Fiction is better than reality in The Wire
by With all of the reality shows cropping up on the set these days, I rarely get sucked into anything. But when I saw the first season of David Simon’s The Wire, I realized there may be hope for TV yet — mostly because I forgot I was even watching a show. Tackling every urban institution, from schools to police to news media and cops, there are truly no ‘good guys’, and after having lived in Baltimore myself on and off for ten years, it broadened my perspective on this city’s and other cities’ issues that lie beyond the newsfeed. In my opinion, it is hands-down the best-scripted and acted show I have ever seen. And now all seasons are available on DVD.
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Dublab’s Into Infinity project
I was kindly invited by one of my longtime favorite radio stations, Dublab to create a piece for their upcoming open-source exhibition, Into Infinity and Beyond. During the online exhibition, other artists will be able to manipulate, remix, and re-submit the work. The exhibition will also feature music that will be available for remixing, as well.
The David Bowie issue of Lemon magazine
I recently had the honour of doing the cover for the comic’s section in the upcoming Lemon Magazine David Bowie issue, in addition to translating interviews with Battles and These New Puritans into comics for the same issue, each based on one of Bowie’s songs and periods in his career. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (2)
Rob said | 31 August, 2008
I’m totally with you on this. I’m loving this series. All the HBO shows ive seen Sopranos, OZ and Big Love are good but I have to say The Wire stands out above these and in comparison to the other mediocre dramas that pass for standard television these days it comes accross as really clever yet entertaining. Gota love Omar and McNulty the perfect examples of the flawed hero.
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Ynki and her magical and intricate world of imagination is the creation of Berlin-based artist, Zoe Keogh, whose pastels and brightly coloured love injected into her artworks is such a joy. She draws, scratches, prints, inks, and presses, creating delicate delights, which were on display as part of her first solo show at Keith and Lotti in Perth, Australia, earlier this year. Keogh has also exhibited in London, New York and Paris and is working on an intriguing seven sins concept.
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This odd, atmospheric animation by web artists Aaron Russ Clinger and Miltos Manetas is simple but effective, a finely rendered piece of interactive art. There are some pretty crazy things you can make the floating man do if you play around with this long enough.
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Legendary pop culture artist and Agit Pop founder Ron English will be a guest compiler of an upcoming issue of our email newsletter, writing about his favorite cultural discoveries. To read Ron’s edition of Lost At E Minor, simply sign up to our weekly newsletter. It’s free, you win!
From this artist selection of t-shirts comes this Michael Gillette illustrated t-shirt, limited edition and distributed in a vinyl sleeve, with a biography of the artist on the back of the sleeve. Each tee is numbered and signed by the artist, and comes in organic cotton. Read more
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Paul Ryan said | 29 August, 2008
Couldn’t agree more. The Wire is right up there with The Sopranos in terms of plot/character development and multi-layered nuance. In many ways, it’s more rewarding. I’m half way through the third season and it just keeps getting better.
HBO shows are a great example of the kind of sophisticated art that can be created when mainstream advertisers are denied deity status by networks.