Or How Do You Say “Dragon” in Danish?
Afternoon off from film editing in the Danish capital (which incidentally was quite a pleasant surprise, I thought I had been booked on a flight to Stockholm until the lady at check-in said “Straight through to Copenhagen, sir?”, which shows how well I pay attention to things in general). Thus, armed with borrowed camera and a very vague mental map of the city, one can wander quite a distance in search of serendipity.
It turns out that Danish architects and sculptors seem to have a centuries-old love affair with the genus draconis – they are everywhere – on drainpipes, fountains, facades and especially on the wondrous spire on the old stock exchange, which you wouldn’t even dare to try to invent, it is so purely fantastical.
Wouldn’t it be wondrous indeed, thought I, if someone published a guide book of dragons. No, hold on, cancel that notion; what generous and magnanimous editor wants to finance a luxury tour of Europe for me to do it? A Dragon-Lover’s Guide to Europe. I would happily track down dragons from Palermo to Gotteborg and all points east, west and between. A modern-day Saint George armed not with lance and shining shield, but a knapsack of history books and a telephoto lens, intent not on skewering the unfortunate reptiles, but on snapping their portraits. Dragons majestic and miniscule, mineral and metal. Dragons in low relief and full round, heraldic and humble, sacred and profane… not only a guide to take your steps there, but a stroll through the history that shaped them.
We’d sell millions of copies (and I’d have a fabulous time to boot).
Here’s a small sample…
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Couldn’t resist taking a picture of the statue of the famed Hans Christian Anderson. He has lots of reading material, but certainly not what he was accustomed to…
Sign of our times, we’ve swapped heraldry for brand name endorsement. Poor little mermaid, she’d be sponsored by a cigarette or surfboard company these days…
Oh yes, by the way, while not moseying through Malmö and wandering in Copehagen (I think Solid Entertainment took pity on me for being such a hopeless homeboy and gave me extra time off), I did see the rough cut of the documentary. It looks great.
World premiere in Lund on September 19th. (Okay, okay, it’s just the first time it’ll be aired at a festival, but “world premiere” sounds so much more dignified). More later.
WORKING VACATION
You know the old definitions of heaven and hell… The former is a place where people sit about and talk about their lives forever and ever, the latter is the same, except they have all brought their slides and home movies….
But, I thought I’d post these two anyway…
You know the other adage, you can never go back, but you can see if the sign is still there…
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THE PRINTED WORD
In the Herald Tribune, read a long article on nations eager to get back out on the high seas and slay every last whale for “scientific research” and above all, domestic comsumption. There was a quote from a prominent Japanese minister in defense of prompt resumption of whaling who said: “The Japanese keep dogs as pets. The Koreans eat dogs. We don’t tell them not to eat dogs.”
So if this logic is followed through…
1. Whales are pets.
2. In Korea.
3. But they don’t eat them.
In this day and age, it pays to be able to interpret the newspapers with an experienced and critical eye…
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Realized the Danish word for King is “Kong”. (“Kong Arthur” was playing at the local cinema maxx, but I missed it. Darn.) So how will they translate “King Kong”? “Kong Kong”? Or perhaps leave it in English – “King King”…
How could I have ignored Isabel Allende for so long? Because of he surname, of course, I imagined her work to be more political. Couldn’t have been more wrong. Reading one of her lastest books, “My Invented Country”. Wonderful.
