Twin Peaks' time loop, Baby Driver's ending

A sleeping brain can form fresh memories, according to a team of neuroscientists. The idea that humans can learn while asleep, a concept sometimes called hypnopaedia, has a long and odd history. It hit a particularly strange note in 1927, when New York inventor A. B. Saliger debuted the Psycho-phone. He billed the device as an "automatic suggestion machine." The Psycho-phone was a phonograph connected to a clock. Researchers in the 1950s dismantled hypnopaedia's more outlandish claims. Sleepers cannot wake up with brains filled with new meaning or facts, Rand Corp. researchers reported in 1956. Instead, test subjects who listened to trivia at night woke up with "non-recall." In the new research, Thomas Andrillon and his colleagues said: "There is no predictability." But memorising acoustic patterns like white noise happens automatically. "The sleeping brain is including a lot of information that is happening outside," Andrillon said, "and processing it to quite an impressive degree of complexity." This marked the first time that researchers had "evidence for the sleep stages involved in the formation of completely new memories," said Jan Born, a neuroscientist at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Source: www.sciencealert.com

In “Part 14,” “Twin Peaks” rewarded belief and purity. Andy (Harry Goaz) captures a glimpse of the famous shot from the series’ pilot, in which a girl streaks, crying, across the lawn of Twin Peaks High School, having just learned that Laura Palmer died. Andy witnesses the birth of evil, the dirty bearded men, Laura Palmer flanked by angels, and Dual Coopers staring at him. Andy may be simple, but he’s also pure of heart. He always has been, and nothing has been able to corrupt him. David Lynch plays Gordon Cole, whose powerful hearing aid allows him to hear vital conversation, but also makes everyday sounds like the window washer’s squeegee into an agony of information overload. 

One of the most predominant theories about what’s going on in this season of Twin Peaks is that time has broken down somehow, that the universe has split open and started to devour our reality in a way that causes things to loop and repeat themselves, or events to happen out of order. Twin Peaks is trapped in the most horrible moments of the past because all of us are. And if you accept that time is just a thing we’ve come up with to make sense of how we’re trapped in this never-ending current, it becomes easier to slip loose of it. Time heals all wounds — but what happens if you can’t stop poking at those wounds? Mightn’t time start to fray at the edges? “We are like the dreamer who dreams and lives inside the dream, but who is the dreamer?” Source: www.vox.com

Essentially, Ansel Elgort thinks that there is a future for Baby and Debora, but that it's not really what we see play out in the final scenes. Instead, it's a fantastical vision of what that eventual reunion may be—hence the use of the black and white. "The postcard is really the key element in the ending. Baby knows that Debora is going to wait for him. With the postcard he got from her. I wouldn't expect my girlfriend of five years to wait for so long, my current girlfriend. And then if she said, 'I really want to,' I would be extremely touched, and I felt that as Baby," said Elgort. Edgar Wright thinks the end scene is up for interpretation and detailed why he made the decision to have Baby turn himself in—rather than either get killed Bonnie and Clyde-style or live on a la True Romance: "Baby gives himself up not to implicate her in anything else. He would take the wrap for her, which is sort of a hugely romantic gesture." Source: www.cinemablend.com

Guillermo del Toro called Baby Driver “a fable, complete with its very own Disney prince and princess, but it's also rock 'n' roll. Meaning the magic exists in a dirty, genre-tainted world. But, unlike Edgar's previous films this stakes new, unironic territory. This is earnest and unprotected. It wears Edgar's heart on its sleeve.” The spectacle of Baby Driver is a wonder to behold, but its cast of characters is what puts it over the top. Elgort is a likable and kind-hearted protagonist, injecting Baby with a sweet innocence that makes him endearing. Wright allows viewers to truly become invested in the young driver by depicting his touching relationships with Debora and his foster parent Joe (CJ Jones). Elgort’s charm is a key reason why his performance works so well. Baby can shift gears and be as no-nonsense as any of his criminal associates – particularly towards the end of the film. Elgort also has nice chemistry with James, and the two are a delight to watch when they’re together and young love blossoms between them. Their dynamic arguably could have used a little more development, but they make a great couple nonetheless. Source: screenrant.com

Results for long-term romantic love showed recruitment of opioid and serotonin-rich neural regions. These systems have the capacity to modulate anxiety and pain, and are central brain targets for the treatment of anxiety, obsessive–compulsive disorder and depression. Thus, present findings are in line with behavioral observations suggesting that one key distinction between romantic love in its early and later stages is greater calm associated with the latter. Indeed, research suggests that romantic love is associated with marital satisfaction in long-term marriages, suggesting that romantic love—associated with engagement, sexual interest and lower attention to alternative partners—may promote pair-bond maintenance through sustained reward. Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Baby is a lot like rabid B-movie connoisseur Clarence Worley in the Quentin Tarantino-scripted “True Romance,” or fellow Elvis devotee Sailor Ripley in David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart”: Such obsessive characters prove intensely passionate, slightly crazy, and as committed to their women as they are to the quirks that preoccupy them the rest of the time. Elgort proves adorably awkward around Lily James’ character, Debora. (Ladies just love a damaged-goods guy like Baby, with his childhood trauma, mommy issues, and bad-boy streak.) Baby is now thoroughly, obsessively in love, and every song may as well be about her in his mind. Baby comes across borderline autistic in most social situations, but put him behind the wheel of a car, and he’s a nimble, fast-acting pilot, steering his manual-transmission getaway vehicle out of nearly any bind. Typically, directors pick the soundtrack to suit what is happening on screen, but in this case, Wright’s obsessive hero seems to be deejaying his own life, using music to decide his fate. Source: variety.com

The majority of high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have had or are interested in romantic relationships, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology. Previous research has found that ASD individuals fall behind their peers in areas such as employment and relationships. ASD individuals have difficulties interpreting body language, eye contact and facial expressions which can make social situations challenging. Participants reported that it is the barriers to initiating and maintaining relationships, rather than lack of interest that prevent romantic relationships from developing. Source: www.psypost.org

“All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music”, English philosopher Walter Pater wrote. “The studio have asked me to think about writing a Baby Driver sequel and it is one that I might do a sequel to because I think there’s somewhere more to go with it in terms of the characters,” Edgar Wright told Empire. “Baby has got a new place.” So does the director have any idea as to where a follow-up could go? “Most sequels you have to contrive something, unless there’s somewhere deeper for them to go. I think with Baby Driver there’s more that you can do in that realm, and I sort of have an idea that if you did another [film] you would subvert his involvement in the crime in a different way so he’s not the apprentice anymore.” Man Driver actually makes perfect sense if you know that Wright had a habit of shouting “man driver!” at Ansel Elgort while shooting in order to make the actor feel “tough,” as Wright revealed at the film’s South by Southwest Festival premiere. Upcoming for Elgort is Billionaire Boys Club with director James Fox. Source: www.empireonline.com