The David Lynch Experience • group discussion w/ the Obnoxious and Anonymous podcast (& guests Joe Anthony, Ted Arn, Max Evry, Joey Pedras & Mandy Singleton)

(photo by Bonnie Schiffman)

Today would have been David Lynch's 79th birthday - the perfect time to share this tribute I recorded with fellow fans on Thursday night. After the sad news on January 16, I felt the need to talk to others - to articulate in common what we couldn't individually. Thankfully, Cameron Cloutier of Obnoxious and Anonymous, the channel that first hosted me over a decade ago, was able to oblige. He gathered several regulars and previous guests in addition to myself: collector Joe Anthony, festival aficionado Ted Arn, online commentators Joey Pedras and Mandy Singleton, and author Max Every (whose oral history of Dune I'd coincidentally discovered on a bookshelf a week ago). The last guest joined halfway through and brought with him lots of interesting anecdotes and questions about Lynch's most controversial film and its place in his larger body of work. Though we started off in a somber mood by the end of two hours we were all smiling, laughing, and leaning forward in our seats - buoyed by the memories and gratitude for these exciting years sharing the planet with David Lynch's dreams.

The Impossible Life of Robert Jacoby, 1927/31/40 - 1969/86? • discussion w/ Creamed Corn and the Universe podcast

Visit/download the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or other platforms

My past two appearances on Creamed Corn and the Universe, at host Colin's suggestion, have covered two of the most obscure characters in the Twin Peaks universe in very different ways and for very different reasons. Yet both provide a rich field for discussion. Following my episode on Ronette's angel - who is about the most purely "David Lynch" that a character can be - I'm back to talk about Robert Jacoby, a quintessential Mark Frost creation. Robert is equally fascinating and frustrating for me. Given by obsession with chronology I can't help but be driven crazy by the inconsistencies exhibited by Dr. Lawrence Jacoby's brother, a reporter for the Twin Peaks Gazette (later the Twin Peaks Post), as featured in The Secret History of Twin Peaks. Within single articles, indeed within single paragraphs, the character himself completely contradicts his age and the order of events in his own life. Is this just sloppiness on the author's part, or is there some larger thematic thread to draw here? Can both be true? As Colin and I talked, we found ourselves more and more enmeshed in a reading which tied the character to a larger theme of avoidance and deception (self- and otherwise). This conversation is a great example of discovering a thesis in the process of hashing out the details. I hope you have as much fun listening to this as I did recording it.

belated December 2023 Patreon round-up: EXCLUSIVE - Twin Peaks Conversations podcast w/ Rob King, editor of David Lynch and the American West (including public teaser) + TWIN PEAKS Character Series advance & new introduction to patrons (w/ public status update/32 Days of Movies video revision)

David Lynch's work is often connected to specific locations like sunny suburbs, industrial cities, and the backlots and bungalows of Hollywood, as well as to genres like noir, horror, and melodrama. The broad Western landscape, and the Western genre, are less frequently associated with Lynch (aside from Lynch's short film The Cowboy and the Frenchman and his cameo as none other than John Ford in The Fabelmans). In his recent anthology of commissioned essays, David Lynch and the American West, Rob King gathers a number of perspectives particularly focused on how Lynch's works play with the history and mythology of the actual region. The terrain stretches from the parched deserts of the Southwest to the foggy forests of the Pacific Northwest, the timespan from ancient indigenous civilizations to the modern highways running across this landscape today. I spoke with King a couple months ago; technical difficulties unfortunately cut our discussion short and we were unable to resume, but for a half hour we dug into how he and other scholars approach this material. Because this is a shorter Twin Peaks Conversations episode than usual, most of it has been reserved for $5/month tier patrons. I published a brief teaser on YouTube, rather than the much longer public "first half" I normally share.

I'm also previewing another character entry for the $1/month tier - in this case, very interesting revisions to someone featured in the earlier series. And I've officially updated my tier structure, as explained in the following video:

+ read the public announcement:

Updated tiers, new intro & new directories (+ December update)

For more details and other updates, check out the above public post, shared in mid-December. As mentioned in there, I've recently added some new pages to this site's directories so that now you can navigate patron rewards without having to scroll past public material. The directories are as follows:

All Available rewards (by Topic) // EXCLUSIVE Films in Focus // Twin Peaks // EXCLUSIVE Film Capsules // Political Topics on Podcasts // Random Topics on Podcasts // All Available rewards (by Entry/Episode) // Essays

What are the December rewards?

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #46: Season 3 Parts 17 & 18 (The Return - "The Past Dictates the Future" & "What Is Your Name?") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 parts 17 & 18

December 23 - 29, 2023

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

Who Summons Ronette's Guardian Angel? • discussion w/ Creamed Corn and the Universe podcast

Visit/download the episode on Apple Podcasts

A year after my last visit to the Creamed Corn and the Universe podcast, in which we discussed Sarah Palmer from childhood to old age, I'm back to focus on another character: in this case, one who only appears for a few seconds in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Nonetheless, I consider those few seconds perhaps the most important in the entire fifty-hour story, so I was thrilled that Colin invited me back for this particular episode. We set the stage by talking about Ronette and her relationship to Laura before exploring the nature of Ronette's prayer and what it may have to do with her angel's appearance (as well as why the angel looks the way it does). And we examine how the angel's presence ripples out into the original series which takes place after the prequel as well as into the third season and its confusing timelines and universes (one of which may or may not bring Ronette back into the story as "American Girl").

Given its importance to my reading of Laura's arc in particular, the angel in the train car has come up in my climactic Journey Through Twin Peaks chapter as well as an extensive, in-depth podcast episode of my own - as well as some additional thoughts which don't really come up here, on how Cooper's big moment in the Lodge may echo Laura's in the train car (is Bob his version of the manifested angel?). For his part, Colin has already devoted an entire episode to Ronette herself with guest Cheryl Lee Latter, and he has plans for another on the angel Laura sees in the Red Room). Nonetheless, this exchange brought new ideas to light as Colin prompted me to wonder what it means for Agent Cooper's intervention to take Ronette's angel away - or at least to present a world in which that is a possibility.

500 Questions for Me • discussion w/ the "Twin Peaks Grammar" Artists Love Twin Peaks podcast

The YouTube video will be published and cross-posted here soon, probably later today...

(See below for audio podcast presentation)

In February I invited Anthony of the "Twin Peaks Grammar" YouTube and Twitter accounts onto my Twin Peaks Conversations podcast for a lively back-and-forth. He recently decided to return the favor. The result is a sprawling three-hour discussion which begins by focusing on my own approach to online commentary and concludes with a flurry of Twin Peaks topics - including several lightning round questions. In between we touch on the video essay format, questions of online identity, different eras of Twin Peaks fandom, and broad spiritual concepts as they do and don't apply to Peaks. It's telling that while I presume Anthony's title "500 Questions for Joel Bocko" is tongue-in-cheek hyperbole, I was not entirely sure about that initially. Although my laptop has trouble with video (I provided a logo to juxtapose with Anthony's livestream and the occasional video/image insert - update: although the video ended up being audio-only), there is a YouTube upload being made available on the "Twin Peaks Grammar" channel this weekend. Until then, or if you prefer to listen via an audio podcast app, the episode has already been published on various platforms as part of the "Twin Peaks Grammar"-affiliated Artists Love Twin Peaks:

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #45: Season 3 Part 16 (The Return - "No Knock, No Doorbell") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 16

December 17 - 23, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #44: Season 3 Part 15 (The Return - "There's Some Fear in Letting Go") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 15

December 10 - 16, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #43: Season 3 Part 14 (The Return - "Who Is the Dreamer?") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 14

December 3 - 9, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #42: Season 3 Part 13 (The Return - "What Story Is That, Charlie?") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 13

November 26 - December 2, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #41: Season 3 Part 12 (The Return - "Let's Rock") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 12

November 19 - 25, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #40: Season 3 Part 11 (The Return - "There's Fire Where You Are Going") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 11

November 12 - 18, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

The Many Faces of Sarah Palmer • discussion w/ the Creamed Corn and the Universe podcast (+ status update: Lost in Twin Peaks returns)

Visit/download the episode on Apple Podcasts

Perhaps no Twin Peaks character presents more paradoxes and possibilities than Sarah Palmer. When Colin, the host of Creamed Corn and the Universe, asked me to choose a subject for this episode, Sarah was an easy pick. Colin's format focuses on (for the most part) a different character each week, tracing their journey chronologically within the text(s). Her breadth has few rivals. Sarah appears across a half-dozen pieces of Peaks media - the two original seasons and the belated third, the film and deleted seasons, Jennifer Lynch's novel The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer and Mark Frost's novel The Final Dossier. She even shows up in Between Two Worlds, Lynch's interview with the Palmer actors - in character - which was released on The Entire Mystery blu-ray set before The Return was announced. If you accept that she is indeed the "New Mexico Girl" of Part 8 (as Frost unambiguously asserts) then we may see more of her lifespan than any other character - not just in Frost's written backstory but illustrated in the aforementioned variety of media. And when Sarah calls to her daughter in the pilot, she becomes the first person to introduce us to Laura as a person (not just an icon, as she is initially presented); much later, Sarah's offscreen voice will speak the last words we hear in all of Twin Peaks - the very same ones (indeed, the exact same clip) that accompanied her first appearance in 1990.

Despite all of that, and despite her presence at crucial junctures throughout - shouting at Leland at the funeral, lying on the floor as Maddy is murdered, delivering a message to Major Briggs when Cooper is in the Lodge, and smashing Laura's portrait when Cooper tries to take her "home" - Sarah's presence in Twin Peaks is surprisingly fleeting and sporadic. Her memorable guest spots are sprinkled sparingly throughout the TV show and while The Return hints at a more central role in its mythos she remains on the margins. So who is Sarah Palmer? An evil demon? An innocent victim? Something more complicated? Colin and I had a great, expansive discussion on the topic, resulting in one of his longest episodes (after which I invited him as a guest on my own Twin Peaks Conversations, an episode released around the same time). I hope you find this as illuminating as I did in the process of recording, realizing or crystallizing concepts for the first time myself as we went back and forth.

•

Meanwhile, this week I accidentally published an advance episode of Lost in Twin Peaks, digging into the characters and event order of The Return's Part 11. This was quickly deleted and re-scheduled, but I thought I should offer a clarification so I uploaded the following announcement; my daily/weekly episode-by-episode podcast will be back tomorrow, running exactly through the end of the year by concluding on New Year's Eve (the plan for season two to go public, however, is deeply in doubt). Listen to the details here:

While I haven't yet properly cross-posted many of my other recent podcasts with introductions and illustrations (I'm saving those for successive Sundays from now on), they have been going up on Patreon and I might as well mention them here - a belated and much-belated two-part "September" episode on seventies, eighties, and nineties films; three more advance character studies; a Halloween special focused on a Coppola classic; and the second part of the aforementioned follow-up conversation with Colin. I also finally updated all of my directories to reflect the busy past couple weeks.

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.

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #39: Season 3 Part 10 (The Return - "Laura Is the One") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 10

July 16 - 22, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #38: Season 3 Part 9 (The Return - "This Is the Chair") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 9

July 9 - 15, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

*Links will be updated & some details may be adjusted as the episodes go up this week*

The Ballad of Laura Palmer • discussing Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me w/ the Uncut Gems podcast

All year, the Uncut Gems podcast has been covering David Lynch films on their Patreon (in addition to two discussions on Twin Peaks, one for each season). In this particular case, the hosts have made the two-hour conversation on Fire Walk With Me available to the public for free but for a limited time (into August). So get it while it's hot! I joined the trio of Jakub Flasz, Nicolò Grasso, and Randy Burrows as a guest, in a cross-continental exchange which unfortunately succumbed to technical difficulties on my end. Despite the Black Lodge yanking me in and out of the chat, you'll still be able to hear my voice throughout the episode due to their heroic editing efforts. With two of the participants a touch more Lynch- and/or Fire Walk With Me-skeptical than the other two, an interesting dynamic develops. We all dig into whether the film undercuts itself by trying to include so much (at the expense of its heart and soul in their Laura Palmer story), or if in fact the surreal elements and series touchstones amplify rather than obscure the tragedy. While I obviously tend to come down more on the latter side, I can appreciate the former perspective as it very much corresponds to my own the first time I watched the film. We also contrast the first and second parts of the movie, explore favorite and least favorite moments, and ask if the film belongs in the horror genre (here's the Phenomena comparison piece I mention in my response).

Listen to the full "David Lynch Marathon 08 - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me"

If you're catching up with this post after the episode has been placed behind a paywall, or if you'd just like to preview it on a podcast app before heading over to the free Patreon page, here's the teaser they've released on their feed:

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #37: Season 3 Part 8 (The Return - "Gotta Light?" w/ guests Em & Steve of No Ship Network) podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 8

June 25 - July 1, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #36: Season 3 Part 7 (The Return - "There's a Body All Right") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 7

June 18 - 24, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #35: Season 3 Part 6 (The Return - "Don't Die") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 6

June 11 - 17, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)