Since 2010, a team of self-described “psychedelic video aficionados” have posted a video a day on their aptly-named blog, The Daily Psychedelic Video. They write: “These videos can take you on very deep journeys, but only if you allow them the proper time and attention. Watching these videos when you’re randomly browsing the web in the middle of your working day is very different to watching them in your free time, relaxed, on a big screen, with a good set of speakers/earphones, and spliff in your hand.” They blog also offers an intellectual treatise on psychedelic aesthetics.
Here are a few of from their list of “Best Videos”:
The fractals created by the birds in the sky can sometimes be more beautiful than anything ever created with the flashiest CGI effects. (Original post on The Daily Psychedelic Video).
Baltimore rapper Rye created this hyper-psychedelic and fun version of Vengaboy’s Boom Boom. (Original post on The Daily Psychedelic Video)
An exquisite work of meditative psychedelia, Thomas Blanchard’s memories of paintings delves into microscopic bubble universes and finds endless infinitesimal detail in the interactions between paint, oil, oat milk and soap. (Original post on The Daily Psychedelic Video).
Cyriak, the web’s mad genius of consciousness-altering visuals, deconstructs 1950s style visuals and creates a complex swirling web of hypnotic disorientation. (Original post on The Daily Psychedelic Video).
A 2016 animation by Bang Sangho about the trascendental chaotic visionary infinite beauty of global evolution. Or whatever. It is short enough and there is a didgeridoo in the accompanying soundtrack.
Bang Sangho 방상호 bangsangho.com Music < Marlow – Kaffee Türkisch feat. Thomas Prestin – SOnar Kollektiv > marlow.de
Check out the PsychedSubstance YouTube channel. It offers opinionated and educational advice on a variety of psychedelic-related topics. Below is one on “trip killers”, exploring methods to end what the narrator describes as a “stuck in a nightmare trip” vibe.
When should you take a trip killer? Preferably never. A bad trip can unlock a door and show us secretive aspects of our personality or psyche or things that we need to heal in our life. It shows us things we need to work on…
Psychedsubstance youtube channel
A few other trip killing reasons not mentioned in this video for those who aren’t all in on the psychonaut gung-ho ethos: (1) you just need to go to bed because you now have responsibility tomorrow; or (2) your trip just has lonely sharp edges.
In this Vice animated tale, the narrator takes us on the story of her first LSD experience.
Ah, the reason that I felt so uneasy was more to do with my environment and state of mind that I had going into the experience and less to do with the acid itself.
One of my favorite past-times is scavenging the Internet Archive for open-use footage of old films, home movies, advertisements, corporate training videos, etc., and editing them along to music. This one is for a friend’s now-defunct band, Tumble Dry. The song is SXYMTN.
For many (regardless of if they realize it), watching a PBS Joy of Painting with Bob Ross episode is akin to ego loss — an individual who during each “class” seemed utterly selfless, calming, soothingly optimistic, brilliant without needing credit, purely present with each moment.
Now that Ross has passed, his family and friends manage his estate. Their inventory includes 1000s of his paintings worth probably millions. Interestingly and anti-capitalistically, they don’t sell his work because, “that isn’t what Bob would want” (they do sell art supplies and classes). In fact, the employees claim selling his works hasn’t even crossed their minds. This short New York Times documentary is compelling:
A few interesting Bob Ross facts, via Biography.com:
Ross was in the Air Force. While stationed in Alaska the majestic mountains became inspiration for his paintings. Postcards also proved inspirational, as his later home on Florida offered very different scenery than Ross’s artistic focus.
Artist William Alexander had a painting show before Ross. The two eventually worked together and Ross became the heir apparent. Ross describes Alexander as a mentor/teacher, and at one point Alexander was filmed symbolically handing his brush to Ross. Reportedly, the two had a falling out as Ross became successful.
Ross’s popularity can perhaps be primarily attributed to his pleasant voice, at least more so shan his artistic teaching. Few viewers actually paint along with Ross (although some do).
His line of paints has proved financially successful, even today, twenty years afters his passing. The provide the primary revenue stream for his legacy company, Bob Ross Inc.
Ross was missing a finger, from a woodworking accident in his youth.
Ross’s afro-ish-hairstyle had its roots in fiscal-responsibility — it was originally a perm so as to require fewer haircuts. As his show became popular and his hairstyle became his signature, he grew to dislike it but kept it due to its marketability. In his later years, he wore a Ross-style wig as he went through cancer treatment.
The Life of Death, an hand-drawn animated short by Dutch filmmaker Marsha Onderstijn. It is about “the day Death fell in love with Life” and explores the perspectives of death as beautiful and natural.