About Outsidecontext.com
Harvest Bales, Late Summer Mist
Painted from an evening walk through Suffolk. The almost-pink mist and long shadows, combined with the sweep of the field to the epic sky above, created a true and warm sense of space and clarity. Prints and full landscape portfolio: https://www.saatchiart.com/en-gb/bashomatsuo
The Iron Church – Why Do People Quit Fitness Training?
The Four Goals That Run Every Training Programme — And The Adaptive Engine That Serves Them When a new disciple opens Iron Church, we don't ask them to pick a "split." We ask them what they actually want. There are six options on the screen, but four real adaptations underneath. The New UI for the Iron Church "Aesthetics" is simply hypertrophy with a specific visual slant. "Just get me training" is a default for the undecided. But the four truly meaningful goals, established as distinct physiological processes by sport-science literature, are: Get Stronger Build Muscle Lose Weight Feel Healthier Each one trains a different system. Each one has a different evidence base. Each one demands a different discipline, a different volume profile, and an entirely different relationship to fatigue. The most common reason lifters stall isn't a lack of effort—it's training for one adaptation while expecting another. A powerlifting [...]
Announcing my new book: Trials & Tea Ceremonies: Misadventures in Far Away Places.
A hilarious and heartfelt journey for anyone who has ever wondered: "Is this it?" What happens when the life you've built no longer feels like your own? For Basho, turning thirty felt less like a milestone and more like "a splinter in the mind." A series of personal crises convinced him and his partner, Cesca, to make a radical choice. They walked away from their careers, put their lives in storage, and set off on a year-long, unscripted adventure across a dozen countries to answer one question: Is there a better way to live? Their path takes them from the rugged shores of Australia to the spiritual heart of India and the serene temples of Japan. But between the moments of transcendent beauty, a deeper, wilder journey unfolds. They must face down spitting alpacas, chaotic farm hosts, a terrifying encounter with the world’s largest spider in a Laotian toilet, [...]
Beijing and the Great Wall – Our final days in China
"So," said Cesca loudly and clearly, just as I was drinking from a water bottle, "What's all this about China and Tiananmen Square?" I almost did a spit take. "Quiet!" I said and I looked around, wiping water running [...]
The day I met the Buddha, and killed him
Delhi. Many people say they have “done” Delhi, but in all honesty they haven’t. They have perhaps done the tourist parts of New Delhi, or maybe spent some time in an Ashram there – which amounts [...]
And so I went for a walk…
"And so I went for a walk..." by Basho Painted by hand onto a Microsoft Surface Studio 2 in the software "Rebelle" using a digital stylus. This is near the village of "Mount Bures, Suffolk, UK" [...]
Critical Praise for “Trials & Tea Ceremonies”
A hilarious and heartfelt journey for anyone who has ever wondered: "Is this it?" What happens when the life you've built no longer feels like your own? That's exactly what Basho and his wife Cesca felt. So, they walked [...]
The Alam Clock Lesson
Early in my leadership career, I had a junior member of staff who was late to work. Nothing unusual about that, you may think, for are we not all occasionally late into the office? Most of us commute and moreover [...]
Varanasi – City of the Hindus
Many Indian cities are a jumble, a mix of the ancient and modern, but nowhere I have ever been compares in this regard to Varanasi. I come from a country, and from a city, which [...]
Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden – Defeating Auril, DM’s guide and ending
**Caution: this post contains spoilers for Rime of the Frostmaiden!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am 46 and play with my own children. Yes - I [...]
Jawbreaker – Ultimate AI Upscaled 4k edition
I was at the gym and, as usual, I was watching downloaded films on the gym's TV while cycling or rowing. I decided to watch the documentary "Samsara" by Ron Fricke and was amazed to see that I had [...]
You’re the Pretender – a Tier 1 tribute
A loving tribute to 5 years of Tier 1 Military Simulations events. They say that it is only when you lose something that you realise the value it had. That emotional wrench requires a loss of access. Not that [...]
The Purpose of Travel – Now Published!
We often take arriving at the destination to be the purpose of travel. Taken in this way the journey itself is not the point, rather it is the serious business of transporting our bodies from one place to another. Getting [...]
“The Backroad to Bures”
"The Backroad to Bures" by Basho AI image upscaled from 2019. It would make a lovely computer background.
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist | Dungeons & Dragons
**Caution this post contains spoilers for WDH!** My players (9-year-old children, my wife and her 70+-year-old mother) just completed Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and there follows my write up of the adventure. The piplins! [...]
A Wild Sheep Chase
**Caution this post contains spoilers for The Wild Sheep Chase!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons and Dragons with, it being the 80’s and the game not being popular here in the United [...]
“Countryside walk” – Digital Watercolour
"Countryside walk" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
Basho’s bonus modules: Rime of the Frostmaiden – an Adventure with Pirates
When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am 45 and play with my own children. Yes - I built my own players! Our players: the piplins! [...]
Varanasi City of Gods – Special Edition
How does it make one feel to be in one of the most “holy” cities in the world?
The Hidden Context in some Great Movies
I love the cinema and movies. I also make films myself. What stared as a simple passion for the action and adventure in films has become a life long urge to understand what the filmmaker, [...]
The Iron Church: Why Most ‘AI’ Fitness Apps Are Just Marketing (And How I Built One That Actually Works)
7 AI Pipelines ? 5 AI Prompts, 2 Deterministic Engines. Discover the technical strategy behind building The Iron Church—an AI fitness trainer defined by periodisation science, multi-prompt architecture, and serious consideration of your real equipment. This article is the [...]
Children of the Red Rose
**Caution this post contains spoilers for Children of the Red Rose!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons and Dragons with, it being the 80’s and the game not being popular here in the [...]
Chan Buddhism, Daoism and Zen – Journey through the East
Writing an article about Zen is almost a contradiction in terms. That is unless I simply leave the rest of it blank... Just a finger, pointing to the moon… But, I don't want to do that! At its basic [...]
Yaks for tea and Tibetan Temples. Living the high life in Shangri-la
"You have to imagine," said the man in broken English, "that this..." he gestured his hands at the view in front of us, "big lake... flood wide and deep... great water!" He broke into a wide toothy smile.
“Morgan” – Digital Watercolour
"Morgan" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, green tea and finding inner peace
I have written before about travellers wanting a point to it all, to travelling. In part this is perhaps seen as them wanting to justify the vast cost of travel; to have a point for spending all that money, [...]
What is Daoism/Taoism?
Before we start I should add a caveat to this article: I am a philosopher and a Daoist. As such, I suppose, I am open to accusations of bias and a lack of objectivity. This is unavoidable. However, if one [...]
Tuk Tuk in the dark – A journey into Varanasi
There was only one time in our journey around India that I didn’t feel entirely safe, one moment where I [...]
Hong Kong City Blues – Special Edition
This is a “Special Edition” of my Hong Kong at night film. The beautiful skyline of [...]
Remembering Catherine
"Remembering Catherine" by Basho Today, on the anniversary of her passing, I present a new painting; a present for [...]
Is the Insanity Defence Itself Insane?
As with my first article expounding my political thoughts, philosophical views and religious methods, a reader has kindly taken the [...]
“Samuel” – Digital Watercolour
"Samuel" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
Laos, the gem of Indochina – a cultural connection
Spend any time in Laos and it quickly becomes clear that tourism has the potential to ravage this beautiful culture. Travelling through the Laotian hubs is to see history in action. Starting with Luang Prabang; the epitome of French colonialism, forever been preserved for the future by UNESCO.
Pebble Smart Watch Review – More than just potential?
No recent product launch has grasped the Zeitgeist as much as the Pebble watch. It represents a perfect storm of [...]
Tokyo: Akihabara, Asakusa and Shibuya
Tokyo, like Beijing and especially like Delhi, is a city that one could spend a lifetime in and never feel [...]
Great films – “Being There”
...it is in “Being There” that Sellers reached the true heights of perfection.
Rohan pillow talk: Guest Post 3 for Rohan Clothing
This is a cross post written by Basho, originally posted on www.rohantime.com Why this train? This night on this train? [...]
Sunset in Mumbai
The November terrorist attacks on Mumbai was something we had worried about before landing in the city, but to look [...]
The Great Barrier Reef
Diving on the PADI Advanced course!
“Venice, after the opera” – Digital Watercolour
"Venice, after the opera" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
Nick Griffin on Question Time, a liberal view
Last night, Question Time: the BBC’s ‘political debate’ show, invited the leader of the BNP onto the panel. This caused [...]
Christopher Ward Kingfisher Diver-Pro review
What makes a man’s watch? It seems to me that the big names in male watches are struggling to sell their brands. Unfortunately this has led to truly hideous watches that have all the hallmarks of a marketing department struggling with not only reality, but also a sense of the times. The times are hard.
SCAR Review
The boys from Snatch review the Classic Army SCAR. - Why are we reviewing the SCAR Turkish? What’s wrong [...]
Channel 4 : Guns are cool?
Basho appears in a Channel 4 documentary and really wishes he hadn't
Basho’s bonus modules: Rime of the Frostmaiden – an Adventure with Pirates
When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am [...]
Basho’s ricotta lasagna recipe
My ricotta lasagna recipe, you can make it either veggy or non-veggy. Very tasty!
The story of my new PC : Showdown at Basildon
Continued from Part Two So, Saturday rolls around and Cesca and I jump in the car at a god early [...]