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Who's the lady with the log?
We call her the log lady.

Wow, I didn't get enough sleep, because I didn't even realize this Twin Peaks shirt was a mashup with the hilariously brilliant Archer. I spent three hours last night fixing a few little problems with my site, creating another problem that only appears in Chrome, and trying something else that I can't get to work yet, so my brain was fried when I saw Ript's email before bed and it's fried now. And it's always the way that the best shirts are on my busiest days. I was going to let this one go, because I know I'll see plenty more Twin Peaks shirts in the coming months since this terrifically weird and wonderful series is returning. But since I finally watched it, thanks to Kyle MacLachlan's amazing performance in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I fell in love and devoured every episode of Twin Peaks, losing sleep every day for two weeks to finish it. This shirt represents the best of that strange little gem with its iconic Red Room, cherry pie that'll kill ya, and a damn fine cup of coffee.

There's no telling if the new series will live up to the past, but it sure has an eager following that kept it alive for the last 25 years. I will certainly be watching, and my only hope is that aside from MacLachlan, who was superb as Dale Cooper, the acting is a bit less cheesy. I tried to watch a couple years ago, but the soap opera melodramatics put me off far too quickly. When I gave it a second chance, I stuck it out because MacLachlan was that fantastic. Then the sense of humor combined with the pervading creepiness kept me there, and everyone else grew on me. And now I have another favorite series. Wait did I say "only hope" a few sentences ago? Looks like I did, but it seems I have another. I also want to see that Cooper is able to win his struggle against Bob, because Cooper was such a good guy and Bob was so very bad. I'm kind of glad I didn't watch when it first aired or I may have been inconsolable about his fate all this time. Incredible series end, but terribly depressing cliffhanger.

So this subject is perfect for a shirt. You can get Cooper by kgullholman at RedBubble. The design can also be put on hoodies, prints, totes, pillows and more.

It looks like this is becoming the Kyle MacLachlan Blog. I won't apologize for that. I haven't had much else in the past month and a half besides Jurassic World (Chris Pratt was great as always) and Spy (Melissa McCarthy was hilarious as always). There's also Defiance's so far excellent season 3. But I don't have time to talk about any of that. Why not? I'm still working on posts about this finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and my new obsession with Twin Peaks, both heavily featuring - you guessed it - Kyle MacLachlan! They're long overdue, but instead and once again I'm taking time out from what I'm supposed to be working on to show you two interviews that are just too good to not share. I actually watched the first one over a week and a half ago, but time got away from me.

First up, so often interviews are too short and give minimal information about the subject's past or upcoming project(s). They're usually unsatisfying and then I find myself scouring YouTube to find more and better, but always in vain. This one, though, from Gold Derby is 27 minutes long! The interviewer questions Kyle about Portlandia, where he plays the wonderfully goofy mayor, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where his character was manic and heartbreaking. Such different roles, but both brilliantly done.

It allowed me to really...really do some really deep work, emotionally, that I hadn't had a chance to do. And I was so grateful for the opportunity and so pleased with the way it went. And the added benefit was the fans of the show were very accepting and very, I think, happy that I was on, and that's always nice to feel that, too.

Then there was The Good Wife. I only saw his most recent episode, but I loved it. The interview continued with Twin Peaks. In the final episode of that series, his quirky and compassionate character was so very wronged. Simultaneously the best and worst cliffhanger ever. Good thing it's returning next year. And finally it came back around to and ended with Portlandia and the song Kyle had to make up and sing about Portland. Somewhere in all of that, I also learned Guardians of the Galaxy is his favorite Marvel film because it was such a surprise. Same here. I couldn't believe it was far, far better than my first impression. I mean, there was a talking raccoon and a walking tree. I assumed it would be not so great, but I had to try it because it was Marvel and Chris Pratt.

Each question was answered at length with a cheerful attitude. MacLachlan is apparently someone who needs little prompting, and that's wonderful because it means he really loves what he does and he's happy to talk about it. The interview could have easily been twice as long, but let's not be greedy. So, set aside some time and start watching.

Don't forget to actually go to Gold Derby to read the video summary and to make your Emmy predictions for a chance to win prizes.

Part of the fun of working is that you laugh a lot, because you recognize, as you were saying, the truth of that scene. And the way they put it together, and the bouncing back and forth between each of the characters' five emotions - because we all have them - I thought was brilliant.

But wait, there's more. Stick around for another excellent interview. Kyle didn't tweet about it, so I didn't see it until a couple days ago. I would suggest also clicking through to JoBlo.com to see the nice introduction that JimmyO wrote about Kyle's ability to bring heart to what he does. He really did that beautifully in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this year, and it's what prompted me to finally start Twin Peaks, so I can't wait to see it in Inside Out. I keep hearing it's one of Pixar's best, and that's saying something, because so much of what Pixar does is wonderful.

I found myself continually surprised - as you watch the movie to where you're going - and that doesn't happen that often. Usually you can kind of see it coming, and these were things that were completely just a surprise and so emotionally fulfilling. It was genius.

Now, doesn't all this talk about Inside Out make you curious or excited to see it? That would be a nice way to celebrate this holiday weekend. And if you have seen it and you loved it, it'll be even better the second time around. At least see it for me since it's unlikely I'll be able to go before it's out of theaters. My family isn't interested for some reason. And how sad it is to go alone to a comedy? I never laugh as much as when I'm with people.

[UPDATE] My brother saw the trailer for Inside Out, which was much better than the commercials, and then he wanted to go. We went. It was absolutely fantastic and so emotional. I wish I had time to write a review.

Follow these guys on Twitter:
Kyle MacLachlan | GoldDerby | JimmytotheO

Just getting distracted from work again. A couple hours ago Kyle MacLachlan tweeted that he was about to do a live streaming interview on AOLBuild. I couldn't pass that up. Of course I could have waited until I had free time, but then I might forget, and I really love watching live. Still, I have to watch this again later, because the stream went out a few times. :(

In the seemingly shortest half-hour ever, Kyle talks about his excitement over the return of Twin Peaks and his new movie Inside Out, which he genuinely seems to love. In a previous interview he said he cried a few times during the movie, and here he reiterates how it made him feel and talks about being a father himself. (Aww. Look at that smile.) So, yes, Pixar is doing it to us again. Remember how you felt at the beginning of Up or the end of Wall-E, when Dory couldn't remember Nemo or when Sully said goodbye to Boo? Just assume you should bring tissues if your heart isn't made of stone.

One my favorite moments was the last question, where Kyle's wife asked what he was making for dinner. Unexpected and funny. Now all I can think of is wine and chicken. We're actually having chicken tonight. I always forget the wine, though, because we don't often have the good stuff. Connecticut Valley Winery so far has the only red that I would fight someone for. (Really, I would get on a horse and joust you for all of their wines.) I will likely never get the opportunity to try Pursued By Bear, though, which is a bit sad. Anyway, I'll shut up now and you can watch the video.

I'll be changing my template today. This blog has had only two looks since it started, and I've been wanting to do this for a long time. I found a great template called Magnet last summer. I kept putting off this change because of work, t-shirts and shows I had to write about, and just life in general. But apparently that was just an excuse. I've been playing around with things seriously this last week, even though I was busy, and started wondering why I didn't just do this months ago. I've been working with the template in my test blog for quite a while. All I really have to do is copy and paste some code I need for the rotating quote banners at the top (which at the moment I've only made two of) and a dropdown list of favorites I want to put in the sidebar. Then after uploading the template I have to fix all the widgets, because Blogger likes to rearrange, reset and double.

So what was really holding me back? That list I mentioned. I could never decide whether to stop at something like ten favorites in each category or just do everything. Series like Fringe, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Blacklist, Doctor Who, Supernatural, and The Walking Dead have to be on there. When I was done filling it with dramas, I realized there was no room for comedies, like Archer, Friends, and Arrested Development. So then I started removing shows and it just didn't feel right. Then I separated it into comedies and dramas, but do I have enough truly favorite comedies to fill my top ten? Maybe, but I stopped thinking about it when I put a hold on finishing the list a few months ago. It's like this for every category. I think I'm done and then I just can't decide one movie over another, one band over another, one actor over another. Then I cheat and combine series of movies together, or put two (or three!) actors into one slot because they were in the same show and all equally fantastic. So I thought I solved the problem by creating pages where I can just list everything else I love. That, as you could probably imagine, took much longer and also isn't finished. It's all a mess that's agonizingly close to and yet so far from complete.

Oh, and because Kyle MacLachlan's performance in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was one of the finest I've seen from anyone in anything, I finally watched him in Twin Peaks, after waiting for more than two decades. And now I've got another favorite show and actor to fit into the already overstuffed list.

Edit: I'm nearly done! Fixed everything I could today. The only thing that's really bugging me is the white space between the header and the quote banner in Firefox and IE. No problem at all in Chrome. I don't have time to figure that one out. I've already fooled with it enough. I might just ask the developer of the theme. I'm using the premium paid version now, so I get to do that.