Dirty Pictures
April 4, 2012 10:15 PM   Subscribe

Dirty Pictures [1h30m] is a documentary (trailer [1m30s]) about Alexander Shulgin, his life, his family, the drugs he has developed, the people he has affected, the boundaries of experience he has explored, the effects he has had on society, and the understanding of the mind and the psychedelic experience which have resulted from his experiments and chemical creations.
posted by hippybear (23 comments total) 45 users marked this as a favorite
 
Are you on anything now? Love that folks actually ask them that all the time.

From what I have read about Shulgin, he is high on life and looking for ways (compounds) to communicate with parts of himself he has not been able to reach. As a Deadhead in the 70s and 80s, I too sought to find out more about myself through music and compounds. It was highly successful. I truly believe I am much better in touch with my inner thoughts than I would have been had I not experimented.


Really looking forward to watching this documentary.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:34 PM on April 4, 2012 [1 favorite]


I look forward, as well. Thanks for posting this.
posted by mannequito at 10:40 PM on April 4, 2012


Interesting. Much better than the VICE video that introduced me to this guy.
posted by PJLandis at 10:57 PM on April 4, 2012


Shulgin has obviously made huge discoveries, but there's something about their puritanical approach to intoxication that gets right up my nose.

"Oh, we're engaged in serious psychedelic research. We don't agree with all these young people taking MDMA and going out dancing. They need to get off of our entactogenic lawn."

Shut up old man!
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:27 PM on April 4, 2012 [1 favorite]


About 1/3 through, and disgusted to see the gov't anti-drug propaganda. Show me one real life documented case of someone trying to fly off a building or merge with a car!

And if you do, I'll show you an idiot drinker, an idiot snowboarder, an idiot race car driver... There is no way that any SIGNIFICANT portion of psychonauts come through with an overall negative experience. What is the Man so scared of?

I know I keep harping on it, but I want the alternate timeline where we went in the right way in 1965 or so, embraced the excellent potential of psychedelic drugs, and there is world peace and universal love.
posted by Meatbomb at 12:23 AM on April 5, 2012 [6 favorites]


I do hope that someday, we'll realize how fruitless our "war" against chemicals/drugs is.

Obviously some chemicals are harmful. Some have mixed effects.

But almost none of the current government regulations against "scheduled" drugs are based on true, current science.
posted by timelord at 2:20 AM on April 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


Meatbomb: "I know I keep harping on it, but I want the alternate timeline where we went in the right way in 1965 or so, embraced the excellent potential of psychedelic drugs, and there is world peace and universal love."

I agree that drugs have been demonized (and psychedelics particularly so), but if you believe that legalizing psychedelics in 1965 would have lead to world peace and universal love, you're at least as delusional as any anti-drug propaganda.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:45 AM on April 5, 2012


Joakim, you obviously haven't been taking the right drugs. If we are all delusional, then how can the dream not be real?
posted by Meatbomb at 2:47 AM on April 5, 2012


I'll repeat my usual comment about Shulgin made to me by an old friend: "He is the modern incarnation of Merlin".
posted by lalochezia at 5:01 AM on April 5, 2012 [2 favorites]


I know I keep harping on it, but I want the alternate timeline where we went in the right way in 1965 or so

Some of us did go in the right way.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:44 AM on April 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-bomb realities that were lying in wait ?
posted by yoHighness at 6:44 AM on April 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


Joakim, you obviously haven't been taking the right drugs. If we are all delusional, then how can the dream not be real?

Have either of you taken teh right coloured pill yet?
posted by infini at 6:48 AM on April 5, 2012


Just a pity the trailer for the documentary is so poorly made. I read TiHKaL a few years ago and found it absolutely fascinating. I only wish more people aiming to legalise and legitimize psychedelics were as clear and clever as this man. Instead we get Joe Rogan. Yay.

I'm deeply grateful for the work Shuglin has done for humanity. One day - though I surmise it will be post-humous - he will get the recognition he truly deserves.
posted by rattleandhum at 7:47 AM on April 5, 2012 [2 favorites]


I do hope that someday, we'll realize how fruitless our "war" against chemicals/drugs is.

I just hope that someday someone manufactures psilocybin pills like they did in the 50s. Fungus is nasty.
posted by Theta States at 7:54 AM on April 5, 2012


Synthetic psylocibin? That's around.
posted by yoHighness at 8:06 AM on April 5, 2012


Gelcaps and a coffee grinder work wonders too, if it's the taste you find "nasty."
posted by jjoye at 8:15 AM on April 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


Depressing how the DEA can persecute this old man for making compounds that expand the mind while companies like Pfizer can makes billions marketing compounds that dull it.

Not that they are all useless, but modern medicine is quick to sedate the mind rather than give it some breathing room.
posted by sswiller at 8:37 AM on April 5, 2012


Screw that Dos Equis guy, THIS is the most interesting man in the world.
posted by popaopee at 8:42 AM on April 5, 2012 [2 favorites]


A few years ago a friend of mine worked an internship with Turn of the Century Pictures, around the time they were working on Dirty Pictures. She said that it was an invaluable experience. They treated her with much more respect than unpaid film interns usually get, and they gave her actual meaningful work to do. This is pretty rare when it comes to film internships! (She was getting school credit so it wasn't a total 100% slave labor kind of experience.) As much as I'd like to abolish all unpaid internships, I do commend these guys for making sure their interns learn a good deal while on the job. Most interns at other companies just get coffee and get disrespected.

Ever since I heard about my friend's work with the company I've been wanting to see this film, so thanks for posting the full version! Shulgin's a straight-up wizard.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 10:30 AM on April 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


Gelcaps and a coffee grinder work wonders too, if it's the taste you find "nasty."

That's a LOT of gelatin to swallow 5g of mush powder.



Synthetic psylocibin? That's around.

DO TELL.
posted by Theta States at 12:57 PM on April 5, 2012


Yes, do!!
posted by stonepharisee at 2:40 PM on April 5, 2012


With apologies to hippybear for derailing. I met someone at a festival toting a bottle said to contain this. Using an eyedropper, he slid a drop in each of my friend's nostrils while said friend was still asleep in his tent. Guy woke up tripping but it took him only about half hour to get back. Others shared the opinion of this stuff being like shrooms but shorter and more intense. I googled it and in the 1960s, pure synthetic psilocybin (Indocybin) was made by Sandoz.
posted by yoHighness at 7:13 PM on April 5, 2012


Thanks for posting this, it was great. Ann Shulgin really impressed me. What a wise, kind woman.
posted by frenetic at 10:02 PM on April 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


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