In his essay on David Lynch's film Lost Highway, David Foster Wallace attempts to define the term "Lynchian". However, he eventually concedes that it's "one of those Potter Stewart-type words that's definable only ostensively - ie, we know it when we see it."
Walking into the Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles this week to view a photographic exhibit called Dark Night of the Soul, I knew I had entered a Lynchian realm - there was no other human being in sight, moody music emanated from an invisible stereo, and an assortment of strikingly disparate photos - some horrifying, some banal - were hanging from the wall. Yes, Lynch himself was responsible for the photos, but this time around the brilliant and notorious filmmaker accomplished the Lynchian vibe with a little help from his friends.
Dark Night of the Soul is the product of a prominent multimedia creative partnership between the music producer Danger Mouse (best-known as one half of Gnarls Barkley), Mark Linkous (aka Sparklehorse), and David Lynch. Along with a dozen musical collaborators - including Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Black Francis of The Pixies, and Iggy Pop - Danger Mouse and Linkous composed and produced a mysterious and noirish album, equal parts punk, folk and psychedelia, that they thought redolent of such labyrinthine Lynch films as Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire.
Sparklehorse's music offers shades of rustic Americana mingled with electronics, and over the past decade has become a staple of Los Angeles's Morning Becomes Eclectic radio programme. The most productive phase of the band's career arrived a couple of years after a near-death experience that Linkous had while touring with Radiohead in Europe.
Seeking a visual interpretation for Linkous's mournful melodies, as performed by a disparate array of vocalists, Danger Mouse contacted Lynch, who quickly agreed to the project, and even sang on two of the album's tracks.
His photographs, shot over a two-day period in Los Angeles, offer a panoramic view of the album's soundscape. They revisit the usual Lynchian themes of murder, madness and suburban dysfunction. Some of the photos, like one featuring an oversized human head (with a five-o'-clock shadow) placed on a dinner table, project a touch of the surreal. A few shots look like documentary footage, while others resemble the American photographer Gregory Crewdson's elaborately set-designed productions. Groups of images are arranged to correspond to specific songs, in mood if not in subject matter.
Lynch has no qualms about working outside the confines of the cinema. A consummate interdisciplinarian, he has collaborated on a musical play, recorded a rock album, painted pictures, designed his own website, written a popular book about meditation, and produces a daily weather report for LA county. (Anyone who attempts to replicate Lynch's quinoa recipe from the Inland Empire DVD will also testify to the man's culinary skills.) What makes Dark Night of the Soul so unique is that it finds the artist participating in somebody else's act of homage. The album was recorded as a sort of score to a Lynch movie that doesn't yet exist; Lynch then filled in the blanks by creating work inspired by the homage.
Danger Mouse has quickly made a career of this sort of open-source collaboration. He first rose to prominence with 2004's The Grey Album, a mash-up of The Beatles' "White Album" with Jay-Z's "Black Album." (A cappella Jay-Z performances were coupled with instrumentals from The Beatles' album.) The record label EMI, which holds the copyright to The Beatles' music, attempted to prevent the distribution of the record, and in response protesters posted the album as a free internet download; on one day, 100,000 free copies were downloaded.
In what sounds like a strange coincidence, EMI has also successfully blocked the release of the Dark Night of the Soul album. At this point, the only legal way to hear the record is at the Michael Kohn Gallery. The source of the EMI/Danger Mouse conflict remains somewhat vague, but Danger Mouse fears a lawsuit if he attempts to release the music commercially. As it stands now, those who purchase Lynch's book of photographs (a 5,000-copy limited edition is now on sale) also receive a blank CDR that contains no music.
Despite its bluntly unimaginative title, Dark Night of the Soul is a bold exercise in paradox: both a high-gloss gallery event and a piece of guerrilla art, an original work and a homage, a blank CD and an embarrassment of musical riches, and a collaboration that highlights the singular (and separate) strengths of three artists.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
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Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
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Schedule:
Pakistan v Sri Lanka:
28 Sep-2 Oct, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi
6-10 Oct, 2nd Test (day-night), Dubai
13 Oct, 1st ODI, Dubai
16 Oct, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi
18 Oct, 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi
20 Oct, 4th ODI, Sharjah
23 Oct, 5th ODI, Sharjah
26 Oct, 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
27 Oct, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
29 Oct, 3rd T20I, Lahore
Hili 2: Unesco World Heritage site
The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Isle of Dogs
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber, Ed Norton, Greta Gerwig, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson
Three stars
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
Coming 2 America
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones
3/5 stars
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Napoleon
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.