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DasNeonLicht
Dec 25, 2005

"...and the light is on and burning brightly for the masses."
Fallen Rib
I'm sure it was mentioned earlier, but for anyone who doesn't know, The Ringer's Way Down in the Hole podcast makes a good companion for any rewatch. It helped me pick up on a lot my second time through.

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Bird in a Blender
Nov 17, 2005

It's amazing what they can do with computers these days.

Generation Kill is great and an honest look at the start of the Iraq war. Be warned that it dumps a lot of military jargon on you with no explanation, kind of like the wire. You’ll probably need to look some things up and watching with captions will probably help.

I loved the first two seasons of Treme, but seasons 3 and 4 aren’t great. I’d say they’re some of the worst David Simons seasons he has done, but that’s still better than most TV. If you don’t like the music, you will have a hard time liking any of it though.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


Yeah as someone who doesn't particularly care about new orleans or jazz, i found treme very hard to get into. i finished the first season, thought it was fine, didn't feel compelled to follow it any further

I did enjoy the exchange with the insurance customer service guy who was denying the flood claim under the explanation that the damage was caused by wind (or something lovely like that), which went something like:

"how do you sleep at night?"

"i drink!"

Hasselblad
Dec 13, 2017

My dumbass opinions are only outweighed by my racism.

No one forgot that I exist to defend violent cops, champion chaining down immigrants, and have trash opinions on cooking.

Bird in a Blender posted:

Generation Kill is great and an honest look at the start of the Iraq war.

Not to second guess, but what are you basing that on, firsthand knowledge? I haven't yet watched it, but I take everything on TV with a grain of salt.

Eason the Fifth
Apr 9, 2020

Hasselblad posted:

Not to second guess, but what are you basing that on, firsthand knowledge? I haven't yet watched it, but I take everything on TV with a grain of salt.

Not the OP, but I was in the Marine Corps 2001-2007 as an infantry mortarman, and was a part of the invasion of Iraq (deployed March - Oct 2003). GK nails what being an infantry marine was like back then and what a stupid goddamn war that was. The attention to detail (like some of the cast wearing the jungle boots with the soles you could only get done at Saigon Sam's down in jacksonville) is absolutely astonishing.

The only 'off' thing about it is the final sequence, but it's off because the writers of the show needed a way to wrap up the story with some kind of reflection/meaningful thematic statement. It's a good scene but a little forced.

Actually, if anyone has any questions about the Marines or the invasion of Iraq while they're watching GK, I'm happy to field them. It was like 20 years ago so my memory might be a little hazy but I'm sure I can still help folks navigate the military nomenclature.

ricro
Dec 22, 2008
Generation Kill is the best non-Wire Simon show for me, but I liked Show Me a Hero and The Deuce a lot too

I like Treme but it’s such a tough sell. It’s mostly a low-key hangout show about culture, reveling in music and food, but then every once in a while something just absurdly grim happens

Bird in a Blender
Nov 17, 2005

It's amazing what they can do with computers these days.

Hasselblad posted:

Not to second guess, but what are you basing that on, firsthand knowledge? I haven't yet watched it, but I take everything on TV with a grain of salt.

Mostly that it was written by a Rolling Stones journalist embedded with the unit, and one of the actors on GK was actually in that same unit. I would assume he would’ve said something if it was not accurate. I think it’s gotten a lot of praise for the general accuracy of how hosed up everything was at the time.

Boywhiz88
Sep 11, 2005

floating 26" off da ground. BURR!
Been thinking about the S3 exchange between McNulty and d’Agostino where she offers cru de te, and McNulty goes “crudity??!” Ugh, painfully awkward.

Hasselblad
Dec 13, 2017

My dumbass opinions are only outweighed by my racism.

No one forgot that I exist to defend violent cops, champion chaining down immigrants, and have trash opinions on cooking.

Eason the Fifth posted:

Not the OP, but I was in the Marine Corps 2001-2007 as an infantry mortarman, and was a part of the invasion of Iraq (deployed March - Oct 2003). GK nails what being an infantry marine was like back then and what a stupid goddamn war that was. The attention to detail (like some of the cast wearing the jungle boots with the soles you could only get done at Saigon Sam's down in jacksonville) is absolutely astonishing.

The only 'off' thing about it is the final sequence, but it's off because the writers of the show needed a way to wrap up the story with some kind of reflection/meaningful thematic statement. It's a good scene but a little forced.

Actually, if anyone has any questions about the Marines or the invasion of Iraq while they're watching GK, I'm happy to field them. It was like 20 years ago so my memory might be a little hazy but I'm sure I can still help folks navigate the military nomenclature.


Bird in a Blender posted:

Mostly that it was written by a Rolling Stones journalist embedded with the unit, and one of the actors on GK was actually in that same unit. I would assume he would’ve said something if it was not accurate. I think it’s gotten a lot of praise for the general accuracy of how hosed up everything was at the time.

Thanks, it's been in my watch list for years, and I haven't gotten around to watching it.

HootTheOwl
May 13, 2012

Hootin and shootin
Is there a Generation Kill thread? I started the series last night and this definitely feels like "The Wire: Iraq"

Eason the Fifth
Apr 9, 2020
There was one when the show came out, but I'm sure it archived by now. I know there's been another one since then, probably a few years ago, but I'm and idiot and no good with SA's search.

pokeyman
Nov 26, 2006

That elephant ate my entire platoon.

HootTheOwl posted:

Is there a Generation Kill thread? I started the series last night and this definitely feels like "The Wire: Iraq"

:justpost: and link it here!

Aces High
Mar 26, 2010

Nah! A little chocolate will do




Eason the Fifth posted:

Not the OP, but I was in the Marine Corps 2001-2007 as an infantry mortarman, and was a part of the invasion of Iraq (deployed March - Oct 2003). GK nails what being an infantry marine was like back then and what a stupid goddamn war that was. The attention to detail (like some of the cast wearing the jungle boots with the soles you could only get done at Saigon Sam's down in jacksonville) is absolutely astonishing.

The only 'off' thing about it is the final sequence, but it's off because the writers of the show needed a way to wrap up the story with some kind of reflection/meaningful thematic statement. It's a good scene but a little forced.

Actually, if anyone has any questions about the Marines or the invasion of Iraq while they're watching GK, I'm happy to field them. It was like 20 years ago so my memory might be a little hazy but I'm sure I can still help folks navigate the military nomenclature.

I would be down for a "let's rewatch Generation Kill" thread, I found out about the show through this thread

Bird in a Blender
Nov 17, 2005

It's amazing what they can do with computers these days.

They finally got Omar. RIP to a real one.

Stare-Out
Mar 11, 2010

gently caress.

sticksy
May 26, 2004
Nap Ghost
:rip:

https://nypost.com/2021/09/06/actor-michael-k-williams-found-dead-in-nyc-apartment/

quote:

“The Wire’’ actor Michael K. Williams was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment Monday afternoon, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

Drug paraphernalia was found in the apartment, suggesting a possible overdose, sources said.

Williams, 54, was found dead in the living room of his Kent Avenue penthouse by his nephew, sources said.

The Flatbush native was famous for his role as Omar Little in the gritty TV series “The Wire’’ and as Chalky White in “Boardwalk Empire.’’

Eason the Fifth
Apr 9, 2020
poo poo I thought was just a post about the scene in the show

OD too, it looks like, man that sucks :(

christmas boots
Oct 15, 2012

To these sing-alongs 🎤of siren 🧜🏻‍♀️songs
To oohs😮 to ahhs😱 to 👏big👏applause👏
With all of my 😡anger I scream🤬 and shout📢
🇺🇸America🦅, I love you 🥰but you're freaking 💦me 😳out
Biscuit Hider

Eason the Fifth posted:

poo poo I thought was just a post about the scene in the show

OD too, it looks like, man that sucks :(

Same, I thought someone just got to that point in their watch.

gently caress.

Stare-Out
Mar 11, 2010

And gently caress the NY Post just in general. Goddamn what a loving drag this is.

Barry Foster
Dec 24, 2007

What is going wrong with that one (face is longer than it should be)
God, that's awful :(

zenguitarman
Apr 6, 2009

Come on, lemme see ya shake your tail feather


gently caress. Really bummed about this.

Boywhiz88
Sep 11, 2005

floating 26" off da ground. BURR!
Nooooooooo!!!!

Fellis
Feb 14, 2012

Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them.
Literally just finished the series with some friends earlier today (their first watch), so it was a real bummer to find out :(

stephenthinkpad
Jan 2, 2020
Rest in peace god drat it.

Just finished Bosch S7 finale 2 days ago.

Ginette Reno
Nov 18, 2006

How Doers get more done
Fun Shoe
Man that really blows. I never knew he was into drugs. He always seemed pretty with it in any interviews I watched. Really awful news.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


I think I read an article that he was using cocaine during some of the wire, but that he’d kicked it. I guess addiction never really lets you go, this sucks, he should have had a lot of good years ahead of him :(

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

gently caress me, yeah I just assumed Bird in a Blender had just got to that point in their watch. gently caress. :smith:

Rollie Fingers
Jul 28, 2002

Fuuuck. Such a great actor.

I only watched The Wire last year and I still sometimes watch Omar clips on Youtube because his performance was so charismatic. I thought he was the standout performer in Boardwalk Empire as well.

Eat This Glob
Jan 14, 2008

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Who will wipe this blood off us? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent?

Yeah, he was great as Chalky in Boardwalk. He was really good in. Lovecraft Country. What a pisser. I have an 18 year old cat named Omar because I loved that character so much. RIP to a real one.

Stare-Out
Mar 11, 2010

https://twitter.com/WendellPierce/status/1434986053539176456?s=20

Bird in a Blender
Nov 17, 2005

It's amazing what they can do with computers these days.

Yea sorry, I should’ve been more clear about what happened.

GoutPatrol
Oct 17, 2009

*Stupid Babby*

From the NYT bio:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/arts/michael-k-williams-dead.html

quote:

Mr. Williams played Omar Little, a charming vigilante who held up low-level drug dealers, perhaps the most memorable character on a series many consider among the best shows in television history.

Off camera, however, his life was often in disarray. He wasted his earnings from “The Wire” on drugs, a spiral that led him to living out of a suitcase on the floor of a house in Newark, an experience he described with candor in an article that appeared on nj.com in 2012.

He finished filming the series with support from his church in Newark, but the drug addiction stayed. In 2008, he had a moment of clarity at a Barack Obama presidential rally in Pennsylvania. With Mr. Williams in the crowd with his mother, Mr. Obama remarked that “The Wire” was the best show on television and that Omar Little was his favorite character.

They met afterward, but Mr. Williams, who was high, could barely speak. “Hearing my name come out of his mouth woke me up,” Mr. Williams told The New York Times in 2017. “I realized that my work could actually make a difference.”

God, this is incredibly sad. It is always hard to get past these demons. RIP

Dr Kool-AIDS
Mar 26, 2004

It's hosed up how many people who die from drug use are people who've previously kicked the habit. Like if anyone would understand the dangers, you'd think it would be them. Obviously that siren song must be alluring as hell though, because it happens a lot.

Tosk
Feb 22, 2013

I am sorry. I have no vices for you to exploit.

RIP, it seems like he was a real good but troubled soul. The best character on the best show with a cast full of great characters.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


Sinteres posted:

It's hosed up how many people who die from drug use are people who've previously kicked the habit. Like if anyone would understand the dangers, you'd think it would be them. Obviously that siren song must be alluring as hell though, because it happens a lot.

Addiction is a motherfucker yeah; for some drugs you’re never ever really free of it, you just have to work to stay clean every day.

Dunno if this is the case here, but tolerance is a bitch too; if you manage to kick the habit for long enough, your old normal dose can suddenly become an OD

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Yeah, and appropriately enough David Simon covers this in great depth really well in The Corner (the book) where he really hammers home again and again just how deeply drug addiction gets its hooks in, and one of the more dangerous things is when somebody who has gotten clean decides to indulge "just one more time" and takes the same amount as they would have back when they were using every day not realizing their tolerance has plummeted.

meanolmrcloud
Apr 5, 2004

rock out with your stock out

I’m grateful that I kicked my heroin/crack habit when I did, right around 2014 is when deaths spiked due to fentanyl and nothing could really be considered ‘safe’. I’m nearly ten years clean and I still miss crack some days. I know one or two extremely successful people in recovery, but if I was a world-renowned figure with tons of money, I’m not positive I’d be able to stay sober.

This is a huge bummer, and my heart breaks knowing how lonely and tough that life can be, even for seemingly larger-than-life people

fuckpot
May 20, 2007

Lurking beneath the water
The future Immortal awaits

Team Anasta
Omar no :(

deoju
Jul 11, 2004

All the pieces matter.
Nap Ghost
Will he be missed?

:omarcomin:

RIP

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Orange Devil
Oct 1, 2010

Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!
Man what the gently caress. He gave such a tour de force in Lovecraft Country, too.

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