we are rabid, hear us foam

"Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through."
-R.D. Laing

'raphaelesque head exploding' by salvador dali

Although the greatest number of raving lunatics and philosophical madmen have internet access and can whip up a homepage, there's plenty of places to find insanity. Look! In the corner of the room! There's some right there! That wasn't so hard, was it? You're going to have to do better than that though. So we took the liberty to waste more of your time and give you enough quality television and bedtime reading to keep your mind in the deep end.

QUALITY TIME WITH A TELIVISION SET FOR FRUITCAKES
The Fisher Kingis about a homeless lunatic (I'm not using this term as I do usually, this man is totally insane) on the quest for the holy grail changes the life of greedy, self centered media figure. It's inspiring (as most of Robin William's movies are), surreal, and has extremely good tips on the usage of bug spray to get rid of the little people when they start talking too loud.

The Matrix is all around excellent. But besides having a fascinating plot and all that, it demonstrates a new way of looking at life. Not taking anything for sure, questioning what is real and what isn't, philosophy in that general direction. And you get to see an evil creepy looking bug eyed guy explode, so that's another plus.

Patch Adams is about an ex-suicidal man who, after spending time helping asylum residents get rid of evil demon squirrels that prevent you from answering the call of nature and fix coffee cups, decides that he wants to be a doctor. He finds, however, that he does not like the conventional methods of treatement (you should allready know why I'm recommending this) and decided to use...well...unconventional methods. Like humor, laughter, intamacy, and inflatable tubs full of spaghetti. Essential for all mental patients aspiring to be doctors.

The Dead Poet's Society is about an unbalanced English teacher that turns around the lives of a group of lifeless students, increasing their lust for life and their need to "seize the day". It's probably the best theme we've seen a movie so far, ranking high among both the inspiring films of Mr. Robin Williams AND among the lists of quality viewing for lunatics.

Dark City is about reality manipulating beings that switch human's memories on a nightly basis in order to comprehend the human soul. At some points you may wonder how they could have taken a great storyline and made a great deal of really bad scenes with special effects that would shame the makers of the Godzilla movies. But the bad scenes are worth wading through for the philosophical aspects of human souls and individuality.

Pink Floyd's The Wall has no plot, no real characters, and no ending. And if you think about it for long enough (which I don't recommend unless you're in the mood for hallucinating without the aid of drugs) there's no real beginning either. Surreality to the tune of Pink Floyd's The Wall. All it is as an in depth look at what an absolute madman can produce if given lots of money and unlimited access to hallucinogenic drugs. Unspeakably brilliant, however not for the easily disturbed.
NOTE: An alert Sanctuary reader brought it to our attention that the plot of this movie was to show how women ruined Pink Floyd's life. She would like all of you who see this movie to watch it with the women theme in mind.

Monty Python's Life of Brian gives you undeniable religious truth, from the lovely Brits who brought you Vikings who like spam and the Knights who say Nee (assuming that's how you spell it). Watching Jesus's next door neighbor being chased by a horde of cult members who are after his shoes, only to be abducted by aliens for a brief moment and be smacked by stuttering roman emperors may not be everyone's cup of religious tea. But who cares about those people anyhow?

Monty Python's Meaning of Life, coming from the people who brought you the dirty Hungarian phrase book and the art of buying an ant in a department store comes the Meaning of Life. Some of the people who may have already watched this film say, "That wasn't the meaning of life! That was just a bunch of pointless nonsense!" What exactly did you think life is?

High Anxiety is a comedy taking place in an asylum. Do you really need to know anything more than that?

Benny and Joon is the story of how two undeniably insane people fall in love. One is an unbalanced, unpredictable pyromaniac and the other is a dyslexic, Buster Keaton imitating misfit. Probably the most touching love story the world will ever see, brought to you from some of the more mentally unstable actors that Hollywood has to offer. Not necessarily philosophical, but madmen need love stories too.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest follows the life of a convict is admitted to a mental institution, and ends up taking over by dominating the patients. It's really a great look at asylum life (just in case you were considering going to one in the near future) and contains the great line "They can't touch us now, we're insane."

And Justice For All... tells us the tale of the only lawyer in existance with a conscience (isn't it already obvious that this is a far fetched story?). It is a satire of the modern justice system in America which, after the result of the OJ Simpson trial, obviously needed a satire.

Dogma tells the story of two not so heavenly angels who find a loophole in Catholic dogma and attempt to con their way back into heaven, their attempts thwarted by a sarcastic angel, two stoners, one very angry black biblical character and a bunch of weird demon things. It opens up an entirely new perspective on religious beliefs. And it offended Catholics, so it must be worth watching.

Girl Interrupted is sheer proof that men need to start hitting on women in asylums instead of in dreary single bars. Girl Interrupted could easily be retitled One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 2: The Women's Ward. In addition to trailing along in the lives of the two most attractive lunatics ever, it also gives useful insight into purple people.

BEDTIME READING FOR THE BLACK SHEEP
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carrol is about Alice, a curious school girl, follows a talking hare down a mouse hole, talks to a doorknob, shrinks to a minuscule size, grows to a gargantuan one, has a baby that turns into a pig, holds conversation with a cat that disappears (although he doesn't disappear all at once), drinks tea with a raving lunatic who likes hats and almost gets her head cut off by a raging playing card. Comes highly recommended. Not to be read on acid.

The Discworld Series, by Terry Pratchet follows the numerous bizarre characters (including Rincewind, a wizard who can't spell wizard, Captian Vimes, the most sarcastic person I've never met, and my personal favorite, Death, who temporarily gave up being death to become a farmer...sort of...) as they go through life in a bizzare and surreal world known as the discworld. Ones I would have to recommend the most are Soul Music, Interesting Times, and Reaper Man.

Through the Looking Glass And What Alice Found There, by Lewis Carrol continues the adventures of Alice through the surreal enviornment that is wonderland. This time Alice enters wonderland through, as the title seems to have made perfectly clear already, a looking glass where she will encounter tweedle dee and tweedle dum, a jabberwocky (whatever that is) and a bunch of chess pieces who talk. A classic tale of modern insanity.

The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce is a dictionary, written by someone who is quite possibly the most cynical man that ever existed. Here at the sanctuary, we use it as a standard as opposed to that Websters stuff.

The Malkavian Clanbook: Method in the Madness, by Daniel Greenberg is a sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade, if you've ever heard of it. Weather or not you play the game, this is the bible for every card carrying freelance lunatic philosopher (We are for those of you who were wondering. It says that right next to "Semi-Freelance Male Pet" which we're going to refuse to comment on). The Malkavians are a clan of vampires who have found that insanity is the key to knowledge, truth, and fun. They pull off life changing pranks to create holes in reality, and have harnessed their madness as a tool for harmony rather than chaos.

Brain Droppings, by George Carlin is just plain weird. All this confused thought for only three hundred dollars a hit! Another argument for the positive effects of drugs on already unstable stand up comedians.

Ticktock, by Dean Koontz contains some of the most interesting and involving characters that I have seen in a novel so far, including Deliverance Payne, who I would probably marry if she weren't fictional (a philosopher of the off-beat nature to put it lightly). Unfortunately, it has all the plot depth of a pornography movie from India. But it's still a fun read.

If you have any suggestions as to what we could add to this page, feel free to e-mail us.