The Wire - Season 1

My oh my where to start? The Wire is probably the greatest tv show I've ever seen. People who haven't seen it, I pity but I'm also quite jelous of - simply because they don't know what's going to happen. I must have watched the first series of The Wire at least 3 times now, and it gets better with each viewing.

The first regular character we get to see is Detective Jimmy McNulty, binge drinking expert with a huge drive to crack cases, and hated by many of his superiors. The case in question for this series is instigated by McNulty sharing info with a judge friend of his, about a local drug lord who controls Baltimore's west side projects, but nothing is ever done about it. After McNulty makes his feelings known, the judge uses his leverage to get the Baltimore PD to get a team together to loosely investigate the drug lord, Avon Barksdale.

Avon and his number two Stringer Bell have slowly got their way to the top of the ladder of Baltimore's west side, but now have a trail of bodies folowing them. Nephew D'Angelo Barksdale is found not guilty of one murder, all because of a key witness changing their story in court, after a meeting from Stringer Bell. D'Angelo is then put back onto working drugs sales at The Pit, along with youngsters Wallace, Bodie and Poot, who know nothing else except life in the drug game. D'Angelo holds affection for young Wallace, realising that deep down he has a good heart, but also tries to guide his crew without taking their eyes off the prize, but also delivering a few home truth's about the game

The difference between the cops in The Wire and most other shows is huge. In the majority of American police shows I've seen, it's always been about catching the bad guy and nothing else. The whole idea of 'protect and serve' is only laughed at. This is a show about real police officers who care about the job at hand and the big picture, and the struggles they face when superiors are only interested in becoming even higher up the chain of command. Watching the likes of McNulty and Lester Freamon dedicate themselves to the case, only to have the rules chaged from above so many times. Even when picking up pieces left from over officers, good cops will find out the truth, as shown in the glorious "Fuck" crime scene between McNulty and Bunk

One of the best features of The Wire is that is played like almost no other tv show. It is a slow burner. You watch things fall into place and are ultimately rewarded for dedication, unlike most shows where the bad guys are caught before the credits roll. There are many references to previous episodes and events. Writer David Simon has openly expressed that the show does ask it's audience to watch the show like in no way that's ever happened before, and everyone who does will be well and truly rewarded. Having a show with a complex and smart plot that is executed as well as this is pretty hard to find. The fact that what The Wire depicts is truer to real life than every other show I've ever seen is even more remarkable, especially when the story of Wallace unfolds.

Special mention to Bubbles, the hard working homeless drug addict with the most humanity on the show, and Bunk, McNulty's partner in solving cases and heavy drinking. Omar is also worthy of secial praise, Baltimore's own Robin Hood with his own unique code on life in the game

Queens Of The Stone Age - Queens Of The Stone Age

Last week QOTSA re-released...finally...their self titled debut album

I should probably say before starting that the original version of this album is only just my favourite QOTSA record (just pipping the amazing Rated R re-released last year). Being a big Kyuss fan, this album is probably the one that sounds closest to Josh Homme's previous creation. There's still elements of the robotic playing carried of Kyuss, but not as frequent and certainly not as long.

Opening track Regular John, and following track Avon are such a great introductions to Queens. Seeing as Josh never sang for Kyuss, that job going to the brilliant John Garcia, you hear Josh finding his voice and battling through nerves it seems. Regular John is still a favourite of mine and sounds great live too.

Fuzzy guitar sounds will always grab my attention, especially when they're produced exactly as they're played. One of my many gripes about music, and films to a degree, these days is the overproduction of it all. I hear far too many songs where everything sounds all "nice, clean and polished, which won't hurt anyone!!!". Except my ears. Seriously, hearing bands these days is pretty annoying in that more often than not you can guess what's going to happen next, because all the hard work of finding the noise/riff/melody that's beautifully tucked away somewhere is presented to you. Sort of like say, playing a video game from the start with cheat codes activated and finishing the game with no effort rather than getting good at the game and playing it from scratch.  Fortunately, there are distorted guitar noises all over this record, and what I tend to find is that re-releases tend to make everything louder, which is no different here.

The re-release also contains 3 tracks not on the original, including one of my good friend Clewzy's favourite's called The Bronze. The other two are These Aren't The Droids You're Looking For and Spiders And Vinearoons. And the best thing about the new additions is that they don't make what was already a great album worse, but enhance it. Containing great songs like How To Handle a Rope, You Can't Quit Me Baby and forgotten classic Give The Mule What He Wants, the three additions are certainly not out of place.

This record also has amongst it my favourite Queens Of The Stone Age song, Mexicola. I just love the angry and almost hungover sound of the bass, which when combined with Josh Homme's guitar sounds like a sledgehammer smashing into a wall. The guitar itself just sounds like dripping electricity oozing from everywhere around you. Again on this song you hear Josh finding his voice and almost quite unsure of how to sing this song. I really struggle to sing the praises of songs and why I like them so much. With this one I probably guess it's cos whenever I've seen Queens live it's been the song I've had the most fun hearing (although A Song For The Dead with Kyle Ray at Hyde Park will live with me forever)

All in all, this is still my favourite QOTSA album and will still probably go down as a criminally underrated album. If I'm in a pub/bar with a juke box, I'll always have a look to see if anything from this record is on it, and will more than likely play it. Which for me shows just how good it really is

RIP Mike Starr

Just read that Mike Starr, original Alice In Chains bass player died. He played on one of my favourite albums, Dirt, released in 1992

The Adjustment Bureau

I'd just like to start by saying, I'm not the most articulate person in the world and often struggle to say what I mean....so bear with me




MATT DAMON!!

Watched this movie at the weekend with Lindsay not quite sure what to expect. The premise was interesting enough: Man is on successful path, goes wrong somewhere, meets woman, gets back on track, then told by men in suits that he shouldn't see woman anymore.

The men in suits are what basically got me curious about the film; the usual "who are they", "why are they doing this" questions.  MATT DAMON!! is the local boy with the troubled youth who done good who doesn't quite feel fulfilled, until he meets the woman, and they fall for eachother pretty much immediately. Not quite as fast as you'd expect, but no shocks so far. The woman then runs away from security guards in suits (I've always wondered why security guards wear suits - I never feel confortable in a suit, so I hardly imagine they're great to wear while running after people or fighting etc. All they seem to do is make shoulders look wider)

After a chance encounter on the bus (or so it seems, or does it?) MATT DAMON!! then gets to learn of the men in suits. Some brief descriptions of why they do what they do, basically them following orders, and mild religious references to angels tries to give the impression that they are following God's will, but MATT DAMON!! doesn't care for it.

The film then moves forward in time, basically repeats itself but reveals more and mentions things like how without the men in suits the world started wars and how free will destroys mankind. They now try to make sure that everything is going towards "The Plan", without ever revealing what the plan is, other than small snippets which are only ever mentioned to try and get MATT DAMON!! to do what they want.

All in all, the ending was quite disappointing, and the film really could have been something memorable if it wanted to. However, like the Lost finale, it just leaves lots of unanswered questions, and is jus completely underwhelming. Not something I'd ever plan on buying

So...this is new

Just thought I might make a small blog about things that catch my eye or just really love. Things like games, films, tv, music etc and just share them for whoever wants to listen. I'll have a play around and update every now and then