Skrivnost ure ob štirih zjutraj

Pesnik Rives izvede 8 minutni lirični origami, prepogibajoč zgodovino v serijo naključij, ki obdajajo najbolj nadrealistično uro, ob štirih zjutraj.

Tole je nedavni strip
iz Los Angeles Timesa.

In zaključni stavek?

"Po drugi strani pa mi ni treba
vsako jutro vstati ob 4-ih,

da bi pomolzel svojega labradorca."

Tole je nedavna naslovnica
revije New York Magazine.

Najboljše bolnišnice kjer zdravniki
pravijo, da bi se lotili kemoterapij,

porodov, kapi, srčnih bolezni, zamenjav
kolkov, nujnih primerov ob štirih zjutraj.

In tole je moj venček pesmi -

(Glasba)

Leonard Cohen: Ob štirih zjutraj je,

konec decembra...

Bob Dylan: No, ob štirih zjutraj je,

sodeč po zvoku ptic...

Paul Simon: Ob štirih zjutraj,
zmatran, zehajoč...

Ste kdaj opazili,
da je četrta ura zjutraj postala

nekakšen meme oz. stenografski zapis.

Pomeni nekaj v smislu,
da ste budni ob najslabši možni uri.

(Smeh)

Čas za nevšečnosti, nezgode, hrepenenje.

Čas za načrtovanje
umora načelnika policije,

kot v tej klasični sceni iz Botra.

Coppolin scenarij te tipe opiše
kot "izčrpane v kratkih rokavih.

Ura je štiri zjutraj."

(Smeh).

Čas za še bolj srhljive zadeve,

npr. avtopsije in balzamiranja
v "Hiši duhov" Isabel Allende.

Ko je dih jemajoča
zelenolasa Rosa umorjena,

jo zdravniki konzervirajo
z mazili in pasto.

Delali so do štirih zjutraj.

Čas za še bolj srhljive zadeve.

V zadnji aprilski izdaji revije New Yorker

se kratka zgodba
Martina Amisa začne takole:

"11. septembra 2001
je Mohamed Atta oči odprl

ob štirih zjutraj v Portlandu, Maine,

in začel se je njegov
zadnji dan življenja."

Za čas, ki se mi zdi najbolj umirjen
in nevznemirljiv del dneva,

se o četrti uri zjutraj vsekakor
piše dosti slabega

(Smeh)

v številnih medijih in
s strani številnih velikih imen.

Pa sem postal sumničav.

Pomislil sem, da se eni najbolj
ustvarjalnih duhov zagotovo ne vračajo

k privzemanju tega enostavnega tropa,
kot bi si ga bili sami izmislili, ne?

Je možno, da je na tej stvari kaj več?

Nekaj premišljenega, nekaj skrivnega.

Kdo je začel s širjenjem
slabega slovesa "četrte ure zjutraj"?

Rekel bi, da tale tip,

Alberto Giacometti, ki je tukaj prikazan

z nekaj svojimi skulpturami
na švicarskem bankovcu za 100 frankov.

Začel je s svojim slavnim delom
iz muzeja sodobne umetnosti v New Yorku.

Njegov naslov -
"Palača ob štirih zjutraj -

(Smeh)

1932.

Ni samo najzgodnejša skrivnostna omemba
četrte zjutraj, kar jih lahko najdem.

Verjamem, da ta tako imenovana
prva nadrealistična skulptura

lahko predstavlja ključ do
praktično vsake umetniške upodobitve

četrte ure zjutra, ki ji je sledila.

Pravim ji Giacomettijeva šifra,
ekskluzivno za TED.

Ne, lahko mi sledite
na svojih Blackberryjih

ali iPhonih, če jih imate.

Deluje nekako takole - to je nedavno
iskanje na Googlu za četrto zjutraj.

Seveda zadetki variirajo. To je tipično.

Prvih 10 zadetkov vam prinese

štiri zadetke za pesem Faron Young,
"Ob štirih zjutraj je,"

tri zadetke za film z Judi Dench,
"Ob štirih zjutraj"

in en zadetek za pesem Wislawe Szymborske,
"Ob štirih zjutraj."

Toda lahko se vprašate, kaj imajo skupnega
poljska pesnica, britanska dama

in slaven country glasbenik

razen te odlične razporeditve v Googlu?

No, začnimo s Faronom Youngom,
ki se je, mimogrede, rodil

leta 1932.

(Smeh)

1996 se je ustrelil v glavo
devetega decembra -

kar je, mimogrede, rojstni dan Judi Dench.

(Smeh)

A ni umrl na rojstni dan Dencheve.

Trpel je do naslednjega popoldneva,

ko je pri 64-ih podlegel strelni rani,
ki si jo je domnevno povzročil sam,

kar je, mimogrede, bila starost
Alberta Giacomettija, ko je umrl.

Kje je bila med vsem tem
Wislawa Szymborska?

Ima absolutno najbolj vodotesen
alibi na svetu.

Točno na ta dan, 10. decembra 1996,

ko je gospod Ob-štirih-zjutraj,
Faron Young, v Nashvillu zapuščal ta svet,

je gospa Ob-štirih-zjutraj -
oz. ena vsaj od njih - Wislawa Szymborska,

bila v Stockholmu, kjer je sprejemala
Nobelovo nagrado za literaturo.

Do dneva natančno 100 let po smrti
samega Alfreda Nobela.

Naključje? Ne, srhljivo je.

(Smeh)

Coincidence to me has a much simpler magic.

That's like me telling you,

"Hey, you know the Nobel Prize was established in 1901,

which coincidentally is the same year Alberto Giacometti was born?"

No, not everything fits so tidily into the paradigm,

but that does not mean there's not something going on

at the highest possible levels.

In fact there are people in this room

who may not want me to show you this clip we're about to see.

(Smeh)

Video: We have a tennis court, a swimming pool, a screening room --

You mean if I want pork chops, even in the middle of the night,

your guy'll fry them up?

Sure, that's what he's paid for.

Now do you need towels, laundry, maids?

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait -- let me see if I got this straight.

It is Christmas Day, 4 a.m.

There's a rumble in my stomach.

Homer, please.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Let me see if I got this straight, Matt.

(Smeh)

When Homer Simpson needs to imagine

the most remote possible moment of not just the clock,

but the whole freaking calendar, he comes up with 0400

on the birthday of the Baby Jesus.

And no, I don't know how it works

into the whole puzzling scheme of things, but obviously,

I know a coded message when I see one.

(Smeh)

I said, I know a coded message when I see one.

And folks, you can buy a copy of Bill Clinton's "My Life"

from the bookstore here at TED.

Parse it cover to cover for whatever hidden references you want.

Or you can go to the Random House website where there is this excerpt.

And how far down into it you figure we'll have to scroll

to get to the golden ticket?

Would you believe, about a dozen paragraphs?

This is page 474 on your paperbacks, if you're following along:

"Though it was getting better, I still wasn't satisfied

with the inaugural address.

My speechwriters must have been tearing their hair out

because as we worked between one and four in the morning

on Inauguration Day, I was still changing it."

Sure you were, because you've prepared your entire life

for this historic quadrennial event that just sort of sneaks up on you.

And then --

(Smeh)

three paragraphs later we get this little beauty:

"We went back to Blair House to look at the speech for the last time.

It had gotten a lot better since 4 a.m."

Well, how could it have?

By his own writing, this man was either asleep,

at a prayer meeting with Al and Tipper or learning how to launch

a nuclear missile out of a suitcase.

What happens to American presidents at 0400 on inauguration day?

What happened to William Jefferson Clinton?

We might not ever know.

And I noticed, he's not exactly around here today

to face any tough questions.

(Smeh)

It could get awkward, right?

I mean, after all, this whole business happened on his watch.

But if he were here --

(Smeh)

he might remind us, as he does in the wrap-up to his fine autobiography,

that on this day, Bill Clinton began a journey --

a journey that saw him go on to become

the first Democrat president elected

to two consecutive terms in decades.

In generations.

The first since this man, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

who began his own unprecedented journey

way back at his own first election,

way back in a simpler time, way back in 1932 --

(Smeh)

the year Alberto Giacometti

(Smeh)

made "The Palace at Four in the Morning."

The year, let's remember, that this voice, now departed,

first came a-cryin' into this big old crazy world of ours.

(Music)

(Applause)