As you all know, I am prone to a bit of hyperbole, but I’m pretty sure that Twin peaks is the greatest show ever aired. Lauren and I started watching it about a year ago. Some of you may have watched the show when it actually aired (1990-91), but I doubt it. The show was created by David Lynch (whose best films are Blue Velvet, The Straight Story, and Mulholland Drive) and Mark Frost (who I know nothing about). David Lynch wrote and directed many episodes, but grew tired of the show toward the end of its 30 episode run, as ABC’s interference grew more severe.

As a side note, I recently found out that David Lynch, who lives most of the year in Los Angeles, spends his summers in Madison. Apparently his partner is from here and he is taken with the wholesome midwestern spirit of the place (speaking of The Straight Story’s main character, he says: “Getting a feeling for Madison and the people there helped me to understand Alvin, and it showed me that the America of his story really does exist”). Lynch apparently drinks at this divey-looking bar right off the interstate called Le Tigre Lounge. Next summer I plan to spend many a night there in hopes of drinking with the man himself.

Twin Peaks is as hilarious as Seinfeld in its best episodes and as scary as Blue Velvet. It centers on the sexual abuse and murder of a high school prom queen, Laura Palmer (her corpse washes ashore in the pilot episode). FBI agents are brought in to investigate because another victim was found across the border in Canada. When watching the show, I sometimes find it hard to believe that it was actually aired on network television, in prime time, 15 years ago. Mainly because it’s so good, but also because it’s so freaky and contains at least references to horrendous violence.

If you’re a fan of Lynch, you may have rented Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, a feature film prequel to the television show that Lynch wrote and directed after the show’s run. This was probably a mistake. The film lacks the humor and quirkiness of the series, and is much darker. It is only for the initiated, who have seen all the episodes already, and want more of a backstory.

Here’s what sucks, though: Most of the episodes are still only available on videotape. The first season is available on DVD (though it is out of print), but it lacks the pilot episode because it was produced by another company or something. The pilot episode (2 hours long) is available as a standalone DVD, though it is out of print and rare. The second season (episodes 8 through 29) has not been released on DVD, though a release is planned for April of next year. The good news, though, is that if you have a decent public library, they will likely have all of the above on videotape or DVD.

I would like to come to Fayetteville and meet up with some of ya’ll over the break. I think it should be good (and possibly wholesome) fun. Z-Linds said that he’s up in thar from the 22nd - 28th. Will anybody else be in town in that period? We could have a small party or just go to play mini-golf and go to Taco Bell. Doesn’t matter to me…..

My friend emailed me this and it unsettled me mightily. I knew America was falling behind in math and science, but I didn’t know it was this bad. I am considering moving my kids to China once they are of math-learning age (in my book, from ages 7-16). Here’s his commentary on it….

It offended my mathematical sensitivities something awful. It is long, I recommend working while letting it play in the background. The main point is that grown people with management level jobs don’t know there is a difference between .002 dollars and .002 cents. They even say it is obvious there is a difference between 1 dollar and 1 cent and .5 dollars and .5 cents, but then say they don’t see the difference between .002 dollars and .002 cents. This was funny and sad and gut wrenching to listen to. I’m guessing ya’ll may have seen this before, but if not, enjoy.

There is a transcript on that page that would read a lot faster than it takes to listen to this, but I don’t know if it is as frustrating if you just read it. In the end I’d rather have paid $70 dollars than go through this conversation. There are other updates on that website about how Verizon is still messing this rate thing up.

I gotta believe this is.

I received this fine piece of work from a distant friend who I don’t think was kidding when she sent it. It’s incredible. How could anybody believe it? “Lou’s” parting line is magnificent.

Subject: pin # reversal

Keep on keepin’ on
Lou

This hawk is now living in our law quad trees. It’s been swooping down and devouring squirrels. High-res pictures of that can be found here.

I saw it today, but was only able to get the above photo using my Canon S600 point-and-shoot digicam. The dude who took the others must have had a telephoto lens.

Enjoy…or not.

The Sunday Post has an asuming, damning series of articles written by historians attempting to assess the Bush II presidency in, well, a historical context. And the consensus is that it may well be one worst, if not the worst, ever.

Eric Foner leads the pack, writing bluntly that

“Historians are loath to predict the future. It is impossible to say with certainty how Bush will be ranked in, say, 2050. But somehow, in his first six years in office he has managed to combine the lapses of leadership, misguided policies and abuse of power of his failed predecessors. I think there is no alternative but to rank him as the worst president in U.S. history.”

Douglas Brinkley and Michael Lind are a bit more charitable than Foner. Lind quips, “It’s unfair to claim that George W. Bush is the worst president of all time. He’s merely the fifth worst.” Apparently, the policies of James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and James Madison were “even more disastrous.”

Likewise, for Brinkley, Bush is not the worst president ever– just probably tied for third:

“Though Bush may be viewed as a laughingstock, he won’t have the zero-integrity factors that have kept Nixon and Harding at the bottom in the presidential sweepstakes. Oddly, the president whom Bush most reminds me of is Herbert Hoover, whose name is synonymous with failure to respond to the Great Depression. When the stock market collapsed, Hoover, for ideological reasons, did too little. When 9/11 happened, Bush did too much, attacking the wrong country at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. He has joined Hoover as a case study on how not to be president.”

David Greenberg, too, has a more favorable view of Bush: at least he’s not Nixon. Unlike Nixon, Bush’s actions are only arguably impeachable.

Future investigations may bear out many people’s worst fears about this administration’s violations of civil liberties. And it’s conceivable that the consequences of the invasion of Iraq may prove more destructive than those of Nixon’s stubborn continuation of the Vietnam War. Should those things happen, Bush will be able to lay a claim to the mantle of U.S. history’s worst president. For now, though, I’m sticking with Dick.

Only Vincent Cannato, who was a former speech writer for the Bush administration, defends the President. But his arguments in favor of the Bush amount to (1) an attack on the liberal academy and (2) a tired plea for patience– if we give him enough time, maybe something good will happen. He admits that Iraq looks grim, but notes, on the positive side, that “tax cuts, the No Child Left Behind Act, the prescription drug plan and housing policies that have expanded home ownership … represent some semblance of a domestic policy[!]” Some semblance, indeed.

Less than three hours until the most important Arkansas football game in at least 15 years, says Rick Schaeffer .

The keys to the game for Arkansas:

Nutt and Malzahn hopefully have realized that our Wildcat formation needs to happen as much as possible. It seems like they are figuring this out and that we have used it more and more each game, but they showed us last week in the 4th quarter against LSU that they still have delusions of needing to balance the rushing game with a passing game. The Wildcat formation will not always work, but we’ve got 4 downs to get 10 yards! They’ve run it 52 times for an average of 8.7 yards a play (or over 34 yards for each 4 downs), and often the only thing stopping them is the endzone. I recommend running the Wildcat formation 95% of the time. Perhaps best of all it will keep incomplete-and-interception-prone Dick and Mustain off of the field.

Arkansas continues to expand on the Wildcat formation. It was nice to see Robert Johnson (a QB) playing WR and even catching a pass from McFadden. I hope they continue this trend and perhaps even bring in Cedric Washington so that we can have two passing WRs. I’m imagining the perfect play - McFadden hands it off to Jones who hands it off to Cedric Washington on the reverse, who passes it back across the field to Robert Johnson who throws it to Monk downfield who laterals it to Jones who laterals it to McFadden who scores the touchdown - Damien Williams should be in there somewhere too.

If I was coaching Florida I would primarily attack Arkansas in the three ways I’ve seen teams abuse us over and over again this season: 1) fade routes in the endzone, 2) quick-inside-slant routes, and 3) screens to receivers. Without Micheal Grant and Freddie Fairchild to snag an interception or two and pound some flying gators I really do worry about stopping the gators passing game inside the Georgie Dome. As is, we need an interception, some successfull jams on the line, and some hard hits early so that they’ll consider testing Olajubutu, who will eat the meat off of their bones and strip the ball away from their skeleton.

Olajubutu is the best tackler I’ve ever seen at Arkansas. Many of my favorite football plays involve Olajubutu dodging a blocker and diving for an ankle tackle, or just zoning in on a RB who doesn’t even try to escape him because they know it would be just wasted energy.

McFadden was creating lots of seperation on the LSU cornerbacks, but it wasn’t obvious that he was going to catch the ball even if Dick could have thrown it to him. Worst of all, after McFadden would sprint down field for the pass he would sit out the next play or two. I suggest we conserve his energy for safer bets.

Championship games can do funny things to players. That extra adrenaline makes most players poor decision makers. McFadden has proven that he loves the pressure of big games and can make excellent decisions with all eyes on him and greatness on the line, which is why I think Arkansas is about to win its first SEC football championship. Let’s go D-Mac! Let’s go Hogs!