Television while tripping

[TestOfSanity]

When I first started doing psychedelics 11+ years ago, the tv was meaningless. To me, the tv was a lit up box, and nothing more, I just couldn't get into it. I will admit, I watched tv during the comedown of trips. I remember coming off a strong mushroom trip, and being absolutely entranced with the movie To Live and Die in LA. Now I naturally love being outdoors during my trip, but for weather reasons, this is not possible all year. So lately, this winter, I've been tripping indoors, and the tv has become just awesome. Maybe, it's because nowadays, everyone has a big flat panel tv, and it's easier to see detail with HD. But watching colorful movies in the dark, is an experience, and the movies do not stop at the boundaries of the screen, they continue on the walls. This is better than any 3d tv i've seen. Anyway, once warm weather arrives, I'll probably forget about it, but I'm just wondering what other people think. Is the tv a meaningless lit up box? Or is it an experience on its own?

 

[greenmeanies]

notice how you mention "TV" without clarifying that you actually mean "movies".

television (the content and programming that is available on the air or cable) is largely just loud annoying flashing pictures to grab your attention and keep you staring long enough to watch some ads. plotlines repeat so you don't forget what happened before you got bombarded with the latest food or drink sales pitch.

well-put-together cinematic films on the other hand, when viewed on the appropriate screen, can be a fully immersive experience. the entire film was put together with the intention of telling you a story from beginning to end, teasing you along until you reach the conclusion. have you seen any good films in the theater while tripping? like the new alice in wonderland, or even just toy story 3. (i have a soft spot for pixar even though they got bought by disney)

IMO most modern tv shows (excluding my favorites like Futurama) are absolute shite. the step to HD can even make things worse because directors are using cinematic-like shots and high budgets that make the 3-minute ad break seem even more out of place and retarded.

 

[DropDeadDevin]

It really depends for me personally. If I'm alone and tripping indoors, I'll watch a movie. It's usually movies with lots of colors or just uniquely directed. Aladdin for example is one of my favorites to watch on shrooms, and also Lion King. 90s Disney movies really give me an nostalgic feeling while tripping, and the picture is so beautiful by itself. I mean, there's other movies like A Scanner Darkly, Donnie Darko, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Taking Woodstock, Fantastic Mr. Fox etc. that I like to watch. I only watch movies when I'm tripping alone though, which is very scarce.

I too prefer to trip outdoors, like in heavily forested areas or even just my backyard, but like you said sometimes the weather just does not permit that.

 

[nearjat]

Sometimes it's awesome- sometimes. But it's pretty intense info-delivery system that's out of your control, meaning it has the power to turn things pretty sour before you even realize what's happening.

My buddy lost his shit a bit just after the peak of a 2C-T-7 trip while watching one of those random/absurdist shows on Adult Swim. Might have been Super Jail.

 

[Dr Farnsworth]

To me television or movies are really just a visual way of telling a story which people have been doing for thousands of years and i see no problem with it if you enjoy the story and watch in moderation. Sometimes when im shrooming i love to watch a funny movie or tv show because it gives me the giggles. But usually i prefer to be out and about.

TV can be bad too when my friend took mushies for the first time he was glued to the tv (tripping hard) and we told him he should go on a walk with us/do something else but he just sat there and ended up having a bad trip (which i think could be avoided by a change of scenery)

 

[MrGrunge]

Last time I took LSD I watched the show 'Pit Boss' for four and a half hours. Midgets are so damn funny when you're tripping.

 

[girlygrrl]

Sure, some movies and stuff are fun when tripping...

The ones that stand out for me are:

Four Rooms on mushrooms (it seemed like the funniest movie ever made but when I watched it again sober it was meh)

2001:A Space Odyssey on a dxm/k/salvia combo (multiple redoses of k/salvia) which was insanely trippy.

Equilibrium in the theater on K ...

The Sopranos on K ...

hmm I've tried watching tv on LSD where I read way too much into it and feel kinda mind-controlled; 2c-e is too trippy to follow a story. Weed is good if you wanna laugh at lame jokes, but I don't like pot much at all tbh.

Honestly if you're gonna watch movies or tv on a drug K seems to work the best for putting you "in" the movie. You lose your sense of self completely and the characters and plot become your only reality. Just make sure you're watching something of quality, definitely get netflix or a DVD box set or w/e ... incessant ads popping up every 5 mins will ruin any kind of interesting synergy between the show and the drugs.

I recommend box sets of LOST, 24, The Sopranos, stuff like that which you could do a marathon on (especially if taking something longer-acting like DXM).

Otherwise if you're doing LSD or 2c-e or something more visual/synthensia then go for concerts instead of shows (lots of good 5.1 concert recordings out there), although I imagine something like the new Alice in Wonderland or Mirrormask or Pan's Labyrinth or w/e that is equally visually appealing would work well for that sort of thing (generally music is most enjoyable for me when on psychedelics though)

Maybe Discovery's Planet Earth? I bet that would be almost as good as actually being in nature.

 

[TestOfSanity]

"notice how you mention "TV" without clarifying that you actually mean "movies"."

I was referring to the television itself, not TV programs as apposed to movies.

I once dropped acid before a movie at the theater, but the most intense part of the trip started after the movie.


I did just remember a time when I had to stop watching. It was just one of those days when someone just gave me 3g of shrooms for free, to keep up with the group. For whatever reason, we decided to watch Crackheads gone Wild, while we waited for them to hit. Now I don't know if you guys have ever seen this, but after watching half of it, enough was enough. Things were getting very intense, and it was giving me bad vibes. Also, I was in a cramped apartment. We went outside, and the fresh air immediately calmed me.

 

[girlygrrl]

^ if you're gonna trip and watch tv you have to be selective and pick something that vibes well with you. The best experience I had was probably watching a NIN concert on DVD with 5.1 ... it wasn't very visual but I just felt all the emotion in a way I never had before.

I'd have a major panic attack / bad trip for sure if I took some shrooms or 2c-e and then someone popped in something insane like Crank: High Voltage.

 

[Shambles]

Honestly if you're gonna watch movies or tv on a drug K seems to work the best for putting you "in" the movie. You lose your sense of self completely and the characters and plot become your only reality.

I konkur. Ketamine + film/television/visual media kan be amazing. LSD can be good too but a bit of caution regarding what you watch can be required as I find I tend to feel the emotion far more than usual and some stuff can be really quite upsetting. I'm not that big on TV shows these days cos you can only get a digital signal where I live and don't have a digital TV setup so can only watch stuff online. I tend to favour films or documentaries (loadsa free online documentary sites like TopDocumentaryFIlms and DocumentaryHeaven etc that are full of gems whatever your interests are).

 

[girlygrrl]

LSD can be good too but a bit of caution regarding what you watch can be required as I find I tend to feel the emotion far more than usual and some stuff can be really quite upsetting.

Ugh emotions on LSD can be intense when watching TV. I watched an episode of Malcolm In The Middle once on LSD and it made me really emotional because something on there paralleled an incident in childhood. It felt like all my issues in life were catalyst-ed from this one incident in childhood and the show was more or less beating me up over it and making me feel incredibly guilty. If you've ever seen the movie "Defending Your Life" and the guy is in the chamber re-living and evaluating crap from his childhood, it felt like that is what was happening to me just through metaphor from a TV show. Honestly watching TV on LSD makes me feel like it is preaching to me or sending me hidden messages that I have to decode, like everything is personally applicable to something in my life rather than just being enjoyable for the sake of enjoyment.

Perhaps this is why I don't think LSD and TV is a good combo (although an LSD-enhanced HD/5.1 concert of a band you really love probably would be an entirely different experience).

 

[OGKooosh]

My buddy lost his shit a bit just after the peak of a 2C-T-7 trip while watching one of those random/absurdist shows on Adult Swim. Might have been Super Jail.

super jail gives me panic attacks sober... just sayin.

but for the most part i dont like TV when im tripping the first time i tripped i actually decided i hate TV haha. its so mindless and thinking about myself sitting there staring at a box trips me out. however if its something i want to watch, like a movie i put on or some DVDs i have, then its a very different story.

 

[SpecialK_]

Ketamine and TV is fantastic, turn the lights off and you'll feel like your in a cinema.
Tripping and watching movies is awesome too, especially with more light hearted things to just laugh at that you can fade in and out of.

 

[greenmeanies]

basically tv is just a window into another world-- which can be either useful and positive or distracting and negative.

Planet Earth or any mind-blowing science program is an excellent example of how TV can be a powerful educational medium.

yet i would NEVER want to watch the local news while tripping, simply due to the way they present information especially regarding violent crimes.

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

Depends on what you're watching.

Watching Robot Chicken while on LSD is extremely intense, same with most of the stuff on Adult Swim.

I've tried watching Super Jail while stoned, can't imagine what it's like tripping...

 

[Bardeaux]

My buddy lost his shit a bit just after the peak of a 2C-T-7 trip while watching one of those random/absurdist shows on Adult Swim. Might have been Super Jail.

I'm a very strong advocate of staying away from Adult Swim while tripping. I watched Xavier: Renagade Angel during one of my first trips and I've never made that mistake again :D

I do adore nature shows while tripping though. Shows like Planet Earth, Life, ect are amazing.

 

[MachoSavage]

I was always frustrated and disappointed when trying to watch TV on mushrooms. Everything else in the room was pulsing, melting, waving around... and the TV was just there, glowing the same as always, like a window back to a reality that I was too messed up to comprehend anymore. It was visually uninteresting, and when I tried to follow any of the plots I just got confused.

But on 50mg of [a white powder sold as MXE that was probably tiletamine], any cartoon on TV was the greatest thing I ever saw. As long as something was happening on that screen, it was my whole reality, and every line of dialogue was the perfect summation of that moment. I wasn't even trying to follow what was happening, just letting it wash over me.

I had watched some of the stranger episodes of Tim & Eric on a smaller dose and found them almost terrifying... wouldn't want to see those on a larger dose.

 

[gman7104]

When I watch TV on shrooms, I just laugh at everything thats happening the whole time. But I know what you mean, I find TV useless when I'm tripping on acid.

 

[SpinOutOfControl]

I can't take anything serious on t.v. when I am tripping. It all seems so ridiculous. News castors talking about todays events just seems fake and cartoon-like in a way. It would have to be something funny for me to even bother watching it while tripping.

Infomercials work too!

 

[perKeceT]

my first experience with 2c-e i watched inception, it was a low dose but i still couldnt keep track, probably a bad movie to watch for the first time in the state of mind lol. i tripped on a decent dose a mushrooms not too long ago and saw this show called the shark tank about people pitching inventions to billionaires, it was fuckin intense!