Mike Miley

People Are Like Radios :: Mike Miley on David Lynch’s American Dreamscape

aquariumdrunkard.com/2025/08/08/p...

Comparing and contrasting his oeuvre Miley demonstrates the strange and powerful way Lynch tapped into the human experience and the broader American pop landscape.

People Are Like Radios : Mike Miley on David Lynch's American Dreamscape : Aquarium Drunkard With David Lynch's American Dreamscape: Music, Literature, Cinema, author Mike Miley, a literature teacher at Metairie Park Country Day School and former film studies professor at Loyola University Ne...

"[Lynch's] originality comes from how much he’s in dialogue with the world around him, and can transmute the stuff he’s taking in."

Spoke with @mikemiley.bsky.social about his excellent David Lynch book, now up at @aquariumdrunkard.com.

aquariumdrunkard.com/2025/08/08/p...

Proud as all get-out to have my book be considered part of "the good shit" at @aquariumdrunkard.com. Thanks to @jasonpwoodbury.bsky.social for a great interview and @thescrvnr.bsky.social for making the connection.

Magonia: Mediations on Liminality in the Films of Paul Thomas Anderson FIRST THING In the December 12th edition of the Los Angeles Daily News , in the year 1999, director Paul Thomas Anderson attempted to expl...

“Over the course of three decades of making movies, The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson has changed a lot, but his fascination with how people and things do or do not change, has remained amazingly consistent.”

Corpses, Fools and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema The History and Future of Transness in Cinema

It's the last day of June so I'm going to share my book again. Caden and I wrote CFM with a deep and abiding love for trans people and our history dating back to the silent era of cinema up through the modern age. We did our best. Love y'all.

bookshop.org/p/books/corp...

Share good news when you find it. This is a great (and greatly underappreciated) New Orleans novel.

Left off Inglourious Basterds, Personal Shopper, and that one you can’t believe I forgot about.

Unranked and more or less off the dome

Episode 11: “Dune” with Max Evry — One Heat Minute Productions Film writer Max Evry spent several years of his life investigating a failure: David Lynch’s 1984 screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic, “Dune.” But was it really a failure? If so, why? I...

One of the most fun interviews I've done! Got to unpack DUNE in a post-David Lynch world with all around cool dudes @fifthcolumnfilms.bsky.social & @jasondashbailey.com on the latest GUIDE FOR THE FILM FANATIC!

Listen here: www.oneheatminute.com/guide-for-th...

One Heat Minute Productions ONE HEAT MINUTE PRODUCTIONS began with film journalist Blake Howard examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus HEAT chronologically, in 60-second increments, in the aptly titled

NEW EPISODE of GUIDE FOR THE FILM FANATIC is live! The great @maxevry.bsky.social joins us to discuss David Lynch’s “Dune” — and his tremendous book about its making and legacy, “A Masterpiece in Disarray.” Give it a listen: pod.link/1274489817/e...

David Lynch Auction: His Director’s Chair, Espresso Machine, Red Curtain and More Up for Sale A live auction for The David Lynch Collection of props and memorabilia is set for June 18 from Julien's Auctions and Turner Classic Movies.

I need to become or befriend a rich person ASAP

Mike Miley, Podcast Episode · New Books Network · 05/11/2025 · 59m

Listen to me talk about David Lynch’s American Dreamscape with @petecant.bsky.social on @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...

Shore Leave
Frank’s Wild Years
Jockey Full of Bourbon
Goin Out West
Hoist That Rag

Reading @mikemiley.bsky.social’s new book DAVID LYNCH’S AMERICAN DREAMSCAPE after getting the go-ahead for my own #TwinPeaks monograph.

Congratulations! Can’t wait to hear more.

David Lynch's American Dreamscape: Music, Literature, Cinema Music, Literature, Cinema

And @mikemiley.bsky.social’s DAVID LYNCH’S AMERICAN DREAMSCAPE

If you’re in Los Angeles, it’s also on the shelf at @skylightbooks.bsky.social
In New Orleans, it’s at @bluecypressbooks.bsky.social

David Lynch's American Dreamscape: Music, Literature, Cinema Music, Literature, Cinema

Support your local independent bookstore today (and every day).

bookshop.org/p/books/davi...

If you've ever wanted to read INFINITE JEST but haven't gotten around to it, register for this course I'm teaching for @92ndstreety.bsky.social's Roundtable series.

Course runs 10 weeks, with 5 virtual meetings. Explore the book in a supportive atmosphere

roundtable.org/live-courses...

bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Old! At the All Ages Show

If you're at #PCA2025 and feel like getting up really early, come hear me talk about SLACKER at 8AM on Friday!

Got to pose with a copy of DAVID LYNCH’S AMERICAN DREAMSCAPE at the @bloomsburymedia.bsky.social table at #pca2025

What a find at the Goodwill!

GIVEAWAY: Someone will get the free, in-print soft-cover book of their choice on May 1st if they
A) Follow us and
B) repost this message!

This will include the Brian De Palma screenplay coming out in May and all that is in-print now! Spread the word and possibly WIN!

The cover of the book "David Lynch's American Dreamscape" by Mike Miley

Been excited to dig into this one for a while!

Thanks, Ivan!

Is there a particular work of Lynch’s that’s resonating with you right now? I guess they all kind of hold a lot of weight for me, but in recent years, I’ve focused a lot on Fire Walk With Me, and just how, in hindsight, I have come to see it as Lynch’s best movie and the one that reset his career, even if it’s not my personal favorite. Even though it got completely savaged by critics and didn’t do well, it did usher in this period of his career that was really focused on women as the central characters. It was focused on critiquing violence against women, and even though movies like Lost Highway and The Straight Story have men

at the center of them, they’re men who have been broken by the kind of male-centered world that women have been hurt by. So he really does set up this phase of his career that I think is about examining the violence and the damage and the rot that’s at the heart of a lot of toxic masculine behavior, and it all starts with him revisiting Laura Palmer. If a movie that’s 33 years old at this point can have us just now catching up to understanding what it’s really doing, then just imagine how we’re going to look at his work 35 years from now. In that way, the work’s not gone, and we’re kind of just starting our relationship with Lynch.

Mike Miley, the author of an upcoming book on David Lynch, astutely explains why Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is his greatest film (and I agree):

I think this is what season 4 was going to address.

35 years. The mystery only deepens.