Chasing shadowy pavements

Shadows are interesting examples of the interplay between light and dark. Sometimes when we have a power outage here at night, the kids and I amuse ourselves by making shadow puppets. Block the candle's light with your fist and fingers arranged just so and look! There's a rabbit. Move your fingers slightly and the figure on the wall becomes a dog. Bring the other hand into play and the dog transforms into a bird flapping its wings (though I flip a different kind of shadow bird when the kids aren't around).

But those are just illusions. The rabbits, dogs, and birds on the wall aren't really what they seem to be; they are just the visual results (in candlelight) of a person's hands doing various things to give an impression of being something else.

The play of shadows in the video of the song Chasing Pavements, by Adele, doesn't create such illusions. But the illusions shown in the video are enthralling nevertheless -- at least to me they are. I so much enjoy how the video was done: two people in a special dance while lying down, plus the awesome interplay later in the video between the shadows of people dancing vertically and the two lying horizontally. Pure magic. This is one song and video I actually appreciate as an earworm and eyeworm for now.

(Does anyone notice the shadows that are cast when he or she is doing the horizontal tango with someone else? I certainly don't.)

Part of the song goes:

Should I give up
Or should I just keep chasing pavements
Even if it leads nowhere,
Or would it be a waste
Even if I knew my place
Should I leave it there

Well, the pavements in my life are mostly un-smooth and imperfect. I know, I know, I should find ways of filling those cracks and potholes so that I don't fall into them, instead of trying to find new pavements to walk or run on (or after) - especially when I'm half-shod or even barefoot. That, however, like many other things, is easier said than done.

Sometimes though, when the sunlight (or moonlight) bathes everything underneath it just so, then the pavement looks absolutely perfect. Magical, even. But that doesn't change the fact that pavements are still too hard and painful for things like horizontal dancing - with or without the alluring shadows.