Hákarl on Toothpicks

From Iceland, I give you Hákarl!

Here's another recipe for my collection on here. Yes, it does follow the seafood theme, no, I haven't tasted it, nor made it, but I assure you that if you were to try this, well... read on and you'll see what I'm getting at...

Ingredients:

1 Shark

Process:

-behead, and gut shark

-dig a hole in a hill large enough to hold said shark

-place shark in hole

-cover gutless / headless shark with sand and gravel

-once hole is filled in, place large stones on top of site

-go for a 6 to 12 week walkabout

-return to your gutless / headless now reasonably fermented shark in a hole on a hill

-unearth

-cut shark into strips, and hang from your windows, or in a passage where the wind funnels directly into your neighbors property

-overseas vacation - you've got three to six months at this point

-return from your vacation, remove shark from strings and scrape off the brown crust that has formed

-cut into cubes, and stab with toothpicks

Serve to the love of your life!

There you go! Please note - if your hill is of insufficient grade, or you do not let it ferment long enough, you will die of ammonia poisoning. I assume NO responsibility for this!!!!!

My next recipe will be less... time consuming I promise!

Góða Nótt!

Ryley

Prelude to a Kiss

Sæl / Sæll!!

Instrumental music is the most abstract of art forms.

There are no words to interpret, and nor can I use words to play it / experience it elsewhere. I cannot pick up and touch Contrapunctus IX. We cannot see it - the score being merely a loose arrangement of black and white dots on lined paper - not the art itself. We cannot smell Beethovens' 5th. I cannot taste Daft Punks' Adagio for TRON. I cannot apply concrete understanding to Birds jumping lines in Ornithology.

In fact all it is is a series of concussive waves bashing their way through matter, and then somehow finding their way onto my eardrums.

And so why do I listen to these pieces of emotive brilliance, and feel SO moved. Here I am, a grown young adult on the brink of tears over something that is the definition of abstract? What is it that draws humans to this medium. What is it that we're actually gaining out of it? How can music sound "sneaky" or "joyful" or "furious"? Is it all in the theory like our teachers have tried to tell us in the past? Is it all mathematical like the education system so very much likes to try to say it is?

Or is it just that intangible, visceral experience that shakes you down to your very core - with the lone soprano saxophone singing in an abandoned warehouse, or a digitized symphony let by a master guitarist on stage being the only real thing tying you to this experience.

Interestingly enough, I am starting to realize that this is one of the few things in the world that I can understand. Maybe because it's so not-understandable that I feel at home in it, because of my own chaotic mind. The weird thing is though, I can't tell you what it is that I get about it. It just seems so natural - so real - and so wonderfully limitless. I guess I'm just going to accept that it's never going to leave me.

No matter how hard I try to forget about it.

In other news, after I wrote my last post, I went back and re-read everything that I have written on this blog up to date. Wow. There's a lot of stuff in there that is so not who I was. It really is interesting how we evolve though. Even just the way that I write - let's all recall my spelling grammatical capacities of high school - NOT!!!

Not that I'm much better now. But at least now Blogger has a spell check in it, so aside from my constant confusion of "to" and "too", I'm just left to face Grammar in a one-on-one. Hey, at least the odds are improving.

In trip news - I think I've got a flight there, and I may have a flight back. Flying into London, taking the train to Paris, and then flying home from Reykyavík. I've been reading more in-depth stuff about the countries, and I think the whole language thing is going to be pretty interesting. France should be fine - six years of immersion had better pay off. Italy should be okay - it seems close enough to french to at least be able to figure out road signs, etc... and I'm gonna spend some time before I go with that language too - it's next on my list anyways!

The tricky part is going north - into all the german speaking countries. So far, I can count to ten, and ask people if they have a cigarette/sausage. And I suppose I could ask for more than one sausage by combining the two skills... I'm sure I'll figure it out though. I mean honestly - how many tourists go there only knowing how to ask for one sausage...

Also, I have decided to not go to Barcelona this time. I think that it's just too much... but it'll always be there for another time.

For my sister - I think she should know that I am listening to Daft Punk as we speak. I think that would make her proud. Albeit the TRON soundtrack, but Daft Punk none the less.

Also, in other fantastic news - TRON has been nominated for best sound Editing. YESYESYESYES!!!!!

I have to say (ironically) that I do not appreciate good cinematic sound. Perhaps because I know that it's all fake, and most of the time even the dialogue isn't original. But I went to see Tron in 65mm because I knew that the sound would be UNREAL! When Sam gets to Zeus' club, and the bassline for "Derezzed" kicks you in the pants, WOW. The sounds of the engines, the lightbikes, the discs, and Olivia Wildes' voice:

"I'm Kora!" and "I guess you could say, I'm a rescue."

Here's to Music, Over-the-top-sci-fi, and Square/Sawtooth waves!

Góða nótt!

Ryley

April In Paris

Good day, Bonjour, Góðan Daginn!

Yes, I am trying to learn Icelandic. Talk about a wild language. The weirdest thing is that the grammar is so much the same as English. When I learned French, I had to switch everything backwards - "The black cat" in English becomes "The cat black - le chat noir" in French, etc... Because Icelandic is a Germanic language (as English is) all the grammar in terms of sentence structure is almost exactly the same! It feels weird to be saying different words in the same order as English, but I'm sure that with enough practice I'll figure it out.

The other fun thing about Icelandic is the different letters: Ð/ð is the letter "Eth" having the sound of the voiced "th" in "Them"; the letter Þ/þ is the letter "Thorn" having the sound of the voiceless "th" in "Thing" and always, and only appearing at the front of a word; and the letter Æ/æ is the letter "Aie" being pronounced phonetically.

I have recently rediscovered that I love learning language. I think that it's really fascinating how humans have created so many different ways of communicating! I look forward to hopefully adding many new languages to my bank of knowledge over the years. I think once Icelandic is there, I'll try Italian!

So, the main purpose of this post is to tell you all that I am going traveling!!! And, as per Joshs' request, I am turning this blog into somewhat of a travel blog, where hopefully I will be putting up photos, and sharing stories as I head out on my trip!

Mostly, I will be traveling through Western Europe, and then finishing the trip in Iceland! A rough itinerary puts me in Paris to start - in April - Can you tell I was a jazz musician?

From Paris, I will be biking (pedal, not motor) up to the Normandy coast, and then down through the Loire Valley (maybe meeting up with my parents at some point here for a week or two), then down to the Mediterranean, where Spain borders France. I will then bike the winding highway that follows the sea all the way to Italy! From there, I look forward to seeing Tuscany in great detail, and then heading over to Venice. From there, I will probably catch a train to Milan, and then bike north through Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium (as far north as Ypres - can you tell I have a fascination with both world wars?), then east through the Netherlands, Germany (as far east as Berlin), then north into Denmark, where I will stop over in Copenhagen, before going to the northern tip at the Hirtshals port, where I will catch the Nörrona - the three day ferry to Seðisfjörður, Iceland, with a brief stop-over at the Faroe Islands! And then from Iceland home...

How long will this take one might ask?

As long as I want it to!!!

My intention so far is to just travel as I want - going from city to city at my own pace. Leaving when I'm ready to. I'm going to carry a tent, as well as try hostels, and this cool thing called CouchSurfing.com! I would like to be in Iceland somewhere in lateish September, so that I can accomplish the 750km bike trip along the southern part of the ring road (between Seðisfjörður and Reykjavík) before the snow flies! At which point I will probably stay my maximum amount of time there (up to three months), before coming home!

And yes, most of this (I hope) will be done on a bike! I suspect at some point or another I'll wind up taking a train. I think though - after considering the many different ways of getting around, that biking is the most intimate way to see a country (from my totally neophyte stand point), because you have wide open views. you're not restricted to being in this tiny little box. Also, it forces you to pack lightly, and take only the essentials. As well, it's FAR cheaper then driving, with the cost of gas in Europe being more expensive then here (although I suppose you leave Calgary, and the gas is going to be more expensive - maybe I should just suck it up.... nah). I intend to set no speed or distance records, traveling only 25 - 75 km/day. I want to maintain a leisurely pace as to soak up as much of everything as I can!

I don't know how often, or how extensive my posts will be, due to the limited access to internet that I may or may not experience depending on where I am. But I will do my best over the course of the trip to keep people updated. If you are a friend / family member, you can probably expect to be overwhelmed with thousands of photos when I return however (now you're all wishing I'd just stay over there...).

Anyways, for many people who are reading this blog for the first time, I suggest you stop here, and don't delve any further into previous posts - you will not find anything spectacular. Mostly just random HIGH SCHOOL ANGST, (yes, yes that is in CAPITALS - FLEE!! RUN AWAY!!!) tales of the fish store, and one post on my life philosophy.

I look very forward to sharing this adventure with all of you who are interested!

Góða nótt,

-Ryley