Grimerica Podcast #121 (2015)

Fun talk with friendly Canadian neighbors to the North Darren and Graham from the Grimerica Podcast. 

The Grimerica Show is a podcast featuring guests from fields ranging from ufos to conspiracies to psychedelics, meditation, consciousness, folklore and more. 

Being quite new on this path I steered the conversation by doing my best to communicate about the construct of our modern day industrialized first world society and the spiritual philosophic path each person is capable of going down to counter it. Barley scratching the surface of these topics in this conversation, we also discuss fun side avenues including my work, spiritual awakenings, main stream vs non-main stream creative arts, virtual and plant technologies, all sorts of things that interest me and which I spend time looking into for my own personal growth and for future screenplay writing. 

Melted Snow Podcast Episode 08

Eventful chat with Irish Architect and autodidact Jim Lawler on Episode 08 of his podcast entitled "Melted Snow". Direct Download.

We talk about being multidisciplinary, collaboration, philosophy, travel, and community as he weaves it all together with lyrical audio smoothness via music.

Since anyone can have a podcast these days it's so great to see good alternative thoughts and ideas coming to the surface. Many of which will have much more substance and depth than realms otherwise not explored in other "mainstream" media areas.

TRANSMUTATION Site + Teaser Trailer - AURORA-LAB (2015)

Over two years ago, I pitched an idea to a British philosopher & esoterist about collaborating on a documentary together. The idea was basically to combine his depth of subject matter with my quality of asthetics.

The film is a mutual benefit for both of us since it provides him a way to make a seminal & timeless addition to his content library, which up until this point has primarily been audio only, while spreading his material out to a new range of people. For myself, it's a way to also be a key part of that while at the helm of a thought provoking, mind-expanding, first feature-length movie which can be made with the limited resources at hand. 

The film is not going to be your typical documentary with people taking into camera in starchy, fluorescently lit rooms while sitting in front of white walls but more a cinematic tone poem of people talking over footage on location which is helping tell the story of the narration. The goal with the trailer is to have it convey Neil's depth of writing and such beautiful delivery with my direction which can hold it's own in regards to the production values. It's already been a life-changing project for me and our collaboration both professionally and personally is manifesting beautifully.  

We've put together an official film site for all information related as it's released so head on over.

WWW.TRANSMUTATIONMOVIE.COM

Esoteric Roots

Proud to have done a short but sweet introduction for my friend and collaborator Neil Kramer for his brilliant workshop 'Esoteric Roots.' It was given in late 2014 in Portland Oregon and is now available here.

Explore frank and forthright perspectives on soul, selfhood, grace, death, identity, astral control, pilgrimages, the hidden school, selflessness, education, initiations, and disciplines of the mystery.

My role there was two fold. First to enjoy the event, gain new knowledge, and meet great people, but also to shoot footage with a remarkable woman named Elfreda Pretorius for a upcoming documentary project. I give a testimonial regarding Elfreda's book "Stop Struggling and Start Living" on her site. Further information on my collaboration with both of these kindred spirits will be forthcoming. 

It was a great all around weekend of study, shooting, relationship building as well as getting some great work done in the process.

Psychedelic Salon Podcast - Matrix Masters (2014)

My 2014 Polenque Norte lecture "Visualizing the Psychedelic Experience using Computer Graphics" on the Psychedelic Salon Podcast.

The topic has been something that's facinated me for years and as life goes on it's only becoming more astonishing. This was the perfect opportunity to start talking about some of my thoughts regarding this unique and esoteric subject in a public forum. I'd love to put a group of superheroes together to tackle this so anyone who is creating psychedelic art and is interested in replicating trips using CG or has already invested time in doing so, feel free to contact me.

The Palenque Norte journey began with the legendary Entheobotany Conferences held at the Chan Kah hotel near the ancient Mayan ruins just outside of Palenque, Mexico. There, Terence McKenna, Jonathan Ott, Ann & Sasha Shulgin, and a host of other psychedelic luminaries passed along many insights, discoveries, and wild tales to the fortunate Tribe members who attended.

In 2003, a few alumni from those conferences decided to have a "Palenque reunion" at the Burning Man Festival, and so they organized a lecture series to continue the Palenque tradition annually. I would classify these talks to be a bit like the TED Talks of the counter culture. Or more correctly said, the real culture.

Rather then the regressively promoted stereotype of a bunch of stoner and dirty hippies sitting around saying woo woo nonsense, this is, for the most part, extremely honorable, often times highly educated, brilliantly awakened minds sharing very dynamic and leading edge points of view. The talks from each year get aggregated to the podcast hosted by Lorenzo Hagardy. Podcasts from the Psychedelic Salon are a production of MatrixMasters.com, which is operated by Lorenzo. The aim of Matrix Masters is to provoke an unmuffled, ungagged, and unsilenced generation of world citizens into speaking up and taking the actions necessary to wrest control from the privileged few and to reclaim this planet in the name of all the humans, animals, plants, and other forms of life who share its bounty.

Having been a longtime listener, I can personally attest to this podcast being a phenomenal source for cutting edge information about the exploration and expansion of consciousness. A major part of which often times involves ones birthright and civil right to use sacred medicines. Hence the name. Before I ever took one of these medicines I became attracted to the brilliant minds and trains of thought presented by many of the people who have appeared on the podcast throughout the years. The content of which is a deep vast ocean as opposed to the baby-pool most mainstream podcasts offer. It's truly an honor to be on a podcast which one has been such a long time admirer of. 

In a Perfect World Podcast (2014)

Great chat with comrade Rak Razam on episode 88 of his Podcast "In A Perfect World." 

With Niles Heckman In this special post-Burning Man 2014 edition, experiential journalist Rak Razam downloads with Hollywood writer and special effects guru Niles Heckman on the future of psychedelic cinema, and how the shamanic resurgence is being anchored in mainstream media. Heckman has worked on industry films like Tron 2, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Matrix 2 and 3 and Avatar, and brings an insiders view of Hollywood and an understanding of the shamanic archetype to the fore. From early cave paintings to 21st century blockbusters, art has always carried spirit. But can modern CGI anchor the psychedelic experience in film, and what happens when those energies connect with the audience? Is there a conscious art underground infecting the Hollywood meme machine? Can the aperture of the heart open us up on the silver screen, and cam a Psychedelic Hollywood re-enchant the masses?  And what does the Human Centipede have to do with all this?

The Talent of Observation - Aurora-Lab (2014)

My submission to the 2014 Project Greenlight competition. The Talent of Observation is a allegorical style pitch for a feature screenplay I'm developing currently titled 'Universal Youth'. It's a story about a young female photographer who follows her authentic path through a life-changing trip in Asia with a group of expatriate street photographers.

Being a avid photographer for about 15 years, I feel like I'm now just starting to get really good at it. The area of photography that interests me the most is street photography because it can be real, authentic, compelling, striking, political, visually interesting, and is the best fashion show all at the same time. It's also phenomenally hard to do and is quite possibly the hardest type of photography. Primarily because it's not staged and is all about capturing a moment which can not be authentically repeated. So getting good at street photography requires observation and an ability to know what's about to happen through heightened awareness. As I mentioned in a daily inspiration on Steve Huff's site, my ultimate goal is to create compelling street photography with a cinematic flavoring. What's so wonderful about doing so is those years of training have been completely applicable to becoming a better cinematographer as well. So extending that into being a storyteller, what better way to combine a love of the art form with writing a story of a first narrative feature centered around street photographers. Creating characters and using those street photography themes to further dissect observation of our culture and society.

The piece is divided into two sections. Action, being the subject matter, and reaction being the street photographers. All the people being photographed are not actors, most of whom don't know they're being photographed. They were shot with my street videography just like I shoot my street photography. Having turned into a now international street photographer for hobby, all the "action" footage was shot not with crew but while on holiday with my wife in Hong Kong, Tokyo, & Seoul. With additional "reaction" shots being done as pick ups with actors in Los Angeles and Vancouver.

Kramer & Heckman Zoom In (June 2014)

In June 2014, I spend 4 days with an amazing gentelman named Neil Kramer. A British philosopher and esotericist. His work focuses chiefly on spirituality, metaphysics, mysticism, freedom, and inner development. What follows is a transcript of our Q&A session for an upcoming collaboration.

HOME GROWN - AURORA-LAB (2013)

After growing up in a household of avid gardeners, directed this piece which hopes to capture the greatness and benefits of planting and harvesting your own vegetable garden. 

Many folks are starting to think about and understand the importance of decentralizing power from the very few companies who currently control the food supply. Permaculture is our future and most young people I know appreciate the endless benefits of more locally grown food which doesn't have to be shipped hundreds of miles burning tones of fossil fuels in the process. Organic famers markets are getting more and more popular each year and since the industrial food industry is such a massive strain on planetary resources, it's ideal if you can get the majority of your food locally. And there's nothing more local then the back yard of your own home.

The spot was shot over a few evenings at difference gardens accross the US, and marks my first dive into the Davinci Color Grading system. Shooting into the sun can have huge benifits for production value and like Terrence Malic, plan your shooting so you're pointed in the right direction for the time of day - East in the morning, West in the evening.

After much searching, UK based musician Modo Stare's brillant track 'Accent' totally leveled up the piece and took it to new heights.

NOVELTY GENERATORS PODCAST (2013)

Have been toying with the idea for the last year of starting a podcast and finally decided to pull the trigger. 

Podcast's are the BEST. All I ever consume these days are podcasts and books of substance and the internet has allowed me to gain 10 pre-internet lifetime's of knowledge because of them. 

The goal is to chat with creative and interesting people that generate novel content and/or do what they love for a living. Many of whom I've collaborated with in the past or hope to collaborate with in the future.