A much easier day today, I took a deliberate choice to rest after two very busy programming days. I've toyed with the 'Fear is Everywhere' song... it's is very catchy but also a bit silly, and I'm not sure if it is good enough to ever use. There are slightly amusing aspects in some of my songs, The Cat Phone Song, The Arm... this is usually in contrast to a darker theme. I think of these as serious despite the comic mood... but this is the hardest of balances. Of course, art is about emotions, yet, laughter tends to dissipate and weaken. Laughter works at its most powerful in constrast - the laugh of the jester being bullied in The Seventh Seal, or the laughter of the villains in Blue Velvet as they torment Jeffrey Beaumont. Perhaps the key is that contrast, perhaps I need the fear song to be juxtaposed with something.
Anyway, the time for programming is done I think. I'll work on something artistic this week.
I'm working through the features on my Twin Peaks DVD. The opinions there match my own, that it really fell apart to boring nonsense in the second series, particularly after the revelation of the killer. I admit that I didn't think of much of the first series either, but perhaps my opinions were tainted because that is merely 8 episodes (of 29), and I moved through all of the episodes systematically and relatively quickly.
I had always assumed (not knowing anything about it) that the killer was never discovered and never would be. It seems that everyone - David Lynch, Mark Frost, all of the cast and everyone involved, knew that revealing the killer would kill the series, yet they did it - WHY! I'm completely mystified why. Everyone seemed to know it would be the bad idea that it proved to be. The series was only gripping because of unanswered questions - that is the key to dramatic dialogue. The audience form their own opinions when questions are unanswered (this, for me, is why Star Wars was a success; this is also why all prequels are failures, including the Fire Walk With Me film, despite David Lynch being at the top of his game - nobody can battle answered questions and win). The murder quesion was the key to Twin Peaks. I have no interest in watching the third series. David Lynch directed it, so it is probably better than the other episodes - all of the episodes he directed were twice as good as the rest - but then, Inland Empire is also terrible despite general acclaim. I hope though that he will, one day, revisit and repair Dune and restore it to the 4 or 5-hour film it needs to be.
I've wasted too many hours working out how I would have handled Twin Peaks series 2. I had ideas of Leyland Palmer wearing a white suit (to match his white hair) on the day of his 'confession' only to then have a dark haired and dark suited Leyland stagger from the woods, the 'series one' Leyland. The white Leyland, now glowing with light, would paint the room white with his presence. Then fourth body, with the same M.O. would be found - a new victim. Well, to sum up, there were so many options. Maybe I need to create my own series.
