This is the Water, and this is the Well. Drink full, and Descend. The Horse is the White of the Eyes and Dark Within
I didn't watch Twin Peaks when it was initially on broadcast television. But for the last, oh, maybe 20 years I've been waiting to see Laura Palmer again. And true to her, and by extension, David Lynch's word, she came back. As did Agent Cooper with many of the old characters and plenty of enjoyable new ones. Plenty has been written about Twin Peaks and never so much as now, with (what seems like) the conclusion to the series finished and available for consumption.
And I stand not as a Twin Peaks authority; I am relatively a neophyte compared to many of those who count themselves as David Lynch aficionados. Similarly to how I feel about music, in that I've never tried to make it, is cinematography and filmmaking. Skateboarding inherently has video cameras involved, but a Sony DCR-VX1000 and some skater friends do not a cinematographer make. So, there is one small aspect I wish to focus on. The scene which takes us into the heart of the first nuclear detonation at White Sands, Nevada in 1945. This is a well thought out blog by someone who describes the "most Lynchian scenes" in the newer episodes -- scroll down to read about the nuclear explosion scene.
This transfixing yet strangely disturbing journey towards and into the heart of the explosion is really something. Truly, the idea of pulling asunder the very building blocks of matter, of the Universe as we know it, is an act which even in the minds of modern rational humans engenders and promotes the wonder of the unknown. A feeling that, just maybe, what we are doing is wrong. This scene implies that the BOB, one of the evil characters in the movie is born, or perhaps he gains access through this window created by the tearing apart of the atom. After a few minutes of the string section of some strong fingered musicians, we enter what we presume is the middle, or heart of the explosion, or perhaps what is serves as a glimpse to another place, dimension, time, existence, whatever.
This episode is the only one that goes back in time, as a flashback. Most of the episode is in 1945. It feels important in the grand scheme of the Twin Peaks Universe, and while much of David Lynch is being weird for weird's sake, his art persists and has relevance because of a grand vision, or message that comes through. Of course we've seen nuclear accidents, or radiation exposure play prominent roles in much of pop culture. Spiderman, Radioactive Man, and of course, Godzilla are good examples. He serves to add to this by incorporating it into this world of Laura Palmer's.
J Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific lead of the Manhattan Project had this to say about how he, and the crowd reacted to seeing the Trinity test come to a successful explosion in White Sands, New Mexico in 1945:
The men who knew most about what scale of destructive potential exists in this technology were vocal against using it against other human beings. Men of war who witnessed the explosion thought very much the same words as Oppenheimer uttered, yet I imagine they had an evil gleam in their eye and a sinister grin on their face.
I grew up in a relatively isolated culture that, at times, verged into celebratory apocalyptic teachings. I remember the first Gulf War, I was in 8th grade. I remember a preacher, a fiery and entertaining (again, this is all relative and "fiery and entertaining" for our church meant he might wave his arms or tell an interesting anecdote from the pulpit) guy who proclaimed that Jesus was coming back within the year, and that we were witnessing, via Cable Television, the unfolding of Armageddon as Evangelical Christians of the Hal Lindsey (The Late Great Planet Earth book was everywhere when I was growing up and made me really sad) and "Left Behind" theology understand it. I remember that Sunday morning -- I was in the balcony of the church on Mitchell Street, in Southeast Portland. My Dad ran the sound system -- a Sun sound board that had a ton of cool knobs, switches and lights I wasn't allowed to touch. The preacher told me that life was going to end before my teenage years had really started. Before I kissed a girl, drove a car or dunked a basketball (still waiting for that one -- I dunked a volleyball on a 10' rim oh so many years ago) it was going to be all over. I took that to heart. Maybe some other people in the congregation took it with a grain of salt, maybe some were ready for the pain and rigors of their well lived lives to be over. Maybe some others took it like I did -- there was little time to have fun, to experience what life had to offer and living for the now and preparing for a healthy, well balanced long-lived life was no longer an option. I still fight this.
This, mixed with the constant background baseline anxiety secondary to being "left behind" provided for some unhealthy formative years. Sure, I was saved, and I was told that I would now be a part of the lucky few to be zapped out of this existence right into heaven, and into my new body. But what if I forgot to ask forgiveness that night prior? What if my Mom and Dad and all my cousins were zapped without me? I would be left to navigate a world bent on not only torturing me in this life, but ensuring my eternal damnation to boot! This was a problem for me in 1990. I was 12 years old.
And what if the Ruskies dropped a nuclear bomb on my head while I was sleeping and I had forgotten to ask forgiveness for a particular transgression the day prior? That is like getting zapped right to hell. The instantaneous nature of the rapture and nuclear annihilation, in my young mind, lent credibility to both. In 4th grade I remember a play we watched as a class about Hiroshima, and I remember envisioning what that must have been like, to be reduced to ash blown in the wind in the briefest of imaginable moments-- the only tangible reminder being the shadow you left on the side of the building when the bomb went off.
Now, we have a world stage that looks like a sinister blackface Vaudevillian act has merged with an avant garde puppet show rendition of Othello and it seems like nuclear destruction as a real problem for people on this planet is back on the menu! Last night there was a rocket with a confidential payload that took off from Vandenburg military base and went roughly due west out over the ocean. Well, I didn't see it but browsing reddit before I fell asleep there were many posts asking what that was. Before I read the answer (with a very small but nevertheless real sense of relief) you can't help but wonder if we shot down a missile, or if we're sending a Cruise Missile at a ship, or submarine, or who knows what. Maybe a return ICBM for an attack somewhere else in the nation. I'm not sure if that would have been my first thought 3 or 4 years ago. This speaks for itself.
As kind of an aside, I thought it would be fun to see this clip from the 44th President's first year. Just, just -- I can only say that I get a twinge of PTSD listening to this. For those who don't watch embedded videos (me included but it seems so fun and dynamic while writing a post) you can learn how we will all be microchipped by 2017, how Obama is clearly fitting all the requirements of being the antichrist, and how a move to dictatorial rule was underway. All backed up by multiple scripture citations every other sentence.
Anyway, somebody smarter than I said something along the lines of: art is more important than ever, as it evokes emotion and strikes at what it means to be human in an increasingly inhumane and mechanistic, practical world being carved for consumption by the bleeding edge of the razor sharp bottom line. We hear the countdown at the beginning of the clip from 1946 in New Mexico. The camera accelerates towards the burgeoning explosion that came from the 30 foot tall steel platform not far from the McDonald Farm in New Mexico, and from which was suspended "The Gadget." We enter the hot gas cloud still accompanied by the high pitched shrill of the music. It feels intense. It is designed for anxiousness. It succeeds. I felt like I was back in the pew that Sunday morning, a Sunday morning that is roughly 1458 weeks ago, yet still stands as a pivotal moment in my life. And for that I thank you David Lynch.
And I stand not as a Twin Peaks authority; I am relatively a neophyte compared to many of those who count themselves as David Lynch aficionados. Similarly to how I feel about music, in that I've never tried to make it, is cinematography and filmmaking. Skateboarding inherently has video cameras involved, but a Sony DCR-VX1000 and some skater friends do not a cinematographer make. So, there is one small aspect I wish to focus on. The scene which takes us into the heart of the first nuclear detonation at White Sands, Nevada in 1945. This is a well thought out blog by someone who describes the "most Lynchian scenes" in the newer episodes -- scroll down to read about the nuclear explosion scene.
This transfixing yet strangely disturbing journey towards and into the heart of the explosion is really something. Truly, the idea of pulling asunder the very building blocks of matter, of the Universe as we know it, is an act which even in the minds of modern rational humans engenders and promotes the wonder of the unknown. A feeling that, just maybe, what we are doing is wrong. This scene implies that the BOB, one of the evil characters in the movie is born, or perhaps he gains access through this window created by the tearing apart of the atom. After a few minutes of the string section of some strong fingered musicians, we enter what we presume is the middle, or heart of the explosion, or perhaps what is serves as a glimpse to another place, dimension, time, existence, whatever.
This episode is the only one that goes back in time, as a flashback. Most of the episode is in 1945. It feels important in the grand scheme of the Twin Peaks Universe, and while much of David Lynch is being weird for weird's sake, his art persists and has relevance because of a grand vision, or message that comes through. Of course we've seen nuclear accidents, or radiation exposure play prominent roles in much of pop culture. Spiderman, Radioactive Man, and of course, Godzilla are good examples. He serves to add to this by incorporating it into this world of Laura Palmer's.
J Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific lead of the Manhattan Project had this to say about how he, and the crowd reacted to seeing the Trinity test come to a successful explosion in White Sands, New Mexico in 1945:
The men who knew most about what scale of destructive potential exists in this technology were vocal against using it against other human beings. Men of war who witnessed the explosion thought very much the same words as Oppenheimer uttered, yet I imagine they had an evil gleam in their eye and a sinister grin on their face.
I grew up in a relatively isolated culture that, at times, verged into celebratory apocalyptic teachings. I remember the first Gulf War, I was in 8th grade. I remember a preacher, a fiery and entertaining (again, this is all relative and "fiery and entertaining" for our church meant he might wave his arms or tell an interesting anecdote from the pulpit) guy who proclaimed that Jesus was coming back within the year, and that we were witnessing, via Cable Television, the unfolding of Armageddon as Evangelical Christians of the Hal Lindsey (The Late Great Planet Earth book was everywhere when I was growing up and made me really sad) and "Left Behind" theology understand it. I remember that Sunday morning -- I was in the balcony of the church on Mitchell Street, in Southeast Portland. My Dad ran the sound system -- a Sun sound board that had a ton of cool knobs, switches and lights I wasn't allowed to touch. The preacher told me that life was going to end before my teenage years had really started. Before I kissed a girl, drove a car or dunked a basketball (still waiting for that one -- I dunked a volleyball on a 10' rim oh so many years ago) it was going to be all over. I took that to heart. Maybe some other people in the congregation took it with a grain of salt, maybe some were ready for the pain and rigors of their well lived lives to be over. Maybe some others took it like I did -- there was little time to have fun, to experience what life had to offer and living for the now and preparing for a healthy, well balanced long-lived life was no longer an option. I still fight this.
This, mixed with the constant background baseline anxiety secondary to being "left behind" provided for some unhealthy formative years. Sure, I was saved, and I was told that I would now be a part of the lucky few to be zapped out of this existence right into heaven, and into my new body. But what if I forgot to ask forgiveness that night prior? What if my Mom and Dad and all my cousins were zapped without me? I would be left to navigate a world bent on not only torturing me in this life, but ensuring my eternal damnation to boot! This was a problem for me in 1990. I was 12 years old.
And what if the Ruskies dropped a nuclear bomb on my head while I was sleeping and I had forgotten to ask forgiveness for a particular transgression the day prior? That is like getting zapped right to hell. The instantaneous nature of the rapture and nuclear annihilation, in my young mind, lent credibility to both. In 4th grade I remember a play we watched as a class about Hiroshima, and I remember envisioning what that must have been like, to be reduced to ash blown in the wind in the briefest of imaginable moments-- the only tangible reminder being the shadow you left on the side of the building when the bomb went off.
Now, we have a world stage that looks like a sinister blackface Vaudevillian act has merged with an avant garde puppet show rendition of Othello and it seems like nuclear destruction as a real problem for people on this planet is back on the menu! Last night there was a rocket with a confidential payload that took off from Vandenburg military base and went roughly due west out over the ocean. Well, I didn't see it but browsing reddit before I fell asleep there were many posts asking what that was. Before I read the answer (with a very small but nevertheless real sense of relief) you can't help but wonder if we shot down a missile, or if we're sending a Cruise Missile at a ship, or submarine, or who knows what. Maybe a return ICBM for an attack somewhere else in the nation. I'm not sure if that would have been my first thought 3 or 4 years ago. This speaks for itself.
As kind of an aside, I thought it would be fun to see this clip from the 44th President's first year. Just, just -- I can only say that I get a twinge of PTSD listening to this. For those who don't watch embedded videos (me included but it seems so fun and dynamic while writing a post) you can learn how we will all be microchipped by 2017, how Obama is clearly fitting all the requirements of being the antichrist, and how a move to dictatorial rule was underway. All backed up by multiple scripture citations every other sentence.
Anyway, somebody smarter than I said something along the lines of: art is more important than ever, as it evokes emotion and strikes at what it means to be human in an increasingly inhumane and mechanistic, practical world being carved for consumption by the bleeding edge of the razor sharp bottom line. We hear the countdown at the beginning of the clip from 1946 in New Mexico. The camera accelerates towards the burgeoning explosion that came from the 30 foot tall steel platform not far from the McDonald Farm in New Mexico, and from which was suspended "The Gadget." We enter the hot gas cloud still accompanied by the high pitched shrill of the music. It feels intense. It is designed for anxiousness. It succeeds. I felt like I was back in the pew that Sunday morning, a Sunday morning that is roughly 1458 weeks ago, yet still stands as a pivotal moment in my life. And for that I thank you David Lynch.
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