Artist Andy Diaz Hope uses UV treatments on gelatin pill capsules to create his astounding pill mosaics. The diligent industrial designer begins the meticulous process by first digitally photographing locations and people and then inserting the imprints into the pills, piece by piece. Andy was kind enough to give us exclusive insight into his process: “The images are photographs that I print multiple times and then cut into a grid of squares which I roll and put into the capsules and press closed. The pills are then placed to recreate the image in a grid of capsules. The UV coatings are clear and used to preserve and protect the gelatin of the capsules.”
Ken Kesey’s First LSD Trip Animated | Open Culture
Back in 1959, Ken Kesey, then a grad student in Stanford’s creative writing program, started participating in government-sponsored medical research that tested a range of hallucinogens — LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and the rest. As part of the research project, Kesey spoke into a tape recorder and recounted the ins-and-outs of his hallucinations. These tapes were eventually stored away, and Kesey went on to write One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a book that now sits on TIME’s list of the 100 Best English-Language Novels since 1923.
A half century later (and ten years after Kesey’s own death), the LSD tapes live again. This week, the filmmaker Alex Gibney will release Magic Trip, a new documentary that revisits Kesey’s fabled road trip across America with the Merry Pranksters and their psychedelic “Further” bus. (Tom Wolfe, you might recall, famously covered this trip with The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, published in 1968.) Taken from the new film, the sequence above mixes the rediscovered tapes with some artful animation, and it captures the whole mood of Kesey’s first trip …
via Open Culture
“As you can imagine, regular practice of synchronized swimming is a great way to maintain health and strength — and a great way to meet active and fun women! We have many members who have had arthritis, joint replacements, and other health challenges — and they stay active with the Aquadettes.” — Leisure World
Margo Bouer is seventy five and has been an Aquadette for over fifteen years. A film by Drea Cooper & Zackary Canepari
Synopsis |
Can a sacred plant from the Amazon heal our minds and spirits? For centuries, indigenous people of South America have used ayahuasca, a psychoactive plant medicine, to cure all manner of psycho-spiritual ills. Today, thousands of Westerners, seeking healing and spiritual awakening, attend ayahuasca ceremonies around the world to drink the vision-inducing tea and experience dramatic transformations in their lives. “Vine of the Soul” is a documentary that explores this brave new world, offering insights into the nature of faith, mystical experience and self-healing through a heightened state of consciousness. Filmmaker Richard Meech follows key protagonists as they journey to Peru – and back home – capturing in verité style both the life-altering epiphanies and nights of terror encountered after drinking the sacred brew. Is ayahuasca a doorway to direct knowledge of the divine or a path that leads to psychological trauma? Can it cure modern addictions to drugs and alcohol or is ayahuasca itself a possible substance of abuse? Some people call it a medicine, others a sacrament; the Amazonian shamans say it is simply a ‘plant teacher’ that tells you what you need to know. Throughout the film, in-depth interviews with Peruvian and Canadian shamans, ethnobotanist Dennis McKenna, addiction expert Dr. Gabor Maté and scholar Kenneth Tupper speak to the increasing use of ayahuasca outside the Amazon and the potential benefits for Western medicine, personal spiritual growth and a new understanding of nature. Featuring Guillermo Arévalo, Metsa Niwue and Ronin Niwe. Shot on location at Espíritu de Anaconda near Iquitos, Peru and at other locations in North America. |
Jeremy Narby – The Cosmic Serpent, DNA, Knowledge & Intelligence in Nature
Brought to you by Red Ice Creations
and DNA
We have anthropologist and author Jeremy Narby with us today from Switzerland who back in 1999 released the book “The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge”, in 2006 “Intelligence in Nature” was released and he talks with us about his research and anthropological work in the Peruvian Amazon, living next to the Quirishari and studying the source of their knowledge about plants. We talk about DNA, the roots of knowledge, intelligence in nature, communication with the entities beyond this world from deep within, experiences on Ayahuascha, difference in cultures and more. Topics Discussed: Ayaschanica People, Ayahuasca, Quirishari, Carlos Perez Shuman, Visionary Journeys, Anthopology, Visions, Art of Scientific Investigation, Computer, Origins of Knowledge, Francis Crick, LSD, Double Helix Structure, The Realm of Visions, Molecular intelligence, Serpent Symbolism, Coding System of Genes, Biospheric DNA Television, Ayahuasca DMT, di methyl-tryptamine, Datura, Dreamworld, Modification of Consciousness, Studying the Cosmos, Avatar, Shamanism.
Art: Amaruspirit
The famed Dock Ellis LSD-no hitter, with narration by Dock himself.
Animation by James Blagden
via pitchers & poets
hat tip Poetry Hut Blog