Whatever Happened to DL.com?

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RStandfest
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Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by RStandfest »

I had been a member on and off over the last five years, and I can tell you that NOTHING has been added to the members section in at least three of those years. Around the time that INLAND EMPIRE kicked into production, Lynch and his team seemed to have forgotten about the website. This is very unfortunate, since I felt it was THE most innovative and no-holds-barred experimental site by any major filmmaker working today. The content WAS revolutionary and fun. Mr. Lynch's approach to the site even paved the way for the making of INLAND EMPIRE. However, not only has nothing new been added, but much of what was great has either been removed or released on Dynamic:01. And yet, the site still charges a hefty $10 a month, even though there is less content than when it started back in 2002. Save your money, or better yet, start a petition drive to send to Mr. Lynch, to urge him to start the site back up, to pay attention to it. You would think that at the very least, if he were busy, a devoted group of creative individuals could update it for him, and manage the content more regularly. Hell, I'd be the first to sign up, even if it were for peanuts. I think its potential is that important and unique. His fans deserve better than being dumped part way upstream. One last warning, when I recently joined once again this year to see if there were any updates-- when my password wasn't working and I needed assistance, it took the team over a week to even respond, which leads me to believe that no one is minding the store. When I inquired as to when there would be any updates in the future or if any of the removed content would be replaced, I was met with zero response. Kind of sad to see the whole thing gone to waste.

Is there anybody else out there with a similar experience?
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Pete Martell
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by Pete Martell »

The ringtones are removed for a long time now and i can't find them anywhere.
Also,they created the opportunities section and didn't put anything to it.
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by DigitalGhost »

The shipping costs for the shop are so high that either a) somebody's trying to deter people from buying anything b) they're planning to bring the order to the door in person or c) they've gone insane. Between Ebay and Amazon I spend a fortune on shipping from the US to the UK and this is the only time I've ever considered shipping costs to be prohibitively expensive. The shipping charge for one item is $112.17! Yes the decimal point IS in the right place :shock: Given that the actual cost of expedited shipping would be more in the region of $40.00 the remainder must be lining somebody's pocket.

The horror of the (larcenous, grasping, mean spirited) shop aside I've either read or watched an interview with David Lynch where he said he felt bad because people had paid money to join the site and it hadn't been updated. I think the journalist said it was a success and he corrected them.
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RStandfest
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by RStandfest »

I personally cannot speak to the shipping costs, as my experiences with the DL.com shop have been great-- with incredible packaging and timely shipping. However, I am not living overseas, and I think that is where most of the damage might be done. I have noticed recently, that the music that Lynch is releasing (ie Twin Peaks 2, Ghost of Love, Polish Night Music) is not being sold on his own website, for some reason. The site store itself has not been updated for some time-- with the exception of the Signature Cup coffee, and the removal of his photographs for sale. In the end, I am not overly concerned with the store, however, but with the missed opportunity to see incredible experiments like Rabbits (long since removed from the site) and Dumbland. I particularly enjoyed his making-of a lamp video, and thought it would be wonderful to see footage of Mr. Lynch making more art, such as his paintings.
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by DigitalGhost »

I'm sure any new short films will be released in one format or another eventually. I personally prefer seeing them in DVD quality anyway.
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RStandfest
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by RStandfest »

Although I can respect the need to want to own the work of Mr. Lynch on DVD, it was enjoyable to see a sixty-something, established director, as a digital revolutionary wielding a new medium and using it as a great experimental toy. The idea of bypassing studios and making content in your own privately-built studio in your backyard, as he did for Rabbits, and then bypassing the lag time for producing DVDs, marketing them and then shipping them... Let's face it, this is new and it is here to stay. There is vastly more potential in exploring the flexibility of streaming online media, than traditional forms of release such as DVDs that will eventually disappear one day, anyway. Quality should not be an issue, as streaming technology quality has nowhere to go but up. Lynch knows this and has made statements acknowledging such potential for the internet. A website such as his provides low cost, total artistic freedom to whatever he wants, whenever he wants. And it is not just short digital cinema. A website can be a very elastic canvas allowing for content that cannot always be put onto a DVD and passively viewed. The issue of owning an object that holds digital content should no longer be an issue, as the evidence of downloading music and carrying it in a format far more portable than a stack of CDs will attest. In fact, there were many elements on Mr. Lynch's website that called for active participation on the part of the viewer to navigate and explore-- supported by marvelous flash visuals and sound design. It was an experience in which the sum WAS greater than the parts-- like a living sketchbook or workbook for one of our finest artists working today. Bottom line: it is a more democratic, effective and economical means to communicate as an artist, with nothing less than total freedom for the artist as well as the viewer

Cheers.
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by bmiller »

Although I can respect the need to want to own the work of Mr. Lynch on DVD, it was enjoyable to see a sixty-something, established director, as a digital revolutionary wielding a new medium and using it as a great experimental toy. The idea of bypassing studios and making content in your own privately-built studio in your backyard, as he did for Rabbits, and then bypassing the lag time for producing DVDs, marketing them and then shipping them... Let's face it, this is new and it is here to stay. There is vastly more potential in exploring the flexibility of streaming online media, than traditional forms of release such as DVDs that will eventually disappear one day, anyway. Quality should not be an issue, as streaming technology quality has nowhere to go but up. Lynch knows this and has made statements acknowledging such potential for the internet. A website such as his provides low cost, total artistic freedom to whatever he wants, whenever he wants. And it is not just short digital cinema. A website can be a very elastic canvas allowing for content that cannot always be put onto a DVD and passively viewed. The issue of owning an object that holds digital content should no longer be an issue, as the evidence of downloading music and carrying it in a format far more portable than a stack of CDs will attest. In fact, there were many elements on Mr. Lynch's website that called for active participation on the part of the viewer to navigate and explore-- supported by marvelous flash visuals and sound design. It was an experience in which the sum WAS greater than the parts-- like a living sketchbook or workbook for one of our finest artists working today. Bottom line: it is a more democratic, effective and economical means to communicate as an artist, with nothing less than total freedom for the artist as well as the viewer

What does any of this matter if his website isn't updated with new content and the old content is removed? For example, one would think that with way Lynch created Inland Empire on his own with a digital camera and his own shooting schedule and financing he could have used his website as a way of promoting what he was doing as he was creating it and more importantly used the movie as a way of increasing interest and membership at DL.com. But nothing of the sort occurred. Talk about a wasted opportunity !!

Now I see his latest venture: selling his premium brand organic coffee through Amazon.com at an increased cost of 55% over what he sells it for on his website. I really don't understand the marketing idea behind this unless DL.com charges so much for shipping that you actually save money overall if you buy it at Amazon.com
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RStandfest
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by RStandfest »

bmiller,

I agree 100% with you. The use of Lynch's site to promote his projects, be it Inland Empire, The Air is On Fire and other art exhibitions, his various music ventures, has been completely wasted, with a ridiculous amount of time spent on coffee. I like the coffee, but it IS overpriced for what it is, and ultimately a pretty silly component of his site, considering that has been the only major addition on it. Now some may say that the site isn't supposed to be promotional, but a platform for original content-- however, in the absence of any original content, the site can and should be used to interface those interested in his work, with the very works that are in the pipeline. This is a no-brainer. The separate site that was created for Inland Empire was poorly updated and maintained itself, and ultimately unnecessary. As of now, the site seems to have no other function than to sell coffee and display daily weather reports. And all of that web magic is free to anyone who is not a member.
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by bmiller »

Ryan,
I was going to mention it but you mentioned it instead: the only new content on the site is the Daily Weather Report. It boggles my mind. Why is David so slavishly devoted to telling us what the temperature, sun and wind conditions are at the moment he's making that daily video??? I mean, he's been doing this for......how many years?? Why???

Here's another thing that just occurred to me. Maybe he can't pay very much attention to the website because of his devotion to the belief that TM can pretty much cure every ill known to mankind, including war, famine and pestilence. How much time and energy has Lynch poured into the David Lynch Foundation to the detriment of whatever else he could be doing with his time?? I find his belief in the efficacy of TM to be extremely exaggerated, but since David believes it, why not get rid of the Daily Weather Report and feature a daily video of David talking about TM, creativity, politics, or just whatever he wanted to talk about as long as it wasn't the damn weather in Los Angelos??

It seems like there's this monumental disconnect between what Lynch fans would like to see on the website and what Lynch thinks they want to see. And nobody close to Lynch working on the website has a clue or the guts to tell David this.
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by dl_fan »

For what it's worth, today's (Friday) weather report is done by Laura Harring.
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DogWater
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by DogWater »

Yeah, it's a shame the site has been left to stagnate. For a while, when new episodes of Rabbits and Dumbland were being posted, it was pretty exciting. But I cancelled my membership a couple of years ago. I just wasn't getting anything for my money any more.
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by neverwakingworld »

I wonder why he has put all his focus into tm stuff. His tm myspaces are updated semi regularly but his main page seems abandoned. His next movie is about tm. He also is producing a tm video called The Square root of one percent. Other than King Shot and Surveillance which are both things he is producer on he seems to be entirely focused on tm.
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by Bob_Dobbs_Blue_Bob »

DL.com was a grand experiment and I hope it will be revived. There is so much more than could be done with it, both creativley and from a promotional viewpoint. I just don't get it why DL.com was such a wasted opportunity, and agree with what others have expressed here.

Many times I would find out about what DL was releasing on sites other than his own! Very strange. Why would you not promote your own work on your own site so your fans can find it?

I became a member and was disappointed with the lack of updates to the site. I didn't feel I got value for my money in the end. Why was it left to wither? A lot of time, effort and money was put into the creation of the site, only to ignore it in the end. If the site had been better marketed, as has been mentioned, perhaps it would have been more financially successful, and thus more of an incentive to keep it going. It's puzzling. Maybe David's muse just decided to move on from Web delivery, but now that he's revamped his site in another direction, it makes me speculate.

DL.com was ahead of it's time, but that time is now. Witness the decline of Blockbuster and the rise of NetFlix and online distribution. Streaming content is the future. An artist who can control their own streaming content, with a large fan base like DL should have it made!

If David does feel bad that members paid and got no new content (especially in the latter days of the site), then what about offering past members a discount on a new site if DL.com was to be redone to surpass its past promise of being a place where DL's creativity could inhabit a unique space where he can have freedom of expression, and direct connection with his fans? I mean, beyond a music-only site. Back to the film and video experiments, artwork and fun!

Or, if he truly feels bad, send past members a free tin of coffee. Or, some free mp3s. I haven't seen him doing anything to make things right. I'm sure he could afford to do something like this.

Anyone know how many members DL.com had at its height?

I think it would be great if the old DL.com site could be made available on a DVD! How about offering past members who got no new content updates a discount on that? I'd love to own a copy of the site as it was! Because, for all the bashing I've been doing of the old site, I do think it was a wonderful work of art and it was an intriguing world to be part of, if only for a brief time. I'd love to see it come back and live up to its real potential.
RStandfest wrote:...It was an experience in which the sum WAS greater than the parts-- like a living sketchbook or workbook for one of our finest artists working today. Bottom line: it is a more democratic, effective and economical means to communicate as an artist, with nothing less than total freedom for the artist as well as the viewer

Cheers.
Last edited by Bob_Dobbs_Blue_Bob on Sat Sep 03, 2011 1:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by qbin2001 »

Bob_Dobbs_Blue_Bob wrote: I think it would be great if the old DL.com site could be made available on a DVD! How about offering past members who got no new content updates a discount on that? I'd love to own a copy of the site as it was!
One DVD is not enough for all this stuff. Thanks God I downloaded almost everything from the site when it was online.

Dynamic 02 would be great!
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Bob_Dobbs_Blue_Bob
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Re: Whatever Happened to DL.com?

Post by Bob_Dobbs_Blue_Bob »

Ok, then a multi-disc box set! ;) I think you get what I am saying - It would be great to be able to have those elevator doors move again and the sound play again! To enter that atmosphere! It's an easy matter to make a Web site work on a stand-alone computer, and not online. It could come on a few discs, then be loaded onto your hard-drive, to play DavidLynch.com like it was in the old days!
qbin2001 wrote:
Bob_Dobbs_Blue_Bob wrote: I think it would be great if the old DL.com site could be made available on a DVD! How about offering past members who got no new content updates a discount on that? I'd love to own a copy of the site as it was!
One DVD is not enough for all this stuff. Thanks God I downloaded almost everything from the site when it was online.

Dynamic 02 would be great!
"Now it's dark....."
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