TUMBLR
A scrapbook of stuff I'm reading / looking at / listening to / thinking about...
Posts tagged "the wire"
Bad Reviews: All In The Game
People ask me how I handle bad reviews.1 I wrote about the subject in Steal Like An Artist:
Not everybody will get it. People will misinterpret you and what you do. They might even call you names. So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored—the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.
All of the following scenarios are ascending levels of amazing to me:
- Someone heard of my book
- Someone bought my book
- Someone read my book
- Someone read my book and hated it
- Someone read my book and loved it
Seriously.
And, you always remember that a review says just as much about the reader as it does about the book — first you evaluate the critic, then you can listen or not listen to the criticism.
As Omar said, “It’s all in the game, yo. All in the game.”
As Omar said, “It’s all in the game, yo. All in the game.” Bad reviews aren’t always as cranky or personal, but they’re all in the game.
I got a baby to feed, man—I can’t be lying around in bed!
I wrote about it in the book:
Not everybody will get it. People will misinterpret you and what you do. They might even call you names. So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored—the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care.
All of the following scenarios are ascending levels of amazing to me:
- Someone heard of my book
- Someone bought my book
- Someone read my book
- Someone read my book and hated it
- Someone read my book and loved it
Seriously.
And, you always remember that a review says just as much about the reader as it does about the book.
All in the game.
The genius of The Wire lies in its sheer size and scope, its slow layering of complexity which could not have been achieved in any other way but the serial format. Dickens is often praised for his portrayal not merely of a set of characters and their lives, but of the setting as a character: the city itself an antagonist. Yet in The Wire, Bodymore is a far more intricate and compelling character than London in Dickens’ hands; The Wire portrays society to such a degree of realism and intricacy that A Tale of Two Cities—or any other story—can hardly compare.
To say we’re in love with this take on The Wire as a 19th century serialized novel is a bit of an understatement. Of course, we’ve got plenty of the original Dickensian aspect in our archives.
Brilliant. Super-genius. Fantastic. Wonderful. Love.
BILL MOYERS: Are you cynical?
DAVID SIMON: I am very cynical about institutions and their willingness to address themselves to reform. For their willingness to do what they’re supposed to do in American life. I am not cynical when it comes to individuals and people. And I think the reason THE WIRE is watchable, even tolerable, to viewers is that it has great affection for individuals. It’s not misanthropic in any way. It has great affection for those people. Particularly, when they stand upon their hind legs and say, “I will not lie anymore. I am actually going to fight for what I perceive to be some shard of truth.”
