Documentaries come and go, and sometimes they are as easily forgettable as they are initially impactful, but we think Born to Be Wild, a film directed by David Lickley, deserves a little more attention. Nature documentaries have always been commercially and critically successful, and over the last few years the popularization of marching penguins, along with BBC-produced hi-def documentary series have certainly raised the bar for commercial success. High definition, 3-D and IMAX formats, along with the narrations of a man named Morgan Freeman are the new formula it seems.

One of our own recently returned from a relaxing vacation in Vietnam. She was kind enough to share some of her pictures and experiences with us! This is How We Travel.

So you didn’t get your ticket to Coachella this year. So Stagecoach doesn’t line up with your work schedule. So Outside Lands isn’t really your scene. What if there was an alternative every year that rivaled the most popular international music festivals? What if it featured some of the best musical talent from all over the world? What if it fell in the middle of your eco tour that you conveniently started planning yesterday? Let us introduce you to the Fuji Rock Festival in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Yes, that Japan.

Since 1997 when the headliners, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, legendarily played through a typhoon despite lead singer Anthony Kiedis suffering through a broken arm, the Fuji Rock Festival has welcomed western artists such as Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Muse, and Neil Young & Crazy Horse to headline every year. Named so because the first disastrous concert was set in the shadow of Mt. Fuji, the concert has since been set at a picturesque ski resort in Niigata during its summer off-season. Many Japanese music lovers take this as an opportunity to escape the island’s summer heat in the high mountains, and international travelers use it as the exclamation point at the end of their Japanese vacation.

A documentary film has been making its way around the office this week. This DVD has changed hands again and again, and we have all spent time witnessing a year in the life of a man named Feliciano and his young family. The film, Mi Chacra, or “My Land,” has been speaking to our company’s ethos in a unique way. Superbly filmed and scored largely with a traditional quena flute, the documentary manages to encompass the epic nature of the Andes mountains along with the very personal story of a family trying to make a life-changing decision. The story covers themes both personal and human, along with the larger issue facing all developing countries: that of rapid urban growth and shrinking rural populations. Beautiful scenery, and the exposure of a disappearing way of life come together to tell a story both foreign and familiar.