In a world plagued with uncertainty, one man who has made uncertainty his entire career is ironically providing some much needed focus. David Lynch, who created such surreal experiences asTwin Peaksand thefilm adaptation ofDune, has decided to grace the internet with his own personal spin on daily weather updates.
Starting in May, Lynch began to upload short daily videos tohis YouTube channelgiving weather reports from his Los Angeles home. There’s a certain unexpected clarity and assuredness to these forecasts thanks to a largely consistent structure throughout each video. He greets the viewer with a “good morning” and a recitation of the current date (in a cadence and style that’s just slightly unexpected enough to remind the viewer who he is at heart) before squinting out the window and giving his forecast. As an extra touch, the room he chose to film in resembles an abandoned undergroundnuclear safe house.
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Now, here’s the fun bit about David Lynch. Someone can watch everything he’s ever produced, consume every piece of media birthed from his mind, and still have not even the slightest idea of what to expect from him. Maybe one dayTwin Peakswill feature a seemingly straightforward murder mystery, then the viewer is abruptly thrust into a red room with a man talking backwards. Later, the main character has a stare-down with a llama. In a David Lynch world, everythingprobablyhas an explanation, and that’s where the given explanation ends.
That feel is present in his forecasts, but in such a way that the viewer’santicipationpartially accounts for it. True, the majority of videos feature little in the way of surreal curve balls aside from Lynch’s own mannerisms, but anyone familiar with the man will come in expecting something out of the ordinary. They would be right, at least occasionally; his July 29th forecast is a particularly good example. After all, if the unexpected occurred regularly, it wouldn’t be very unexpected now, would it?
Besides, there’s something comforting about the videos themselves. Maybe it’s the consistency or the knowledge of the man behind them, but David Lynch’s daily gift to the world seems to hit just the right spot for many viewers. He has produced cultural treasures over his decades-long film and television career, but maybe sometimes this is all an audience needs. Sure, it might not be everyone’s cup of coffee, but that’s just to be expected from the man who createdEraserhead.
