----- Original Message ----- From: "-<(::jason::)>
Very interesting: "Initially, most users observe something akin to a perpetually metamorphosing Persian rug. Within 10 to 15 minutes, entoptic effects are likely to segue into a series of cinematic images, as the brain struggles to find a semblance of order in an otherwise endless, abstract chaos. During this process, one enters lucid dreaming." Sounds pretty cool! :-) I guess William S. Burroughs was way big on these things.
Yes, hello. Is this machine recording? http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/39/39_images/wsb_dream.jpg
Here's the artist who makes them:
Actually, they were discovered by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville. Here to go: http://fusionanomaly.net/dreammachine.html Making plans: http://www.brainwashed.com/h3o/dreamachine/dreamac.html "I have made a simple flicker machine. You look at 'it with your eyes shut and the flicker plays over your eyelids. Visions start with a kaleidoscope of colors on a plane in front of the eyes and gradually become more complex and beautiful, breaking like surf on a shore until whole patterns of color are pounding to get in. After awhile the visions were permanently behind my eyelids and I was in the middle of the whole scene with limitless patterns being generated around me. There was an almost unbearable feeling of spatial movement for a while but It was well worth getting through for I found that when it stopped I was high above the earth in a universal blaze of glory. Afterwards I found that my perception of the world around me had increased very notably. All conceptions of being dragged or tired had dropped away..." I made a "machine" from his ensuing description and added to it an interior cylinder covered vith the type of painting I have developed in the three years since my first flicker experience. Flicker may prove to be a valid instrument of practical psychology: some people see and others do not. The DREAMACHINE, with it's patterns visible to the open eye, induces people to see. The fluctuating elements of flickered design support the development of autonomous "movies", intensely pleasurable and, possibly, instructive to the viewer. What is art? What is color? What is vision? These old questions demand new answers when, in the light of the DREAMACHINE one see all of ancient and modern abstract art with eyes closed. From: Brion Gysin, "DREAMACHINE"" Bright Lights, Big Flicker: http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/39/cutups3.htm "Also appearing in the film are early flicker experiments courtesy of Gysin's "dream machine" (1962), a flicker machine that when viewed with eyelids closed reproduces alpha-rhythm flicker and reputedly causes 360-degree fractal hallucinations without the use of chemical stimulants. There is also a scene in which Burroughs' friend Mickey Portman dances around in a comic, music-hall fashion, and looks up to the sky to see a dancing series of pink and blue dots. These were hand-painted by Balch onto clear leader for each print of the film. An important section of the film is the actual "cut-up" sequence. Filmed on a quayside in Paris, this sequence is the first filmic example of the cut-ups, and it lasts around 30 seconds. Initially Burroughs is seen walking along the quayside, and the original linear footage has been rearranged into a mathematically precise cutting ratio at 12 frames (or two cuts per second). This reveals arbitrary cutting with regard to what is happening in the sequence in terms of content motivation, but a mathematical "structure" can be deduced by the cut every 12 frames. The sequence goes on to become more frenetic, culminating in a cyclical segment (or loop) in which each frame is different and imperceptible (reminding one of sections of Man with a Movie Camera)." seek