Adam Savage: My obsession with objects and the stories they tell

Translator: Peter Brodersen Reviewer: Oliver Nyberg

About four years ago, the New Yorker published an article

For fire år siden publicerede New Yorker en artikel

about a cache of dodo bones that was found

om en samling af dronte-knogler, som var fundet

in a pit on the island of Mauritius.

i en hule på øen Mauritius.

Now, the island of Mauritius is a small island

Mauritius er en lille ø

off the east coast of Madagascar

øst for Madagascars kyst

in the Indian Ocean, and it is the place

i det Indiske Ocean, og det er dér,

where the dodo bird was discovered

dronten blev opdaget

and extinguished, all within about 150 years.

og udryddet, begge dele inden for 150 år.

Everyone was very excited about this archaeological find,

Alle var begejstrede for dette arkæologiske fund,

because it meant that they might finally be able

idet det betød, at de endelig var i stand til

to assemble a single dodo skeleton.

at samle et enkelt dronte-skelet.

See, while museums all over the world

Altså, selvom museer over hele kloden

have dodo skeletons in their collection, nobody --

har dronte-skeletter i deres samling, har ingen --

not even the actual Natural History Museum

ikke engang selveste Natual History Museum

on the island of Mauritius -- has a skeleton that's made

på Mauritius -- et skelet, der er samlet

from the bones of a single dodo.

af knoglerne fra en enkelt dronte.

Well, this isn't exactly true.

Eller, dette er ikke helt præcist.

The fact is, is that the British Museum

Faktum er, at British Museum

had a complete specimen of a dodo in their collection

havde et komplet eksemplar af en dronte i deres samling

up until the 18th century --

frem til det 18. århundrede --

it was actually mummified, skin and all --

det var rent faktisk fuldstændigt mumificeret --

but in a fit of space-saving zeal,

men i et anfald af oprydnings-iver

they actually cut off the head and they cut off the feet

skar de rent faktisk hovedet og fødderne af,

and they burned the rest in a bonfire.

og de smed resten i et bål.

If you go look at their website today,

Hvis I kigger på deres nuværende website,

they'll actually list these specimens, saying,

optræder disse eksemplarer, med bemærkningen

the rest was lost in a fire.

at resten var tabt i en brand.

Not quite the whole truth. Anyway.

Det er så ikke hele sandhenden...

The frontispiece of this article was this photo,

Det fremhævede i denne artikel var dette billede,

and I'm one of the people that thinks that Tina Brown

og jeg er en af dem, som mener at Tinas Browns

was great for bringing photos to the New Yorker,

arbejde med at tilføje billeder til New Yorker, var fremragende,

because this photo completely rocked my world.

idet dette billede ændrede mit verdenssyn.

I became obsessed with the object --

Jeg blev besat af denne genstand --

not just the beautiful photograph itself,

ikke blot det smukke fotografi,

and the color, the shallow depth of field, the detail that's visible,

og farven, den lave dybdeskarphed, den synlige detaljeringsgrad,

the wire you can see on the beak there

tråden, I kan se her på næbbet

that the conservator used to put this skeleton together --

som konservatoren har brugt til at hæfte skelettet sammen,

there's an entire story here.

der er en hel fortælling i sig selv her.

And I thought to myself,

Og så tænkte jeg:

wouldn't it be great

ville det ikke være fantastisk,

if I had my own dodo skeleton?

om jeg havde mit eget dronte-skelet?

(Laughter)

(Latter)

I want to point out here at this point that

Og derefter -- jeg vil gerne understrege på det her tidspunkt at

I've spent my life obsessed

jeg har brugt mit liv med en besættelse

by objects and the stories that they tell,

af genstande og de historier, de fortæller,

and this was the very latest one.

og dette var blot den seneste i rækken.

So I began looking around for --

Jeg begyndte derefter at kigge efter

to see if anyone sold a kit,

om nogen solgte et samlesæt,

some kind of model that I could get,

en slags model, som jeg kunne erhverve,

and I found lots of reference material, lots of lovely pictures.

og jeg fandt masser af overordnet litteratur, masser af gode billeder --

No dice: no dodo skeleton for me. But the damage had been done.

intet held: intet dronte-skelet til mig. Men skaden var sket.

I had saved a few hundred photos of dodo skeletons

Jeg havde gemt et par hundrede dronte-skelet-billeder

into my "Creative Projects" folder --

i min mappe med "Kreative Projekter" --

it's a repository for my brain, everything that I could possibly be interested in.

det er et opbevaringssted for min hjerne, alt hvad jeg nogensinde kunne interessere mig for.

Any time I have an internet connection,

Hver gang, jeg har adgang til nettet,

there's a sluice of stuff moving into there,

er der en bunke ting, som flytter derind,

everything from beautiful rings to cockpit photos.

alt fra smukke ringe til fotografier af cockpits.

The key that the Marquis du Lafayette sent to George Washington

Nøglen, som Marquis de La Fayette sendte til George Washington

to celebrate the storming of the Bastille.

for at fejre stormen af Bastillen.

Russian nuclear launch key:

Russisk nøgle til affyring af atomvåben.

The one on the top is the picture of the one I found on eBay;

Den øverste er billedet, jeg fandt på eBay;

the one on the bottom is the one I made for myself,

den nederste er den, jeg selv lavede,

because I couldn't afford the one on eBay.

idet jeg ikke havde råd til den på eBay.

Storm trooper costumes. Maps of Middle Earth --

Stormtrooper-dragter. Kort over Midgård --

that's one I hand-drew myself. There's the dodo skeleton folder.

denne har jeg selv håndtegnet. Her er mappen for dronte-skelettet.

This folder has 17,000 photos --

Denne mappe har 17.000 billeder --

over 20 gigabytes of information --

over 20 gigabytes data --

and it's growing constantly.

og det stiger fortsat.

And one day, a couple of weeks later, it might have been

Og en dag, et par uger senere, måske endda

maybe a year later, I was in the art store with my kids,

et år senere, var jeg i hobbyforretningen med mine unger,

and I was buying some clay tools -- we were going to have a craft day.

og jeg købte nogle værktøjer til at arbejde i ler -- vi skulle have en byggedag.

I bought some Super Sculpeys, some armature wire, some various materials.

Jeg købte noget polyler, noget ståltråd, forskellige genstande.

And I looked down at this Sculpey, and I thought,

Og jeg kiggede ned på lerret, og det slog mig, at

maybe,

måske,

yeah, maybe I could make my own dodo skull.

ja, måske kunne jeg skabe mit eget dronte-kranium.

I should point out at this time -- I'm not a sculptor;

Jeg bør her understrege -- jeg er ikke billedhugger,

I'm a hard-edged model maker.

jeg er benhård til at bygge modeller.

You give me a drawing, you give me a prop to replicate,

Giv mig en tegning, giv mig en genstand at genskabe,

you give me a crane, scaffolding, parts from "Star Wars" --

giv mig en kran, et stillads, dele fra "Star Wars" --

especially parts from "Star Wars" --

specielt dele fra "Star Wars" --

I can do this stuff all day long.

og jeg kan genskabe den slags til hver en tid.

It's exactly how I made my living for 15 years.

Det er præcis sådan, jeg tjente til dagen i 15 år.

But you give me something like this --

Men når I giver mig noget i den stil --

my friend Mike Murnane sculpted this;

min ven, Mike Murnane, skabte denne;

it's a maquette for "Star Wars, Episode Two" --

det er en model til Star Wars, episode 2 --

this is not my thing --

det er ikke mit felt, jeg --

this is something other people do -- dragons, soft things.

det er noget, andre folk laver -- drager, den slags ting.

However, I felt like I had looked at enough photos of dodo skulls

Men jeg følte, at jeg havde studeret nok billeder af dodo-kranier

to actually be able to

til rent faktisk at kunne

understand the topology and perhaps replicate it --

forstå opbygningen og måske genskabe den --

I mean, it couldn't be that difficult.

jeg mener, så svært kan det heller ikke være.

So, I started looking at the best photos I could find.

Så jeg begyndte at kigge på de bedste billeder, jeg kunne finde.

I grabbed all the reference,

Jeg hentede al materialet,

and I found this lovely piece of reference.

og jeg fandt denne smukke genstand.

This is someone selling this on eBay;

Det er nogen, der sælger dette på eBay;

it was clearly a woman’s hand, hopefully a woman's hand.

det var en kvindes -- tydeligvis en kvindes hånd, forhåbentligt en kvindes hånd.

Assuming it was roughly the size of my wife's hand,

Ud fra en antagelse af at størrelsen omtrent tilsvarede min kones hånd

I made some measurements of her thumb, and I scaled them out to the size of the skull.

foretog jeg nogle målinger af hendes tommelfinger og sammenholdt dem til kraniets størrelse.

I blew it up to the actual size, and I began using that,

Jeg forstørrede det til den reelle størrelse, og jeg begyndte at bruge dette,

along with all the other reference that I had, comparing it to it

sammen med samtlige øvrige referencer, jeg lå inde med, og sammenlignede det

as size reference for figuring out exactly how big the beak should be,

som et størrelsesforhold for at gennemskue præcis hvor stort, næbbet burde være,

exactly how long, etc.

præcis hvor langt, og så videre.

And over a few hours, I eventually achieved

Og efter et par timer nåede jeg frem til det,

what was actually a pretty reasonable dodo skull. And I didn't mean to continue, I --

som var et ganske hæderligt dronte-kranium. Og jeg ville ikke forsætte; jeg --

it's kind of like, you know, you can only clean a super messy room

det svarer til at man kun kan rydde et ekstremt rodet rum op

by picking up one thing at a time; you can't think about the totality.

ved at samle én ting op ad gangen; man kan ikke overskue det store billede.

I wasn't thinking about a dodo skeleton;

Jeg tænkte ikke på et skelet af en dronte;

I just noticed that as I finished this skull,

jeg lagde blot mærke til at idet jeg færdiggjorde kraniet,

the armature wire that I had been used to holding it up

stak ståltråden, som jeg havde brugt for at få det til at hænge sammen,

was sticking out of the back just where a spine would be.

bagud, præcis hvor der burde være en rygrad.

And one of the other things I'd been interested in and obsessed with over the years

Og en af de andre ting, jeg har interesseret mig for over årene,

is spines and skeletons, having collected a couple of hundred.

er rygrade og skeletter, hvor jeg har samlet nogle hundrede stykker.

I actually understood the mechanics

Jeg forstod rent faktisk rygsøjlers mekanik

of vertebrae enough to kind of start to imitate them.

godt nok til at kunne efterligne dem.

And so button by button,

Så stykke for stykke,

vertebrae by vertebrae, I built my way down.

ryghvirvel efter ryghvirvel, arbejdede jeg mig nedad.

And actually, by the end of the day, I had a reasonable skull,

Og ved dagens afslutning havde jeg et hæderligt kranium,

a moderately good vertebrae and half of a pelvis.

en brugbar rygrad og halvdelen af et bækken.

And again, I kept on going, looking for more reference,

Og igen, jeg fortsatte og søgte efter flere fortegnelser,

every bit of reference I could find -- drawings, beautiful photos.

hver eneste stykke information, jeg kunne finde -- tegninger, flotte billeder.

This guy -- I love this guy! He put a dodo leg bones on a scanner

Denne fyr -- jeg elsker denne fyr! Han lagde en drontes benknogler i en scanner --

with a ruler.

med en lineal.

This is the kind of accuracy that I wanted,

Det er præcis det niveau af præcision, jeg ønskede,

and I

og jeg -- hele vejen igennem --

replicated every last bone and put it in.

Jeg genskabte hver en knogle og føjede dem til.

And after about six weeks,

Og efter omtrent -- jeg vil gætte på seks uger,

I finished, painted, mounted

afsluttede, malede og opstillede jeg

my own dodo skeleton.

mit eget dronte-skelet.

You can see that I even made a museum label for it

I kan se at jeg endda tilføjede en museums-etiket,

that includes a brief history of the dodo.

som inkluderer en kort beskrivelse af dronten.

And TAP Plastics made me -- although I didn't photograph it --

Og TAP Plastics producerede -- selv om jeg ikke fik taget et billede af det --

a museum vitrine.

en museumsmontre til mig.

I don't have the room for this in my house,

Jeg har ikke plads til den i mit hus,

but I had to finish what I had started.

men jeg blev nødt til at afslutte, hvad jeg havde påbegyndt.

And this actually represented kind of a sea change to me.

Og det repræsenterede rent faktisk en stor ændring for mig.

Again, like I said, my life has been about

Igen, som jeg nævnte, mit liv har handlet om

being fascinated by objects and the stories that they tell,

at være fascineret af genstande og historierne bag,

and also making them for myself, obtaining them,

og også at skabe dem selv, opnå dem,

appreciating them and diving into them.

beundre dem og fordybe mig i dem.

And in this folder, "Creative Projects,"

Og i denne mappe, "Kreative Projekter",

there are tons of projects that I'm currently working on,

er der læssevis af projekter, som jeg arbejder på i øjeblikket,

projects that I've already worked on, things that I might want to work on some day,

projekter som jeg allerede har arbejdet på, ting som jeg måske vil arbejde på en dag,

and things that I may just want to find and buy and have

og ting som jeg blot vil finde og købe og eje og --

and look at and touch.

og kigge på og berøre.

But now there was potentially this new category of things

Men nu var der denne potentielle nye kategori af genstande

that I could sculpt

jeg kunne skulptere

that was different, that I -- you know,

som var anderledes, som jeg -- ser I,

I have my own R2D2, but that's --

jeg har min egen R2D2, men det er --

honestly, relative to sculpting, to me, that's easy.

ærligt talt, i forhold til at skulptere, det er let for mig.

And so I went back and looked through my "Creative Projects" folder,

Så jeg gik tilbage og kiggede min "Kreative Projekter"-mappe igennem,

and I happened across the Maltese Falcon.

og jeg faldt over Ridderfalken.

Now, this is funny for me:

Se, det er sjovt for mig:

to fall in love with an object from a Hammett novel,

at blive forelsket i en genstand fra en Hammett-roman,

because if it's true that the world is divided into two types of people,

for hvis det er sandt, at verden er delt op i to slags personer,

Chandler people and Hammett people, I am absolutely a Chandler person.

Chandler-personer og Hammett-personer, så er jeg absolut en Chandler-person.

But in this case,

Men i dette tilfælde handler det ikke om --

it's not about the author, it's not about the book or the movie or the story,

det handler ikke om forfatteren, eller bogen eller filmen eller fortællingen,

it's about the object in and of itself.

det handler om genstanden i sig selv.

And in this case, this object is --

Og i dette tilfælde er genstanden --

plays on a host of levels.

virker den på en lang række niveauer.

First of all, there's the object in the world.

For det første er der genstanden i verdenen.

This is the "Kniphausen Hawk."

Dette er "Kniphausen-høgen".

It is a ceremonial pouring vessel

Det er en ceremoniel karaffel,

made around 1700 for a Swedish Count,

lavet omkring år 1700 til en svensk greve,

and it is very likely the object from which

og det er højst sandsynligt denne genstand, som

Hammett drew his inspiration for the Maltese Falcon.

Hammett brugte til inspiration for Ridderfalken.

Then there is the fictional bird, the one that Hammett created for the book.

Så er der den fiktive fugl, den som Hammett skabte i anledning af bogen.

Built out of words, it is the engine

Bygget ud af ord, det er motoren,

that drives the plot of his book and also the movie,

der driver bogens og også filmens plot,

in which another object is created:

hvor endnu en genstand er skabt:

a prop that has to represent the thing that Hammett created out of words,

en genstand, som skal repræsentere den ting, Hammett skabte ud af ord,

inspired by the Kniphausen Hawk, and this represents the falcon in the movie.

inspireret af Kniphause-høgen, og dette repræsenterer falken i filmen.

And then there is this fourth level, which is

Og så er der det fjerde niveau, som er

a whole new object in the world:

en helt nyt genstand i verden:

the prop made for the movie, the representative of the thing,

en rekvisit lavet til filmen, repræsentationen af denne ting,

becomes, in its own right,

bliver, på sine egne vilkår,

a whole other thing,

en helt ny ting,

a whole new object of desire.

en hel ny genstand til begæring.

And so now it was time to do some research.

Og nu var det på tide at lave noget forskning.

I actually had done some research

Jeg havde rent faktisk lavet nogle undersøgelser

a few years before -- it's why the folder was there.

et par år i forvejen -- det er derfor, mappen var der.

I'd bought a replica, a really crappy replica,

Jeg købte en kopi, en virkelig elendig kopi,

of the Maltese Falcon on eBay,

af Ridderfalken på eBay,

and had downloaded enough pictures to actually

og havde downloadet nok billeder til rent faktisk

have some reasonable reference.

at have noget fornuftigt materiale.

But I discovered,

Men jeg opdagede,

in researching further,

i mine fortsatte undersøgelser,

really wanting precise reference, that

i at opnå et virkeligt præcist datamateriale, at fuglen var --

one of the original lead birds

en af de oprindelige bly-fugle --

had been sold at Christie's in 1994,

var blevet solgt på Christie's i 1994,

and so I contacted an antiquarian bookseller

så jeg kontaktede en antikvarboghandler,

who had the original Christie's catalogue,

som havde det oprindelige katalog fra Christie's,

and in it I found this magnificent picture,

og i det fandt jeg dette fantastiske billede,

which included a size reference.

som inkluderede et størrelsesforhold.

I was able to scan the picture, blow it up to exactly full size.

Jeg var i stand til at indscanne billedet, forstørre det til fuld størrelse.

I found other reference. Avi [Ara] Chekmayan,

Jeg fandt andre referencer. Avi [Ara] Chekmayan,

a New Jersey editor, actually found this

en redaktør fra New Jersey, fandt faktisk denne

resin Maltese Falcon

kunstharpiks-Ridderfalk

at a flea market in 1991,

på et loppemarked i 1991,

although it took him five years

selv om det tog ham fem år

to authenticate this bird to

at få autentificeret denne fugl til -- til

the auctioneers' specifications,

auktionariussernes specifikationer,

because there was a lot of controversy about it.

fordi der var en del kontrovers omkring den.

It was made out of resin, which wasn't a common material for movie props

Den var bygget ud af kunstharpiks, hvilket ikke var et typisk byggemateriale til filmrekvisitter

about the time the movie was made.

på det tidspunkt, filmen blev lavet.

It's funny to me that it took a while to authenticate it,

Jeg synes, det er sjovt, at det tog et stykke tid at autentificeret den,

because I can see it compared to this thing,

for jeg kan sammenholde den med denne ting,

and I can tell you -- it's real, it's the real thing,

og jeg kan sige jer -- den er ægte, den er god nok,

it's made from the exact same mold that this one is.

den er lavet fra præcis den samme støbeform som den her er.

In this one, because the auction was actually so controversial,

Ved den her, fordi auktionen allerede var så kontroversiel,

Profiles in History, the auction house that sold this --

Profiles in History, auktionshuset, der solgte denne --

I think in 1995 for about 100,000 dollars --

vidst i 1995 for omtrent 100.000 dollars --

they actually included -- you can see here on the bottom --

inkluderede de rent faktisk - I kan se her forneden --

not just a front elevation, but also

ikke blot et front-billede, men også

a side, rear

fra siden, bagfra,

and other side elevation.

og fra den anden side.

So now, I had all the topology I needed

Så nu havde jeg alle de størrelsesforhold, jeg skulle bruge

to replicate the Maltese Falcon.

for at genskabe Ridderfalken.

What do they do, how do you start something like that? I really don't know.

Hvad gør man, hvordan begynder man på den slags? Jeg ved det virkelig ikke.

So what I did was, again, like I did with the dodo skull,

Så i lighed med dronte-kraniet

I blew all my reference up to full size,

forstørrede jeg alle mine referencer op i fuld størrelse,

and then I began cutting out the negatives and using

og så begyndte jeg at fjerne det overflødige og brugte

those templates as shape references.

disse skabeloner som reference for formen.

So I took Sculpey, and I built a big block of it,

Så jeg tog polylerret, og jeg samlede en stor klump,

and I passed it through until, you know, I got the right profiles.

og jeg bearbejdede det, indtil jeg fik skabt de rette forhold.

And then slowly, feather by feather, detail by detail,

Og langsomt, fjer efter fjer, detalje efter detalje,

I worked out and achieved --

bearbejdede jeg og opnåede --

working in front of the television and Super Sculpey --

arbejdende foran fjernsynet -- og polylerret --

here's me sitting next to my wife --

her sidder jeg ved siden af min kone --

it's the only picture I took of the entire process.

det er det eneste billede, jeg tog under hele processen.

As I moved through, I achieved

Efterhånden som jeg arbejdede fremad opnåede jeg

a very reasonable facsimile of the Maltese Falcon.

en meget hæderlig gengivelse af Ridderfalken.

But again, I am not a sculptor,

Men igen, jeg er ikke skulptør,

and so I don't know a lot of the tricks, like,

så jeg kender ikke mange af de små tricks, som, altså,

I don't know how my friend Mike gets beautiful, shiny surfaces with his Sculpey;

Jeg ved ikke hvordan min ven Mike skaber smukke, skinnende overflader med hans polyler,

I certainly wasn't able to get it.

jeg var i hvert fald ikke i stand til det.

So, I went down to my shop,

Så jeg gik ned i min butik

and I molded it and I cast it in resin,

og jeg formede det og støbte det i kunstharpiks,

because in the resin, then, I could absolutely get the glass smooth finished.

fordi i kunstharpikset kunne jeg færdiggøre den glatte glasoverflade.

Now there's a lot of ways to fill and get yourself a nice smooth finish.

Nu er der mange måder, man kan skabe en pæn, glat overflade.

My preference is about 70 coats of this --

Min favorit er omtrent 70 lag af dette --

matte black auto primer.

mat, sort grunder.

I spray it on for about three or four days, it drips to hell,

Jeg sprayer det på over tre eller fire dage, det drypper som ind i helvede,

but it allows me a really, really nice gentle sanding surface

men det giver mig en virkelig pæn blid sandslebet overflade

and I can get it glass-smooth.

og jeg kan få den glat som glas.

Oh, finishing up with triple-zero steel wool.

Ah, og afslutter med meget fin ståluld.

Now, the great thing about getting it to this point was that

Se, det gode ved at være nået hertil var at

because in the movie, when they finally bring out the bird at the end,

fordi de i filmen, da de endelig bragte fuglen frem i slutningen,

and they place it on the table, they actually spin it.

og de placerede den på bordet, drejede de den rent faktisk rundt.

So I was able to actually

Så jeg var faktisk i stand til at

screen-shot and freeze-frame to make sure.

tage billeder og gå enkelte billeder frem for at være sikker.

And I'm following all the light kicks on this thing and making sure that as I'm holding the light

Og jeg følger alle lysreflektionerne og sikrer mig, at når jeg holder lyset

in the same position, I'm getting the same type of reflection on it --

i samme position, at jeg får den samme reflektion tilbage --

that's the level of detail I'm going into this thing.

det er denne detaljegrad, jeg går efter.

I ended up with this: my Maltese Falcon.

Jeg endte med dette: min Ridderfalk.

And it's beautiful. And I can state with authority

Og den er smuk. Og jeg kan fastslå med sikkerhed

at this point in time, when I'd finished it,

at på det tidspunkt, hvor jeg fuldførte den,

of all of the replicas out there -- and there is a few --

at alle kopier derude -- og der er et par stykker --

this is by far the most accurate

så er denne den mest præcise

representation of the original Maltese Falcon

genskabelse af den oprindelige Ridderfalk

than anyone has sculpted. Now the original one, I should tell you,

som nogen har skulpteret. Se, jeg bør nævne at den oprindelige

is sculpted by a guy named Fred Sexton.

er skulpteret af en gut ved navn Fred Sexton.

This is where it gets weird.

Og her -- bliver det mærkeligt.

Fred Sexton was a friend of this guy, George Hodel.

Fred Sexton var ven med ham her, George Hodel.

Terrifying guy -- agreed by many to be the killer

Skræmmende fyr -- mange mener, at han er

of the Black Dahlia.

Elizabeth Shorts morder.

Now, James Ellroy believes

Ser I, James Ellroy tror

that Fred Sexton, the sculptor of the Maltese Falcon,

at Fred Sexton, skulptøren af Ridderfalken,

killed James Elroy's mother.

slog James Ellroys mor ihjel.

I'll go you one stranger than that: In 1974,

Jeg vil gerne tage den et skridt videre. I 1974,

during the production of a weird comedy sequel to "The Maltese Falcon,"

under produktionen af en mærkelig komedie-fortsættelse til "Ridderfalken",

called "The Black Bird," starring George Segal,

ved navn "The Black Bird", med George Segal,

the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

havde Los Angeles Country Museum of Art

had a plaster original of the Maltese Falcon --

en gips-originaludgave af Ridderfalken --

one of the original six plasters, I think, made for the movie --

en af de oprindelige seks gipsudgaver, tror jeg, lavet til filmen --

stolen out of the museum. A lot of people thought

som blev stjålet fra museet. En del folk mente

it was a publicity stunt for the movie.

at det var et PR-stunt for filmen.

John's Grill, which actually

John's Grill, som rent faktisk

is seen briefly in "The Maltese Falcon,"

ses kortvarigt i "Ridderfalken",

is still a viable San Francisco eatery,

er stadigvæk et fungerende spisested,

counted amongst its regular customers Elisha Cook,

som blandt de faste gæster blandt andet talte Elisha Cook,

who played Wilmer Cook in the movie,

som spiller Wilmer Cook i filmen,

and he gave them

og han gav dem

one of his original plasters of the Maltese Falcon.

en af hans oprindelige gipsudgaver af Ridderfalken.

And they had it in their cabinet for about 15 years,

Og de havde den i deres skab i omtrent 15 år,

until it got stolen

indtil den blev stjålet

in January of 2007.

i januar 2007.

It would seem that the object of desire

Det lader til at den begærede genstand

only comes into its own by disappearing repeatedly.

kun træder frem ved at forsvinde gentagende gange.

So here I had this Falcon,

Så her havde jeg Falken,

and it was lovely. It looked really great,

og den var smuk. Den så virkelig godt ud,

the light worked on it really well,

den -- lyset spillede meget fint,

it was better than anything that I could achieve

det var bedre end noget andet, jeg kunne opnå

or obtain out in the world.

eller hente ude i resten af verden.

But there was a problem. And the problem was that:

Men der var et problem. Og problemet var dette:

I wanted the entirety of the object,

Jeg ville opnå genstandens helhed

I wanted the weight behind the object.

Jeg ville have genstandens fulde vægt.

This thing was made of resin and it was too light.

Denne ting var lavet af kunstharpiks og var for let.

There's this group online that I frequent.

Der er denne gruppe online, som jeg besøger.

It's a group of prop crazies just like me

Det er en gruppe af rekvisit-galninge ligesom mig

called the Replica Props Forum, and it's people who trade,

ved navn The Replica Props Forum, og det er folk, som handler,

make and travel in information about movie props.

bygger og udveksler informationer om filmrekvisitter.

And it turned out that one of the guys there,

Og det viste sig at en af fyrene dér,

a friend of mine that I never actually met,

en af mine venner, som jeg faktisk aldrig har mødt,

but befriended through some prop deals, was the manager of a local foundry.

men blev ven med igennem nogle handler, var leder i et lokalt støberi.

He took my master Falcon pattern,

Han tog min grundplan for Falken,

he actually did lost wax casting

han støbte den rent faktisk i bronze,

in bronze for me,

med cire perdue-metoden,

and this is the bronze I got back.

og dette er bronzeudgaven, jeg fik tilbage.

And this is, after some acid etching, the one that I ended up with.

Og dette er, efter lidt radering, udgaven, som jeg endte med.

And this thing, it's deeply, deeply satisfying to me.

Og denne ting -- den tilfredsstiller mig højt.

Here, I'm going to put it out there,

Her vil jeg -- jeg vil fremvise den

later on tonight, and

senere i aften, og I kan ...

I want you to pick it up and handle it.

Jeg ønsker at I samler den op og mærker den.

You want to know

I vil gerne vide --

how obsessed I am. This project's only for me,

hvor besat, jeg er. Projektet er kun til for min egen skyld,

and yet I went so far as to buy on eBay

og alligevel gik jeg så langt, at jeg på eBay købte

a 1941 Chinese San Francisco-based newspaper,

en kinesisk San Francisco-baseret avis fra 1941,

in order so that the bird could properly be wrapped ...

for at fuglen kunne blive foldet præcist ind ...

like it is in the movie.

som den er i filmen.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Yeah, I know!

Ja, jeg ved det godt!

(Laughter) (Applause)

(Latter) (Klapsalver)

There you can see, it's weighing in at 27 and a half pounds.

Her kan I se, at den vejer 27½ pund.

That's half the weight of my dog, Huxley.

Det er halvdelen af min hund Huxleys vægt.

But there's a problem.

Men der er et problem.

Now, here's the most recent progression of Falcons.

Se, her er den seneste udvikling af Falke.

On the far left is a piece of crap -- a replica I bought on eBay.

Længst til venstre er det stykke makværk - en kopi, jeg købte på eBay.

There's my somewhat ruined Sculpey Falcon,

Her er min beskadigede polyler-Falk,

because I had to get it back out of the mold. There's my first casting,

idet jeg skulle have den ud af støbeformen igen. Her er min første støbning,

there's my master and there's my bronze.

her er min original og her er min bronzeudgave.

There's a thing that happens when you mold and cast things,

Der sker noget, når man former og støber ting,

which is that every time you throw it into silicone and cast it in resin,

hvilket er, at hver gang, man smider den i silikone og støber den i kunstharpiks,

you lose a little bit of volume, you lose a little bit of size.

mister man lidt af rumfanget, man mister lidt af størrelsen.

And when I held my bronze one up against my Sculpey one,

Og da jeg sammenholdt min bronzeudgave med polyler-udgaven,

it was shorter by three-quarters of an inch.

var den trekvart tomme mindre.

Yeah, no, really, this was like aah --

Ja, virkelig, det var nærmest som --

why didn't I remember this?

hvorfor glemte jeg dette?

Why didn't I start and make it bigger?

Hvorfor lavede jeg den ikke større fra begyndelsen?

So what do I do? I figure I have two options.

Så hvad skal jeg gøre? Jeg skønner, at jeg har to muligheder.

One, I can fire a freaking laser at it,

Et, jeg kan affyre en laser mod den,

which I have already done,

hvilket jeg allerede har gjort,

to do a 3D scan -- there's a 3D scan of this Falcon.

for at lave en 3D-scanning - der er et 3D-scan af denne Falk.

I had figured out the exact amount of shrinkage I achieved

Jeg havde beregnet den præcise mængde af svind, jeg opnåede

going from a wax master to a bronze master

ved at gå fra en voksoriginal til en bronzeoriginal

and blown this up big enough to make

og har forstørret den nok til at lave

a 3D lithography master of this,

et 3D-original-litografi af denne,

which I will polish, then I will send to the mold maker

som jeg vil polere og så sende til støbebyggeren

and then I will have it done in bronze. Or:

og så vil jeg skabe den i bronze. Eller --

There are several people who own originals,

der er flere personer, der ejer originaludgaver,

and I have been attempting to contact them and reach them,

og jeg har forsøgt at kontakte dem og få fat på dem,

hoping that they will let me spend a few minutes

i håbet om at de vil lade mig bruge et par minutter

in the presence of one of the real birds, maybe to take a picture,

i tilstedeværelsen af en af de rigtige fugle, måske for at tage et billede,

or even to pull out the hand-held laser scanner

eller ligefrem at trække den håndholdte laserscanner

that I happen to own that fits inside a cereal box,

som jeg tilfældigvis ejer, som kan være i en æske cornflakes,

and could maybe, without even touching their bird, I swear,

og måske endog, uden at røre deres fugl, på æresord,

get a perfect 3D scan. And I'm even willing to sign pages

kunne jeg en perfekt 3D-scanning. Og jeg vil rent faktisk underskrive dokumenter

saying that I'll never let anyone else have it, except for me in my office, I promise.

hvor jeg erklærer, at jeg aldrig vil lade nogen andre, med undtagelse af mig selv på mit arbejde, have adgang til den.

I'll give them one if they want it.

Jeg vil give dem en udgave, hvis de ønsker det.

And then, maybe, then I'll achieve the end of this exercise.

Og måske vil jeg så nå til slutningen af denne øvelse.

But really, if we're all going to be honest with ourselves,

Men i virkeligheden, hvis vi skal se sandheden i øjnene,

I have to admit that achieving the end of the exercise

så må jeg indrømme, at det at nå slutningen af øvelsen

was never the point of the exercise to begin with, was it.

aldrig var formålet med øvelsen i første omgang, vel?

Thank you.

Mange tak.