(photo by Bonnie Schiffman)
Showing posts with label obnoxious & anonymous. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obnoxious & anonymous. Show all posts
The David Lynch Experience • group discussion w/ the Obnoxious and Anonymous podcast (& guests Joe Anthony, Ted Arn, Max Evry, Joey Pedras & Mandy Singleton)
TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS bonus podcast w/ Black Rose director Cameron Cloutier + Teresa With a T director Josh Eisenstadt (YouTube & extended PATREON)
Two years after his last guest appearance to promote the epic four-hour fan film Queen of Hearts, Cameron Cloutier is back on Twin Peaks Conversations with a new project that's just getting going (a fundraising campaign begins on May 14). Black Rose will combine a look behind the red curtains at One Eyed Jack's with a continuation of Annie Blackburn's story from the previous movie. We discuss this project and also spend time chatting with Cameron's collaborator Josh Eisenstadt who is considering a fan film of his own which would share sets, actors, and other resources with Cameron. Since Josh's concept is in flux at the time of this podcast, I didn't include any material about his specific movie*; instead, we discuss his history with Twin Peaks and its cast as a fan and friend - including his connection to Pamela Gidley who played Teresa Banks in Fire Walk With Me. Especially in the $5/month tier Patreon back half (actually nearly four times as long as the public YouTube portion) we dig into many different questions about the show, its creation, and its legacy, of which Josh has a wealth of knowledge. And Cameron sticks around after Josh has to go, talking Mulholland Drive, more details on his own upcoming production, and of course our favorite subject: will there be more Twin Peaks from David Lynch and/or Mark Frost?
PART 1 on YouTube
Listen to...
*Update 5/9
A week later, Josh ended up going forward with his project Teresa With a T, so I published the previously excised parts of our discussion on YouTube:
Like my December conversation with Rob King, this is a bonus episode of the Twin Peaks Conversations podcast, which ended its monthly run halfway through 2023. This won't be the last such episode.
Cameron's main YouTube channel is Obnoxious & Anonymous - subscribe for updates on the upcoming May 14 campaign for Black Rose & possibly Josh's film as well
You can follow Cameron on Bluesky & Twitter as Obnoxious & Anonymous or Queen of Hearts & Facebook in Twin Peaks Worldwide
The Four Placements of FIRE WALK WITH ME by Julius Kassendorf (The Solute)
My video essay Dream Souls: David Lynch & Mary Sweeney
Live From Twin Peaks • discussion w/ the Obnoxious and Anonymous podcast
A few weeks after we recorded an episode of my own Twin Peaks Conversations podcast, and many years after my last talk with Cameron Cloutier in his "'Twin Peaks' Thought of the The Day" format, we reunited to sift through a variety of topics, including the recent deaths of Twin Peaks legends Lenny Von Dohlen and Julee Cruise, upcoming and wished-for releases of David Lynch films on the Criterion Collection, potentially controversial figurines, an online Peaks conference we'll both be taking part in, and further musings on the unique flavor of Cameron's recent fan film Queen of Hearts. Of course, that's just the main line of questioning; along the way, we dig into the deleted scenes of Lost Highway, Clint Eastwood's directing career, the pedigree of action film villains, analogizing Lynch's production to the Apollo 11 mission, Mary Sweeney's role or non-role in the editing of Inland Empire, the Z to A boxset, the vibes of an avant-garde Blue Velvet documentary, Disney CEO Bob Iger's mangled memories, what a mid-90s sixth season version of Peaks would have looked like, the blurred line between merchandisable entertainment and profound art with disturbing themes, plus much more...including, as always, speculation about the possibilities for a fourth season.
TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #11 w/ Queen of Hearts director Cameron Cloutier (YouTube & extended PATREON)
June's guest was actually the first person to host me on a podcast, almost exactly eight years ago. In 2014, Cameron Cloutier and I talked Twin Peaks on his YouTube channel Obnoxious & Anonymous pre-Return (even pre-announcement of The Return) and pre-Missing Pieces. Over the coming years I would come back on to discuss the latest Peaks development and when we last published a conversation in 2018, I was interviewing him about his exciting new project: a fan film about Annie Blackburn titled Queen of Hearts. Now, after many twists and turns onscreen and off, the epic creation is complete, uploaded to watch in five separate acts or as a single, four-hour movie. Queen of Hearts picks Annie up where the season two finale left her, incorporating the lore (and some events) of season three, and leaving room for details from Mark Frost's Annie backstory and enigmatic "resolution" in The Final Dossier. Using the Scott Frost novel My Life, My Tapes as a guide, the film also goes even further than just Annie's sprawling journey, telling - in true Lynch fashion - a dual narrative across time and space, presenting Cooper's doomed romance with Caroline Earle and his cat-and-mouse partnership with her evil genius husband Windom in Pittsburgh several years before the series. And did I mention the pop soundtrack?
Cameron and I discuss all that and much more in one of the longer conversations I've hosted on here, running over an hour in its public upload on YouTube plus another two and a half hours exclusive to $5/month patrons. Besides the details of his movie (initially in broad strokes for those who are curious but haven't watched it yet, we eventually get deep into the weeds), we touch on Cameron's personal history with Twin Peaks, his previous forays into filmmaking including deep research into the Golden State Killer case which eventually got his footage featured in an HBO documentary, and of course - as with almost every guest - questions about season three, its finale, and the possibilities for future Peaks.
Here's where it begins...
PART 1 on YouTube
...and here's where it continues:
Listen to...
Watch Queen of Hearts: A Twin Peaks Fan Film in its full four hours:
Cameron's YouTube channel Obnoxious & Anonymous
including his interview w/ Jennifer Lynch
My piece 4 Ways to Watch Fire Walk With Me
including horror (features A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 comparison)
My podcast on The Sweet Hereafter
Kenneth Welsh performs the original script for
How's Annie? (interview with Cameron Cloutier & Amy Ostbo, director & actor from Queen of Hearts, a Twin Peaks fan film)
"For a long time, no itch. But at the same time, there's a thing in Fire Walk With Me where Laura is in her bed and she's visited by Annie. Annie says, 'I'm in the Black Lodge with the good Dale. Write that in your diary.' That little bit right there held a string of dreams." - David Lynch (May 2, 2018)
Twin Peaks lives and so, it seems, does Annie Blackburn. The controversial character, played by Heather Graham in the show's second season in 1991, was notably absent from the recent Showtime revival aside from a few lines about her. Mark Frost's follow-up novel Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier went a little deeper but still left much unsaid (we learned that Annie had been mostly catatonic since her kidnapping and rescue from Glastonbury Grove). As a viewer, Twin Peaks super-fan Cameron Cloutier may have been frustrated by the character's loose ends but as a filmmaker himself, he saw an opportunity. Host of the YouTube channel Obnoxious & Anonymous (a deep well of Twin Peaks content since 2013), Cameron gauged his audience's interest in a fan film about Annie and was able to raise over $20,000 to launch this production (the film's page offers colorful descriptions and updates, and is still accepting funding).
The project has deep roots, extending to Cameron's days as a teenage fan of the show when it originally aired, and particularly to his enthusiasm for the feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, which demonstrated Lynch's continued interest in the character (hence the recent quote, as well as Annie's sole incorporation into the third season). In a sustained burst of creativity, Cameron has not only been working hard on a screenplay for this film, he's been crafting eye-catching trailers, including one starring Jake Wardle (green-gloved Freddie himself) delivering a message to Annie through static filters, and a recent, epic ten-minute promo featuring Annie drifting through various Twin Peaks locations, including the infamous Palmer home (whose owner Mary Reber - she actually plays the house's resident in Twin Peaks' final episode! - is a very generous host). The whole preview was shot on site by Cameron and a recent addition to the project, Amy Ostbo. Initially an assistant to the costumer (her sister), Amy's screen presence in the test footage left such an impression that she was cast as Annie herself.
A few weeks ago, Cameron and Amy both joined me for a chat full of energy, enthusiasm, and good humor about this imaginative endeavor. We covered both participants' history with the series (spoilers ahead, if such a thing needs warning), the creation of the trailer, Amy's thoughts about Annie (which may, or may not, surprise you), Cameron's take on The Final Dossier's big reveal, the delightful genesis of the Jake Wardle promo, and lots of other interesting material. Of particular interest may be Cameron's unfilmed screenplay about the Golden State Killer's final victim; his research for that passion project has become a treasure trove for the recent spate of documentaries on the subject. (Coincidentally, in a major news story just a week or so after this interview, police identified one of their own as the likely suspect, decades after his last murder.)
Meanwhile, how's Annie? We'll have to wait until December to find out (as Cameron observes, "I'm fine" may not have been much of a reveal after all), but here are a few clues...or, as Lynch says, "a string of dreams."
There's Always Music in the Air: anticipating tonight's Twin Peaks: The Return w/ Obnoxious & Anonymous
With less than five hours to go, everyone who's been following The Return is eagerly awaiting the two-part finale tonight. The Obnoxious & Anonymous channel is hosting a live discussion this afternoon and I plan to stop by for a little while (the whole thing will be four hours, with guests presumably coming and going during that time).
update: To my surprise, executive producer Sabrina Sutherland made an appearance, and we were all able to ask her questions! She couldn't answer many in too much detail but it was great to speak with her nonetheless.
It's been quite a journey but with Twin Peaks, there's never anything quite as powerful or overwhelming as the endings - of the mystery, of the second season, of the film and with it (for a time) the whole cycle. Hopefully tonight follows in that tradition.
See you on the other side.
"I have no idea where this will lead us": talking Twin Peaks: The Return Pt. 1-6 w/ Obnoxious & Anonymous
One month (and six hours of television) later, I'm back on Obnoxious & Anonymous, where Cameron and I discussed the first third of Twin Peaks: The Return for a whopping three hours. Topics include Cooper's identity (and why he's unlikely to "snap back" any moment), what Audrey's and Laura's roles will be, whether we are dealing with multiple words, the possible relevance of Richard and Linda, and much, much, much more.
Anticipation of Another Place: Speculating about Twin Peaks: The Return w/ Obnoxious & Anonymous
The video below includes some discussion of potential spoilers. In fact, if you don't even want to see pictures of cast members, aside from Cooper (probably a lost cause at this point!) don't scroll down since the video's thumbnail includes some images of that from trailers and official images released by Showtime.
Nearly three years ago, the first podcaster/YouTuber to invite me onto his show was Cameron Cloutier of Obnoxious & Anonymous. Back then we had no idea the series would ever return. It's appropriate that now, on the eve of new Twin Peaks, my final appearance to be released before the premiere is this episode of Obnoxious & Anonymous. We recorded it on short notice the other night but were able to conduct a long chat about various aspects of the series - rumors of how it might begin and what it might include, our hopes and fears, what the reaction will be like, what the town will be like, and what role Laura Palmer will play.
I may publish one more post, a final look back and forward before our conception of Twin Peaks changes forever. Then again, I'm going to be extremely busy for the next few days so I may not. Either way, for highlights of everything I've ever written, edited, recorded, or otherwise published about Twin Peaks, check out Sunday's round-up.
Discussing The Secret History of Twin Peaks #1 (Obnoxious & Anonymous)
2026 UPDATE: Cameron Cloutier has since changed his views on the book, reporting, "I jumped the gun when this first came out, but after Season 3, The Final Dossier and a decade in between, I see how it all works together—as opposed to me reacting to this being the first new TP content in 25 years and worrying what this could mean for Season 3." In a recent interview, he discusses this directly with Mark Frost.
Several weeks ago, Mark Frost's new novel, The Secret History of Twin Peaks was released to general excitement, acclaim, bafflement, and frustration. Imaginatively written as an FBI dossier full of fictionalized mixed-media files (newspaper clippings, confidential reports, postcards, etc), Frost takes us through the history of the town and some of its inhabitants up to the final day of the series, going just a few hours further than what we had already seen. To the surprise of many readers, Frost focused a lot on a wider context - Lewis & Clark, Jack Parsons and the occult, UFO lore, even the JFK assassination and Nixon administration. Like all parts of Twin Peaks, the Secret History found its celebrants and its detractors...and Cameron Cloutier (as the video's cover-image suggests) was definitely one of the latter! I joined him for a video chat on his Obnoxious & Anonymous YouTube channel to discuss the book for several hours with other Twin Peaks fans. This was the first of my appearances on two different podcasts - the second will be cross-posted later today.
Farewell to the Log Lady (including podcast for Obnoxious & Anonymous)
Every month, I will be offering at least one post on Twin Peaks...up until Showtime re-airs the original series. Then I will post extensive coverage of each episode (mixing new reactions with my many older pieces) immediately after they air. Stay tuned.
Unfortunately, yesterday Catherine Coulson (the Log Lady of Twin Peaks and one of David Lynch's oldest friends) passed away. The news was shocking for Peaks fans who have also treasured this iconic character, whose brief appearances seemed to provide the soul of the show, as well as the extremely friendly and gracious host who always made herself available for interviews and discussions. Coulson was also a groundbreaking camera assistant in the 1970s (after getting her start in that department on Eraserhead), and according to one of her interviews she was one of if not the first female camera assistant to break into the all-male union. She will be greatly missed, and her legacy will be immense.
Last night, I spoke to Cameron Cloutier of the Obnoxious & Anonymous podcast - we had been planning a discussion (our fourth) for a while although it was unfortunate that this sad event provided the premise. Nonetheless, we embraced the opportunity to talk about Coulson (who appeared on Obnoxious & Anonymous herself last year), including her character's importance to the show and the true meaning of the Log Lady introductions. After that, we ventured into conversation about news from the set of the new Twin Peaks being shot in Washington - there may be some "spoilers," depending on your definition but we offer a clear warning beforehand if you just want to listen to the first part.
Usually I adhere to a strict Monday-Wednesday-Friday morning schedule, with entries of different series appearing at their usual times. But this event required an exception to the rule.
From my tribute on Tumblr:
“Only when we are everywhere, will there be just one.”
RIP Catherine Coulson
It sucks just typing those words, but she will be very fondly remembered by so many. According to Jennifer Lynch on Facebook, Coulson, one of David Lynch’s oldest friends and the unforgettable Log Lady, has passed away today. Really bummed by this news. No idea if she had shot any scenes yet (some rumors say she had) but either way it honestly doesn’t make me feel much better. She not only was wonderful in the show, she had a wonderful personality that came through in great interviews over the year. :(
The Twin Peaks Crisis (including Obnoxious & Anonymous podcast)
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My interview with Kevin B. Lee, video essayist, was announced on Twitter but will actually go up next week, in three parts.
Well, I'm sure you've heard the news. Twin Peaks is now without David Lynch. According to the auteur, Showtime will not give him what he wants so he has walked. As far as he knows, the series will continue, but it will be without him. The outcry on social media was both predictable and astounding. As soon as Kimmy Robertson (who played Lucy on the original series) posted her cryptic but not-so-cryptic posts on Facebook, fans took to their various venues and declared their outrage. Twin Peaks became the second-ranked trending item on Twitter after "Happy Easter", and Showtime's Facebook page was deluged with hate.
Here's what I think: this is not a bluff (Lynch really is planning to walk if/because he didn't get what he wanted) but Showtime will bend over backwards to get him back. Their response suggests that they didn't see this coming, and that he has essentially pulled a fast one on them. In negotiations, ironclad principle will always defeat business considerations. The latter is subject to reconsideration, the first is not. Perhaps I'm naive, but I believe Lynch will be directing all nine episode of Twin Peaks. I think this is where he needs to be, the defiant artist bucking the system, and that this is about that as much as anything.
I discussed the fate of Twin Peaks with three other prolific Twin Peaks commentators on the "Obnoxious & Anonymous" channel of Cameron Cloutier, whom I have discussed the show with on two previous occasions (in the summer and the fall). Let me know what you think in the comments - video follows after the jump...
Talking Twin Peaks again (on "Obnoxious and Anonymous")
This summer I spent an hour or two chatting with Cameron Cloutier, prolific host of the "Obnoxious and Anonymous" podcast, about Twin Peaks. Since then so much has changed - Brad Dukes' Reflections book has clarified a lot of Twin Peaks history, The Entire Mystery blu-ray unveiled the "missing pieces" of Fire Walk With Me along with a new look at the Palmer family, and most notably David Lynch and Mark Frost announced that they would be (gasp!) returning to Twin Peaks after all. With all that in mind, Cameron and I joined forces for another lively discussion. This time we cover (among other topics) the nature of David Lynch's collaboration with Mark Frost (and editor Mary Sweeney), the difference in how the two creators treat Agent Cooper, Ronnete Pulaski's importance to the Laura Palmer tale, and the strange contradiction between Lynch's desire to keep Laura's killer a secret (perhaps forever) and to explore that secret in detail in Fire Walk With Me. Quite a lot to unpack, so please share your own thoughts below.
I also encourage you to check out Twin Peaks Worldwide, a new blog spun off from the popular Facebook group. The latest post addresses that perennial question haunting Twin Peaks (second only to "How's Annie?"): who is Judy? Share your thoughts over there; I already have.
My podcast with Cameron follows the jump. And stay tuned over the coming month as 12 Weeks of Twin Peaks continues with a new entry every Monday, including further chapters in my Journey Through Twin Peaks video series (which I hope you'll check out if you haven't yet - this is some of the work I'm proudest of in my six years of blogging).
Talking Twin Peaks on "Obnoxious and Anonymous" podcast (+ July status update & more)
Although from now on I'll be alternating Lynch-focused pieces with other material (particularly my upcoming entries into the Wonders in the Dark romantic countdown, summer reading list round-ups, and an already-written but long-postponed review of Frozen) my attention to Twin Peaks won't really be wavering in the upcoming months. How could it? When I fell back under the spell of the series and its co-creator David Lynch this spring, I didn't yet know about the upcoming blu-ray boxset, featuring ninety minutes of deleted footage from Fire Walk With Me and a bevy of special features that would make even the most casual fans' mouths water. I'm particularly looking forward to Between Two Worlds, in which Lynch himself will interview Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, and Grace Zabriskie, the actors who played the Palmer family so central to Peaks lore. He will not only be interviewing them as themselves but as the characters they played - a fantastic idea albeit one that probably only Lynch could pull off. I'm particularly excited to see the underrated Lee return to the role that defined her forever; and in a sense, this feature will also be the closest we get to a new Lynch dramatic film for some time - unless his rumored upcoming project comes to fruition. I can't wait, and in early August I will be reviewing both Between Two Worlds and The Missing Pieces (Lynch's title for the Fire Walk With Me deleted scenes edited into their own standalone feature, a fantastic and necessary approach).
Meanwhile, I've participated in my first-ever podcast, Cameron Cloutier's "Obnoxious and Anonymous." Cameron, whose fondness for long, unedited conversations defines a channel just packed with in-depth goodies, was someone whose work I discovered via his interview with filmmaker/author Jennifer Lynch. It's probably the longest interview she's ever done, full of insights into The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer and her father's work, as well as her own film career. Cameron invited me to participate after I commented on a previous podcast, and we spent over two hours discussing (and sometimes disagreeing about) both Twin Peaks and Fire Walk With Me, touching on what was good and bad about the show's controversial second season, how the show attracted and then turned away viewers, and why the film was so poorly received. It was a great conversation and there may be more in store after the blu-ray comes out. I've placed the podcast after the jump but you can also visit the YouTube page to check out some of the fascinating links Cameron included in the description.
And now, since I'm already using this post as a catch-all, a status update. As noted, I'll be continuing Twin Peaks posts at least once a month from now on. This will include the aforementioned review of The Entire Mystery box set, perhaps some further podcasts, and hopefully some interviews which I've recently put out feelers for. Additionally, since I've focused so much on Lynch's involvement with Peaks lately, I'd like to list my favorite 20 moments not directed by him (though some will be written by him, or feature him as an actor, they still won't have been covered in my recent directorial retrospective). I am also hoping to end the year with an in-depth study of Sheryl Lee's performance as Laura Palmer in Fire Walk With Me. While this may be my favorite aspect of the film, until now my numerous Fire Walk With Me pieces haven't actually addressed it in much detail. I'm hoping this upcoming essay (which will also touch on her overlooked post-Peaks career) will be the first of many to examine great, underrated performances in screen history. Perhaps the next one can explore Bing Crosby's role in The Country Girl, another brilliant but infrequently-discussed piece of acting.
So that's the general idea and a provisional outline of where we're headed. Which is not to say I haven't already produced a lot of Twin Peaks commentary for you to explore in the interim. I recently updated my Twin Peaks directory from 2010 to include all the Peaks posts, images, video clips, and even brief mentions which have occurred on Lost in the Movies over the past six years (I'm also linking up entries in my episode guide and other Peaks pieces each morning on Twitter). Primarily, of course, this includes recent work. I spent the last two months exclusively focused on the work of David Lynch. If you missed them, I definitely encourage you to visit both my conversation with Tony Dayoub on Fire Walk With Me and my recently-concluded David Lynch Month, which probably constitutes the most ambitious series of posts I've ever assembled for this blog. Every week of that month, I posed a "Question in a World of Blue" and the discussion never closes so please jump in now if you have anything to say.
Finally and most importantly, I want to highlight my video on David Lynch's early work. I think it's the best piece I offered all month, and one of my strongest posts in any format. Sadly, it remains the least-viewed of all the month's posts, as is often the case with videos. Please take this opportunity to watch my tribute to Lynch (spoiler and graphic content warnings apply, of course), or at least to bookmark it for viewing at a more convenient time. I promise it's worthwhile - and if you think so too, please share it with others. This is the only way it will reach a wider audience.
And here is the full "Obnoxious and Anonymous" podcast I participated in:
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