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There's always one film that lives inside the hearts of the cinematically minded—the one that opened their eyes, shook their world, and made them keen to the emotional, social, psychological, and physical possibilities that a movie can hold. For me, that was seeing David Lynch's Mulholland Drive for the first time. I remember feeling as if someone had hit me over the head with a frying pan, awakening something in me that I never knew existed. It was the beginning of a new chapter in my life and remains a personal touchstone—a piece of cinema with which I have the most intimate relationship.

I don't know about you, but it takes me roughly four to five hours to watch a two-hour movie in my apartment. It's not because I live in some wormhole in which time is meaningless or anything; rather, I tend to sit in close proximity to my iPhone or laptop whenever watching TV, so that, at the drop of a hat, I can pause anything any go immediately to the internet to find the answers to queries like, "Who is that actress," "Is this guy actually British," and "Did this get an Oscar nomination for anything, because it shouldn't have." Now it looks like I'd never have to do that, thanks to Amazon and IMDb.

And just when I was beginning to come to terms with the fact that the man whose work made me fall in love with cinema was exiting the game forever, more news has crept up about a possible new feature in the works. But of course, there are so few details that its difficult to speculate just what this might be—but how could you not?

With the 85th Academy Awards on the horizon for the weekend, we're reminded that, in terms of artistic merit, winning an Oscar can mean very little. Simply because a film is showered in gold statues doesn't mean that it's a work of art that creatively surpasses its contemporaries. And just because a film doesn't take anything home, the loss says nothing to its deserving appreciation and love. Over the course of Academy Award history, few categories have caused as much of a stir as that of Best Director. From Stanley Kubrick to Ingmar Bergman, some of the last century's most brilliant artists have failed to move past a nomination—which speaks only to the politics of Hollywood and not their genius. So, to get you thinking about just who will find themselves arms-full of gold on Sunday, here are some of film's most talented and praised directors who never and haven't yet received the coveted Best Director Award.

Photography is a beautifully personal medium. The wonder in the art stems from the fact that you're presented with an image, one person's perspective into a world but for the viewer, the imagination is given the freedom to run wild with narrative and feeling. You look at the work of somene like Gregory Crewdson, say, a frozen moment of a forlorn woman sitting on a suburban street corner with nothing but a velvet vanilla magic hour sky overhead and suddently an entire story and influx of emotion flashes before you. "The viewer is the magic part of the whole process, every viewer is getting a different thing," says David Lynch in recent on-stage conversation about his work with Paris Photo.

Earlier this year, we were more than thrilled to receive a reissue of David Lynch's dark and dizzying Eraserhead original soundtrack via Sacred Bones. And now, we're pleased to see that Mondo, the Almo Drafthouse art boutique, will be putting out Jerry Goldsmith's score for Poltergeist on limited edition vinyl. 

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, which really means nothing, but since February 14th seems to hold some part of our collective unconscious captive, let's acknowledge it. So whether you will be spending the rose-colored holiday intwined with your soul's other half, wallowing in the dull ache of loneliness, or enjoying a quaint mid-evening unrequited love-induced panic attack, there's one person you can always count on to make the day better—David Lynch. Yes, the master of psychosexual nightmares and placid facades teaming with seedy underbellies certainly knows how to create worlds that cover the painful spectrum of love.

So after spending the better part of the last few years wrestling with my grief that David Lynch will probably never make another feature film again, I have finally come to terms with it. And it's fine. Truly, I get it. Interests change, love comes in waves. The creative well that lives inside a truly brilliant artist isn't fueled by one singular medium and if Lynch wants to explore every outlet and facet of his artistic self forever and never make another psychologically penetrating narrative with off-filter close-ups of Laura Dern, I am okay with that.

Today in blogs I wish I thought of: Google Street Scene mashes up scenes from popular movies ranging from Goodfellas (at left), Back to the Future, and Blue Velvet, among others, with the street view feature on Google Maps. Remember how David Lynch bitched about watching movies on "your fucking telephone"? I can't imagine he'd be too thrilled about this new artistic development. It's a good resource to find the settings of your favorite movies, at the very least. [via Gawker]

The relationship between David Lynch and food is just about as entwined as that of trout and broken hearts. If you can recall, his tragic breakup with Isabella Rossellini in the early '90s was said to be caused by the fact that she refused to stop cooking in the house—a terrible flaw due to his vehement opposition to smells emanating from the kitchen. He once—unrelatedly—said, "I don't allow cooking in my house. The smell. The smell of cooking - when you have drawings, or even writings - that smell would go all over my work. So I eat things that you don't have to light a fire for. Or else I order a pizza. The speed at which I eat it, it doesn't smell up the place too bad. The smell doesn't last too long." Good.