The Wire

I have much more to say about it (when I have plenty of "hangover" time to write this weekend (Bachelor Party and Wire hangover combined)), but for now, all I can say is that "The Wire" is far and away the greatest television series I've ever seen. I saw Joe Klein claim that it, "deserves the Nobel Prize for Literature" and I think he's on the right track. (side note: Jacob Weisburg actually said, "It’s like them never giving a Nobel Prize to Tolstoy. It doesn’t make Tolstoy look bad, it makes the Nobel Prize look bad.")

Yes, it was a TV show. But in reality, the narrative, the craftsmanship, the depth of character and stories are deserving of some higher recognition. Is David Simon on par with Wislawa Szymborska? I don't know, I haven't read her work. But the show never won an Emmy and was only nominated twice (for the writing) in 2005 and 2008. I know HBO always focused on "The Sopranos" and "Deadwood," which were outstanding shows, but much more entertainment than social commentary. You could watch any individual episode of "The Sopranos" and laugh, cringe, etc., because you knew Tony was just a gangster with an anxiety problem. You could watch any episode of "Deadwood" just for the profanity. I think it would be impossible to understand (and therefore truly enjoy) "The Wire" without starting at Season 1, Episode 1. Hell, I think you might have to watch the first 3 episodes of Season 1 twice before you can really move forward.

Ok, I've already rambled on this more than I have time for right now. What do you think? I sincerely want to know.

People Ain't Happy

Makes me a little antsy that the world leaders of the 20 largest economies are nearby and there seem to be as many members of the press as riot police. Also, enough with the John Galt signs already. Have any of these people even read Ayn Rand?

Where the Adaptations Are

We've been talking a lot about this trailer lately, as it relates to one of my absolute favorite childhood books:

I know a lot of people have been concerned that Spike Jonze is straying from the original Sendak book or making it too dark or something. I think the initial studio response to optioning the rights was to make a "kids' movie," but to Warner Bros.' credit they picked a director with some real vision. The moment the decided to execute this as a live action film, they pretty much limited their ability to make a "true" adaptation of the book.

I am of the opinion that scene-for-scene adaptations of visual material almost always fail. I think of "Watchmen" as the most recent example. Alan Moore, the author, has always said that his graphic novel was unfilm-able. Thanks to modern technology, however, Zack Snyder took on the challenge. But something happened on the way: in an attempt to be as close, shot-for-shot, to the source material as possible, he set himself up for failure.


The makers of "Watchmen" stressed that they were staying as close to the source material as possible, exciting fanboys everywhere with the original trailer. But, as it is nearly impossible to satisfy everyone, people began to grumble when the producers/director failed to live up to that promise. Then, following a major change to the end, there was an outbreak of complaining. Reviews of the movie mainly saw it as a tedious attempt to put the graphic novel on screen (a heroic effort I think), which lost all of the deeper subtext of the novel. In the end, I think Snyder would have been better off layering his own vision on top of the source material, rather than copying it exactly (maybe he has no vision of his own, considering his other big movie was "300").

I guess, for me, I'm excited to see Jonze's movie. The trailer is awesome (amazing acoustic version of Arcade Fire's "Wake Up"). Maybe some kids will go running out of the theater scared and crying. At the same time, however, maybe this version will lure in all of the 15 to 35 year olds who wouldn't otherwise be interested in a kids' movie (unless they have kids of their own), but love the idea of seeing one of their favorite books from childhood up on the screen.

Or maybe, just maybe, it will suck. I sure hope not.