Twin Peaks: Can You Go Home Again?

Back in 1990, the Boston Phoenix ran a review of the first few episodes of Twin Peaks, along with the plot of the sitcom Wings. 

It was an odd juxtaposition -- intentionally so -- contrasting David Lynch's highly-anticipated boutique series against a paint-by-numbers half-hour comedy. But the reviewer was a cynical bastard, and cast a jaundiced eye on the potential of a quirky auteur like Lynch to appeal to a mainstream television audience. 

Spy vs Spy: Stuck in the Funhouse

Funhouses are only fun when you can leave them. When the distorting mirror images become your new, day-to-day reality construct, then it's not so much fun anymore. 

The Present Can Only Be Viewed from the Past

2017 might seem like the hangover after a particularly-nasty meth, glue and Thunderbird bender, but it's actually a year of major anniversaries. 

It's All Real. Now What?

There's a famous exchange in the recent Star Wars sequel The Force Awakens in which Han Solo announces to the young rebels Rey and Finn that the Force and the Jedi-- mystical concepts that had come to be seen as superstitious nonsense by most people-- were all real. 

The De-Gaslightification Process

My apologies for not updating earlier. I've been trying to hammer out an essay all week but so much has been happening, both in my life and in the world outside, that it keeps reshaping itself. I'll be working on it in earnest this weekend.