Twin Peaks

During the summer, many New Yorkers try to spend as much time outdoors as possible, whether that involves booze-fueled rooftop barbecues, baseball games at Yankees Stadium, obnoxiously overcrowded concerts in Central Park or McCarren Park Pool, or—depending on one’s level of Metropolitan snobbery—day trips to the Hamptons, Coney Island, or the Jersey Shore. But there’s one week every summer when it’s perfectly acceptable, if not encouraged, to laze out on the couch every night with your eyes glued to the TV and your remote programmed to the Discovery Channel. That week is Shark Week. It began last night with a special episode of Mythbusters, the first of six new Shark Week premiers, which will answer an array of burning questions about our (sort-of terrifying) finned friends of the deep.  read more »

David Lynch was in town last week promoting his national best seller, Catching the Big Fish, which recently came out in paperback. The book is an autobiographical account of the creative benefits the 62-year-old auteur claims to have reaped over the past three decades from practicing Transcendental Meditation, the trademarked meditation technique that rock stars like the Beatles and Donovan championed back in the late 1960s, and which has been making something of a pop culture comeback thanks to celebrity adherents like Mr. Lynch, Howard Stern and Moby. Indeed, it seems like over the past few years Mr. Lynch, whose most recent film was 2006’s epic Inland Empire, has been generating more press for his spiritual beliefs than his surreal and nightmarish brand of cinema.

But fans of creepy dancing midgets and lovers of cherry pie need not worry: Mr. Lynch, who spoke with the Culture Czar recently in his Upper West Side hotel room -- he was wearing his trademark white shirt buttoned all the way to the top and well-coiffed silver hair -- still loves Twin Peaks and a good cup of coffee. (His own Signature Cup blend is on sale at the IFC Center.) He also has a new documentary in the works that he hopes will be in theaters by the fall. But before he gets around to making another of the bewildering films his fans have come to relish, he has a slightly loftier goal to check off his to-do list: world peace. Read on!  read more »

"She’s dead. Wrapped in plastic." Yes, it was 19 years ago this Feb. 24 when a beloved teenage homecoming queen named Laura Palmer was found murdered in a quiet, woodland town in northern Washington. We’re talking about the plot of David Lynch’s epic TV series, Twin Peaks, of course. The Culture Czar is a massive fan, and apparently we’re not the only ones. On Monday nights starting Feb. 25, Williamsburg’s Huckleberry Bar will screen episodes of Twin Peaks “in remembrance of Laura Palmer,” culminating with the series finale on May 5. To answer the question we know is on the mind of all you devoted Peaks freaks out there, the bar will indeed be serving coffee, donuts, and “the occasional pie.” The screenings start at 10:30, and if you can’t make it, at least get your hands on a copy of Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box edition, which was released last fall. Just remember, “The owls are not what they seem!”