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Desember 25, 2005
Sound of Mu
Our story begins in 1864. Diego de Landa, Bishop of Yucatán, Mexico, publishes an alphabet that can be used to translate the hieroglyphics of the three Mayan codices. Enter the translators. The Abbé Charles-Etienne Brasseur interprets the Troano codex to be about a land called Mu, tragically destroyed by a volcano. Augustus de Plongeon's version is similar, although he sees much more about Mu in the codex. He comes to believe it is a lost continent in the Caribbean Sea.
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Posted by barry at 2:48 EM
Desember 18, 2005
The Online Norgesvenner Museum
Let me begin with the question: why am I living here in cold, expensive Norway? Unlike almost all other foreign men in this country, I wasn't press-ganged into moving here by some weeping, homesick girlfriend, nor was I avariciously lured by the black gold of plentiful oilfields.
Nay, there can only be one category to which I belong. I must be one of the norgesvenner ("Friends of Norway") that I hear whispers about in the bars and streets of Oslo. Yea, these fabulous and strange creatures come from afar to become peculiar objects of Norwegian affection in every fjord and fjell, despite the fact that they are often fameless and obscure throughout the rest of the globe. I now institute the Online Norgesvenner Museum. Can I persuade you to take the tour?
ENTRANCE. The first exhibit is Bonnie Tyler, pictured here in her original glory.
Continue reading "The Online Norgesvenner Museum"
Posted by barry at 8:42 EM
Desember 11, 2005
When Will There Be a Requiem for Radioactive Toothbrushes?
This is Torbjorn Davidsen: artist, actor, protestor, Nordmann, but most of all a father. On the day that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director Dr Mohamed ElBaradei were awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, he made a strong individual protest, by carrying a gravestone 20 kilometres on his back, to put on the lawn of the Nobel Institute.
Continue reading "When Will There Be a Requiem for Radioactive Toothbrushes?"
Posted by barry at 6:22 FM
Desember 4, 2005
Egedius
This painting, Spill og dans (Play and Dance), depicting a fiddler and a dancer, hangs in the same room in Oslo's National Gallery as masterpieces by Degas, Picasso, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gaugin and Courbet, as well as six of the most important works of Edvard Munch. So whose painting is this, to be given such major prominence?
It was painted by Halfdan Egedius, a Norwegian who died before his twenty-second birthday. He was born Halfdan Johnsen in 1877, but later gave himself the name Egedius, because let's face it, that's a much cooler name than Johnsen.
Posted by barry at 3:01 EM