I will say for "Mulholland Drive," I felt I understood Lynch's fascination with red curtains truly for the first time. Those heavy velvet drapes used to be standard issue on every auditorium stage in like, every school in America. Did anybody get through grade school without the experience of waiting behind those curtains at least once for some performance to begin? It's probably the first time most people have a really focused awareness of there being two worlds, one "out there" in anticipation of which one is breathless with fear and/or excitement, and one "in here" which is hidden and safe at least for the time being. I now think the red curtain motif is a direct visual referent for that precise moment not just of perception but of actual experience of two different, simultaneous realities.

Just yesterday, I was groovin' on my "March Hare." It's a small white plastic rabbit bobble-head with evil orange eyes. It was my birthday present from Barbara Herd this year. It is just the coolest thing that ever was. I have it stuck on the dashboard of my tiny white Metro, and it bobs along to whatever music I have on without ever missing a beat. People stare at it at intersections and cross themselves. I keep my pitch-dark glasses on and just snap my fingers off-tempo. What's really weird is that it came in the mail about a day after I saw "Donnie Darko," went to the "Donnie Darko" website and took the "Find out which Donnie Darko character you most resemble" quiz and the answer came back, "You're FRANK! Have a nice day!"