Alien Dreamtime

Candle penises? a gyrating topless dancer? LSD as a gateway to ...um...something? Welcome to the world of Alien Dreamtime, a filmed in San Francisco live presentation by author Terence McKenna (with psychedelic visuals by Rose-X and music by Space Time Continuum). According to McKenna's rap, hegemony, monogamy, and monotony are the three enemies, and in a solution, that would surely warm the cockles of Dr. Timothy Leary's heart, he proscribes the ingestion of psychedelic substances (just say yes!). Combining commentary like "plants and technology are dynamic reality engines for history," with hallucinatory day-glo visuals that are often presented at warp speed by someone who definitely knows his or her way around a video editing suite, Alien Dreamtime will strike many as techno-religious psychobabble. While the image manipulation is sometimes impressive, one rarely knows what one is seeing (there were times when I thought I might be staring at a Bacchanalian orgy, or maybe it was a close-up of mercury in a thermometer). Some of McKenna's musings made me laugh, one or two made me think, and more than a few made me want to reach for my waders. Older acid freaks will probably love this, and some video aficionados will appreciate the razzle dazzle; others will tune out and turn off within five minutes. An optional purchase. (R. Pitman)