David Lynch at the Music Box Theatre, he wore black tweed.When I was 13, Laura Palmer entered my life through a 25" Toshiba analog TV. She stayed for about a year, in which beginning from the episode after the pilot aired, I recorded it every Sunday night at 8pm, re-watched it the next evening and maybe a few more times during the week before I could get into it again the following week. I would transcribe the screenplay as I watched, pausing and rewinding to catch the dialogue, pausing and rewinding. If I had to do it alone, I probably would have lost some steam, but my good pal Shivani was just as addicted and we drank "damn good coffee" because Special Agent Dale Cooper did, we always got "damn good pie" because that's what the Double R Diner served and we got our own Dianes, that microcassette tape recorder Cooper spoke into with enigmatic-as-Manny-Ramirez meditations. Mine was called James, my favorite character played by James Marshall, and Shiv's was Bobby, her favorite dude played by Dana Ashbrook. We read the spin-off books, we tried to solve the murder before David Lynch even knew which character to give the honor to and we listened to the soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti relentlessly, almost wearing out the tape -- possibly the only time I've listened to this much music without words of my own accord.
The fact that we took time out from coasting down hills on a skateboard -- two girls, four wheels -- and playing Around The World and getting into trouble at school for this TV show is pretty significant. It never truly left. In college, I rented the entire show -- only one precious season -- and re-watched it, and gained a whole new appreciation for David Lynch's genius. Sizing down the grandiose of film onto television is a pretty challenging endeavor, and Lynch was always magnificent in ambition and never colored inside the lines. I did this exercise a couple more times in the last decade and on a bitterly cold January night at 11pm, Beth and I stood in a line that snaked down Wayne outside the Music Box for the Chicago premiere of Inland Empire. It was a moment of revelation and recognition when we managed to get in and when the man himself came out to introduce the movie. Three weeks later, Beth would bring the entire season on a DVD-ROM to Singapore and we watched a few episodes when we were done eating for Chinese New Year.
I used to have a few TV shows I absolutely had to watch when growing up. Twin Peaks was one, as were The X-Files, Quantum Leap, Who's The Boss, Mad About You and Perfect Strangers (I remember thinking, this city they live in looks nice, and that baseball park looks really old). Then, all the good shows seemed to disappear. Sitcoms had the same lines, just different family structures and theme songs. Dramas got boring, particularly if they got cloned from one city to another or one police squad to another. Possibly the only show I watched regularly in a long, long time was Sex and the City, and although I had cable, it was primarily for Cubs broadcasts and ESPN. On broadcast TV, I only watched Saturday Night Live, Jeopardy! and TODAY (but that's primarily for work). Lots of my friends watch TV and they'd say, watch this, watch that, it's good, we're hooked. But nothing could sustain my interest for more than 15 minutes, no matter how critically approved. I would rather watch L.A. Confidential for the 35th time or read. At least I was thinking.
So when everyone told me I had to -- HAD TO -- watch Lost, because I loved Twin Peaks and horror flicks, I thought maybe they were on to something. Maybe it's because I missed the very first showing, but when I tuned in to the second part of the pilot on September 29, 2004, I switched to the Cubs game after the first commercial break came on. We lost to the Reds 4-3 that evening, ya know, one of those games where we got beat bringing a 2-2 tie into the 12th when Austin Kearns -- Austin Kearns, for god's sake -- hit a two-run homer off Jon Leicester. If you remember, it's that season when we buried ourselves into oblivion starting September for the rest of the Dusty Baker tenure. So I probably should have stuck with Lost rather than watch a lost season, but at least that TV broadcast stirred up some emotion in me. I never watched Lost again.
The fact that we took time out from coasting down hills on a skateboard -- two girls, four wheels -- and playing Around The World and getting into trouble at school for this TV show is pretty significant. It never truly left. In college, I rented the entire show -- only one precious season -- and re-watched it, and gained a whole new appreciation for David Lynch's genius. Sizing down the grandiose of film onto television is a pretty challenging endeavor, and Lynch was always magnificent in ambition and never colored inside the lines. I did this exercise a couple more times in the last decade and on a bitterly cold January night at 11pm, Beth and I stood in a line that snaked down Wayne outside the Music Box for the Chicago premiere of Inland Empire. It was a moment of revelation and recognition when we managed to get in and when the man himself came out to introduce the movie. Three weeks later, Beth would bring the entire season on a DVD-ROM to Singapore and we watched a few episodes when we were done eating for Chinese New Year.
I used to have a few TV shows I absolutely had to watch when growing up. Twin Peaks was one, as were The X-Files, Quantum Leap, Who's The Boss, Mad About You and Perfect Strangers (I remember thinking, this city they live in looks nice, and that baseball park looks really old). Then, all the good shows seemed to disappear. Sitcoms had the same lines, just different family structures and theme songs. Dramas got boring, particularly if they got cloned from one city to another or one police squad to another. Possibly the only show I watched regularly in a long, long time was Sex and the City, and although I had cable, it was primarily for Cubs broadcasts and ESPN. On broadcast TV, I only watched Saturday Night Live, Jeopardy! and TODAY (but that's primarily for work). Lots of my friends watch TV and they'd say, watch this, watch that, it's good, we're hooked. But nothing could sustain my interest for more than 15 minutes, no matter how critically approved. I would rather watch L.A. Confidential for the 35th time or read. At least I was thinking.
So when everyone told me I had to -- HAD TO -- watch Lost, because I loved Twin Peaks and horror flicks, I thought maybe they were on to something. Maybe it's because I missed the very first showing, but when I tuned in to the second part of the pilot on September 29, 2004, I switched to the Cubs game after the first commercial break came on. We lost to the Reds 4-3 that evening, ya know, one of those games where we got beat bringing a 2-2 tie into the 12th when Austin Kearns -- Austin Kearns, for god's sake -- hit a two-run homer off Jon Leicester. If you remember, it's that season when we buried ourselves into oblivion starting September for the rest of the Dusty Baker tenure. So I probably should have stuck with Lost rather than watch a lost season, but at least that TV broadcast stirred up some emotion in me. I never watched Lost again.
But here I am, home on a Wednesday evening that Beer Night with my high school softball friends has off, finally watching the first season of Lost. I'm not sure why I rented it. I think I was partly curious about the phenomenon and partly thinking that I need to translate all the literature I've read about it into an actual objective viewing experience (I actually know more about the show than a non-viewer should, from constant coverage in that bible of pop culture, Entertainment Weekly). I mean, every goddamnend Thursday I have to scroll through a million Facebook status updates about the show. So I'm hitting play right now, popping grapes into my mouth, resisting a beer, and...
Tune in next time for the heart-stopping, nerve-wrecking conclusion of my expedition onto the island!
Sushi Go Round
1 comments:
Love this post because I also had an obsession with Twin Peaks. My sister and I loved that show. Later, when I met Jess, I knew she had good taste in movies when I noticed in her collection, the Twin Peaks series. I was hooked again. Lost is definitely along the same lines. It starts out wonderful, but then drags along in season 3 maybe? I dunno whenever they started doing these "recaps", but I get it, they have to draw in more viewers. Anyway, if you get to a lull in the series, keep watching! It gets better and better, and now I wish I owned the first series just to remember all the things that happened way back when. So great
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