Opinion – Artistic Apathy

“Top Boy” Netflix Series Review

Without revealing too much, fans of American crime dramas, especially ones that deal with urban plight will love this show.

Over the course of this week I’ve had the pleasure of binge-watching one of Netflix’s best shows and one of the best shows I’ve recently seen: Netflix’s Top Boy.

So what’s good about it?

Take everything you love about American crime dramas and make it British.

The show provides an insight into the seedy underbelly of the London streets that’s not often documented–that is unless you listen to the heavily popular Grime music genre.

Gangsters or roadmen as they’re called in London localized vernacular, traffic drugs in and out of their London council estate.

They’re just like American drug runners except, er, a bit different. They have their own slang, their own way of doing things and this series displays that lifestyle brilliantly. So much that I want to adopt some of the slang I hear being used in the show.

But enough about the slang or appearances… We want to hear about the meat of this sandwich, right? The actual content that makes this show riveting.

Continuing off where Top Boy: Summerhouse left off, the show follows Dushane and Sully again and this time a newcomer–a young “yute” named Jamie.

Jamie is the leader of The Fields (later they come together to form a gang known as the ZTs.) While Dushane and Sully run the Summerhouse council estate. Both have one object: making money. Whoever stands in the way of that should heed warning.

The story basically boils down to the two vying for control of the local drug market in their council estates. Simple enough plot but you are pulled in with the direction of the story and the thrill of being on the edge of your seat not knowing who will make a move when and how.

Without revealing too much, fans of American crime dramas, especially ones that deal with urban plight will love this show. As long as they can get past the accents and the sometimes confusing vernacular. That in and of itself should not stop you however from enjoying this ride of a show.

This show will send you on a ride you won’t want to forget with characters that feel real and palpable.

I give Netflix’s Top Boy a 4 out of 5.

This has been my review. What did you think? Will you stream it? Have thoughts on the show as a whole? Comment down below! Until next time.

Inheritors of the Earth

Today I was walking along my usual trail and a thought occurred to me. I looked at the lush green forest and the riverbank and I thought to myself “this is all mine.”

The bible says in its text that we are inheritors of sin, passed down from Adam and Eve. Well even better, what if we’re inheritors of this Earth that we walk on?

What if we inherited the paradise that they called the Garden of Eden? What if this heaven that so many seek is here on this very green earth?

We are born in this world and some are luckier than others, I know this. That still doesn’t mean you are at a disadvantage. You have all the advantages. This entire world was made for you. Who else is going to seize it if not you? Who is going to take ownership of it? Who is going to maintain it?

It is our obligation to maintain this Earth that we call our residence. Our home is not our home like they say but everywhere is our home. And still we trash our home everyday and we have little regard for it. It’s sad really. Not just literally but we also trash it with our antagonizing of other people: road rage, racist remarks, violence in the streets.

I don’t want to go into a whole tangent but just know that this world is like a huge sandbox just waiting for you to play in. Sure there are some places you legally cannot cross but people have even found ways around that. Forget about borders, forget about all these manmade constructs like time and dates and the like.

Forgot about all your limitations and live in this wonderful planet that we are so fortunate to live in.

Just some thoughts I’d share. Thank you for listening.

On the Subject of Friendship

Do you ever really lose a friend?

I can’t say I’ve ever lost a friend over a big dispute or in an ugly fashion. And I’m not speaking for those who’ve lost friends to something much more serious like an illness or passing, etc.

When you grow apart from a friend do they ever really leave you? I can count on two hands the friends that have mattered most to me in my short time here on earth. Each of those friends have left an impact on me and have shaped me in some fashion.

Unfortunately, life has a way of just separating you from people you were once close with. This is done so easily with friends as they tend to come and go. Simple differences like beliefs, attitudes, can be the cause. You may not see “eye to eye” anymore. Some friends you let go but still a part of you is holding on. You may check up on them from time to time but they’re not really a part of your daily life. I find myself years after last talking to someone, still having them in the back of my mind. I may even dream about them repeatedly, to my surprise. This shows me that I haven’t let go. Every true friend along the journey impacted me in such a way that they still have a place inside me. So, do you ever really let go of a friend? Even if things ended badly, do you not reflect on the good times? After all, they were good to you at one point. I know for me, I still consider them my friends in some way even though we don’t really communicate anymore.

Thank you for reading.