Not sure how hard this is to believe, but it's a funny anecdote, so probably worth sharing.

A few years back, when I was living in Los Angeles, I was walking around Hollywood with some friends. We were crossing the street at a busy intersection, when we see a guy sitting in a chair at the corner next to a cow. The cow was beautiful...I don't know much about cows, but if I was going to make a milk commercial, this is the cow I would want to play the starring role.

Just to be clear, it is highly unusual to see a cow in the middle of Hollywood -- in a town filled to the brim with the bizarre, this was something that managed to stand out as fairly peculiar.

Anyhow, I walk up to the guy and ask him if I can pet his cow. He looks a bit surprised, but says sure. I proceed to pet the cow, and off we go. Surreal experience, but that seemed to be the end of it.

About a week later, I'm reading TIME magazine, and I spot a photo of the guy and the cow. It was director David Lynch, father of post-modernist films, doing some type of weird, Lynch-like promotional stunt in support of an actress from one of his movies who had been nominated for an Oscar.

Here's a picture I found online (with Mr. Lynch sitting on the same corner, with the same cow, where I spoke with him.)