bartley's blog

End the War on Drugs for more of the Wire

bartley — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:49:28 +0000

Attorney General Eric Holder at a press conference the other day:
"I want to speak directly to [Co-creator Ed] Burns and Mr. Simon: Do another season of The Wire,” said as the audience laughed and applauded.“That’s actually at a minimum. … If you don’t do a season, do a movie. We’ve done HBO movies, this is a series that deserves a movie. I want another season or I want a movie. I have a lot of power Mr. Burns and Mr. Simon.”

David Simon's response:
"The Attorney-General's kind remarks are noted and appreciated. I've spoken to Ed Burns and we are prepared to go to work on season six of The Wire if the Department of Justice is equally ready to reconsider and address its continuing prosecution of our misguided, destructive and dehumanising drug prohibition."

Hanna-Barbera presents The Wire

bartley — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:29 +0000

by Paul Sizer
More takes on "The Wire" as a cartoon here

TV Recommendations

bartley — Fri, 13 May 2011 23:10:36 +0000

I don't watch much television, but here are several shows I've been watching that I've greatly enjoyed. What's most surprising is that almost all of them (even the ones on Fox) weren't canceled.

Dramas:

Fringe - At first I dismissed it as a bad X-Files clone, but it's consistently gotten better. This last season (the 3rd) it became my favorite scifi show from the past few years.
Game of Thrones - HBO's huge fantasy show based on the George R R Martin books. I read the books just a few weeks before the show started and I approve of most of the changes they've made from the books so far. I'm not sure if the show would be too hard to follow if you've never read the books though as it's lots of characters and pretty dense dialog at times.
Justified - Sheriff Bullock from Deadwood as a US Marshall in East Kentucky, based on Elmore Leonard characters. The show does a great job of following the Elmore Leonard formula of great dialog and people getting shot often.
The Chicago Code - Police show by the guy who made The Shield (Shawn Ryan). It's already been canceled and I'm not sure how much I liked it really. I mostly watched it based on how much I enjoyed his last show, the similarly quickly canceled Terriers, which was probably the best detective show I had seen since Veronica Mars.

Comedies:

Archer - Hilarious and profane cartoon spy show. Lead character voiced by the guy who was Coach Mcguirk (H Jon Benjamin) with several actors from Arrested Development. It's created by Adam Reed who was one of the creators of Sealab 2021, and is pretty similar to his previous show Frisky Dingo. Almost certainly my favorite show from last season.
Community - Best sitcom I've seen in years. I'm constantly amazed it's on broadcast TV, as it's so different from the standard formula. The Halloween and conspiracy theory episodes from this season were some of the best tv I've ever watched.
Adventure Time - the strangest and craziest supposedly for kids cartoon I've ever seen. Completely mad and brilliant.
30 Rock - I still watch it and it's still quite good, but I feel like it's gone downhill a bit from previous seasons.

Youtube Remixes

bartley — Tue, 10 May 2011 19:01:09 +0000

Flood

bartley — Mon, 09 May 2011 03:45:58 +0000

in Tom Lee Park in Memphis

Abandoned Yugoslavian Monuments

bartley — Tue, 03 May 2011 02:29:17 +0000

These structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place (like Tjentište, Kozara and Kadinjača), or where concentration camps stood (like Jasenovac and Niš).

Other half of the rabbit

bartley — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:37:37 +0000

click to embiggen

Scream Projector

bartley — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:33:26 +0000

Age has not been kind to Hoggle

bartley — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 01:20:00 +0000

I asked John to send me a few digital pictures of Hoggle. After receiving the pictures, I knew I COULD reconstruct Hoggle, though not necessarily HOW it would be accomplished.

Fight the power

bartley — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:34:17 +0000

Blood in your skeleton

bartley — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:32:02 +0000

Maru leap

bartley — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:26:18 +0000

for those who don't know, maru is the best internet cat of all time.

Party Hard

bartley — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:18:36 +0000

Bishops Agree

bartley — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:16:24 +0000

Omar Comin', yo!

bartley — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:40:13 +0000

The street children and rabble, so Dickensian in their miscellany, always announce his presence, and even as The Wire grows and expands, so does the legend of Little. The Wire is aware of the mythic quality of its character, and allows the rest of the cast to observe it, indirectly commenting on the literary traditions from which Omar Little sprang.

Fukushima nuclear power plant explained

bartley — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:47:43 +0000

Death Punch

bartley — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:54:57 +0000

Dune Coloring Book

bartley — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 05:09:19 +0000

Kids love David Lynch movies, right?

more via

Enhance

bartley — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 02:48:36 +0000

Bill Murray

bartley — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 03:32:36 +0000

Wouldn't a solid gold fiddle weigh hundreds of pounds and sound crummy?

bartley — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:29:38 +0000

source

Lemons for lunch

bartley — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 04:21:57 +0000

Toy Autopsy

bartley — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 03:54:30 +0000

more here

Destiny at work

bartley — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:28:29 +0000

Cowboy Service Carriage Company's 17-year old horse, Razz, crashed through the window of Rod's Steak House while on a routine carriage ride.
The horse became agitated when a loose American pit bull terrier chased the horse and carriage, carrying four people, down Route 66 snapping at its rear and front legs, still biting at the horse even after it crashed through the window.
[...]
"They told me that the horse several years ago was attacked by another pit bull in Phoenix when it was working, and the dog that attacked it this time has no front teeth because two years ago it was kicked by a horse, so these two were destined to meet," Hixson said.

Satan is Busy in Knoxville

bartley — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:48:49 +0000

Recorded in Knoxville, TN. April 4, 1930
via