An occasional writer's journal

The disturbing thing about David Lynch’s enduring daily weather report from his home in California is not that it never seems to be raining, but that you never know what the enigmatic filmmaker really sees from his window.

There’s no clue in the everyday objects that surround him, as he turns to his webcam and reports, “Here in LA we got blue skies, golden sunshine, a gentle flowing breeze, 50 degrees Fahrenheit, 10 Celsius,” with the same expressionless gaze to camera.

The David Lynch Daily Weather Report, published from his website DavidLynch.com, is as much a cult classic as any of his dark and unsettling movies including Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway and the epic Twin Peaks. As reality TV, it’s no more revealing than watching any guy sitting in an office, staring out of the window; but as a weather report, it’s a lot more reliable than network TV because it’s not actually a forecast!

Thanks to the micro-blogging platform Twitter, any major change in the weather over California that threatens the global climatic balance will, we assume, be received and passed on by Lynch’s followers before the rest of world has even finished its breakfast. It’s easy to see how devotees would feel uncomfortable starting the day without first checking the Lynch weather report.

At the latest count, he had amassed nearly 169,190 followers on Twitter. Are we to imagine that his ensuing responsibility to this growing cult will mean less filmmaking and more nervous peering through the window. . . perhaps awaiting some real Twitpocalypse?

Not so, it seems. Lynch’s tweets  suggest he has been exploring creative avenues, from fine art to music video — he had studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art before achieving gradual success as an independent filmmaker. Last year, a major exhibition of his work was presented at the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris including a selection of digital images of vintage erotica.

One of his paintings, which he fondly described as “absurd”, was titled Woman with Broken Neck and Electric Knife Speaks to Her Husband.

Perhaps it is no surprise that in Lynch’s real world, the view from the window must always be bright when the mind is a gallery of some of the most provocative, disturbing imagery in cinema. His 1977 film Eraserhead presented a surreal, post-apocalyptic urban landscape into which is born an illegitimate mutant offspring that is killed by its hapless guardian with a pair of scissors after first being torn open by the unravelling of its swaddling. The movie famously prompted Mel Brooks to hire Lynch to film The Elephant Man.

Notwithstanding the website’s wacky weather report, DavidLynch.com is proof that the director’s creativity is alive and well and being channelled in new directions. He has even achieved some success in selling his own branded coffee beans, together with signature coffee cups. A portion of the proceeds goes to support David Lynch Scholarships at the American Film Institute Center.

Access to the main content of the website is by paid subscription. Lynch says this enables him to keep the site free from the influence of sponsors or censors. It enables member access to films and original music, including the animated series Dumbland. There are also interviews, artwork and special offers. Visit DavidLynch.com.

UPDATE: “Here in LA, blue skies with. . . lots and lots of wispy white clouds, soft golden sunshine, very still, 62 degrees Farenheit, 17 Celsius.”