Brooklyn artist and film maker Melanie Bonajo speaks about ayahuasca in a trailer to her film “Night Soil / Fake Paradise”.
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From 0 to 100 years in Dutch and Hebrew
25 SepThere is something distinctly psychedelic about these people counting the years from 0-100. Watching these many people advance with age is like watching life go by – collective life. It’s like those videos of people getting older, but this time around involving a collective of people. What I like about these videos is that they show an amazing portrait of society at large and it’s many faces. Watching this made me like these people and feel like we are all part of something greater.
So, first off here the original version as far as I can tell, done in Amsterdam in 2011: O-100 in Dutch.
And here is my favorite, in my own language. 0-100 in Hebrew:
Inside the Brain: An Entire Head in Cross-Section
4 SepThe human brain appears to be incredibly psychedelic in brain scans. This video was created from images produced by the visible human project. A human head was frozen in a block of ice, sectioned with a macrotome, and photographed. 700 horizontal (or transverse) sections were produced, each with a thickness of 174 microns, and imaged at a resolution of 125um/pixel. The images have been interpolated by a factor of four. The animation starts near the top of the head and proceeds down towards the neck. The head faces towards the right hand side of the screen.
Don’t hug me I’m scared, Episodes 3 & 4
28 AugDon’t hug me I’m scared started out like a fresh and updated version of classic psychedelic TV puppet shows like HR Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos. It was fun, upbeat, and had great and really funny and catchy songs.
However, as the series progressed it became more and more evident that there is a very negative undertone underlying the whole thing. There’s no one better then Becky Sloan and Joseph Pelling, the creators of Don’t Hug me I’m Scared, in creating funny and brilliant psychedelic lyrics and visuals, combining it all with a catchy tune. However, for some reason, in the makers view, this colorful scheme must always be a disguise to something horrid which lurks in the background. Take episode 3 for example. It contains an amazing cheery and silly song about how wonderful love is, only in order to finish with some of the worst bad trip images that come to demonstrate that love is a lie. In episode 4 the whole episode becomes a even nightmare earlier on.
The popular internet show “YouTube Explained” has episodes analyzing on each of the DHMIS videos. They explain that the show is basically a critique of children’s TV shows, and additionally the 3rd episode is a critique on marriage and religion, while the 4th one is a critique on the internet age. That very well may be, but these videos still end up giving me the creeps. Don’t get me wrong, I still love don’t hug me I’m scared, but I for one do not think that behind everything beautiful in the world there is something evil and terrible. I can only hope the makers of DHMIS will ingest a psychedelic and come to this conclusion as well…
Russel Brand’s The Trews
10 JulTrews, the YouTube channel by English comedian, actor, author, activist and celebrity Russel Brand, promises to “unravel the matrix of modern media and reveal the gleaming reality beyond connecting us all to each other through pure consciousness. Or it’s true news. Trews.”
Similarly to Jason Silva, Brand brings YouTube viewers big, sparkling ideas in concise and accessible form. However, with a different mixture of elements: Less Californian techno-utopian ideas, and more social- and media critique on the state of global society; less scenic imagery and more hilarious humor.
The trews YouTube channel tackles issues like “Why so hard on the silk road?” “Are we all terrorists now?” and “Can Jeb Bush finally win WW2 for the Nazis?”. Above one of Brand’s more lucid videos, on the question of God’s existence.
Jason Silva’s videos
3 JulJason Silva’s series Shots of awe takes mind-transforming ideas and warps them into a 3 minute YouTube format. Though Silva’s enthusiasm and optimism can be a bit over the top for some, you’ve got to admire the craft and energy that’s put into making these videos. Not only are they magnificently envisioned on the visual level, but as someone who tried his hand at producing mind-transforming videos for the web back in 2007 and 2009, I admire the great job Silva does in seemingly effortlessly translating big, complex ideas into the hyperactive format of online media. Silva is a smart guy, well versed in psychedelic thinking, and names like Terence McKenna, Timothy Leary and Robert Anton often come up in his raps. He describes his videos as “philosophical espresso shots; condensed trailers for ideas.” Indeed they work like appetizers, and hopefully they do not satisfy completely and lead viewers to deepen their exploration of the the big issues also after the video has ended. Here Silva explains why we don’t need to fear artificial intelligence And here he explains why “the idea of the singularity is awesome” If you check out his channel you’ll find Silva has created dozens and dozens of videos over the past couple of years. Recently the YouTube channel Seeker Stories did a story about Silva and his creative process titled “A philosopher’s mind trip”. An interesting viewing.
The Intergalactic Underground and the Geula Party
26 JunSome of the DPV readers might know that I was previously involved in a few psychedelic video projects, and while it feel weird featuring my own videos on the site, I guess it’s time these video get added to the growing collection of psychedelic videos accumulating here on the DPV.
The first one of these psychedelic video projects, the Intergalactic Underground, was a messianic web course designed to turn its viewers into intergalactic masters. It went on YouTube on March 2007, at a time when there was nothing like it on the site. Michal Wexler, who was a contributor and editor on this site featured one of the videos from the series back in the early days of the DPV. Here’s another one, the first, and most memorable episode from the series.
A second psychedelic video project I produced was Geula Party, which posted its YouTube videos in parallel to the 2009 Israeli elections. The Geula party demanded consciousness expansion for Israel and for the whole middle east. It was not about running for parliament but about participating in the inner elections, the ones taking place inside consciousness. You can read more about that project in this article which was published on Reality Sandwich.
Unconditional Rebel – Siska
5 JunSome serious psychedelic time wrap in this video which was shot slow motion in 5 seconds spread on 3:30. In a way this can be similar to what happens to time perception in a psychedelic experience…
(Link: Ori. Thanks!)
The Known Universe by AMNH
29 MayNothing beats traveling through all the know universe and back in less than 7 minutes.
“The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.”
BABY ! LOVE YOUR BODY ! Episode 1 (English)
8 MayThe “Baby! Love Your Body!” videos by Poussy Draama & Fannie Sosa offer liberated, guilt free and psychedelically minded sexual education for children. The many “thumbs down” and hate comments this video received just prove how bad it’s needed.
The Daily Psychedelic Video 