Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron

David Clowes' Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron is what would happen if David Lynch got together with the illustrators of Mad magazine. Beyond their titular similarities, the graphic novel is reminiscent of Blue Velvet in its exploration of a strange society on the fringes of our world. The story (sort of) depicts the insanity and ultimate tragedy of the entertainment industry, not unlike Mulholland Dr. At the same time Velvet Glove shares the unrestrained nightmare imagery of Eraserhead; the main character meets a fantastic variety of people in his journey, including a dog that has no orifices on its body and also a fish-girl who is the offspring of a potentially-divine merman.

The Elephant Man

I've just watched David Lynch's masterpiece, The Elephant man. Holy shit that was a fantastic movie. So incredibly powerful, so perfectly nuanced, such an incredible story, the very definition of a perfect film. It was incredible to see how the film managed to get you to relate to the titular main character and also simultaneously the viewers within the film who look at him for pleasure. Really unique indictment and sympathetic depiction of the gaze of an audience. Also a really incredible exploration of humanity, of human existence on this earth, and postmodern subjectivity. Wow, I am just incredibly amazed by the film.

Lynch has really impressed himself upon me now. All through Eraserhead I remember having a sort of "What the fuck?!" reaction, but the more I've thought about it since then the more I've become impressed with the psycho-emotional imagery of the film, a series of vignettes exploring various aspects of modern life in an uncanny way, strung together in such a perfect fashion so as to make them completely inseparable. Now, with The Elephant Man, I can see that his exploration of human life, emotional existence, the vulnerability of being, it's just astounding how good a film maker he clearly is. I'm incredibly excited to watch Blue Velvet tomorrow, it's supposedly his opus, of sorts.