Art, Life.

The new San Francisco Examiner has turned into a really fun, NY Post-style tabloid. A friend pointed me to this AP bit at the bottom of page two: Cops think drug dealers took tips from 'Wire':

NEW YORK -- David Simon's HBO series "The Wire" -- a fictional account of a police investigation of Baltimore drug dealers -- allegedly had some real-life dealers taking notes.

To be clear, David Simon's series is based on actual inner-city Baltimore drug rings he covered as a Baltimore Sun reporter. Simon drew on drug dealers and cops he knew personally for the characters in his show: Avon Barksdale, for example, may be an amalgam of actual drug dealers, one being the incarcerated Bodie Barksdale, another the legendary Melvin Williams, who was released from prison and played the deacon in season three. Art imitating life. Or life imitating the Wire:

While announcing a crackdown on Friday of a cocaine ring, police said their investigation was hampered by the suspects' habit of switching cell phones -- a technique for evading electronic eavesdropping they picked up from TV.

"Believe it or not, these guys copied 'The Wire,'" one of the investigators, Sgt. Felipe Rodriguez, said at a news conference. "They were constantly dumping their phones. It made our job so much harder."

Police relied largely on wiretaps to infiltrate the gang, which made up to $15 million a year. The result: 12 arrests and seizure of 43 kilograms of cocaine, 18 handguns, $500,000 cash and five luxury vehicles.

While doing business by cell phone, the suspects often spoke to each other about "The Wire" after it aired on Sunday nights, Rodriguez said. Some of the officers listening to them also were fans.

"If we missed anything, we got it from them Monday morning," the sergeant said of the television show.

Priceless.

Best episode ever...this week, at least (The Wire)

Matthew Yglasias: "For my money, the one-episode breakdown of Stringer's world ranks as one of the great episodes of the series."
I agree...though I've said that before, like season #1 when Kima gets hit ("get me foxtrot...officer down! officer down!").

I especially liked the tension arc, rhythm and choreography of this episode. Notice the percussion (pup, pup-pup pup) of the last boxing scene, illustrating the rewards of patience. Cutty's pupil, though light on skills and training, has the "heart" to make it in boxing. Cutty beams. Contrast to Stringer, (or a Democrat LOL,) all wonkery, no loyal ranks, no "connect"-ability (did he lose it, or did he ever have it to lose?)

Percussion continues with the exasperating chase, String-ah's polished dress shoes make for loud running - (he's never lost composure like that) - limbs flailing, up the stairs out the back (--but it's $^%#@ locked!) with the flap flap flapping of the pigeon's wings, repeated one flight up (FLUTTER flutter flutter flutter). Taughtness is skillfully held to the end with dynamic duo Omar and "Bowtie" Mouzine holding their fire long enough for that all important dialog (Omar: "this ain't about no money").

After catching our breath (there was silence through the credits, save for incomplete comment scraps: "oh my..." "how did he..." "holy...") my fellow Wire watcher and I looked at each other and didn't say what we've said tooo many times since that first episode in season one, wondering what possibly could happen next week, namely: "they will NEVER top this."

Wire Heads Unite!

Found a Wire Head! Watching an episode of The Wire is like seeing a movie with a friend and having to stop for coffee afterwards: there is so much to process you can't go straight home. Is Carcetti the real thing or is his long-shot Mayorial ambition covert opportunism? What makes Herc and Carver maintain faith in Colvin's Hamsterdam?

The problem is Wire fans are hard to find. "That show is so violent" my friends say, implying that I am now part of the problem of by glorifying the gratuitous in entertainment. There is nothing gratuitous in this show.

VetDay TV

Surprised a president is reelected in a badly run war? Some say "Americans have become remarkably isolated from the rigors of war".

Isolated from war? I wonder why that is. Lots of people watch the evening news: "Laci Peterson! Laci Peterson! Laci Peterson! Laci Peterson! Oh, there's some kind of thingee happening in Iraq".

Affiliate owners sure sound like they'd prefer to air programs they think are "a patriotic, artistic tribute to our fighting forces". I'm sure if they just gave Michael Powell a ring he'd tell them they had fine paranoia: "the FCC, given its current timidity in dealing in this area, would not grant an advance waiver, which would have allowed stations like ours to run it without any question or any concern". Oh.

Can't they run it with the bad words bleeped out? Not sure I want to know.