Logging the Switch

Posts

  • Jul 2, 2007

    Summer ice in Thialf

    Strangely weird to stand on ice skates in the middle of summer… Even better to do so in Thialf.

    Also nice to skate on the “same” ice as our heroes did before us. It looks bigger on TV though, but then again, what doesn’t.

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  • Jun 28, 2007

    Arthur's Seat panorama

    And I found yet another panorama in my photo collection!

    A very wide view over the friendly city of Edinburgh, Scotland, seen from Arthur’s Seat.

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  • Jun 10, 2007

    Reykjavík To Rotterdam

    There’s an interesting festival coming up in November: Reykjavík to Rotterdam, featuring music, dance, movies and art from our beloved island up north.

    Gigs I’d be interested in attending are Hafdís Huld and Apparat Organ Quartet, but then there are also the movies, with Baltasar Kormákur present for Q and A. Full programme already.

    I’ll have to see what will come of that, as usual I tend to overestimate my time and money ;)

    Funny thing I noticed that I once met the secretary of the festival at the Sigur Rós concert back in July 2005… Small world :)

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  • Jun 8, 2007

    Anneke van Giersbergen leaving The Gathering

    Sad news this morning in my feed reader; Anneke van Giersbergen, singer of The Gathering is leaving the band after 13 years for starting a new band called Agua de Annique.

    I hope they will both find their ways and come back at both their full strengths, then we will have two great acts.

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  • May 25, 2007

    Maístjarnan

    Here’s another beautiful Icelandic song, Maístjarnan (the May star). By Halldór Laxness, written in 1937.

    Ó hve létt er þitt skóhljóð
    og hve lengi ég beið þín,
    þar er vorhret á glugga,
    napur vindur sem hvín,
    en ég veit eina stjörnu,
    eina stjörnu sem skín,
    og nú loks ertu komin,
    þú ert komin til mín.

    Það eru erfiðir tímar,
    það er atvinnuþref,
    ég hef ekkert að bjóða,
    ekki ögn sem ég gef,
    nema von mína og líf mitt
    hvort ég vaki eða sef,
    þetta eitt sem þú gafst mér
    það er alt sem ég hef.

    En í kvöld lýkur vetri
    sérhvers vinnandi manns,
    og á morgun skín maísól,
    það er maísólin hans,
    það er maísólin okkar,
    okkar einíngarbands,
    fyrir þér ber ég fána
    þessa framtíðarlands.

    Oh how light are your footsteps,
    Oh how long have I waited for you,
    There is spring rain on the window,
    Cold whistling wind,
    but I know one star,
    one shining star,
    and now finally are you coming,
    you are coming to me.

    It are hard times,
    there’s not a lot work,
    I’ve got nothing to offer,
    not a bit which I give,
    except my hope and my life,
    whether I’m awake or asleep.
    This one thing you gave me,
    that is all I have.

    But tonight winter ends
    for every working man,
    and in the morning shines the May star,
    that is his May sun,
    that is our May sun,
    our uniting bond.
    For you I carry the flag
    of this land’s future.

    The song being written in 1937, when Iceland was still a dependent nation under Danish flag—the Dannebrog—I assume “the flag of this land’s future” being a forward reference to the current flag and thus independence.

    I’m not sure what the May star is, but I would say it is the sun, having returned with full force, starting to lighten up (and warm up!) the country after the hard and dark winter. Since a few days, Iceland doesn’t have a civil twilight anymore for three months to come; the sun sets and doesn’t go more than 6° under the horizon before climbing again for a new day.

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