Past Blast: Bruges

The Bonne-Chière Windmill

An hour by high-speed train from Brussels, Bruges is a northwestern port city for Belgium. While its official city limits are quite large, its well-preserved medieval city-center draws the visitors. And while I didn't notice any hitmen on retreat, it's easy to see why Bruges is often referred to as a "Venice of the North".

Like Venice,
but less marble

Standing near a windmill, you're rewarded with a skyline-view

The medieval district is dominated by church bell towers, and it's not a bad idea to pick one in the distance and try to make your way through the winding streets and canals. There are small buildings straddling the waterways, and private gardens lining the roads. If you reach the outer edge of the district, you'll find the old textile windmills on their built-up hills, allowing them to reach the sea breeze above the mostly-2-story city.

Wired

This winter Cas and I gifted ourselves with the entire 5-season set of HBO's The Wire when it was on sale on Amazon. I had borrowed it a couple years ago from a friend [thanks Chris!] but, as most Wire-watchers do, eventually felt the need to share the love and watch it again. We're only a few episodes in so far, but there's nothing like watching some quality TV.

Lance Reddick as Cedric Daniels
[went on to LOST and Fringe]

Cas can testify that, in general, I disapprove and avoid 'police procedurals' of the CSI-ilk. Isn't it always the same story, slightly different? 1. Some crime happens. 2. Show intro-credits. 3. Early investigation points in one direction. 4. Couple of commercial breaks. 5. New evidence/police insight points at another suspect. 6. More commercials. 7. Some sort of twist! 8. Suspect caught/killed, smirky detective comments made, fade to black. This also applies to several 'medical procedurals', only replace 'suspect' with 'diagnosis'.

The Wire, while officially labeled on the back of the box as a 'police procedural', avoids the wrap-it-up-in-an-hour-every-week formula and instead has a slowly evolving investigation into a certain aspect of Baltimore city life each season. Being on HBO certainly freed it from some convention, and allowed language to be what it is. Who can forget McNulty and Bunk investigating a crime scene for 3 minutes using only the F-word? Classic Wire.

Idris Elba as Stringer Bell
[went on to The Office]

Funny, smart, serious, complicated = well written. Great acting. You'll recognize many of The Wire's actors/actresses turning up on prime-time TV after their Wire performances [a couple examples illustrated on this page]. The perfect way to keep wintertime TV from polluting your screen.