This week, thanks to an early Father’s Day gift, I’ve finally surrendered to the addiction that is HBO’s The Wire. I caught most of seasons 4 and 5 when they were new, but that’s it. Now I’m starting at the beginning, and yes, this is indeed in the running for best TV show of all time (Al just shot me a look all the way from Deadwood).

One surprise so far has been a concise explanation of the game of chess. I think this would make a useful tutorial for children if not for, you know, the profanity and the fact that these are drug dealers and gangbangers in the squalor of a low-rise inner city housing project for whose lives chess is a perfect, tragic metaphor. But other than that this is great for kids!