Oh, Indeed.
August 18, 2011 5:59 AM   Subscribe

Everyone knows those Successories-style motivational posters, and almost every mefite knows The Wire. Thanks to the internet, we now know what happens when the two are combined.
posted by namewithoutwords (78 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
I am sorry but I LOVE THIS.
posted by Kitteh at 6:21 AM on August 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


First poster on the site: "A nigger with a library card - the most dangerous thing in America."

I closed the page at that point.
posted by bitmage at 6:23 AM on August 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


May 9? Update more, please!
posted by heatvision at 6:24 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Truth hurts?
posted by yerfatma at 6:24 AM on August 18, 2011


I closed the page at that point.

Not a fan of the show?
posted by secondhand pho at 6:25 AM on August 18, 2011


No, but more I'm old enough to not lightly sling 'nigger' around for humor. But I'm clearly not the target audience for the page.
posted by bitmage at 6:28 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


No, but more I'm old enough to not lightly sling 'nigger' around for humor. But I'm clearly not the target audience for the page.


I think just possibly you might have missed the point. call me crazy.

Here let me help you
posted by JPD at 6:30 AM on August 18, 2011 [11 favorites]


It is taken out of context, but it's a direct quote from that character. The intent of that poster was probably not what you were thinking.
posted by secondhand pho at 6:30 AM on August 18, 2011


I closed the page at that point.

You missed the "Where's Wallace?" Too bad.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:32 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


But I'm clearly not the target audience for the page.

The target audience being people who've watched the fucking show.
posted by secondhand pho at 6:33 AM on August 18, 2011 [42 favorites]


This needs a nsfw tag at the least. And probably an IBTNMHYCTSPTVS (in bad taste no matter how you connect it to a popular t v show) tag.
posted by tomswift at 6:34 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


Oh indeed.
posted by ob at 6:37 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


how about IBTNMHYCITAPTVS, it should have been so easy... more coffee...
posted by tomswift at 6:37 AM on August 18, 2011


I miss the shit out of this show.
posted by Tenacious.Me.Tokyo at 6:40 AM on August 18, 2011 [8 favorites]


I was tempted to close the site on the use of the N word. But pressed on, 'cause hey, it's The Wire.

Good idea, but so so to bad implementation, with a few brights spots (THE BUNK).
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:40 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


I'm very disappointed by the absence of a Clay Davis 'sheeeeeeeeeeiiit' poster.
posted by Adam_S at 6:42 AM on August 18, 2011


I'm very disappointed by the absence of a Clay Davis 'sheeeeeeeeeeiiit' poster.


its there, just not on the first page.
posted by JPD at 6:43 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


Adam_S -then page 3 will be your saviour!
posted by ob at 6:44 AM on August 18, 2011


Mashups are just stalling before deciding to come up with a new idea.
posted by TheRedArmy at 6:45 AM on August 18, 2011


Love the Wire. This format has a lot of potential. Execution, however, is hit or miss (like goin' after Omar on a Sunday).
posted by entropone at 6:46 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


A mashup up of The Wire and Deadwood might work. Al, meet Omar.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:47 AM on August 18, 2011


Shouldn't it be a shorter property or noun followed by the tagline?

Like:

HOMOPHOBIA
"Lesson here, Bey. You come at the King, you best not miss."

DEMOCRACY
"Shhhhhhhheeeeeeiiiitt"

SAVOIR FAIRE
"Get a whiff of the Bunk's cologne, huh? Ooohhh... pussy!"
posted by Mercaptan at 6:48 AM on August 18, 2011 [10 favorites]


^Yup.

Hence some of my favorites are

MONEY
it be green

and

EQUIVOCATING
You're doing it like a motherfucker
posted by entropone at 6:51 AM on August 18, 2011 [8 favorites]


I'm sort of cool on these--the presentation is pretty lousy--but I do love me The Wire. I missed it the first time around, but I've just finished watching the second season. What a ride. And it got me to read Clockers, which turned out to be one of the best novels I'd read in a long while. Price writes such great dialogue.

Pelecanos, on the other hand ... I had to force myself to finish The Night Gardener. Ugh.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:52 AM on August 18, 2011


I made one.
posted by exogenous at 6:54 AM on August 18, 2011


secondhand pho: “It is taken out of context, but it's a direct quote from that character. The intent of that poster was probably not what you were thinking.”

The whole point of this exercise seems to have been to take things wildly out of context in a shocking or ridiculous way. For example, this.

I kinda wanted to find this amusing, but it's terrible. Just terrible. Ugh. A lot of them are really badly done, too.
posted by koeselitz at 6:56 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]



First poster on the site: "A nigger with a library card - the most dangerous thing in America."

I closed the page at that point.


Whereas it's all I can do to stop myself from making this the new desktop pic at the reference desk computer at work.
posted by Rykey at 6:56 AM on August 18, 2011 [3 favorites]




People in such hurry to get offended that they don't even know what they're offended about. Shiiiiit.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 7:10 AM on August 18, 2011 [6 favorites]


I'm offended that people who like something great like The Wire would actually like something tasteless and lame like these posters.
posted by koeselitz at 7:12 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


Still never got that show. Managed to stay awake long enough to watch the whole first season and couldn't motivate myself to slog through any more than that.
posted by octothorpe at 7:14 AM on August 18, 2011


Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck.
But no fuckity-fuck-fuck?
Amateur.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:16 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I've always wondered if there was is a point that will be reached whereupon the CEO of Despair, Inc. will just say 'fuck it, I'm going to sue the whole goddamn internet for infringement.'
posted by FatherDagon at 7:26 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


was is will be
posted by FatherDagon at 7:27 AM on August 18, 2011


Still never got that show.

Welcome to the boat! Although you made it much further than I did.
posted by cashman at 7:27 AM on August 18, 2011


Stringer Bell. That man pissed me off more than any other character because he was so smart, but so goddamn stupid at the same time.

There he is in charge because every single working member of the Barksdale clan is in jail. He's got it made. He's smart, he's bringing the organization into some semblance of order, he's making delivery more profitable, safer, less trouble with the law, you name it, and then the stupid asshole starts fucking D'Angelo's girl.

D'Angelo.

The weak link in the whole game, the guy they're struggling to keep in line. Stringer is in charge, he's rolling in fucking money. He can get all the pussy he wants. And he goes and fucks **D'Angelo's** girl and thus sets up for a massive failure.

Shakespeare couldn't write a more stupid, stupid, act from an otherwise smart character as the prelude to a tragedy, and he specialized in tragedies that came from obscenely stupid acts.
posted by sotonohito at 7:31 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


Damn. For proper Wire style the last line should have been:

Shakespeare couldn't write a more stupid, stupid, act from an otherwise smart character as the prelude to a tragedy, and that motherfucker specialized in tragedies that came from obscenely stupid acts.
posted by sotonohito at 7:32 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


As others have pointed out, the execution here is pretty crap.
posted by mr_roboto at 7:32 AM on August 18, 2011


Good idea, but so so to bad implementation, with a few brights spots (THE BUNK).
posted by Brandon Blatcher

This.

I, too, miss the show in a crazy intense way (it IS only a TV show, right? Right?) but this is not the way to assuage my Wire hunger.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:40 AM on August 18, 2011


I don't know if anyone's shared this link on the site before, but this essay about Herc impressed me. Something it does not mention is the way that his career as a police officer on the show is perfectly bookended by failures to find a second firearm in a vehicle search. There are actually quite a few good articles there, but that's the one that stuck with me.
posted by heatvision at 7:44 AM on August 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


Doing Some Shit And Being Like "What The Fuck" - Never On No Sundays

This is more or less what I told work the last time they asked if I could come in on Sundays.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:51 AM on August 18, 2011


Category sex is filtered

Um...NSFW?
posted by nzero at 7:58 AM on August 18, 2011


Still never got that show. Managed to stay awake long enough to watch the whole first season and couldn't motivate myself to slog through any more than that.

How terrible! I'm glad you gave it a shot, and I'm sad that it's not your cup of tea. I respect that you made an effort to slog through the first season in hopes that it would improve.

NOW SHUT UP AND LEAVE THIS THREAD FOREVER.
posted by kbanas at 8:25 AM on August 18, 2011 [8 favorites]


WHERE'S WALLACE

WHERE THE FUCK IS WALLACE?!


That is so wrong. And so right.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 8:29 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Most of these are poorly done, yes, but a few were fantastic. Most notably the Wallace one.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:37 AM on August 18, 2011


and then the stupid asshole starts fucking D'Angelo's girl.

No, his mistake was in not killing Barksdale, who just wanted to run the streets. Stringer could have gone legit, made mad money and been fucking D'Angelo's girl (she was fine).

But despite his cold and business like nature, he couldn't do it, didn't even seem to think of it.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:41 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


Yeah. Stringer just fundamentally couldn't understand Avon. String played the game for the money. Avon played the game for the game.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:47 AM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


So, are we saying Tremé didn't come close? Cuz it's still in my queue.
posted by RedEmma at 8:53 AM on August 18, 2011


To be fair, The Wire never (kind of awkwardly) name-dropped MeFi, so it's a wash.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:56 AM on August 18, 2011


Also, this one speaks to MeFi.

Knock, knock! Who's there, in the other
devil's name? Faith, here's an equivocator, that could
swear in both the scales against either scale, who
committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could
not equivocate to heaven. O, come in, equivocator.
You're doing it like a motherfucker.

--Macbeth, Act II, scene iii
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 9:01 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Watch Breaking Bad. It won't make you forget about The Wire, but it will give you a new freeway to cruise on.

Quoted for truth as I just started doing this this weekend.
posted by ob at 9:05 AM on August 18, 2011


I've burned through the first two seasons of Breaking Bad as fast as Zip (the Canadian version of NetFlix) can send me the DVDs. Anxiously awaiting season 3.

It's some good product.
posted by never used baby shoes at 9:12 AM on August 18, 2011


Oh I've been watching Breaking Bad since Day one, but it ain't no Wire. BB is TV, good TV, but The Wire is something else entirely.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 9:17 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Some are good, some not so much...pretty typical Tumblr. I was afraid to go past the second page, since I only have a few episodes left (*sob*) and don't want to get spoiled.

I'm not sure how anyone who knows "The Wire" could be offended/surprised and not sure why anyone who doesn't know "The Wire" would bother clicking. I mean, I have no idea what the heck the whole "Game of Thrones" thing is about, but I just don't bother with those links.
posted by JoanArkham at 9:26 AM on August 18, 2011


Having the little punk kill the ultimate badass Omar was just one of the many strokes of genius that made this show great.
posted by digsrus at 9:45 AM on August 18, 2011


Tremé is a great show. Gritty, street level dissection of the patchwork of life and culture of NOLA. It ain't The Wire, though.

First off, I actualy do enjoy the show. But, at least in the first season, it seemed like the show was more based on the touristy aspects of New Orleans and intended to supply as many cameo roles as possible. In the future, I hope it manages to show aspects of life in NOLA beyond the music scene, restaurants, and parades. The Wire was very good at showing rather than telling, and I felt like Treme lacked that a bit.
posted by LionIndex at 9:50 AM on August 18, 2011


I mis-read the post and thought it's a mash-up of The Wire and the Art Nouveau Secessionists. I take full responsibility for my disappointment...
posted by of strange foe at 10:38 AM on August 18, 2011


I'm just a humble mother****er with a big-ass dick.


I think Bunk alone could power these posters all day long:


Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: [to McNulty] There you go. Givin' a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.

Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Man must have a code.

So on and so forth. Bunk was hilarious. This exchange in particular had me pounding the floor for a good long while, trying not to piss myself. It was just so well delivered and came out of nowhere:

[Scene: It's morning an Bunk is walking into the squad room to begin his shift. He's well dressed, as usual, and feeling good. And runs into one of the other nameless shmoe detectives in the corridor.]

"Det. William Moreland: You seem awfully happy today.

Detective: I got laid last night.

Det. William Moreland: Oh yeah? Your asshole still hurt?

posted by Skygazer at 11:53 AM on August 18, 2011


I realized too late that I mistakenly expected anything derived from The Wire to be as inspired as The Wire, as if this would transmit a measure of the fading afterglow that still limns the show in my mind.
posted by itstheclamsname at 11:54 AM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


The lack of Lester Freeman is a touch disturbing.
posted by Navelgazer at 11:57 AM on August 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


I tried watching Breaking Bad, but I got stuck in the middle of Season 2. Walter keeps making bad choices in such a consistent and painful way that I couldn't take anymore.

On the other hand, I'm also working my way through The Wire and Sarah Connor Chronicles again.
posted by jiawen at 12:00 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Breaking Bad

One of the best things so far, has been the new Saul Goodman TV commercial Gus's assassin watches at a bar.

Too excellent. Too funny. Such a hilarious character within the context of that show.
posted by Skygazer at 12:13 PM on August 18, 2011


I tried watching Breaking Bad, but I got stuck in the middle of Season 2. Walter keeps making bad choices in such a consistent and painful way that I couldn't take anymore.

That's actually kind of where I am with The Wire. I blew through seasons 1-3 in about a week and a half, loving it, and then watched the first episode of Season 4.

Not that the episode wasn't good, mind you. It was fantastic and introduced Snoop in one of the series all-time great scenes. But I knew that season 4 was going to be about those kids, and the Stanfeld crew, and that I was going to have to take a break and get ready for that. And oh, shit, of course Prez is going to have a more central role. And I adore Prez, but he carries sign with him stating "It's been 10 days since my last tragic and avoidable fuck-up." So yeah, I needed some time to brace myself.

(My friend with the DVDs is loaning my 4 and 5 soon so that I can get back on the horse.)
posted by Navelgazer at 12:18 PM on August 18, 2011


I tried watching Breaking Bad, but I got stuck in the middle of Season 2. Walter keeps making bad choices in such a consistent and painful way that I couldn't take anymore.

Oh hey, that's me. But now I've heard such praise of later seasons that I'm preparing to dive back in.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 12:42 PM on August 18, 2011


Having ************************* was just one of the many strokes of genius that made this show great.
posted by digsrus at 9:45 AM on August 18 [+] [!]


Damn digsrus, that is a COLD followup comment to Joan's "I've only got a few episodes left and don't want spoilers!"

Sheeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.
posted by FatherDagon at 1:09 PM on August 18, 2011


Yeah, immediately flagged, but then again this is a Wire-related thread. Not so for Breaking Bad, as HP notes.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 1:11 PM on August 18, 2011


S'okay, FatherDagon...I was already spoiled on that. (I know I'm way late to this party.)

May check out Breaking Bad next. What about Oz?
posted by JoanArkham at 1:28 PM on August 18, 2011


Shouldn't it be a shorter property or noun followed by the tagline?

Ya. This one would have been better as:
Appearance
Look the part be the part Motherfucker.

posted by Mitheral at 1:59 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I kinda wanted to find this amusing, but it's terrible. Just terrible. Ugh. A lot of them are really badly done, too.
posted by koeselitz at 6:56 AM on August 18 [1 favorite +] [!]


I picture you typing this leaning back from the keyboard, a little moue of distaste on your primly pursed lips.
posted by Sebmojo at 3:04 PM on August 18, 2011


I tried watching Breaking Bad, but I got stuck in the middle of Season 2. Walter keeps making bad choices in such a consistent and painful way that I couldn't take anymore.


I did too, but I powered through and have never regretted it. Season 3 was awesome.
posted by nevercalm at 3:47 PM on August 18, 2011


Methinks I know what I'll be lying in bed watching for a whole week after I get my infected gallbladder sucked out with a big sharp hose.
posted by tumid dahlia at 3:48 PM on August 18, 2011


what about Oz?

It's interesting as an artefact but it felt less like a cohesive thing and more like a "Shit I can't believe what they're letting us do on the telly these days! Hey writer guy, write some more prison rape stuff!" Although I admit I only watched the first season and smatterings of the rest. Maybe it was the best thing in the universe ever, dunno.
posted by tumid dahlia at 3:50 PM on August 18, 2011


nevercalm: "I did too, but I powered through and have never regretted it. Season 3 was awesome."

Hmm, maybe I should give it a second chance. It was getting hard to watch in the same way that a lot of horror movies are: "Jeez, why did you decide to do that? That was the worst thing you could possibly do!" At some point, it feels like the writers are just forcing things to go as wrong as they possibly can, at the expense of believability. It was starting to feel that way in the last few episodes I watched. Sounds like they don't continue in that vein, though.
posted by jiawen at 3:56 PM on August 18, 2011


Looks like all the traffic prompted an update.
posted by Mitheral at 5:21 PM on August 18, 2011


Can you see traffic on a tumblr log?
posted by cjorgensen at 5:39 PM on August 18, 2011


The lack of Lester Freeman is a touch disturbing.

Not a photoshop person at all but let me help a little:

The Money

Following it; don't know where the fuck it's taking me.

posted by A dead Quaker at 7:31 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'm offended that people who like something great like The Wire would actually like something tasteless and lame like these posters.

Heh. This is usually a music-snob thing, isn't it? Liking the right thing for the "wrong" reasons is still bad.

Me, I love the Wire so much that just evoking it is enough for me, because it makes me think about that thing I love, which makes me happy. If everyone were like me, conversations would be a lot shorter.

A: The Wire!
B: I know! Magnetic Fields!
A: So true! Dutch city bikes!
B: Yes! Antonio Gaudi!
A: Let's have sex!
B: OK!

I don't know why this would be bad.
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 9:01 PM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


Oz was great at the time but hasn't aged well, though still watchable it's a little over the top and the framing/narrative style feels goofy now.
posted by ifjuly at 11:55 AM on August 19, 2011


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