Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT- DARK SIDE/WIZARD OF OZ CONNECTION?

Hey, I've run the DSOM/OZ combo in synch a number of times over the years, both with and without assistance from my favorite mind-altering substances, and it really is fascinating. Some of it is downright amazing. The album must be started at EXACTLY the right time or many of the subtle connections are missed. For anyone interested, do a Google for a number of sites devoted to this. Many go into great detail. Some people have too much time on their hands.

Everyone should give it a try. It's fun to freak out the unsuspecting.

This is fun, but it's not really a mystery. Your mind is making the connections. This will work with almost any music/imagery combination, although DSOTM/OZ is particuarly entertaining.

This is a variation of what is called the Kuleshov Effect. Kuleshov was an early Russian filmmaker who tried a series of experiments in which he would show a scene, like a bowl of soup, or a smiling child, or a dead body, and then show an actor reacting to it. He then would ask the audience to say which emotion the actor was displaying, and the audience would respond "hungry" for the soup, "sad" for the dead body, etc. The actor, however, had the same neutral expression on his face for each take. He had not actually seen the footage that the audience did. The mind takes a series of codes and cues and makes sense of it within the paradigm of its experience, assuming that two elements in close proximity are related to each other, whether they are or not. Try it with any music and any video. For example, put on an uptempo jazz number and watch commercials on TV; you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.

This is a little different than that. For instance, 'The Great Gig in the Sky' begins JUST as the tornado appears, and lasts exactly the lenght of the storm. And I also remember the ending heartbeat coinciding with Dorothy beating on the Tin Man's chest to see if he has a heart. There are many such coincidences. The Wicked Witch first appearing in a cloud of smoke just as the word "black" is spoken in 'Us and Them' was cool.

Actually, I would say your first example illustrates the Kuleshov Effect perfectly. Two unrelated things related by the mind. If you asked a bunch of people to word-associate with "The Great Gig in the Sky". How long do you think it would take to come up with "Tornado"? They events seem related because of their proximity to each other, not because of an inherent relationship.

The mind also tends to reject anything that doesn't agree with a theory that's been formulated (kind of like the Bush administration). I'll bet if you watch DSOTM/OZ and keep a log of things that relate and things that don't that your don't list would be many times longer.

This is why science is so freakin' difficult, you simply cannot trust your senses/perceptions to be accurate representations of reality in many cases.

I'm not gettin' down on the idea, I just don't see why it needs to be some magical conspiracy when there is a perfectly valid (and experimentally demonstrated) explanation.

No real argument there. For each "coincidence" there is more unrelated filler. And I'm not saying that there is some strange mystical connection. There are just a lot of interesting alignments that make for a fun experience. I'm not one of those 'Lone Gunmen' types that sees conspiracy everywhere. I'm sure Roger Waters and the boys weren't watching 'Oz' while recording in the studio. Still, there are an unusual amount of parallels that keep it interesting. Have you tried it yet?

I have, years ago, and it was great! Especially the way we watched it.

why would being all greased up in nothing but your undies make the experience any better?

Or was that a different story?

Haha. Thanks p. I now have coke to clean out of my keyboard. You know how much that burns when it comes out of your nose!

jr

Now I'm glad I went ahead and made that post. How're those mucous membranes doing?

You forgot the chocolate chips and the ferret. Essential to the experience in my opinion.

P.S. To get coke out of a keyboard, rub a balloon against your pants, and hold it over the keyboard. The coke will jump out of the keys and cling to the balloon. Or were you talking about the soda?