Dreaming the Potent Illusions

Twitter Sonnet 101: Fuel

Elvis mints make padded cells of stomachs.
Avocado Faberge eggs don't last.
A possum eye for a sky's like onyx.
The marsupials watch us badly fast.
Junk food cops watch from a helicopter.
Some burritos are the saddest donkeys.
Now powering torches of the lobster--
Perpendicular water batteries.
Staples have no inherent energy.
A hand and hinge drive metal through paper.
In ice was written Yeti's eulogy.
And read by the tongue of a mad tapir.
Refrigerators hold heavy burdens.
Cold and still gods dwell in thermal cauldrons.

Looks like I'm far from alone in naming Mulholland Drive best picture of the decade--I saw on Jim Emerson's blog yesterday that several publications have also called it best of the decade. Though the reason given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, quoted by Emerson, is somewhat different from why I picked the movie; "David Lynch's psychoerotic noir is one of the essential L.A. movies -- but the more significant reason for the film's enduring critical favor may be its deconstruction of the toxic allure of the Dream Factory." The movie definitely fed into Hollywood narcissism, and I think that explains why it was better received than most of Lynch's films. That, and hot lesbian sex. Seriously--Howard Stern's said it for decades, lesbians mean ratings. Mulholland Drive makes it legitimate art. If you want something sexy that also happens to be great art, you can go to Mulholland Drive. The reason INLAND EMPIRE didn't do as well was 1)no lesbian action 2)older lead and 3) while it held up another mirror for Hollywood, Hollywood couldn't gaze twice into Lynch's glass without feeling self-conscious about its narcissism.

To me, Mulholland Drive is great not because of its perspective on the "dream factory" but because of its perspective on dreams themselves, and how they relate to a person's life. How they can both lead to destruction and salvation, sometimes both at the same time. I suppose Hollywood's a natural setting for such a story.

By the way, for those of you who would point out that the decade isn't technically over yet, I'd ask you if you'd include films released in 1990 among 80s films. If you answered yes, then I think you're just precious.

It's nice to see Spirited Away and Brokeback Mountain did so well on several of the lists. I definitely intend to check out some of the ones I haven't seen, particularly In the Mood for Love. I'm a bit surprised There Will Be Blood generally placed so highly--it's not a bad movie, I don't think, but is it really that great? Surely Spirited Away has a lot more going for it.

I'd better get back to colouring. I finished pencil and ink on the new Venia's Travels yesterday, but I to-day's devoted to colouring the last three pages. I'm well ahead of where I've been at this point on the last couple chapters, though, which is a good feeling.