Friends of the Armchair Traveller

Komorebi  ‘a dance of shadows emerging when sunlight filters through trees’ While travelling through Japan and working on organic farms, the UK filmmaker Steve Atkins found himself entranced by the movement of light and shadows formed by the interplay of trees, wind and sunlight on the landscape. The Japanese have a unique word for this occurrence:  komorebi . Atkins celebrates the ethereal beauty of  komorebi  in this short film, which features fleeting scenes of the phenomenon that he captured during his time in Japan. In doing so, he offers a gentle reminder to, in his words, ‘reconsider how we see the passing light of each day; to slow down and observe the natural theatre that plays out unseen beside the busyness of our modern lives.’ For more from Atkins, watch his short documentary  Épinard . Director:  Steve Atkins 31 May 2021

  "AMA" This short film was sent to me by my friend David King. Following from a recent posting of "Dances With Whales" David sent me this as an example of the astonishing performances freedivers can do these days. Both David and Andrea King are "freedivers" but in David's own words "nowhere near this standard." More from David:     "What's amazing is that Guillaume Nery was also holding his breath while shooting this. I've tried filming underwater while holding my breath and, believe me, it's hard to keep the camera steady. Even your heartbeat knocks it around. Guillerme Nery would have been using a professional camera in an underwater housing rathe than a GoPro or similar action camera as I was, but to keep it as rock steady as it is in this video is breath-taking (pun intended). Not to mention the languid movements of his wife who does the ballet, and the length of time she needed to hold her breath at what appears to be ...

  Spinoza, Lovelock and God. Over the weekend Aeon magazine posted a superb essay by Professor Beth Lord ,  School of Divinity, History and Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. https://aeon.co/essays/even-the-anthropocene-is-nature-at-work-transforming-itself?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=65127f1a3a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_05_18_07_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-65127f1a3a-69414985 In this essay Beth Lord tackles some incredibly large questions which resonate throughout the history of philosophy, especially from the period of the1660's in Europe, right through to Lovelock and his writings from the 1960s on Gaia : this   hypothesis proposes that living and non-living parts of the Earth form a complex interacting system that can be thought of as a single organism . I had previously been alerted to Spinoza by an earlier essay posted by AEON some years ago which detailed the story of his excommunication and shunning by the Jewish Community i...

Sometimes words are completely inadequate to express human achievements, especially when they transcend everyday reality. This is one of those events.  "One Breath Around the World"  is the latest aquatic spectacle from the French freediving champion Guillaume Néry, and his partner, the French freediver, underwater filmmaker and dancer Julie Gautier. Without the aid of supplied air, Néry plunges into the ocean’s hidden depths, revealing remarkable views of marine geology and wildlife around the globe. Seamlessly transitioning between a range of underwater realms, the video gives the impression that Néry’s journey is taken in a single breath. With stunning camerawork by Gautier, who also held her breath while filming, the duo prove themselves expert explorers of not only water, but space and perspective as well, making these grand underwater landscapes appear almost alien. Via  Kottke Directors: Guillaume Néry, Julie Gautier Websites:   Les films engloutis ,  Al...

Once upon a time there was a young person who liked hearing stories and nursery rhymes, jokes, all sorts of verbal things. Often these most attractive phrases and verses were quite puzzling but many would linger and occupy the mind at the oddest of hours. "Once UPON a time..." ? No matter which culture you come from, you will all have your favourites. For some of us who have inherited the culture of English, a universal language in our time, we share so many of these oddities in common, but I feel confident to make this simple assertion: every language probably has equivalents but not of identical subject matter. Oranges and Lemons! Chalk and Cheese! Is it possible that these are not found in some sort of equivalent in Arabic, Chinese or Swahili? Well, probably not "oranges and lemons" in Inuit, but maybe a word game which is not so different in nature? Let's take Jack !  Jack is so very English isn't he? He is the subject of many a nursery ryhme: Jack be ni...