David Simon Book Signing at Easons June 2nd

rovert

According to the Sunday Indo anyway.

Vinta81

rovert wrote: »

According to the Sunday Indo anyway.

In Cork or Dublin?

godtabh

A few more details would be nice

rovert

Vinta81 wrote: »

In Cork or Dublin?

kearnsr wrote: »

A few more details would be nice

Thats all it said it was a small note on the end notes of an opinion piece about Dermot Ahern doing "a Carcetti." {Spoiler notice for the below link}

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/why-all-the-players-should-get-with-this-programme-1727265.html

David Simon, author of The Wire, will be doing a book signing in Easons, O'Connell Street, on Tuesday, June 2. From tomorrow, BBC2 is showing series two of The Wire, one episode every night at 11.30pm.

Hitman Actual

rovert wrote: »

Thats all it said it was a small note on the end notes of an opinion piece about Dermot Ahern doing "a Carcetti."

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/why-all-the-players-should-get-with-this-programme-1727265.html

Just a word of warning to anyone who hasn't seen the first four seasons, there are some mild spoilers in that link.

rovert

Hitman Actual wrote: »

Just a word of warning to anyone who hasn't seen the first four seasons, there are some mild spoilers in that link.

Oh **** I wasnt thinking guys

mikemac

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/why-all-the-players-should-get-with-this-programme-1727265.html

David Simon, author of The Wire, will be doing a book signing in Easons, O'Connell Street, on Tuesday, June 2.

That could be Limerick, Sligo or Dublin, not many details in that article

rovert

mikemac wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/why-all-the-players-should-get-with-this-programme-1727265.html



That could be Limerick, Sligo or Dublin, not many details in that article

I doubt it is the first two given how us Dubs and the mainstream media thinks in Ireland.

Dan Dare

Well it doesn't sound like its going to be Cork. Damn.:pac:

ixoy

Hey you need to get tickets to attend this (you can pick them up at Information in the DUBLIN branch). I've got a spare currently.

callmescratch

I'll be there, can't wait

ixoy

callmescratch wrote: »

I'll be there, can't wait

Is it just a book signing? The card says "An Evening with David Simon" implying it might be a talk as well?

goosie2005

hi, what time is he there? o' connell street easons is it? can you just turn up do you think? thanks

ixoy

Just back - it wasn't merely a signing. David Simon talked for over an hour alongside Fran Boyd from "The Corner" (the real lady, not the actress who played her) and Donnie Andrews, her husband and the guy who Omar Little was in part based upon.

Simon was an interesting and intelligent speaker, insightful and humorous. The questions that the speaker (not sure who he was) put to him were pretty smart and the audience threw a few extra in. It covered situations brought up in all his works (bar "Generation Kill") but primarily focused on the drug angle of both "The Corner" and "The Wire". The area of the war on drugs and the US administration were explored and you could see how "The Wire" is so smartly written.

He didn't want to be pigeon-holed or labelled politically but, when asked, he said that the label of democratic socialist best applied to him. It's the socialist aspect that he probably felt drove his exploration of the systemic corruption and attitudes that underlie Baltimore and formed the heart of 'The Wire'.

It was interesting that Simon said that he purposely avoided the conventions of network TV, eschewing them in favour of a different approach to story-telling. One of those examples he picked on (and one I've noticed previously) is how network TV generally gives you a character's full name shortly after being introduced, whereas he mighn't tell us for several episodes, trusting in the viewer's intelligence. He also seemed to show a mild disdain for networks nearly always having to end on a neat high, a positive resolution and how that expectation fed into the HBO crew who ended up being shocked at certain turns (i.e. Wallace in S1) because that's not how TV shows are meant to be crafted.

The other speakers, while not as eloquent as Simon, were still interesting to hear from especially if you've seen "The Corner" (or read it). It was somewhat disconcerting to hear how Donnie, a seemingly affable man, was imprisoned for the murder of two men and attempted murder of a third. It was his attempts to rob from fellow drug dealers, and other idiosyncrasies that helped form Omar Little.

Fran seemed content but I got the sense of sadness from her at how she felt the system (as in the US political system) were failing her and her neighbourhood. She's more upbeat than she would have been in "The Corner" and definitely seemed a strong person.

Afterwards they were all signing books although getting a bit flustered, I missed out on Donnie's signature. Got a personalised autograph from Simon although wasn't cheeky enough to ask him for a photo.

Hitman Actual

Nice report, ixoy.

Hitman Actual

ixoy wrote: »

He also seemed to show a mild disdain for networks nearly always having to end on a neat high, a positive resolution and how that expectation fed into the HBO crew who ended up being shocked at certain turns (i.e. Wallace in S1) because that's not how TV shows are meant to be crafted.

This is interesting, and one of the great things about The Wire. There are loads of occasions where they don't pander to the audience as regards character popularity. For example:

Bodie was a really likeable character, but him dying young was inevitable, and they didn't dodge it. In contrast, Clay Davis was hated, but it wasn't all that surprising that he managed to escape the corruption charges at the end. A main-stream show would have had Bodie surviving, and Clay Davis destroyed.