About Basho

Bio: Philosopher, film maker, writer and IT expert. Occupation: IT Consultant, film-maker and writer. Interests: Debate, cooking, computer-gaming, reading, writing, videoing, martial arts, air­soft, movies, diving, skiing… (The list goes on — Basho is a philosopher and therefore into everything!)
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Shimla mountains and a happy meeting

2016-10-18T18:51:17+00:00

When you travel through a country, especially if you are using a published travel guide, you are walking a well trodden path. Indeed maybe a thousand people are doing it with you simultaneously. This has a very strong effect over time, as more and more guest houses start catering only to the backpacker and spring up all along the route, which had myriad knock-on effects. Such as: taxi services who know the guide books better than you do and hordes of travellers at ever corner all "experiencing" the local atmosphere; all the time failing to realise that they are in a "bubble" like a Disney theme park ride.

Shimla mountains and a happy meeting 2016-10-18T18:51:17+00:00

Christopher Ward C60 Trident “Bond” Review

2018-04-08T12:30:46+00:00

Obsessions that you share with others can never be judged rationally as you lack the context needed to see them from the outside. In order to see them for what they really are you need an example of the same thing in a new context that you don't obsess over.

Christopher Ward C60 Trident “Bond” Review 2018-04-08T12:30:46+00:00

Tier 1 Military Simulation – Tier 1 – Year 1

2015-04-07T13:04:00+00:00

This film is a compilation of clips and unseen footage from the games I attended run by Tier 1 Military Simulation. Before 2011 I had not played much milsim, now... well I recently laid in a puddle from 1am, freezing cold and surrounded by poisonous mushrooms, for 8 hours to spring an ambush! I fell asleep and started snoring. Moments later I was awoken by a wet weight crashing down on my back. Team commander Trip had thrown a log at me, missed, hit a tree and it had collapsed a rotten limb across my sprawled form. Had the opposition walked past at that particular moment then they would have heard the rest of the concealed team completely failing to stop laughing.

Tier 1 Military Simulation – Tier 1 – Year 1 2015-04-07T13:04:00+00:00

Jodhpur

2016-10-18T18:51:28+00:00

Cesca left me snoozing in our room and went out to the roof top café/restaurant to take some photos of [...]

Jodhpur 2016-10-18T18:51:28+00:00

Physics versus Philosophy, can these two not get along?

2016-10-18T18:51:28+00:00

It just has always been my position that Philosophy and Science are not in competition to uncover the secret of reality, and that the attempts by Physicists to paint this dichotomy was self-destructive and not worthy of their time. It is almost as if they are leaving their old enemy of "Religion" alone and picking on a group they don’t think will fight back.

Physics versus Philosophy, can these two not get along? 2016-10-18T18:51:28+00:00

It Shouldn’t Happen to a Backpacker: The Moth Story

2016-10-18T18:51:34+00:00

As a traveller you know, and even expect, the unknown to occur. You want this; for some it’s the whole point of leaving their home in the first place. It’s usually to do with the fun stuff like walking the Great Wall, eating Sushi in Tokyo Fish Market or jumping off a bridge in New Zealand with only an elastic band to prevent your death.

It Shouldn’t Happen to a Backpacker: The Moth Story 2016-10-18T18:51:34+00:00

Nike+ SportWatch GPS Review

2016-10-18T18:51:39+00:00

“Way to get out there!” my watch gleefully announces. I watch its face, awaiting any further messages from its GPS ROM that has tracked my every move for months. In any other circumstances that might be a disturbing thought, but here the watch and its sister satellite high above my head record my movements like the Goddess Nike made flesh. Nope, nothing else, not today.

Nike+ SportWatch GPS Review 2016-10-18T18:51:39+00:00

Udaipur

2016-10-18T18:51:39+00:00

Udaipur is famous for many reasons. To those in the west it is mostly known for its gleaming white Jag [...]

Udaipur 2016-10-18T18:51:39+00:00

Tier 1 Military Simulation – Operation SNAKEBITE writeup

2016-10-18T18:51:40+00:00

I stood alone in the pre-dawn of the morning and the silence of the surrounding forest was punctuated only by the hooting of owls and the snoring of AQT players as they serenaded the coming sun. I was taking my turn on watch and the firebase was so dark that I couldn’t really see my way to walk around the inside of the perimeter. It was a large base by airsoft standards, about 70 meters long and 20 wide, with several small wooden buildings, huts and fire positions all surrounded by steel barrels acting as the wall between the players and the trees beyond. Every few steps I raised the NVG scope to my left eye and took a look into the gloomy and misty darkness. Through the NVG there were only dark shapes with blurry outlines, suggestive of men among the trees, but these didn’t move so I took them to be bushes. Nevertheless, I gripped my rifle tightly in my right hand.

Tier 1 Military Simulation – Operation SNAKEBITE writeup 2016-10-18T18:51:40+00:00

Tier 1 Military Simulation – Urban Airsoft Training Day

2016-10-18T18:51:41+00:00

Criticism isn't as easy as people like to think. This is because that, while everyone knows when things have not gone optimally, as the old adage goes, “opinions are like assholes; everyone has got one”. However opinions are not often the result of well thought-out analysis, but rather the result of frustration and the need to vent anger. In airsoft, where bad command decisions can lead directly to the unquestionably real pain of being laced or embarrassed, most teams have a very simple method of dealing with the potential for such situations: They don’t have commanders at all.

Tier 1 Military Simulation – Urban Airsoft Training Day 2016-10-18T18:51:41+00:00

Tier 1 Military Simulation – Airsoft Training Day

2016-10-18T18:51:47+00:00

It is often said that Airsoft is a game of extreme variety. At one end of the spectrum there are the speedball players who only play in small arenas. For they the game is about CQC accuracy, high rates of fire and aggression. Tactics tend to be personal and if they play as a team at all it is usually in very small groups. There is hardly what could be called commanders. This was the airsoft of Electrowerkz. Veterans of that site tend to be tough, able to run into massive volumes of fire without flinching and a little unhinged. All the way at the other end of the spectrum is the sort of military simulation that companies such as Stirling offer in the form of training missions, hiking into countryside for 2 days for a 10 minute fire fight and being tortured when captured. It is into this enormous dichotomy that Tier 1 Military Simulations has launched their services pitched at both parties.

Tier 1 Military Simulation – Airsoft Training Day 2016-10-18T18:51:47+00:00

Bodh Gaya Part 2 and onwards to Sarnath

2016-10-18T18:51:47+00:00

Eating food in India is no joke. On one hand there are high-end coffee cafes that have prices that could only make sense to the gainfully employed. High-end coffee needs to be carefully metered out as it is too comforting and familiar a western experience to eat in such a cafe. Not only does it take you away from your local-encounters in this mighty country, but also takes a large amount of Indian coin from your purse and that directly affects how much you have to spend on the fun things.

Bodh Gaya Part 2 and onwards to Sarnath 2016-10-18T18:51:47+00:00

Ground Zero Weekender 2010 – The DA Team

2016-10-18T18:52:04+00:00

It was when I was sitting in the steam room at Virgin Active with 20 sweaty men all dressed in the same set of bright beach shorts, and making jokes about their penises, that something struck me as odd, “This has to be,” I announced into the cloud of steam, which was being jetted into the room at an alarming rate and temperature, “the most surreal Ground Zero Weekender I have ever been to.”

Ground Zero Weekender 2010 – The DA Team 2016-10-18T18:52:04+00:00

Mysore

2016-10-18T18:52:11+00:00

In India, catching a tuk tuk and negotiating the fare – or even the simple existence of the destination – is a national pastime. Not one driver, in three months, took us where we wanted to go without comment, argument or an all out fight. At first, this grates on the nerves and then you cant help but be brought down by it. Then you feel victimised for being western and (relatively) rich. You start to think that they are all out to get you personally. However, it is none of these; it is an official sport. Take it as a sport, a sparring match, and you suddenly find it fun.

Mysore 2016-10-18T18:52:11+00:00

Sennybridge, a Basho film about “The Chernarus Conflict”

2016-10-18T18:52:11+00:00

To those of you who play computer games, the country of Chernarus may ring a few bells. As anyone who loves the Arma series of games from Bohemia Interactive will tell you Chernarus, or Black Russia, is a fictional post-USSR country somewhere in the East that is used as the main game location. TA Events have licensed the entire storyline from Bohemia meaning that players at the event could sign up to the various factions found in the series. When someone says that you should get out from behind the keyboard and get some exercise, these events enable you to re live the brilliant, in-depth storyline for (almost) real. A detailed account of the factions and background to the event can be found here and it has a very professional depth to it not usually available to airsofters.

Sennybridge, a Basho film about “The Chernarus Conflict” 2016-10-18T18:52:11+00:00

Airsoft Adventures Podcast

2016-10-18T18:52:11+00:00

I have been playing airsoft now for 7 years, which is an easy date for me to remember as I started my first proper skirmish on my stag night. I went on from there to play regularly at the old London site of Electrowerkz and was soon drafted into the Dark Angels (as they were then known); a 30 strong team of serious CQB players. Soon after that I was asked to join the marshalling team at Electrowerkz and rose to become a senior marshal and even ran the venue on my own a few times. Unfortunately, Electrowerkz closed on the day I left to go travelling and the Dark Angels became team Delta-Alpha. They have gone from strength to strength since then and have successfully branched out into playing military simulation games as well as appearing on TV, a music video and as “resistance security” for the Sarah Connor Chronicles London launch party

Airsoft Adventures Podcast 2016-10-18T18:52:11+00:00

What is consciousness? Is it the “self”? Is it “me”? Basho argues no!

2016-10-18T18:52:11+00:00

You are in possession of the one of the universe’s most mysterious objects. Your personal copy of this object differs [...]

What is consciousness? Is it the “self”? Is it “me”? Basho argues no! 2016-10-18T18:52:11+00:00