T00L's Schism video

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I am really fascinated by this video. I think why is because it has to do with creatures that we don't know and their behavior. I think they're going through a mating ritual or something.

It's like truly visiting an alien world and observing their interactions. this reminds me of my question about understanding and the relationship between IQ and higher understanding and grasping of concepts. Some civilization may be so advanced that even their most basic of actions, we couldn't possibly understand.

I seriously doubt that any intelligent life we find out there, we'd be able to understand very well if at all. In fact, if they come here, they might look at us like w e look at mice or birds. We might strike at them but it might as well be as annoying as a mosquito bite or a bee sting to them.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRSLmlFqExU[/youtube]

That video is really cool. Oh I remember those two! They're Osseus Labyrint, I guess you'd call them artist acrobats. They contort in meaningful ways.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt--pkJqcBI&NR=1[/youtube]
Have you ever seen any of Tool's other videos?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiV_ue-PbL4&feature=related[/youtube]

I'm quite an admirer of Tool's videos. Tool's guitarist Adam Jones, who has also directed most of their videos, spent time working on movies like Jurassic Park and Edward Scissorhands, so he really knows what he's doing. His collaborations with Alex Grey ("Parabola" and "Vicarious") have also proven very interesting.

As with most of the things the band does, Tool videos tend to be extremely symbolic and intended to provoke thought and discussion about the world around us. Literal readings can be very elusive-- you have to read between the lines to make sense of the odd creatures and strange behaviors contained within. Very rarely does Tool do anything that can't be decoded as having some greater insight at its core (although, admittedly, the band also has a notoriously offbeat sense of humor, so things aren't always as they seem with them).

I wrote my own interpretation of the "Schism" video on a Tool forum years ago. To quote a relevent excerpt:

"(M)y idea is more connected to the definition of 'schism' being a religious split.

I believe the contortionists represent gods, or for other purposes, religions themselves. When the female contortionist sinks into the ground and the male appears, it represents one religion becoming two. When the female is making the spiral on the ground with the male's head, I think it relates to the way that some religions borrow ideas (represented by the head) from others.

I also think the smaller beings that are spawned from the vein represent humans. When the creature clings to the female contortionist, it is choosing to believe in that particular religion. After the first one bites onto her, several other follow, perhaps mimicking the spread of the religion.

But the fusion of the two contortionists seems to be the pivotal point in the video. Perhaps the reason the two religions fused is because an alternate religion opposing both of them, somewhat like Satanism opposes all sects of Christianity (which would explain the fireball at the end of the video), has appeared and the two must fuse to face the threat it poses to its own beliefs."

Cool to see some tool fans on here. I went to a tool concert this summer with a couple friends. Awesome sensory overload.