You americans killed a lot of sand with your fire bombs, the sand was truly evil

Cinco anos de bombas, guerra, invasão, mortos, ataques suicidas, discursos inflamados e armas de destruição maciça que insistem em não aparecer em lado nenhum. Cinco anos do baralho de cartas mais famoso do mundo, de avanços e recuos, de operações pela liberdade e de mortes incessantes. Cinco anos a ver as mesmas caras a dizer as mesmas mentiras, caras que representam uma guerra sem fim. Mas quando, há cinco anos atrás, se deu a invasão do Iraque, foram outras as caras que marcaram a guerra e fizeram história, caras desconhecidas de todos nós, finalmente reveladas durante os sete episódios da mini-série da HBO, Generation Kill.

Quando Evan Wright viajou até Camp Mathilda no Kuwait para se juntar aos fuzileiros do primeiro batalhão de reconhecimento do exército americano, esperava poder descobrir a verdadeira face do conflito e testemunhar em primeira-mão a mudança de um país. O que encontrou foi mais do que isso: encontrou uma nova geração, viciada em jogos de computador e cultura popular, mais comovida pela televisão do que pelas mortes que testemunha, uma geração que se encontra insensibilizada pela violência, e que por isso mesmo se torna crucial para esta guerra. Ao longo dos 40 dias em que acompanhou o pelotão Bravo, Wright partilhou as emoções, as angústias, a diversão, o desespero, as frustrações e a confusão deste grupo de soldados que apenas quer cumprir a sua missão. O relato que trouxe consigo, publicado primeiro na revista Rolling Stone e transposto agora à televisão pelos mestres criadores de The Wire, é um excelente documento vivo que procura honrar o feito e a humanidade escondida dos seus heróis, ao mesmo tempo que expõe a futilidade da sua missão.

Ao bom estilo da The Wire, Generation Kill não é uma série de fácil consumo. Compreender a complicada hierarquia militar e reconhecer personagens diferentes que parecem talhadas do mesmo molde obriga a uma atenção redobrada, tornando por isso os primeiros episódios um pouco lentos, mas há medida que a história avança e que conseguimos identificar as várias figuras, apercebemo-nos das diferentes personalidades e experiências que tornam estas personagens um espelho da verdadeira guerra. A segurança e a serenidade de Brad "Iceman" Colbert (interpretado pela revelação Alexander Skarsgard) contrastam com a personalidade efusiva e as teorias malucas de Ray Person (James Ransome), mas são ambas o resultado de uma já grande experiência de combate, transposta agora para um novo cenário.

Sem nunca dar lições de moral ou obrigar-nos a escolher entre defensores e detractores da invasão, Generation Kill não se coíbe de atacar frontalmente os problemas desta guerra, que vão desde a simples falta de equipamento adequado e de comunicação fidedigna à ausência de um plano a longo prazo para depois da ocupação. Mas embora estes temas se encontrem presentes em todos os episódios, é à luta diária entre soldados e oficiais, entre a experiência de uns e a inexperiência de muitos, que se dedicam a maior parte das histórias. As tropelias de "Captain America" (Eric Nenninger) e "Encino Man" (Brian Wade), que nos deixam a sorrir pela simples estupidez dos seus actos, ilustram também o lado mais negro desta guerra, pejada de uma incompetência com consequências trágicas para a população local, como se confirma em Screwby, ou de erros causados pela ânsia de provar o seu valor a qualquer custo, como o atestam algumas das decisões de "Godfather" (Chance Kelly). Mas porque também nós estamos a descobrir a história e as personagens através dos olhos de Wright, interpretado na série por Lee Tergesen, com todo o preconceito que isso acarreta, é interessante verificar o quanto o relato poderia ter sido diferente, caso Wright tivesse acompanhado o comando em vez dos soldados e conhecesse a razão por detrás de algumas decisões mais controversas. A conversa entre Godfather e Wright em Bomb In The Garden não é suficiente para nos fazer mudar de alianças tão tarde na história, mas comprova mais uma vez que este não é um mundo a preto e branco.

Apostando mais na subtileza do que na acção explosiva característica de séries deste género, Generation Kill contrapõe os conflitos bélicos aos pessoais e profissionais, e se é preciso admitir que a entrada na cidade em A Burning Dog traz uma muito esperada demonstração do armamento americano, é nas acções de figuras como o tenente Nathaniel Fick (Stark Sands) ou o sargento Eric Kocher (Owain Yeoman) que reside o verdadeiro valor da história.

Quando nos deixa, ao som de The Man That Comes Around de Johnny Cash, Generation Kill pode gabar-se de ter conseguido alcançar (e mesmo superar) o objectivo a que se propôs – mostrar a verdadeira face da guerra e da geração que nela combate, espelhada exemplarmente na figura do novato Trombley (Billy Lush). E se a montagem final não convenceu esta espectadora, não há dúvida que as saudades da conversa de rádio que marcou todos os episódios, e dos diálogos contundentes como os mostrados em Stay Frosty, vão permanecer por algum tempo.

Uma excelente série que deveria ter lugar reservado em qualquer estante.

Hace décadas que aparecieron los francotiradores pero nunca fueron tan famosos como ahora conocidos gracias a películas como Shooter, Black Hawk Down y otras mas, estos hombres reciben una instrucción básica mientras que se especializan en un curso intensivo de tácticas de ocultación y disparo selectivo asi que por su condición de reconocimiento y especialización se les puede tomar como una fuerza de élite tal com es la especialidad del Cuerpo de Marines de USA. Estos hombres utilizan rifles de precisión tales como el M40, L96 o Barret para posiciones fijas siendo este último utilizado  como arma contra diferentes carros ligeros y helicópteros, el material de camuflaje que utilizan fué desarrollado en unión entre Israel y USA que a dado muy buen resultado de ocultación.

El buen entrenamiento es esencial para proveer un francotirador con las habilidades necesarias para realizar sus tareas con éxito. El entrenamiento del francotirador militar enseña a mejorar el camuflaje y la ocultación, el acecho y la observación así como el disparo de precisión bajo un amplio rango de condiciones operacionales.

Los francotiradores son voluntarios aceptados para el entrenamiento de acuerdo a su aptitud percibida por sus comandantes. Los francotiradores militares pueden ser entrenados como controladores aéreos en el frente para dirigir ataques aéreos militares, como oficiales de observación en el frente para la indicación de objetivos a la artillería y como controladores de fuego de mortero.

Los francotiradores son entrenados para apretar el gatillo con la superficie del dedo hacia atrás, para evitar que el arma se mueva. La posición con más precisión es tumbado, con una bolsa de arena apoyando la culata y la mejilla pegada a ésta. En terreno se puede utilizar un bípode en su lugar.

Algunas veces, una cabestrilla envuelve al brazo débil (o a ambos) para reducir el movimiento. Algunas doctrinas entrenan a los francotiradores a inspirar profundamente antes de disparar, mantener sus pulmones vacíos mientras apuntan y luego realizan su disparo. Otros van más lejos, enseñando a sus francotiradores a disparar entre los latidos del corazón para reducir al mínimo el movimiento del cañón.

Saving Private Ryan, for example, is cinematically brilliant, but I hate it. That film was actually the catalyst for me. It's the one that had me swearing off similar pieces for life. And yet, I'd recommend it to any adult as a good film because it is a good film. Just heart breaking.

My brother tried and tried (unsuccessfully) to get me to watch the miniseries Band of Brothers. Next year, The Pacific, another miniseries from the creators of Band of Brothers, will air. I'm sure it'll be as acclaimed, but I won't watch it, no mater how much said sibling protests.

And yet, a couple of days ago I let my rule slide. I started watching HBO's miniseries Generation Kill (based on the book by journalist Evan Wright about his experience with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps during the early stages of the invasion of Iraq). Apart from the fact that I wanted to bitch slap Captain America and the guy who is obsessed with the grooming standard, it's really very good.

According to a user on imdb.com:

Every Marine that I know who's read this book, and the couple that have caught the first episode has nothing but good things to say about the material. David Simon and Ed Burns did a great job of sticking to the heart of Wright's story--and from what I've heard, even referenced Lt. Fick's personal account (One Bullet Away)--of that deployment as well. As an active duty Sergeant in the USMC, most of my enlistment has involved working with and managing the same kind of colorful personalities seen in GK. I lost track of how many times we laughed at random "unfunny" scenes because the accuracy of the mannerisms, terminology, or situations depicted.

YOU WILL ABIDE BY THE GROOMING STANDARD.

It's well acted. I'm very impressed with Alexander Skarsgård and I'm looking forward to seeing him portray a 1000-year old viking vampire in True Blood (which, in case you haven't been paying attention, I'm a little obsessed with). Two roles which couldn't be more different.

It's strange to see something like this so soon after it actually happened. I mean hell, the Iraq war is still happening. It's just not much of a news story anymore...

I came across this article in the latest Entertainment Weekly and I could not believe who accurately it portrayed my own DVR Gulf War Movie syndrome woes. I have had HBO's Generation Kill miniseries clogging my list for weeks; I watched the first episode, and then decided I'd rather rent 27 Dresses and No Reservations at $3.99 a pop instead of exhausting my poor brain. This summer I also tried really hard to press the play button on the first episode of AMC's Mad Men, but I just couldn't do it. I am a lazy television viewer. I finally deleted all of those Generation Kill segments because I knew I'd never watch them. I'm all for intelligent and challenging television, but a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. That's why season 5 of 24 was both popular and praised by critics, to name just one example. I myself prefer to get my social commentary in comedic form, through Comedy Central's The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. After all, who wants to watch a stodgy drama?

The article is here.

"Bomb in the Garden"

Series Finale

Saying goodbye to Generation Kill isn't just difficult, it's impossible.

I recently finished The Wire's fifth season (partially why I was so late getting to this finale), and the show's conclusion (like the conclusion of every season) is about reflection: about the journey of these characters we followed for five seasons, and about how their journeys are part of today's modern American society. And yet, there is that necessary and welcome distance which we also experience: while this is something that does happen in our own society, it is still playing out with fictional characters (regardless of how much we may relate to them in various fashions).

So while I certainly have a new perspective on the drug trade, education, the media, or anything else that the show exposed to me during its run on HBO, I can honestly say that watching that finale gave me some hope: hope that the cyclical process that we follow could potentially be stopped, that the show and its message can serve as a guiding post for the future. It doesn't paint an idealistic picture of the world Simon and Burns created, no, but its meaning in "reality" is still a bastion of hopefulness for those who choose to view it as such.

But there's something far more infinite in the tragedy of Generation Kill, the tragedy of a "true story" as told through the eyes of someone who experienced it first hand. Watching this finale was not like saying goodbye to old friends and reflecting on what we can do as a society to change it, but watching with horror knowing what was going to happen over the next five years. Simon and Burns' gut-wrenching reality check is far worse when it is actual reality, when they are framing our understanding of something ongoing within today's society. It is downright scary that, five years after the fact, Simon and Burns still found this particular warning necessary, that the problems they outlined throughout the miniseries have certainly not been solved.

As a result, finishing Generation Kill was a process that took some time when we consider that, in the end, we're not just accepting to end of Hitman 2's mission with this finale, but the start of our own shattered reality; and while I have numerous kudos to wave in the series' direction, I will have to say that finishing it certainly is not satisfying. Instead, it is simply scary, and it seems like this is what Wright (And Simon and Burns) intended.

Right off the bat, we have to go to the end montage of the footage shot during the invasion, set to Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around." This is not, by the way, the first show to use this song to great effect this season: earlier this year, FOX's Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles elevated its cinematic qualities with a great scene set to the song. And there are numerous war video montages on YouTube which use the song juxtaposed with images of war, so it's not as if Simon and Burns' use of the song is anything revolutionary.

This doesn't change, though, my intense appreciation of the song, and its relevance here. With the action almost completely over, this was an episode that was about Marines who are forced to make a final decision on where they stand on the actions they have undertaken and the invasion of Iraq. Whether its the idea of Iraq being a nation of people either Very Good or Dead, or the stark realities of medical care and humanity in those small Baghdad neighbourhoods, their views of war and Iraq have changed. It is these nuances that dictate when they stop watching the prepared movie, slowing peeling back to leave only a single Marine transfixed by the screen in front of him.

And while it may seem too simple, that final scene really does provide the most distinct expression of who our central characters are. For Iceman, this isn't a time of change: he has been our largest voice of disapproval all along, and being cold has been a consistent trait of his Marine experience. The finale has Brad at his most selfless: he is doing paperwork, doing inventory, and sweeping neighbourhoods in search of unexploded ordinance that he can help clear. That he is ordered to stop this is a huge problem: he is the kind of person who always needs to be doing something, and one who is there to do the job and not to necessarily be part of the camaraderie. As a result, it is not surprising that he never watches the video.

But we have seen cracks in the foundation, and he is not some sort of buzzkill - take, for example, his honest concern that Ray isn't acting like himself, that he is losing some sort of perspective. Brad isn't one to begrudge the camaraderie amongst his crew (He's part of the sing-alongs, part of the introspective conversations), but he just isn't the same as the others. Our few glimpses of a broken down side of Brad have been especially enlightening, or even his speech here about how it is only the solitude of his motorcycle that he misses about "home." It's a fascinating character because he's the ideal Marine: someone who will complete the tasks, who has initiative, and who is capable of seeing suffering and neither ignoring or being consumed by it.

That being said, I don't think that Sgt. Colbert would want to be Nate Fick - in fact, I'm pretty sure he'd hate it. What Fick brings to the table is that human side, someone whose compassion and logic works in tandem with a sense of bureaucratic authority. I can see why Simon and Burns were attracted to this character, and why they received so much attention: it is someone who is doing what they can with what they have, with a limited amount of hostility as opposed to outright refusal to carry out orders. The issue of Chain of Command was pretty much the entire point of The Wire's first season, and here we see the same themes: through Fick, we get a true sense that even when good people are in charge there's always going to be someone above them who won't, in fact, be as adept.

The two make an extremely good pair because both have resolved to maintain their sense of integrity. For Brad, this means pimping out their Humvee and treating his men in the best way he can. It means bringing forward new ideas, pushing for smarter tactics, and for questioning (but not "disobeying") orders in an effort to improve the situation. For Nate, it means listening to his men before listening to his superiors, and for picking his battles - his argument to Encino Man is absolutely correct, that a few decisions based on first hand observation which go against "orders" from command do not constitute insubordinate behaviour. Their teamwork is one of the most enjoyable parts of the miniseries, and I hope that it nets serious award consideration for both Alexander Skarsgård and Stark Sands.

But the last two men standing are, in a way, the big story here: watching the movie, it is Tremblay and Ray who stay the longest. Again, it's impossible to separate James Ransone's performance of Ray from that of Ziggy in The Wire's second season. There is something about him that exudes this motormouthed confidence, this absolute chaos that entertains while also distracting from some deeper problems. With no stimulants left to keep up his spirits, keep him as the life of the party, Ray becomes removed from that role here in a way that displays the reason he acts that way, why he is in the Military at all. The show has portrayed Ray as talkative White Trash, but the football game drives it all up: as the group of Marines noted, the "national heroes" are actually the kids who other kids avoiding confronting in high school for being too weird, too dangerous, or any other clique driven social status that excludes people.

So Ray, really, doesn't know who he is: beneath the facade, there is the kid who gets tackled in football and has to learn to take it from people bigger and more successful than he is. It is the kid who we see fighting back tears experiencing a serious case of Deja Vu after fighting with Rudy on the football field, and the kind of person who seemed more vulnerable in this single hour than in the rest of the miniseries combined. While a lot of the miniseries has dealt with how the war has changed the Marines and their perspectives, these were also flawed and potentially damaged individuals to begin with; this doesn't remove blame from the conflict itself, but it does remind us of the multitude of potential reasons why tragedy, or ignorance, can happen on the battlefield.

And then you've got Tremblay. Billy Lush has done a wonderful job portraying this damaged and horribly misguided character, and has kept him remarkably likeable when you consider just how little humanity we've seen from him. This is not a character who has had a moment of Nirvana like Brad, or a moment of heroish like Nate, or even a moment of sheer terror like Captain America where you know that, while they're making poor decisions, it is out of shock and insecurity than out of any sort of mental will or desire. Rather, Tremblay just likes to kill: he wants to be shot, he wants to murder anything that moves, and he eventually is the only one who wants to relive their entire invasion (from the explosions to the murdered civilians) with a grin on his face reminiscing on what cool shit he did.

The argument, then, is that he is Generation Kill - that he represents a group of servicemen (like the reservists who are killing children, or like any other group making mistakes) who are going out of their way to find trouble or to seek out the most ill-advised missions. Simon and Burns have gone to painstaking lengths to tell us as little as possible about him as a person, the only glimpses we get being his initial insecurity over not having yet killed someone; once that takes place, his period of reflection over shooting innocent children is brief and removed from our perception, allowing him to revel in or even enjoy his reputation as Whopper Jr.

The problem, of course, is that this is buy one problem - there are, if you will, too many bombs in the garden for Brad to possibly disable, and too many problems for them to be handled. Wright's conversation with Godfather, where they discuss that Captain America is clearly unfit for duty, raises the point that responding to every such event would result in a whole lot of double standards, of tough decisions that can lack context or potentially endanger the entire mission. To diffuse one, you have to diffuse the rest - it's not a perfect argument, but in these high pressure situations it is clear that Godfather is not a bad guy, nor is he completely incompetent. He's a slave to ever higher orders, to even higher politics, and to the war to begin with - in other words, you can't solve every problem.

But that's a tough note to leave on: in fact, it's impossible. One cannot leave Generation Kill like, eventually, I might leave The Wire: as long as wars are being fought, including the conflict in Iraq, can we really forget what we've seen (albeit mediated through the eyes of multiple different authors/writers)? While its ratings and buzz weren't as high as they probably should have been, I do think that this should get people thinking, get people buying Wright's book, and maybe (just maybe) get people making some changes.

As we all know, though, that takes a lot more than a little TV show.

Cultural Observations

• Enjoyed the football scene at episode's end, mainly for (suprisingly muscular) Encino Man getting punched square in the jaw - while not a villain by any stretch, the outright incompetence of the man was enough to earn the cold shot.
• Interesting that they never seemed to call the journalist by name - whether it was Evan Wright looking for some distance from the material and allowing for certain liberties or what, it was still kind of interesting to see how simple his goodbye was with the men who kept him safe and also made his life hell at points.

Alexander Skarsgård skötte sig bra i sin roll som den iskalle Sgt Bradley. Han tillhörde den tänkande typen medan många av hans överordnade var antingen totalt utflippade som Captain America eller otroligt korkade som Encino Man. Deras högste chef Colonel "Godfather" fick jag bara mindre och mindre respekt för ju fler avsnitt som visades. Han hade sätt att hålla de odugliga officerarna om ryggen och straffa de vettiga soldaterna kändes ungefär som min gamla arbetsplats.

Tyckte du att Band of Brothers var en bra serie och inte förväntar dig en actionfylld skildring av kriget så kommer du antagligen gilla Generation Kill också.

I would imagine the civilians are not in much better same as they were when the war officially ended, with not being able to have access to clean water, electricity, food, jobs. I do feel for them and in some ways seems better if we did nothing and didn't invade. What the reporter said was quite insightful when the solders were ordered out of MOP suits. "Where are the WMD's? We invaded to find them, and now we can't!"

Yes, yes I am sure everyone knows that now, hind sight is the best but no point in crying over spilled milk. America made the mess, they should rightfully clean it up. Over all very good episode to end off the series. I would imagine that the book that the mini series came from is just as good, if not better. I just happen to like all my stuff in visual form :D So, watch the series if you can! You wouldn't have any regrets.

There are a ton of characters introduced right away and it's a little tough to keep track of the unit hierarchy (though to be fair, I was multitasking which didn't help).  I'll definitely have to watch it again and pay a little closer attention.

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Sunday morning we went out to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton.  In high school, I read everything I could get my hands on about WWII, particularly the air war in the European and Pacific Theatres.  To be able to see some of the aircraft I'd read so much about up close was a bit of a thrill.

Three things really stick in my mind:

• First of all is the museum's pride and joy, the Avro Lancaster.  Shortly after we entered, a klaxon sounded as the hanger doors parted for FM213 to return from a morning flight.  All we could initially see was a silhouette with the sun behind her.  The Lancaster was the workhorse of the RAF Bomber Command, though best known for its role in the famed 'Dambusters' raid.
• The North American B-25J Mitchell, the first aircraft to strike the Japanese home territory in the daring Doolittle Raid.  Though it did little material damage, the lift given to American morale was immeasurable.  It's amazing that an aircraft that size was able to lift off a WWII-era carrier flight deck.
• The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.  Powering the Lancaster, P-51 and the Spitfire along with over a dozen other aircraft, variants were also used to power British motor torpedo boats and even a tank.  More than any other engine, the Merlin powered the Allied war machine in Europe.

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It was very cool--I'd love to ride in the B-25 someday, but $650 is a little steep for a 20minute hop.

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We finished Sunday afternoon with a short visit to the Winona Peach Festival where we dug into chili cheese fries, a peach milkshake and a peach sundae, and grabbed a basket of peaches which will eventually make their way into a pie (if I can keep my hands off them long enough).  Mmmmmmm pie.

Det är bara ungefär en vecka kvar till september är här, och redan den första dagen i den nya månaden är det många bra premiärer, eller vad sägs om Prison Break, Gossip Girl och One Tree Hill? Och det är bara första dagen på den veckan. Kolla in TVGuide.com, som har ett bra schema över när alla nya och gamla serier har premiär. Men så här i början av säsongen kommer jag att gå in mer på varje serie när det börjar närma sig premiärdatumet, för det är så lätt att man glömmer bort vad som hände sist vi såg dom, och dessutom gå in på lite vad som det har pratats om mest med den nya säsongen. Men det är nästa vecka det.

Först tänkte jag snabbt kommentera sommarens TV serier, vilka som har varit dåliga och vilka som har varit bra. Den serien som har varit allra bäst är såklart nya Swingtown. Det har verkligen varit en perfekt serie at se på sommaren, varje avsnitt har varit underhållande och aldrig har jag känt att Swingtown varit tråkig. Troligtvis kommer det inte bli en andra säsong, men jag har läst lite prat om att det kanske kan bli så att någon kabelkanal tar över serien, och därmed att vi kommer få fortsätta följa den historien. Det skulle såklart vara jätte roligt, men jag tror inte att den chansen är så stor. Så därför får vi njuta av dom två sista avsnitten lite mer istället, för eftersom det inte var något nytt avsnitt den här veckan betyder det att det är två avsnitt kvar. Vi får väl hoppas att serien inte slutar med en stor cliffhanger eller nåt sånt, utan att det blir ett bra avslut som man kan acceptera om man aldrig mer få se den igen.

Den näst bästa serien som har visats i sommar är Weeds. För bara några avsnitt sedan hade jag sagt att det var den bästa serien, samt den allra bästa säsongen av Weeds hittills, men sen ändrades något och nu vet jag inte vad jag ska tycka. I början av säsongen kände man kanske att den var jätte bra just för att man senast hade fått se säsong tre vilket inte alls var speciellt bra, men jag gillade verkligen att Nancy och hennes familj lämnade sitt lilla kvarter och började om på nytt. I början var det jätte roligt och dom fick verkligen till varje avsnitt på ett perfekt sätt. Det kändes som gamla Weeds man började tycka om. Men nu senast, med introduktionen av Esteban, och att se Shane kolla på nakenbilder av sin mamma med mera, har jag fått en helt annat bild. Först och främst så verkar det inte handla om den "enklare" weeds försäljningen eller tillverkningen längre, vilket var det jag mest av allt tyckte om, utan nu har det gått högre upp och egentligen vet jag inte alls vad som pågår. Det känns också som att det är alltför många separata storylines som inte hör ihop och därför blir det rörigt.
En annan sak som jag kom att tänka på efter att jag läst det på en anna sida var att det egentligen inte finns någon karaktär man kan sympatisera med. Det finns ingen jag som egentligen tycker om längre. Det brukade vara Nancy och Andy och alla andra galna karaktärer som var det roliga med serien. Men nu har Nancy nästan helt glömt bort sin familj, sina söner, och verkar inte alls bry sig om att dom har blivit helt galna också. Celia har knarkat ner sig på bara några avsnitt och är nu mest bara patetisk och inte längre rolig och underhållande som förut. Doug och Andy är dom enda som fortfarande är roliga, men jag hatar hela deras storyline om att smuggla in mexikaner. Jag önskar att vi fick se hela familjen tillsammans mer, att dom gör saker tillsammans, som att tex sälja droger eller prata om nya sätt att göra det på. Det är i alla fall lite mer roligt. Jag hoppas att detta kommer ändras på i dom tre sista avsnitten som är kvar på säsongen.

Andra serier jag sett är Generation Kill och The Cleaner. Visserligen har jag skrivit ganska mycket om dom redan. Ikväll visas det sista avsnittet av Generation Kill i USA, ska bli intressant att se hur det slutar. The Cleaner har däremot välsigt många avsnitt kvar. Lite synd att A&E började sända denna serie så sent på sommaren, för jag vet att när den riktiga TV säsongen drar igång kommer jag inte ha tid att se the Cleaner, kanske för att den inte är lika bra som andra serier, samtidigt som det är en bra serie, men jag anser väl mest att det är en sån serie som passar på sommaren. En som är helt okej för att det inte finns tusen andra serier att välja bland.

På tal om serier som jag slutar se till hösten, The Secret Life Of the American Teenager är en annan sådan serie. Den har den haft väldigt bra tittarsiffror och man skulle väl kunna säga att den har blivit en succe för ABC Family, men det känns verkligen inte som att det är en serie för mig. Den är nog riktad till mycket yngre människor, och jag tycker handligen har blivit alltför uttdragen och tråkig. Jag trodde den skulle handla om lite fler tonåringar en bara en. Nu är det som att det bara är en tonåring i centrum, medan hennes "secret" redan är ute. Vad är det då för roligt kvar?

Till sist måst jag också nämna en brittisk serie som jag har kollat på i sommar, den har bara visats i sex delar och heter Bonekickers (BBC One). I England har den fått ganska dåliga recensioner och inte heller mycket tittare, så jag tror inte den kommer komma tillbaka. Serien handlar om ett team av arkeologer, och varje avsnitt handlar om en ny sak dom hittar och måste reda ut. Det är alltså avslutande fall för varje gång, men ändå en röd tråd genom alla sex avsnitt. Jag kan inte säga att kvaliteten var bra, eller att den var välskriven, men på vissa ställen var det riktigt spännande och eftersom jag älskar såna här arkeologiska och historiska saker så tycke jag det var intressant. Men det jag mest av allt tänkte på var hur bra jag tror en sån här serie skulle kunna bli om exempelvis ABC eller CBS köpte in den och gjorde en sorts remake, fast då såklart lite bättre. Om CBS skulle ha gjort den, dom som är experter på att göra avslutande brotts serier, så skulle det bli intressant på ett sätt för att dom har massa såna serier fast ändå skulle det här handla om andra saker än kanske bara brott. Om ABC gjorde en remake skulle inte varje avsnitt handla om en ny sak, utan lite mer Lost aktigt tänker jag mig. I båda versionerna skulle det dock vara mycket bättre än det här. Jag kan heller inte tänka på någon annan serie som har arkeologer som karaktärer, så på det sättet skulle det var intressant. Man skulle kunna göra det till en äventyrsserie. Men som sagt, det var som mest därför jag kollade, det var inte så bra för att vara en serie.

Nu när sommaren är avklarad är det bara att börja blicka framåt. Redan nästa vecka har en serie säsongspremiär, nämligen Greek. Det har varit lite dåligt med att skriva här på bloggen i sommar, men såklart kommer det bli väldigt mycket mer till hösten när det faktiskt finns roliga saker att skriva om.

Más información en el sitio web oficial de la serie, en Inglés: http://www.hbo.com/generationkill

HBO también realizó y emitió la prestigiosa serie 'Hermanos de sangre' (Band of brothers), que narraba la historia de una compañía de infantería aerotransportada estadounidense (Easy) desde el Día D, el desembarco aliado en Normandía, hasta la victoria sobre la Alemania nazi en Mayo de 1945.

It's fun to see how they interact, and how they thought about the war. Seeing there opinions then contrasted to how things are now is quite an eye opener. Yes, everyone back a few years ago thought it was a done deal after shooting at all the Republican Guard. Fast forward to now, we can foresee that there is no end in sight to the 'happenings' in Iraq. Very good series overall, I would recommend that everyone watch it when they get the chance. Not a very gory show in particular, and I liked the part about things can go wrong but good people trying to hold it together.

"Stay Frosty"

August 17th, 2008

We've hit the penultimate segment of HBO's miniseries, but when "Stay Frosty" begins there is a definite sense that it might as well already be over: our central company is no longer part of the main conflict, and a majority of the group has more or less checked out in one way or another. Whether it's an actual manifestation of post-traumatic stress syndrome (For Walt) or just a growing disenchantment with the whole process, this is a group of young men who are done even before they get the shits. And at that point, they aren't going to get anything done at all.

It's impossible not to find one's self reminded of The Wire: in each of its seasons, a growing sense of finality always coincides with a bittersweet reminder that the struggle never ends. Just as the Baltimore drug trade won't end through the efforts of one crime unit, this war did not end after what seemed like some type of victory at this moment. But, as Nate says, they need to stay prepared, or "Frosty" - the war isn't over yet, not by a long shot, and no bout of the shits will change that. This inevitability is a Simon/Burns staple, and it is played well here (although perhaps in a bit more of a heavy-handed fashion than on their previous series).

The scene as the Platoon ends up assisting in transporting a group of traveling locals to safety is a moment of realization, a moment where they realize that at this point the "war" is supposed to be over: those types of humanitarian missions were their future, their Marines unable to truly fight anymore. They're, finally, helping people: there's no moral questions about whether or not their efforts are moral or just, they are just outright assisting the people who they are supposed to be liberating.

But then, moments later, they're driving into a remote and pointless mission and when they avoid running over someone's severed head they only run over their body instead. They have to keep moving, to "Stay Frosty" in case they need to keep moving, to jump into this war. Of course, we know that they need to do this because of increased resistance, but for the most part their reasoning is that they want to keep fighting, that they want to kill more people or get a better chance to use their various skills.

It's all a way of survival: Captain America says that you have to get insane to make it work, while Brad pulls out Chef Boyardee and skin mags in order to keep up morale. While the realization that they are out of their mop suits demoralizes Evan Wright, realizing that it means there were no WMDs after all, for everyone else it's just another mission and just another opportunity to keep fighting. There's just no winning for our "heroes": with the Reservists coming up to the front lines and continuing to wreak havoc in their trigger happy ways, and even Alpha taking shots at them due to the Iraqi helmet, it just seems like there isn't going to be any sort of hope here.

And if there's one thing that the episode struggles with, it's that it feels like more of the same, more of what we already saw. There is something great about watching Bravo slum it against Northern forces while they listen to BBC reports of the tumbling statue of Saddam Hussein, but simultaneously there is the growing discontent with the same things happening that were happening before. That is the point, of course: even after victory, as the images of the Baghdad triumph are sent back to the U.S., nothing is going to magically change. It just makes for a downer of an episode: we have a group of men who are struggling to find a silver lining, and all they get after a "victory" is a demoralizing lesson in how circular this war is going to become.

The episode is very much in two parts: our glimpse at the group as they emerge damaged following their drive towards, but not into, Baghdad, and then their need to suddenly wake up from all of it in order to head back out on yet another mission, to yet another location where they're part of a plan that isn't a plan at all. And while I don't think that the Miniseries is too long, or anything like that, it does feel like the conclusion to last week's episode and the introduction to next week's finale as opposed to a standalone piece of drama.

There's a bunch of small scenes that resonate: the group of marines catcalling the lone woman who arrives with the supply truck, the humorous irony of Ray being the one to discuss the abnormally large penis considering James Ransone's character on The Wire, and just a lot more kind of "boys being boys" than we've had in recent weeks. It just felt like that, as we get closer to the end of the conflict, the more we realize exactly what's about to happen - at least with The Wire there was always a reminder that there would be another day, that we'd get to see these characters and their reactions to the events that are transpiring, but here we're going to leave on a note of defeat, no matter what brief triumph we may witness.

It was in two moments, though, that we got something more final: Colbert's hysterical airplane run through the grass after an innocuous question from Wright and Captain America's bayonet-stabbing madness that is clearly a sign of a pure psychotic break. The first is almost poetic, as it even leads right into his reveal of his contraband of sorts that he had hidden for this very moment, but the latter is just disturbing: you have here two reactions of two men who struggle with what they see. Brad needs to take a moment to step outside of being the Iceman, while America loses his step entirely as the battle wages on.

And while I think that Iceman's moment has come and gone, we've still yet to see the end of America's meltdown, and surely there is still more to come from this group as a whole. Regardless of this episode's transitory nature, the finale is still something I greatly look forward to.

Cultural Observations

• I love the brief little mystery about the Whopper Jr. nickname - it's a very roundabout name choice, and it demonstrates the camaraderie that does bind these people together even when they, like Tremblay, are those who have killed civilians. In many ways, it's another way of survival: if they don't view his actions within the context of their brotherhood of sorts, they have no way of rationalizing it.
• Nice to see that Encino Man still has no idea quite how to read Godfather, really quite unsure about whether there was any chance that his message was directed at Nate or not. I don't know the whole story about that particular commander's story as to why he ended up being relieved of his sidearm, but it would be an interesting counterpoint (I might read the book once the series finishes, and might be able to find the answer there?

This week is going to be jampacked with ill bloggage, so I wanted to clean house before the meat and potatoes are ready tomorrow.

LET'S GO!!!!

First up, check out 215hiphop.com's latest release Beats & Rhymes Remixes Vol. II  It's got beats from the best cats in Philly over classics by Nas, Camp Lo, Slum Village, Ghostface, and more.   Peep my homies Stress, Tha S Ence, Caliph NOW and more on this free download RIGHT HERE

*****

Next up, we have my homie 2ew Gunn Ciz's mixtape release party for the outstanding project Tailgating: The 3 Second Rule.  By now, you should've heard the 2 joints I laced Ciz with ("Tailgating Intro," "Alter Ego").  I also grabbed the torch from D-Dot and became the next mad rapper, the infamous Dot Com.  Needless to say, I'm a big fan of this project for my involvement but more importantly because it's flat out D-O-P-E.  Like nostrils at Studio 54, smell me?  Here's the info:

I'm also gonna bless you with some exclusive Rhode Island ish we laid down just for fun.  "Throwaway" by 2ew Gunn Ciz f/ Clean Guns produced by Brizzo. 

****

Finally, last night's episode of Mad Men was excellent.  Peep the AV Club's coverage HERE.  I missed last night's new Generation Kill, but I did catch up on Episode 5, which was outstanding as well.  Peep the AV Club feature on it HERE

All new batch of blognuts coming tomorrow!

James, the second driver, is seen scoping out a target - Anti-Aircraft weapon, whilst being shot at, making the rest of the Marines more respectful of him.
Josh was trying to complete his first 'Combat Jack, and Iceman enacts his most important mission of all, taking a shit during combat - comedy well placed.

The rules of engagement are continuing on that path of self-destruction.

Even though the Marines are eager to shoot and kill, you can see it in their eyes, that they are just doing a job. With or without abiding by the Geneva Convention. And definitely obeying their superiors.

It's as if the Marines are saying "Hey! we're here now, what else the f*ck are we supposed to be doing?". This exemplifies the difference between previous conflicts.

The highlight when their road block mission is complete and Josh simply says:

"They think we're cool, 'cause we're so good at blowing shit up"
- Josh, the Driver

Soundtrack:

• "I Fell Like I'm Fixin' To Die", written by Joe McDonald
• "Entaha Almeshwar", written and performed by Kadim Al Sahir, Courtesy of Rotana Audio Video, By Arrangement with The Orchard
• "Attahaddiat", written and performed by Kadim Al Sahir, Courtesy of Rotana Audio Video, By Arrangement with The Orchard
• "Copenhagen Song", written by Josh Person
• "Teenage Dirtbag", written by Brendan B. Brown