Once, during a particularly harrowing DMT trip, with truly demonic feeling forces encroaching on my space, I muttered I love Jesus... and ALL of the visions went away and I felt pretty much sober outside of the shock I felt at what just transpired.
it was almost enough to make me a full blown christian, but Buddha makes an excellent curry.
Beautifully put Yossarian. I do love the Buddhist curry. But I do have had powerful Jesus moments both in trips and out. I actually don't have any problem with the Jesus who appears a part of my personal pantheon, and in a few ways I lean Christian. One of these weeks I will tell the story of being a born-again Christian, but I was really more like a Jesus Christ Superstar Christian, and not for very long. But make no mistake: He is Big Magic!
I was surprised when, as someone who wasn't brought up in a religious household, I found myself calling on Jesus and St. Michael in the throes of an especially harrowing ayahuasca ceremony. I do prefer an Indian curry over the tasteless communion wafer, but that might just be because I'm a devout polytheist and animist. There is something about Jesus though...he holds a special place in my personal pantheon too, and I wonder if that's because Christianity is the air we breathe growing up where I did, but at the same time I'll bet that no one ever cried out to Buddha to save them from a demonic interdimensional lizard entity. :-D
Totally! I've been reflecting on monotheistic Christianity and the way they've tried to squeeze all the archetypes into one figure...that's a big load for one dude to carry, which is maybe why Christianity fails, but also why Christ is such an enduring image in the Western psyche. It'll be interesting to hear what he thinks of it all when he returns...
"Heaven's Gate" has always been fascinating to me, because I realized that I could have been in that cult, had I been in the right time and place. I'm going to have to watch the HBO documentary. If you haven't done so already, check out Glynn Washington's podcast about the cult- it's a ten part series on Stitcher. https://www.stitcher.com/show/heavens-gate
The "Q-Shaman" guy looks like he's been to a few too many EDM/ wellness/ New Age raves- a very familiar character. A Santa Fe friend and I were wondering why so many of our tribe were suddenly snapping into what we have called the Alternate Universe Fugue. It's a real psycho-hazard, and a pretty powerful meme. But if you stand back and look at it logically, it reads like a bad fanfic written on acid. I said as much to one of my "Q"-struck New Age friends, and got unfriended. I'm just glad that I can't keep a straight face while reading about it- maybe the laughter keeps it from sticking. Heinlein once said that one man's religion is another man's belly-laugh. In this case, the humor is a safety feature.
Thanks for the podcast tip and the nice words. I love your admission, because I think you can't adequately engage the situation of "cults" without finding a sympathetic or vulnerable or even poetic place inside yourself that resonates with at least some of them. Especially the "right time and place" part. I think the world would be a kinder and more sensitive place if people realized and accepted the depths of the things they could do given "the right time and place" (weirdness, self-destructiveness, even "evil"). There but for the grace of goddess...
Your Santa Fe friend and you have recognized a phenomenon that spread like wildfire through these communities over the last year/year and a half. Its fascinating, troubling, and a bit depressing. Humor may be the only way out -- but its effects are only local! How to laugh at it without becoming cold and snarky is another issue--we need the laughter that refuses delusion, even seriousness, and does not simply "make fun." But that's another hard practice...
Hi Erik, I have been somewhat obssessed this past week with Jake Angeli, the QAnon Shaman. So I am happy that you opened with him. Otherwise I would like to thank you for a seemingly endless series of great recommendations. Let's hope that I'll be able to view some of these in the Netherlands.
Hi Jeremy. Yes there is something fascinating about Jake, even if its cringe-worthy. I think part of it is that for all his foolishness, even delusion, not to mention misplaced self-confidence, he does not seem like a soul motivated or even very damaged with hate or bitter resentment. But look where he wound up...
As far as the flicks go, I hope you can see these films, I have no doubt some will be available!
I agree that this Jake fellow doesn`t necessarily look like a “soul motivated or even very damaged with bitter hate and resentment”. But maybe we are overlooking that other massive motivation for his actions: the attempt to be “somebody” rather than nobody. On the celeb principle of “There`s only one thing worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about”, he`s made it! Expect an autobiography and media engagements or at least a cult following as soon as he gets out of the slammer.
In discussions about the return of the mythical into the world, the goddess Pheme(Fame) is the last to let herself be forgotten amongst the throng of mythical figures clamouring for more limelight.
Look at the clicks of all our online conspiracists since Covid began.
I applied Icke`s core sensemaking theory of “see who benefits from any world event and there you have a clue as to who is behind it” to the situation, and it`s…er…him, JP Sears, Christiane Northrup and all the rest whose clicks have gone through the roof since the p(l)andemic.
You have described in detail elsewhere how the emergence of conspirituality is an attempt to place a coherent narrative over a chaotic, contingent world and how on a practical level, this entails identifying oneself with a clear-cut self-identity.
It is easy to see how this can alchemize some pretty base metal into the marketing gold of creating a personal brand, curating a digital identity and optimising one`s presence. That is where Jake the shameless shaman is probably heading. He has magicked his emanation onto the digital Akashik records with a few tats and a comedy hat. That there were other more violent actors sharing his stage is not a worry for him and others like him. After all, Covid-deniers, anti-maskers, anti vaxxers, whilst maybe not espousing violent revolution, also hold views that callously support avoidable suffering and death.
Just now here in the UK we have Dr Vernon Coleman producing a video (retweeted by Northrup) entitled:“Doctors and nurses giving Covid vaccines will be tried as war criminals”
As a retired doctor, I doubt that Coleman he has ever been caught up in a riot, an insurrection or a mass brawl but the violence of the language is unmistakable.
I really appreciate your point here Philippe. In fact, the more I sit with this, and try to understand the QShaman and related mythic returns in the context of our contemporary media-technology environment, I think your emphasis on fame and self-promotion are absolutely central.
For a while I had been thinking about it in terms of certainty, the way that so many people on social media are so certain about their political positions or solutions, when anyone with half a brain can see that the world is now incredibly complex and only getting more so — a complexity and attendant confusion that has to be directly addressed as one of the "facts on the ground" that any position needs to take account of. And yet everyone was doing anything but, and many people who found themselves at sea would inevitably be drawn to these confident know-it-alls. I may be confused but at least somebody has a clue.
Now I see that it is more than certainty, which is essentially a kind of cognitive-intellectual performance of authority. It's something more raw and narcissistic as well, and the incredible rush that comes with going viral must be exhilarating and "addictive" if one has a taste for that kind of attention. It's like the youtube influencers who as far as I can see are actually totally void of content, quality, character -- genuinely nihilistic black holes that are sustained by enormous flows of attention (ironic? lemming like? bored to tears) and the impressive sums that track attention. It blows my mind, and saddens me, all that precious attention, down such a drain.
So much is about attention! The attention economy, our limited attention, the hunger for attention, and the ethics of attention. Someone got on me on Twitter for even writing about the QShaman because, why give him air? In a way I totally agree. But it's really happening, those swells of attention and fame and money are as real as electricity. Damned if we pay attention, damned if we don't.
Yes, I think attention and power are crucial here.
The formula is probably “Attention is power”. And even `negative` attention works too:
“Damned if we do, damned if we don`t” from the pov of one grappling with it, as you say.
This brought me back to the first conspirituality conversation I had right at the beginning of the Covid age last year, when I ran into a friend in town I hadn’t seen for a couple of weeks. He immediately started banging on about the Covid hoax, Police state , internment camps etc etc. I would have rather gone for a coffee and chatted about poetry and the local gossip which is what we normally did together, but now I was suddenly stuck in a situation where I only had two choices: either kind of mumble and nod along with his rant or attempt to counter some of the absurdities that he was coming out with. I chose the latter, with no success whatsoever. We never speak now. Sad, but I now know that this kind of tale has become extremely commonplace.
I mulled over the possible psychology behind his newfound stance, how he got there and so on, but it feels like it`s only possible to get so far with that tack. What does seem to be clearer though, is the effect. It`s a conversation killer par excellence. It seems that is the point. More than that, it`s a conversational power-grab. By being a conspiracist, you grab control of the reins of the conversation that you are in. You get either agreement (or maybe you get to `educate` the other), or you get people out of your life that may create the discomfort of any kind of challenge . Those who won`t go along with it will then usefully inhabit the “sheeple/enslaved ” role. Another thing about this, I guess is ,from a business point of view, eg if you are selling wellness products, this is a way of homing in on your potential customers . It`s like a stage hypnotist pre-testing his punters so as to ensure that only the best hypnotic subjects will be let into his show.
Either way, it`s about replacing the dialogical with the monological.
This process is key in cults, fascism, dictatorship, narcissism, celebrity, fame,advertising, hypnosis and unsurprisingly, conspirituality contains all these elements in abundance.
This is a very incisive observation, both in terms of the disembodiment (the loss of grounding in locality, with local gossip and the already established rituals and modes of a coffee shop, etc) and the collapse of conversation. I think about the latter all the time. When I did the podcast, I was very clear with myself that it wasn't really about the topics so much as modeling a way of talking and engaging, one that moves in the opposite direction of the thought leader, influencer, pundit or conspiracy ranter: into the mystery and curiosity of the other. Though I didn't go out of my way to get guests who had really different views than mine, I did celebrate a wide range of attitudes, partly because it forced me to keep supple and unattached to (most) views, not in a dumb relativist way or a non-engaged interviewer way, but as a fellow conversant open to glimpsing where the Other was coming from, and even being willing to change or let go of my own more familiar orientation -- or even to remain committed to certain values and truths while still engaging the other.
It seems so obvious to me that this is where the real action is, it blows me away that so many are running in an opposite direction: into totalizing belief systems, or absolute conviction, or militancy and politicized projection. At a time of such complexity, it should be obvious that we need to develop a complex mode of engaging the world and other people, and the obvious place to start is to develop these kinds of conversational skills.
And I really appreciate your emphasis on the "political economy" of the culture, how it is a form of attention dominance in an attention economy, a sell, a shill, a slight-of-hand. And the problem with discernment, or conversational skills, or the sort of meta-cognitive awareness capable of intelligently navigating between views doesn't "sell," and probably doesn't "sale," and doesn't seem like a particularly safe harbor. Convictions make convicts and the cells are everywhere.
I went on a mini binge of Rodney Ascher's work after the guys on the Weird Studies podcast did a feature on The Nightmare (which I loved). I'm looking forward to his latest...as you said, his editing is super clever and witty (One nerdy observation this designer appreciates is how he changes his production logo depending on the subject matter, eg., copping the Warner Bros. logo for the Kubrick doc).
Sidenote for Dr. D fans: Weird Studies has had him on a couple times and they namedrop him pretty frequently. Lots of crossover between Erik and the WS podcast.
I'm happy to hear My Psychedelic Love Story is out...been waiting for that one. I too have been finding solace in weird and wonderful docs, as well as pre-cellphone era films (which capture a simpler, slower life I long for). I'm especially enjoying revisiting oldies from Kubrick, Lynch, Cronenberg etc. The Dead Zone has some deep resonance with this particular moment, as does The Children of Men, both of which I think are 'perfect' films.
I always appreciate your recommendations, so keep 'em coming! Looks like we'll be in lockdown for the foreseeable future.
Yeah I love the Weird Studies kids, they are true peers and comrades. Plus I feel less guilty about not doing Expanding Mind knowing that they are around! I love the duo format too, and the way they symbiotically come together from their different angles.
I love Children of Men, both in terms of narrative and also in terms of film-making. That long take stuff is superb--and I love me an extended, moving, complicated long take. I haven't seen the Dead Zone in forever, I think I might add that to the very long feature list. Lately I have been trying to get back to older films rather than being sucked into contemporary TV series--they feel more substantial with much less time commitment! One I watched last Halloween that really resonated with Burning Shore in interesting ways was the 78 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Now they all seem like they were taken over by Facebook!
Oooh, IOTBS78. Haven't seen it, but anything with Donald Sutherland piques my interest. He's the most enigmatic Canadian actor. His "cocksucker" speech in the goofily fun The Undoing series was surprising and hilarious. I make my wife laugh all the time by mimicking his very mid-Century Canadian accent reciting the immortal words:
"But make no mistake. I am a cocksucker. And I don't mean that in the sense of gay belittlement, as it's currently come to be interpreted. No. I'm an old fashioned cocksucker. The more traditional kind. The kind who fucks over anyone who hurts me, or a loved one. You speak of ugliness Mr. Connaver. You have not yet met ugliness."
Definitely see the Kaufman Bodysnatchers sometime--it's a great meditation on late 70s San Francisco if nothing else, with some pretty esoteric references buried in there.
We just watched My Psychedelic Love Story...found it a wild and entertaining story, but ultimately very sad. Filing it away in my psychedelic-utopia/panacea-skepticism folder.
Body Snatchers was GREAT. Genuinely creepy, smart and some awesome sound and cinematography. Loved Sutherland in it and thought Nimoys celeb psychiatrist was such a jerk.
Now, have you seen Black Narcissus? Watched it a couple weeks ago and can’t get some of those images out of my head. Maybe the best looking movie I’ve ever seen. And Deb Kerr...what an angel. Swoon.
Hi Erick. You always give me interests to follow up on. I’ll be checking out Vice’s docu-drug series which I hadn’t heard of. Still going down Michael Judge rabbit holes surrounding his analysis of Bowie and the occult, which led me to Crowley and the tree of life. According to MJ, Bowie was attempting to short cut the path from the base to the pinnacle of the tree of life through the use of cocaine (he was not into psychedelics) but ended up realizing it was futile. More tendrils let me to the Golden Bough and the concept of man god or year king. I think Trump followers identify the strength and power of Trump with themselves. Just as primitive societies would kill the king if he got sick so his disease wouldn’t effect their prospects, Trump followers need to prop up his power in order to save themselves
Hey Bruce. It's good to go back to the Golden Bough. That that kind of armchair anthopology is pooh-poohed today (for good reason), and Frazer was a Western chauvinist, there is so much strange and marvelous lore in that book -- which also played an important role in modern neo-paganism. I am pretty sure MJ is right about Bowie in those years--I still dont think we have come to terms with how much cocaine mutated culture in the late 70s (also a subtheme of the Harcourt-Smith doc). And as for Trump followers: they identify with him, but also see him as a father-leader to defend at all costs. Like all values "loyalty" is a two-edged sword, and the fact that is found more often among folks on the right (as opposed to "justice" or "fairness," more liberal values) tells us something about the current conflict.
Once, during a particularly harrowing DMT trip, with truly demonic feeling forces encroaching on my space, I muttered I love Jesus... and ALL of the visions went away and I felt pretty much sober outside of the shock I felt at what just transpired.
it was almost enough to make me a full blown christian, but Buddha makes an excellent curry.
Beautifully put Yossarian. I do love the Buddhist curry. But I do have had powerful Jesus moments both in trips and out. I actually don't have any problem with the Jesus who appears a part of my personal pantheon, and in a few ways I lean Christian. One of these weeks I will tell the story of being a born-again Christian, but I was really more like a Jesus Christ Superstar Christian, and not for very long. But make no mistake: He is Big Magic!
Beautiful put, yourself Erik. And yes, Jesus is alright with me too.
I was surprised when, as someone who wasn't brought up in a religious household, I found myself calling on Jesus and St. Michael in the throes of an especially harrowing ayahuasca ceremony. I do prefer an Indian curry over the tasteless communion wafer, but that might just be because I'm a devout polytheist and animist. There is something about Jesus though...he holds a special place in my personal pantheon too, and I wonder if that's because Christianity is the air we breathe growing up where I did, but at the same time I'll bet that no one ever cried out to Buddha to save them from a demonic interdimensional lizard entity. :-D
Alongside his role as a magical defender, JC can also be a portal into absolutely embracing the totality of suffering. That too can be handy.
Totally! I've been reflecting on monotheistic Christianity and the way they've tried to squeeze all the archetypes into one figure...that's a big load for one dude to carry, which is maybe why Christianity fails, but also why Christ is such an enduring image in the Western psyche. It'll be interesting to hear what he thinks of it all when he returns...
"Heaven's Gate" has always been fascinating to me, because I realized that I could have been in that cult, had I been in the right time and place. I'm going to have to watch the HBO documentary. If you haven't done so already, check out Glynn Washington's podcast about the cult- it's a ten part series on Stitcher. https://www.stitcher.com/show/heavens-gate
The "Q-Shaman" guy looks like he's been to a few too many EDM/ wellness/ New Age raves- a very familiar character. A Santa Fe friend and I were wondering why so many of our tribe were suddenly snapping into what we have called the Alternate Universe Fugue. It's a real psycho-hazard, and a pretty powerful meme. But if you stand back and look at it logically, it reads like a bad fanfic written on acid. I said as much to one of my "Q"-struck New Age friends, and got unfriended. I'm just glad that I can't keep a straight face while reading about it- maybe the laughter keeps it from sticking. Heinlein once said that one man's religion is another man's belly-laugh. In this case, the humor is a safety feature.
Keep up the good work, Erik.
Thanks for the podcast tip and the nice words. I love your admission, because I think you can't adequately engage the situation of "cults" without finding a sympathetic or vulnerable or even poetic place inside yourself that resonates with at least some of them. Especially the "right time and place" part. I think the world would be a kinder and more sensitive place if people realized and accepted the depths of the things they could do given "the right time and place" (weirdness, self-destructiveness, even "evil"). There but for the grace of goddess...
Your Santa Fe friend and you have recognized a phenomenon that spread like wildfire through these communities over the last year/year and a half. Its fascinating, troubling, and a bit depressing. Humor may be the only way out -- but its effects are only local! How to laugh at it without becoming cold and snarky is another issue--we need the laughter that refuses delusion, even seriousness, and does not simply "make fun." But that's another hard practice...
Hi Erik, I have been somewhat obssessed this past week with Jake Angeli, the QAnon Shaman. So I am happy that you opened with him. Otherwise I would like to thank you for a seemingly endless series of great recommendations. Let's hope that I'll be able to view some of these in the Netherlands.
Hi Jeremy. Yes there is something fascinating about Jake, even if its cringe-worthy. I think part of it is that for all his foolishness, even delusion, not to mention misplaced self-confidence, he does not seem like a soul motivated or even very damaged with hate or bitter resentment. But look where he wound up...
As far as the flicks go, I hope you can see these films, I have no doubt some will be available!
Hi Erik.
Interesting stuff, as ever.
I agree that this Jake fellow doesn`t necessarily look like a “soul motivated or even very damaged with bitter hate and resentment”. But maybe we are overlooking that other massive motivation for his actions: the attempt to be “somebody” rather than nobody. On the celeb principle of “There`s only one thing worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about”, he`s made it! Expect an autobiography and media engagements or at least a cult following as soon as he gets out of the slammer.
In discussions about the return of the mythical into the world, the goddess Pheme(Fame) is the last to let herself be forgotten amongst the throng of mythical figures clamouring for more limelight.
Look at the clicks of all our online conspiracists since Covid began.
I applied Icke`s core sensemaking theory of “see who benefits from any world event and there you have a clue as to who is behind it” to the situation, and it`s…er…him, JP Sears, Christiane Northrup and all the rest whose clicks have gone through the roof since the p(l)andemic.
You have described in detail elsewhere how the emergence of conspirituality is an attempt to place a coherent narrative over a chaotic, contingent world and how on a practical level, this entails identifying oneself with a clear-cut self-identity.
It is easy to see how this can alchemize some pretty base metal into the marketing gold of creating a personal brand, curating a digital identity and optimising one`s presence. That is where Jake the shameless shaman is probably heading. He has magicked his emanation onto the digital Akashik records with a few tats and a comedy hat. That there were other more violent actors sharing his stage is not a worry for him and others like him. After all, Covid-deniers, anti-maskers, anti vaxxers, whilst maybe not espousing violent revolution, also hold views that callously support avoidable suffering and death.
Just now here in the UK we have Dr Vernon Coleman producing a video (retweeted by Northrup) entitled:“Doctors and nurses giving Covid vaccines will be tried as war criminals”
As a retired doctor, I doubt that Coleman he has ever been caught up in a riot, an insurrection or a mass brawl but the violence of the language is unmistakable.
I really appreciate your point here Philippe. In fact, the more I sit with this, and try to understand the QShaman and related mythic returns in the context of our contemporary media-technology environment, I think your emphasis on fame and self-promotion are absolutely central.
For a while I had been thinking about it in terms of certainty, the way that so many people on social media are so certain about their political positions or solutions, when anyone with half a brain can see that the world is now incredibly complex and only getting more so — a complexity and attendant confusion that has to be directly addressed as one of the "facts on the ground" that any position needs to take account of. And yet everyone was doing anything but, and many people who found themselves at sea would inevitably be drawn to these confident know-it-alls. I may be confused but at least somebody has a clue.
Now I see that it is more than certainty, which is essentially a kind of cognitive-intellectual performance of authority. It's something more raw and narcissistic as well, and the incredible rush that comes with going viral must be exhilarating and "addictive" if one has a taste for that kind of attention. It's like the youtube influencers who as far as I can see are actually totally void of content, quality, character -- genuinely nihilistic black holes that are sustained by enormous flows of attention (ironic? lemming like? bored to tears) and the impressive sums that track attention. It blows my mind, and saddens me, all that precious attention, down such a drain.
So much is about attention! The attention economy, our limited attention, the hunger for attention, and the ethics of attention. Someone got on me on Twitter for even writing about the QShaman because, why give him air? In a way I totally agree. But it's really happening, those swells of attention and fame and money are as real as electricity. Damned if we pay attention, damned if we don't.
Yes, I think attention and power are crucial here.
The formula is probably “Attention is power”. And even `negative` attention works too:
“Damned if we do, damned if we don`t” from the pov of one grappling with it, as you say.
This brought me back to the first conspirituality conversation I had right at the beginning of the Covid age last year, when I ran into a friend in town I hadn’t seen for a couple of weeks. He immediately started banging on about the Covid hoax, Police state , internment camps etc etc. I would have rather gone for a coffee and chatted about poetry and the local gossip which is what we normally did together, but now I was suddenly stuck in a situation where I only had two choices: either kind of mumble and nod along with his rant or attempt to counter some of the absurdities that he was coming out with. I chose the latter, with no success whatsoever. We never speak now. Sad, but I now know that this kind of tale has become extremely commonplace.
I mulled over the possible psychology behind his newfound stance, how he got there and so on, but it feels like it`s only possible to get so far with that tack. What does seem to be clearer though, is the effect. It`s a conversation killer par excellence. It seems that is the point. More than that, it`s a conversational power-grab. By being a conspiracist, you grab control of the reins of the conversation that you are in. You get either agreement (or maybe you get to `educate` the other), or you get people out of your life that may create the discomfort of any kind of challenge . Those who won`t go along with it will then usefully inhabit the “sheeple/enslaved ” role. Another thing about this, I guess is ,from a business point of view, eg if you are selling wellness products, this is a way of homing in on your potential customers . It`s like a stage hypnotist pre-testing his punters so as to ensure that only the best hypnotic subjects will be let into his show.
Either way, it`s about replacing the dialogical with the monological.
This process is key in cults, fascism, dictatorship, narcissism, celebrity, fame,advertising, hypnosis and unsurprisingly, conspirituality contains all these elements in abundance.
This is a very incisive observation, both in terms of the disembodiment (the loss of grounding in locality, with local gossip and the already established rituals and modes of a coffee shop, etc) and the collapse of conversation. I think about the latter all the time. When I did the podcast, I was very clear with myself that it wasn't really about the topics so much as modeling a way of talking and engaging, one that moves in the opposite direction of the thought leader, influencer, pundit or conspiracy ranter: into the mystery and curiosity of the other. Though I didn't go out of my way to get guests who had really different views than mine, I did celebrate a wide range of attitudes, partly because it forced me to keep supple and unattached to (most) views, not in a dumb relativist way or a non-engaged interviewer way, but as a fellow conversant open to glimpsing where the Other was coming from, and even being willing to change or let go of my own more familiar orientation -- or even to remain committed to certain values and truths while still engaging the other.
It seems so obvious to me that this is where the real action is, it blows me away that so many are running in an opposite direction: into totalizing belief systems, or absolute conviction, or militancy and politicized projection. At a time of such complexity, it should be obvious that we need to develop a complex mode of engaging the world and other people, and the obvious place to start is to develop these kinds of conversational skills.
And I really appreciate your emphasis on the "political economy" of the culture, how it is a form of attention dominance in an attention economy, a sell, a shill, a slight-of-hand. And the problem with discernment, or conversational skills, or the sort of meta-cognitive awareness capable of intelligently navigating between views doesn't "sell," and probably doesn't "sale," and doesn't seem like a particularly safe harbor. Convictions make convicts and the cells are everywhere.
Great stuff as always Erik!
I went on a mini binge of Rodney Ascher's work after the guys on the Weird Studies podcast did a feature on The Nightmare (which I loved). I'm looking forward to his latest...as you said, his editing is super clever and witty (One nerdy observation this designer appreciates is how he changes his production logo depending on the subject matter, eg., copping the Warner Bros. logo for the Kubrick doc).
Sidenote for Dr. D fans: Weird Studies has had him on a couple times and they namedrop him pretty frequently. Lots of crossover between Erik and the WS podcast.
I'm happy to hear My Psychedelic Love Story is out...been waiting for that one. I too have been finding solace in weird and wonderful docs, as well as pre-cellphone era films (which capture a simpler, slower life I long for). I'm especially enjoying revisiting oldies from Kubrick, Lynch, Cronenberg etc. The Dead Zone has some deep resonance with this particular moment, as does The Children of Men, both of which I think are 'perfect' films.
I always appreciate your recommendations, so keep 'em coming! Looks like we'll be in lockdown for the foreseeable future.
B
Yeah I love the Weird Studies kids, they are true peers and comrades. Plus I feel less guilty about not doing Expanding Mind knowing that they are around! I love the duo format too, and the way they symbiotically come together from their different angles.
I love Children of Men, both in terms of narrative and also in terms of film-making. That long take stuff is superb--and I love me an extended, moving, complicated long take. I haven't seen the Dead Zone in forever, I think I might add that to the very long feature list. Lately I have been trying to get back to older films rather than being sucked into contemporary TV series--they feel more substantial with much less time commitment! One I watched last Halloween that really resonated with Burning Shore in interesting ways was the 78 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Now they all seem like they were taken over by Facebook!
Oooh, IOTBS78. Haven't seen it, but anything with Donald Sutherland piques my interest. He's the most enigmatic Canadian actor. His "cocksucker" speech in the goofily fun The Undoing series was surprising and hilarious. I make my wife laugh all the time by mimicking his very mid-Century Canadian accent reciting the immortal words:
"But make no mistake. I am a cocksucker. And I don't mean that in the sense of gay belittlement, as it's currently come to be interpreted. No. I'm an old fashioned cocksucker. The more traditional kind. The kind who fucks over anyone who hurts me, or a loved one. You speak of ugliness Mr. Connaver. You have not yet met ugliness."
Brilliant! Haven't seen that scene before (and didn't know he was a Canuck even!). Here it is: https://www.facebook.com/SkyTV/videos/the-undoing-franklin-scene/831394964087368/ He says "cock" like "cuckold."
Definitely see the Kaufman Bodysnatchers sometime--it's a great meditation on late 70s San Francisco if nothing else, with some pretty esoteric references buried in there.
We just watched My Psychedelic Love Story...found it a wild and entertaining story, but ultimately very sad. Filing it away in my psychedelic-utopia/panacea-skepticism folder.
Yeah it's important to stick with the sadness, not as defeat but as part of the human story through it all.
Body Snatchers was GREAT. Genuinely creepy, smart and some awesome sound and cinematography. Loved Sutherland in it and thought Nimoys celeb psychiatrist was such a jerk.
Now, have you seen Black Narcissus? Watched it a couple weeks ago and can’t get some of those images out of my head. Maybe the best looking movie I’ve ever seen. And Deb Kerr...what an angel. Swoon.
Yeah I loved Black Narcissus, but I haven't seen it in a long long time. Body Snatchers is a total treat.
Haha, here's a YouTube link for his monologue: https://youtu.be/QCOMtmu2R1I
Hi Erick. You always give me interests to follow up on. I’ll be checking out Vice’s docu-drug series which I hadn’t heard of. Still going down Michael Judge rabbit holes surrounding his analysis of Bowie and the occult, which led me to Crowley and the tree of life. According to MJ, Bowie was attempting to short cut the path from the base to the pinnacle of the tree of life through the use of cocaine (he was not into psychedelics) but ended up realizing it was futile. More tendrils let me to the Golden Bough and the concept of man god or year king. I think Trump followers identify the strength and power of Trump with themselves. Just as primitive societies would kill the king if he got sick so his disease wouldn’t effect their prospects, Trump followers need to prop up his power in order to save themselves
Hey Bruce. It's good to go back to the Golden Bough. That that kind of armchair anthopology is pooh-poohed today (for good reason), and Frazer was a Western chauvinist, there is so much strange and marvelous lore in that book -- which also played an important role in modern neo-paganism. I am pretty sure MJ is right about Bowie in those years--I still dont think we have come to terms with how much cocaine mutated culture in the late 70s (also a subtheme of the Harcourt-Smith doc). And as for Trump followers: they identify with him, but also see him as a father-leader to defend at all costs. Like all values "loyalty" is a two-edged sword, and the fact that is found more often among folks on the right (as opposed to "justice" or "fairness," more liberal values) tells us something about the current conflict.