Is 21 a bust? Ninja Gaiden DS tests our skills on the stylus. Plus, we tap The Wire, and form a more perfect union with John Adams.
This week in Movies:
21 is the new film adaptation of Bringing Down the House, a book detailing the former MIT blackjack team, and its efforts to take Las Vegas for millions by counting cards. Alex, Dan, and Jeff ante up to give their take.
Ben Stiller's returns to directing this summer with the action comedy, Tropic Thunder. The guys offer their impressions of the trailer.
This week in Video Games:
Team Ninja's popular Ninja Gaiden series has always held a high standard for challenge and responsiveness in the action genre. The newest entry introduces a bold new control scheme, designed specifically for the Nintendo DS. Alex, Dan, and Jeff unleash their styluses (styli?) on Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword.
This week in TV:
The gauntlet has been thrown down between gritty cop dramas. The guys finally get around to discussing the fan-favorite HBO series, The Wire, and make the inevitable comparison to The Shield.
Speaking of HBO, the "not TV" network has debuted a new miniseries chronicling one of America' founding fathers, John Adams. Alex, Dan, and Jeff eat their broccoli and start their history lesson.
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Posted by longklaw on 04/07/2008 at 07:02:50 pm in Totally Rad Show
I just bought the first season of Babylon 5 myself. I haven't seen these episodes in about 10 years. Please don't judge it by the first season alone. It gets much better after that.
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Posted by nobodysleeps on 04/07/2008 at 10:06:56 am in Totally Rad Show
". I've seen it a few times, thought it was a pretty good show, but nothing about it really moved me to have to see more. Although this discussion might make me use that Netflix code and see he whole series so i can really compare the shows.
Now with that being said, The Wire is one of my favorite shows of all time. I'm aware that my POV may be slightly bias cause I'm a native of Baltimore but I have never seen anything that captures the reality of life in the city like The Wire. Every character in the show is believable to me cause I have meet them or heard/read about them over the years. Like, Bubbles is a straight up guy just got caught by the lure of drug addiction. He aways had a "heart of gold" as Jeff put it, its just that addiction drove his mind and body in a different direction. Now im not sure how this sounds, but its alot of junkies that are really cool people. And i don't remember seeing a junkie depicted quite how Bubbles is. He isn't a heartless dirtbag that only cares about himself and the next high. But it would have been easy to make a character like that, but by making him the way they did just makes the character real IMO.
And another poster stated that the show is "frustrating". Well, welcome to Baltimore City. If its one way to describe how this place works its frustrating. Cause no matter what you do, the system in place wins and your right back where you started. Bleak and unsettling as it sounds, its just the way it is. Gotta lot more to say but unfortunately I have to go to work. Big fan of the show and i hope i didn't embarrass myself with this first post. Peace"
It's great that you were driven to post about The Wire for your first post. I have so much to say but I think so many people are saying what I want to say better than I can. I just can't really stay at my computer and articulate it the way I want because there is so much I want to say and I feel if I try to I'll just start rambling and sound like an idiot.
----
I've been watching the Wire again from the beginning since I was trying to get my dad to watch it. He really really likes it and he never likes anything. So I'm happy I got my dad into it.
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Posted by Bruce Leroy on 04/07/2008 at 09:08:47 am in Totally Rad Show
Jeff, I do notice all the other stuff, which is why despite my misgivings I still watch the show. I'm just saying that, if it weren't for that aspect of the program, The Shield would be much higher on my list. (But still nowhere near The Wire, which IMO is easily the best television show ever produced.)
If it were just me, I'd probably agree with you that it might be a silly point to make and maybe I was just overreacting. But I've talked to a lot of other people of color who have seen the show, and it's not just me. Nuff said.
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Posted by 3rdSEED on 04/07/2008 at 08:54:36 am in Totally Rad Show
First and foremost i'd like tho say that i never really got into The Shield. I've seen it a few times, thought it was a pretty good show, but nothing about it really moved me to have to see more. Although this discussion might make me use that Netflix code and see he whole series so i can really compare the shows.
Now with that being said, The Wire is one of my favorite shows of all time. I'm aware that my POV may be slightly bias cause I'm a native of Baltimore but I have never seen anything that captures the reality of life in the city like The Wire. Every character in the show is believable to me cause I have meet them or heard/read about them over the years. Like, Bubbles is a straight up guy just got caught by the lure of drug addiction. He aways had a "heart of gold" as Jeff put it, its just that addiction drove his mind and body in a different direction. Now im not sure how this sounds, but its alot of junkies that are really cool people. And i don't remember seeing a junkie depicted quite how Bubbles is. He isn't a heartless dirtbag that only cares about himself and the next high. But it would have been easy to make a character like that, but by making him the way they did just makes the character real IMO.
And another poster stated that the show is "frustrating". Well, welcome to Baltimore City. If its one way to describe how this place works its frustrating. Cause no matter what you do, the system in place wins and your right back where you started. Bleak and unsettling as it sounds, its just the way it is. Gotta lot more to say but unfortunately I have to go to work. Big fan of the show and i hope i didn't embarrass myself with this first post. Peace
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Posted by TNVWBOY on 04/07/2008 at 05:53:49 am in Totally Rad Show
Wow this The Shield vs. The Wire discussion/debate is STILL going. Heh! (watch this), I've never even seen either one. :P
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Posted by DarthEnder on 04/07/2008 at 01:09:38 am in Totally Rad Show
"The other thing is, if I wanna listen to some guys talk about sports, I already have, like, 4 stations on my TV that do that 24/7.
If I wanna hear guys talk about geek stuff, TRS is an oasis in the desert.
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Posted by TRSJeff on 04/07/2008 at 12:04:49 am in Totally Rad Show
"The show consistently shows that only Mackey and his crew are capable of stopping street level criminals. The people who respect due process and the rights of the Blacks and Latinos in the community are portrayed as being weak and unable to deal with the gang leaders and the drug dealers. Sure, Claudette and Dutch can catch a serial killer every once in a while, but even they are depicted as completely helpless when it comes to the street corner types. The show seems to say that to deal with those kind of people, you need to ignore the rule of law.
IIRC, there was one episode in season 1 in which this was very explicit. There was a Latino officer, a former gang banger, whose MO was to treat the gang members with respect. Vic thought that was nonsense, you had to crack their heads and let God sort them out. By the end of the episode, it turned out that Mackey's way was correct; the gang leader the Latino cop trusted lied to him, and at the end of the episode the Latino cop was indiscriminately cracking brown heads just like Mackey was. And all was right with the world.
I don't say this to cast aspersions on anybody who enjoys the show. I enjoy the show. But if you talk to people of color who have seen a lot of it, many agree that there is some very ugly racial stuff at the core of the show's perspective. Beyond the n-bombs the characters drop, and the episodes named after racial slurs (there was an episode in the 3rd or 4th season, IIRC, named "Tarbaby", which prominently featured a young black girl) there is an unquestioned perspective on poor people of color that I find disturbing.
True enough, the show does not take sides about Mackey, but it does have a definite perspective on how poor black and brown criminals are most effectively dealt with. Mackey regularly engages in brutality, that brutality is never questioned, and it's portrayed as not only as being an effective way to deal with certain suspects, but as being the only effective way to deal with certain suspects. Now that might not be so conscious on the writer's part to qualify as an agenda, but it's definitely a position, and one from which the writers, in my recollection, never deviate.
I'm sure it's possible to enjoy the show and never really notice this. I enjoyed the show despite the fact that I couldn't help but notice it. So I'm not saying anything about the people who are fans of the show. I bet the writers might not even realize they're doing this until somebody points it out to them."
You are certainly entitled to your reaction here, Bruce, but it seems to me you're deciding to view The Shield from this perspective. It is just as easy to notice the numerous white criminals that Mackey et al bust, or the amazing, intelligent, capable, honorable acts from minority characters all over the show, from CCH Pounder, Forest Whittaker, Michael Jace, and Benito Martinez and more. Indeed, Vic Mackey and the Strike Team are criminals themselves! Mackey's brutality may be shown to be effective, but it is precisely because he is just as base and out of control as his opponents. That's the point! I respect a lot of your previous points, but honestly think this is a silly criticism for the show. This is not a show about race. No one is a good guy and no one is a bad guy. Everyone is a shade of gray.
-Jeff
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Posted by Bruce Leroy on 04/06/2008 at 11:40:24 pm in Totally Rad Show
"
The show consistently shows that only Mackey and his crew are capable of stopping street level criminals. The people who respect due process and the rights of the Blacks and Latinos in the community are portrayed as being weak and unable to deal with the gang leaders and the drug dealers. Sure, Claudette and Dutch can catch a serial killer every once in a while, but even they are depicted as completely helpless when it comes to the street corner types. The show seems to say that to deal with those kind of people, you need to ignore the rule of law.
IIRC, there was one episode in season 1 in which this was very explicit. There was a Latino officer, a former gang banger, whose MO was to treat the gang members with respect. Vic thought that was nonsense, you had to crack their heads and let God sort them out. By the end of the episode, it turned out that Mackey's way was correct; the gang leader the Latino cop trusted lied to him, and at the end of the episode the Latino cop was indiscriminately cracking brown heads just like Mackey was. And all was right with the world.
I don't say this to cast aspersions on anybody who enjoys the show. I enjoy the show. But if you talk to people of color who have seen a lot of it, many agree that there is some very ugly racial stuff at the core of the show's perspective. Beyond the n-bombs the characters drop, and the episodes named after racial slurs (there was an episode in the 3rd or 4th season, IIRC, named "Tarbaby", which prominently featured a young black girl) there is an unquestioned perspective on poor people of color that I find disturbing.
True enough, the show does not take sides about Mackey, but it does have a definite perspective on how poor black and brown criminals are most effectively dealt with. Mackey regularly engages in brutality, that brutality is never questioned, and it's portrayed as not only as being an effective way to deal with certain suspects, but as being the only effective way to deal with certain suspects. Now that might not be so conscious on the writer's part to qualify as an agenda, but it's definitely a position, and one from which the writers, in my recollection, never deviate.
I'm sure it's possible to enjoy the show and never really notice this. I enjoyed the show despite the fact that I couldn't help but notice it. So I'm not saying anything about the people who are fans of the show. I bet the writers might not even realize they're doing this until somebody points it out to them.
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Posted by Smartypants on 04/06/2008 at 03:18:41 pm in Totally Rad Show
"
No. You're correct that The Wire is social commentary. But it is social commentary with an AGENDA. It has no interest in putting the audience into a moral dilemma. It wants to make a point. A VERY SPECIFIC point. The Wire has already made up its mind about how things would work if you legalized drugs, or started charter programs in school - there is no ambiguity there. All it is interested in is showing the audience how tragic it is that THE SYSTEM disallows such forward thinking.
The Shield is bolder. It presents its drama without taking sides. The most brilliant thing about the show is that the "enemies" (for example, Forest Whittaker) are actually correct! They are armed with the truth!
-Jeff"
This is one of the key points, to me. Since The Wire really is a show that is trying to make a specific point, after a while I just kind of say, "Ok, I get the point... life sucks, no matter how hard you try, the system is going to chew you up and spit you out." (I know I'm oversimplifying here) It's a good point to make, and it does it really well, and it's still an enthralling show to watch. But that's one reason I think The Shield is better.
Also, Bruce, you said you did not like the way The Shield made the point that these bad neighborhoods need someone like Vic Mackey to get the job done. I never thought the show was trying to make that point. As Jeff was saying, I don't think The Shield really takes a side, it doesn't have an agenda or a point to make. It's just a drama that puts these characters (that you grow very invested in) in incredibly difficult situations, and we watch as they struggle to deal with them somehow. That's why I love The Shield.
P.S. - Earlier I think someone argued that Omar is not a Robin Hood character... he's just a thief, he never gives to the poor. This, however, is not true. In the first season we see him give free drugs to that woman who comes up to him, carrying a baby.
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Posted by damnedeyez on 04/05/2008 at 06:54:37 pm in Totally Rad Show
...
can we skip the glowing part though?
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