The Wire S4 - Episodes 4-7

Apparently it wasn't just me having issues with LJ today? Tried posting a couple of times and gave up.
It's a quiet rainy day, not too hot, perfect. Took the day off to relax, do laundry, buy groceries - before heading back to work. Taking next weekend off too. Can't afford more than that at the moment.

Spent a good portion of the afternoon watching episodes 4-7 of the Wire, S4. No real time to post on it. And am a bit tired anyhow. Brain just won't generate words in a manner that I want it too. Brain wants to sleep for a bit longer.

Impressions? See below the cut.

( impressions on S4 The Wire - episodes 4-7 )

The Wire - Corner Boys, Episode 8 and well, a brief unrelated review of Alpha's

Just finished watching Corner Boys - the eighth episode of S4 The Wire. This episode is rather hilarious in places, sly dark humor, and painful in others. Again the school stuff is at times the most difficult to watch. Been having this argument with folks my entire life - the focus on standardized testing to determine aptitude of students and whether they are understanding the material is killing our educational system. It completely ignores people whose aptitude can't be tested by a computerized test. The tests are slanted and inaccurately assess a child's ability to process or apply information. Whoever came up with those tests - I truly hope spends eternity taking them. Watching the bit on the schools re-emphasizes how slanted our educational system is towards the privileged - those who come from "money" or "upper class" or have financial resources and their parents can afford to send them to preparatory or private schools, provide tutoring at home, and other advantages. Some may find this preachy - I don't think the Wire is, it is doing the whole "show" vs "tell" thing and unlike Whedon, Sorkin, and Kelley - it can back its message up with hard cold facts. Ed Burns knows first hand what is going on inside those schools. If you at all interested in this subject matter - check out Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools by Jonathon Kozol published in 1991.

Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools is a book written by Jonathan Kozol in 1991 that discusses the disparities in education between schools of different classes and races. It is based on his observations of various classrooms in the public school systems of East St. Louis, Chicago, New York City, Camden, Cincinnati, and Washington D.C.. His observations take place in both schools with the lowest per capita spending on students and the highest, ranging from just over $3,000 in Camden, New Jersey to a maximum expenditure of up to $15,000 in Great Neck, Long Island.

In the Wire - we have a sociological study that reminds me a great deal of the sorts of studies that Kozol may have conducted back in 1991, where an ex-cop, a couple of teachers, and a sociologist select ten kids from the school, ten trouble-makers, and discuss with them their issues and what they want to be when they grow up. All of these kids are making money as junior drug dealers on corners.
They are corner kids, working the corner. They are in some cases the bread winners. All have dreams of a better life, but many don't see themselves living past the age of 18 if that. The Wire casts real inner city kids in these roles and to a degree just lets them rip. The effect is a type of scripted social realism that borders on documentary but isn't. (Documentaries tend to bore me, although I loved Basketball Diaries, and am considering renting the oscar nominated film - Waiting for Superman.)

Waiting for "Superman" is a 2010 documentary film from director Davis Guggenheim and producer Lesley Chilcott. The film analyzes the failures of American public education by following several students through the educational system, hoping to be selected in a lottery for acceptance into charter schools. The film's title is based on an interview with Geoffrey Canada wherein he recounts being told (as a child) by his mother that Superman was not real, and was frightened because there was nobody to save him.

In the Wire - the politicians circumvent the issue of education.
( spoilers - the schools in episode 8, Corner Boys, The Wire S4 )

Enuf of the depressing stuff, on to the fun stuff. Because The Wire can be hilarious when it wants to be.

( spoilers )

I did watch Alphas - it's not compelling. Not bad, but not compelling either. My attention kept drifting during it. I found myself wandering off to do other things. None of the actors pulled me in. Although I do like David Straightorn. But it needs someone who has some iota of charisma. Or screen-presence. There's soap opera actors who have more. Also the two women look too much alike.

Shame - there's potential there. I rather like the set up - they are patients of Dr. Rosen, a neurologist/psychologist who studies abnormalities that make certain people more uniquely talented than others. Sort of a non-powered Prof X. But other than that? The powers are boring and the characters are boring. It needs something - some pizazz. Heroes, it's not. Either that, or this particular narrative trope is beginning to bore me? That's possible. I was bound to get burnt out on it sooner or later, considering how inundated we've been with it these past few years. Certainly no shortage of super-hero movies and tv shows, about teams of super-powered people solving weird crimes, and conspiracy theories. Which is the problem. They've milked this particular genre dry. I'm not sure there are any new twists or stories there. Time to do something else.