Where were you in 1983? Perhaps you were not even born in 1983. I came across this video when I was searching for something else, and I was sucked into the memories of each of the ten great songs in the video – two of which are from the late great Michael Jackson.
This video will either bring back great memories or make younger people aware about how great the music of the 80s was and still is today.
Watch and enjoy the music!
If you are still wondering about Kirk's journey, the short film Star Trek: Unification depicts Kirk's journey after death. It is preceded by the short films 765874, Memory Wall, and Regeneration that lead up to it. All directed by Carlos Baena and produced in coordination with studio OTOY and the Roddenberry Archive, they are not technically canon, but it is more complicated than that.
The Spock seen here is the one from the Prime Universe who went into the Kelvin Universe where he meets a younger Spock played by Zacahry Quinto in the JJ Abrams' films. After Kirk dies in Generations, he is zapped into the Kelvin timeline to meet up with a dying Spock. Along the way he encounters an older Vulcan Lieutenant Saavik from Star Trek: The Search for Spock and her son, whom Spock fathered in that film.
It is a surreal blur as we see Kirk (played by Sam Witwer with William Shatner's features) move through a space where three versions of himself converge. Eventually the Kirk who died in Generations enters a room where a dying Spock is lying on a bed. The unification thus occurs and is delightful.
I will write no more so that you can enjoy the ending better. I do suggest you watch the three short films listed above first and Unification last for a more rewarding experience.
These short films are lovingly made and pay homage to the characters Kirk and Spock. All these years later, it is no understatement to say they started it all. Everything that came after them would be nothing without them.
Live long and prosper!
I just finished reading Donald Capone's extraordinary book Just Follow Me – that describes what it was like in New York City in the days before John Lennon was shot. I remembered that night like it was yesterday. By reading this book, I experienced it all over again in the story of a teenage girl who goes to New York City to meet John Lennon for a very important reason.
Unfortunately, she goes to see him in December 1980, and we all know what happens because, just like the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and Dr. King, everyone remembers where they were when those killings took place, so the book brought back my own memories since I was a college student at the time just like the main character Angela Girardi.
Angela is in the dorm in the college in Loch Sheldrake, New York, coming to the end of the fall semester. This is when she learns that her mother has committed suicide. Angela is devastated, of course, but she is also in despair because her tuition needs to be paid for the next semester, and on top of that her mother left a sealed suicide note addressed to John Lennon.
A Journey with a Purpose
Despite upcoming final exams, Angela enlists her friend Tommy to take the bus trip to New York City to meet John and give him her mother's letter. Angela's mother Jessica loved the Beatles and John especially, and Angela became a fan because she had been listening to the music all of her life. The purpose of her journey is to do one last thing for her mother. If she could not help her during her life, at least she can do this for after her death.
Her Mother's Troubled Life
The story employs flashbacks to Jessica's time as a teenager, and we learn how she had a troubled life. After the high school prom at the Concord Hotel, Jessica sleeps with numerous boys and thinks it is okay because her period is due. When she learns that she is pregnant with Angela, she has no idea who is her child's father.
Capone also uses flash forwards where we see Angela in the present (2005) writing in her journal about what she did back in 1980. This provides the reader with a welcome news that Angela survives and moves forward with her life, but it is not until the very end when we learn specifics of her situation in the future.
Mark David Chapman
There are also flash-sideways to the creepy character Holden – a name he tells Tommy and Angela because Mark David Chapman is always reading Catcher in the Rye – who is a weird fellow staying across the hall in the same YMCA. In these sections we see Chapman preparing to meet John and get his autograph. As the story unfolds, we also see him slowly unravel and justify his reasons for wanting to kill John.
Waiting to Meet John
Once they get to the city, Tommy and Angela start hanging out at the Dakota Building where John lives with his wife Yoko Ono and their young son Sean. They get to know a photographer named Paul and the Lennonites Jude and Jerry. They all hang out on the corner or on a bench across the street by Central Park hoping for their chance to meet John.
They talk about things we all used to talk about before John was killed. What is the Beatles' greatest love song? "Which Beatle has the best songs and albums since they broke up?" And the big one we all used to debate – will the Beatles ever get back together again? It is all good natured, enjoyable, and very relatable to anyone who lived at that time, but it will also be interesting to anyone who likes the Beatles no matter how old or young they are.
For Angela, none of this is just fun and games. While she good naturedly interacts with the others, this is a serious matter for her. It is not just about meeting him as a fan like they want to do – the mission to get her mother's suicide note into John's hands is her top priority.
Like seeing the movie Titanic, it is not that we do not know how this story ends, but it is how we get there that is the magic. Capone weaves some of the songs into titles of the chapters, making the music omnipresent in the story. He artfully flashes back and forward to insert key information that adds to the experience. His characters are fully realized, and Angela is a revelation as a young woman who is uncertain of where she is going but knows exactly what she has to do right now no matter what.
Attention to Detail
While this is a work of fiction, I fully believed that this story was happening. As a New Yorker, I appreciated Capone's attention to detail about the streets of New York City, especially the gritty and sometimes ugly stuff I remember from back in 1980.
With final exams pressuring Tommy to go back home, Angela knows that she is running out of time to meet John. Will she be able to meet him and give her mother's note to John? Should she go home and take her final exams and then come back with Tommy afterwards? I kept turning the pages because I wanted to know what was going to happen, and I believe you will be doing so as well.
The Verdict
This is one of the most emotionally moving books I have read in a long time. It brings back memories of that time however bittersweet, and it also tells the very relatable story about a girl who has to do one last thing for her mother before she can move on with her life.
I highly recommend Just Follow Me whether you are a Beatle fan or not. It will bring back memories for those of us who lived through that dark December, and for those who did not it will give you an excellent idea of what is was like to be in New York City in the days before the night John Lennon died. Either way, I promise you that it is story that you will never forget.
Okay, everyone has a decade that is dear to them in regards to music. It is usually when they are teenagers and can extend into their 20s and even 30s for some people.
This video is from October 20, 1983. Hosted by the lovely Martha Quinn (who was everyone's crush back then). You get to see clips of some great videos from some fine groups and performers. And don't fast forward those commercials. They are a great window into the past to see how people actually lived back in the 80s.
Grab some popcorn, your favorite drink, and sit back and enjoy. You'll know why we used to say "I want my MTV!"
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* This article contains many spoilers.
The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a
knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.
-Sigmund Freud
In thinking about the late David Lynch's surreal masterpiece Twin Peaks, I'm reminded of a question that's asked in season 3: "Who is the dreamer?" This salient question encompasses the original Twin Peaks (1990-1991), the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), and the magnificent third season Twin Peaks: The Return (2017). After binge watching 48 episodes and the film, I realize that Lynch continually provides dream-like sequences where the line between reality and supernatural zones of experience remains porous.
Laura Palmer's Death
Laura Palmer's (Sheryl Lee) death becomes the catalyst for the citizens of the town Twin Peaks to start answering uncomfortable questions about the place where they live and Laura died. A killer is suspected to live among them, so who could this maniac be?
FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper comes to town to help Sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) in the murder investigation, and he brings with him an upbeat personality and a love of damn good coffee. He has some of his own idiosyncrasies like constantly speaking to someone named Diane on a small tape recorder.
The forest that surrounds the town has supernatural aspects that waver the lines between asleep and awake. Dreams have a way of slithering their way through the storyline, but in season 3 Lynch emphasizes his point about dreams being a key factor. Can understanding the unconscious activities of the killer’s mind help find him?
A Café in Paris
FBI Direct Gordon Cole (played superbly by Lynch) tells about a dream he had where he meets actress Monica Belluci at a café in Paris. Some would argue that having coffee with Ms. Belluci would be really a dream come true, but it is what she says that matters most.
Ms. Belluci says, "We are like the dreamer who dreams, and then lives inside the dream." Lynch is referencing the sacred Hindu text The Upshanishads that tells us that we are living an illusion. But Lynch takes it even further, when Ms. Belluci whispers, "But, who is the dreamer?"
The Llama Moment
Those familiar with the series can remember early on when Dale dreams about Laura in season one. He has been reading her diary, but does that text really exist? Does reading it cause him to dream of her? Is this really Laura in the dream? Or is it a doppelganger? Dale also dreams of the Red Room which we assume is not reality – although one can also question whether the town is reality. Anyplace where a conversation can be interrupted by a llama seems to be a little off the beaten path if not even there at all.
Even in the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Lynch was bringing in the idea of the dream and its importance to the overall storyline. In a fascinating scene with the late, great David Bowie, who plays FBI Special Agent Phillip Jeffries, he has been missing for two years. Cole introduces him to Dale, but Jeffries is not there to tell a tale about his investigation. He says of his absence, "It was a dream. We live inside a dream." Phillip is obviously in distress, and as the lights go on and off and the intercom does not work, Phillip disappears, leaving many more questions than answers.
This brings me back to the question – who is the dreamer? I have followed the thread that Lynch wove into magic through the first two seasons, back to the prequel, and then bouncing forward to season three. I have come to the conclusion that Dale is the dreamer. Watch this scene from the pilot episode, when Dale is driving into town for the very first time. He is talking to Diane on the recorder, and we are right there with him like a passenger in the car. Dale passes the sign welcoming him to Twin Peaks, and thus the dream is about to begin.
David Lynch has passed away, and his words "Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole" may sum up his career and skewered world view better than I could here. Usually, I hear or read about celebrities passing away, think about them for a few moments, and then move on with my day. Hearing about Lynch's passing yesterday – in a throwaway two lines spoken on the radio – felt like a gut punch. I couldn't follow Lynch's advice because all I could focus on was the hole I felt inside me.
Since I first heard the news yesterday, I have read, heard, and watched other reports about Lynch's passing, and there are lots of similar words being thrown around – "surrealistic," "avante-garde," and "off-kilter" to name a few – and, while those words apply, his work and the man himself was so much more than those words. He was a master of the visual art of film making and storytelling.
All of Lynch's work seems indelible and unforgettable. He could capture the larger scale or epic tale as he did in Dune (1984) – which I really enjoyed despite the naysayers – but Lynch could also focus on the small scale in examining the human condition in a film like The Elephant Man (1980) or the other side of terror and madness in Blue Velvet (1986). I know that if you mention one of his works, for example Wild at Heart (1990), I can picture scenes from that film and the actors who played the roles in it. There is something about all of his work that stays in my mind, almost like a catalogue in my memory banks that can I access because the impression is lasting.
Another way of testing Lynch's mastery of film making is stopping the film you are watching. Unlike many other directors, his frozen frames are like a work of art. There is symmetry and color and placement of objects and characters that is utter perfection. It seems that nothing has been left to chance. That kind of attention to detail is not only awesome but testimony to his respect for the art of film making.
By the time the original Twin Peaks (1990-1991) debuted on television, I was more than excited about all the possibilities it could have in store for me. In my humble opinion its two seasons, the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and the follow up third season Twin Peaks: The Return are the masterpieces of his very impressive body of work.
Twin Peaks featured an ensemble cast led by his unforgettable frequent collaborator Kyle MacLachlan as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, who comes to the small Washington town to investigate the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), a young girl found dead on a beach. But this was no ordinary detective series. It featured supernatural elements as well as regular stories about people in the town, some of whom tried to hide the darkness that hung over the place.
Lynch also cast himself as hard of hearing FBI Agent Gordon Cole, who is good natured but speaks in an elevated voice. While we can talk about his directorial skills, Lynch's comedic acting skills are in full display for us when he graces an episode. Please see the clip below to get an idea about how funny he was in the show.
In Twin Peaks Lynch reaches the pinnacle of his creativity, drawing on all his powers to craft something that lingers long after seeing the shows and film. There are characters who can be empathetic and scary all at the same time. And season two's cliffhanger, while leaving some viewers unsatisfied, gets resolved 25 years later in Twin Peaks: The Return, which in many ways is superior compared to the first two seasons and the film.
The music composed by Angelo Badalamente, including the theme for the series, is haunting and memorable. The tone of the third season leaves the viewer on the edge of the seat or sometimes causes one to fall off it onto the floor. There is a deeper sense of dread here, as the heft of the darkness hanging over the town becomes more apparent.
Later in his career, I was able to see Mr. Lynch online on an almost daily basis as he gave his tongue in cheek daily weather reports (you can watch them here). Sometimes he would make comments about more than the weather, but it was always delightful and felt like he was talking directly to me. It was in these moments that we understood Lynch as a regular person, with sometimes a touch a Gordon Cole coming into the report.
David Lynch has left us too soon, but his legacy is everlasting. There were many others who tried to imitate what he did, but they did not have much success. They didn't realize that was because Lynch and his work were the donut and the hole, and that is impossible to replicate.
Rest in peace, David Lynch.
*Please check the hilarious scene between Lynch as Gordon Cole and Madchen Amick as Shelly Johnson. Also check out Julee Cruise singing the Twin Peaks theme song.
This is a first look at the book cover for my new novel, Life and Death in Venice The story is about a New Yorker who relocates to Venice after his divorce (because he cheated on his wife).
Now based in Venice, he is trying to write a novel but keeps getting distracted. He makes new friends, finds a woman whom he starts dating, but things get complicated when another woman who he was seeing wants more from him.
The scene depicted on the cover takes place in the book. It is when he meets her at a carnival party, and she flees the party and he follows her. She stops on a bridge, and they have this encounter. The image of the Grim Reaper is a reminder that no one escapes Death.
The story takes place in Venice itself and the islands that surround it. The book will come out in late spring. Keep coming back here for updates.
Happy New Year!
