Sunday, November 15, 2009

Snot Boogie

I know its two months on, but I finally put the first Wire DVD in the slot yesterday and watched all three of the episodes on it at a sitting. It is good stuff. I am now officially on board with the detail and the Barksdale investigation.

season one, episode one

Ext. night: Rivulets of blood creep across pavement, flashing in the lights of a police cruiser, we pan across a body, and police investigating. Overlooking the scene from a tenement stoop are two strangely familiar characters seated side by side.

Myself: So your boy's name was what?
Prodnose: Snot.
Myself: Called the guy Snot?
Prodnose: Snot Boogie
Myself: God. Snot Boogie. You like the name?
Prodnose: What?
Myself: Snot Boogie... This kid, whose mama went to the trouble to christen him Omar Isaah Betts... You know, he forgets his jacket, his nose starts running and some asshole, instead of giving him a Kleenex, he calls him "Snot". So he's Snot forever. Doesn't seem fair.
Prodnose: Life just be that way, I guess.

Myself: So, who shot Snot?
Prodnose: I ain't goin' to no court.
pause, filled only by the barking of dogs, somewhere in the neighborhood
Prodnose: Mother ****er didn't have to put no cap in him though.
Myself: Definitely not.
Prodnose: He coulda just whooped his *** like we always whoop his ***.
Myself: I agree with you.
Prodnose: He killed Snot. Snot been doing the same **** since I don't know how long. You don't kill a man over some bull****.

Prodnose: I'm sayin': every Friday night in an alley behind the Cut Rate, we rollin' bones, you know? I mean all them boys, we roll til late.
Myself: Alley crap game, right?
Prodnose: Like every time, Snot, he'd fade a few shooters, play it out til the pot's deep. Snatch and run.
Myself: What, every time?
Prodnose: Couldn't help hisself.
Myself: Let me understand. Every Friday night, you and your boys are shootin? crap, right? And every Friday night, your pal Snot Boogie... he'd wait til there's cash on the ground and he'd grab it and run away? You let him do that?
Prodnose: We'd catch him and beat his *** but ain't nobody ever go past that.

Myself: I've gotta ask you: if every time Snot Boogie would grab the money and run away... why'd you even let him in the game?
Prodnose: What?
Myself: Well, if every time, Snot Boogie stole the money, why'd you let him play?
Prodnose: Got to. It's America, man.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Having been a HUGE Sopranos fan, several years ago on some random radio show the DJ said that he'd just watched a 'better than the Sopranos' show called The Wire. Several months later on a different radio channel, a different DJ said the exact same thing! I purchased Season One. I knew after the SnotBoogie intro, and the "Got to, this is America" quote thatI was gonna love this show. Better than the Sopranos? Most Def!