Radiators Empty, Check.

Last night I felt a little too comfortable being home alone, so I popped Eraserhead in the player.




Yup. Right in the player. It made me think about the first time I saw Eraserhead (David Lynch's first full-length film).
The first Lynch-directed thing I saw was the entire Twin Peaks series, which I own on VHS. I was in the 7th grade when I first got into Twin Peaks. Bravo was playing it in reruns in 2000, but before they aired the whole series, it abruptly ended and was replaced by reruns of The West Wing. Back when Bravo used to be good, damn it!
My obsession never waned, and my cousin was nice enough to give me some VHS tapes of the first 3 episodes as they aired in 1990, as well as some fan books left behind by an old roommate. When I was 14, my parents got me the Twin Peaks Box set for Christmas. Every day of winter break I was captivated and hungry for more of that puzzling feeling you get when you watch something directed by David Lynch.
Never following his filmography chronologically, it wasn't until after viewing most of Lynch's films, and being well seasoned in his archetypes and quirks, that I saw Eraserhead. The film is unsettling, to say the least, pulling on nightmarish thoughts that use nearly no gore or traditional terror. What I always admired about Lynch's brand of fear is that he mostly plays on the uncomfortable. It's random, it's different, and sometimes it is the unknown that is the scariest of all.
While Eraserhead still makes me check the radiators before bedtime, I have to say I wish I saw it as a Lynch virgin. I went in for the first time wondering what kind of twisted psychological terror was to be unleashed on me. But I left the experience feeling like I knew too much to ever have a pure reaction. The film explains how Lynch's films have progressed; where his blond vs. brunette, timeless world, creepy music, awkward pauses, and random spasms all came from. If Eraserhead was the first thing I saw of Lynch, especially when I was 12, I honestly don't know how my current level of fandom would stand: super-duper fan, or reluctant and traumatized.  But Eraserhead is still my go-to movie for a sufficient creep-out.  It's a classically confounding Lynch movie. To me, the film is about a man's nightmare, which easily explains away why a lot of it doesn't make sense.  In researching the film I found this intriguing and frustrating passage on Wikipedia,
 He went on to write about the difficulties he was having making sense of the way the film was "growing" and didn't know "the thing that just pulled it all together." He then reveals it was the Bible that provided the solution:

So I got out my Bible and I started reading. And one day, I read a sentence. And I closed the Bible, because that was it; that was it. And then I saw the thing as a whole. And it fulfilled this vision for me, 100 percent.

Lynch states in the book that he doesn't think he will ever reveal what the vision-fulfilling Biblical verse is.
The Bible has never been of more interest to me as it is right now.
But I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who appreciates David Lynch's idiosyncrasies. Notdavidlynch's YouTube channel, features some extremely funny and spot-on Lynch impressions. I'm a big fan of the David Lynch & Crispin Glover's Big Blockbuster featuring pimplywimp. It pretty much sums up the Lynch experience in a hilarious way.
Enjoy!

Woo! Berry

Several years ago I heard the whisperings of the great Pinkberry.  At the time they were only in major cities like NYC, but some small town copycats soon surfaced. The first time I had the tangy plain yogurt with fruit toppings, that we currently identify as fro-yo, was at Juniper on Thayer St. in Providence, RI. At this point I was quite used to the sweet soft serve fro-yo that you can get at Greek pizza restaurants all over Boston. You watch them take a log of white and put a drill to it, and you get a one-size-fits-all pint.
Then the fro-yo craze came over like wildfire. In Boston you got your BerryLine (my personal fave), Berry Freeze, Mixx, Chill, Bubble Berry (now open in Allston) and even Pinkberry made it to Boston and Cambridge this year. There are even some rumblings about Tasti D Lite. Now Worcester has gotten in on the game, and they are doing an exemplary job.

WooBerry, located on the corner of Highland and West st. in Worcester, MA, has the most toppings available that I have seen to date. They have a good amount of frozen yogurt flavors, rotating about five or six, but it's the toppings that really impressed me.
They have about five different flavors of boba including lychee (yum!), and they offer locally farmed peaches from Massachusetts. They even have a menu of topping combination suggestions, named after the employees, and I assume concocted with their expertise. Seen in the image above, my bf and I got lemon fro-yo topped with orange flavored boba, and Dr. Gonzo's Gummie Bites. An eclectic combination, I know.
Let me tell you a little bit about the two toppings I mentioned. Though they are called boba, these little spheres are not what I would consider traditional tapioca balls. It was not the gummy, slimy, brown stuff you get in bubble tea, they are like giant fruit-flavored caviar. It's a thin membrane filled with juice. Nothing like I've ever had before. Different, and awesome.
Dr. Gonzo's Gummie Bites were given to me with some caution. Upon ordering them I was asked "Are you sure?" There were regular gummie bears on the menu, but I thought I would choose one I haven't had before. My boyfriend, Matt, a native of Worcester, informed me of Dr. Gonzo's Emporium of Uncommon Condiments. What we didn't know was the subtitle of this name (as you can see on the website) was All-Natural Mega-Spicy Emporium. So the clerk asked "Are you sure?" We said yes. The gummy bears were covered in chili powder. They had a nice slow burn, but it didn't linger, and eating them on cold frozen yogurt helped. Also, the citrus/chili combo was actually very appropriate. 
This frozen yogurt joint is not just a Pinkberry copy-cat; they made it completely their own. And once you thought it couldn't get better, all their bowls and spoons are bio-degradable. WooBerry guarantees a special and appetizing experience. I highly recommend it if you're in the Woo (Worcester).