D.O.A.P., et al.

Brocade update: front is blocked, about 40 rows to go on sleeve #1 (then weaving, blocking). I thought I'd throw up some quick reviews before I start knitting this morning. We've been watching season 1 of The Wire this weekend... We're 6 or 7 episodes in and I'm still waiting for it to get good, I guess. It's passably entertaining and undeniably realistic, but it doesn't rank among my other favorite HBO dramas. Last night Brian and I got to see the highly controversial new faux-documentary Death of a President (or D.O.A.P.) Recently a few theater chains here in the US have said they won't show the film (it'll be interesting to see how that pans out, though I doubt there's a mainstream audience for it anyway). Anyway. I think our main reason for wanting to see it was James Urbaniak, a household favorite who plays an FBI forensic expert. He was excellent, but the film? Pretty pointless. It's all premise and no insight. (Premise Beach, anyone?) Sure, it's what could have happened - the aftermath is especially plausible - but playing it out on film is pretty futile. It won the FIPRESCI Prize at Toronto for "the audacity with which it distorts reality to reveal a larger truth," but I don't think that the "larger truth" they're talking about is all that hidden. On Friday we finally went to see The Departed (in a packed theater) and it was... fucking great. Just go see it. See it twice, even. I loved it, in spite of questionable accents (and haircuts, I'm looking at you Mark). We caught Factotum sometime last week... Brian loves Bukowski and I do too, if to a lesser degree. I adored Born Into This, it's an incredible documentary (and worthwhile even if you're not a fan). I shouldn't hold Factotum up to that standard, but. Between this and Barfly (which Hank wrote himself) it's become abundantly clear that Bukowski's words don't really translate to film. They lose all their life and power. Factotum was a snoozefest, and worth very little next to reading the book or seeing the man himself in action. Time to pay attention to The Wire...