May the forest be with you.

After 25 years, the show that was more than a decade ahead of its time; that cleared the path for all of the darkly ambitious series to follow (e.g. X-Files, Lost, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, et al.); that proved that TV could be as engaging and immersive as film ... that show is rising from the ashes!

Showtime announced yesterday that Twin Peaks will be returning to TV in 2016 with a nine episode season. What has me so excited is that this isn’t your typical attempt at a tired Hollywood rehash. Instead, the show’s original creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, are driving this revival, with the duo writing all nine episodes and Lynch directing the full slate. Here’s a brief—and fittingly cryptic—video that accompanied the announcement...

Freed from the constraints of broadcast television, this new Twin Peaks has the potential to be dark, surreal and challenging to a degree that the original, which aired on ABC, simply couldn’t approach. Hinting at the delicious weirdness to come, Lynch and Frost were quoted as follows in Showtime’s statement:

“The mysterious and special world of Twin Peaks is pulling us back. We’re very excited. May the forest be with you.”

And it looks like original series star Kyle MacLachlan is on board to reprise his role as FBI agent, Dale Cooper:

Better fire up that percolator and find my black suit :-) #Twinpeaks

— Kyle MacLachlan (@Kyle_MacLachlan) October 6, 2014

If you’ve never seen Twin Peaks, both seasons of the original series are available on Netflix streaming. And, if it seems a bit stilted compared to contemporary TV, try to remember that the show debuted in 1990: the same year that The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Beverly Hills, 90210 started their network runs (talk about throwbacks!).

Within the span of a few weeks, both Kicksology.net and Twin Peaks announce their returns from the void. Coincidence, or is it the owls?

Do sweat the technique

Have you ever wondered why you love films by a particular director? That question popped into my head after watching David Fincher’s excellent Gone Girl earlier today.

I wouldn’t say that I’m the kind of person who revels in the dark or foreboding aspects of the human condition (I wasn’t one of the goth kids in high school). And yet, I absolutely love David Fincher’s films, including the very dark Se7en and the perhaps even more sinister Zodiac.

The stories our favored directors choose to tell certainly play a role in the cultivation of our attachments, but, with all due respect to Messrs. Eric B & Rakim, I’ve come to believe that the way they choose to tell their stories—their particular applications of technique—are just as important. So I was very excited when I came across the video embedded below, which provides an insightful analysis of the techniques that contribute to David Fincher’s distinctive and arresting style of storytelling.

I love Fincher’s own observation that his style is defined not by what he does, but by those things that he chooses not to do. Very Zen, and, as a follower of the tech industry, it reminded me of Apple’s approach to product creation, i.e. “a thousand no’s for every yes.”

Note that this video was created by an independent filmmaker and editor named Tony Zhou, who maintains a fantastic blog called Every Frame a Painting. If you enjoyed this piece, make sure to check out Zhou’s other videos or, better yet, contribute to his work.

BTW, there is something of a sneaker connection here in that Fincher has directed a number of spots for Nike on behalf of my former mates at Wieden+Kennedy. My favorites are the wonderfully evocative Speed Chain from 2004 and the uncharacteristically upbeat Instant Karma from way back in 1993. 

(via Kottke) 

Mark Parker on empowering design

If you have an interest in Nike or the athletic footwear, apparel and equipment industry, this interview of Nike CEO Mark Parker by Business of Fashion is a very good read.

I was particularly taken by Parker’s answer to the question, “for all those designers out there, what advice would you give to them on interaction with the business side?”:

“I do think that the power of design is amplified when it learns how to connect with the business side in a way that actually enables design to be executed at the highest level. Now that doesn’t always happen. There are many situations where business might not be an enabler; it might be a detractor; it might be a hurdle. But the more that design can appreciate the power of combining creativity with the power of scaling a business, it will only empower design in the end. It will only help design achieve even more.”

In this response, you can see the benefit of having a CEO who’s spent a fair bit of time living in both the design and business worlds. Most industry observers fail to appreciate the extent to which Parker’s roots in design have contributed to Nike’s financial success because most industry observers—and most business people, for that matter—fail to appreciate the power of design. Fortunately for Nike, Parker is not like most business people.

And, having had the opportunity to meet and present to Mark Parker (always a nerve wracking experience!), I can tell you that this is not a facade. He has incredibly sharp instincts for design—the sort of instincts that stem from an innate talent that's been honed by years in the trenches creating products that are both desirable and manufacturable at scale.

But enough commentary from me—check out the BoF interview to hear from the man himself!