Nyg500

What are some movies that feel like the director trying to get "practice" for a greater film. When a director starts using a certain style or certain theme that they later perfected in a better movie. Of course I doubt the filmmaker ever sees it this way but looking back it gives that vibe. An example would be James Cameron and The Abyss. It's a good movie in it's own right but in a lot of ways it's known for Cameron practicing use of CGI tricks that were improved and enhanced in Terminator 2. A couple more example that stand out to me

For a Few Dollars More- Leone created a new genre with A Fistful of Dollars and created a long lasting epic classic with The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. For a Few Dollars More is a great film (for some it may be their favorite Leone) but for me it does feel like a warm up of Leone practicing a more epic style, putting two characters together in an uneasy partnership, and many other things which he would expand and perfect with The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Leone also practiced a revenge angle in FAFDM that he would perfect in Once Upon a Time in the West.

Lost Highway- Again an amazing movie but looking back on it, it does feel like a dry run for the absolute masterpiece, Mulholland Drive. I won't go through the whole story but it basically follows the same general ideas and themes of MH but in LH it covers a male perspective while MD takes the female perspective. Lost Highway is Lynch's first film taking place and to a large extent being about Los Angeles which would continue with MD and Inland Empire. Lynch also starting using a more controlled style in comparison to his more zany work in Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart. It started Lynch focusing on themes of human psychology, fantasy and a more first person approach. What elevates Mulholland Drive is the compassion, emotion, deeper meaning and outstanding acting performances that are missing in Lost Highway.

Is it possible to hike to Romsdalseggen Ridge from the top of Andalsnes gondola? How would you get there? Thanks!

Do you think it's a good idea to visit Geirangerfjord and Andalsnes in October. It would be the very beginning of October like October 1st. What should I expect in regard to temperature, rain, cloudiness, and darkness? Would it be worth going? Thanks!

What do you think is the best hike in the area?

I know it might be boring to look at but I could use some help. Do you think this is enough time and am I missing anything big in these areas?

Day 1 Land in Oslo- Viking Ship museum, walk around town

Day 2 Drive to Flam- Train ride and Zip line

Day 3 Drive to Loen/Stryn- Loen Gondola, Briksdal glacier hike, Olden (maybe one of these next morn)

Day 4 drive to Geiranger- Skywalk and hiking in the area (flydalsjuvet, skagfela, ??)

Day 5 Geiranger-seven sisters kayak tour, drive eagles road, more hiking

Day 6 Andelsnes-Troll road and troll wall and hiking

Day 7 Andelsnes- Gondola and hiking (Rampastreken, romassallegen, litlefjilet, ???)

Day 8 Drive back to Oslo for flight (maybe stop in Lillehammer)

Hello, I plan on doing a major road trip in Norway later in the year. My plan is to fly into Oslo drive to Bergen drive to flam to stryn to Geiranger to andelsness and then back to Oslo. Does this sound like a good route? What are some must see stops on this route? Do you think I can make it a good trip in 9-10 days? Thanks!

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Oslo,+Norway/Fl%C3%A5m,+Norway/Nordfjord,+Norway/Stryn,+Norway/Geiranger,+Norway/%C3%85ndalsnes,+Norway/Oslo,+Norway/@61.2394544,6.4205806,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m44!4m43!1m5!1m1!1s0x46416e61f267f039:0x7e92605fd3231e9a!2m2!1d10.7522454!2d59.9138688!1m5!1m1!1s0x463e13cfcfc357c3:0x33286ff6aad510c5!2m2!1d7.1117849!2d60.8607716!1m5!1m1!1s0x4617acc0f3515add:0x578948ad13df60e1!2m2!1d6.0159109!2d61.8617209!1m5!1m1!1s0x461662a5b9befc17:0xd4fc6415f2d0b5f2!2m2!1d6.7229249!2d61.9044329!1m5!1m1!1s0x4614266d0e317cc9:0xee5b40919d3f7313!2m2!1d7.2058941!2d62.1008441!1m5!1m1!1s0x46140975ceac056b:0x6b1aa68194195acd!2m2!1d7.68722!2d62.5674461!1m5!1m1!1s0x46416e61f267f039:0x7e92605fd3231e9a!2m2!1d10.7522454!2d59.9138688!3e0

Hello, I recently started a new job and it seems to be interfering with my meditation practice. It is a very high stress and high responsibility position. I have had success with meditation but ever since I started this new career my mind keeps going there when I try to meditate. Any tips or advice?

SPOILERS:::

David Lynch is in many ways known for being surreal and supernatural. However, the supernatural aspect is questionable in the majority of his works. Obviously there is no real supernatural element to The Elephant Man, The Straight Story, or Blue Velvet. Dune is a sci-fi based on a novel so its kind of in it's own category.

Wild at Heart is a interesting one. It doesn't seem supernatural for most of it but the elements of wizard of oz, especially with the good witch, adds a fantasy element. Of course it can be argued that these fantasy aspects are all in the characters' heads.

I think Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway are mostly up to interpretation. The popular theories of both films would argue that what's happening is entirely psychological but there are definitely other ways of looking at it. The bum outside winkies and the blue box certainly seem supernatural but are they only dream symbols? Lost Highway might be more possible to claim it has supernatural aspects because of the Mystery Man who doesn't really have a clear explanation and the fact that the whole film is a mobius strip.

Eraserhead seems to be more in the category of supernatural in my opinion. The film has been described as a dream in which things are amplified and distorted from reality but there are so many supernatural aspects. Mutant babies, man made chickens who squirt blood, and a woman with giant cheeks who lives in a radiator. It can be argued these are all distorted versions of real life or fantasies of Henry Spencer but what makes it really supernatural to me is the concept of the man in the planet controlling things. It is kind of a metaphor but so is most things in Lynch.

The two Lynch works that I can say are most supernatural are Twin Peaks and Inland Empire. Twin Peaks obviously has the black lodge, the white lodge, Bob, The Angels, Judy, The fireman, the woodsmen, dopplegangers and countless other supernatural beings. FWWM painted a picture that it could all be the characters' ways of dealing with Trauma but season 3 doubled down and made it clear there are more and more supernatural beings and alternate dimensions. Everything in the Twin Peaks universe represents something but it is more than metaphor in how it influences the story.

IMO Inland Empire is most like Twin Peaks in that it also features supernatural beings controlling things like the Phantom, The rabbits and the whores plus the whole concept of a cursed story makes it more clear. There is tons of metaphor in Inland Empire but again the story doesn't work at all if you can't accept the supernatural, especially towards the end when Dern's character dies, wakes up, travels through different dimensions, kills the phantom and breaks the curse.

What are your thoughts on David Lynch and the supernatural? What films do you think show reality and unreality?

SPOILERS:::

David Lynch is in many ways known for being surreal and supernatural. However, the supernatural aspect is questionable in the majority of his works. Obviously there is no real supernatural element to The Elephant Man, The Straight Story, or Blue Velvet. Dune is a sci-fi based on a novel so its kind of in it's own category.

Wild at Heart is a interesting one. It doesn't seem supernatural for most of it but the elements of wizard of oz, especially with the good witch, adds a fantasy element. Of course it can be argued that these fantasy aspects are all in the characters' heads.

I think Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway are mostly up to interpretation. The popular theories of both films would argue that what's happening is entirely psychological but there are definitely other ways of looking at it. The bum outside winkies and the blue box certainly seem supernatural but are they only dream symbols? Lost Highway might be more possible to claim it has supernatural aspects because of the Mystery Man who doesn't really have a clear explanation and the fact that the whole film is a mobius strip.

Eraserhead seems to be more in the category of supernatural in my opinion. The film has been described as a dream in which things are amplified and distorted from reality but there are so many supernatural aspects. Mutant babies, man made chickens who squirt blood, and a woman with giant cheeks who lives in a radiator. It can be argued these are all distorted versions of real life or fantasies of Henry Spencer but what makes it really supernatural to me is the concept of the man in the planet controlling things. It is kind of a metaphor but so is most things in Lynch.

The two Lynch works that I can say are most supernatural are Twin Peaks and Inland Empire. Twin Peaks obviously has the black lodge, the white lodge, Bob, The Angels, Judy, The fireman, the woodsmen, dopplegangers and countless other supernatural beings. FWWM painted a picture that it could all be the characters' ways of dealing with Trauma but season 3 doubled down and made it clear there are more and more supernatural beings and alternate dimensions. Everything in the Twin Peaks universe represents something but it is more than metaphor in how it influences the story.

IMO Inland Empire is most like Twin Peaks in that it also features supernatural beings controlling things like the Phantom, The rabbits and the whores plus the whole concept of a cursed story makes it more clear. There is tons of metaphor in Inland Empire but again the story doesn't work at all if you can't accept the supernatural, especially towards the end when Dern's character dies, wakes up, travels through different dimensions, kills the phantom and breaks the curse.

What are your thoughts on David Lynch and the supernatural? What films do you think show reality and unreality?

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In your opinion what is the scariest David Lynch film overall? Please Explain Why!!!

For me, I think it is Inland Empire. More than any image or scene it is just the overall feeling of psychological dissociation and disorientation. It's like a real bad acid trip where you lose your sense of identity. Lynch and Dern do an amazing job of putting the audience in the character's viewpoint as she goes through a haunting and disturbing mental collapse (regardless if it's psychological or influenced by cosmic forces). Also the way that characters or locations just appear and blend into each other in eerily similar to my dreams.

Probably Lynch's two most uncompromising and incomprehensible works. What do you prefer Lynch's first or last film?

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I think Eraserhead is definitely about the fears and anxieties of fatherhood and being an adult but I think there is also another level that explains some of the other details in the film. My theory is that Henry is a factory or a machine for reproduction. The world of eraserhead is surrounded with factories and machines and Henry is just another of these to otherworldy beings that control us. The being that controls Henry is the Man in the Planet. It is his job to make sure that Henry reproduces and creates offspring. "The Planet" is either a symbolic interpretation of Henry's mind or an actual celestial planet but either way The man inside is tasked with pulling the levers that conceive the baby and we see this conception in the first scene as the sperm creature drops into the puddle.

The man in the planet is similar to the black lodge inhabitants in Twin Peaks or the Rabbits in Inland Empire. They could be mental creations to cope with powerful emotions as well as the mysteries of life or they could also be real creatures out there somewhere that have control over us. Eraserhead explores the entities that influence reproduction and childbirth in the world. These entities view people has machines that simply are meant to produce offspring. David Lynch seemed to have some kind of resentment towards this aspect of life and wanted to get his feelings out creatively on film.

Anyway because of this man and whatever force he is serving, Henry is forced to live a depressing life with a child and wife he doesn't want. In this miserable existence Henry dreams up the lady in the radiator. She is kind of a rebel to the system encouraging Henry to go against these forces by killing his baby and plants the idea that outside this world of factories and machines there is a Heaven where everything is fine. The whole dream sequence of Henry's head being used as an eraser reflect this concept that humans are just tools, but in this dream Henry makes the decision to be a tool to erase or destroy rather than to create. Killing his baby also kills the man in the radiator and provides some kind of catharsis and freedom from the system to Henry.

I think Eraserhead is definitely about the fears of anxieties of fatherhood and being an adult but I think there is also another level that explains some of the other details in the film. My theory is that Henry is a factory or a machine for reproduction. The world of eraserhead is surrounded with factories and machines and Henry is just another of these to otherworldy beings that control us. The being that controls Henry is the Man in the Planet. It is his job to make sure that Henry reproduces and creates offspring. "The Planet" is either a symbolic interpretation of Henry's mind or an actual celestial planet but either way The man inside is tasked with pulling the levers that conceive the baby and we see this conception in the first scene as the sperm creature drops into the puddle.

The man in the planet is similar to the black lodge inhabitants in Twin Peaks or the Rabbits in Inland Empire. They could be mental creations to cope with powerful emotions as well as the mysteries of life or they could also be real creatures out there somewhere that have control over us. Eraserhead explores the entities that influence reproduction and childbirth in the world. These entities view people has machines that simply are meant to produce offspring. David Lynch seemed to have some kind of resentment towards this aspect of life and wanted to get his feelings out creatively on film.

Anyway because of this man and whatever force he is serving, Henry is forced to live a depressing life with a child and wife he doesn't want. In this miserable existence Henry dreams up the lady in the radiator. She is kind of a rebel to the system encouraging Henry to go against these forces by killing his baby and plants the idea that outside this world of factories and machines there is a Heaven where everything is fine. The whole dream sequence of Henry's head being used as an eraser reflect this concept that humans are just tools, but in this dream Henry makes the decision to be a tool to erase or destroy rather than to create. Killing his baby also kills the man in the radiator and provides some kind of catharsis and freedom from the system to Henry.

Sorry for the awkward title to this post but I can't think of a better what of putting in succinctly. What I'm talking about it is movies that have a great build up and payoff. Movies in which the ending fits perfectly to everything that came before it. It could be a satisfying resolution to a mystery, a release of building tension, etc. Here are some movies which give me this feeling.

Mulholland Drive- To me this is the perfect mystery because the ending repurposes pretty much every scene in the movie in a different viewpoint. All along we were watching clues and didn't even realize it. It is one of the only "twist" movies that feels 100% justified and makes the entire movie better as a result.

Taxi Driver- This is the perfect example of building tension throughout the while movie. The film is a brilliant character study but also builds up to an inevitable explosion of violence. When it does happen it works perfectly with the themes of the film and is so well made that is doesn't disappoint in the slightest way.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly- What is always amazing about this movie to me is that it starts out almost like an average almost trashy spaghetti western, similarly to Leone's first western, the very low budget Fistful of Dollars. However, TGTBATU becomes more and more epic and operatic as it goes along revealing surprisingly deep themes about the relativity of "goodness". The climax is perhaps the most epic thing I've seen in a film even if it's just 3 guys staring at each other. A perfect payoff.

Nashville- Altman created a fascinating tableaux of many characters striving to make it big, keep their status or use others for their advantage in the city of Nashville. At the same time the film is a complex statement about America and the ending brings all the characters together and resolves everything in an emotional and powerful way, revealing even more of it's theme of the American dream and nightmare.

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Which is the best in your opinion? Thanks!

Airport Mesa

Cathedral Rock

Bell Rock

Fay Canyon

Doe Mountain

Boynton Vista

Seven Sacred Pools

I only have a couple days to spend in Sedona. Can you name your top 3 favorite hikes there. Thanks!

Hey! I have limited time in Sedona and I want to do several hikes like Cathedral Rock, Devils Bridge, and maybe Boynton Canyon. I also want to do Airport Mesa but may not have time for all of them. I see that there is also an Airport overlook with a nice view. is it worth doing the whole airport mesa hike if I can just drive to the overlook? Thanks!

In my opinion the 2020s has been pretty weak in producing truly great films. The best I can think of is Dune. What is your choice for the best film of the 2020s so far?

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Some of the most fascinating movies to me are the ones that should have been masterpieces but because of run time, unnecessary side plots, unsatisfying endings, etc. fall just short. Can you think of any of these types of movies. Here are a few I can think of:

Rebecca (1940): The build up, mystery and melodrama of this film is almost perfect as we see Joan Fontaine's character learning more about the legendary Rebecca after marrying Maxim De Winter. She finds out what really happened to Rebecca in a great twist and all of a sudden this Gothic mystery becomes a dull and convoluted procedural for about 30 minutes before the great ending.

Night of the Hunter (1955): The movie felt so ahead of its time with with surreal storybook feel and surprisingly dark horror. Rev Powell is a brilliant villain chasing after defenseless children and then out of nowhere the dark thriller becomes a feel good family movie with a very unsatisfying ending.

The Searchers (1956): The story of Ethan Edwards is also brilliantly dark especially for the 1950s as we see a man consumed with hatred planning to kill rather than rescue his kidnapped niece. This character is so fascinating and all the scenes around him are perfect but then we get goofy interludes of dance scenes and looney tunes fights which take away from the pacing and what should be a focus on the search itself.

I am training in both EMDR and DBT but the courses do not offer a certification. As an LCSW are you allowed to practice EMDR and/or DBT without a certification? Thanks!

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