"...I'm as blank as a fart..."

It's funny the things that come in to your mind as you're sat in front of an empty screen with a cursor blinking at you. And, then, what it can spark. Typing the quote above instantly draws me to Twin Peaks, but I think I should hold off on the Peaks stuff for the time being as there'll be lots of that later in the year, once we get to Feb 24th, and the subsequent Blu release a few weeks later. With FWWM deleted scenes. 

Trouble is with these blog posts, I know all the things I should say... but it's so hard and I'm not sure I want to, anyway. 

On a different day...

...which, of course, links back to yesterday; when, I was mad. And quite prepared to give up everything. Which is an intriguing notion; to give up everything. We accumulate so much stuff in our lifetime, but of how much worth is it? The things we build up just act to constrain us, when we should be able to just not worry. Does it matter that so much money has been sunk in to the piles of DVDs, Blus, books, etc? Heck; in terms of books I've already bought more than I'll ever get around to reading on my Kindle, and that's so beautifully compact. After all, it's the content that matters, not the pieces of dead tree...

...but imagine if one of those pieces of dead tree happened to be a first edition, first printing of Catcher in the Rye? One of the ones that had the picture on the back, before JDS got it removed. That would be worth having. Especially if signed. But... I've not got one of those, and to buy one would be such silly money it's not worth thinking about. 

You could buy me one, if you like... 

"...it is happening again..."

Sometimes these posts are really lengthy. Other times like today, there's only one thing worth saying.

Today, this is that Ray Wise, who played Leland in Twin Peaks says the forthcoming Blu Ray set will have the deleted scenes from the movie on it...

I believe the expression is;

YOU BEAUTY!!!

"...it is happening again..."

Through the darkness of futures past,

The magician longs to see,

One chants out between two worlds,

"Fire, walk with me".

I crave Twin Peaks. Oh, so constantly. I still recall when I first saw it. I'd heard about it when it was first on the telly, but felt no inclination to watch it. I'd not heard of David Lynch at the time, and the main thrust of the show "Who killed Laura Palmer?" held little interest as I'd made the assumption it was pretty much a standard detective show and at the time such shows held little interest to me. It is possible there was a time I was more wrong about something, but I can't think what it was.

Then, one day, there was something rubbish on one of the other channels, and I started to surf. Well, as much as you could say switching between four channels was surfing... and on to BBC2 and Twin Peaks it was. The first thing I saw was a girl screaming, which cut to a shot of two men sat, cross legged, in front of a fire. One man was debating which, of two, accounting books he should burn; the one with the true accounts, the other with false accounts. He seemed quite concerned by it all. The other did seem to care a jot which was burnt; all he cared was that his cheese pig wasn't burnt. 

This seemed most odd to me. I didn't have a clue what it was about, but it drew me in. And before I knew it, I'd seen the whole episode. I watched the next weeks, and continued to watch, ending up loving the show to pieces. True, there were many things that didn't make sense; it turned out I'd started on the tenth episode (second of season two), so I'd missed out on lots. There were several things that only really had significance when I was able to catch up with the episodes I'd missed. I certainly wish I'd seen it all from the start.

I've seen it several times since, bought the whole thing on VHS, bought the season 1 box set on region 1 DVD, and region 2, and bought the complete set as well. Meaning there's some episodes I've bought four copies of. 

And, in a couple of months, it'll be time to get the fifth copy of some of these episodes as the whole thing's out on Blu Ray... ah, the joy of seeing Twin Peaks in full in HD. The movie looks great on Blu (at least the Australian version does), so to have the full run of episodes would be great. 

There remains the question as to whether it will have the deleted scenes from the movie on it. This is likely to be the last time we get to see any "new" Twin Peaks material. These scenes that have been teased to use over the years have had a huge amount of expectation built up; these are scenes deleted not because they were bad, but just because the movie needed to be cut down, and they were diversions from the main story. Ah... to see one more scene with Jack Nance...

"...only in dreams..."

Over at one of the forums I post at, I was asked for advice re which David Lynch films a person who has never seen a David Lynch film (except Dune) should see should they venture to the BFI for the Lynch season at the BFI, which is showing almost everything he's done so far. This is a rejigged version;

I guess it depends on how many you have the time to see, but the following is how you should prioritise, if you can only make some;

1 - Blue Velvet. Best movie ever made, IMHO. However, be warned; it is not an easy watch. There are some scenes that really push you to the extreme. Dennis Hopper's character is genuinely scary. It's a movie that expects you to keep up with it. I found it hard to follow some aspects the first time I saw it (I think I was still shellshocked in places by how far it goes), but the actual plot is pretty straightforward.

2 - Eraserhead. Lynch's first, and most surreal. Seen it several times; I still do not have a clue what the heck it's about. It's more of an experience than a film, but it's an experience worth having. Jack Nance is quite, quite, brilliant. Nance, of course, pops up in most of Lynch's films. Also, you get to see three shorts, The Grandmother, The Amputee and The Alphabet...

3 - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. I disliked this when I first saw it, but then that was because it wasn't what *I wanted* the Twin Peaks movie to be (it'd take too long to explain). It'd be interesting to see the response of someone who's not seen the TV series, and how well it hangs as a movie if you don't know who all of the minor characters in the movie are... though, if you are planning to watch the TV show, and don't want to know the answer to the question "Who killed Laura Palmer?" it might be best to avoid.

4 - Lost Highway. I've still not got the hang of this one. Every time I think I've got a handle on it, a thought occurs that just makes me question everything. There's some great stuff here, and what Mr Eddy does to the tailgater should be required viewing for anyone that takes part in such behaviour. The comment made by [someone] about never getting more than halfway through it is very interesting... but I'll not comment further... *spoilers*

5 - Mulholland Drive. This one was a failed TV pilot that Lynch managed to get the funds to make in to a feature film (you can tell certain bits that were from the film version even if you've never seen the TV edit...!), most notably the scene that Rago would most want to see on the big screen... : ) It's another one that seems to be complex and tricky to understand, but I think it can (albeit briefly) be explained using three words... which I'll not mention here.

Then, after these you've got;

The Straight Story; which does exactly what it says on the tin. Even though the subject is nothing like a normal Lynch film, and there's no out and out weirdness in it, it has the usual Lynchian feel running right through it...

Wild at Heart; one of the most straightforward movies. Reminded me a little of True Romance. Probably the best performance you'll even see from Nic Cage. Better, even, than his performance as Cameron Poe in Con Air. It's that good.

The Elephant Man; you know, biopic of Mr Merrick. It's a pretty decent film. But, it's many years since I last saw it, so really can't comment further..

Dune; nothing to say here... : ) Worth noting that it's the only Lynch movie for which he didn't get final cut. It's also the only Lynch film I've not seen, despite having got a free DVD with the Grauniad some time back.

Which leaves...

Inland Empire. Oh. My. Word. When this was out in the cinema, it wasn't showing anywhere around here. So, me and a fried travelled in to London to see it (at the Odeon a few doors from Forbidden Planet). Even now, over 5 years later, he still talks of me dragging him along to see that terrible film...

I mean, I've left Lynch movies before thinking "what the heck was that about?", but it never mattered, as the actual experience of the film was an enjoyable one; that you leave the movie not understanding everything about it isn't a bad thing as it makes you think, makes you wonder, and makes you want to see the thing again.

With Inland Empire I left thinking "what the heck was that about?"... but the experiece...? Oh, no... not enjoyable at all. Trouble was, it just did not feel like a Lynch movie at all. Whatever equipment (some digital camera, and not HD; he doesn't do HD...) he used often made it look like camcorder footage, with terrible pixelisation, in some place (but not others). He'd seemingly randomly spliced in footage from his web Rabbits thing. Scenes just seemed completely random in nature, which is no great surprise as he was making the whole thing up as he went along. He'd write a scene (or group of scenes), film it, and then write some more. If that had been the first Lynch movie I'd ever seen, I swear I'd never watch another one. It was that bad.

Put it this way, if I had the choice to watch Inland Empire, and any other DVD; the other DVD would win almost every time. The only time Inland Empire would win would be if it were a choice between Inland Empire and Simply Red: Live in Concert.

I did actually buy the DVD of Inland Empire. Just to give it a second chance. Put it in the machine, and it was out again within 15 minutes... Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

"...I hear you call my name..."

I am getting increasingly annoyed at US TV shows getting the axe, and ending on a whopping cliffhanger. This year it happened to both V and The Event, last year FlashForward and to a lesser extent, Heroes.

[Incidentally; spoilers for said shows follow.]

American TV has always been ready to chop shows with little mercy, and in the days when each show was always a self contained story, this was much less of an issue. However, now many shows have epic, overarching storylines, and when a show like this gets the axe, it mostly never gets an ending to the story. Instead we are left dangling.

V ended with Anna giving her Bliss to the world, a trio of key deaths, another character in peril, and the introduction of a whole new aspect to the show in the shape of Project Aries. Its axing meant that Marc Singer's character, instead of being the important person he was destined to be is now a mere footnote to proceedings; little more than a fan-pleasing cameo.

The Event ended with the plan to unleash the virus thwarted, the array rather than just brining Sophia's people to Earth bringing the entire frickin' planet; and even with that brief last exchange between the president's wife and her son; "What is it mommy?", "Home" just made you ache for more.

FlashForward ended just as we actually got to the point of the first flash forward, with tantalising hints of the end of the world in a few years time.

And Heroes... although the main points of the season had been wrapped up - the carnival storyline, there was that tantalising moment at the end where Claire announces the existence of those with powers to the world...

You see, the trouble is that by the time a show gets word it's getting the axe, it's too late to give a conclusion. Both V and Heroes had already aired when they got the axe, with the other two getting the chop after filming had finished with just a couple of episodes to screen. This meant there was no way that any of the shows could have an ending. They just had to put up with what they had already got in the can. Moments intended as cliffhangers had to serve as cliffhangers.

In the case of all of these, they were pretty much gamechanging moments; however, in the end, they're now only gamechangers in the same way that Eric Cartman picking up his ball and hissing "Screw you guys, I'm going home" is to the kids' ball game.

I really can't help but wish that they'd all got the word of the axing earlier; that way last episodes could have been changed so that they were able to fashion an ending, even if a rushed one. That's not an unreasonable demand, is it?

I remember Quantum Leap ending; that last ever episode was just meant to be an end of season episode. But, with a small amount of overdubbing, and a couple of captions (which still manage to make me wonderfully happy, and depressingly sad at the same time) the show got an ending. But, that was an episodic, rather than a serial, show, and thus much easier to tweak at the last moment.

Lost spoilt us, I think; from the end of Season 3 we knew that there would definitely be just three more, shorter, seasons and then it would be The End. That meant they had the space to give the show the ending they wanted, and they wouldn't have to to either stretch out or unduly compress the ending.

And it really makes you wary of investing time in a new show, as you'll have it in the back of your mind that there'll be a chance that it won't last beyond 24-ish episodes, and be unresolved. Of next year's crop I'm looking forward to Alcatraz (with Jorge Garcia; there's a trailer already. It's great), and Person of Interest (with Michael Emerson). But part of me thinks I should wait until the end of the season to see if they get picked up at least for a second season. I just don't want the disappointment should one or the other get the axe with a whopping cliffhanger.

Of course, there is one inherent irony here; my favourite show remains Twin Peaks. A show that got axed after 30 episodes. And ends on a whopper of a cliffhanger. And they knew they were getting the axe in time to give the show an ending. But Lynch and Frost chose to end on that cliffhanger.

"...I always have a plan..."

I've now finished my big Lost rewatch in preparation for Season 6; I watched all of the first five seasons over the last three months or so. Or was it longer? May have been. Anyhow, I've been thinking of what to do when Season 6 ends, and to console myself that when it does I should plunge myself headlong either in to a rewatch of something else in its entirety, or something completely new that I've not seen before. The thoughts that are going through my head;

Babylon 5 - a good, big epic story. 111 episodes should last me just long enough until I'm ready to do a "complete Lost re-watch" when I'll watch all six seasons. B5 would be good in this respect as that's all one big (albeit "incomplete") story, with some truly wonderful moments in it.

Twin Peaks - I've not seen Twin Peaks all the way through in quite some time now. I don't even think I've watched most of Season 2 on DVD at all. It'll be good to revisit it.

The Wire - I started this a little while back, but only got three or four episodes in to season 1 before getting distracted by other things. Having heard so much about it, especially the praise heaped on it by Charlie Brooker, I really should get around to watching it.

There are of course other shows. Battlestar Galactica would probably frustrate me too much, as I'd have to skip some of the really bad episodes and concetrate on the great ones. Oz is a possibility too; Mr Eko's in it. Even The Sopranos; never seen a single episode of that. Some of the box sets of these can be picked up quite cheaply now...

...still, I guess I'll decide closer to the time... : )

"...it was twenty years ago today..."

On Februray 24th, in a small town in the American North West, a body washed up on the banks of a river. Wrapped in plastic. That was the body of Laura Palmer, and this was the start of what was probably the best TV show ever, Twin Peaks.

A brief blog post like this cannot convey the true brilliance of the show, but it was truly stunning. It looked great, it felt great, and it sounded great. 

The UK release of a box set containing all 30 episodes is due soon. Buy it. Watch it. Cherish it. Though, if you can't wait it's already available from the US.

Oh, but don't watch the film before the TV show... though set before the TV show, it was made after it ended and this is how its meant to be seen.