Pimp of the Day: Generation Kill

[hackthis_archive]

So, the other day I had this poll where I asked if you lot would rather see Bruce/Harvey Dark Knight porn or Nate/Brad Generation Kill porn. I knew beforehand what the majority were probably going to say, but I was shocked, shocked that more of you aren't on the Generation Kill train. And I thought to myself, "Self, what we really need here is an example of The Pretty to get the fanpeople in line, because there are boys, sweaty, foul-mouthed boys living together in the desert and nobody seems to care! And it's written by David Simon!"

So, for the unitiated let me break it down. Generation Kill is a seven-part HBO miniseries about a Marine Recon division in Iraq at the beginning of the invasion, based on a book by Evan Wright. Real reople, real shit, maybe marginally tweaked for TV. See. That's the basics.

This is Generation Kill This is Evan Wright. He is a reporter for Rolling Stone, who is embedded with the Bravo Company of the Marine Corps' First Reconnaissance Battalion. He looks a lot like Beecher from Oz. Why? Because that is him! Fandom X-over #1. Anyroad. Beecher, err, Wright joins up with the boys at Camp Mathilda in Kuwait where they've been hanging out, having sex, shooting the shit. Like you do.

These are the boys. Say HI! Boys.

HI, Boys!

HI! Now, you see men in uniform. Kink #1. And men with guns. Kink #2. (I know you people). Men in uniform + guns = total hotass. Really. Also, you know, First Recon are really hot. Seriously. I cannot begin to explain in full detail exactly how smokingly, sickeningly, call your mom 'cause you are in twu wuv gorgeous this cast is. Whomever cast this (that wasn't me) has stellar taste. Now, what does First Recon do, you ask? First Recon Marines are like the NAVY Seals of the Marines. They can hold their breath for four minutes and are required to be able to run 12 miles with 150 lbs on their backs. Think about that. Now, pick your jaw up from the floor. Normally the men are trained to do recon by parachuting or swimming (trufax!) but today, they are in Iraq! Driving slow ass Humvees! They are not thrilled about this. And you will hear a lot of utter shitlessness that will make you crazy. The guys say the Army comes prepared, the Marines make do. Yes, this is what happens when you don't have enough batteries for everyone's night-goggles and you try to order a turret for your gunner from the Interwebs (Brad). More trufax!

This is Sgt. Brad Colbert. No relation to Stephen Colbert except they are both likely to make you wet yourself with the hotass awesome. Brad is called 'Iceman' by his boys, but in the book you find out he's sort of a loner, dare-devil. In the show he's just a hotass, take-no-nonsense and shove it up your ass Sgt in Bravo company in charge of the Lead Vehicle. His guys love him. Not because he's nice, but because he gets shit done. Did I mention he's way hot?

This is Ray. Ray is Brad's driver in the Bravo company lead vehicle. Ray likes Elvis sunglasses, Avril Lavinge (sp) sing-a-longs and Skittles. Ray does not like Charms. Charms are baaaaaaaaaad luck to Marines. Do not give Marines Charms, you will probably be shot. Ray, however, does like Brad. He likes Brad so much that in episode 4 he was jerking off five feet away from where Brad was sleeping. Yes, you get to see this too. Ray might have a thing for Brad. You could write about it.

This is Brad with Sgt Rudy Reyes and Trombly Pappy. Everyone in the HBO adaptation is an actor except for Rudy and Eric Kocher. Rudy and Eric are actually a Marines. Rudy is prossibly the hottest Marine you have ever seen in your life. The guys spend 5 minutes in episode 1 of the series talking about how gay Rudy makes everyone else. Possibly because he likes to walk around naked. And yes, you get to see this. I know. David Simon loves you too. I would talk about Trombly, but I might stroke out and not in the good way.

This is Lieutenant Nathaniel Fick. Or, as I like to refer to him, Brad's Baby Daddy. Okay, this has not yet happened, but in episode 3 there were declarations of kissing and homosexuality in front of three witnesses with regards to a can of gun lube. You will never convince me that's not love. Nate is also Brad's commanding officer, but they are BFF anyway. Nate is very big on doing his job right and his boys love him, unfortunately, Nate's XO is a fucktard named Encino Man. He's really just neanderthal dumb. It's hard to do good work when the person in charge is a jackhole. You will see lots of this sort of frustration in the series

This is Godfather. He's in charge of this whole mess, err, battalion. He's kind of a gloryhound, which makes life difficult for, oh, everyone. He also used to have throat cancer, even though he was never a smoker, hence his call sign, because he sounds like Brando. Godfather also likes to talk about himself in third person, this will confuse the shit out of you. Trufax.

This is Brad and Nate together. Aren't they adorable in their uniforms? They like to exchange meaningful glances, and when they fight it's bad for everybody. They need you to love them and write them slash and porn. Really. They're like Gremlins that way

This is Sgt. Eric Kocher, AKA Stephen from Kitchen Confidential. Fandom X-over #2! He is bad ass. Really. There's this whole mustache contest in the beginning and then he kicks Captain America's ass (pet names, you will LOVE them). You just have to see it for yourself. The real Eric Kocher is also in this series, but he does not play himself. Yeah, I dunno, that might've weird for him. Understandably.

This is Doc. He is very good about telling people when they're being fucktards. His job is made even more difficult by the fact that Godfather seems to have decided the Geneva convention doesn't actually exist. Wait until you see them turn back the refugees and the thing with the camels.

This is Brad naked. The majority of Generation Kill has been directed by a British woman, the one episode directed by a guy gives us Brad shirtless for like 10 whole minutes. I think we need to talk to someone about this.

Oh wait, that photo's not supposed to be in there. Unless you want to embed Tony Stark with a bunch of Marines.

Oh, there's naked Brad again. He's very pretty.

And yes, okay more naked Brad. I am biased, but I assure you that if they had Nate naked at all, this post would be full of him instead.

Yes, okay, you can really make a case for Ray/Brad unrequited based on this this cap. Brad's hot, what can you do?

I wanted to end with Nate though, because well, he's sort of indicative of the entire series: trying to make the best of a bad situation anyway you can. And hey, at least Nate gets to go home to Brad.

Now, I know I said that the point of this was to show you the pretty, and it is, was, is. Anyway, that's not the only selling point of Generation Kill, even though it's a big one. Generation Kill is about the US invasion of Iraq and all the things that they don't show you on CNN. It's about the people who spend their lives trying to do their jobs, even if they don't necessarily agree with those jobs or want to be there. It's about all the mistakes and all the foul-langauge and all the shit that nobody wants to talk about like roadblocks and shooting children and air strikes on the wrong location or supply trucks getting left behind because people don't want to wait to change a fucking TIRE!

It's not an easy show to watch, really and truly. It's misogynist, racist, completely Un-PC in every way imaginable and a few you've never even thought of. It's also the most real thing you'll see this year. They've only aired the first four episodes and I've only understood 65% (if that) of what's being said, because it's just that true to the subjects (might I suggest the glossary you can find here to help? ). Regardless of anything else, I think that if you invest the time, you'll be rewarded.


The Means

Watch Generation Kill on HBO. New episodes air on Sundays. The first four are now available On Demand or from your local providers as it were.

Buy Generation Kill by Evan Wright here.

Buy One Bullet Away by Nate Fick.

Read the series of articles Evan wrote for Rolling Stone (the basis for the book) from the front.

Read Maureen Ryan's Generation Kill Crib Sheet for When You Have No Fucking Clue What's Going On


Thus ends my pimp for the day. [/pimp]

ETA: Read suaine's Cats & Dogs for a absolutely flawless exploration of Brad and Nate from Beecher, err, Evan's POV.


ETA 09/26/08: Also, please note that this pimp post was made between episodes 1.04 and 1.05, so it's missing some stuff. I am aware of this.


This is for antheia.

Huge thanks to the_grynne for caps, to generation_kill for existing and to la_tante, alethialia and silviakundera for various excitement.

Comments

[the-grynne.livejournal.com]

Doc's first lines in the show: "Can you believe this shit?" (indicating the desert of Afghanistan, dotted with wreckage from the first Gulf War). I'm kind of obsessed with him. :)

[alethialia.livejournal.com]

Thought so. Maybe it's 'cause he doesn't have the Bandanna of Badassery on and he's not verbally-eviscerating people. That's how I started to recognize him.

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

Yes! I made the edit. I can't remember anything about Episode 1 except my immediate thought of Rudy naked = GODDAMN! Brad = Pretty, Nathan = Want ONE! and various other guys either needing to be slapped or taken into my bunk. I remained confused about who was who or did what where or reported to who until I got a chance to look at the geneology chart.