Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity - Softcover

David Lynch

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1585426121 ISBN 13: 9781585426126

Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2007

Synopsis

In this "unexpected delight,"* filmmaker David Lynch describes his personal methods of capturing and working with ideas, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation.
Now in a beautiful paperback edition, David Lynch's Catching the Big Fish provides a rare window into the internationally acclaimed filmmaker's methods as an artist, his personal working style, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation.
Catching the Big Fish comes as a revelation to the legion of fans who have longed to better understand Lynch's personal vision. And it is equally compelling to those who wonder how they can nurture their own creativity.
Catching Ideas
Ideas are like fish.
If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you've got to go deeper.
Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They're huge and abstract. And they're very beautiful.
I look for a certain kind of fish that is important to me, one that can translate to cinema. But there are all kinds of fish swimming down there. There are fish for business, fish for sports. There are fish for everything.
Everything, anything that is a thing, comes up from the deepest level. Modern physics calls that level the Unified Field. The more your consciousness-your awareness-is expanded, the deeper you go toward this source, and the bigger the fish you can catch.
--from Catching the Big Fish

About this title

Review:

"The quirky helmer known for Boy Scout demeanor and twisted tales shares his creative vision in a surprisingly gentle tome informed by the underlying teachings of Transcendental Meditation. But don't worry: David Lynch, one-time creator of "The Angriest Dog in the World" comic, keeps the proselytizing to a minimum. He addresses topics ranging from working with wood (for it) to director's commentaries (against) in deceptively simple, yet ultimately affirming, chapters. There's much for fans and aspiring filmmakers to enjoy."
--Variety
"Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you've got to go deeper," says David Lynch the idiosyncratic filmmaker whose creations include "Eraserhead," "Blue Velvet," "Mulholland Drive," "Inland Empire," and the cult TV classic, "Twin Peaks." He claims that he has savored the pleasures of diving deep thanks to a 33-year practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM). He describes the fun of gathering what he calls "firewood" (all kinds of ideas and things for a film), the joy he takes in seeing an aging building or a rusted bridge, and the respect he has for Fellini and Kubrick. Lynch loves making movies and diving deep, and this testament bears witness to both loves."
--Spirituality & Practice
"In "Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity," David Lynch puts aside his filmic quest to get inside the viewer's head and lets them instead inside his, an invitation almost as rare as a ticket to fiction's Wonka Chocolate Factory, and possibly just as out of this world. "Catching the Big Fish" is a blend of thoughts and themes, sometimes random like a stream of consciousness, or -- the analogy he personally prefers for creativity -- casting a hook into a bottomless sea. The book melds biography, film analysis, philosophy and spirituality with a heart-on-sleeve sincerity, while incorporating a narrative of the author's passion for charting the world of dreams and ideas and rendering them unto action."
--BlogCritics
"With this book, Lynch offers us a rare glimpse into his own head. In the process, he reveals just enough biographical information, philosophy of film, and general behind-the-scenes dirt (including the connection between Lynch's "Lost Highway "and O. J. Simpson)to keep the attention of those more interested in Lynch's films than in his consciousness."
--Booklist

The quirky helmer known for Boy Scout demeanor and twisted tales shares his creative vision in a surprisingly gentle tome informed by the underlying teachings of Transcendental Meditation. But don t worry: David Lynch, one-time creator of The Angriest Dog in the World comic, keeps the proselytizing to a minimum. He addresses topics ranging from working with wood (for it) to director s commentaries (against) in deceptively simple, yet ultimately affirming, chapters. There s much for fans and aspiring filmmakers to enjoy.
Variety
Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you've got to go deeper," says David Lynch the idiosyncratic filmmaker whose creations include Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, and the cult TV classic, Twin Peaks. He claims that he has savored the pleasures of diving deep thanks to a 33-year practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM). He describes the fun of gathering what he calls "firewood" (all kinds of ideas and things for a film), the joy he takes in seeing an aging building or a rusted bridge, and the respect he has for Fellini and Kubrick. Lynch loves making movies and diving deep, and this testament bears witness to both loves.
Spirituality & Practice
In Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity, David Lynch puts aside his filmic quest to get inside the viewer s head and lets them instead inside his, an invitation almost as rare as a ticket to fiction s Wonka Chocolate Factory, and possibly just as out of this world. Catching the Big Fish is a blend of thoughts and themes, sometimes random like a stream of consciousness, or the analogy he personally prefers for creativity casting a hook into a bottomless sea. The book melds biography, film analysis, philosophy and spirituality with a heart-on-sleeve sincerity, while incorporatinga narrative ofthe author s passion for charting the world of dreams and ideas and rendering them unto action.
BlogCritics
With this book, Lynch offers us a rare glimpse into his own head. In the process, he reveals just enough biographical information, philosophy of film, and general behind-the-scenes dirt (including the connection between Lynch's Lost Highway and O. J. Simpson)to keep the attention of those more interested in Lynch's films than in his consciousness.
Booklist"

About the Author:

Three-time Oscar -nominated director David Lynch is among the top filmmakers of our era. He recently received a Golden Lion Award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival, adding to a long list of honors and awards. His popular and critically acclaimed films have been credited with propelling independent and avant-garde film into the mainstream. Lynch speaks regularly to standing-room crowds on a variety of topics. In 2005, he founded the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace (www.davidlynchfoundation.org), which raises funds to promote consciousness-based education for children."

About this edition

• Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1585426121
• ISBN 13: 9781585426126
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 180