After watching the first two episodes (4 hours) of Ken Burns’ new documentary, I’m a little surprised at how much country music history there was before 1948. Many of the photos were reminiscent of the groups that performed at KBOA.
I never tire of these. The face of each performer radiates joy.
I was not a fan of what I think of as the early Matthew McConaughey but his later stuff really speaks to me. Mud (2012) and Dallas Buyers Club (2013). Top of my list is his portrayal of Rust Cohle in the first season (2014) of the HBO series True Detective. In the scene above (with Woody Harrelson) Rust shares his view of the cosmos.
My Apple AirPods continue to open up new worlds of sound. I watched (and liked) the first season of the HBO series True Detective (Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson) on a TV. Last night I started watching the series again but this time on my iPhone with AirPods. As with Deadwood, it was a completely different experience. The music was far more powerful and evocative. The texture of the actors voices was richer. (You could almost hear the smoke when McConaughey exhaled) Not sure I can go back to listening to sound coming from across the room.
Recommended reading: Frat House for Jesus. The Entity Behind C Street.
“Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Police Department’s Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons (122 episodes) on NBC from January 31, 1993 to May 21, 1999, and was succeeded by Homicide: The Movie (2000), which served as the de facto series finale.” (Wikipedia)
I only recently learned the series was based on David Simon’s book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991). Many of the characters and stories used throughout the show were based on events depicted in the book. The book was also the inspiration for the HBO series The Wire.
I just finished the book and it was as good as you would expect. Words like “gritty” and “raw” don’t begin to capture the characters, locales and dialogue. I recently purchased the DVD set of the NBC series. I watched the series when it aired but that was a long time ago and I’m sure I missed a lot of episodes.
Simon also wrote The Corner, a six-part HBO series that chronicled the life of a family living in poverty amid the open-air drug markets of West Baltimore. After I recover from Homicide, I’ll read The Corner. My recollection of the HBO series is of a very depressing story.
Most police dramas that make it to TV or cable are pretty week compared to Simon’s work. NYPD Blue was good but limited by being on network TV. If you enjoyed The Wire and Homicide, I highly recommend the books on which they were based.
I grew up with television, a child of the 50s and 60s. TV screens started off small and got progressively larger. The bigger the screen the better with quality secondary (don’t recall ever hearing the word “resolution” in those days. The family TV was a massive piece of furniture that we watched from across the room. Today, even a struggling family is likely to have a big-ass flatscreen TV. I’m watching less “TV” these days but that might be about to change.
I recently started watching The Wire (again) and got about halfway through the series before Riley showed up. Once she started settling in I went back to the series but on my iPhone this time. I’ve never watched a lot of video (hard for me to call it “TV”) on my phone just because… well, the bigger the screen the better, right? Turns out, not right.
When my phone is in my lap (or on a table), it’s about 18 inches from my eyes. In the photo above the phone is about a foot-and-a-half in front of my face and — as you can see — about the same relative size as the TV across the room. But with much higher resolution and — with AirPods — much better sound.
We have Apple TV and HBO and Netflix but my default streaming source is Amazon Prime which has an excellent app. I’m now finding I watch part of a movie or series… pause… and come back to it. Something I never did before. And my viewing now happens away from the TV room.
This is old news for most of you but something of a revelation for me. I’m find the viewing experience far superior — in many ways — on the phone. Tiny screen for the win.
The list of Big Names that perform and record with Sheryl Crow knows no end.
“Last week, production on the 25th James Bond movie kicked off, and the first set photos from Jamaica show Daniel Craig’s retired James Bond driving around in an old Land Rover Series III. It’s unclear how much screen time this old Land Rover will get, and whether or not it will be involved in any action scenes. The Series III was very slow, to say the least, with an ancient four-cylinder engine, so Bond wouldn’t stand much of a chance.” (Jalopnik)
