This week was interesting. It wasn’t too labor intensive for me and my group, though I know it was for others. The biggest problem that we had this week was just hammering out the issues with our radio show. Overall I think it turned out really well. Exactly what I expected with a lot of good discussion about the theme of corruption in The Wire.

Our Radio Show:

For our show, we discussed the theme of corruption in The Wire. There were three areas that we really focused on: the police department (and Rawls specifically), the Barksdale crew, and the Sobotkas. This was my original idea when we were asked to blog about a radio show idea. I chose this because it was something that I tracked pretty thoroughly, especially throughout the first season. Not only was it prevalent in all of the seasons, but it was also an issue in all of the different character groups. It was a problem in the police department and in the people who the police were fighting with.

Since it was my idea and I had thorough notes on it, I put them all in the Goggle Doc and organized them so we could see the breakdown of how the show could go. We took Paul’s idea of dividing the show into three segments and that worked perfectly with the breakdown of information that we had as well. I recorded the section with information about the police department and Rawls, Stefanie recorded the part about the Barksdale crew, and Nicky recorded the part about the Sobotkas. We each used the bumpers that we made last week in our segments and Nicky made one bumper that was used throughout the show to bring it together.

How I did it:

After organizing my notes about the police department, I read through them to make sure I was familiar with them. I then opened Audacity and started recording. I know different people have different methods of recording but I would do a couple sentences at a time that way it was easier when I trimmed them down to see where I was. I actually hate working with so many different levels in Audacity because it is a pain in the butt but I didn’t really have an option unless I recorded it all at once which I don’t have the attention span or brain power to do.

To insert the clips I pulled up the full episodes and found the part that I wanted and turned my volume up so I could record it from my computer. The quality, then, isn’t as high as it could be. Stefanie said that she used the YouTube converter that we used for GIFs which was a great idea and yielded slightly higher quality sound bytes. Nevertheless, I was happy with how mine turned out. I was also able to raise the volume of them so that you could hear them just as loudly as you could hear my voice. When I was done recording everything and had listened to it several times and gotten the spacing right, I hit CTRL+A and hit Effect>Normalize>OK. This normalizes the volume levels. Some sections were still louder than others I had to go to them specifically and hit Effect>Amplify but slide it into the negatives so it would be quieter.

I also edited all of our parts together. So when Stefanie and Nicky were done with their parts they sent them to me and I opened them all in Audacity and listened to them to make sure they seemed cohesive (which I think they do). I also had to try to normalize the sound. Well that didn’t work all that well so I had to amplify certain sections and make some sections quieter. In the end the result was a fairly normalized level of audio.

I am extremely happy with how our discussion turned out. We named it “Bustin’ the Corruption” which was a combination effort between me and Nicky. I love Nicky’s bumper that she made too, it was pretty awesome.

The Wire Episodes:

Episode 2:

Hahaha Omar is slick that was a good way to get in the house

“There’s never been a paper bag.” –Colvin

McNulty isn’t dumb. He wants his smart doctor friend from the case with the girls to look at D’s death to make sure it is actually a suicide and not that it was done to him. Bunk doesn’t think D killed himself. There are two marks on his neck like someone strangled him first. McNulty went to D’s girlfriend’s house to ask her about what she thought about him killing himself.

Every time we see Avon in the jail the stuff in the window in front of him is less visible. He is becoming closer and closer to being free. And the ones in front of Stringer are getting more and more visible. Stringer is saying they should do it without the bodies—don’t kill as many people as they have been in the past. Bodie is battling for territory and almost got himself shot and he looks like an idiot with his doo rag on like that. Stringer is playing hard ball. He wants Bodie out looking for Marlo all the time—even though Marlo drove by and he didn’t know it was him. Stringer knows it is personal between him and Omar now. Marlo’s counselor (dad maybe?) told him he better be ready to handle the Barksdale crew if he wants to keep his corner. Woo Poot is getting a little crazy. Herc and Carver wanted to know how they got the corner but Poot said he didn’t know what they were talking about. And then Herc and Carver see Poot and Bodie at the movies and Poot and Bodie are telling their girls how they try to arrest them every day. Marlo told Bodie to pack up his people and told him that he’s being a gentleman about it for the moment.

The dude on the council (Tommy) who tried to get Herv to get on his side is in with Valchek and the guy on the council is trying to get Valchek to get Herv on his side. I think Tommy lied about being late because his kid had a game. Valchek told him to show up late so that he could talk to Herv before Tommy got there. Tommy basically tells Herv that either he plays along with what Tommy is asking or he makes him look like a fool every time he is in front of the council. Tommy got Herv what he wanted without the Mayor knowing about it—got his cars back from the shop soon.

Cheese thought his dog was going to have no problem in the dog fight but he lost. So sad, dog fighting is disgusting. He is not happy either. Haha Freamon and all of them think they have three different killings of people, when in reality they have one person dead and one dog dead. But when he said dog they thought he meant his friend. Using the wire to work the murders that the other guy is having problems with. They got Cheese and they are asking him who his dog is. Haha Daniels and them all think they got something out of Cheese and Rawls gives him his props when really all they found out was that he shot an actual dog. Ugh I feel bad because Daniels is all proud of himself. Rhonda wants to get it on with Daniels. Awkward Daniels and Rhonda. Rhonda is just a little homewrecker. No calls on the wire since they told Cheese about Prop Joe

Interesting switch between the board meeting with Stringer when his guys basically tell him that it is personal between him and Omar and then it’s Tommy and Herv and Tommy’s first words in the scene are “it’s nothing personal”

Was the “bumpy” story about Brother? And why did that guy just walk up and shoot the dude talking in the back of the head? And then the dog was barking like he wasn’t supposed to be there. It was cheese’s boy. Then they are talking about it on the wire and Tree’s name comes up so if they can figure out who he is they know who did it. OOOOH was that the guy from the dog fight and Cheese got Tree to shoot him because his dog died? Maybe.

Well that escalated quickly. Kima’s wife had her baby already. SUUUPER awkward between them. And when Freamon said to go home Kima didn’t seem to want to go. Kima doesn’t seem happy with her new life with the baby. The house is a mess. Uh oh is she about to break up with her wife? Oh she left…She went to the bar and now she’s going to hit on another girl, ooooh Kima you’re bad.

Rawls is threatening people again. Told one major he is done if he doesn’t figure out where to start with the four bodies in 2 blocks of each other within 8 hours.

Uh did Herc or Carver just get shot?? No they didn’t, Dozerman did though. Nicked jugular and shattered jaw, luckily he will live. And someone took the cop’s gun. The Lieutenant in that district is saying how much worse the city is now than it was when he first came on and he feels like it is his fault. But the other guy says “you fought the good fight.” “There’s never been a paper bag for drugs, until now” no more hand-to-hands with drug dealers. They are going to look the other way.

 

Episode 3:

Wowzers, Rawls and the Deputy Ops went hard on that guy. Poor guy

“The gods will not save you.” –Burrell

They don’t want the stolen cop gun on the streets for some reason

Prop Joe told String that Cheese went into the police station and talked to the cops. They know phones are tapped but they already didn’t talk on the phones. “You keep it boring, String.”

Tommy is using Herv’s information to feed to the press. But he said they’re off the record so I don’t know why he is doing it. He is going to do investigating and come back to the councilman for quotes. Councilman just wants power, he doesn’t care about anyone else. Herv has to take one for the team because the Mayor says so, he doesn’t really have a choice. “Where’s the fucking loyalty I ask you?” Burrell. Tommy is trying to hit on a lady and it backfires, except I guess it didn’t backfire because they end up having sex in a dressing room. But is he married? He seems to treat her like crap and not care about anything but the good publicity that she brings him. Gosh I don’t like that guy.

New target: Kintell Williamson aka Prince K—killing people and selling drugs—no more Prop Joe and Kima is NOT happy about that and Daniels is just following orders. D was not a suicide and Jimmy found that out. And Jimmy wants Daniel to change cases but everyone else is on Daniels’s side because he needs the murder rate to go down or else he is in trouble.

Omar keeps going after the Barksdales because of Brandon but he won’t tell them that. “Because?” “Indeed.” Omar got Prince K and the stash house that he was at. They’re pretty crafty when it comes to getting into the stash houses. Those guys aren’t dumb though they had more people than Omar accounted for. I was going to say, Omar has to run out of shells in his gun soon and he did. His dumb side kick shot behind him without looking and shot his girl in the head and then the other girl shot him because he shot her. Woo that was intense. The kids at the scene of the crime are re-enacting it and one of the kids said he wants to be Omar and Bunk knows it’s Omar. Two of the young boys from the stash house are telling String about what went down. They are going to be at the funeral and everything trying to find Omar. The one kid does not understand what String is saying about 40 degree days. Omar is a nutter. He burnt himself like Brandon was burnt. Then he apologizes to his peeps because he said it was his fault, I assume that he means that because he is just going for Stringer’s people.

I love how McNulty silently acts out scenes of crimes—he did the same thing in the scene with D shooting that girl.

The guy who got out of jail wants to know about someone—maybe an ex or something like that. He has a picture of her so I assume it is an ex. He talks to her and she asks him if he’s out of the game and he says yes he is in landscaping. She said she would help him get a job.

You gotta find a way to work with all them peanuts “Motherfucker do I look like George Washington Carver.” –Bunk hahahah that was great. Jay wants Bunk to focus on finding the gun but Bunk said that the “innocent” that he found is more important. She isn’t really an innocent, she was Omar’s girl.

The bald black guy (Bunny) said not to fudge the reports, just to shoot straight—Rawls doesn’t believe him and wants a stripper to come in with the right stats. Burrell said he didn’t care how long he had on the job, he better find out how to make the numbers match up with what they want. “I might legalize drugs” –Bunny. Mayor, Judge, Herv, and some other guys all in a room and one guy says “I don’t think any of us want to get a real job” and everyone laughs together after an intense moment. Mayor’s guys want the mayor to fire Burrell. “it’s gunna be hands off in the western district for the foreseeable future” basically they are pushing all the drug dealers to one section of the city and then they will leave them alone. None of the detectives are happy about that. Then they go back and do police work. They are herding them.

Marlo wants them to beat up Barksdale’s people who are invading on their turf. They beat the crap out of them with bats. The Barksdale boys go back to String and say Marlo is a problem.

Kima asks McNulty why the significant other knows you are a cop when you date them and marry them and decide to have a family with them but then one day it is not okay with them that you are a cop. McNulty wants to see what the towers are doing. Kima said “Jesus, I’m turning into McNulty.” Kima and McNulty left the Barksdale people right before the other people came and beat them up.

McNutty my mainest man – Bubbs is so funny

 

Episode 4:

The people of the community are not happy with the drug dealers so they really won’t like the new “brown bag” thing the department is doing.

Tommy talking to Marla. Now Tommy is talking to more suits about how the blacks aren’t happy about the killing in the city either. They’re telling Tommy to go after a higher seat and he drops the bomb that he is going to run for mayor and they just laugh at him until they realize he is serious. Man he has to be a rapist or something the way he looks at girls—and all of them. He plays the wife and kids card like he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his marriage. He wants that girl to run his campaign but she said he is the wrong color.

“Why you got to go and fuck with the program?” –Fruit

Bubbs is working for Kima and McNulty but his friend doesn’t want to have any part of it. I think some of the dealers might be onto him. They were looking at him a little funny. He has a sense of purpose now, maybe he will stay off of drugs. Maybe not because talking to Kima and Jimmy he sounds high even though he is smoking a cigarette at that time. Oh yeah he’s definitely high. Bubbs gave them the license plate of Marlo and they pull his file and Kima asks someone else in the department about him and he says “that motherfucker is real.” Kima and McNulty think Marlo is working with Stringer. McNulty lies to the girl at Stringer’s school that he has domestic violence issues so she will show him String’s information. Dog barking with Bubbs in Kima’s car. Jimmy found String in class—now he’s got his schedule and his cell phone number except now String is probably going to throw that phone away because he is paranoid. Stringer is talking to some important people (State Senator) about the properties that he holds and McNulty is watching him. Even Jimmy and Kima aren’t on the same page anymore. The phone that McNulty was onto is his business phone—as per Freamon and Prez pulling phone numbers. “Every time we come at them they learn and adjust” – Freamon. Freamon is trying to get McNulty to either prove that String is legit or else he’s back on the case with the rest of them. The girlfriend told String that McNulty said D could have been a murder. String tells her that everyone knows Avon is serious so they wouldn’t kill D. String said he is going to be back with her—they always pan to the shot of D whenever they are doing anything dirty. The dog was barking as String was walking out of Darnette’s apartment. String told his boy to take the calls from her.

Boys on the street aren’t talking about peanut, not even with Bunk giving them a get out of jail free card. Still doesn’t have anything and Jay isn’t happy about it. Bunk asks McNulty for Omar and McNulty said “again?”

Intense conversation/fight between Jimmy and Freamon. McNulty said he is a boss, fuck the boss; McNulty has a mouth on him. Freamon was talking chain of command stuff and McNulty said he never thought he’d hear that from him. And Freamon said he was surprised about Kima too because Daniels took her under his wing when she was fresh in the department. And then Freamon told Prez to check on Stringer’s properties because McNulty said he didn’t know what was happening to them.

Bunny was offered a job with Johns Hopkins.

The guy who got out of jail is still working landscaping. Hopefully he keeps doing it and stays out of drugs. He is talking to the boss on the job he is on now and he tells him he never did landscaping before. The boss tells him it is worth it to stay off the streets. The boss said he picked him up in spite of his landscaping experience. Ugh, he is getting back into drugs and when he is talking to Bodie about Bodie’s brother he realizes that people his age are few and far between. People don’t last long on the streets. Then he and Bodie are at a party and they are drinking and smoking something (marijuana?) and then a basically naked girl comes in and makes out with him and he follows her.

Ohh Rhonda is getting frisky with Cedric in her office and he wants her tooooo.

McNulty is having issues with Alayna. He isn’t paying his $1000 a month in alimony because he doesn’t have the money. And McNulty was like what your rich boyfriend won’t pay anything? McNulty wants to have drunk sex with Rhonda but Daniels is probably in there. And McNulty sees his car—ruh roh. McNulty brought it up apparently. Daniels said he should have told him sooner and McNulty said he wished them both the best. But he doesn’t actually. I don’t think he is going to make a big deal out of it though.

Herc and Carver told the dealers they could go to the free zone and not get arrested and they still don’t want to move. They come back the next day and yell at them and pat them down. They don’t believe them because it has always been they try to sell and the police try to stop them. So the district commander wants to get busses and move them off the corners. The guy who just got out of jail is about to get moved off the corner with the rest of Avon’s people—they didn’t. “Y’all kidnappin’ niggas” They were basically all children in there which was eye-opening.

Comments:

I stepped up my comment game this week! Check some of them out:

http://rambling.wafflestomping.com/ds106/proposition-joes-commercial/#comment-1011

http://www.athoet.com/daily-create/eloise-at-the-fishbowl/#comment-603

http://internet.labrumfield.com/way-down-in-the-hole-mashup/#comment-2490

http://www.thejphys.us/radio-show/getting-pumped-for-the-radio-show/#comment-805

http://rambling.wafflestomping.com/ds106/orlandos-gentlemens-club-commercial/#comment-1013

http://www.discoveroneworld.org/daily-create/last-words/#comment-689