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Hard Clumping
Mar 19, 2008

Y'ALL BREADY
FOR THIS

freebooter posted:

IIRC Bunk starts wearing track pants and his old lacrosse team hoody the minute he gets briefly assigned to the detail in Season 2.

Yep, and he hated it. Only did it because of Major Crimes' specific style of incognito.

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The North Tower
Aug 20, 2007

You should throw it in the ocean.
Wasn't sure if this was posted yet, but the HD re-release is scheduled for January 5, with a marathon streaming starting December 26:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-the-wire-hbo-high-def-digitally-remastered-20141202-story.html

Baltimore Sun posted:

The cable channel announced Tuesday that it is releasing a high-def, remastered version of the series on Jan. 5.

To promote the launch, the HBO Signature channel will air a marathon of all five seasons on "The Wire" starting on Dec. 26.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

The North Tower posted:

Wasn't sure if this was posted yet, but the HD re-release is scheduled for January 5, with a marathon streaming starting December 26:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-the-wire-hbo-high-def-digitally-remastered-20141202-story.html

Oh so they want to keep the annual lift in suicides over Christmas going through to the New Year too? :stare:

dreffen
Dec 3, 2005

MEDIOCRE, MORSOV!

Here read stuff that David Simon wrote about the HD re-release

http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-in-hd/

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

That's a great write-up, and has me actually quite interested in checking out the HD version.

David Simon posted:

At the last, I’m satisfied what while this new version of The Wire is not, in some specific ways, the film we first made, it has sufficient merit to exist as an alternate version. There are scenes that clearly improve in HD and in the widescreen format. But there are things that are not improved. And even with our best resizing, touchups and maneuver, there are some things that are simply not as good. That’s the inevitability: This new version, after all, exists in an aspect ratio that simply wasn’t intended or serviced by the filmmakers.

thathonkey
Jul 17, 2012
I finished a rewatch recently. Again. Last one before the remasters come out I promise. Season 1 is still my favorite though :shrug: The surprise of Kima getting shot, the crime scene investigation lead by Rawls, her refusing to id a shooter she wasnt certain of is just amazing amongst many other parts. Come at the king you best not miss and all.

thathonkey fucked around with this message at 13:23 on Dec 3, 2014

freebooter
Jul 7, 2009

dreffen posted:

Here read stuff that David Simon wrote about the HD re-release

http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-in-hd/

quote:

More fundamentally, there were still, upon our review, a good hundred or so scenes in which the widening revealed sync problems with actors who would otherwise have remained offscreen, or even the presence of crew or film equipment. These scenes, still evident in the version that HBO originally intended to broadcast several months ago, required redress.

Hahah wow.

grilldos
Mar 27, 2004

BUST A LOAF
IN THIS
YEAST CONFECTION
Grimey Drawer
That's commonplace.

My big takeaway from this piece is Bob Colesberry seems like a dope rear end dude and Simon is a lot more even-keel about this than the various headlines about his post claim.

BattleCake
Mar 12, 2012

I would just like to post this in case some people here haven't seen it yet, I love it way too much and I think it deserves more views:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iTJVz7nSao

algebra testes
Mar 5, 2011


Lipstick Apathy
Rewatching season 2 thanks to this thread.

Don't go under the bridge Frank. :smith:

Call Me Charlie
Dec 3, 2005

by Smythe
It looks like Amazon jumped the gun and uploaded the widescreen version to Amazon Prime. Doesn't seem to be playing in HD yet even though it has the HD tag on the selection screen.

Call Me Charlie fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Dec 17, 2014

TommyGun85
Jun 5, 2013
can anyone make or know where I can find an instrumental version of the season 2 opening theme?

Bleh Maestro
Aug 30, 2003
The Wire HD is up and running on HBO GO. Watching S1E1 now!

stev
Jan 22, 2013

Please be excited.



Why not just upscale the resolution and crop the edges off?

grilldos
Mar 27, 2004

BUST A LOAF
IN THIS
YEAST CONFECTION
Grimey Drawer

dreffen posted:

Here read stuff that David Simon wrote about the HD re-release

http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-in-hd/

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

LordPants posted:

Rewatching season 2 thanks to this thread.

Don't go under the bridge Frank. :smith:

Ziggy and Frank's stories are so tragic and parallel in a lot of ways. When you go back and rewatch the season there are opportunities in every single episode for Frank to realize that he's in over his head and give it up, but he's too stubborn to admit it to himself.

Same with Ziggy, there are so many times throughout the season where someone could have stopped and said "wait a minute, this guy is a goofball but he's clearly hurting and in a very messed up place, how can I help him?". Ziggy himself tries to explain it a few times(the conversation towards the end with Frank where they are walking along the docks) but he can't really articulate himself properly and that just feeds back into the vicious cycle he's in. Nick maybe would have been the one friend who could have helped but he gets wrapped up in his heroin bullshit and gets all excited that he's going to finally have some money.

The tragedy of it is how small a thing it probably would have taken to prevent it. If Ziggy had even one friend he could have gone to that understood him, he probably wouldn't have let his anger bottle up and explode to that extreme.

Aye Doc
Jul 19, 2007



Bleh Maestro posted:

The Wire HD is up and running on HBO GO. Watching S1E1 now!

looks like its finally time for that rewatch

Bleh Maestro
Aug 30, 2003

Aye Doc posted:

looks like its finally time for that rewatch

It feels so much different

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
God this looks beautiful.

My wife saw this was on and set the Tivo up for me while I slept. Now I have the entire day/night set.

I will buy this on Bluray even if its $200. This looks great.

Brock Samson
May 13, 2003

I let you know me, see me. I gave you a rare gift, but you didn't want it.

Yeah this is really nice. Like a whole new show or reenactment with the same actors.

kaworu
Jul 23, 2004

Oh my god this is like, perfect timing. It's been at least 2 or 3 years since I've had a Wire rewatch, and I've been meaning to for a while - but I wasn't expecting to watch practically a different show! I'd wait to buy it on blu-ray, but it just seems redundant when all 60 HD episodes are up on HBOGo.

Watching it, I must admit the Pilot at least looks very pretty and sharp and fills the screen nicely and all, but I always sort of liked the 4:3 SD aesthetic of The Wire; made the show feel more like a cousin of "Homicide" and a bit more closely related to that legacy of '90s cop television shows whose conventions The Wire played with and turned upside down, more or less.

Also, it's very odd I just finished watching The Affair which starred Dominic West - I hadn't seen him in anything in a while and it was strange to see how much older he was and how much better his American accent had gotten, I did get used to it. Now I'm back to Dominic West looking all young again right after I got used to him being old :eng99:

tofes
Mar 31, 2011

#1 Milpitas Dave and Buster's superfan since 2013
I'm in the middle of rewatching and now I have to go dig out my DVDs for the correct version, they could at least make the originals available in tandem.

TommyGun85
Jun 5, 2013
can someone fill me in on why it feels like a different show?

grilldos
Mar 27, 2004

BUST A LOAF
IN THIS
YEAST CONFECTION
Grimey Drawer

dreffen posted:

Here read stuff that David Simon wrote about the HD re-release

http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-in-hd/

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Well, that was really informative, and slightly depressing.

Sypher
Feb 4, 2003

Philthy posted:

Well, that was really informative, and slightly depressing.

How is it depressing? I tip my hat to HBO for actually keeping Simon in the loop with the transition. They could have easily just done it quick and dirty and released it back in Sept.

With that said, I just got done watching the first episode and while it does look extremely crisp and downright beautiful, it definitely feels different without that grainy 4:3 SD look.

kaworu
Jul 23, 2004

Sypher posted:

How is it depressing? I tip my hat to HBO for actually keeping Simon in the loop with the transition. They could have easily just done it quick and dirty and released it back in Sept.

With that said, I just got done watching the first episode and while it does look extremely crisp and downright beautiful, it definitely feels different without that grainy 4:3 SD look.

To be honest, I didn't much like it after an episode - not sure it's for me, really. It just loses something. It shouldn't look this crisp, and the closeups feel downright claustrophobic, which is wrong.

I think this is a good thing ultimately, though, because quite frankly The Wire has never been a particularly visual show. Rarely did I watch the show and think "Wow, these are gorgeous and striking visuals!" The whole thing is set on city streets and in cramped buildings/offices/housing projects/vacant and condemned buildings... And there is a certain urban beauty to it all in a weird way, which really works especially well in seasons 3 and 4 - when Simon said they really threw themselves into it. Hamsterdam and the vacant houses and such are all such memorable locations, though season 2 especially is probably visually the most exciting and well-done season from my point of view.

But my point here really is that on this show it's so much more about the story and the writing and the characters and the social commentary. If presenting it in 16:9 means a lot more people watch the show for the first time because it looks as sharp as everything else now (which quite frankly is significant) then it's ultimately a very, very good thing.

PostNouveau
Sep 3, 2011

VY till I die
Grimey Drawer
Anyone involved in law enforcement (or hell, the drug trade) who can speak to the realism of the central plot of Season 2? The huge shipments run through the port just seem like such a big risk for a cartel to take.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
For me the 4:3 aspect kept me out of being drawn in as much as I could have been. I constantly noticed it, even in the middle of tense scenes. I'm nearly done with episode 3 and this is just amazing to me.

TommyGun85
Jun 5, 2013

PostNouveau posted:

Anyone involved in law enforcement (or hell, the drug trade) who can speak to the realism of the central plot of Season 2? The huge shipments run through the port just seem like such a big risk for a cartel to take.

the problem as I see it would be with the Greeks reaching out to the elected head of the local union who then involves a worker (horse) and two of his family members without the Greeks having issue.

Bleh Maestro
Aug 30, 2003

TommyGun85 posted:

the problem as I see it would be with the Greeks reaching out to the elected head of the local union who then involves a worker (horse) and two of his family members without the Greeks having issue.

I think it's probably feasible. I mean for them to run their business smoothly that's how deep into the dock Union or whatever they would need to be. And the fact that frank involved horse and his family...he can't exactly do it all by himself can he? He needed Horse to disappear it through their checking system and needed nick to physically move the containers and whatnot. Plus who can you trust more than family?

I'm also guessing that David Simon didn't just make it up. He used his years of crime reporting as the inspiration for the show.

Bleh Maestro fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Dec 27, 2014

PostNouveau
Sep 3, 2011

VY till I die
Grimey Drawer

TommyGun85 posted:

the problem as I see it would be with the Greeks reaching out to the elected head of the local union who then involves a worker (horse) and two of his family members without the Greeks having issue.

It's a complicating factor for sure. But the big issue I have is that they're bringing it in in one big bulk shipment. So if that goes down, they lose millions of dollars and everyone in their local network goes to prison for a long, long time.

I would think real drug operations bring in large quantities by having a constant stream of small shipsments coming in. But I don't know anything about how that stuff works, so for all I know David Simon based this plot point on a real-life cartel.

Bleh Maestro
Aug 30, 2003
I mean it pretty much explains it in the show. At the end they had to abandon a container full of heroin but that's the risk they take. They were way ahead of the cops, due largely in part to having a connection in the FBI who was able to loop them in on the entire investigation. They fled the country shortly and changed their identities and then it was back to business. There is the question of who they used at the docks when they came back but there are multiple ports so who knows maybe they just penetrated a different one.

Also from what I know about cartel smuggling in the southwest where I live and elsewhere is its kind of like throwing a handful of spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. A good deal of product gets intercepted but at the same time they get plenty through safely.

hhhmmm
Jan 1, 2006
...?

PostNouveau posted:

It's a complicating factor for sure. But the big issue I have is that they're bringing it in in one big bulk shipment. So if that goes down, they lose millions of dollars and everyone in their local network goes to prison for a long, long time.

I would think real drug operations bring in large quantities by having a constant stream of small shipsments coming in. But I don't know anything about how that stuff works, so for all I know David Simon based this plot point on a real-life cartel.

Prop Joe alone bought 5 pounds of heroin a week, a shipment of ~150 pounds (the last shipment that the Police caught) was "small" (or it might have been kilos and not pounds, can't remember). At the quantities they were operating at, you can't make the shipments small enough to get significantly below maximum sentencing either way. It doesn't matter that much if you get caught smuggling 10 pounds or 150 pounds of pure heroin.

Stairmaster
Jun 8, 2012

Wait did it actually start airing?

Bleh Maestro
Aug 30, 2003

hhhmmm posted:

Prop Joe alone bought 5 pounds of heroin a week, a shipment of ~150 pounds (the last shipment that the Police caught) was "small" (or it might have been kilos and not pounds, can't remember). At the quantities they were operating at, you can't make the shipments small enough to get significantly below maximum sentencing either way. It doesn't matter that much if you get caught smuggling 10 pounds or 150 pounds of pure heroin.

They were definitely kilos

Brock Samson
May 13, 2003

I let you know me, see me. I gave you a rare gift, but you didn't want it.

gently caress trophy 2k14 posted:

Wait did it actually start airing?

Marathon on HBO Signature today. Not like I had anything to do.

Bleh Maestro
Aug 30, 2003

gently caress trophy 2k14 posted:

Wait did it actually start airing?

I think it's airing on one of the HBO channels starting today, but the whole series is up on HBO GO.

The only thing I wish is they left the option to watch it in SD 4:3 also. Doesn't look like they did.

geeves
Sep 16, 2004

PostNouveau posted:

Anyone involved in law enforcement (or hell, the drug trade) who can speak to the realism of the central plot of Season 2? The huge shipments run through the port just seem like such a big risk for a cartel to take.

A massive amount of product is thrown at the US borders and harbor entry points with the knowledge there will be some loss. There is so much at any given time in every city that you probably know someone (or know someone who knows someone) who can make a call and get an eightball or quarter or more of cocaine within an hour. We read about the idiots and people who make stupid decisions or the unfortunate who have been forced to mule. There are too many foreign goods to hide drugs among to search it all, even if it needs to be cleared by customs. You're talking about entities that have so much money they can basically throw several tons of drugs several different ways knowing some will be found to see what works. They've even made makeshift submarines which if you've seen a documentary about them is basically hell on sea from the poor ventilation, etc.

The Kaiser Soze type guy or The Greek? The major foreign cartel player sitting locally in the shadows and nobody knows who they are? It worked because they worked with Prop Joe who everyone knew was in the game, but he kept it quiet and didn't attract attention That might be more unrealistic than a union boss taking a risk to keep everyone employed long enough and raise enough money to dredge the river in hopes of revitalizing the shipping business. It also worked because Frank was in largely in denial about what was in the containers. He suspected drugs or just common smuggling of goods and he was doing right by his union brothers, so he took it as an acceptable risk.

Nobody would (or nobody wants to) suspect human cargo. For most Americans, Human Trafficking is thought to be an Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia problem. No way does it happen here. A good friend of mine works with survivors of it and their stories are terrible. If the container in episode 2.1 was just drugs everyone would disavow knowledge and nothing would happen. Even with the bodies, things probably would have died down and returned to normal if not for Valchek's meddling.

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PostNouveau
Sep 3, 2011

VY till I die
Grimey Drawer

geeves posted:

A massive amount of product is thrown at the US borders and harbor entry points with the knowledge there will be some loss. There is so much at any given time in every city that you probably know someone (or know someone who knows someone) who can make a call and get an eightball or quarter or more of cocaine within an hour. We read about the idiots and people who make stupid decisions or the unfortunate who have been forced to mule. There are too many foreign goods to hide drugs among to search it all, even if it needs to be cleared by customs. You're talking about entities that have so much money they can basically throw several tons of drugs several different ways knowing some will be found to see what works. They've even made makeshift submarines which if you've seen a documentary about them is basically hell on sea from the poor ventilation, etc.

drat.

Within an hour you say ...

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