Ben Guest’s Blog

More David Simon

nobody@vox.com(Ben Guest) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:32:39 -0700

The Wire

Here are some more interviews with David Simon posted on my delicious page.

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David Simon Interviews

nobody@vox.com(Ben Guest) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:55:12 -0700

As part of the press for the series finale of The Wire, co-creator David Simon did several in-depth interviews. Enjoy.

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RIP: The Wire

nobody@vox.com(Ben Guest) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:28:00 -0700

Omar

There are two types of people in the world: those who have discovered The Wire and those who haven't. For those who haven't, The Wire is the greatest achievement of filmed artistic expression ever created. Tonight is the final episode... Here are two good interviews with co-creators Ed Burns and David Simon.

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Links of the Week

nobody@vox.com(Ben Guest) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:20:51 -0700

Per Pupil Spending of Public Schools in the U.S.

Forbes List of America's Best and Worst Paying Jobs (referenced here).

The Wire, David Simon, and Civil Disobedience in opposition to the "War on Drugs."

Seven Conspiracy Theories that Actually Happened.

How Many Billionaires Does it Take to Fix the School System?

The Dunce: George Bush at Harvard.

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Links of the Week

nobody@vox.com(Ben Guest) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:42:26 -0800

Give Kucinich his due.

Intense, well-written account of the soldiers of Battle Company, waging a losing fight with insurgents in Afghanistan. And with the pressures of five and six tours in combat:

As Giunta said, “The richest, most-trained army got beat by dudes in manjammies and A.K.’s.” His voice cracked. He was not just hurting, he was in a rage. And there was nothing for him to do with it but hold back his tears, and bark — at the Afghans for betraying them, at the Army for betraying them. He didn’t run to the front because he was a hero. He ran up to get to Brennan, his friend. “But they” — he meant the military — “just keep asking for more from us.” His contract would be up in 18 days but he had been stop-lossed and couldn’t go home. Brennan himself was supposed to have gotten out in September. He’d been planning to go back to Wisconsin where his dad lived, play his guitar and become a cop.

Wonderful defense of the McCain/Iseman, and of good journalism.

Interview with David Simon, creator of The Wire.

Find the annual salary of any Mississippi superintendent.

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Links o' the Week

nobody@vox.com(Ben Guest) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:28:24 -0800

Would you rather earn $50,000 a year while other people make $25,000, or would you rather earn $100,000 a year while other people get $250,000? Answer here, in a piece called "Why People believe Weird Things About Money."

The School of Education at the University of Mississippi is one of the best in the nation according to NCATE, the national accreditation council for Schools of Ed. What do you think?

Why We Flirt...

The Library of Congress has put thousands of tagged photos on Flickr. Search for Mississippi, Mississippi Delta, or anything else that strikes your fancy.

NYC is measuring teachers by test scores...

Finally, two pieces about the decline of the American newspaper here and here by David Simon, the creator of "The Wire" (by the way I'm not happy with the serial killer storyline being played out this season) and one of the greatest living authors on the planet...

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Book Review-Homicide

nobody@vox.com(Ben Guest) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:24:14 -0800

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

David Simon

I have said many times that David Simon and Alan Moore are the world’s two greatest living writers. Alan Moore writes, mostly, comic books (or, as high brow reviewers call them, "Graphic Novels”), although saying Moore writes comic books is like saying Shakespeare dabbled in plays. Moore has written one traditional book, Voice of the Fire, which I have not read, and several other prose pieces, the best of which is his take on the Iraq war, written in 2003. He is probably best known for Watchmen.

Watchmen

Alan Moore

David Simon has written exactly two books, both non-fiction, both one-year examinations of a specific subject. The first Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, follows the homicide unit of the Baltimore Police Department for one calendar year and is the subject of this review. The second, The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, is a follow-up of sorts, following a calendar year in the lives of the drug dealers and users (and assorted family and community members) linked by one corner (Mount and Fayette) in inner-city Baltimore.

The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood

David Simon

While Simon was spending his year of research on Mount and Fayette his first book, Homicide, was turned into a well-regarded and lightly-watched television show of the same name, produced by one of Baltimore’s favorite sons, Barry Levinson. Barry is not now well-known after a string of “flops” in the movie industry, but, in the early 90’s, coming off “Good Morning Vietnam”, “Rainman”, and “Bugsy”, he was one of the premiere film directors.

Simon became a staff writer for the show “Homicide” late in it’s seven-year run. While the show did have its moments (and I was a huge fan during its original run, living in Baltimore at the time), I find it doesn’t hold up that well. The show was one of the pioneers of what I call the “shaky cam,” where the show was shot using hand-held cameras. The shaky cam was appropriated by “NYPD Blue”, and now it feels like half the dramas on T.V. use it. The idea behind shaky cam is to impart a feeling of realness to the events (and the shaky cam was used to great effect in the pilot episode of “Homicide”, directed by Levinson), but I often find it lazy and irritating.

There are plenty of outstanding episodes of “Homicide”, most notably a Simon scripted episode, “Bop Gun”, from the second season with a guest performance by a remarkably internal Robin Williams. “Bop Gun” is worth tracking down on Netflix or online, especially the final minutes set to a devastating Buddy Guy rendition of “Feels Like Rain.”

Feels Like Rain

For the most part, “Homicide” suffers from the paradox of being a prime-time television show about a fairly downbeat subject. Simon once noted that NBC asked if the producers could find some way to lighten the material. One producer replied, “Well, it is called ‘Homicide.’”

In the grand scheme of things, “Homicide” became a trial run for Simon’s television endeavors. After “Homicide”, Simon went on to write and produce “The Corner”, a mini-series for HBO. The mini-series won many awards and almost universal acclaim. Still, for me it suffers from the shaky cam and director Charles Dutton’s use of breaking-the-fourth-wall interviews that bookend each episode.

Simon returned to HBO with an idea for a television series called “The Wire”. I have waxed rhapsodic about “The Wire” in these pages before. Not only do I think “The Wire” is the greatest television show ever produced, I think it is the greatest achievement of filmed entertainment (small screen or big) ever created. “The Wire” has gained in popularity over the last two years, from a niche show with a committed following to a full-fledged love fest. Basically, everybody and their momma has called it the the greatest show on television. And I wonder if Simon agreed with me about the shaky cam, as “The Wire” is almost always fluid camera shots and high-end production.

The Wire

Describing “The Wire” is always difficult. At the most basic, the show is about police detectives and the criminal targets they pursue, always utilizing, at some point in the season, telephonic intercepts (or wiretaps), hence the title. The truth of the matter goes much deeper. As Simon has said in numerous interviews, and as I paraphrase/misremember here, the show is about the city: the different constituencies that a city serves (and mis-serves) and the institutions (police office, city hall, unions, drug corners, school) that make up a city. Ultimately, the show is about how, as an individual, no matter which institution you serve (or are served by), you will be betrayed. Simon likens “The Wire” to Greek tragedy, with institutions taking the place of fickle Greek gods who meddle in, and destroy, human life. The image of the wire comes to represent the threads that connect the citizens of a city; the threads that tie us togethers; even the thread of blood that runs down a city street, the first shot of the first episode.

The Wire

“The Wire” is starting the fifth, and final, season in January, tackling the institution of the media. The fourth season, following, among other things, a first year teacher in a critical-needs school, comes out on DVD December 4th. Run, don’t walk, to buy it, and the other three seasons (if you do not already own them).

Season Five Promo

In anticipation of the final season of “The Wire” I decided to reread Simon’s first book, Homicide. I first read Homicide in the early 90’s, at the same time as the first season of the television show (I can’t remember if I read the book first or watched the show). The edition I have is the first printing, from 1993.

Simon wrote Homicide at the age of 30, following the Baltimore Police Department’s homicide unit from January 1st, 1988, to December 31st. Simon’s stated goal as a reporter is to present a closed society in a wholly accurate light (his intended audience is the group he covers) so that, years later, a homicide detective could pick up his book and say, “Yeah, he got it right.”

But instead of talking about how Simon does indeed get it right, how about I just transcribe some of my favorite passages from the book, examples that showcase Simon’s talent and creativity. Are we all agreed? Good. Here is Simon’s description of a homicide detective:

“(I)n a police department of about three thousand souls, you are one of thirty-six investigators entrusted with the pursuit of that most extraordinary of crimes: the theft of a human life. You speak for the dead. You avenge those lost to the world. Your paycheck may come from fiscal services but, goddammit, after six beers you can pretty much convince yourself that you work for the Lord himself… Homicide is the major leagues, the center ring, the show. It always has been. When Cain threw a cap into Abel, you don’t think the Big Guy told a couple of fresh uniforms to go down and work up the prosecution report. Hell no, he sent for a fucking detective. And it will always be that way, because the homicide unit of any urban police force has for generations been the natural habitat of that rarefied species: the thinking cop.”

Or how about this description of the homicide detective as interrogator, about convince a suspect that he should, indeed, confess:

“He becomes a salesman, a huckster as thieving and silver-tongued as any man who ever moved used cars or aluminum siding--more so, in fact, when you consider that he is selling long prison terms to customers who have no genuine need for the product.”

Here is a brief description of a crime scene that Rick Requer (the inspiration for William “Bunk” Moreland) works:

“(A) true tragedy in which a young girl has been bludgeoned by her cokehead of a boyfriend and her orphaned infant is left crying on a policewoman’s shoulder as the officer’s handheld radio squawks out citywide dispatch calls.”

At one point, two detectives, Dave Brown and Terry McLarney, spend several nights driving around West Baltimore (the Western) looking for Lenore, a prostitute who may or may not have witnessed a murder. After several near-misses (she was just here; she’s working Division Street; she went that way) they begin to question whether Lenore really exists:

“McLarney smiles, warm at the thought of a $20 cockhound defying every law of metaphysics. A translucent wraith, she walks the streets of West Baltimore immune to the forces of authority. Some paid their $20 and swear her to be real, but to generations of homicide detectives, she is but the stuff of dreams, destined to be Baltimore’s contribution to the treasure chest of American folklore: Paul Bunyan; the Headless Horseman of Tarrytown; the ghost ship Mary Celeste; Lenore, the Mystery Whore.”

That is just a taste of the book. A year of murder in the city of Baltimore. But really, a year spent with the detectives who work these murders, their jokes, and frustrations, and small successes. Described and detailed by a brilliant journalist.

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

David Simon

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Pyramid Scheme

nobody@vox.com(Ben Guest) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:18:48 -0800

Great interview with David Simon, creator of The Wire. My favorite quote:

Our social framework is "Can I get I promoted now, can I make a buck off it?" The entire country right now is like a pyramid scheme with no other ethic or social framework behind it.

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