... true, it's great to see TV characters spilled out into real life (both John Travolta, as Vinnie Babarino, and Bruce Willis, as what's-his-name on "Moonlighting," got their start on TV), roaming around and running into each other ... *crash!*

True, it's great to see Generation X learning to order meals for itself. In diners. Hang out, haggle the particulars and all. Bring the Boomers with them, who mostly didn't have time to stoop to learn from us crows ("All you kids do is shop and complain." -- Douglas Coupland, "Generation X").

True, it's nice to see a slower-paced American movie -- more leisurely than frantic, by screamingly far, compared to most fare, circa 1994 or not.

Sadly (and I'm including, here, the novelty of seeing it on network TV -- the racial slur is replaced with "brother," which loses nothing, except for the whole speech after "I know about the coffee in my kitchen," sorry Quentin), but it doesn't seem worth it for all of American culture to slow down as though Quentin had thought of it first.

Not "After Dark, My Sweet," or "The Grifters" (or "The Killing" or "Paths of Glory," two screenplays Jim Thompson worked on). Not "Wild at Heart" (which people saw) or "Miller's Crossing" (which most people didn't). Or Nick Gomez's "Laws of Gravity" (even less). Or Jim Jarmusch films, Nick Cave songs & their imagery, Wim Wenders road movies, etc.

Instead, we got "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead," "Year of the Gun," and even more forgettable films green-lit in the wake of this "formula" which no-one was successful in repeating, and seems only like a lark now.

"Lost Highway" will take you into the mind. This? A jaunt around the block, the best TV show you ever saw, 'cause it rips off movies. Boo-hoo for Quentin. Time to party! Leave us with the shattered remains, and years to pick it up, like a child's playroom with toys scattered everywhere ... "Out of touch is the new hip," says Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, Quentin's latest pictures, and, of all things, Marvel. Who's. Hal Hartley. Anyway?