JonCrow

The same guy who did the Dune series also did the Command & Conquer series. I also liked alot of world game music in RPG's. Here is some from an excellent game that I used to play called Shining Force by Sega. http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo9bgGbK_lA Shining Force 2 also had great compositions. Both Shining Force games were on the Mega Drive. With a third in the series coming out on the Sega Saturn. I have them all still in a cupboard back at my parents place. Haven't played them in 15 or so years. http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ieuy5z2r43E Jon =)

This is a game I played heaps of that had some cool tracks, Dune 2: Battle for Arrakis on Mega-Drive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEIA5s2ej2U&feature=related And a 2-D Shooter called Thunderforce 2 that was also on the Mega-Drive. It had an techno/electro-rock soundtrack that was very memorable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_9E2MfD5s0&feature=related

Extreme G, Wipeout and Castelvania all had great soundtracks. Here's some epic underwater ambient from a game called Ecco the Dolphin that I used to play on the Sega Mega Drive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-ti2_KZr-Q If you listen all the way through there's heaps of quality and variety in this Contra/Probotector Medley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HslRqaGWep4

I wasn't liking it. I stopped at 40 minutes in. Thought it was fairly empty and uninteresting. Jonny Depp has done way too many off-the-wall characters, Sweeney Todds, Wonkas, Mad Hatters, for fucks sake. He should have stopped at Scissorhands and diversified more with the type of character roles he chooses to develop his damn career!

If I needed a soundtrack to watch my life flash before my eyes, high speed and in reverse, I'd consider this for the job.

I like the crappy original. Yes it's cumbersome, stiff and slightly incoherant in parts. But in some ways it's also very surreal and captures the otherwordly spirit effectively, especially if you watch it on grainy VHS like the copy that I have. There are some good vibes, costumes, sets and musical pieces.

Love it. The cinematography, theme, pacing, soundtrack, era, but especially for his character. I Love the way he speaks, it reminds me quite a bit of Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith in "The Matrix".

I remember some 2-D scrolling shooters having some pretty good tracks in the background. Same with survival horror games like Silent Hill. Heaps of the sounds are homogenous and for me personally when I listen to a psytrance track, whether modern or classic, I've heard many of the sounds and some arrangements before in the 80's and mid-90's when I was playing video games. Also have heard many of the same sounds in cartoons of that era . I really don't know much about sound engineering, history and development of MIDI controllers, PC Speaker, Keyboards, stand-alone synths or the complete history of electronic sound and music but here is a cool link to http://120years.net/ which seems to catalogue 120 years of electronic synthesisers. I don't know how good or accurate that list is but it would be interesting to hear some of the stuff from around 1900. Wonder what sort of melodies, vibrations and atmospheres they had happening. Jon

I think video games played a large parallel role in the development of electronic music, psytrance included. Video games from their earliest times have often had ambient and electronic tracks, scores and sounds both as back and foreground. Many video game themes and cultures relate to psytrance and electronica. Sci-fi, horror, space and heaps of other fantastic and artistic concepts. Many electronic music artists and listeners would have been inspired by video games from their youth. The 8 and 16-bit/32-bit/Arcade/PC eras were my favourite for playing video games. I remember heaps of those games had ambient electronic tracks in the background. I've also noticed that some people who really don't like electronica as sound/music have also never played video games. When they describe electronic music they say it just sounds like a load of blips and bleeps and not real sound/music. I'm not therefore saying that playing games is definitely a prerequisite for enjoying electronic music. Anyone agree, disagree or have any observations to add?

Cool! I'm a fan of what little I've heard of this album. Here is a link to some time-lapse footage of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano taken by a guy called Sean Stiegemeier with a shortened version of the Jonsi track off this album, Kolnidur. Hope someone enjoys it! Jon

Was playing: Now playing:

Ordered first 4 from Wirikuta. Psyfactor from Saikosounds. Dunno how fast Wirikuta will be delivering the EvsY Cd's but Psyfactor should be here towards the end of next week. Very excited about EvsY! Really liked the few samples I indulged in. Anyone wanna take care of the rest of my psycho Saiko wishlist?

If we go by your definition of a psychotic film then I'm pretty sure we agree on what we're talking about The other type of film, the B-grade slasher, horrific shock, mutilation, deranged concept was, I believe, the inspiration for Skyclan having started this thread. Earlier in the thread, I just wanted to know, aside from enjoying the film, how does he find that style of film inspiring. What feelings go along with this inspiration? He might have just been mucking about with words and throwing them round flippantly, or if not I just wanted to hear about it. Maybe even to learn something, who knows. What are your aspirations in life if this is inspirational? I also said that I found some of this gratuitous imagery unnecessary and a waste. I agree that it's entertaining and a part of me can't drag myself from watching. It's a lot of twisted fun. Another part of me feels it's a total waste of precious time. These images resonate for a very long time after and some may say are stored in certain areas of the mind forever whether we conciously know it or not. What aspect or aspects of the human primal being could they be stimulating in some people's psychology? To engage in this imagery is to waste some of mind's fantastic potential by feeding it poor mental food imo. There's enough shit in the mind and world to deal with already. I don't know whether you've ever tried any hallucinogens but one aspect of them can be that if you watch something or play a video game then you can be drawn into the world of the game or movie. You can actually feel what's happening vivdly on the screen as being yourself. You and it are one. Hallucinogen facilitation aside, I believe and have experienced this as a natural aspect of the mind itself or mind as being reality itself. The more the psychology is refined, unified, developed, focused and completed, the more powerful it gets, but also much more sensitive to harmony and balance, so knocks and jolts like viewing imagery such as this can be a little confronting. Think of how easily a bad trip can be triggered when the mind is ultra-sensitive and under the influence of LSD or mushrooms. It's all about set and setting and this rings true for our mind in any state of being, it really doesn't take a hallucinogenic compound to work this out. I personally take this whole mind thing pretty seriously, and for good reason, because it's the world for us. It's crucial to work with it as constructively as possible. Some aspects of this mind are incredibly delicate, fine and subtle, much too beautiful and sacred to poke at it with a demented stick and laugh for sheer kicks. P.S. Go ahead and have your fun with deranged flicks and maybe some mushroom tea, I might be reading this about YOU next week. Jking

Nice post. I think you had a better definition of psychotic in your mind before this thread began than I did. I've got a few ideas for a semi-reply but if I get started now I'll be late for work. There's a horrible and wonderful aspect to words and definitions in that you can split hairs over them for seemingly endless time. If you've got people whom you can do this with and the parties involved don't get defensive or offensive it can be very constructive. Baraka is by poorly-pigeon-holed definition a documentary, in that it's factual imagery that's taken place, but it really is much more than that. The images have been arranged in a certain way. It transcends that documentary definition somewhat. I hope you get the chance to see it and it's companions as I think you'd enjoy it alot. It's pretty (and) psychotic. Jon

Well to give a short answer. Definition of psychotic is: "characterized by or afflicted with psychosis" and definition of psychosis is: "a mental disorder characterized by symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations, that indicate impaired contact with reality". I'd say our modern culture or at least aspects of it has immature and impaired contact with reality through lack of understanding/ignorance. So depending on a cultures lack of breadth, depth and balance/harmony of vision then if a film or presentation is inline with and to varying degrees if that film perpetuates that lack then it has an element or elements of psychosis. The better films you're talking about often try to address this lack of balance etc and stimulate a lesser state of psychosis. Something like say Baraka(This is a presentation of various world imagery with sound and music) extends much further outside of the box, by saying much less specifically it ends up saying much more, is much less on cultural rails, and more fully transcends culture and is more open to interpretation that's dependant on the individuals capacity, to a degree. Sorry if this post is a little muddled. It's 5 in the morning.

Your first list of films I personally don't consider to be psychotic at all. It's obviously very subjective of course. In fact nowadays I find some of them fairly tame and ordinary as far as mental concepts go. Your second list I absolutely love and have seen them all many times. After coming back from my very first non-sectarian meditation retreat many years ago I remember watching a film where a dude "just" got shot and bloody hell it slammed me. I'd seen this thousands of times before. Made me wonder very deeply about desensitisation. I started playing a First Person Shooter recently where I had to shoot a guy who was sleeping in his bed and I really didn't want to do it. I NEVER said to ignore the darker aspects of our being, it's incredibly important to be completely aware of all of that side to oneself and bring it all into the light of bare awareness and understanding as completely as is possible for transmutation. It's fantastic food for growth, but do we need to add to our own voluminous material in a senseless way through unnecescary but addictive and pointless media for the sake of getting a kick? The west is great at stuffing all this negative personal shit under the rug, perhaps that's why it comes through vicariously in our media, as an outlet. So long as it's out there, seemingly outside and seemingly away it's "OK" though, but don't dare look at it inside of you and claim responsibility, how scary. Look at how many people would crumble or be incredibly bored or traumatised if forced to be in their own mental company for a week with no other people, drugs, books and magazines, TV's or screens to keep their minds occupied. All the shit can start coming to the surface for a party. There's an incredible ammount of personal energy, empathy and potential for growth by bringing full-awareness and even meditation/contempletion to these darker areas. Dwelling on them without balance or hiding it is to stand still or recede somewhat. The type of psychotic film I was pitching my earlier comments toward were films with maiming, gore, torture and senseless graphic imagery. Drills, saws, hooks etc applied to the human body, that sort of thing. Putting babies in microwaves, appendages slowly immersed in deep fryers, skullfucking old men and women after sledgehammering some puppies. These films with no form of philosophical backing or balance to the film other than how far can we shock you and how much of this imagery can I take in and feel it's OK, this is art, inspiration? In fact a few years ago when my conciousness was at an earlier stage of development I watched some of this stuff in highly sensitive altered states and while I was fine with it, it just seemed like a massive waste of human potential, mental potential and a waste of the wonder and beauty that is conciousness, especially as this mind matter, that everyone shares, is broadened, deepened, balanced, sensitised and has risen above/transcended or transmutated the beastial and selfish/egoic tendencies. I'm not talking about cliched hippy new age peace and love spirituality here I'm talking about the potential for development and refinement that's inherent in every single mind through very simple training, aspiration, recognising our responsibility and right view. The reward is an increase in power and ability to conciously do and be free and naturally sharing of this gift with others. It takes huge ammounts of effort. Just as much as it takes to become an award winning physicist, some get by easier than others, but far out is it worth it, this is the lens we view everything through and it's all too often wasted, stuffed into the corner or put into slavery. Jon

I'm sorry for mentally masturbating myself like a fool in your thread Skyclan. I just want you to know that at no point was I attacking, judging or assuming anything about your character. I was just messing round a bit and my post kept getting bigger and bigger. I kind of hate writing as I can counter all of my own points of view and usage of terminology to the point where it sometimes keeps me up at night. haha I'll try and leave it right there for now unless someone else picks it back up, at which point, now, I apologise in advance for potentially responding like a neurotic and overly verbose reality-geek. Jon =)

I completely agree and will try and elaborate more once I get into work. I just had a bit of a post typed out and pressed the wrong button. Requiem is balanced and poignant in it's portayal. It's a great film. Some of these other films use shock and gore without a sense of balance. I've done extensive work on the dark side of psychology and it's fantastic and incredibly functional, very necessary! Hence why I said that the beast must be acknowledged in my opinion to ultimately be refined, not dwelt upon. A friend of mine has schizophrenia and I would love to see him be able to work through his heavy darker elements in an arena of better psychological understanding and without the social stigma and drug suppression In my last post I was just messing around and exaggerating my point of view to get to the bottom of using a word like INSPIRATION for some of the imagery and delivery present in some of these films that Skyclan is posting. For me inspiration is a massive word and reality with very deep and far reaching connotations. For now I've got to travel on the freeway during peak traffic for an hour. There's some psychotic and twisted shit right there. Jon

Well, good sir, please explain to me how you find this or this sort of movie INSPIRING. Can you tell me what sort of feeling you get inside when viewing psychotic imagery? How would you feel showing and explaining some of these concepts to a child under the age of 10? Say if your mother was on her deathbed and you had the choice to either show her a movie like this or some scenes from nature, which would you show her for inspiration? What about then your own deathbed? Deathbed aside, what does that say about what one should be immersed in or focus on in their life right now. What is it about shock and gore and twisted depravity that is inspiring? Does it make you feel more alive, stimulated? Are you exploring your inner beast? I'm ok with the inner beast but I don't think it's to be excessively dwelt upon. Acknowledged and explored as something to be refined. In modern society I find a lot of humans are desensitized, numb. So you might need something like this to help you feel awake? "Liking" something disturbing, does it help you feel different from the societal herd, cool? I hope I'm not insulting and if I am I sincerely apologise. I understand that everything is subjective including usage of the word, interpretation and experience of what constitutes as disturbing etc. I feel aspects of this theme can be counter-intuitive to the warmth of basic life-principles. If it is our goal to become better human beings, able to help our fellow humans and homeland to leading better existences, how does this contribute as inspiration? If, to some degree, we understand how nature works, how does this contribute to the evolutionary process that we're able to engage with and facilitate conciously? Perhaps I'm too presumptuous and projective here of my own beliefs and most likely being pompous and/or going into too much depth (I may as well for the hell of it). But if you had to help another human being or aspect of nature in your life, and I mean really help, can you tell me how this would contribute as inspiration to either yourself or them? My response here isn't deadly serious, the internet and these forums and the nature of enjoying music and movies is generally a light-hearted affair. I'm just posting this because I have nothing better to do and can do so. Sorry to get all heavy-handed (worded) and PSYCHOTIC on you. Jon

I find it pretty average so far, good in parts, a bit inconsistent. The first track on the album I don't like so much and that doesn't help. I reminded myself today to start the album from track 2 next time I give it a go. At this point I much prefer his latter work as Perfect Stranger. Warranted, I've only listened to this album twice and both times I've interrupted it to put another CD on. Today I was too excited to get Hedonix in my player so I wasn't willing to give old BLT a chance. I've not written it off just yet as albums never cease to surprise me another day, another time, when I'm in a different space.

I ordered the book this week to read it before viewing this film. My partial training manuals for the coming apocalypse.