Synchronicity Arkive - Community Stories

Have a synchronicity site? (Sticky Post)

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 09:23:44 -0500

Updated: February 5th, 2007
Note: this is a sticky post, and will stay at the top of the page. Newer posts are underneath...

Starting this story thread, mainly to try and collect comments, about other synchronicity sites on the web. Part of the fun of the synching community has always been throwing up a site of your own and sharing your creations. Over the years, a number of sites have grown up, faded away, or even stuck around.

I know about a couple, so those are listed here (click READ MORE to see the rest of this article)...

A Different Historical Perspective

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:04:53 -0400

Simultaneity describes events existing or happening at the same time. This describes precisely what happens when we play separately packaged music and movie with an overlap of occurrence. A documented simultaneity (simo for short) can be reliably repeated by other experimenters of the simo craft.

Music seems to have always been played with other events like festivals, theater, or a romantic date. In June 1810, Ludwig van Beethoven produced the Tone Poem “Egmont”. A Tone Poem, also known as the Symphonic Poem, is an orchestra music movement where an extramusical event provides the narrative or illustrative element. This event may be a painting, a poem, a story, or something else. ¹

This musical style was later championed by many composers like Richard Strauss who wrote the 1896 Tone Poem “Also sprach Zarathustra” to musically illustrate Nietzsche’s writings by the same name. “Also sprach Zarathustra” is known to us today as the theme music for Kubrick’s movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”. ²

Experimental and innovative politics, art, and culture came to be called Avant-garde (French for advace guard). Avant-garde culture challenges the static norm.

Continued after the break...

The Ultimate Stoner Rock Movies

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:39:47 -0400

Thought some of you folks might get a kick out of this story on RS.com

Meet the King of Stoner Rock Movies (Just in Time for 4/20!)

By now most everybody (stoned or otherwise) knows that watching The Wizard of Oz while listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon unspools a motherload of eerie synchronicities. But did you know that the same thing happens when you combine Led Zeppelin IV and The Fellowship of the Ring? Or The Matrix and Metallica’s “Black Album”?

Read the whole story at RollingStone.com!>>>

Remember me?

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:20:06 -0500

January 17, 2008

Jann S. Wenner
Editor in chief
Rolling Stone Magazine
1290 6th Avenue, 2nd Floor
NY, NY 10104

Hello again Jann,

Remember me? I’m the guy who sent you those thirteen sync DVD’s. (Hope you enjoyed them.) I also sent the set to one of your editors, Evan Schlansky, and here’s what he had to say: “This is by far the coolest thing I ever got in the mail!” His telephone interview lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, and he has so far placed the story in the April ‘08 issue of High Times Magazine!

Okay, if that’s not impressive enough, please allow me to drop another name…
Internationally renowned author and rock historian, R. Gary Patterson, has invited me to be his guest on Coast to Coast A.M. with George Noorey. (Gary’s testimonial attached)

“idol hands” Entertainment has been busy, too, adding three new titles to the lineup:

1) “Nevermind The Memento” (Nirvana "Nevermind" + "Memento")
2) “OK Hackers” (Radiohead "OK Computer" + "Hackers") &
3) “Devil Rekall” (White Zombie "Devil Music Vol. I" + "Total Recall")

Also included is the new and improved "The DARK SIDE OF OZ" DVD. This new disc has added two subtitle tracks and commentary by The DeVille (that’s me!). There’s nothing else like it on earth!

Please, please, please don’t let this opportunity slip away. Like me, Evan wants Rolling Stone to be the first major publication to cover the breaking news on this revolutionary new form of entertainment! Thank you.

Sincerely,

The DeVille
SyncMovies.com

Wow! This was the greatest Christmas present I received this year. Shades of Carl Jung--I can't believe the attention to detail in this incredible collection! The quality is excellent and the sound in 5.1 Dolby digital is tremendous. I was well familiar with the "Dark Side of the Rainbow" when I included it into both my "Hellhounds On Their Trail" and "Take A Walk On The Darkside: Rock And Roll Myths, Legends And Curses." What is fascinating is the complete ease in which the syncs match up on one DVD. No waiting to match the third roar of the MGM lion and starting either the LP or CD to find the syncs. So easy even a rock historian can do it!

What makes this set a must have is the OTHER collections. Imagine popular rock CDs synced with "The Matrix," "Friday the 13th," Night of the Living Dead' and twelve more incredible compilations. The Deville's Workshop may well be a cottage industry in opening our eyes and ears to a spectacular experience in which great rock and roll and classic films can be viewed as an entirely new media. Be warned! You need to be up on the music as the lyrics created the ultimate synchronicities. Believe me when I say this is a collection you'll treasure for a lifetime!

-R. Gary Patterson

Christopher O'Riley

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:50:48 -0400

Christopher O’Riley is a concert pianist. He also finds time to run “From the Top” which makes it seem cool to work hard and do well in music. The original idea for “From the Top” was to cross the genres of music beacaus as Mr. O’Riley puts it, “On too many radio stations, there’s this feeling that you’re listening to the Top 40 all the time”. “From the Top” is produced for public radio like the radio station 104.1 FM in Washington.

He believes that music should not be dumbed down as we may all find happening on the mass media radio stations. I know we’ve wailed on this subject here before. I believe radio does not reflect the true power and diversity of the world’s musical capability. Mr. O’Riley states, “That moment of discovery rarely arrives on the Internet because listeners have to know what they’re looking for: rather it is still radio that provides that introduction that can alter the course of a young life.”

On his show “From the Top” which blends music fun with serious music making, O’Riley has been know to slip in a transcription from one of his favorite music bands, Radiohead. I have to admit that Radiohead is beyond my comprehension but when O’Riley transcribes it, it is beauty to my ears. He actually has two albums out, “True Love Waits” and “Hold me to This” which are Radiohead played as classical piano pieces. My wife can hear the similarity between Radiohead and his transcriptions. But I sadly admit, that O’Rileys transcriptions sound nothing like Radiohead to me, even playing any selected song back to back with its double.

O’Riley’s biography boasts that , "True Love Waits" (Sony/Odyssey) received 4 stars from Rolling Stone and was as critically acclaimed as it was commercially successful. I have to agree with Rolling Stone. I like the transcriptions better than the originals.

Mr. O’Riley jokes that he thought Radiohead would put out a restraining order on him. But I think Radiohead helped produce his second album “Hold me to This” but I’m not sure so don’t hold me to this. And an amazing fact. O’Riley met his wife on a Radiohead message board!

The dark side of horror

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:33:09 -0400

I spent the last weekend at Screamfest, Florida's largest horror convention. The main vendor hall was huge, and every square inch was covered with freddy, jason, pinhead, etc. Except...this one booth that also featured some sci-fi, some old banned racist cartoons and such, a little porn and...yes he had a small monitor playing DSotR. It really seemed out of place there, but I guess that shows just how HUGE it has become. The DVD was actually titled "the dark side of Oz". I have never seen so many bootleg DVDs in my life. 90% of the vendors had a table full of 'em!

BTW, we had a great time. I got to meet Doug Bradley (pinhead) and Lloyd Kaufman (TROMA video). David Arquette was on hand to debut his new film "the tripper", a hilarious slasher/comedy with Paul Reubens (pee wee herman)as a sleazy concert promoter. It was a great film, I would highly recommend it when it comes out. We also participated in the "Zombiewalk"...a few hundred of us dressed as zombies took over the street in front of the resort. It was so fun.

Small world

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:58:10 -0400

Tonight, the kitchen manager at my work casually mentioned that he went to the David Gilmore concert this past week here in Orlando. He proceeded to explain to me his long-running obsession with Pink Floyd. His myspace is full of pics, etc...his collection of bootlegs, he watches 'pulse' weekly...I guess he is a bit obsessed.

I wasn't really surprised, as he is the one mexican in the kitchen who speaks fluent english, doesn't seem to care for latin radio or coming to the bar to check in on what's playing on Telemundo. I've caught him jamming out behind the line to some rather offbeat stuff on the radio now and then, but I never pegged him for a Floyd fan, let alone someone who would open-minded enough to get the subtle nuances of synching.

I was astonished to learn that not only had he heard of DSoTR, he apparently owns a DVD version of the synch that has features similiar to the old 'pop-up video' show on VH-1, pointing out synch points throughout the film. He proceeded to list, in detail, numerous parts of the synch that he really enjoys, as well as other synchs that he has seen and/or heard about.

I was quite taken aback to find someone knowledgable about synchs at my workplace. Over the past 8 months living here in Orlando, I really haven't forged in friendships or even met anyone who remotely shared any of my interests...quite the opposite. Typically, front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house people don't even speak in restaurants, and the race barrier even further segregates people. I guess it goes to show how small this world really is and that kindred spirits can meet in the most unlikely places. Also, sometimes our assumptions about people can be totally off-base.

The Rainbow Connection

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 02:31:27 -0400

"Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination".
-Willy Wonka

This quote above all others sums up in essence what synchronicity film creator The DeVille has to offer. With his 13 dvd set of synch films distributed by his own Idol Hand Entertainment Company, The DeVille does just that and more. The mixing or "synching" of two unrelated works to create a whole new entity is not a new concept but by transferring his synch finding to dvd, The DeVille has taken the idea in a whole new direction. Each disc in the 13 dvd set is brilliantly packaged with stunning artwork & loaded with extras. Spectacular picture & digital sound quality only hint at how many hours The DeVille spent to create each synch masterpiece.

Existing films & CD's are the tools used to create synchronicity films & while The DeVille uses these works to create entirely new works of his own, he has always stressed that the original music & films should be purchased from the original artists. Distribution of synch films is currently hindered by copyright laws but one could argue that synch films stand on their own as completely new works of art. Through passion for his art & tireless self promotion, The DeVille has been heralded as somewhat of a modern day P.T. Barnum. A madman carnival barker trying to turn the world onto a new art form that could blow the entertainment industry wide open....with The DeVille’s finger on the detonator.

The synchs themselves weave together so well, many have thought they were created intentionally. Proven many times over by synchronicity enthusiasts, the once thought "urban legend" of synching together the MGM classic film “The Wizard of Oz” with Pink Floyd’s legendary “Dark Side of the Moon” served as a launch pad for The DeVille & his theory of The Rainbow Connection, the method which he attributes to the discovery of his synchs. Rainbow Connection or not, the DVD’s created by The DeVille & Idol Hands Entertainment are a welcome addition to any movie collection & many fans look forward to new creations from his workshop. In the words of Kurt Cobain, "Here we are now...entertain us!" That is all The DeVille is trying to do. (Visit www.SyncMovies.com)

-Alan Smithee

In an interstellar burst, I am back to save the universe -Radiohead

Alice on the Wall - The First Extensive List

Thu, 10 May 2007 08:20:56 -0400

I have compiled the first extensive list of "shtuff" for Alice on the Wall !!!

After initially experiencing it over two years ago (plus several subsequent screenings), I became convinced that it was a better sync than Dark Side of the Rainbow (my current count is approximately 161 syncs, which--according to how one does the math--is about 50-90% denser) ... indeed, it may be the most impressive sync discovered thusfar!

Bear in mind that not everything is listed ... there are so many subtle scene changes and mood fluctuations ... I only included what I deemed to be of the utmost significance ... I would love to hear from anyone that wishes to suggest additions or modifications to my findings ...

I'm not exactly sure where/how is the best way to get the word out ... I figured I'd start here ... I'll have it posted online and/or converted to PDF in the near future ... if anyone reading this does know how to efficiently disseminate this further, I'd love to hear your ideas ....

Raining Blood & Thunder,
MSL

How do you discover syncs

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 06:35:44 -0400

10. How do you discover syncs, just mix and match until something works?

Actually it's much easier than that, and funny, too. Stephen and I refer to it as "The Rainbow Connection" (and then we break into song). As you know there's a rainbow on the cover of The Dark Side of the Moon, and in the Wizard of Oz Dorothy sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Then there's the triangularly shaped prism on the cover, and all the triangle shapes and references in the movie. So there's your precedent. If there were other syncs, there would also be a trail of bread crumbs to lead you to them. Similar themes, images, titles, lyrics, something that in hindsight is blatantly obvious. As an example let's take Rob Zombie. On track 2 of the White Zombie album La Sexorcisto Vol. 1, there is a snippet from Night of the Living Dead: "...an epidemic of mass murder being committed by a virtual army of unidentified assassins." So when I was looking for the CD to go with Night of the Living Dead, I immediately thought of Rob Zombie. And it absolutely had to be his solo album Hellbilly Deluxe with the song Living Dead Girl. And sometimes the CD will lead you to the movie as in the case of White Zombie's Astro Creep 2000 with the song entitled More Human Than Human. If you'll recall from the movie Blade Runner, that was the Nexus Corporation's motto. Also in the song he says "I am the Nexus 1, I want more life f**ker, I ain't done". Hmmm... Rainbow connection? You bet. That's just one of thirty or so more syncs that Stephen and I know of but have not done yet. How about Planes, Trains and Automobiles (starring John Candy!?!) with the Cars' Candy-O... Planes, Trains and Candy-O. Then there's The Breakfast Club and Supertramp's Breakfast in America, The Running Man and Jackson Brown's Running On Empty, Radiohead's OK Computer with Hackers - it's quite a list. I stumbled onto something miraculous quite by accident, and discovered that I have the knack for it.

From Upchuck Undergrind's interview with The DeVille

Dr. Suess' Grinch Synch Debut in Halifax, NS, Canada

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 16:53:38 -0500

Hosted By: Rich Aucoin
When: Saturday Feb 03, 2007
at 8:00 PM
Where: St. Matthew's Church
Barrington St.
Halifax, NS
Canada
Description:
Rich Aucoin

Click Here To View Event

Connections

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 19:50:27 -0500

Over the years, I have heard many stories of our western culture. I know little of some things such as LSD. I relied on LSD stories that circulated before the invention of the internet. This short collection of word of mouth rumors demonstrate how non-related events become related within a culture. It is related to even a non-user of LSD like me.

Not too long ago, chemists routinely tasted their lab products. The human tongue is a very quick and accurate way to assess chemicals. In the 1930’s, a chemist was working with organic acids. I was told that after tasting one of his lab products called lysergic acid diethylamide (now called LSD), the chemist woke up across town three days later. The official version says the chemist lost only three hours, not 3 days. He recalled incredible visions. He saw amazing kaleidoscopes of color then slipped into paranoia. The researcher had discovered the amazing mind altering properties of the LSD he had synthesized in his lab. This drug would play a prominent role in the mind opening and mind altering phase of the experimental 1950's and 1960’s.

Later in the 1960’s, a British music group called the Beatles wrote “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. I was told that the song name’s initials spell out “L.S.D.” which was a word play for the drug LSD. The song has words of fantastic visions. When a family member of mine bought the “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album, I was immensely perplexed by such nonsense lyrics and the strange album cover. Why would the Beatles make a crazy album under another band name? It made no sense to have these random people in a group picture. Were they all lonely hearts? Why even Frank Zappa was not allowed to mock the album cover because it was so crazy. The corporate lawyers thought everybody in the group picture would sue the pants off Zappa.

READ MORE AFTER THE BREAK

Alex North’s Lost Score for “2001: A Space Odyssey”

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 22:04:24 -0400

Alex North’s Lost Score for “2001: A Space Odyssey”

By Karl Tune
April 2006

I purchased Alex North’s Original Score for Stanley Kubrick’s film adoption of Arthur C. Clarke’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”. The conductor was Jerry Goldsmith with The National Philharmonic Orchestra. The music package is called “Alex North’s 2001”, Varesa Sarabande Records, Inc. Patent 1993. I had read about it on one of the synchronicity message boards and decided to check out this “lost” intentional score. The pamphlet inside was packed with information. There are 13 pages covered with small print. It details some of the drama and work that went into the final production of this music.

I will not list all the rumors I have heard and read about “2001: A Space Odyssey” music. It will only serve to further confuse everybody. Let me get straight to the facts.

Alex North was hired in 1967 by Director Stanley Kubrick to score “2001: A Space Odyssey” which was already 2 years into production. Mr. North had already scored music to Mr. Kubrick’s 1960 film “Spartacus” and was ecstatic about working with Mr. Kubrick again. Mr. Kubrick told Mr. North that he really wanted to use a pre-recorded mix of classical music and they would cut the film to the music.5

“His (Mr. Kubrick’s) request to use classical music excerpts in the film had been immediately rejected by the studio, which felt the need for an original score. MGM had actually been very specific in its vision of the film from a musical standpoint and had even gone as far as to specifically ‘suggest’ Alex North as the composer of choice.”5

Mr. North had studied music at the Curtis Institute for Music in Philadelphia USA, the Julliard, and the Moscow Conservatory in 1933 and 1934 USSR (During the famine caused by the first “5 Year Plan”). By the time he was approached to compose music for “2001”, he had already composed music for stage and films “A Streetcar Named Desire”, “Death of a Salesman”, “Cleopatra”, “The Agony and the Ecstasy”, “Viva Zapita!”, “The Wonderful Country”, “In the Rose Tattoo”, “The Rainmaker”, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?”, “The Long Hot Summer”, “The Sound and the Fury”, and “Sanctuary”.1

Mr. North said, “I felt I could compose music that had the ingredients and the essence of what Kubrick wanted and give it a consistency and homogeneity and contemporary feel.” 5 Mr. North’s music does do this for my ear.

The actual music used in “2001” seems appropriate during the movie. But when I listed to my “2001: A Space Odyssey” sound track LP, the music does seem very disjointed and unconnected.

Mr. North composed a “Main Title”, in the same formal structure as the music Mr. Kubrick wanted to use for the opening credits, which is musically connected to the rest of the music he composed for “2001”.3

For the title track, Mr. Kubrick wanted Richard Strauss’ “Thus Spoke Zarathrustra” which was supposed to reflect Friedrich Nietzsche’s book by the same name. Friedrich Nietzsche detailed in his book “Thus Spoke Zarathrustra” how man could transcend to a higher level of existence. How appropriate. “2001” is all about Transcending! Mr. Kubrick agreed with Richard Strauss’ statement, “I did not intend to write philosophical music. I meant to convey by means of music an idea of the development of the human race from its origin, through the various phases of its development, religious and scientific…”.2

As a side note, I find Friedrich Nietzsche’s book “Thus Spoke Zarathrustra” badly written, boring, and chauvinistic (Only men could transcend? How 19th Century!) even though the book is an important philosophical milestone. I believe that the badly written properties of Nietzsche kept his publications from being banned because nobody wanted to read it anyway.

Mr. North composed and recorded over 40 minutes of music for “2001”. Mr. North waited to see more film to score and spot music to. Then Mr. North received word from Mr. Kubrick that no more score was necessary. They were going to use breathing effects for the remainder of the film.4

There is an awful lot of breathing effect in the later part of the film. But there is music for “Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite”. Mr. Kubrick used Gyorgy Legeti’s “Requiem for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, 2 mixed Choirs and Orchestra” and “Atmospheres” to tie together the inspirational film components. These two musical pieces were only a few years old when they were used in “2001”.

“North attended the New York premiere of 2001 (April 1968) expecting to hear his music (he had never been told otherwise). He left crushed and in shock.”5

After listening to “Alex North’s 2001”, it is evident that none of his music was used for the movie and he is not listed in the movie music credits. Part of Mr. North’s score for “2001: A Space Odyssey” did end up in the 1981 movie “Dragonslayer”.3

Frank Cordell was also hired to record segments of Mahler’s Third Symphony during the production of the movie “2001” but this idea was also abandoned.3

If you try to synchronize “Alex North’s 2001” with the movie, you will find that Mr. North’s music cues were different from the cues used in the released movie. The pamphlet included with the CD also suggested to play the tracks in the following order 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 3, 7, 10, 11, 8, 9, and 12 if you care to try and semi-synchronize to the movie.3

To me, Mr. North’s music for the first part of the movie sounds like “Planet of the Apes”. The second half sounds like “Star Trek”. This should come as no surprise because Jerry Goldsmith, the conductor, helped compose music for “Planet of the Apes” (1968) and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979). I know because I checked out this hunch after listening to the score. I should have read the entire pamphlet first because it tells you this same thing in Jerry Goldsmith’s brief biography on the last page of the pamphlet included with the CD.

In 1985, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Mr. North with a special lifetime achievement award, the first one they gave to a composer.1 It was not until the 25th anniversary of the release of the film in 1993, that Mr. North’s music score for “2001” was produced for release into stores. This would be the first time it is heard by the general public.

It is quite possible that the existence of this music created all the alternative sound track rumors. After all, Mr. Mulhall claims, “Alex North’s music for ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (MGM 1968) is the greatest unused score in the history of film music”3

1. “Alex North: A Brief Biography” included in “Alex North’s 2001”
2. “MGM records in Association with Deutsche Grammephon Presents Music from the Motion Picture Sound Track. MGM presents a Stanley Kubrick Production 2001 a space odyssey”, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. Copyright 1968.
3. Mulhall, Kevin, “Alex North’s Celestial Symphony: The Music For 2001” included in “Alex North’s 2001”
4. North, Alex, “A Note From Alex North” included in “Alex North’s 2001”.
5. Townson, Robert, “The Odyssey of Alex North’s 2001” included in “Alex North’s 2001”.

More Baker B. Reflections

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 05:01:09 -0500

NOTE: Special thanks to Karl Tune for having saved this material and thanks to Baker for permission to repost it.

This from a posting on the old board, in response to Karl heckling Baker into posting more for the SynchBook project:

I suppose it would be a shame if I didn't contribute, if only for the simple fact that with the exception of the Arkiver himself, I've been posting on the Synchboard longer than anyone else. Since 1997. I remember how busy it was when Dark Side of the Rainbow erupted onto the scene that summer... in a very public way, I mean. The Synchboard was hopping for a while, believe you me. Then there was the great black out of, what was it, Fall 1999 I think. When the Synchboard shut down for about 4 months. I remember that as well. And then how slow it was for a while after it started up again.

Baker B. (as interviewed by Karl Tune)

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:55:03 -0500

Baker: In a post on the Synchronicity Arkive’s Synchboard on June 25, I admitted I didn’t have a clue yet as to what to write for the owner’s proposed synchronicity anthology. Karl Tune, another long time member of the Synchboard, helped me out with some topic suggestions in a reply post, and after an impromptu response to these in yet another post, I realized I probably had just created the rough draft for my contribution. So with Karl’s permission, I’ve italicized his suggestions and inserted my edited response just below these. Here goes...

*****

Karl Tune: Just mention how you first heard of synching, how you believed Dark Side of the Rainbow was intentional until you developed the "Rainbow Sphere" which disproves intentionality.

B: Clarification here: I never really, solidly thought Dark Side of the Rainbow was intentional except for a brief couple of days or so. Then, as you said, the Rainbow Sphere made itself known to me in a larger way. This was in 1997, about a month after I discovered Dark Side of the Rainbow. But it took me several more years to understand what this Sphere was about, or how it was a totally separate synch from Dark Side of the Rainbow and yet totally equal. And this was before I discovered any other synch except one (since 2000, I’ve discovered about 25).

B: Since I've told this story already, for the most part, in The Oz/Floyd Paradox Interview, which I hope to get published as well sometime soon, I’ll leave out a more detailed explanation of this Sphere creation. Perhaps I should just relate, in Mike's anthology, how I think Dark Side of the Rainbow is fab, and how it seems to have lasting qualities, as has been reinforced to me repeatedly. I mean, I'm really quite sick of it, to be honest, but to those just initiated into the world of synching especially it is usually considered quite fab still. And they make me remember that fact as well.