Connect with us

Culture

Nostalgia and cherry pie: Finding solace from anxiety at Twin Peaks’ Double R diner

Published

on

Read more on post.


ADVERTISEMENT

Anxiety can be described in many ways, but for me, it has always felt most like a desperate yearning to go home. 

As a teenager, I longed to be one of those people that’s “mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time,” like Jack Kerouac describes in his iconic novel “On The Road”. But instead of cruising through life’s endless possibilities, I found myself gripped by an unnamed dread, scanning the horizon not for adventure, but for refuge. 

This place I was seeking didn’t really exist, but I found a version of it in the Double R diner, a cosy hub of bottomless black coffee and log-carrying customers that’s at the heart of the surreal show Twin Peaks

The worlds of David Lynch are notoriously unsettling, filled with trauma, violence, and supernatural bizarreness. Within such a landscape, the Double R becomes an anchor to normality. Softly lit and traditionally styled, it’s where the town’s locals gather for a slice of cherry pie and respite from the darkness outside. 

“This diner, and its extraordinarily good coffee and pie, has become, I admit, something of an obsession for me,” says Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), an FBI agent assigned to investigate the show’s central mystery: the murder of a teenage girl named Laura Palmer. 

American diners have always been an obsession of mine, too. Their laminate table tops, red bar stools and neon signs made them feel like portals to an idealised past that’s on pause – liminal in both time and place.

Often scattered along desolate stretches of road or open 24 hours, they also seemed to represent a safety net: a reassuring warm glow in a restless world. 

In contrast, the grey countertops and stale chip-fat smell of cafes in England, where I grew up, felt sad and hollow – like eating ice cream alone in the rain. The closest thing I could find was a nearby supermarket that stayed open overnight; a similar ambience of lost souls looking for company, distraction, and late-night snacks.

When terrified of reality, nostalgia and dream-like spaces become temporary destinations for escape. While many of the scenes at the Double R are Twin Peaks’ least dramatic, it’s still what most fans think of first; its ambience encapsulating the show’s nostalgic lure.

Owned by sweet-hearted Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton), with waitress Shelly (Mädchen Amick) serving customers, it grounds the show’s more chaotic elements with a soap opera-like consistency. Diners, much like British pubs, have often been used in film and TV as ritualistic settings where storylines slow, melodrama murmurs, and characters re-orientate themselves. 

From the late night conversations at the River Diner in After Hours, to Enid’s people watching at the Quality Cafe in Ghost World, they’re utilised as societal microcosms that attract misfits and lost souls. While the horrors outside persist, some glistening chrome and faded Americana offers a strange sense of belonging.

In real life, diners were also where David Lynch found his early inspiration. In the 1970s and ’80s, the director famously visited Bob’s Big Boy every day, arriving at 2:30pm and ordering a chocolate milkshake and coffee before jotting ideas on napkins. Just like in Twin Peaks, it became his place for routine and reflection, which is perhaps why the Double R feels like more than just a set: a character in its own right, textured with the director’s memories.

From Audrey’s slow dancing, to Ed Hurley’s heartbreaking confessions to his high school love Norma, the characters feel safe here to share their deepest secrets and truest selves. They might not find any easy resolutions, and sometimes more sinister elements still creep in, but the space remains a stop gap for stirring emotions; discomfort dissipating.

While I never managed to find a Double R diner of my own, its fictional existence became just as much of a reprieve. Having first watched the show while at university, I was in a constant state of homesickness and brain-gnawing panic. Adulthood was ahead, yet it felt confusing and off-kilter, like sitting in the Black Lodge where sentences are familiar – but distorted, backwards.

On nights where essay deadlines loomed and housemates were drunkenly screaming outside, I’d crawl into bed, eat peanut butter with a spoon, and disappear into Angelo Badalamenti’s opening score. Despite all its grief-stricken screaming and interdimensional nightmares, the show’s nostalgic aesthetic was always an instant comfort. 

The Double R in particular represented what I was longing for: routine, community, and a slice of warm pie. More than that, it gave shape to emotions I couldn’t clearly define. When running from anxiety, it’s never a home we’re truly looking for – but the feelings attached to it.

An ice cream sundae, a cool vinyl seat, a smile from a stranger. Through the Double R’s gentle monotonies, there’s a quiet reminder at the heart of Twin Peaks: to find calm in the ordinary.

“Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it. Don’t wait for it. Just let it happen,” Cooper says, referencing his daily “damn fine” coffee. It’s probably about time I joined him again.

‘A Gathering of the Angels’, the two-day festival celebrating the life and career of David Lynch, takes place at the Genesis Cinema in London, UK, on 27-28 September 2025. 

Culture

Giorgio Armani creations interplay with Italian masterpieces at new Milan exhibition

Published

on

Read more on post.


ADVERTISEMENT

“Giorgio Armani, Milano, for love’’ at the Brera Art Gallery opens today, mere weeks after the celebrated designer’s death at the age of 91.

Featuring 129 Armani looks from the 1980s through the present day, the exhibition places his creations among celebrated Italian masterpieces by such luminaries as Raphael and Caravaggio.

It is one of a series of Milan Fashion Week events that were planned before Armani’s death, to highlight his transformative influence on the world of fashion.

“From the start, Armani showed absolute rigor but also humility not common to great fashion figures,’’ said the gallery’s director Angelo Crespi. “He always said that he did not want to enter into close dialogue with great masterpieces, like Raphael, Mantegna, Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca.’’ 

Instead, the exhibition aims to create a symbiosis with the artworks, with the chosen looks reflecting the mood of each room without interrupting the flow of the museum experience – much the way Armani always intended his apparel to enhance and never overwhelm the individual.

A long blue asymmetrical skirt and bodysuit ensemble worn by Juliette Binoche at Cannes in 2016 neatly reflects the blue in Giovanni Bellini’s 1510 portrait “Madonna and Child”; a trio of underlit dresses glow on a wall opposite Raphael’s “The Marriage of the Virgin”; the famed soft-shouldered suit worn by Richard Gere in American Gigolo, arguably the garment that launched Armani to global fame, is set among detached frescoes by Donato Bramante. Every choice in the exhibition underscores the timelessness of Armani’s fashion. 

Armani himself makes a cameo, on a t-shirt in the final room, opposite the Brera’s emblematic painting “Il Bacio” by Francesco Hayez. 

“When I walk around, I think he would be super proud,’’ said Anoushka Borghesi, Armani’s global communications director. 

Armani’s fashion house confirmed a series of events this week that Armani himself had planned to celebrate his 50th anniversary. They include the announcement of an initiative to support education for children in six Southeast Asian, African and South American countries. The project, in conjunction with the Catholic charity Caritas, is named “Mariu’,’’ an affectionate nickname for Armani’s mother.

In a final farewell, the last Giorgio Armani collection signed by the designer will be shown in the Brera Gallery on Sunday, among looks he personally chose to represent his 50-year legacy.

“Giorgio Armani – 50 Years” opened to the public today at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy. The exhibition lasts until 11 January 2026.

Continue Reading

Culture

The last day of doomsday: What is the viral ‘RaptureTok’ trend?

Published

on

Read more on post.


ADVERTISEMENT

If you’re reading this today, Wednesday 24 September 2025 could be the last day before the end of the world as you know it.

If you’re reading this tomorrow, you weren’t blipped out of existence and good luck with all the rebuilding. Please do better.

Confused? We’ve got you covered.

According to the more holy corners of TikTok, it has been prophesized that yesterday – or today, they couldn’t make their minds up on which one, so just go with it – is the day of the Rapture.

For the filthy heathens among you, that’s the long-awaited end-time event when Jesus Christ returns to Earth, resurrects all dead Christian disciples and brings all believers “to meet the Lord in the air.”

It wasn’t yesterday, clearly, so today’s the day… And turn off that R.E.M. song, this is serious.

This all stems from South African pastor Joshua Mhlakela, who claimed that the Rapture will occur on 23 or 24 September 2025. Mhlakela said that this knowledge came directly from a dream he had in 2018, in which Jesus appeared to him. Mhlakela reiterated all of this on 9 September in an interview with CettwinzTV and since then, the prophecy has become a viral sensation on TikTok.

Many individuals on the social media platform have taken this literally and very seriously, with more than 350,000 videos appearing under the hashtag #rapturenow – leading to the trend / popular subsection dubbed ‘RaptureTok’. 

Some videos mock the prophecy, but you don’t have to scroll for too long to find those who are completely convinced that it’s happening today.

There’s advice on how to prepare; tips on what to remove from your house should certain objects contain “demonic energy”; and testimonies of people selling their possessions. One man, who goes by the name Tilahun on TikTok, shared a video last month, in which he said he was selling his car in preparation for the big day. “Car is gone just like the Brides of Christ will be in September,” he said.

One woman in North Carolina was live recording yesterday from the Blue Ridge Mountains, fervently keeping an eye on any holy activity in the sky. Another claimed that her 3-year-old started speaking in Hebrew, thereby confirming that it’s all legit. 

Some more distressing videos include American evangelicals saying goodbye to their children for the last time… We won’t share those, as they’re actually quite depressing.

It’s hard to completely blame TikTok users for wanting the final curtain to drop, as things aren’t going too great down here on Earth. That being said, it’s worth noting that the Bible never actually mentions the Rapture; it’s a relatively recent doctrine that originates from the early 1800s, one which has gained traction among fundamentalist theologians – specifically in the US, where everything is fine, civil conversation is alive and well, no one’s worried, and they’re all enjoying their “God-given freedoms”.

So, if the Rapture does come to pass, we here at Euronews Culture will be eating a whole concrete mixer full of humble pie. If it doesn’t, see you tomorrow, and do spare a thought for those who are going to be very disappointed on Thursday 25 September. 

And if extra-terrestrial beings followed Tara Rule’s advice (see below), thank you alien visitors for joining in on the fun. And if you could provide some much-needed guidance on how to do better, that would be grand.

Only a few more hours left to find out…

Continue Reading

Culture

‘Dawson’s Creek’ reunion sees James Van Der Beek make surprise appearance amid cancer battle

Published

on

Read more on post.

6kP_x”I(6Y&vv�ETq3rj 5IS@Т

>~)JՍZ}”JsjM9DmlUEbNZkqc#ӺƏ9.ܔdܛnJǷoMv
-2j9m6Q:n4^N`/9kn^
F.0XUXA8XAojLg*z8
Z1aMXY}3*|&+=MFWkشz`Tba֑9!zWW.S`HXYkRy=@2�`’bClPz^L$V�+MsB0=uMcOݩʃ??x9 Ӝs4Ы֙?r>v.:3iT;>tDvq>t)2K“b96z3M7Ҿ6Ǯ�.Q�8&уlQx˛yly珬ſ’)m3CȅZHƘ!B|!},c8>t/kHY,w=ŷ¸W۶(;HxGc(j
ŒqƣTFH!dXV]Xr!$gz_U ?|>Z@*] I756RTj`p’ߕ$v&yk0#Mp’%!C}}XE
+w!s|Mrk2°DuA֋- +vC#9�0V2}ldĒ� 5‚Pj~,r6gT+鵽xPikKH#Ρ|y/P~I8M*|܅!%%畫^@”;݈7ԅDA΂+b_|ܾJ.): !
OyZRlj2aE`6k5nTn0HCe@BytRl:(Kf7lˊ9̦CCp%pip OnnLKzl:;7ڀ;
Ű@[̍RI$l@}..04 ́7!0 Fckט..&8wu”iml1:9_s/RvB-vz@pAnհ ?kjAM]b�ʆݙeް dPS(XC֡[Oc8m}`:_f9h2aW0T8>|DÚTʔG$%M’ވ x5Fb-,ϒ0-xNJĂѡR4 0IY+DɳL+٩9>`kibM@QiXZ6h?˶W݀lylfn}=Z0Z)[ީPܦ}ѯ2
47mJJeBsHSW}[Bx�UoaăY&oAl-“.bhIm7í[!8N$giN;^rn_Ĕ}³S2مц4߰oqdtDJMF Go3�W�!u(cq=GR|?FqԈIv1]L#9
b)th twu?/5kKx;{!~$a؄@_YRkѶzGTI|G/wֈ?4F2[,$$B#YЦ(>הO-J2@q]pܽw+00U%:=Gp+%M`I;tRw}1»
3jW#ѓ!OҖLi”?ƞC!~hb?RWaSJj{nfBn0KdQ-2bBThZKC4=
2[=Dɧ8څH[sr(|c2v�Wpw>Meh;= VrDž>4zfߥi@cR9Od>,k[‘.#5-6!eRNq[K`jTBN5Bl
0486Kl&s̟YX烿6z8![NkiؓmFJg99:N”8IFE$H͂vA|1v-q.Am,O~xB;:z鐵Zn=?gNEDf(“xl,KtK0|o5.׀-bSñD{6�P*&T3w}`vHGdCTrzڝ:j{tM} 9
oެ.NpO#̌6;Ywz,KLo6$ :nL!2)}qI&.&Jh
5-+.z[
I!v-1By$Sۋ; ;n~ҍBLbE/ˏs,YN5D~Rh$I;9⣹f�
h~4FN&2wzA.n”&c!Fqf{0=O”R| PuԽUGR5){p4y#h2gn]ojIxn]SZsǝ ]__܇02?ccjɥ
c6N:亂cc *8V?b;#)Wpї!L,>PUmgm,
Un^}X
9g.rjKGΜ>cA;PnrY՞>zw3^_haIH=O]5N7H@u_3i6k{F3}wq>Bػ`L**I:UH*wf&ĔB
&Z:Xw1j?RdXhn9zŔ1LB#Z`֣n6^yp!O
jAT^NϞË)6& x- oދ!
҄wu/m0wǕ”2+s&wv?UVcm>(nbyS(4 t4ԎrGs@!QՐ5X62}ə5-xC챛MB@’c?Mz2,muF!Q2v9Ngr,{]y%FMktV{;:eDHig0FŹH@
gZ6D}6m{3+^X0 8J%vYpoܳPc1PcSHarj,Sٛ8w`Ψ:#uN4 U=m0{f:6L ѳ IᱭsuSSdɽRYNA9*?lHw
gfDwI A
c|*b�ՋN%OweN9=|l01″#.s .�dv9k)%!-2bY#E)ʈ`STģ (%2 *3
RMT7֏dd_ oTWhZb$p##EϚ> ‘Q^*o5 ,3^uA
“(i5VeVPXAIH.di#7″Y1~>=T6kb[&DXoKA480c6=X·m6Ƶ%y ̫}]f@�&@޶sr* MX$Wx
!LkZ�'[l9,=J!4PwQuNlmSivp,]eF!#|$V`0^(=̅(Re6+#8odd0ۙMY`-Dnʫ1%Rc>5N[ǥ%*l寓M>w ;L|WB�Q] )8’ϧ _G[E2/֢ܽ#` M#M4-‘Oan’-2#t|vb=W
PzNF`?K>b=)?V[>lhtj`x-.OFԊ2GCEusq ‘ʬ#d+ɍa0
яiЇ^>”[�e�pl/0D,d8 Z۠bny螜+57d�C[/2$%+~)qH^ۈyڌ z]Pkw:+DP; d08p*5-)M
,Ѹf[‘w9)ƊE#%fqfڠY!#dV
%Zx ;z!V?RB”/i멝V)M4+wN’Jl:dlU$W:’;YU1.d1oW]1SEpӚ=зNvӿqDPEU jOjJ͈e^ z|j~8UJ1S8fZ#rh+/crq%Mo?apyhfKCۅbsʛtɽF̭*p 3M;?H쯶oPݸڨa;Ē8$TVxإ=Z*6Oݾ

Continue Reading

Trending