Waking Life

[Nick]

Sorry if I missed the boat on this one, but I can't remember hearing of the movie. Could you tell what it is about and why it's so good?

[Ash]

Welcome to the site Psypunk,

i agree it's an amazing movie. funny thing, what he said about when you're dreaming, you can never turn the lights on or off. That's something that I've always noticed in every lucid dream I've ever had. Anybody else notice this or have any ideas why it is?

ash

[Nick]

Ash,

There was another post about a week ago about not being able to turn the lights on/off. The same thing has happened to me. Here's where those posts are:
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4138

If anyone gets a chance, let me know what Waking Life is about. Thanks.

[Xehupatl]

Nick,
Waking Life is just about the most AMAZING movie I've ever seen.
Basically it's about a boy having one long continuous lucid dream, and he's not able to wake up. In his dream world, he is visited by many strange characters confronting him with a lot of philosophical material.
It's quite a unique movie; they filmed the whole thing with digital cameras, and had animation artists *paint* over the frames, which makes for a very wierd, dream-like experience.
The soundtrack is excellent, too.

Damn I love this movie.

Go to http://www.wakinglifemovie.com/  for more information.

just my €0.02

Stefan Kammerhofer (http://www.xehupatl.com/)

[Nick]

Xehupatl,

Thanks for providing the information on the movie. It sounds great! I'll go to the website and read more. It looks as though the movie is a "must see".

Very best,

[fredhedd]

i think there was a post about this movie a while back.  a search might bring it up.  i may have even started it.  

the thing about the lights is something i remember when i'm lucid.  anytime i've tried to control the lighting it has worked for me.  i've turned lights on and off all of the time.  once i even made the sun go down.  it was damn fun.

[Nick]

fredhedd,

The light switch scenario that is talked about in the posts at the other forum site is an interesting one. It seems it happens to others a lot more than I realized. Before I knew that other people had the same scene happen, I thought it was an oddity that only applied to me.

That's a benefit to reading posts here, you find out that other people are experiencing the same or similar circumstances. What I found most interesting is a post that someone made at the site:
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4138

That person indicated that what we were experiencing was an obe, hence the inability to turn on the light switches. Frankly, I don't know what it was, but the obe theory is an interesting possibility.

Very best,

[Fat_Turkey]

Hmm well I've seen the movie in the rent-out place before and I always regarded it as being too weird for me haha. Ah well I guess I'll rush out and see it as soon as I can.

Another good thought provoking SERIES is Neon Genesis Evangelion. I recommend it to everybody who hasn't seen it. You have to see it from first episode to last though, and I also recommend you see the movies after you've seen the series to help clear some questions up. The first half of the series isn't as wierd as the second half, where almost every episode has thought-provoking ideas and philosiphical stuff thrown at you.

I have the whole series on DVD except for one movie[]

Later
-FT

[Psypunk]

On the topic of adjusting light levels, several times I have realized I am in a dream because of this.  Even before Waking Life came out, this was one way I would be able to tell if I was dreaming.  I thought I was alone in it though, so I was happy to see Waking Life touch base on it.  
One thing about my dreams that is a little strange recently is that I can fly around everywhere, but still not realize I am dreaming.  When I lucid dream, the first thing I always do is fly, and now I don't even have to be in a lucid dream to fly...it is like my subconciouse has addapted to me always flying so now it's totally natural for me to fly in my dreams, and I still don't realize I'm dreaming.  Anyone else ever experience this?

[testpattern]

i have this movie. it is hands down one of the best films i've ever seen. i strongly suggest seeing it if you are into lucid dreaming or, especially, philosophy and the philosophical disection of cinema. it is an independent film which is why it did not get very much exposure, but it is an amazing film directed by the same person (richard linklater) who directed Dazed and Confused. go figure.

[Ash]

hey Psypunk,
I have a similar problem with doing "impossible" things in my dreams and still not actually realizing I'm dreaming. I think there's two reasons for it
1) I believe it should be possible to fly or do TK, etc in real life. Because I've done it in my dreams so often, and I've tried in waking life, sometimes when I do it in my dreams I just think "Yay! I finally figured out how to do this in real life" instead of the rather obvious "oh I'm dreaming again". It's tricky because there's a lot of motivation to believe you are actually awake and doing these things.

2) Part of the reason it is easier at first to be lucid when you find yourself flying, etc is because of the novelty of the experience. The excitement and newness automatically makes you a little bit more aware and hence easier to engage the critical aspect of your mind. As these experiences become more familiar, it is easier to accept them, and so harder to engage your rational mind in the experience (become lucid)

I think one possible solution is to deliberately use flying or another event as a trigger. Tell yourself that if you find yourself flying, you are dreaming. And, as with everything else, practice practice practice.

ash

[Psypunk]

good points Ash (Ash as in Bruce Cambell?)
Sometimes on shrooms I'll think I can fly if I truely believe I can (like in dreams) but it never works.  

Anyway...weekend is here...gotta go have fun.

[Psypunk]

Flying is easy, all you have to do is throw yourself at the ground and miss.  Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

[Ash]

hehe well army of darkness is probably one of the best movies ever made, but that's not really on topic is it?

[Psypunk]

ha ha...amen to that Ash...I actually met Bruce Cambell a couple weeks ago.
Give me some sugar baby...

[Nick]

Follow-up: Just got the dvd and it has this link of artwork from the film:

http://www.wakinglifeart.com/

[Psypunk]

sweet...thanks

[goingslow]

I finally went out and rented this movie and all I could think after seeing it was it was brilliant.  There were a few things that took getting used to but i watched it about 4 times just to really listen to the dialog.

I watched it once with the director's and the main character's commentary and found out the writer/director is a Lucid dreamer himself.  Many of the people in the movie are philosophy professors or other people very interested in many of these issues.  The kid playing the pinball machine at the end is actually the director and many of the events are taken out of his dreams.  

I think it is a definitely must see for people who had lucid dreams.  The part where he tries to turn on the light then flies out the door was amazing and most lucid dreamers here will relate to a lot of the movie... so will others im sure.

[goingslow]

Im interested in watching more of this director's work now.  Was dazed and confused any good?  I want to watch Slacker which is apparently one he wrote and directed as well (not sure about the wrote part).

[GRRegis]

Waking life is a great movie.  I have noticed the thing about controling the lights, it is kinda wierd, but the thing that almost always tips me off that I'm dreaming is a digital clock.  You can never read a digital clock when dreaming, the numbers always flash and wave.  The movie talked about that too, and portrayed it so well I almost thought I was dreaming.  

Fat_Turkey, yeah I've seen Neon Genesis Evangelion (about 3 or 4 times all the way through).  It is definately one of the best anime's out there.  It starts of all right but then it keeps on getting deeper and crazier until it goes completely insane during the last episodes and the movies.  I highly recomend everyone to see the whole series, especially if you like anime.  

-GRRegis

[AndrewTheSinger]

Cool, so I'm not the only one who can't read the digital clock. []
This has bugged me for a while.

I've read about the light and the mirror experiment, I find I can turn the lights on and off pretty well and go through mirrors. To change the sky, night into day, is an amazing thing to do, but I don't do that so often. As a child when I couldn't turn on the light I knew I was in a nightmare, it was even desperating.

One thing I find rather impossible to do is to come out of water flying. Anyone can do it?

Ah, heard about waking life before but haven't seen it yet.

[fredhedd]

it's been a while since i have seen the movie but i remember it enough to still have some input on it.  i don't remember the movie being entirely about dreaming.  there were definetly parts in it that were about dreaming but it seemed that every major part in the movie was about something else.  like there was some point that the maker was trying to make.

the movie was informative but maybe too dense to 'get it' the first time through.  i watched it twice and still there are parts that i don't understand fully.  i'd be skeptical if someone said they understood the entire movie the first time through.  if you took your attention away from the movie at certain points, you would be lost.

[n_e]

Are there any other similar movies like Waking Life?

[Psypunk]

I'm new to this sight, so sorry if it's been brought up before, but anyone who hasn't seen the movie Waking Life should go out and rent it (or buy it).  I rented it and bought it all in the same day.  
It's not your typical hollywood movie, but it is still amazing.  One of my favorites.