Take a photo of a barcode or cover
519 reviews for:
Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity
David Lynch, علیظفر قهرمانینژاد
3.75 AVERAGE
519 reviews for:
Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity
David Lynch, علیظفر قهرمانینژاد
3.75 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Okay, where to begin. I have a lot of love for David Lynch, and reading this (which I did in about an hour, it's quite short and spaced out), I heard his voice, which is very pleasant. I got a kick out of some of it.
I think my notes (not all of which are below like they usually are) are divided between three categories: advice to the artist, notes on Transcendental Meditation, and Lynch Trivia. I really enjoyed two of those things.
<b>Lynch Trivia</b> -- there is quite a bit to love. The accidental discovery of BOB in Frank Silva standing next to a dresser. The evolution of INLAND EMPIRE. The trivia about Kubrick calling <i>Eraserhead</i> his favorite movie (what the fuck does it feel like to have one of the best to ever do it call your film his favorite? Must have been nuts.). Lots to love.
<b>T. Meditation</b> -- listen. I don't find a lot of this all that much different from the hokey stuff that Rick Rubin was peddling in his book (which I detested). There are some differences. One, Lynch is notably less preachy. He is trying to convince you to give it a shot, and he goes on some really wacky tangents. Talking about Unified Field Theory and modern science catching up with ancient vedic science. None of that works for me. It gives me the willies. I'm allergic to it.
I don't believe that meditation can let you tap into some great unifying force that connects everything. I do believe that taking some time to chill out and let your emotions settle can be healthy. Much of this stuff is the same as radical acceptance and mindfulness. Those are two things I like. Do I like them because they've been sanitized of Eastern influences? That would be a troubling thought. I don't think so. I think I like them because they don't try to tell me that the world works in ways that my eyes cannot see and my hands cannot feel. I don't have to accept any mysticism with them. I don't know. This is not an uncomfortability I had to confront at all with Rubin because much of his writing seemed completely batshit to me. Perhaps I am a hypocrite -- probably I am.
Here's the rub: if taking 20 minutes in the morning and the evening to calm down is helpful to you, and you want to call it meditation, or mindfulness, or anything else, that is none of my business. What do I care?
I've tried meditation a bit, including a few years ago after I read Ruth Ozeki's The Face: A Timecode, which I think about a lot. Lynch says that meditation lets you tap into a wellspring of bliss and inner happiness. I am not convinced there is such a wellspring inside of me. I don't know. I don't think most people I know would say that I'm the happiest person in the world. Not that I want to be thought of as depressed or constantly sad. It's just that happiness is something I experience in the moment with people and not in quiet times by myself. I need a lot of external validation for that. Perhaps that is an insecurity that Lynch would say rests in my inner self, and that meditating on that would help me. That is probably not so far from what a therapist would say. I'm a social worker, I know. But so it goes and all that.
Lynch a few times mentions published research. I can't help but notice at no point is this cited anywhere. That doesn't impress me. I would be less annoyed at this lack of citation if other things weren't cited in the back. There are also a few names mentioned as doctors or whatever and I wondered what I'd see if I googled these names and ultimately I don't think it's worth my time to go poking around because what do I care?
<b>Advice to the artist</b> -- there is a lot of it to be had and I like it all. All of it involves truth, which is important to me. I would say it is a core value.
<blockquote>[Sound] is just another tool to ensure that you're following that original idea and <b>being true to it</b>.
</blockquote>
(p67. TB: emphasis mine.)
<blockquote>
<b>Stay true to yourself.</b> Let your voice ring out, and don't let anybody fiddle with it. Never turn down a good idea, but never take a bad idea.
</blockquote>
(p159. TB: emphasis mine.)
This is very similar to how I've heard other writers and makers (I think Adam Savage in particular) speak, the thing knows what it wants to be. The truth of it is what you're trying to get to. I like that a lot. I try to make sure that what I write is true. I would not call myself an artist or even particularly creative, but I like this a lot.
There's other stuff that I'd put in this category. I think the book is worth reading just for this stuff, and just for the Lynch trivia. I mean, where else could you read this:
<blockquote>
I don't necessarily love rotting bodies, but there's a texture to a rotting body that is unbelievable. Have you ever seen a little rotted animal? I love looking at those things, just as much as I like to look at a close-up of some tree bark, or a small bug, or a cup of coffee, or a piece of pie. You get in close and the textures are wonderful.
</blockquote>
(p121.)
If you are interested in meditation, sure, I guess this will be an interesting thing to read if you're also a big Lynch person. I'm not sure it gives you a lot of practical meditation advice, other than do it for 20 minutes twice a day. But the rest of it is compelling as far as a look into the mind of an artist and the practical lessons it can give. It's also very SHORT and I never felt like my time was being wasted, which I can't say for the Rubin book.
---
<b>Selected notes/highlights:</b>
* p8 - Anger and depression and sorrow are beautiful things in a story, but they're like poison to the filmmaker or artist.
* p19 - A film should stand on its own. It's absurd if a filmmaker needs to say what a film means in words. The world in the film is a created one, and people sometimes love going into that world. For them that world is real. And if people find out certain things about how something was done, or how this means this or that means that, the next time they see the film, these things enter into the experience. And then the film becomes different. I think it's so precious and important to maintain that world and not say certain things that could break the experience.
* p21 -So you don't know how it's going to hit people. But if you thought about how it's going to hit people, or if it's going to hurt someone, or if it's going to do this or do that, then you would have to stop making films. You just do these things that you fall in love with, and you never know what's going to happen.
* p36 - There's an expression: "Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole." If you keep your eye on the doughnut and do your work, that's all you can control. You can't control any of what's out there, outside yourself. But you can get inside and do the best you can do.
* TB: a lot like radical acceptance.
* p57 - The thing about meditation is: You become more and more <i>you.</i>
* TB: Why, David, you've talked me right out of it!
* p67 - [Sound] is just another tool to ensure that you're following that original idea and <b>being true to it</b>. (TB: emphasis mine.)
* p73 - When people are in fear, they don't want to go to work. So many people today have that feeling. Then the fear starts turning into hate, and they begin to hate going to work. Then the hate can turn into anger and people can become angry at their boss and their work.
* p77-78 - TB: Story of Frank Silva and the accidental creation of BOB. Just incredible stuff.
* p83 - The idea is the whole thing. <b>If you stay true to the idea, it tells you everything you need to know, really.</b>
* TB: emphasis mine. Very similar to how I've heard other writers and makers (I think Adam Savage in particular) speak, the thing knows what it wants to be. The truth of it is what you're trying to get to. I like that a lot. Truth is important to me. I try to make sure that what I write is true.
* p93 - In stories, in the worlds that we can go into, there's suffering, confusion, darkness, tension, and anger. There are murders; there's all kinds of stuff. But the filmmaker doesn't have to <i>be</i> suffering to <i>show</i> suffering. You can show it, show the human condition, show conflicts and contrasts, but you don't have to go through that yourself. You are the orchestrator of it, but you're not in it. Let your characters do the suffering.
* TB: next page he goes into the van Gogh idea. Very good.
* p103 - I have smoked marijuana, but I no longer do. I went to art school in the 1960s, so you can imagine what was going on. (TB: lol)
* p121 - I don't necessarily love rotting bodies, but there's a texture to a rotting body that is unbelievable. Have you ever seen a little rotted animal? I love looking at those things, just as much as I like to look at a close-up of some tree bark, or a small bug, or a cup of coffee, or a piece of pie. You get in close and the textures are wonderful.
* TB: Okay, David.
* p125 - "Having a setup" -- very good practical advice about having a place for which you're ready for work all the time.
* p151 - <b>Keep your own voice.</b> Don't do anything for the sole purpose of impressing any studio or some money people. (TB: empasis mine)
* p155 - How we see films is changing. The video iPod and videos online are changing everything. (TB: lol)
* p159 - <b>Stay true to yourself.</b> Let your voice ring out, and don't let anybody fiddle with it. Never turn down a good idea, but never take a bad idea. (TB: emphasis mine.)
I think my notes (not all of which are below like they usually are) are divided between three categories: advice to the artist, notes on Transcendental Meditation, and Lynch Trivia. I really enjoyed two of those things.
<b>Lynch Trivia</b> -- there is quite a bit to love. The accidental discovery of BOB in Frank Silva standing next to a dresser. The evolution of INLAND EMPIRE. The trivia about Kubrick calling <i>Eraserhead</i> his favorite movie (what the fuck does it feel like to have one of the best to ever do it call your film his favorite? Must have been nuts.). Lots to love.
<b>T. Meditation</b> -- listen. I don't find a lot of this all that much different from the hokey stuff that Rick Rubin was peddling in his book (which I detested). There are some differences. One, Lynch is notably less preachy. He is trying to convince you to give it a shot, and he goes on some really wacky tangents. Talking about Unified Field Theory and modern science catching up with ancient vedic science. None of that works for me. It gives me the willies. I'm allergic to it.
I don't believe that meditation can let you tap into some great unifying force that connects everything. I do believe that taking some time to chill out and let your emotions settle can be healthy. Much of this stuff is the same as radical acceptance and mindfulness. Those are two things I like. Do I like them because they've been sanitized of Eastern influences? That would be a troubling thought. I don't think so. I think I like them because they don't try to tell me that the world works in ways that my eyes cannot see and my hands cannot feel. I don't have to accept any mysticism with them. I don't know. This is not an uncomfortability I had to confront at all with Rubin because much of his writing seemed completely batshit to me. Perhaps I am a hypocrite -- probably I am.
Here's the rub: if taking 20 minutes in the morning and the evening to calm down is helpful to you, and you want to call it meditation, or mindfulness, or anything else, that is none of my business. What do I care?
I've tried meditation a bit, including a few years ago after I read Ruth Ozeki's The Face: A Timecode, which I think about a lot. Lynch says that meditation lets you tap into a wellspring of bliss and inner happiness. I am not convinced there is such a wellspring inside of me. I don't know. I don't think most people I know would say that I'm the happiest person in the world. Not that I want to be thought of as depressed or constantly sad. It's just that happiness is something I experience in the moment with people and not in quiet times by myself. I need a lot of external validation for that. Perhaps that is an insecurity that Lynch would say rests in my inner self, and that meditating on that would help me. That is probably not so far from what a therapist would say. I'm a social worker, I know. But so it goes and all that.
Lynch a few times mentions published research. I can't help but notice at no point is this cited anywhere. That doesn't impress me. I would be less annoyed at this lack of citation if other things weren't cited in the back. There are also a few names mentioned as doctors or whatever and I wondered what I'd see if I googled these names and ultimately I don't think it's worth my time to go poking around because what do I care?
<b>Advice to the artist</b> -- there is a lot of it to be had and I like it all. All of it involves truth, which is important to me. I would say it is a core value.
<blockquote>[Sound] is just another tool to ensure that you're following that original idea and <b>being true to it</b>.
</blockquote>
(p67. TB: emphasis mine.)
<blockquote>
<b>Stay true to yourself.</b> Let your voice ring out, and don't let anybody fiddle with it. Never turn down a good idea, but never take a bad idea.
</blockquote>
(p159. TB: emphasis mine.)
This is very similar to how I've heard other writers and makers (I think Adam Savage in particular) speak, the thing knows what it wants to be. The truth of it is what you're trying to get to. I like that a lot. I try to make sure that what I write is true. I would not call myself an artist or even particularly creative, but I like this a lot.
There's other stuff that I'd put in this category. I think the book is worth reading just for this stuff, and just for the Lynch trivia. I mean, where else could you read this:
<blockquote>
I don't necessarily love rotting bodies, but there's a texture to a rotting body that is unbelievable. Have you ever seen a little rotted animal? I love looking at those things, just as much as I like to look at a close-up of some tree bark, or a small bug, or a cup of coffee, or a piece of pie. You get in close and the textures are wonderful.
</blockquote>
(p121.)
If you are interested in meditation, sure, I guess this will be an interesting thing to read if you're also a big Lynch person. I'm not sure it gives you a lot of practical meditation advice, other than do it for 20 minutes twice a day. But the rest of it is compelling as far as a look into the mind of an artist and the practical lessons it can give. It's also very SHORT and I never felt like my time was being wasted, which I can't say for the Rubin book.
---
<b>Selected notes/highlights:</b>
* p8 - Anger and depression and sorrow are beautiful things in a story, but they're like poison to the filmmaker or artist.
* p19 - A film should stand on its own. It's absurd if a filmmaker needs to say what a film means in words. The world in the film is a created one, and people sometimes love going into that world. For them that world is real. And if people find out certain things about how something was done, or how this means this or that means that, the next time they see the film, these things enter into the experience. And then the film becomes different. I think it's so precious and important to maintain that world and not say certain things that could break the experience.
* p21 -So you don't know how it's going to hit people. But if you thought about how it's going to hit people, or if it's going to hurt someone, or if it's going to do this or do that, then you would have to stop making films. You just do these things that you fall in love with, and you never know what's going to happen.
* p36 - There's an expression: "Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole." If you keep your eye on the doughnut and do your work, that's all you can control. You can't control any of what's out there, outside yourself. But you can get inside and do the best you can do.
* TB: a lot like radical acceptance.
* p57 - The thing about meditation is: You become more and more <i>you.</i>
* TB: Why, David, you've talked me right out of it!
* p67 - [Sound] is just another tool to ensure that you're following that original idea and <b>being true to it</b>. (TB: emphasis mine.)
* p73 - When people are in fear, they don't want to go to work. So many people today have that feeling. Then the fear starts turning into hate, and they begin to hate going to work. Then the hate can turn into anger and people can become angry at their boss and their work.
* p77-78 - TB: Story of Frank Silva and the accidental creation of BOB. Just incredible stuff.
* p83 - The idea is the whole thing. <b>If you stay true to the idea, it tells you everything you need to know, really.</b>
* TB: emphasis mine. Very similar to how I've heard other writers and makers (I think Adam Savage in particular) speak, the thing knows what it wants to be. The truth of it is what you're trying to get to. I like that a lot. Truth is important to me. I try to make sure that what I write is true.
* p93 - In stories, in the worlds that we can go into, there's suffering, confusion, darkness, tension, and anger. There are murders; there's all kinds of stuff. But the filmmaker doesn't have to <i>be</i> suffering to <i>show</i> suffering. You can show it, show the human condition, show conflicts and contrasts, but you don't have to go through that yourself. You are the orchestrator of it, but you're not in it. Let your characters do the suffering.
* TB: next page he goes into the van Gogh idea. Very good.
* p103 - I have smoked marijuana, but I no longer do. I went to art school in the 1960s, so you can imagine what was going on. (TB: lol)
* p121 - I don't necessarily love rotting bodies, but there's a texture to a rotting body that is unbelievable. Have you ever seen a little rotted animal? I love looking at those things, just as much as I like to look at a close-up of some tree bark, or a small bug, or a cup of coffee, or a piece of pie. You get in close and the textures are wonderful.
* TB: Okay, David.
* p125 - "Having a setup" -- very good practical advice about having a place for which you're ready for work all the time.
* p151 - <b>Keep your own voice.</b> Don't do anything for the sole purpose of impressing any studio or some money people. (TB: empasis mine)
* p155 - How we see films is changing. The video iPod and videos online are changing everything. (TB: lol)
* p159 - <b>Stay true to yourself.</b> Let your voice ring out, and don't let anybody fiddle with it. Never turn down a good idea, but never take a bad idea. (TB: emphasis mine.)
reflective
fast-paced
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
reflective
fast-paced
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
The search for a good filmmaker who's also a good writer continues…
Like many others mentioned, feels more like a sales pitch for transcendental meditation. Always comes from a kind place since Lynch genuinely wants people to find something that clearly works for him, but the writing itself feels very shallow. Some nice stories in between all of that if you're willing to wade through
Like many others mentioned, feels more like a sales pitch for transcendental meditation. Always comes from a kind place since Lynch genuinely wants people to find something that clearly works for him, but the writing itself feels very shallow. Some nice stories in between all of that if you're willing to wade through
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
I loved it. Listened to the audiobook and highly recommend. Likely will do again.