different types of hard men

The NYT yields a couple of worthwhile links today.

How do you write a detective novel with Subcommander Marcos? Very carefully.

Two weeks ago, Pablo Ignacio Taibo II, a successful writer of detective stories set in Mexico City, received a clandestine letter from the guerrilla leader. In it, Subcommander Marcos, the rebel leader who made wearing a black ski mask sexy, proposed that they team up to write a
detective story, alternating chapters.

"I thought about it for 10 seconds and said 'No, not right now. I'm very happy with my Pancho Villa book, which I'm writing, and this new project will drive me crazy," Mr. Taibo recalled. "Then rapidly, 10 seconds later, I said yes. It had the enormous attraction of insanity. For a writer like me who is always bordering on insanity, it was part of my, shall we say, greatest obsessions to do something like that."

Spoilers for The Wire below -- if you have not seen last night's ep, do not read on.



There's also a nice little story about The Death of Stringer Bell, including an interview with Idris Elba, the actor who played him.

Fans of the show may be surprised to learn that Mr. Elba is not African American. The only child of a mother from Ghana and father from Sierre Leone, Mr. Elba was born and brought up in Hackney, a working-class borough of London. It is a fact he reluctantly shares with fans, preferring instead to use his American accent when talking with those who request autographs. "Wherever I go the real hard-core dudes come up to me and confide in me," said Mr. Elba, who over the years has been approached by dozens of drug dealers identifying with Stringer. "I almost feel guilty turning around and saying: 'Hello, mate. My name's Idris and I'm from London.' " Mr. Elba burst into an exaggerated version of his cockney accent. "I don't want to break the illusion."

This was also the ep with the Dennis Lehane cameo -- at least, I'm fairly certain that was Dennis Lehane.

UPDATED: Now, am fairly uncertain it was Dennis Lehane, as surely someone else would have noticed. Let's say that there was a guy with Lehane's hairline who seemed to be doing a cameo behind the equipment desk in this episode.