May 15, 2012
Acid Western is a sub-genre of the Western film that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s that combines the metaphorical ambitions of top-shelf Westerns, like ‘Shane’ and ‘The Searchers,’ with the excesses of the Spaghetti Westerns and the outlook of the counter-culture. Acid Westerns subvert many of the conventions of earlier Westerns to ‘conjure up a crazed version of autodestructive white America at its most solipsistic, hankering after its own lost origins.’
The term ‘Acid Western’ was coined in 1996 by Jonathan Rosenbaum in a review of Jim Jarmusch’s film, ‘Dead Man.’ Rosenbaum expanded upon the idea in a subsequent interview with Jarmusch for ‘Cineaste’ and later in the book ‘Dead Man’ from BFI Modern Classics. In the book, Rosenbaum illuminates several aspects of this re-revisionist Western: from Neil Young’s haunting score to the role of tobacco, to Johnny Depp’s performance, to the film’s place in the acid-Western genre. Continue reading →
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May 15, 2012
Psychomagic is a therapeutic practice used by Chilean-French filmmaker and spiritual guru Alejandro Jodorowsky. The technique is alleged to be useful in psychotherapy. It combines art, Eastern philosophies (particularly Zen Buddhism), mysticism and modern psychotherapy to allegedly heal patients with emotional problems.
The principle relies on the belief that the unconscious mind takes a symbolic act as a fact. So a symbolic act could accordingly help solve some types of non rational conflicts. These acts are prescribed by the therapist after having studied the patient’s personality and family tree (Psychogenealogy).
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May 15, 2012
Panic Movement (‘Mouvement panique’) was a collective formed by Fernando Arrabal, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Roland Topor in Paris in 1962. Inspired by and named after Pan (Greek god of the wild), and influenced by Luis Buñuel and Antonin Artaud’s ‘Theatre of Cruelty,’ the group concentrated on chaotic and surreal performance art, as a response to surrealism becoming petite bourgeoisie.
The movement’s violent theatrical events were designed to be shocking, and to release destructive energies in search of peace and beauty. One four-hour performance known as ‘Sacramental Melodrama’ was staged in 1965 at the Paris Festival of Free Expression. The ‘happening’ starred Jodorowsky dressed in motorcyclist leather and featured him slitting the throats of two geese, taping two snakes to his chest and having himself stripped and whipped. Other scenes included ‘naked women covered in honey, a crucified chicken, the staged murder of a rabbi, a giant vagina, the throwing of live turtles into the audience, and canned apricots.’
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May 15, 2012
Alejandro [ali-hahn-dro] Jodorowsky [ho-dor-row-ski] (b. 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker and spiritual guru. Best known for his avant-garde films, he has been ‘venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts’ for his work which ‘is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation.’
Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe in 1947. After moving to Paris in the early 1950s he turned to cinema, directing the short film ‘Les têtes interverties’ in 1957. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. Continue reading →
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May 14, 2012
Shigeru Miyamoto [she-gay-roo mee-yah-moe-toe] (b. 1952) is a Japanese game designer and creator of ‘Donkey Kong,’ ‘Mario,’ and ‘The Legend of Zelda’ series for Nintendo. He is one of the most famous game designers in the world and is often called the father of modern video gaming.
His games give players many ways to play and explore, which was unique at the time. Miyamoto started working with Nintendo in 1977 as an artist when it was still a toy and playing-card company. In 1980, he designed ‘Donkey Kong,’ which was a big success. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of Kyoto inspired much of his later work. His other creations for Nintendo include ‘Star Fox,’ ‘F-Zero,’ and ‘Pikmin.’ Continue reading →
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May 14, 2012
Liquorice [lik-uh-rish] or licorice is the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra (a legume) from which a somewhat sweet flavor can be extracted. It is native to southern Europe and parts of Asia, and is not related to anise, star anise, or fennel, which are the sources of similar-tasting compounds. The word ‘liquorice’ is derived from the Greek ‘glukurrhiza’ (‘sweet root’).
The flavor of liquorice comes mainly from a sweet-tasting compound called anethole, an aromatic, unsaturated ether compound also found in anise, fennel, and several other herbs. Much of the sweetness in liquorice comes from glycyrrhizin, a compound 30 to 50 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). Continue reading →
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May 14, 2012
Thief in law, a ‘thief who operates within the law’ or ‘a criminal who obeys The Thieves’ Code”) is a criminal who is respected, has authority and a high ranking status within the criminal underworld in the old Soviet Union, Russia and the republics that formed the former Soviet Union. Thieves in law are the elite of the Russian world of organized crime.
According to various Russian news sources there exist hundreds of organized units which retain independence in their actions. Estimates concerning the number of ‘Vory’ throughout the world range from several hundred to over 10,000. Many of thieves in law are no longer exclusively ethnic Russians but are drawn from other nationalities, including those living in other former Soviet states or former Warsaw pact nations such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. Continue reading →
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May 14, 2012
Tattoos are commonly used among criminals to show gang membership and record the wearer’s personal history—such as his or her skills, specialties, accomplishments, and convictions. They are also used as a means of personal expression. Certain designs have developed recognized coded meanings. The code systems can be quite complex and because of the nature of what they encode, the tattoos are not widely recognized.
Tattooing is forbidden in most prisons. It is therefore done in secret, with makeshift equipment. For example, tattoos done in a Russian prison often have a distinct bluish color (due to being made with ink from a ballpoint pen) and usually appear somewhat blurred because of the lack of instruments to draw fine lines. The ink is often created from burning the heel of a shoe and mixing the soot with urine (for sterilization), and injected into the skin utilizing a sharpened guitar string attached to an electric shaver.
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May 14, 2012
Prison tattoos often signal gang membership, form a code, or have hidden meanings. However, due to the lack of proper equipment and sterile environments in prison, the practice poses health risks.
Tattooing in prison is illegal in the U.S., but inmates find ways to create their own tattooing devices out of their belongings. Improvised equipment is assembled from mechanical pencils, magnets, radio transistors, staples, paper clips, guitar strings, and other common items. Continue reading →
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May 14, 2012
Irezumi [ee-reh-zoo-mee] (literally ‘insert ink’) refers to the insertion of ink under the skin to leave a permanent, usually decorative mark; a form of Japanese tattooing. Tattooing for spiritual and decorative purposes in Japan is thought to extend back to the paleolithic period (approximately 10,000 BCE). Some scholars have suggested that the distinctive cord-marked patterns observed on the faces and bodies of figures dated to that period represent tattoos, but this claim is controversial. There are similarities, however, between such markings and the tattoo traditions observed in other contemporaneous cultures.
In the following Yayoi period (c. 300 BCE–300) tattoo designs were observed and remarked upon by Chinese visitors. Such designs were thought to have spiritual significance as well as functioning as a status symbol. Starting in the Kofun period (300–600) tattoos began to assume negative connotations. Instead of being used for ritual or status purposes, tattooed marks began to be placed on criminals as a punishment (this was mirrored in ancient Rome, where slaves were known to have been tattooed with mottoes such as ‘I am a slave who has run away from his master’). The Ainu people, the indigenous people of Japan, are known to have used tattoos for decorative and social purposes, but there is no known relation to the development of irezumi. Continue reading →
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May 14, 2012
Dimethoxybromoamphetamine (DOB), also known as Brolamfetamine and Bromo-DMA, is a psychedelic drug and substituted amphetamine of the phenethylamine (a neurotransmitter abundant in chocolate) class of compounds (e.g. MDMA). DOB was first synthesized by American pharmacologist Alexander Shulgin in 1967. In his book ‘PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story,’ Shulgin lists the dosage range as 1 to 3 mg, which is generally taken orally. According to Shulgin, the effects of DOB last 18 to 30 hours. Onset of the drug is also long, sometimes taking up to three hours. The toxicity of DOB is not fully known, although high doses may cause serious vasoconstriction of the extremities.
DOB has been sold on blotter paper (and presumably represented as LSD). Misrepresentation as LSD could be potentially dangerous, as DOB does not have the known safety profile of LSD: unlike LSD, DOB can have physically harmful (if not fatal) effects in overdose. Upon tasting the chemical, if one notices a highly bitter or ‘chemically’ taste, this should serve as a warning sign that the drug is not LSD, but likely a psychedelic amphetamine (DOB, DOC, DOI, or Bromo-DragonFLY). However, blotter paper may have a taste regardless of the chemical on it, due to ink or solvent used.
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May 14, 2012
The Integratron is a dome-shaped structure built by American ufologist George Van Tassel in Landers, California. Van Tassel was a former aircraft mechanic and flight inspector who moved to the Mojave Desert to operate an airport and inn. During his time there, he supposedly began meditating under Giant Rock, which the Native Americans of the area held to be sacred. In 1953, he claimed that he had been contacted both telepathically and later in person by Venusians, who gave him a technique to rejuvenate human cell tissues. Acting on these instructions, he began constructing the Integratron in 1954. Construction costs were paid for by an annual UFO convention, the ‘Giant Rock Spacecraft Conventions,’ which continued for nearly 25 years (Howard Hughes was a contributor). Van Tassel was clearly inspired by earlier 1950s contactee George Adamski.
Following Van Tassel’s death in 1978, the building was owned by a series of individuals (and was left in various states of disrepair) before being purchased by sisters Joanne, Nancy, and Patty Karl in the early 2000s. The sisters now promote The Integratron as an ‘acoustically perfect structure’ and say that it is currently being ‘explored in the areas of Science, Architecture, Neuroacoustics, Music, Energy healing, Alternative health and Spirituality.’ The building is currently open to the public at select times, with the sisters regularly performing ‘sound baths’ (meditation-like sessions accompanied by tones from quartz bowls) at certain points during the week.
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