Fear and Loathing at the Cineplex

Written by Scott Savoie

Warning: Kids, don’t try this at home. All of the actions you read about here are performed by professional gonzo journalists and experienced psychonauts or are otherwise entirely fictious. Don’t try this at home. Or at your neighborhood cineplex.

Well, James Cameron’s *Avatar* is all the rage in Budapest. Tickets for the 3D IMAX version were sold out weeks in advance.

The movie itself is about three hours long; a mushroom trip is about four hours long.

Coincidence? I think not.

Timing, of course, is everything because you don’t want to be peaking while buying popcorn.

No: You will want to wait until you are safely in your seat before you start tripping too hard. But it all goes wrong.

You start to feel funny standing in the ticket line. All those weird-looking people. Can they tell your brain is awash in psychtropic toxins from mycological sources?

You notice the advertisements at the concession stand seem to be popcorn-centric.

You can repeat, „value menu, value menu, value menu...” but then when you get up there, the entheogens kick in and you lose your train of thought.