Some Animated Running By Yoh Yoshinari (吉成曜)

Fun Fact:

Humans have been astral planing a LOT longer than we thought.

Researchers analyzed hair strands from a burial site in Menorca and detected scopolamine, ephedrine and atropine. Atropine and scopolamine are naturally occurring substances in the nightshade plant family that cause hallucinations and altered sensory perception, while ephedrine is a stimulant taken from certain shrubs and pines that boosts excitement and physical activity. Before this discovery, we'd only found indirect evidence of psychedelic use in ancient cultures. The cave that the analyzed hair strands were taken from was first occupied around 1600 BCE and featured a chamber that was used as a funeral space until around 800 BCE. It's estimated that 210 individuals were laid to rest here, but only certain people had their hair dyed red, placed in containers and sealed in a chamber further back in the cave. We don't know what made these individuals so special that their hair had to be preserved but we are certain that a major psychedelic discovery was just made in Spain.

Everyone knows about the Salem Witch Trials, but have you ever heard of the European werewolf trials?

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, individuals across Europe, including countries like Switzerland, Germany and France were accused of lycanthropy, wolf-riding and wolf-charming (wolf-charming meaning they used magic to summon a pack of wolves to attack someone).

The most famous case of someone being charged with lycanthropy took place in 1598. German farmer Peter Stumpp was accused of using witchcraft to turn himself into a wolf and go on a killing spree that led to the deaths of two pregnant women and 14 children. The worst part is they said he ate his victims while in his wolf form. After being stretched out on the rack, Peter admitted to all of the accusations, said he'd been practicing magic since he was 12 years old and that he used a magical belt the devil gave him to take his wolf shape. After his admission, Peter was executed on the wheel where he was skinned alive, had his limbs broken, his head chopped off and his body burned.

Brazil by Terry Gilliam.

A good film, one that I felt was made exclusively for me. I was transformed upon first watching this. Brazil is an amazing masterpiece of a movie. Is it better than Blade Runner? ...Close.

Uncanny vibes, everything about it is freaky, every character in the film feels like they have this sinister agenda underneath this goofy facade, and it has an ending that's horrifyingly hopeless and really upset me upon first viewing. I was like, "Please, that is not the way it ended. Please no..." But I'm SO glad it ended like that, because apparently there was an alternate version where it ended happily. Forget that. It would not be as nearly as impactful if it didn't have that.

I should note that Terry Gilliam does this thing with fisheye lenses where he makes certain things in frame feel all the more close and intrusive to your personal space. The way he distorts the screen...say someone has a screwdriver or a syringe in their hand. It can really just bend around to really feel like it's about to get you. There's just something really intrusive about some of the visuals in this film.

Beautiful! ^^

Would you take a job as a professional hermit (also known as a garden hermit or ornamental hermit)? Yes, believe it or not, this was a real job in the Victorian era. In 18th and 19th century England, Scotland and Ireland, aristocrats placed ads like this in papers: "Wanted - Ornamental Garden Hermit". The profession required you to become a human ornamental folly on the grounds of a wealthy family estate whilst living in a cave or cottage, turret or hole, contemplating the human condition and enchanting the occasional passerby with your presence at the behest of the landowner. The less like a young English aristocrat you looked, the better. So they were often elderly men with long beards and loose clothes, resembling garden gnomes. Talk about a dream job! Who WOULDN'T want a gig like this? It's the Victorian equivalent of a Walmart greeter.

Blade Runner by Ridley Scott.

Based on Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

I'm a huge fan of this film, it's one of my favorite sci-fi movies of all time.

Blade Runner is simply one of those cinematic candies, that when I first saw it on Netflix, I never saw the world the same way again.

Check it out and feel the visual boundaries of cinema expand.

I love this shot.

When you look at sci-fi stories like Star Wars, especially, there's so much more to it than just the technology. It comes back to this idea of "the Force" which I think is based on a lot of Eastern philosophy and religious ideas of "you can either be on the dark side or the light side". It's kind of that Yin and Yang sort of look at energy as a whole. Star Wars has a second meaning to it.

I mean, George Lucas himself even admitted that Star Wars was an allegory for the Vietnam War, especially around Nixon trying to get reelected. He even mentions that democracies aren’t taken, they're given away. Though I also know that he also borrowed significantly from the legends of King Arthur.

I think there's a lot of meaning in sci-fi in general. It's a way to comment on our reality and our current situation through another lens. I think that's the beauty of sci-fi in general. It's also why I think the most recent Star Wars movies got negative reviews, because they were trying to tell Star Wars stories and not real-life stories.

It's a great reflection tool. If Star Wars is about Vietnam, then Dune is about the Middle East. Because Arrakis the planet = Iraq. Spice is the resource, oil is the resource. At the core of it, I think that's the whole point.

Fun Fact:

The Cheshire Cat was first introduced in Lewis Carroll's novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". The character was inspired by an old phrase "Smiling like a Cheshire cat". The origins of that phrase are still debated to this day, but the most widely accepted theory is that it refers to a cat living in the English county of Cheshire, which is known for producing a lot of milk and dairy, which cats love, hence the smiling. Carroll decided to personify the cat from that phrase, he gave it a physical form, a personality and magic powers. In the book, the cat doesn't play quite as large a role as he does in the Disney movie, but the two have very similar characteristics. They talk in really confusing ways that are sometimes funny but also kind of annoying, they raise philosophical questions to Alice even though she clearly doesn't understand them and while they sometimes appear to be making a situation worse for her, they're actually rooting for Alice to succeed and even are helping her indirectly.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (also known as Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter) by André Øvredal.

Based on "The Captain's Log", a chapter from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Gorgeous, lavish and vicious!!