Showing posts with label Lynch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lynch. Show all posts
Thursday, September 05, 2013
Head Rattle
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Much Ado about NOTHING
Ten years ago today, I blogged this:
Requiem for a Pencil
"I do all of my writing with either a ball-point pen or a keyboard. I've never been particularly fussy about what I write with, as long as it gets the words on paper (or screen) and doesn't leak all over my fingers. Some writers are fussy about their instruments, though, and quite a few through modern history have preferred to use the Blackwing 602. Alas, this pencil is no longer being manufactured, though you can still find them on eBay--for about $20 a piece."
Good news -- sort of. Reproduction Blackwings are now being made, though some cultists feel they don't compare to the originals. Read all about this feverish controversy here. It seems kind of pointless to me.
~~~
Meanwhile....
The 25 Funniest iPhone Autocorrects of 2012. Amusing if true.
Twin Peaks 20th Anniversary Exhibition in London. See you in the trees. For real.
Requiem for a Pencil
"I do all of my writing with either a ball-point pen or a keyboard. I've never been particularly fussy about what I write with, as long as it gets the words on paper (or screen) and doesn't leak all over my fingers. Some writers are fussy about their instruments, though, and quite a few through modern history have preferred to use the Blackwing 602. Alas, this pencil is no longer being manufactured, though you can still find them on eBay--for about $20 a piece."
Good news -- sort of. Reproduction Blackwings are now being made, though some cultists feel they don't compare to the originals. Read all about this feverish controversy here. It seems kind of pointless to me.
~~~
Meanwhile....
The 25 Funniest iPhone Autocorrects of 2012. Amusing if true.
Twin Peaks 20th Anniversary Exhibition in London. See you in the trees. For real.
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Way I Feel
(or felt)
Bushed from working 10-hour days at home, which is just as exhausting as working 10-hour days in an office, I've discovered. What has the Internet wrought?
Disgusted by the whole year's worth of different types of weather we've had here over the last 10 days.
Elated by the election results. Now everybody in D.C. can go back to bickering and prevaricating. Oh wait... they never stopped.
Panicky because I ran out of coffee this morning. I had to head out into the snowstorm to score some more.
Handsome, since somebody has asked me if they can use a picture of me in a "handbook". "Your name will not be associated with the photo", they say. Hmm. Maybe it's just that I look nice and generic?
~~~
Meanwhile....
David Lynch analyzes this year's presidential-campaign commercials
Bushed from working 10-hour days at home, which is just as exhausting as working 10-hour days in an office, I've discovered. What has the Internet wrought?
Disgusted by the whole year's worth of different types of weather we've had here over the last 10 days.
Elated by the election results. Now everybody in D.C. can go back to bickering and prevaricating. Oh wait... they never stopped.
Panicky because I ran out of coffee this morning. I had to head out into the snowstorm to score some more.
Handsome, since somebody has asked me if they can use a picture of me in a "handbook". "Your name will not be associated with the photo", they say. Hmm. Maybe it's just that I look nice and generic?
~~~
Meanwhile....
David Lynch analyzes this year's presidential-campaign commercials
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Word of the Day: deliquium
deliquium (n)
Melting or dissolution; liquifying. A maudlin mood.
"When at length overtaken and reconveyed to the house, deliquium followed deliquium, and when they ceased, frenzy succeeded; the dark night of insanity had utterly quenched the light of reason. In her lucid intervals, which were few and far between, she was heard to pray for the return of madness as a relief from sufferings too acute to be endured."
--Reuben Percy, "The Mirror"
Things melt. The salad left too long in the refrigerator turns to green slime. A vinyl phonograph disc left in the sun warps disastrously. A plastic carafe left too close to the stove burner assumes a comical shape.
All these things have happened to me, sad to say. But the worst was during my childhood, when my parents gave me a chocolate bunny one hot Easter morning. While we attended some religious rite, we left the cuniculus confection in the car. When we returned, all that was left of my sacchariferous hare was a pool of chocolate milk. And yes, that put me in a maudlin mood. Oh, what a world, what a world...
~~~
Meanwhile....
Fire Walk With Me. Still.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Way I Feel
(or felt)
Weird. For a while, I was the only person walking around the Tilton Gallery on the Upper East Side of New York on Saturday, perusing the David Lynch exhibit. The place is a bit strange (appropriately?), in that it was obviously someone's 19th-century house at one point -- there are lots of fireplaces and rickety wooden stairs to the second level, which has a Victorian tin ceiling. But the walls are covered with some mighty disturbing and/or surreal contemporary images. (See a couple of pix I took here and here.) It's not an unpleasant contrast. It's just that when I think of an art gallery, I think of one of those minimalist store-front places you see in Soho or Lynch's hometown, L.A. (The man himself will be at Tilton for a reception on the 16th; maybe I'll go back.)
Hungry. I'm a cereal killer. Every morning I eat a bowl of Grape Nuts, which are very filling, but today we had run out of milk, so I had to make do with a bagel. I've felt empty all day, not ravenous, but as if something is missing. I bought milk, so maybe I'll eat Grape Nuts for dinner. Except then I'll feel like the day should be starting, not winding down. And today has been confusing enough, what with the preternaturally warm winter weather and daylight saving time starting. By the way, it is daylight saving time, not "savings". Daylight cannot be banked, more's the pity.
Weird. For a while, I was the only person walking around the Tilton Gallery on the Upper East Side of New York on Saturday, perusing the David Lynch exhibit. The place is a bit strange (appropriately?), in that it was obviously someone's 19th-century house at one point -- there are lots of fireplaces and rickety wooden stairs to the second level, which has a Victorian tin ceiling. But the walls are covered with some mighty disturbing and/or surreal contemporary images. (See a couple of pix I took here and here.) It's not an unpleasant contrast. It's just that when I think of an art gallery, I think of one of those minimalist store-front places you see in Soho or Lynch's hometown, L.A. (The man himself will be at Tilton for a reception on the 16th; maybe I'll go back.)
Hungry. I'm a cereal killer. Every morning I eat a bowl of Grape Nuts, which are very filling, but today we had run out of milk, so I had to make do with a bagel. I've felt empty all day, not ravenous, but as if something is missing. I bought milk, so maybe I'll eat Grape Nuts for dinner. Except then I'll feel like the day should be starting, not winding down. And today has been confusing enough, what with the preternaturally warm winter weather and daylight saving time starting. By the way, it is daylight saving time, not "savings". Daylight cannot be banked, more's the pity.
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Link Mania
Nota Bene
Win a Year's Supply of Girl Scout Cookies. "The peanut butter ones are vegan," a friend comments.
Still hungry?
The moral and culinary merits of exotic flesh, including squirrel.
(Say "yum" like Boris Badenov.)
What happened to the flying car? Only delayed, but not for long, according to this article. We are living in the future, after all.
How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy. Seriously. It's in The Atlantic, so it must be true.
The 50 Best David Lynch Characters. Thumbs up. I pretty much agree.
Pictures of sand: Close up photographs reveal its incredible beauty. Who knew?
Win a Year's Supply of Girl Scout Cookies. "The peanut butter ones are vegan," a friend comments.
Still hungry?
The moral and culinary merits of exotic flesh, including squirrel.
(Say "yum" like Boris Badenov.)
What happened to the flying car? Only delayed, but not for long, according to this article. We are living in the future, after all.
How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy. Seriously. It's in The Atlantic, so it must be true.
The 50 Best David Lynch Characters. Thumbs up. I pretty much agree.
Pictures of sand: Close up photographs reveal its incredible beauty. Who knew?
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Photo of the Week
Strange loops! I didn't know what to make of this metallic curlicue that appeared last year at the edge of the neighborhood playground. Then one of the local moppets who frequents the teeter-totter informed me that the older kids use it as a loop de loop for their radio-controlled toy cars. Not many cars make it all the way to the end of the track, creating a lively little after-market in 9V batteries, transmitters, and the usual bumpers, wheels and fenders.
Actually, I just made that up, because this sculpture, which occupies a corner of Washington Park, reminds me of the looping tracks I used to have for my Hot Wheels as a kid. I also think it sort of looks like a sci-fi time portal. Maybe if I crawled through it, I'd find myself back in my parent's living room, racing my shiny little die-cast hot-rods around and around.
Click the pic for a closer look. You want to. You do.
~~~
Meanwhile....
The Tilton Gallery in New York City is mounting an exhibition of David Lynch's paintings and sculpture, from March 6 to April 14. Check out some images from the show at the link. They have a certain terrible splendor and haunting surreality.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Word of the Day: vinculation
vinculation (n)
The act of tying or binding. (verb form: vinculate)
"Varis was too pale to blanch, but his lips thinned and a muscle worked in his jaw. He had always been the most vocal of the Arcanostoi against vinculation--the binding of spirits. He had seen firsthand what it was to have choices stolen, to be trapped in service. Kiril didn't think he was hypocrite enough to condemn the practice against spirits and condone it for humans."
--Amanda Downum, The Bone Palace
I prefer loafers, just so I don't have to vinculate my shoelaces, which always seem to come untied eventually, even when I double knot them. My brother-in-law avoids this problem -- he never ties his shoes; he walks around with them untied. I don't think I could do that without tripping.
~~~
Speaking of tripping, check this out, java imbibers:
signature cup
And this, fashionistas:
The 50 Most Ridiculous Outfits from New York Fashion Week
The act of tying or binding. (verb form: vinculate)
"Varis was too pale to blanch, but his lips thinned and a muscle worked in his jaw. He had always been the most vocal of the Arcanostoi against vinculation--the binding of spirits. He had seen firsthand what it was to have choices stolen, to be trapped in service. Kiril didn't think he was hypocrite enough to condemn the practice against spirits and condone it for humans."
--Amanda Downum, The Bone Palace
I prefer loafers, just so I don't have to vinculate my shoelaces, which always seem to come untied eventually, even when I double knot them. My brother-in-law avoids this problem -- he never ties his shoes; he walks around with them untied. I don't think I could do that without tripping.
~~~
Speaking of tripping, check this out, java imbibers:
signature cup
And this, fashionistas:
The 50 Most Ridiculous Outfits from New York Fashion Week
Monday, January 23, 2012
Word of the Day: pasticcio
pasticcio (n)
A work or style consisting of borrowed fragments, ingredients,
or motifs assembled from various sources; a potpourri.
"What did it matter if the work were a spurious thing, a pasticcio, a poor victim which had been pulled this way and that, changed, cut, added to?"
--Robert Smythe Hichens, The Way of Ambition
"On one occasion an old man sang quite glibly a tune which was in reality a pasticcio of three separate shanties all known to me."
--Sir Richard Runciman Terry, The Shanty Book, Part I, Sailor Shanties
Hey, all you wordcatchers, I know this sounds like something you might order in an Italian restaurant, but it appears in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, so I think it's worth featuring as my WotD. (I try to stick to English lexemes here.)
I've just started reading a book (or, perhaps you might call it a monograph) entitled Old World Politics, New World Prophecy, which is billed as an explanation of Inland Empire, the very confusing but weirdly fascinating (to me anyway) film/puzzle by David Lynch, which is sort of a cinematic pasticcio. The author delves into Eastern European mythology and other arcana to develop a theory of what the hell that was all about, and even apparently argues that the talking-rabbit sitcom scenes were not non sequiturs. (If something is not a non, is it a plain old sequitur?) It's received excellent reviews from the Lynch mob, so I'm looking forward to being enlightened.
A work or style consisting of borrowed fragments, ingredients,
or motifs assembled from various sources; a potpourri.
"What did it matter if the work were a spurious thing, a pasticcio, a poor victim which had been pulled this way and that, changed, cut, added to?"
--Robert Smythe Hichens, The Way of Ambition
"On one occasion an old man sang quite glibly a tune which was in reality a pasticcio of three separate shanties all known to me."
--Sir Richard Runciman Terry, The Shanty Book, Part I, Sailor Shanties
Hey, all you wordcatchers, I know this sounds like something you might order in an Italian restaurant, but it appears in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, so I think it's worth featuring as my WotD. (I try to stick to English lexemes here.)
I've just started reading a book (or, perhaps you might call it a monograph) entitled Old World Politics, New World Prophecy, which is billed as an explanation of Inland Empire, the very confusing but weirdly fascinating (to me anyway) film/puzzle by David Lynch, which is sort of a cinematic pasticcio. The author delves into Eastern European mythology and other arcana to develop a theory of what the hell that was all about, and even apparently argues that the talking-rabbit sitcom scenes were not non sequiturs. (If something is not a non, is it a plain old sequitur?) It's received excellent reviews from the Lynch mob, so I'm looking forward to being enlightened.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Photo of the Week
As the weather around here has turned increasingly frigid, the skin on my hands has become extremely dry -- so dry that it cracks and bleeds around the joints sometimes. I keep forgetting to slather on moisturizer before I go out into the arctic chill, I rarely wear mittens, and the result is what you see above. Out of sheer perversity, I asked my lab technician friend to look at my hand under his microscope and photograph the damage. Ouch! Yes, that's my own personal Kalahari or Mars-scape above, magnified 250 times.
Actually, I just made that up. This is my photo of the rather odd exterior wall treatment on a building up the street from where I live. I can't decide if it's a very sloppy job of tiling or an intentional, and artistic, crackle effect. Why don't you click on it for a close up? Maybe you can tell.
~~~
Meanwhile....
"I don't necessarily love rotting bodies, but there's a texture to a rotting body that is unbelievable. Have you ever seen a little rotted animal? I love looking at those things, just as much as I like to look at a close-up of some tree bark, or a small bug, or a cup of coffee, or a small pie. You get in close and the textures are wonderful."
--David Lynch
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Zootaxa?
I typed my name into Google Story Creator, and this was the result:
Zootaxa.
Great Lakes Entomologist. 2005.
It actually went so close to perfect that we could hardly believe it.
And when they do, we nail them.
Those parts range literally from boots on our feet to satellites zipping overhead.
They had night vision gear, so they moved quickly.
Interesting. It seems to have something to do with a successful clandestine military or espionage mission (code name "Zootaxa"?) in 2005 that involved "nailing" an entomologist -- possibly near the Great Lakes. Some poor scientist studying insects at night - a real threat to the government? I wonder why my name generated such a creepy tale. Try it; see if you have better luck.
~~~
Meanwhile....
Gosh, wouldn't it be cool to have this just reissued novel as an audiobook, recorded by Sheryl Lee?
Zootaxa.
Great Lakes Entomologist. 2005.
It actually went so close to perfect that we could hardly believe it.
And when they do, we nail them.
Those parts range literally from boots on our feet to satellites zipping overhead.
They had night vision gear, so they moved quickly.
Interesting. It seems to have something to do with a successful clandestine military or espionage mission (code name "Zootaxa"?) in 2005 that involved "nailing" an entomologist -- possibly near the Great Lakes. Some poor scientist studying insects at night - a real threat to the government? I wonder why my name generated such a creepy tale. Try it; see if you have better luck.
~~~
Meanwhile....
Gosh, wouldn't it be cool to have this just reissued novel as an audiobook, recorded by Sheryl Lee?
Friday, September 23, 2011
Much Ado about NOTHING
Mantle Piece
The contents of the mantlepiece in my living room (left to right):
A fishbowl containing a piece of coral and a porcelain fish, and no water; a stack of small, 1960s-era souvenir glass ashtrays from Los Angeles and Las Vegas (once owned by my wyfe's late aunt); a pine nut; a Michael Jackson doll (from the Thriller days) wearing a red uniform jacket and a white glove and lying flat on his back; a 3D wooden snowflake; a photograph of our fireplace (yes--on top of the fireplace); a small metal replica of the Eiffel Tower; a tiny metal replica of the Space Needle; a tin Lucky Strikes cigarette case containing various ID and membership cards from the 1940s through 1960s that belonged to my wyfe's late aunt and her ex-husband; another stack of souvenir glass ashtrays (we don't smoke) from various California and Nevada motels and casinos; a painted seashell; a small Hello Kitty candle; and two glass paperweights, one containing a yellowed photograph of a fancy hotel and the other a photo of an unknown, sad-faced woman (1920s era?) with a curlicue of hair in the middle of her forehead.
Sometimes I think a semiotician could have a field day with this place.
~~~
Meanwhile....
The 3 Rs by David Lynch
The contents of the mantlepiece in my living room (left to right):
A fishbowl containing a piece of coral and a porcelain fish, and no water; a stack of small, 1960s-era souvenir glass ashtrays from Los Angeles and Las Vegas (once owned by my wyfe's late aunt); a pine nut; a Michael Jackson doll (from the Thriller days) wearing a red uniform jacket and a white glove and lying flat on his back; a 3D wooden snowflake; a photograph of our fireplace (yes--on top of the fireplace); a small metal replica of the Eiffel Tower; a tiny metal replica of the Space Needle; a tin Lucky Strikes cigarette case containing various ID and membership cards from the 1940s through 1960s that belonged to my wyfe's late aunt and her ex-husband; another stack of souvenir glass ashtrays (we don't smoke) from various California and Nevada motels and casinos; a painted seashell; a small Hello Kitty candle; and two glass paperweights, one containing a yellowed photograph of a fancy hotel and the other a photo of an unknown, sad-faced woman (1920s era?) with a curlicue of hair in the middle of her forehead.
Sometimes I think a semiotician could have a field day with this place.
~~~
Meanwhile....
The 3 Rs by David Lynch
Monday, August 22, 2011
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Way I Feel
Silly: Pressed the wrong elevator button this morning out of habit (my desk has migrated to a new floor), and I think the other person on the elevator, who works on the same new floor, noticed. He gave me a funny look. I need to practice mindfulness.
French and pooped: Copy-edited/proofread a 96-page report about banking regs and economic conditions in France over the weekend, as a freelance project. Le travail loigne de nous trois grands maux: l'ennui, le vice et le besoin. (Voltaire)
Amused: But perhaps I shouldn't be. About his new solo album, Crazy Clown Time, to be released in November, David Lynch has this to say here: "There were so many accidents.... This album should be in the hospital."
French and pooped: Copy-edited/proofread a 96-page report about banking regs and economic conditions in France over the weekend, as a freelance project. Le travail loigne de nous trois grands maux: l'ennui, le vice et le besoin. (Voltaire)
Amused: But perhaps I shouldn't be. About his new solo album, Crazy Clown Time, to be released in November, David Lynch has this to say here: "There were so many accidents.... This album should be in the hospital."
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Friday, July 01, 2011
Head Rattle
Is it possible to feel too tired to go to bed? That's about where your host is right now. Propitiously, a three-day weekend is coming up, which I'm extending into a four-day mini furlough.
My biting article about a trip to the dentist/oral inquisition, "The Ongoing Saga of My Denticles", is up on ViewsHound.com. Chew on it for amusement.
"Yes. That's a human ear alright." Here is a enlightening article about an iconic prop from one the best films of all time. (It's also human hair alright, and guess whose?)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Head Rattle
My new passport came in the mail the other day, so I am now free (free at last!) to leave the country. It's quite a little book of hidden gadgets and gizmos, including an embedded microchip -- so I can be scanned, like a can of creamed corn at the supermarket. I could do without all the patriotic uber-American pictures on the pages -- though I suppose that has something to do with preventing counterfeiting. I'd like to think I'm more of a citizen of the world when I'm outside the U.S. I'd like to have an Planet Earth passport....
To indulge some relations, I saw a performance of Psycho Beach Party by a local theatrical group last weekend -- a high-camp Charles Busch period piece about early 60s surfing culture and multi-personality disorder. It's a comedy/farce of course, but I keep thinking that it could also be played "straight" (in all senses of the word), and that it might be even funnier like that, but in a different way. I prefer my camp to be unintentional.
There's so much previously unreleased Twin Peaks music available now on DavidLynch.com. I'm listening to "Laura's Dark Boogie" as I type this. Those creepy, nervous cellos (or whatever they are) and that demented sax over great waves of synthesizer anxiety -- it's hypnotic. I'm going to have to break down and download all the tracks (the ones I don't already have on CD) soon. Badalamenti (the composer) should compose a symphony based on it all.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The T&T List
Miley Cyrus
Jawbone Jambox
Clovis people
Trylle Trilogy
Burj Khalifa
Nacho Mastretta
vegetable frittata
yabusame
Pareto's law
Your Man in India
Zeo headband
HTML5
~~~
Meanwhile....
Here's what's really going on in David Lynch's Inland Empire -- or an interpretation, anyway, including a comparison with Inception, and with lots of excellent screen caps from the UK Blu-Ray release.
BTW, there's a whole book on this subject.
Jawbone Jambox
Clovis people
Trylle Trilogy
Burj Khalifa
Nacho Mastretta
vegetable frittata
yabusame
Pareto's law
Your Man in India
Zeo headband
HTML5
~~~
Meanwhile....
Here's what's really going on in David Lynch's Inland Empire -- or an interpretation, anyway, including a comparison with Inception, and with lots of excellent screen caps from the UK Blu-Ray release.
BTW, there's a whole book on this subject.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Lynchpin
It is with mixed emotion that I pass along a link to 35 Years of David Lynch. Such retrospective cogitations usually commemorate a completed career. And I certainly hope we haven't seen the last of a filmmaking Lynch. I appreciate his Renaissance-man explorations of other mediums, particularly music, and his dedication to meditation, even if I'm rather tired of hearing about the latter. (Talk about meditation is about as interesting to me as dancing about architecture -- and I meditate.) But I'd like to be gobsmacked again by something totally unexpected on a movie screen. Or a flatscreen. Or even a computer monitor.
Nevertheless, the site is an enjoyable read, and a visual keepsake.
Nevertheless, the site is an enjoyable read, and a visual keepsake.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Peak Performance
Wow, Bob, wow, I'm tired. Instead of further forays into magniloquent persiflage, I'll share this with you:
"Starting at 10 a.m. today (EST), Miller will watch every episode of the David Lynch TV-Series 'Twin Peaks' (including the European pilot) in a 30-hour stretch expected to run through mid-afternoon on Friday."
You can read more about performance artist Tom Miller's marathon fit of Peak here.
"I have found no evidence that anyone in the world has publicly achieved watching every episode of 'Twin Peaks' (plus the movie 'Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me') in one continuous sitting while only consuming coffee, cherry pie and doughnuts. I will be the first."
Thirty hours of caffeine, sugar, and surrealism. Let's rock!
"Starting at 10 a.m. today (EST), Miller will watch every episode of the David Lynch TV-Series 'Twin Peaks' (including the European pilot) in a 30-hour stretch expected to run through mid-afternoon on Friday."
You can read more about performance artist Tom Miller's marathon fit of Peak here.
"I have found no evidence that anyone in the world has publicly achieved watching every episode of 'Twin Peaks' (plus the movie 'Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me') in one continuous sitting while only consuming coffee, cherry pie and doughnuts. I will be the first."
Thirty hours of caffeine, sugar, and surrealism. Let's rock!
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