"... you can't be less than The Wire now and still ring true."

Okay.

I said I was done preaching the gospel of "The Wire", but I couldn't help but share this article from The Guardian about Dominic West (Jimmy McNulty, or as Omar says 'McNutty'). It's noble of quality actors such as West who freely admit that he wants to work on projects that are, in his own words, "interesting". Sounds simple, but I'm sure there are many actors who are working for a pay check and know that their source is crap.

On a side note, Generation Kill premiered this week on HBO. If you don't know, you better call somebody.

The end is near

As the five-season run of The Wire comes to a close this week on HBO, thus ending my obsession of everything associated with it, Time magazine ran this article on Wednesday.

In it, the writers speak about the relevance of the show in connecting its audience to the reality in which we live, as opposed to "reality television" which is all but insignificant. Nice paradox, huh?

Nothing new

I haven't had time, or cared very much, to post anything worthwhile lately. But here are a few things:

I'm working on a documentary that celebrates the 150th anniversary of The Peabody Institute, which includes my school, The Peabody Conservatory. For Baltimoreans, it airs on May 31st at 8pm on WYPR, 88.1 FM. For those out of town, it will be available by podcast on the WYPR website: www.wypr.org

In the meantime, check out dontnotgo.com, a new site about the social scene of New York City. That is, I guess, if you live in New York City. Otherwise, it probably won't make any sense.

Cheers for now.

It's probably better than lumpy gravy.

I found this recipe on the NY Times web site. No longer an ancient family secret.
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Recipe: Zappa Family Spaghetti Sauce

Salt and pepper
1 pound pork spareribs, neck bones or pork chops
1 pound beef chuck roast, blade steak or brisket
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, preferably Italian
1 28-ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, roughly chopped
4 small or 2 large pickled peperoncini
Cooked meatballs (see recipe)
1 pound dried spaghetti for serving
Grated Parmesan for serving.

1. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over pork and beef. Place large pot over medium-high heat; when hot, add olive oil and brown meat. (Or cook meat in same pot used for meatballs, browning in the leftover fat.) Remove meat to a platter. Turning heat under pot to medium, add onions, and cook 3 minutes, stirring. Add garlic, and cook 2 minutes longer. Add tomato paste, and stir: cook until it absorbs fat in pan. Add oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, kosher salt and bay leaf, stirring to combine.

2. Add cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce, then 4 1/2 cups water. Stir in sugar, parsley and peperoncini. Return meats to pot with their juices. Bring sauce to a gentle boil. Turn heat down to a simmer, partly cover and leave sauce to simmer 21/2 hours or more, stirring regularly.

3. About 20 minutes before serving, add meatballs to pot. Boil spaghetti according to package directions. Drain, return spaghetti to pan and add 3 cups sauce. Toss pasta in pan for a minute to coat with sauce, and place on a large platter. Pour 2 more cups sauce over pasta. Place meat and meatballs on pasta, slicing large pieces. Serve with bowls of remaining sauce and Parmesan.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Word is bond!

Like most major industries, I know little about hip-hop as a business. But, at least to me, it's blatantly obvious that industry suits exploit entertainers every single day for the benefit of money. This New York Times article about a raid supposedly over the illegal proceedings by the Atlanta mix-tape crew, the Aphilliates, makes for an interesting situation involving the relatively useless RIAA.

An Inconvenient Truth

One of the things I look forward to most about the annual Academy Awards nominations is the documentary category. Each year, I get to see which films slip through the cracks of major movie houses and practically straight to the video shelves (read Netflix browsing page.) And in the past, the Academy has generally picked some great films, some that go on to be my favorites and others that are entirely new to me.

My personal favorite documentary of 2006 was Jeff Feuerzeig's "The Devil and Daniel Johnston", a fantastic look at underground music's most well respected delusional, which could not have been presented more eloquently. It was much more than a typical biopic. But this film is nowhere to be found in the "Best Documentary" column. (Note: Looking more closely, I believe the film was technically released in 2005, but it's neither on the ballot for the 78th awards nor the 79th.)

Instead, it is filled with melodramatic, headline-laced choices about corrupt religion (“Deliver Us from Evil”; "Jesus Camp"), the Middle East (“Iraq in Fragments”;"My Country, My Country"), and of course, "An Inconvenient Truth." All of these films are certainly more than worthy of a nomination, and they are all great topics to discuss. But this only encompasses a small fraction of what a documentary can be.

Although one of the objectives or documentary is to pull viewers further into the unknown world, but I'm convinced (if only formed by my own opinions) that people also want to watch them to escape from the world just for a couple of hours.

On a related Oscar note, congratulations goes out to Ryan Gosling, the Cinderella nominated for leading actor in "Half Nelson", a film that sits somewhere near the top of my 2006 films. Watch out for "Little Miss Sunshine"; Best Motion Picture all-the-way.

TV Junkie

On this, the day that I mourn the down-grading of my cable to "basic" status, I must admit that I have had somewhat of a love affair with my television. This is common among most winter dwellers; as temperatures drop, so do the chances of me leaving the house after dark (or at all.)

But thankfully, there are a few good things on that idiot box and one of the funniest new shows I've seen lately is 30 Rock, on NBC. And luckily the network picked the show up for a full season. A miracle, if you ask me, considering the way that major networks handle shows of this nature (i.e. Arrested Development.) If you haven't seen it yet, you're in luck. NBC posts the most current episodes on its web site for watching in their entirety.

I have to admit that I don't find most comediennes to be very funny (Margaret Cho and Sarah Silverman ranking among the worst), but Tina Fey is astounding with her marginally-believable story lines and clean, witty jokes. The under-worked and under-appreciated Tracy Morgan plays a scarier version of himself, Jack McBrayer is dead-on with is portrayal of Kenneth the NBC page, and Judah "Why Doesn't That Guy Do More Work" Friedlander also plays a small part as a writer for "The Girlie Show," the fictitious sketch-comedy show within the show. The third major player behind Morgan and Fey is Alec Baldwin who just recently received a Golden Globe for his role in the series, which I hope would leave the network execs feeling comfortable with their decision to proceed with the show.

I'm telling you, watch this series.