Suggestions from the Masses
2) Speaking from experience, I know that while tripping even looking at
a piece of graph paper can entertain for hours, but I was hoping I could
help create a mood at this Acid-Test that would help heighten the experience.
I already have the music - the Orb, possibly Pink Floyd, maybe some techno
if we feel really energetic... but I was wondering what sort of visuals and
toys would be great (and really cheap, too). I already have Fractint as a
possibility, as well as a number of computer screen-drawers such as
O-My-God. I also know from experience that TV can be a really jarring
experience, but I was thinking maybe there might be something that I
could rent that would flip some lids, like a David Lynch film or something.
Remember, the keyword is cheap, household, etc....
Replies:
----
cheap toys? we got a whole closet of them...k-mart is a mecca of fun..
here's just a quick list--
64 box of crayons and big sheets of paper
finger paitns
slime
kaledioscopes
dragon lenses
pinwheels
bubbles
tinfoil (crinkle it up and see what the wrinkles form)
sponge cubes painted with fluorescent paint
books of optical illusions
a ball of yarn unravelled (fun to get tangeld up in)
whipped cream (fun to stick your fingers in)
shiny junk jewelry
patterned clothing (paisely, tie dye, etc)
black light bulb
[bubbles worked well, so did crayons. We got flourescent markers and
crayons and went nuts (he had brought a flourescent lamp)]
food is important too....you get the munchies and it's fun to play with--
[One of my friends couldn't taste a thing, while the other was going nuts
over the bubbles in a glass of Sprite.]
music--
the orb is good [YES YES YES YES!!!]
klf-- chill out [Not bad, it's good when you're coming down]
anything by negativeland [A little rough for us; too choppy]
soundtrack to the last temptation of christ (passion by peter gabriel)
childhood records- mr rogers, sesame street,e tc
movies-- depending on your attention span...this weekend i nearly went
edgyand whiny because fantasia was sooooo long
the grinch who stole x-mas
the mind's eye-- a video availiable at raedio shack and blockbuster taht
is computer generated graphics
[Mind's Eye was GREAT!!! It's a nonstop medley of computer video images;
not talking heads going on and on about their new piece of SGI equipment.
Very flowing, lots of movement, which was great.]
tapes of collected very old cartoons (ones from the 50s are great)
[Ren and Stimpy was SCARY.] [As usual.]
children's movies
don't get the wall or anything depressing or that has death...everyone will
be very upset
----
My advice: Avoid Pink Floyd
No, I'm not flaming the music. I like the music.
However, I find much of it to be quite depressing.
Not the type of thing to screw with on acid.
----
My main advice would be to make it less a pre-planned, psych. lab
type of experience. If they feel like going outside, get 'em up to
Tilden Park to look at the stars. Or just turn the lights off and
let them focus on their own thoughts; if you're bombarded with
sensory input, you often don't have the focus to make the kind of
intellectual insights that are the real value of an acid trip.
Also, don't make it too serious. The oddest things can be
deleriously funny on acid. I once spent a half an hour dosed with
friends listening to a muzak station on the radio and cackling
hilariously. All those saccharine trivializations of rock songs
(Stairway to Heaven) seem so much more absurd.
----
Toys: K-Mart has, in the party section, six packs of various fun things
for kids. Most of them make good trip toys as well. My favorite is
a set of different lenses that look like dragonfly eyes etc, and make
multiple images. Another fun thing is diffraction glasses. You look
goofy, but there are neat effects you can see with them while tripping.
Rentals: Two recommendations, _The Mind's Eye_ (should be able to get from
blockbuster) and _Fantasia_. I also have some Psychic TV videos, but they
are hard to find and expensive.
Computer stuff: Fractint is good, but can get boring, because it's so
complex and you have to do lots of stuff to make it look interesting.
Something simpler, like the Satori portion of After Dark (a screen saver)
would be better.
Music: the KLF is excellent, especially things like _Chill Out_. Other
ambient house (like the Orb) would be good. The newest Orb single is
excellent trip music, but will run you over $20, since it's an import.
[The Blue Room is BEAUTIFUL. Towers of Dub seemed as little too choppy for
us. Acid house and more creative Techno (Orbital, Give Peace a Dance Vol.
2 and 3, Hypnotone's album) worked great.]
----
A cheap toy that's a guaranteed winner:
Get a bowl, fill it half full or so with corn starch or
potato starch; add water until the starch is all wet, but
don't make it too watery. This makes a VERY weird
substance that will freak you out cold sober. Give it
to your pals when they start to peak, and they won't
believe it.
[Didn't get to try this.]
----
Let me see... _The Mind's Eye_ is a computer animation video that you can
get at Radio Shack (ack!), which a lot of my friends tripped to last
semester. I was high on life at the time (:-) but it was really cool.
Other toys that I like: candles, mini-maglights (a type of flashlight,
indispensible), kaleidoscopes, koosh-balls, any sort of stone with intricate
patterns, Fractint (now that you mentioned it, it is great, but have the
.gifs ready, generating on the fly is too slow for me), bubbles, especially
the huge ones.
Of course, you never know what some people will like. That same night, I
had people feeling my hair, and going nuts over a cafeteria style cup.
HMMMM...
My personal favorite though, is nature. Trees, shrubs, the sky, stars,
flowers... get outside if there is a nice (harmless) environment to wander
though. School is great for me, we have 6 campuses together, and a few of
them are beautiful.
Write back with any other responses you get, or the results of your friends'
trips. Oh, one awesome piece of listening - Negativeland! Truly bizarre,
take my word on it. Designed with LSD in mind I would believe. Not really
music, just sound effects with weird dialogs, if I remember right. Check it
out!
----
Have yet to try LSD, but if you're looking for mind-fucking movies, then
definitely Lynch's Eraserhead is a major idea. Or Jacob's LAdder.
[I wasn't EVEN going to try this. I've seen Jacob's Ladder. You don't
need to be on anything to get the wind knocked out of you by this film.]
[Thumbs down!]
----
Don't rent a David Lynch film. While I am a D.L. fan, I do not
reccomend him on acid. I watched Wild at Heart while coming down, and
the violence really bothered me.
[Agreed. And basically trying to follow ANY plot becomes difficult.]
----
Set and setting. Your main job, I think, will be taking care of
all the details that your friends will be too preoccupied to
think about. Or rather, you don't want them thinking about the
grand plan behind the stereo wiring... Keep the atmosphere safe.
Turn the phone off, or the answering machine on "destroy" mode.
Clean the bathroom. Don't turn on bright lights-- candles are
good.
Choose music that your trippers like, first of all. I would
tend to choose calmer, more "textural" music-- Eno instead of
the Buzzcocks, the Orb instead of whistley techno. Be careful
about the emotional tone of the music. Your friends are going
to be very suggestible & emotionally open.
Some fun cheap toys:
a black light and fluorescent crayons
marbles, especially the big clear kind
glow-sticks
kaleidoscopes
Fischer-Price letter magnets
a Scrabble set... try playing in the early stages
Expensive toys:
plasma globe
Visual stuff:
Max Ernst's "Frottages"
spirals
op-art patterns
We have a book of 3D mazes which is also fun.
Animals are fun. Definitely coax the cat in to get fussed over,
if a cat lives in the house you'll be using. Some friends with
snakes & lizards once trotted them out to get looked at. If
lizards don't make your friends nervous, they might enjoy the
patterns on the skin.
[My animals were afraid of _us_. Oh well :]
If the neighbors aren't going to get annoyed, and you have
access to musical instruments, let them bang around on them.
A guitar with a phaser or flanger is fun.
Fractint is probably a good idea. If you have access to a
color Macintosh, the After Dark module "Satori" is astounding.
I'm told that Sonic the Hedgehog is also a lot of fun.
[Fractint was amazing. Color-cycling for an hour.]
Video/TV/movies: I've never been interested in watching tv,
though people tell me that they get into MTV. Fractal videos
*are* fun, though. Todd Rundgren's "GrokGazer". And if any
of you are wealthy enough to have a video camera, video feedback
is fun. We had one with a "NOT" button, that inverted the color.
Beautiful chaotic patterns... which we wisely taped for future
viewing.
----
You'll discover why those grotesque tye-dye shirts are soooo
popular :-) Seriously, art books with abstract patterns are
very fun.
[yes, and simple, black and white illustrations were just as cool, if not
more, than real busy photos]
---
Fractint is _great_ to look at. Great! I've never tripped, but I showed
a friend that program when she was tripping, and she didn't want me to
trun it off. Even the next day, she wanted to see it.
Anything that catches your eye is a good idea. Anything that looks as if
it might spin is good. Mirrors are good, but that can make a half bad
trip into hell ("My skin! What's cralwing all over my skin!").
[The other two, like most people, have a self-esteem on the low side, and
looking in a mirror didn't help that]
Also, one of the _best_ thinks around is a poster by Susan Sendon Buleat
(sp last name), Go to your local magik/spiritual/occult store and ask
for her, and you'll get a poster. $5 max. great stuff. Her stuff looks
like a person, but, wait, is she an eagle? Or a tiger? Her eyes look
like a at, but her nose and forhead look like a bird! But she's a woman!
Wait a sec! :-)
----
Fractint is just great. On the other hand, you probably won't have
the attention span to watch a film... unless you were just planning it as
a backdrop. But David Lynch? You said you have a novice among you - do
you really want to play with paranoia? I think Dennis Hopper would be a
bit much.
----
GO OUTSIDE!
Toys and music are fun, but I think that's something to be reserved later, when
the trip has been going on for a long time. I love being outside, parks are
especially nice, but if these people are novices I think avoiding crowds is a
good thing. Just remember to tell them that really, no one will know. (You
always think that people know you're tripping but they don't)
Also, if one person took it, and it lasted for only 4 and a half hours w/o vis
auls (this was one hit?) then 1 and a half or 2 is definately my
recommendation.
If there's any nervous moments, tell them that it's really nothing to worry
about. The key is that you HAVE control. If you want to look at your hand and
it appears swollen and wierd and nnot your own, you could be frightened, but if
you choose to look at it and realize how amazing it is (think of everything th
at your hand can do) then, suddenly, nothing is frightning.....
Anyway....have a good time! BTW some toys are quite entertaining!
Prisms especially. Sometimes kalidiscopes too.
----
One of my favorites id to listen to Surrealistic Pillow -- That
Jefferson Airplane 1969 sound was made for acid. Also, old Frank Zappa
(We're Only in it for the Money (original mix please)). Note that I
was 8 when this stuff was coming out, but it's superior trip music.
Those with true cerebral fortitude can try Captain Beefheart's Trout
Mask Replica -- I never understood the words to this album until I
dropped and heard it.
Visual toy to die for:
This kept a roomful of people happy for about 5 hours one time (but
it was a considerable dose -- mega visual).
We had a hanging lamp in the middle of the room -- from a long cord
we hung one of those round multio-faceted cut-glass baubles. Then just
at the center where it was hung we put a lit candle. When we swung the
crystal in a circle we could wath 4 or 5 little balls chasing each
other around a glowing central sun. When the facets made prismatic
flashes, the remained hanging in the air before our fried retinas, so
that the ball(s) seemed to be following a bright track with rainbow
speckles.
Have fun -- trippers can be amusing companions. Then again, one of
my favorites is just to sit in the dark with "special music" your
cortex can construct a pretty good atmosphere all on its own.
----
Try video games! Flight Simulator is great while tripping,
but on a less technical note the advanced "Space Invaders"-type
games can amuse for hours.
A movie I find relaxing, visually stimulating, and enjoyable,
on or off acid, is "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles. You get
the feeling the Beatles deliberately wrote much of the
animation for their tripping buddies in the real world, all
the way from the Blue Meanies to PepperLand. Your local video
rental place should have it.
As for toys, since LSD enhances the senses (or at least
distorts them) use of simple toys with wild designs and
textures works great for tripping. I suggest: Koosh Balls,
kalediscopes (the real kind, though the computer kind works
too), rubber balls, orange concentrate eaten WITHOUT dilution,
lightsticks, Christmas tree lights, strobe lights; anything
with a strange texture, wild pattern, or weird light. $5 will
get you enough trip toys in any variety store for a 12-hour
trip, and be sure to stop by the grocery store for interesting
foods!
----
A personal favorite of mine is camping. If you're not in the mood for work,
just make it real low-impact (bring a longburning fireplace log, water, food,
lawn chairs, etc). I've had some incredible experiences sitting by the campfire
listening to music and staring into the flames...
Incidently, I almost always prefer the outdoors for tripping, whether
camping or not. Walls get me down :)
Mostly great recommendations. The acid test itself could have been better,
but there were two main things wrong: when two of the four trippers cancelled,
it put a damper on the rest of us; and all three of us decided we liked
tripping with lotsa people around. Secondly, we were going into this expecting
the drug to be the main focus of our entertainment, whereas we should have
just tried to focus on doing something else really actively, and letting the
drug just alter our experience of that other activity.
Also, I have a small 10mw laser, so my friend decided to rent a fog machine
to see how it looked. It looked WONDERFUL, especially when we played around
with this crystal candlestick holder in the laser beam, causing all these
insane angles. GREAT stuff. (I was always manning the laser so they would try
to look up into the tube or anything ...)
Again, thank you all for the suggestions!!!
Brian
=============================================================================
From: A. Haigh
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Re: Ways to improve LSD trip
Date: 2 Jan 1995 09:33:02 GMT
Have sex. Eat mushrooms. Smoke dope. Crack some poppers. Perform
some ritual magick (careful with this one ;). Watch some hard-core. Watch
some grass growing. Listen to Pink Floyd/Enigma/MOZART!!!. Do any and all
of the above in combination or seperately. Enjoy.
@:|----
=============================================================================
From: J. Carlson
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Re: Ways to improve LSD trip
Date: 2 Jan 1995
Personally, I just like to sit alone in a completely dark room.
-- Stimpy
=============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: M.E. jackson
Subject: trip tricks
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995
1. Carry on a normal conversation with someone. while you are talking, stop
making any noise, but keep moving your lips (mouthing what you would say
normally). see how long it takes them to catch on. lf they ask you if you are
doing it, completely deny it. act confused, and then tell them they must be
tripping pretty hard to be blocking out what you are saying. Lots of fun for
a first timer.
2. This is a pretty neat trick for people who are stoned, and it works even
when you aren't on anything. tell someone that they are going to go through
the floor. have them lie down on the floor face down, with their arms above
their head. then pick up their arms so that they are stretched out and you are
holding their upper body off the floor with their arms. tell them to relax
and hang their head down, and keep their eyes closed. hold them like this for
10-20 seconds, and then VERY slowly lower their upper body back on to the floor
the whole time saying that their arms are going to go right through the floor.
this seriously feels like your arms pass right through the ground, and is
trippy as hell.
3. Another funny thing to do is flick water onto a person, and see how long
it takes them to realize it. just do a drop or two at a time.
anybody else have any fun ideas?
by the way, these things are intended for the trippers benefit, and if it bugs
them or freaks them out, don't do it. the point here is not to fuck with their
head in a malignant way, but to have some fun.
have fun.
=============================================================================
From: phem@ozemail.com.au (peter hem)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Suggestion for trippers.
Date: 2 Mar 1995 09:06:02 GMT
Message-ID: <3j41pq$58r@oznet03.ozemail.com.au>
I have a suggestion for trippers.
Go to a video store and hire a documentary about arctic and antartic
wildlife, specifically penguins and seals.
The penguins can be upto a metre tall. They swim around under the ice,
and then suddenly spring up through a hole in the ice, into the air and
eventually land on the ice. Penguins slide along on their bellies, using
their wings [flippers] to push them along. They reach amazing speeds. :)
The seals are huge. They can be upto two metres tall [males] and are
exceedingly overweight. When two males compete for females they stand
up to their full height, and smash their heads together as hard as
possible.
Maybe you don't agree with me, but just watching this antics while in
the middle of a trip is most amusing. :) Give it a try, it's more fun
than it perhaps sounds.
Also, you might like to smoke some pot, to enhance the trip and make
the video all the more amusing.
Have fun..
=============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: D. Palmer
Subject: Re: Suggestion for trippers.
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 05:43:19 GMT
turn the tv to a channel where nothing is being broadcasted, at the
high end of the uhf spectrum, ideally. turn the sound off. watch the
static. put on side one of "happy trails" by quicksilver mesenger
service.
concentrate on the tv, nothing else. if you've been exposed to tv all
your life, as most people have, your subconcious mind is programmed to
expect to see some coherent image when it looks at a tv screen. it is
trained to connect tv images to real-life phenomena. so if you look
at the static long, it takes on images.
after fooling your brain long enough---a few seconds, really---you
begin to see color images, in bright colors in fact.
i recall seeing an american flag with a parade of brilliant stars,
perfect lines of world war one soldiers running with their bayonetts
and then being shot all in perfectly organized lines, and images of
spaceships travelling the universe.
you can do this easily while tripping, but even while really stoned
you can do it as well, if your subconcious mind is programmed
sufficiently.
--dave
=============================================================================
From: Anonymous
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Re: Ways to improve LSD trip
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 95 13:59:41 -0500
Once I gave Pop Rocks(you know, those little candy deals that seem to
pop inside your mouth) to a friend who was tripping. He said that the pops
were more like little explosions in his head that echoed a lot. So there you
go, cheap thrills.
mike
=============================================================================
movies:
Ace Ventura
Airplane
Akira.
Alice In Wonderland
Alien
Altered States
Angel Heart
Apocalypse Now
Army Of Darkness
Attack of the Killer Tomatos
Bad Taste Midnight Express
Bakara
Battle Beyond the Stars
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Blade Runner
Blue Velvet
Blues Brothers
Boy and His Dog,A
Brazill
Breakfast Club,The
Caddy Shack
Cat In The Hat,The
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY;
Charlie Brown cartoon
Cheech and Chongs videos...
Clockwork Orange
Crow,The
Dark Crystal,The
Dazed and Confused
Dead Alive (Brain Dead)
Dead Ringers
Diabolique
DOLOMITE
Doors,The
Dr. Caligulari
Dragonslayer
Dumb and Dumber
DUNE
El Topo
Eraserhead
Evil Dead
Falling Down
Fantasia
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Felix The Cat video.
Fievel Goes West
Fish Called Wanda,A
flatliners
Forbidden Planet
Frank Zappa's 200 Motels
fritz the cat
Gift(Jane's Addiction)
gremlins
GROOVE TUBE
Heavenly Creatures
HEAVY METAL.
Holy Mountain,The
Images of Chaos
In the Mouth of Madness
Invaders from Mars
Jacob's Ladder
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jurassic Park
Knack,The
Koyaanisqatsi
Last Temptation Of Christ,The
LAST UNICORN, THE
Legend of The Overfiend I, II
Liquid Skye
Man Bites Dog
MASK,THE
Metropolis
Minds Eye I & II
Monkees movie,The
Monty Pythons The Holy Grail
My fair lady
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Naked Lunch
National Geographics Predators of the wild
Natural Born Killers
Nightmare Before Xmas,The
Nosferatu Pink Flamingos
pheonix and the dragon
Pink Floyd, Live at Pompeii
Point!,The
Powaqqatsi
Preditor
Pulp Fiction
Repo Man
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Scanners
serpent and the rainbow,The
Slaughterhouse Five
Space Oddesy 2001
Star Wars (trilogy)
Stargate
Terminator I, II
Testsuo
this is spinal tap
THX-1138
Toys
Tron
True Romance
U.H.F. with "Weird Al"
Unbearable Lightness of Being
videos of the 5-D stereograms
WALL,THE
Wild Bunch,The
Willy Wonka
Wings of Desire
Wizards
XANADU
Yellow Submarine
=============================================================================
From: Lusus
Newsgroups: alt.drugs.psychedelics
Subject: Re: Trip essentials
Date: 3 Nov 1995 01:29:41 GMT
Even better yet, Glowsticks. The little plastic tubes with the funny
liquid that you bend and they glow. Attach it to a string and play with
that.
Cigarettes. Even if you don't smoke, the ember in a dark room is amazing.
The Lusus
=============================================================================
From: D. Myrick
Newsgroups: alt.drugs.psychedelics
Subject: Re: Trip essentials
Date: Sat, 04 Nov 95 03:59:28 GMT
> I was wondering if any of you know of any good trip-games or toys. I'm
> planning an acid test with a few experienced and a few un-expies, and need
> mild trip material for the greens and some heavy visual articles for myself
> and the like. Please post, many thanks.
Uhhh, those transparent pens with glitter in them and flourecent stars are great under a black
light along with flourecent tempra paints, crayons, chalks, oils and body soaps.
For an added effect, use the above on mirrors or each other!
Defraction gratings either held up to a HeNe or Argon laser beam is great (no you cannot look
into the beam or fly for that matter).
At local novelty shops you can find that sticky stuff that if you put it between your fingers
and rub, smoke will appear to come from your hands.
How about gluing a cow eye to your forhead? :-)
Strobe lights are ok as long as no one is eptileptic (however it's spelled).
Giant screen TV playing old 60's music video's and trip movies.
Isao Tomita music playing in the background then when everyone peaks turn the music off
and everyone will still think they are listening to music all through the trip.
Tell everyone a little after they peak that your lawn needs to be mowed and take turns mowing!
(I did this and lawn mowing on acid IS a trip!!!)(just make sure it's not summertime with a
bunch of hornets, wasps, spiders etc. if you know what I mean).
Go to a fireworks and/or laser show!!! (Especialy Epcot Center at Disney World since the entire
show is a trip to start with).
Things not to do for trip games, toys, activities:
Never drive while under any influence other than your own natural self.
Never watch Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and expect to be uplifted and energetic.
Never jack with fire while frying unless you are outside and in a grassless field.
(I'm a licenced pyrotech and we used to have pyro parties where we would bring all the fireworks
that didn't go off in our public shows, fix them up or make our own and shoot them off while
heavily frying).
Never leave a plunger in a toilet.
Never ask, "Do you smell shit" after someone comes out of the bathroom while tripping.
Never smear chocolate on someone's body after they take a shit while tripping unless they
are aware you did it.
Always have plenty of toilet paper (I know I am on this shit thing but my biggest fear on
acid is to take a shit in my pants or take an intentional shit and get it all over me and be so
fucked up that it's a major task to pay attention long enough to get it all off).
Never think it's cute taking a guy's ciggarette out of his hand while he's frying or he will
be running around your house scared shitless that he dropped his ciggarrette on your furniture or
carpet, thus starting a fire.
Never carve a smoked Thanksgiving turkey or I promise you will see maggots. (for that matter
try to stay away from knives since I've seen so many people carve their own flesh while tripping
since it doesn't SEEM to hurt).
No, you cannot light a light bulb by sticking your dick in a light socket while holding a bulb
in your mouth.
Never trip around kids. (Kids have enough problems without having to be around a bunch of
idiots on acid as roll models).
Yes, there might be a little part of God in all of us but that doesn't mean you are Jesus Christ.
The big jelly worms that sneak around the corners of your furniture and laugh are there for your
enjoyment, they are your friends not BIG MAGGOTS.
Never give large doses of acid to assholes or bullys since it's a waste and they are much more
annoying while fried. (though you might be able to kick their ass finnaly :-) )
Never, ever, look at or even talk about scorpions while tripping.
Always take a test hit first to check it's potency since the last thing you want to do is
take a large dose then realize that you were not the "king of acid" or "tripmaster" you though
you were and lead everyone to beleive.
Never answer the phone while tripping since it's usualy going to be bad news and you won't be
able to understand a damn thing they are saying anyhow, you will make no sense to them, you will
become paranoid as shit that they will send the cops over and you will pause and keep saying
"huh?" alot.
If you start to see peacocks hop around the room, bounce off your head, the ceiling has giant
pimples, gnomes start to peak out and tease you and your arms stretch out through walls then a
few miles down the street while they are changing liquid chrystal colors, then it's a sure
sign that it's not a good time to make up with your parents, especialy don't start philosphical
conversations with them about God, politics etc. or you will be locked up for life.