I do a lot of RIPs in the newsletter, and not to be grim, but this time of year… a lot of people die.
Sometimes on a Thursday after I’ve finished the Friday newsletter and arranged it exactly how I wanted it, I’ll get the news that someone who merits an RIP has died and I’ll have to decide whether to go back and change the newsletter or not.
David Lynch was too big to squeeze in last-minute last week, so I gave him a big number one spot this week:
“The old is dead, and I don’t know what the new is. The only way to find the new is to start different things and see if there’s something that can come out of experimentation. It’s somewhat unsettling, but it’s a hopeful thing in a way. I’ve been here before, lots of times.” RIP filmmaker and artist David Lynch. I’d love to wipe my brain so I could watch Twin Peaks for the first time — the first two seasons are streaming for free on Pluto TV and The Criterion Channel is streaming the documentary David Lynch: The Art Life for free until the end of the month. Lynch “didn’t fully trust words” as his friend Kyle MacLachlan put it, but he wrote a good book about his approach to creativity called Catching The Big Fish, and I just picked up a book of his interviews called Lynch on Lynch. Even if he didn’t fully trust them, he dished out many words of wisdom: “An artist doesn’t have to suffer to create.” “Keep your eye on the donut, not the hole.” “Fix your hearts or die.” “Every day, once a day, give yourself a little present.”
You can read the rest — and the other RIPs, both giants in their fields — in the newsletter: “The cease-and-desist of winter.”