I ventured over to the Cinematheque this afternoon to see David Lynch's "Inland Empire", shot in digital video. And since it's Lynch, the assorted nutbags and fruit loops of the area converged. Someone even came in from Buffalo. You know, these are the kind of folks who sit in the front row by choice.

The movie itself was vintage Lynch, although instead of translating dwarfs, we have to read what Polish people are saying. Why, in the first few minutes alone, we get what seems to be a TV show (with an absurdly-timed laugh track) acted by large, clothed rabbits...rabbits, I say; Grace Zabriskie, Susan's Mom from "Seinfeld", in her typical Lynch appearance as the "prescient foreign neighbor"; Mr. Pitt from "Seinfeld" as Laura Dern's butler; why there's Harry Dean Stanton; over there, it's William H. Macy. This was a "movie-within-a-movie" concept. Laura Dern, Justin Theroux and Jeremy Irons were the main people making the movie. I thought I had it pegged in the first 60-70 minutes. Then, it was off into Lynchworld and I have no idea what it meant from that point forward.

There were some small moments that I really liked. Beck's "Black Tambourine" got a nice extended play. When Laura Dern went creepy, two lines of hers made me laugh: "I kicked him straight in the balls so hard they go crawling into his brain for refuge" and "When the police came and they asked what happened, I told them "He's reaping what he's been sowing, that's what." They said "Fucker been sowing some pretty heavy shit." And there was this scene where these whores were gathered at Laura Dern's house...why?...I don't know, but one of them said, "You gotta swing your hips now" and snapped her fingers. That led to a dance number of the "Locomotion"! And, of course, the lingering cut that I love in Lynch's movies. You know, the little things. A phone rings in a normal movie, what, twice? He lets one ring about eight times before someone grabs it. And he stays much longer with a shot, when other editors would have probably cut twice.

As I was leaving, all I could think about was Jack Buck: "I don't believe what I just saw." Of course, I loved it.

Meal of Links

I woke up early today to find, of all things, "New York Doll", playing on The Movie Channel. This was the doc on Arthur "Killer" Kane, the New York Dolls bassist. It showed the Dolls reuniting with Kane, who now worked in a Mormon library, after a long absence. A really sweet tribute. Catch it, if you have a spare 80 minutes.

Four words you thought you would never hear again. A Jeff Foxworthy hit.

Sleep naked.

Exercise Yard

A crowded night of boxing last night. What was once a rarity is now becoming more common as both HBO and Showtime had cards. The first bout on Showtime included one of my faves, Vic Darchinyan, who must be the baddest Armenian on the planet. His opponent, Victor Burgos, 12 rounds in the Flyweight division. It only took two rounds for the announce crew to declare Burgos was "out of his league". Darchinyan pounded Burgos for 11 rounds, finally getting a KO in the 12th. Burgos must have set a record for slips as I think it numbered six. After another slip in the 12th, he got up again, the ref asked if he was OK, Burgos said yes, but you could tell he was out on his feet, as he was stumbling. After two more blows, the ref stopped it. Burgos had to leave on a stretcher and it's been a long time I've seen anyone in that condition. He was clearly not coherent and looked like he was on the edge of exhaustion, or even death, I dare say.

Fight number two was between champ Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez at Super Bantamweight. Could not be hyped any more by Steve Albert. Geez, "Fight of the Year" potential, it was a "war", he could not shut up about how great the fight was. I prefer to figure that out for myself. Anyhow, they missed the fact that Vazquez may have had his nose broken in the first, instead of later as they implied, especially when Vazquez was adamant about it not being broken in his previous fight. Both guys delivered some good shots in this one, with Marquez dominating the first two rounds. Continuing in the third, Vazquez delivers a knockdown out of nowhere. They traded lots of leather through the sixth, with Marquez winning those rounds. Then, after he delivered his best round of the fight, Vazquez quit on his stool after the seventh, because he couldn't breathe through the broken nose, and lost the title. It was a disappointing finish to a really good fight.

HBO offered up two bouts as well. In the opener, big puncher Edison Miranda took on Allan Green at Middleweight in a 10-rounder. This was a yawner for 7 rounds with Miranda getting the upper hand. Finally in the 8th, Merchant says, "Looks like Green wants to start to fight.". On cue, Green puts Miranda down. Hey, we now have a boxing match! Edison was hurt and he didn't really like that feeling. He pounded Green a lot in the 9th and put him down twice in the 10th. Lots of late action saved this one, with Miranda getting the decision.

In the main event, champ Miguel Cotto in front of the home fans in Puerto Rico, took on Oktay Urkal at Welterweight. Urkal kept leading with his head and butted Cotto numerous times, cutting him once, really disrupting Cotto's early dominance. This was one of the dreaded "Open Scoring" bouts, where official scores are revealed after the 4th and 8th rounds. It was announced Cotto was up 40-36 after four, and Lamps was dead on, as all the excitement left the building after the scores were posted. Cotto became increasingly frustrated with Urkal's tactics and coasted, albeit angrily, the rest of the fight. In the 11th, after a second point was deducted from Urkal for butting, Urkal's trainer threw in the towel. It was a shame, because Urkal deserved a finish. I thought Larry Merchant was perceptive here, setting aside the dominance of Cotto, because Urkal was hitting Cotto a lot, Cotto just delivered more. So, maybe he wasn't coasting, after all. It was a tough one to watch. I'm curious to see if this bout took something from Cotto, as his next fight is with Zab Judah (not a fan), the night before the Puerto Rican parade in NYC in June.

Visitor

None, it's Sunday.