Club Troppo

I just thought Id drop in here and offer a heads-up to Troppo readers that ABC will be re-broadcasting the first three series of The Wire on ABC2 at 9:30. What can I say about this amazing series that hasnt already been said.

How do I explain The Wire to the uninitiated, its so much more than another crime series about the war on drugs. This series moves well outside the genre of dramatic enactment of the cop-shows of a 50 minute adrenaline feast. Instead the investigations are shown in painstaking detail – the boredom, the office politics, the complex connections of dead or uncertain leads allowing the smallest of resolutions after the close of a twelve or thirteen episode series. But this is more than a detailed police procedural, the ambitiousness of the storytelling allow the viewer to encounter a realism in depicting the city of Baltimore that would not be possible in a more attenuated structure, which allows us to see how the various layers of the city meet in the strangest of places. Like Balzacs idea of the La Comedie Humaine we get to see the city from a wide array of angles, from the stash-houses of the drug-dealers, the schools, the look-outs, city hall, the sites of various workplaces and homes, offering a panoramic vision similar to a 19th century novel. And with this detail we get to see the demeaning nature of the poverty many of the characters experience, alongside the poverty of imagination that drives the cruel rules of “the game” of the various gang activities.

But most of it this is a story about the institutions Series 1 (the police force and the courts), Series 2 (the collapse of the old working-class), Series 3 (the transformation from local to machine politics), Series 4 (the nexus between poor educational outcomes and gang activity) and Series 5 (the dumbing-down of the media). And having such a large array of characters and incidents the creators David Simon and Ed Burns allow the viewer to witness how poor decision-making in the functioning of these institutions permeates downward, impacting those individuals in the most precarious of circumstances.

And in doing this we are also allowed to encounter the ethical struggles of the characters, torn between self-interest and a wider communal duty, (e.g. the police captains duking the stats, the schools forced into rigid ciriculums, the politics of the police investigations) allowing us to see how it is often the careerism of the protagonists that feeds the zombie politics of the city. Truly sensational viewing.

World Cup is of and running, and with the opening games we have already had a taste of some of the teams from around globe, which has sent body-clocks adjusting to a new form of nocturnal existence as thousands of viewers patiently wade through the early hours of mornings hoping to witness their favoured game. And already there have been plenty of highlights, the Germany-Costa Rica offering an exciting opening to proceedings with the Swiss-cheese defence on show providing plenty of goal-scoring highlights (Germany winning 4-2 with two superb long-range strikes giving the hosts an early three points).   (Continued)

John Aloisi after slotting the penalty that got Australia past Uruguay and into the World Cup

It may  not seem  that long ago that John Aloisi planted that penalty in the top-right corner of the net to send the Socceroos through to their first World Cup finals in thirty-two years. And it has been a long-time coming for Australian soccer fans who have witnessed a succession of qualification  farces, which whether due to FIFA  polito-kicking, maladministration or sheer rotten luck have seen World Cup campaigns  synonymous with a repetition of narrow, agonising defeats.  

This agony  of fate can be  encapsulated in one dramatic match, the Australian-Iran qualifier at the MCG, which in a matter of minutes saw the atmosphere of premature celebration dissipate as Iran, outplayed for the majority of the game,  nicked two quick goals to steal through to Paris.

From that moment onwards it almost seemed part of some form of  cosmic pre-destination that the Australia team would never partake in the biggest individual sporting competition in the world.

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With election results expected to be released shortly I am not at all optimistic about the chances of free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. But hopefully I will be proven wrong and The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) will succeed in overthrowing the ruling ZANU-PF government. Nothing would delight me more than hearing that voters were able to withstand the intimidation, violence and bloody-mindedness of the government to voice their opposition and contempt for Robert Mugabe’s brutal regime.
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American playwright Arthur Miller has passed away at the age of 89. A writer who helped shape the face of American theatre, Miller’s voice will be a continual presence for many generations to come and will probably remain on the HSC curriculum for many more years. Like many school students Miller’s The Crucible was my introduction to live theatre and I can still recall the powerful impression it had upon me.

While Miller will be remembered for his turbulent marriage to Marilyn Monroe and for his courageous stance against the UnAmerican Activities Commission, something ironically he could easily have avoided if he had allowed his then wife to visit his inquisitors. It will hopefully be for his work that he will be remembered. Whether that is the fierce integrity of John Proctor or that figure so synonymous with the American depression Willy Loman, his characters will continue to have a life in many people’s imaginations.

At a time like this it almost feels like I should get out my guitar and play some mournful tune in a Hungarian minor, which would emulate what I did as a 16 year old after the dramatic conclusion of Miller’s play. But that now seems like such a banal gesture to his passing.

Also if you enjoyed Miller’s plays you should also check out the work of his daughter, short-story writer/actress/film director Rebecca Miller who recently did a fine job adapting her short-story collection Personal Velocity to the big screen.

Published in both of Fairfax broadsheets this morning are Op-Ed articles by John Laughland, which attempt to provide the most generous spin possible for the Yanukovich government in Ukraine.

Surprisingly this article was sourced from the Guardian, the same newspaper that published David Aaronovitch’s demolition of Laughland’s credibility, as Aaronovitch notes:

Laughland’s great strength is that he sees what no one else in the west seems to. Where reporters in Kiev, including the Guardian’s own Nick Paton-Walsh, encounter a genuine democracy movement, Laughland comes across “neo-Nazis” (Guardian), or “druggy skinheads from Lvov” (Spectator). And where most observers report serious and specific instances of electoral fraud and malpractice on the part of the supporters of the current prime minister, Laughland complains only of a systematic bias against (the presumably innocent) Mr Yanukovich.
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With so much commentary on the upcoming contest between “Ease the Squeeze” and “Be Inert and Embalmed” I thought I’d shift attention to Scandinavia where once again a decision will be shortly announced for the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. If I were not so time-poor I’d congratulate the winners of the Chemistry, Physics and Medicine prizes in greater detail – if you want more information on such laudable achievements check out the Nobel website.
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JOHN HOWARD CANBERRA PRESS CONFERENCE 13:02 AM 12/8/04

HOWARD: I’d to thank you for all coming. I would like to discuss the spirit of the FTA which the leader of the opposition has so heinously ridiculed showing his anti-American and anti-religious fervour. Now we had quite detailed discussions with the US about the spirit of the FTA, dialogues about the metaphysics of the interaction. For example we spent a lengthy period of time considering the master-slave dialectic. And I can just see some of you Herald journalists scorning with your stereotypes of trade lawyers, unaware of our discussions on the connotations of Rilke’s Orpheus. I’m not Lazarus with a double by-pass for nothing.
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The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: This censure motion is a joke, just like everything else that Opposition members do in this House. I have absolute contempt for Opposition members because they are lazy, they do not produce policies and they do not do their homework. That is why I have contempt for them. They should give their salaries to the members of the press gallery because they are the people who prepare questions for them. Every question I am asked by Opposition members is a regurgitation of some newspaper article. They ought to give their salaries to members of the press gallery. A number of journalists are doing all the hard work for these lazy Opposition members.
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Gummo Trotsky has a delightful recollection of a particularly teacher who we have probably all encountered in some form, in some class, which has sent memories flooding back to the daze of secondary school.

One such teacher I can recall was a science teacher who used to swing a helicopter blade against the table to frighten students caught failing to pay attention (down with those do-gooder PC-types who suggest that teachers shouldn’t be entitled to use rocket launchers to instill discipline). This eventually led to an unfortunate incident, resulting in one student losing part of his finger, when the teacher miscalculated with his cruel swoop of the blade, and severed a child’s outstretched finger. Luckily, I was not in that class to witness this foolish event, it happened the year after I had left.
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