(no subject)

Ugh. I think I may have accidentally spoiled myself as to what happens to Stringer Bell...in a later season of the Wire. Note to self - stay far far away from HBO site and don't read bio's of characters on that site. Although, will state - I'm not surprised by what happens to Stringer...

Looked up Dominic West who portrays McNulty on the Wire? Apparently he's a British (actually by way of an Irish family) actor. Who knew? Well everyone but me apparently. Excellent Baltimore accent. I think British actors do better American accents than American actors do British and Irish accents. We talk too slow over here. They talk fast over there. But we all mumble. How anyone who doesn't speak English as a first language can understand us, I don't know.

Rainy day. Pouring at the moment. Decided to skip service - although it's really not official service, the church sort of closes during the summer because can't afford the air-conditioning, so the congregation holds lay-people led services in the chapel - with volunteers giving sermons and providing the music. It's rather charming actually and in some respects I like it better. Less ritual, more heart.
But just want to lay back and veg today. Wish I had more of The Wire to watch...but will have to wait until Tuesday for the next disc. (I don't have access to HBO GO - so can't watch it on that. ) This is okay, it's not like I don't have 20 tv shows saved to my DVR as is. Granted they aren't as good as The Wire, but what can you do?

(no subject)

Just finished watching, the finale of S1 The No. Ladies Detective Agency - which apparently only had seven episodes? And the Liam Neeson flick Taken (I don't recommend) and Covert Affairs (an antidote to Taken).

Taken is the latest Luc Besson flick and it's by far the worst I've seen from Besson, who did La Femme Nikita and The Professional. Basically one fight/chase scene after another, and lots of horrific images of drugged and scantily clad teen girls - with Eastern European sleazeballs selling them as commodities. The film makes you hate - in no apparent order: men, eastern europeans, the French government, albanians, and arabs. It's also unrealistic. I kept thinking, oh come on - there is no way he's going to be able to do this all by himself and not get thrown in prison at some point. Also his daughter and her mother are somewhat dumb. Poorly written and poorly directed. I felt sorry for Neeson. Skippable. Makes Covert Affairs actually look amazing in comparison. Unfortunately for both - I've been watching and posting on The Wire. The Wire sort of ruins you for these types of films and tv shows.

It's raining. I think. In the 70s. Sort of drab. And I feel unmotivated to do much. Other tv shows on DVR include Burn Notice (not really appealing to me at the moment for some reason), Falling Skies (hmmm), Game of Thrones (seen), Terminator Salvation Day (maybe), Outcasts (hmmm), and Necessary Roughness...also, hmmm. Wasn't Friday Night Lights on this week? I'm going to hunt that one down. In the mood for it.

Commentary from Episode 6 (West (McNulty) and Michaels (Omar) - All Prologue on the Wire.

I found the Omar (Michael Williams)/McNulty (Dominic West) commentary - it's on the third disc, S2,
All Prologue episode. And like most commentaries they spend most of their time talking about everything but the episode.

So far learned that the guy who plays Carver has an amazing training background as an actor that intimidated Williams and West. Nina (the Producer) would not permit actors not to be on set during off-camera shots. And Clark Peters (Lester), Idris (Stringer Bell) and West (McNulty) are all British, although Peters is from NY but has lived in England for the last 20 years. Idris - I believe - he has that sort of accent. And that an area that Omar (Williams) visited with a friend in Baltimore - had white guys, kids, etc all dealing drugs...in poverty and struggling. It blew his mind. And it gave him a whole new respect for the second season which touches on that. Also...a big difference between Baltimore and NYC - is in Baltimore they do testing for drugs or free samples to test the market, while in NYC they do not do that. Williams is really good at commentary.
( spoilers for S2, but mostly just commentary about the process of making a great tv show. )