Book Review: Dark Intrusions by Louis Proud

Dark Intrusions by Louis Proud is a much needed investigation into the paranormal aspects of sleep paralysis visions. Proud digs deep and views SP within the philosophical and literary traditions of spiritualism, mediumship, ghost hauntings and channeling. Hands down, it’s pretty much the spookiest book I’ve read this year.

Proud is a sleep paralysis experiencer himself, so his narrative is grounded in his first-hand knowledge of what it feels like to be held down while you sleep by various unsavory entities. This is the classic sleep paralysis encounter, recounted by millions around the world in many cultures as the old hag, the incubus effect, and being ridden by the witch. Proud uses his experience as a touchstone as he reviews the connecting threads of SP with the fortean literature.

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Inception: A Lucid Dreamer’s Review

Inception came out over the weekend and I was not disappointed. The movie felt like a dizzy sci-fi lucid dream and I stumbled out of the theater afterward like I has just crawled out of a hall of mirrors. Don’t worry, there’s no big spoilers in this review.

I have already covered the actual possibilities of mutual lucid dreaming as well as the clever use of real dream researchers to create the impression of government dream research in the film’s viral marketing campaign. In this article,  I am focusing on how the film portrayed dreaming well, and where it fell flat.

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Inception and Mutual Lucid Dreaming

I’m usually not so wrapped up in the release of summer blockbuster movies, but I have to admit I’m enthused for Inception, Chris Nolan’s latest film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. And I want to share my joy for being interviewed by Empire Magazine on the topic of how endangered we really are by dream-hacking super spies.

I can’t reprint the interview without breaking copyright laws, but I can tell you what I think about the dream philosophy stuff that Inception explores.

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Inception: Dream Researchers Expose Project Somnacin

I’ve been following the movie Inception, due out in theaters this summer. The movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, involves a pseudo-government dream research team who can access people’s dreams, and perhaps construct their reality too a la the Matrix. About two weeks ago,  a video showed up on youtube, showing a rough 6 minute cut of three interviews of dream researchers by the director Chris Nolan. The unfinished video looks like raw footage of interview material for a DVD bonus, but it’s actually a very clever viral marketing video, because the third dream researcher doesn’t really exist.

Who are the Dream Researchers Interviewed by Chris Nolan?

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Avatar: A Dreamer’s Review

Avatar is the movie James Cameron has been dreaming about for over 20 years.  It took that long for the technology to catch up with his vision.  Worth it?  Yeah, worth it.  I usually only see movies in the theater if something is guaranteed to blow up.  Avatar met this requirement, and if you wear the 3D glasses, exceeded it.  Beyond the explosions and mind-numbing CG goodness, Avatar is a film I recommend for dreamers everywhere.

As lucid dream writer Rebecca Turner suggested, the movie actually feels like a lucid dream.  Let’s see: a man goes to sleep, wakes up in a new body, and cavorts around in a magical world full of waterfalls and long-legged sexy smurfs.  Except for that last detail, this is the proto-typical lucid dream.

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Waking Life: A Lucid Dreamer’s Review

Waking Life is an animated feature film released in 2002, directed by Richard Linklater, the guy who brought us Dazed and Confused and Slacker.  This movie is a must-see for anyone interested in dreams, consciousness and how our visionary states play out in modern life.

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The Dream Work Method of Acting

The New York Times just ran a piece about the gaining popularity of “Dream Work” as a way for actors to move deeper into their characters. Apparently Harvey Keitel is all about it, as well as Kate Walsh from Grey’s Anatomy.

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Book Review: Lucid Dreaming by Robert Waggoner

My recent poll showed that you want more book reviews about dreams and consciousness – lovely! With so much information in the world, it is helpful to have a guide. With that in mind, I highly recommend Robert Waggoner’s new book: Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self.

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Dreamscape – A Lucid Dreamer’s Review

I finally watched the 1984 classic Dreamscape last night with some friends. (I don’t mean to imply that I usually watch this movie alone… I mean we finally rented it). Directed by Joseph Ruben, and starring a young Dennis Quaid and even-old-back-then Christopher Plummer, this dream studies thriller holds up to the years. Highly recommended for dreamphiles and oneironauts.

Intriguingly, Dreamscape came out 2 months before A Nightmare on Elm Street, and both movies feature a murderous character with hand razors who tries to kill people in their sleep.

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Dream Theater in Berkeley: Silk Passages

For those of you living in the San Francisco Bay Area, a dream theater performance is taking place in Berkeley on November 1st.

The event is part of the opening night festivities for the art show Balancing Perspectives: East Asian Influences in Contemporary Art.

Silk Passage is a dream theater performance exploring the kinetic union of body and psyche. Where else does this union pulse more brightly than in the creative act. Dreamers Lana Nasser, Denise Mewbourne and J. K. Norris join Tomoko Murakami to depart from the sunny shores of consciousness into the waters of dreamtime, where they brave the depths to bring back an act of creation.

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