ERASERHEAD (Lynch, 1977)

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(Written and directed by David Lynch; starring Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Judith Anna Roberts, Laurel Near, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates, and Jack Fisk. Released 19 March 1977; watched 2023w19 via Criterion Channel )

That I'm as much of a David Lynch devotee as I am and have been for years (even when he climbs too far, as Quentin Tarantino said, up his own ass – though I did buy the 4k Criterion release of INLAND EMPIRE, which I'm nonetheless looking forward to seeing again), that I hadn't seen ERASERHEAD until now is (yet another) of my cinematic crimes in an otherwise solid record.

Hopefully subsequent viewings will let me see this marvel on its own two feet – it is, after all, Stanley Kubrick's favorite film – instead of taking it in as a reverse summation of Lynch's 40-year career but I can't deny my surprise and elation at how much of everthing – character, idea, trope, etc – Lynch has done/explored since can be traced to ERASERHEAD: The Lady in the Radiator = Lil in TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (and The Lady's plaster cheeks returning in the plaster mask of Mrs. Chalfont's grandson in FIRE); the "beautiful neighbor"= Isabella Rossellini in BLUE VELVET; Mary X's mom = Sarah Palmer; the tree in dirt and the baby (oh, that baby) became the Man From Another Place's latest incarnation in TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN; the floor in Henry's apartment lobby (nevermind the curtains) is the floor in the Black Lodge; and nevermind that the whole film should have prepared everyone for the divine madness of TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN's eighth episode (got a light?); and Jack Nance's Charlie Chaplin industrial channeling as Henry is revisited as his Charlie Chaplin channeling Pete Martell in the woods and environs of TWIN PEAKS (I miss Jack Nance so very, very much - should be mentioned in the same breath as Cazale, IMO; what a treasure)

Normally, if a creator was doing that, I'd say they're trying to refine and hone what they did in their earliest work: it's been said that we all do one work and everything is an attempt to make it better. Maybe that's true, but given that this is Lynch, it feels less like he's trying to improve with time and more like he's trying to return to this freedom, this time before success, when he was closer to being a painter than a filmmaker. He's called it his most spiritual film – and probably considers it his best. It was when he didn't know what he was doing and just doing - when he was most in his beginner's mind: if this is what beginner's mind brings, sign me up. Love it.

PREY (Trachtenberg, 2022)

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(Directed by Dan Trachtenberg from a script by Patrick Aison; starring Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, and Bennet Taylor. Released 05 August 2022; watched: 2023w19 via Hulu )

Betraying my status as PREDATOR-mythos ignoramus, here's my logline for PREY: It's THE INVISIBLE MAN meets MOST DANGEROUS GAME if the hunter in DANGEROUS GAME wasn't some bored rich guy but was an invisible / cloaking enabled Wolverine in full-feral (yet coldly calculating) berserker mode against one of the best protagonists in the period survival movie / thriller / horror genre (Amber Midthunder's Naru rocks) that is absolutely holy-fucking-shit-brilliant.

Now that I've finally seen this gem (tight, taut 100-minute films FTW – though PREY did take a bit too long to get rolling – not much, just a little bit to find its rhythm), I want to rewatch the original films – think I've only seen the first two, haven't seen any of the newer ones – to see the connections that I've read were there but that I clearly missed (see PREDATOR-mythos ignoramus of paragraph one) even though I didn't need to know any of it to enjoy a damn fine movie.

Listening to fellow Berklee alum Sarah Schachner's soundtrack as I write this: it's that rare soundtrack that can both propel the story along AND stand on its own.

Such a great time: just what I needed.

SOMETHING KNOWN AS MUSIC... + Cassingle 34 – Perkins & Federwisch / Ball Geographie

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New whimsical (a rare occasion to use that word – and I use it in the best, carnivalistic (carnivally? carnival-esque?) way possible) experimental pop earworms from the inimitable superpolar Taïps label:

SUPERMAN, No. 214 (Azzarello / Lee; DC, 2005)

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Every Wednesday morning, I make a blind pull from Siri's (randomized) choice of one of the 20 alphabetically-organized shortboxes that constitute my comics collection, (re-) read it, write about it, and publish the resultant review/memory/whatever. Earlier installments live here.

(Box17): While my (re-)entry here into the Azzarello/Lee "For Tomorrow" run was the penultimate "Superman gets his ass handed to him until he does something the bad guy (Zod, right?) never conceived of stay tuned for the conclusion" issue and my memory of the storyline – which I recall rather enjoying, contrary to (IIRC) the general reception of the time – was foggy at best, my revisit was nonetheless quite enjoyable.

I've long appreciated DC's – back then, at least; I don't know if it holds true today – anti-"Previously" page edict: I love the feeling of being hurled headfirst into the deep end of the minds of two masters of the medium working their magic on the archetype of the medium itself. Azzarello is a strange fit for Superman, but that strange fit is, I think, why it works: one of those instances of a writer being outside their normal wheelhouse and making it work rather well; that Lee and Williams were along for the ride no doubt made that dance into the unknown far more fluid.

Lee was born to draw Superman, full stop: this was the artistic follow-up / spiritual successor to "Hush," yes? I prefer his Superman to his Batman, by far. Though I've had the trade for awhile, his team-up with Scott Snyder (whose writing, with some exceptions – OWLS, BLACK MIRROR, and LAST KNIGHT ON EARTH – I’ve yet to fully embrace), SUPERMAN UNCHAINED, remains unread. Might have to dig into that one if only to see more Lee Superman.

Questions with no answer, yet: The OMAC here - harnessing cancer to create super-soldiers was an intriguing solution to the super-soldier quandry – was different than the one in INFINITE CRISIS, right? Did Orr ever show up again? Was FOR TOMORROW re-collected recently? Might need to pick it up – revisiting just this one issue, headfirst into the deep end, intrigued enough to re-read the whole thing.

yes it blends

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Started drinking a protein smoothie for lunch instead of the same lunch I've eaten since my pancreas and immune system decided to engage in scorched-earth fisticuffs seven and a half years ago because I wanted to make an effort to not be so completely zombified in the afternoon.

So far, so very good (and delicious): basically keeping everything I ate before minus the half turkey sandwich on rye: spinach, greek yogurt (must stay since Kirby loves his midday yogurt container) have been joined by half an avocado, a cup of (frozen) fruit, a cup of almond milk and a scoop of vanilla ice cream whey protein powder. The results, so far, are not only quite delicious, but managed to balance out my blood sugar for the first afternoon in years (with the same amount of insulin as my former lunch) AND leave me nowhere near as zombified – tired, yes, but the hanger and general lack of societal tact isn't as pronounced and I can actually, you know, do stuff in the afternoon beyond wish I weren’t so tired and curse my existence and that of everyone within a 20 mile radius of me.

Nothing quite like rectifying an afternoon protein deficiency (mornings are fine as I baseline eggs, but I guess I was using up my stores on the morning's exertions, be it running, boxing, or strength training) to put one on, if not the right path, then at least a more tolerable and wakeful one.

Mem: need better blender as these first efforts have been more work than they feel like they should be. Little Ninja food processor is great, but it reminds me a bit too much of when I had to make a layer cake one layer at a time because I only had one cake pan.