Born during the Blitz, swimming in the Mediterranean when it still had fish in it, educated in Mexico and France as a boy, Lawrence Blair later pursued a academic career at the University of Lancaster, England where he wrote one of the first doctoral theses that have defined the field psychoanthropology, which earned him a doctorate. In 1972, Lawrence impulsively gave up university life to join his brother Lorne to make an adventure film in Indonesia. Capture their experiences in over nine separate shipments and their five-part documentary series Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey was picked up by PBS and the BBC. A condensed fourpart television series won two Emmy Awards in l988, bringing the Blairs international reputation.
Their travels around the Pacific Rim have them through one of the most rich kaleidoscope of ethnic groups on earth. In their 10 years of wandering in the archipelago without guides, radios or compasses, brothers endured nearly drowning, starvation, waterfalls and fevers. They were driven by storms in mountainous seas, dropped by light aircraft in clearings in the jungle, ran fast unexplored Dayak canoe, climbed volcanoes erupting, sluice off flash flooding monsoon roads near vaporized a gasoline truck exploding and subjected to antagonistic screaming hordes of children throwing stones.
The authors lived among the members of the Asmat tribe in Papua, healers dukun in Bali, and the elusive "Wanderers dream" of Borneo. They met with deadly Blue-ringed octopus Moluccas, pythons inside rancid cave covered manure bat Sulawesi and "Dancing Trees" sensational Great Bird of Paradise living 80 feet above the ground in forests wild of Aru islands. The travel experiences of the Blairs to these innocent places, adventure and danger were developed in a book, Ring of Fire :. Explore the last remote corners of the world, published in 2010 by Editions Didier Millet
shells, butterflies, diving, boogie boarding, domestication strange wild animals and pours some writing compulsively. I love living in Ubud, where our house and garden crawls with creatures.
Who has profoundly influenced you?
The 19th century explorer Alfred Russell Wallace, the prescient 20th Century psychologist Carl Jung and Rupert Sheldrake, futuristic Cambridge biologist / philosopher. I am also impressed by James Lovelock who gave us the Gaia theory and the late Lyall Watson, the biologist / author / South African explorer who left a little known legacy of the mind bending books, still well ahead of their time. If you have not heard of them, you will have by 2020, if we are all still here. I am a media junkie, an omnivorous devourer of documentaries, animated films and all directed by James Cameron, Peter Weir and Ridley Scott. These are the dreams of our planet.
was your Ring of Fire the first book you ever published
In 1976, I published Rhythms of Vision: The Patterns Changing belief in which j ' talked esoteric topics such as sacred geometry, subtle energy, chakras, spiritual planes of existence. The book is perhaps best known for first discussing the Hundredth Monkey Effect and has been compared to the work of Corinne Heline occultist and theosophist Alice Bailey. My friend Lyall Watson wrote Foreword of the book.
What was your last project?
In 2011, I co-produced-Bali island dogs, a 55-minute documentary on HD widescreen semi-wild dogs in Bali. A film about the unique canines of the island was a way to see a more complete picture of both Bali and the attitude of people everywhere in the wild world of the "other."
What is the movie?
The film tells the story in the local culture and thousands of semiferal dogs that roam the island. Bali Dogs ancient genetic memories without interrupting the evolution of their species closest neighbors, man, and it was what I wanted to explore. We look at how these dogs "What we see there is that what we have in us to see, and that" TRADITION "which is so SACRED, CONTAINS TWO TRUTHS AND DEEP nonsense Pathetic. 'Have become woven into the tapestry of the Hindu lifestyle in Bali, changes in their relationship with human society, and ultimately, their importance to genetic science.
What is the most critical issue that your film tries to answer?
Have you made other films outside Bali Island-dogs?
In 2007, I produced myths, magic and monsters, a documentary fivepart series exploring the world of the rarest and most mysterious reptiles, the inhabitants of the ocean and pets . There are still species and tribal people there undiscovered.
How was working on different dogs islands to work on your other films?
Most of my work is real adventure filming in remote areas, so it was the joy of working in my own native island again for the first time since the 70, where few people even know where or what Bali was. The film is an adventure of the mind and feelings, and it was wonderful to explore the wilder parts of Bali again and focus, really for the first time on these remarkable dogs at bay and resourceful island, I 'D has long been seen as a mere troublesome part of the background. I did not know until the genetic experts in the United States interviews, the critical importance of dogs in Bali to our understanding not only of the evolution of dogs everywhere, but just as humans began populating these southern islands.
Have you personally like dogs?
Yes, love 'em almost as much as cats. As someone once said, "a dog comes when you call, but a cat takes a message and returns to you ... sometimes." But it's nice to be loved for no reason all the time. I recently had a German Shepherd for seven years, but he died of a cobra bite in the garden. It was love on wheels, but it was not as bright as my parrot, Dicky.