On Thursday I went to see director David Lynch talk about film and transcendental meditation (TM). They had some young guy hooked up to an EEG to show the dramatic effects that TM had on his brainwave patterns. Sadly, my EEG-reading skills are a bit rusty, and I couldn’t really tell the difference. I was actually more intrigued by the throwaway comment that closing your eyes frees your brain from having to process visual stimuli and therefore allows it to focus more brainpower on other tasks. Is that true? Lynch spoke about his dream of raising $7 billion to found a peacemaker academy, similar to a military academy except the exact opposite, that would graduate people who would go out into the world spreading TM and bliss. He admitted that $7 billion sounds like a lot, but really that’s only the cost of 3.5 B1 bombers. If we can find the money to spend on B1 bombers, is it so unreasonable to think that we could try spending that money promoting world peace instead? It’s a solid-sounding argument, but then again, compared to buying a B1 bomber, pretty much anything sounds like a deal. Lynch also fielded questions about film, and confirmed what I have long suspected about the weird homeless man / monster in Mulholland Drive — that it makes no sense. Lynch said, “Sometimes you just have a random idea for some weird shit and you just say ‘to hell with it’ and put it in your movie.” I’m paraphrasing, of course.
Tonight I went and saw musical satirist Ray Zimmerman, who’s sort of like a very political Weird Al Yankovich. I thought he was great. Listen to his hilarious song “T.M.I.” Unfortunately, I can’t find an audio version of my favorite song he played, “My Conservative Girlfriend.” (My conservative girlfriend / every Sunday we go Medicare slashin’ … My conservative girlfriend / Her white collar and her red neck are clashin’.) And speaking of funny songs, I finally found a copy of the Particle Board song online. (I have to live my life alone / ‘cuz if I ever bring a woman home / she’ll take one look at my place and any chance is blown. / I guess that I have to admit / a guy looks like he can’t commit / when a hex wrench can dismantle anything he owns.”) Check it out.
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