A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

RETROPERSPECTIVE: Like many of the millions who watched the original Miami Vice, I cannot claim to know a lot about Miami itself except as a backdrop for Michael Mann's supremely stylized and covertly self-loathing chronicle of Reagan-era decadence. But Matt and Kim's mentions of the Miami Vice movie-related websites and subjects in recent days sent me, one way or another, to this impressive rumination on the City of Miami's development over the last two-and-a-half decades written by Brett Sokol for the Miami New Times back in October. From the gritty reality that inspired the original television concept to the Big Willy Style renaissance that is South Beach in the new millennium, Sokol's thoughtful piece provides a compelling portrait of the living center behind the flashy images we came to know in the 1980s as well as a fascinating reflection on the synergy between media and money in the remaking of a major American city.