An occasional blog on topics related to my work. For a behind-the-scenes look, subscribe to my Patreon page.
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Tomorrow is, in many ways, the culmination of years of work and preparation. The project began as a desire to explore Iran (my wife’s homeland) in more depth, brewed steadily while I learned to speak Farsi, and came to fruition in a journey along the Iran’s longest river, the Karun, last year. Now that journey is about to be retold in the form of a feature-length documentary, Karun: Misadventures On Iran’s Longest River, on which Leon and I have spent much of 2015 working, as backers of the original Kickstarter project will know. Why is tomorrow so significant? It’s the official World Premiere, of course;…
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On The Art Of Lowering Your Expectations & Thus Having A Better Time
There’s a fantastic deconstruction on WaitButWhy.com of why Generation Y yuppies are permanently dissatisfied. It’s a long piece, and after you’ve finished this, I suggest you give it a read. (Especially if you are a Generation Y yuppie.) In the middle of the article is the following equation: Happiness = Reality − Expectations This three-word quasi-formula is, in my humble opinion, a stroke of purest genius on the part of the Tim, the article’s author. It was used in reference to the generation of people, mainly born in or around the ‘80s, who grew up being told that they were…
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Why I Left England (Again) To Live In A Country Most Can’t Place On A Map
There is no easy way to explain how I’ve ended up living in the small former Soviet republic of Armenia. Thankfully, I now have the luxury of running a personal blog with an unlimited word count. So let me give you the backstory. (Not the full backstory, mind you. If you want to hear that, your best bet is to read Janapar, which is being serialised right now on my adventure cycling blog TomsBikeTrip.com. Here’s a link to the first post in the series if you’re interested.) The more recent version of this tale began, I suppose, at the start of…
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Diary Of An Adventure Filmmaker: Picture Lock On Patagonia (And Other Major Milestones)
Several big pieces of news this week on the subject of A Tale Of Two Rivers, my ongoing crowdfunded filmmaking project to produce and release two new adventure films: A big achievement in the production of our Patagonia film – we have finally achieved picture lock. Yeah! We’ve also decided on the final title for the film. Woohoo! I can confirm that all Kickstarter backer rewards will be delivered by the end of 2015. Yay! A lot of ‘finals’ and ‘finallys’, then. This all rather sounds like we’re nearing completion, doesn’t it? Once again, in a bit more detail… Patagonian Picture…
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Debunking The Myth Of The Modern-Day ‘Adventurer’
I’ve noticed something recently, which is that I often get referred to as an ‘adventurer’. Something about this doesn’t ring true. I’ve never used the word to describe myself – not in real life, nor in my blog’s ‘about’ page, my social media profiles, my email signature, nor anywhere else. The first time I actually told someone in person that I was an adventurer, the response was: “Oh, so you, like, climb Mount Everest and stuff? Cool! Ha-ha!” Needless to say, it was the last time. What does the word ‘adventurer’ even mean, anyway? It’s an interesting question, especially as…
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Banff & Kendal Aren’t The Only Adventure Film Festivals Worth Going To. Here’s Why
Last weekend, on the way back to Armenia from a final film editing stint in London, I stopped over in Bucharest, Romania, for a long weekend at the Hip Trip Travel Film Festival. The festival was organised by a small team of Romanian travellers and film lovers. In 2014 – their first year – they’d shown Janapar, but I’d been unable to go. So it was by happy chance that this year’s dates matched my movements and I was able to swing by for the 2015 instalment, which featured 20 films in 2 cinemas over the course of the 4-day…
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Why, After 9 Years Running TomsBikeTrip.com, I Started This New Blog Today
On my first night back in Yerevan after several years living in England, I noticed a book on the bedside table – a book I hadn’t seen for a very long time. It was a copy of my first travel memoir, Janapar. This one belonged to my wife, Tenny. It had a bookmark in it. English is her third language, and because my prose can be somewhat mellifluous, it had taken her a while to worm her way to a point about three quarters of the way through our story. Now, contrary to popular belief, authors like me do not tend to sit around re-reading their debut masterpieces…
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Diary Of An Adventure Filmmaker: A Tale Of Two Rivers First Ever Private Screening – The Debrief
Last weekend saw the first ever private screening of The Last Explorers and Karun. A theatreful of Kickstarter backers joined us for the evening to enjoy the fruits of our labours, and to offer feedback and suggestions for improvements before the films are finalised. The event was a resounding success, and Leon and I would like to thank the many kind souls who helped us make it happen – especially our amazing event producer Hayley, Beccy at Half Moon Theatre, and musician Arash Moradi who surprised everyone with a live performance of traditional Iranian music in the interval. It wasn’t just…
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Selected Notes On The Unbelievable Kindness Of Strangers – And A Single, Simple Request
It was, without doubt, the most miserable night of my life. Flimsy nylon flapped in the wind. I stumbled through the snow in the fading purple of dusk, trying to anchor one corner of the tent to a pannier, another to a bicycle wheel, another to a tree branch; all the while wearing mittens designed for skiing. My hands would freeze if I removed them. It had been -33°C when I’d stopped riding, here, in February, in Røros, the coldest valley in Norway – and the mercury was still dropping. I fumbled with the tent pegs. I might as well have…
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Fluent In Spanish, French, German, Italian? Want To Help Show The World The Real Iran?
UPDATE: We’ve had an utterly amazing response to this call for translations. Nearly 100 people have volunteered their time in less than 24 hours! Thank you, thank you, thank you – it’s fantastic to see and hear how many of you are on board with what we’re trying to do. The result is that we are now officially fixed for Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese translations of Karun. We’ve also had tentative offers of Farsi (Persian), Turkish, Polish, Russian, Czech, Romanian, Arabic, Mandarin, Swedish and Dutch! If you’re a native speaker of these or other less widely-spoken languages, and…