The Wire

[SD]

Funny stuff from the Onion:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-david-simon-project-to-investigate-happy-upper,17426/

New David Simon Project To Investigate Happy, Upper-Middle-Class Streets Of Wilmette, IL
May 15, 2010 | ISSUE 46•19

06.05.02 NEW YORK—Speaking at an HBO press junket Monday, acclaimed writer-producer David Simon, creator of the gritty urban dramas The Wire and Treme, announced that his next project will be an epic, multilayered examination of the contented and comfortable streets of suburban Wilmette, IL.

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Critics have praised the show's true-to-life depiction of Wilmette's occasional recycling-pickup problem.
According to Simon, the sprawling new series, tentatively titled The Township, will offer a searing and unsentimental glimpse into the happy social fabric of modern-day Wilmette, an area known for its deeply untroubled history and well-functioning political structure.

"As a writer, my mission is to tell a story that makes viewers think about how conditions in American cities are created," Simon told reporters. "We can't just turn our back on the staggering levels of happiness occurring in a place like Wilmette and say, 'Well, that's not my life.' We have to confront this tranquility head-on and shine a light on the institutions that are responsible for it."

Added Simon, "I want this show to be an unflinching dissection of how the system has in no way failed the people of this town."

According to HBO sources, the novelistic series will chronicle the interconnected web of police officers, politicians, tradespeople, teachers, and ordinary families who are "all complicit" in perpetuating the cycle of institutional effectiveness that makes Wilmette the seventh best place in the country to raise children.

Using these disparate strands, Simon hopes to weave a narrative of civil ease and affluence that extends all the way from Wilmette's happy schoolchildren to the competent, fairly elected trustees of its Village Board.

"Each episode will explore, in unsparing detail, many different facets of Wilmette," Simon said. "One might begin by depicting the productive bureaucracy lurking behind the Wilmette PTA, and then suddenly shift its focus to the struggles of a Wilmette policewoman desperately trying to settle on the right color scheme for a new addition to her home."

"It's a panorama," Simon continued. "A panorama that asks, 'What are the inherent niceties that bind these characters together?'"

The Township will feature an ensemble cast, including actors Wendell Pierce and Dominic West from The Wire as a pair of successful, well-adjusted real estate agents who occasionally grab one quick drink after work before returning home to the families they love.

Simon also confirmed that he had hired a number of his usual writing collaborators, including hard-edged urban-crime author Richard Price, to help realistically capture the pleasant, grammatically impeccable vernacular used on the nice streets of Wilmette. Real-life citizens of the town will also be cast in various small roles to lend the show an intense, you-are-there quality.

"It's crucial to the veracity of the series that we depict Wilmette as it really is, frills and all," said Simon, who claimed that shooting at the actual promenades and well-maintained public spaces of Wilmette will provide a powerful sense of authenticity. "The tree-lined avenues, the manicured lawns, the quaint but state-of-the-art school buildings—we're going to take all these things, put them on the screen, and say, 'See? This, this, is the real Wilmette.'"

Simon concluded his announcement by stressing that, even under pressure from the network, he would not shy away from portraying some of the tougher elements of Wilmette life that take place each and every day.

"The truth is that some pretty unpleasant things happen in Wilmette," Simon said. "Sometimes it rains. Sometimes a kid accidentally leaves his backpack at school. Our goal is to show how these problems develop."

Added Simon, "And to show how they are quickly resolved, too."

[ice grillin you]

from david murphys blog today...

But numbers are numbers, and right now, the Mariners couldn't buy a hit if they played their home games in Hamsterdam.

[Seabiscuit36]

lol

[SD]

Got yo WMDs!

[Drunkmasterflex]

I really need to rewatch this series. 

[MDS]

murphy is a douche. damn fonzi picture. i dont want him talking about the wire.

[rjs246]

Shut up.

[MDS]

men should act like men, russell. like men.

[SD]

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/06/01/100-greatest-characters-of-last-20-years-full-list/

Entertainment Weekly top 100 characters over the last 20 years:

100. Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights
99. The Bride from Kill Bill
98. Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels
97. Violet Weston from August: Osage County
96. Bernie Mac from The Bernie Mac Show
95. Wilhelmina from Ugly Betty
94. Truman from The Truman Show
93. Game Boys: Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series; Kratos from the God of War series; and Niko Bellic from Grand Theft Auto IV
92. Christopher Boone from The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time
91. Hancock from Hancock
90. Marge Gunderson from Fargo
89. Wikus van de Merwe from District 9
88. Napoleon Dynamite from Napoleon Dynamite
87. Tony Stark from the Iron Man series
86. Karen Walker and Jack McFarland from Will & Grace
85. Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood
84. Dr. Gregory House from House, M.D.
83. Jen Yu from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
82. Tracy Flick from Election
81. Amanda Woodward from Melrose Place
80. Gorillaz, the animated rock band
79. Elphaba from Wicked
78. Patty Hewes from Damages
77. Mimi Marquez from Rent
76. Tyler Durden from Fight Club
75. David Brent from The Office (original version)
74. Don Draper from Mad Men
73. Catherine Trammell from Basic Instinct
72. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace from Battlestar Galactica
71. Det. Alonzo Harris from Training Day
70. Mary Katherine Gallagher from Saturday Night Live
69. Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada
68. Effie White from Dreamgirls
67. Borat from Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
66. Allie and Noah from The Notebook
65. Lorelai and Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls
64. Maximus from Gladiator
63. John Locke from Lost
62. Jimmy Corrigan from Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
61. Vic Mackey from The Shield
60. Mary Jones from Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Saphhire
59. Master Chief from the Halo series
58. Thelma and Louise from Thelma & Louise
57. Clayton Bigsby from Chappelle's Show
56. Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother
55. Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock
54. Juno from Juno
53. Edward Cullen from the Twilight saga
52. Annie Wilkes from Misery
51. Omar Little from The Wire
50. Pearl the Landlord from FunnyorDie.com
49. Vivian Ward from Pretty Woman
48. Red from The Shawshank Redemption
47. Corky St. Clair Waiting for Guffman
46. Jerry Maguire from Jerry Maguire
45. Stewie Griffin from Family Guy
44. Jack Bauer from 24
43. Cal Stephanides from Middlesex
42. Sydney Bristow from Alias
41. Harold and Kumar from the Harold & Kumar series
40. Ron Burgundy from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
39. Gob Bluth from Arrested Development
38. Elmo from Sesame Street
37. Keyser Söze from The Usual Suspects
36. Gollum from The Lord of the Rings
35. Dexter Morgan from Dexter
34. Cher from Clueless
33. Sarah Connor from Terminator 2: Judgment Day
32. Beavis and Butt-Head from Beavis and Butt-Head
31. Forrest Gump from Forrest Gump
30. "Stephen Colbert" from The Colbert Report
29. Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction
28. Madea from several Tyler Perry films and plays
27. Frasier from Frasier
26. Kavalier and Clay from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
25. Woody from the Toy Story series
24. Felicity Porter from Felicity
23. Austin Powers from the Austin Powers series
22. Eric Cartman from South Park
21. Roseanne Conner from Roseanne
20. Ally McBeal from Ally McBeal
19. Morpheus from The Matrix series
18. Sue Sylvester from Glee
17. Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider franchise
16. Bridget Jones from the Bridget Jones series
15. Shrek from the Shrek series
14. Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski from The Big Lebowski
13. Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean series
12. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully from The X-Files
11. Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld
10. SpongeBob SquarePants from SpongeBob SquarePants
9. Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City
8. Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs and its sequels
7. Edward Scissorhands from Edward Scissorhands
6. Rachel Green from Friends
5. The Joker from The Dark Knight
4. Tony Soprano from The Sopranos
3. Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Harry Potter from the Harry Potter series
1. Homer Simpson from The Simpsons

[Sgt PSN]

What a stupid farging list. 

[General_Failure]

Maximus from Gladiator? Really?

[Diomedes]

RIP Bernie Mac

[ice grillin you]

gotta love bernie mac being on the list for playing bernie mac

[Diomedes]

dude was talented

[MDS]

weekly mags like taking holiday weekends off

this is the kind of silly fluff that gets published to make that possible

also i just locked myself in for 2+ more years of ew. its great shteinter read.