This week was audio week and definitely made me stretch both my abilities with technology and my thoughts on audio storytelling.

I did my post on Jennifer’s interview, which I found really interesting. I definitely started to pay more attention to the audio in the Wire after listening. Listening to episode 3 of the Wire also really changed how I listened to the show. In preparation for live tweeting session during the radio broadcast, I watched half of the episode only. This allowed me to follow along and pay more attention to things that I missed, which was very cool, but also to listen to what I haven’t watched yet and try to see what was going on. By the end of the episode everything was much more intense, not helped by my confusion of what was happening, and the intenseness really served to make me pay attention and deduct what was going on. Overall, it was really, really cool.

Also for this week I did two daily creates. On Sunday, I did the daily create on taking a picture of a stranger for flickr, which was quite interesting, and posted it on my website. I also did a daily create on Wednesday morning where I created a drawing expressing my feeling of that day.

The assignments I chose were both interesting and tasking. I tried really hard on some while others were a bit simpler. I put all of these on the wire hub, twitter and soundcloud, as well as posting them on my website. For my first assignment I spent a day fighting with my computer to find a way to reverse a song and finally did! Did anyone figure out what my song was? For another riddle, try to figure out what I am doing in my audio recording of my morning routine! It was really cool to see how the noises turned out; talk about storytelling! My final assignment was actually perfectly chosen if I may say so as it was a reflection on my time in ds106 so far and what brought me to the class in the first place. My reflection discussed problems I had in the class so far, particularly the song reverse assignment from earlier this week, and was put over a song called “Allison Road” to really personalize my work.

The Wire this week was as interesting as ever, but keeping audio in mind more definitely helped me pick up on more detail in each episode. This was a cool experience because I paid attention to both visual and audio storytelling within the show.

I also did a discussion on Thursday about episode four of the Wire where we discussed a few different scenes from the episode, including the opening and closing scenes with Frank. I chose to discuss the scene with Daniels and Kima at the dinner table with their significant others. I thought it was a really revealing scene even though it did not have any dialogue. I discussed how the overhead music intensified the situation but also made it comical, while the sound of the slamming of plates and sighing were really apparent. The parallel of Kima and Daniels and their respective significant others really showed how they are all int he same situation. We all talked about the importance of audio as well and how we are paying more attention to the video audio now in the show after this week.

Episode 3-

The opening scene was so comical to me with the woman pulling one over on a guy and then getting away in the car through sitting on the window. New players in the game? Or are they just victims of Omar’s comeback? Then we move to an interview session with a few different languages and many racist undertones. Officer Russell seems to be the only new woman in the show and we get some good sexual innuendos and overall sexism.

Finally McNulty and the Lt. see each other, as McNulty finds out what has happened to everyone. We also see Stringer working in the field back in the old part of town, juxtaposed with his explanation about business.

The scene with the dog attacking the rat was a little disturbing and leads me to believe there may be some violence in the near future. The music and sound imagery in this episode are really interesting, and the nuances of the episode, like the dog, really push forward certain themes of danger and violence.

This season is definitely darker with what we see and hear about the condition the women were in when they died. This is also suggested with Omar and the new woman he is working with using children in order to get into someone’s house to hurt a man. The case with the smuggled women is turning into something, and it is apparent that something is starting to change in the west side of Baltimore as well.

We also return to the Barksdale cousins and the importance of family. At the end of the episode there is a major issue with the drugs that were distributed earlier in the episode. D is concerned, while Avon sits in his room reading and ignoring the fiasco outside, which definitely left me worried for the state of things under Avon’s control.

Episode 4-

The concept of the docks as a new crime family is an interesting notion. The uncle is starting to lose control of his nephews who are doing outside crime. The stakes of the game are quickly rising. The drug family’s reach extends even to jail where five people were hurt form a bad bag batch, apparently done on purpose by Avon to protect D, who no longer wants anything to do with the family. Turns out Avon did this mostly in order to get himself out of jail faster. I hate that the cops know Avon is behind it, but they won’t go after him because it’s easier to follow the string he is putting out there.

The music is way more apparent to me in this episode after the audio tweet along earlier this week. I especially notice music around McNulty during his time looking for Omar in the car. I also hear a lot more of the background noise and tone in everyone’s voices. I have to be careful not to get distracted by what happens in the background now though.

The police are still working and McNulty is still pushing for more it seems. Daniels is even getting back into the game. We are still seeing where everyone is ending up with this case and slowly hearing about new characters’ background, like Russell. We return to Omar, who is being hunted by McNulty, and Stringer steps back on the scene continuing as the head of the drug business. Bubbles and Kima are finally back, but neither of them seems to be able to escape their old lives. The Lt. is trying to bring everyone back to together for the case though and McNulty brought Bubbles back in, so maybe everyone will return to where they want to be again soon anyway. The whole team, except McNulty, seem to be back together at the end of the episode, though I”m sure McNulty will work his way in eventually.

Episode 5-

My conclusion on Ziggy is that he is annoying and stupid. I honestly don’t know why people let him int his business because he gets into trouble all the time. He almost reminds be of “Snot Boogie” from the very first episode of the series. He always messed up but was kept in the game until he ended up dead. The burning car with the happiness stamp on the license plate was really poignant and I assume representative of what is happening in the show, and with Ziggy.

On another note, is that McNulty’s wife as the realtor?

Everyone is back in a new game, or as Lester puts it, “the same fuckups working on the same shit detail, working at the same shit house kinda office.” There is possibly a new drug war front they think, but I’m still not sure what to think. These guys on the docks really do have everything tightened up and know how to handle the detectives. The rant really showed that this has happened for years, the corruption and illegal doings continue always and have in the past. One detective is not different from another, just how none of the crimes seem to be. Is that guy watching Star Wars? Russell’s use of getting inside information is really cool and I think she is going to slowly gain more agency. Frank is trying to get out of the game though it seems, but I do not think it will work.

The old drug front seems to be falling apart a little bit. The scene with Stringer discussing products and marketing with his professor is really interesting because it really made me think of the drugs as a business and how Stringer is working out how to best market his “product.” Stringer seems to be testing Avon and taking over D’s home life. The two leaders seem to be giving up hope on D.

We get to see the “new” technology in this episode, which was pretty cool. Ziggy used a new computer and we also hear about how “new technology changed everything” at the docks. Computers and other technology seem like they may play a large part in this season as well.

After watching this week’s episode I had an epiphany for a good discussion idea for the upcoming radio project. I decided it would be really interesting to look into the characters’ home lives and how that characterizes them. This was a lot of what I discussed with the clip I chose in the video discussion with classmates this week. I did a post on my idea for the radio show and delved a little deeper.

This week definitely made me think more about audio and it was a good experience. I now pay more attention to audio in the Wire, but also on other shows and movies I watch as well. I definitely appreciate it as a different outlet for storytelling.