In the past, I've written about Maori sea navigation by the stars and the legend of Matariki. Although nothing prepared me for the utterly beautiful Maori star compass which has been carved and placed on a remote and wild beach in the Hawkes Bay, between Hastings and Napier. The Star Compass - Atea a Rangi…
Continue reading ➞ Atea a Rangi: Star Maps of the Maori and Pacific Peoples
You don't exist here on earth in the present moment of the 17th of February 2019. I am not sure if you ever will exist on this earthly plane either. Who knows what the future will bring or if the planet will still be harbouring Homo sapiens 100 years from now.
Kawaakari (Japanese) The glow of a river or stream in darkness or dusk, the gleaming surface of a shadowed river (Japanese 川明かり). Kawaakari can refer to the reflection of the moonlight off flowing water, or the gleam of late sun at dusk. Obumbro (Latin) To shadow over and over: to make dark with shadow; to…
Men of broader intellect know that there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal… — H.P. Lovecraft, The Tomb (1917) During the Belle Époque, or the Beautiful Age, men and women of science and rationality sought comfort from new spheres of influence in technology, art and spirituality. Suddenly no ideas were out of bounds…
Continue reading ➞ Strange Victorian Journeys Into the Fourth Dimension
In this stunning short film called Sun Moon London by filmmaker Luke Miller, we witness otherworldly visions of the interplay of the moon, sun and bustling central London. Luke captured the harvest moon on the 5th of October 2017, when the moon was at its zenith of autumnal equinox. Along with footage of the 1st…
Continue reading ➞ Short film: Celestial wonders in downtown London
The traditional seasons in Japan are marked out by impercetibly small changes in nature across 72 miniature seasons in a year, each lasting 5 days and reflecting the fleeting, impermanent and diaphanous beauty of nature and all of its wonders. There are 24 divisions or sekki in the calendar that are split into 72 kō…
Continue reading ➞ Japan’s 72 gossamer-light and poetic microseasons
Many years ago in the late 90’s there was a pretty average movie called To Gillian on her 37th Birthday. It starred Michelle Pfeiffer as the mother Gillian and Clare Danes as her teenage daughter. Anyway, it turns out in the movie that Gillian dies before she turns 37 and puts her whole family in…
Bowie needs no introduction in his ability to induce wonder, awe and beauty in anyone he touches. And now even after death, his legacy lives on in the form of a mannequin Star Man set to take a silence-filled orbit around our dark solar system and towards its final destination of Mars. The poetry and…
Continue reading ➞ Starman, Bowie and the symbolism of SpaceX’s new world
Every element in the universe is composed of parts of a cataclysmic explosion of supernovae. This encompasses the iron found inside of the hemoglobin of our blood, the primary element of supernovae. That's what we all are. The instant of star death. https://vimeo.com/95285095
【360° Movie】Tokyo Light Odyssey (Full) from WOW inc on Vimeo. If Pink Floyd and Stanley Kubrik were to have a baby in 2017 - this is what it would look like. Be taken on a sublime journey of immersive 360 degree Tokyo in a most unsettling mood. The immersive short film is filled with the…
Continue reading ➞ 360 degree VR film of Tokyo: A hyper-creepy and darkly enjoyable feast
Verner Panton (1926-1998) is remembered for his bold, daring furniture design and aesthetic which embodied the fun and turbulent times of the 60's and 70's. His most famous pieces are the S chair, which became the world´s first one-piece moulded plastic chair, the cone chair and the flowerpot lamps. Born in 1926 Panton initially began his…
Continue reading ➞ Verner Panton: The Daring Spirit of 60’s Design
Who made the world? The billowing clouds heading southward. The pillowed reef and a thousand animals beneath my feet. Who made the wind bracing my ankles. The shadows behind and through it all. Who makes the light dance in one part of the world. While other places cut like a frozen blade through flesh. Who…
Continue reading ➞ Every Picture Tells A Story: Who made the world?
Map makers, Google Earth developers, astronauts and those who gaze at the earth and universe for a living are already convinced of the tremendous beauty of large places seen from space. For most of us mere mortals we won't ever get the chance to see the earth from space. The 'Overview Effect' was a term coined…
Continue reading ➞ Grandscale Beauty: The Overview Effect: Cyanobacterial Bloom in the Baltic Sea
Found on Reddit
Found on Reddit
Found on Reddit
Peter and Beatrice Leigh are a childless 30-something British couple who are devoutly evangelical Christians and are living in a Britain of an imagined near future. In this imaginary Britain things look largely similar to how they are right now, except that there's a colony of humans living on a faraway planet called Oasis. These…
Continue reading ➞ Book Review: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
Nowadays, it's possible to become not just a participant in scientific studies, but one of the researchers. The internet and crowd-sharing knowledge has made this possible. We are now swimming in data, so rather than wade through everything themselves, scientists are asking the ''hive mind'' of the internet to help them to resolve challenges, and…
Continue reading ➞ Explore and classify galaxies and planets for real scientific studies
Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. In Aotearoa Matariki rises in mid-winter–late May or early June. It traditionally heralds winter solistice in New Zealand or the Māori new year. Matariki translates to the ‘eyes of god’ (mata ariki) or ‘little eyes’ (mata riki). According to myth,…
Continue reading ➞ The magic of Matariki and Māori winter sea navigation
Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. In Aotearoa Matariki rises in mid-winter–late May or early June. It traditionally heralds winter solistice in New Zealand or the Māori new year. Matariki translates to the ‘eyes of god’ (mata ariki) or ‘little eyes’ (mata riki). According to myth,…
