Creative Money

Creative money collages from Neutral Capital. From their site: "All Neutral Capital bills are collaged by hand from failed global currencies bought at market values, then printed in four color offset lithography".
See other 'currencies' here.

Robocops vs. People

Nimbin is a small village in Australia where since early '70s lives a peaceful hippy community, one of the few remaining experiments of living together on the basis of ideals like peace, love, respect and good vibrations. Every year they celebrate the Mardi Gras with a colorful, joyous parade of all-age happy people.




But the "usual ones" don't like to see peaceful people living together, happily, generation after generation and - with the old, usual pretext (drugs!!) - sometimes think to ruin the party harassing people or arresting adults for few homegrown ganja plants. On April 1st 2008, heavely armed robocops raided the village just before the parade. A very 'good' example of fascism at work and waste of tax money.
As Bob Marley sang: "They don't want to see us unite...they don't want to see us live together"...
Let's work together to change brutal, senseless laws...let's unite and make the planet a better place...

Space Pix Series

If you like photography, in particular space photography, these breath-taking pix from the NASA are definitely your cup of tea. Click on them to see in larger format and enjoy!!

Food for your Eyes

Sometimes wandering in the Net makes one finds new, very talented artists. It's the case of Shawn O'Keefe, a fantastic Canadian artist who makes beautiful, colourful paintings, murales, images on skateboards, labels, etc. See below the labels he did for Phillips beer just to get a glimpse of his astounding artistic talent...He has also a nice blog where he posts his works, sometimes made together with the Woodpile Collective: make a visit and you'll find tasty food for your eyes (and mind).

Another artist who caught my attention is Christian Northeast, I hope you'll like his fascinating art like I did. You can find infos and works here

T-shirts against prohibition

StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) have just released two new T-shirts that make their point about prohibition -- "Prohibition Doesn't Work," juxtaposing an image from alcohol prohibition days with an image from today's drug war; and "STOP," a graphic collage of words representing the many ills of the drug war with the caption "Prohibition costs money and lives, and doesn't work".

These new shirts support their exciting new 2009 "Changing Minds, Laws & Lives" campaign and will enable them to continue reaching people in communities all across our nation and the world. Join them today by generously donating to this campaign and by proudly wearing your T-shirt(s) to get the message out. For a contribution of $36, you can choose either of their new T-shirts. For a gift of $60 or more, you get both shirts. And for a contribution of $100 or more, you also get your choice of any single item from the StoptheDrugWar.org inventory.

James G. Ballard dies at 78

James G. Ballard died today aged 78 after a long illnes (he was diagnosed of prostrate cancer in 2006.) He was famed for several short-stories and for his early SF books, radical masterpieces like The Atrocity Exhibition (1969), Crash (from which Cronenberg released his movie) and more recently Cocaine Nights ('96) or Kingdom Come (2006) and the acclaimed Empire of the Sun ('84), the story of a young English boy who lives in Shangai during the WWII (in part based upon the life of Ballard himself, it was also a successful Spielberg's movie.)

Ballard, a great 'fan' of Willian S. Burroughs, was considered an important forebear of the cyberpunk, a cold, lucid witness of our times and a radical investigator of the post-modern psychology(s).

He will be greatly missed!

New Albert Hofmann documentary

In January 2006, 80 speakers and 2000 participants gathered for the three day International LSD Symposium held in Basel, Switzerland to celebrate Dr. Albert Hofmann’s 100th birthday, and to hear the father of LSD speak first hand about his life, his discovery and his thoughts on the psychedelic experience. It was also an occasion for leading doctors, researchers, artists and thinkers in the psychedelic field to present their work. By documenting this historic symposium, LSD: Problem Child and Wonder Drug, the new video produced by MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), articulates the scientific, medical, artistic and spiritual issues at the core of the psychedelic debate.LSD: Problem Child and Wonder Drug captures the fascinating story of LSD as it is eloquently spoken by Dr. Albert Hofmann, the 100 year old sage-scientist who brought it into the world. With interviews and presentations by Rick Doblin, Alex Grey, Ralph Metzner, Carl Ruck, Goa Gil and others, this historic message from the father of LSD is a timeless relic and an immediate source of inspiration.

Purchasing the DVD now, the 50% of the proceeds will go towards furthering what Dr. Hofmann called his "heart desire": psychedelic research.

Buy the DVD for 25 dollars here

Initiation to the Iboga cult (part 1)

Currently there are three main 'entheogenic religions' in the world: the peyote cult (practiced by the Native American Church, the Peyote Way Church and by Huichol and other populations in Central Mexico); the ayahuasca churches (the Santo Daime, the Uniao do Vegetal and the Barquinha in Brasil) and the iboga churches (the Bwiti religion in Gabon, Cameroon and other parts of western Central Africa.)
The main sacrament used by the Bwiti is Tabernanthe iboga plant (iboga), a perennial rainforest shrub. The roots of iboga contain several indole alkaloids, most notably ibogaine, which is found in the highest concentration in the root-bark. BBC 'documentary maker' Bruce Perry has been initiated in the Bwiti cult and shows in this video his experience with one of the most potent entheogens.
See Part 2 here

Amy's Fantastic Skull Art

Another inspiring and interesting artist, Amy Sarkisian (1969, Cleveland, Ohio.) Visit her site to find other wonderful jeweled skulls, creatures and tattoos. I want one of these sparkling skulls!

Shaman's Drum

Personally I consider Shaman's Drum the best resource for people interested in "experiential shamanism". Founded and edited by Timothy White, this magazine is clearly a labour of love: Timothy, supported by a small staff of just two people, wrotes articles and reviews and acts also as art director (see for example the wonderful cover of the new issue.)

The new issue - nr. 79 - is particularly dedicated to one of the most fascinating and elusive (and unfortunately often mis-used by teenagers) plant allies, Salvia divinorum.

You'll find juicy articles by (and interviews with) some of the most renowned experts in the field: Daniel Siebert, Bret Blosser, Kathleen Harrisn and Martin W. Ball; the good Editor's heartfelt defense of Salvia divinorum and the spiritual use of entheogens and other articles dedicated to the Andean shamanism and the "Sun Moon Dance" ritual.

If you're interested in the above mentioned topics, please visit the Shaman's Drum site and order the new issue or, even better, subscribe to this beautiful magazine. This kind of publication deserves all the support we can give...

Die Hard People

Die Hard People...or the art of self-managing! You asked it, you get it...a funny pix series for all you image-addicts out there! Have a great week-end from Terra Incognita!
(click on photos to see larger format)

April Pix Mix

Recently some blog readers asked me why I don't post photos 'galleries' anymore...Effectively I have to apologize, so starting from today I take my good old habit again: expect to find great 'photo galleries' in the near future, at least twice a month...
Let's begin with these nice animal pix that Raghu, one of best and more faithful Terra Incognita 'correspondents', sent me today...(click on images to biggify)
(thanks bro!)

Myco Books

Recently some noteworthy books on psychoactive mushrooms have been published. Among them, in 2006 we got Psilocybin Mushroom Handbook by L.G. Nicholas and Kerry Ogamé, a very good resource for those psychonauts interested in indoor and outdoor mushroom cultivation. Full of good photos, descriptive, well-organized and graced by illustrations by Kat Harrison, the book includes overviews on recent indoor methods, including the famous PF tek and outdoor techniques for exotic, potent species and appears to be the most thorough and exhaustive text on the subject ever.
6"x9", paperback, 209 pages. Quicktrading

A very good companion to the above mentioned book, is Mushroom Magick: A Visionary Field Guide, a beautiful field guide to Psilocybe species and other psychoactive mushrooms. With field notes by Gary Lincoff, Erik Davies and Daniel Pinchbeck and great illustrations by Arik Roper. (you can read an excerpt from the Davis' foreword here)

Both books available on Amazon

Merry Blotter Art

Zane, son of the late Ken Kesey, one of the legends of the American psychedelic culture, animates Key-z, a mind-moving site in which one can find stickers, posters, t-shirts, CDs and videos dedicated to Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters saga. Zane sells also books by well-known beat authors like Kerouac, Burroughs and Cassidy and above all a nice, colorful series of blotter artworks.

Sold at very affordable prices, the blotter artworks are inspired by the classical 900 hits sheets of illegal acid, produced in limited, numbered edition and signed by Zane himself or by former Merry Pranksters like Ken "Intrepid Traveler" Babbs, Caroline "Mountain Girl" Garcia and others.

Visit Key-z to see more blotter art (and other products available) and possibly support the site buying something...