Episode 206 – On Ken Russell's 'Altered States': Live at Indiana University Bloomington

About this episode

The episode features a discussion on Ken Russell's film 'Altered States' and its themes of mysticism and psychedelics, recorded live at Indiana University Bloomington.

This episode was recorded before a live audience at Indiana University Cinema as part of Weird Academia, a series of events that brought much high strangeness to Bloomington, Indiana, in January 2026. The discussion followed a screening of Ken Russell’s 1980 cinematic fever dream, Altered States. In it, JF and Phil explore the weird intersection of mysticism, psychedelics, and institutional science, and they close with a brief Q&A with members of the audience. Visit Weirdosphere to enroll in Phil Ford's upcoming course, A Musical Tarot. References Weird Academia and the Center for Possible Minds Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Roger Penrose, physicist and mathematician Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy Samuel Delaney, Dhalgren Henri Bergson, Introduction to Metaphysics and Matter & Memory H. P. Lovecraft, American writer Herman Melville, Moby-Dick Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception Clement Greenberg, American essayist G. K. Chesterton, English writer David Cronenberg (dir.), The Fly Michael Garfield, podcaster, writer, musician Weird Studies episode 205 on the Hierophant Victoria Nelson, The Secret Life of Puppets Neil Gaiman, American Gods…

People in this episode

Hosts: JF, Phil

Topics covered

• Ken Russell
• Altered States
• mysticism
• psychedelics
• institutional science
• live audience discussion

Keywords

• Weird Academia
• high strangeness
• Q&A
• cinema

Mentioned in this episode

Products: A Musical Tarot

Books & works: Altered States', Altered States, A Musical Tarot, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Roger Penrose, The Divine Comedy, Introduction to Metaphysics and Matter & Memory H. P. Lovecraft, The Doors of Perception, The Fly, Weird Studies, The Secret Life of Puppets Neil Gaiman

Places: Bloomington, Indiana

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