about a cache of dodo bones that was found

大約在四年前，《紐約客》雜誌上發表了一篇文章

in a pit on the island of Mauritius.

文章的內容是關於在馬里提斯島上的一個洞穴裡

Now, the island of Mauritius is a small island

發現了渡渡鳥的骨骼

off the east coast of Madagascar

馬里提斯島是一個小島

in the Indian Ocean, and it is the place

位於馬達加斯加島東部海域

where the dodo bird was discovered

處在印度洋中，就是在這裡

and extinguished, all within about 150 years.

渡渡鳥被發現

Everyone was very excited about this archaeological find,

也滅絕了，僅在短短一百五十年間

because it meant that they might finally be able

每個人對於這個考古發現都非常興奮

to assemble a single dodo skeleton.

因為這意味著他們終於可以

See, while museums all over the world

完整地拼湊出渡渡鳥的骨骼模型。

have dodo skeletons in their collection, nobody --

大家想想，儘管世界各地的博物館

not even the actual Natural History Museum

都收藏著渡渡鳥的骨骼模型，但是沒有人--

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

包括在馬里提斯島上的自然歷史博物館也沒有

from the bones of a single dodo.

從同一隻渡渡鳥的身上收集組合出來

Well, this isn't exactly true.

完整的骨骼模型

The fact is, is that the British Museum

然而，這也不是完全正確

had a complete specimen of a dodo in their collection

事實上，大英博物館

up until the 18th century --

在十八世紀前

it was actually mummified, skin and all --

曾經收藏過完整的渡渡鳥標本

but in a fit of space-saving zeal,

整隻渡渡鳥，包括皮膚和其他所有的部分都被風乾保存，

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

但館方為了節省空間，一時衝動下

and they burned the rest in a bonfire.

只把牠的頭和腳切下來保留

If you go look at their website today,

然後把其他部分扔進火堆，燒為灰燼

they'll actually list these specimens, saying,

如果你現在去看他們的網站

the rest was lost in a fire.

他們仍將渡渡鳥頭和腳的標本列入展品中，並指出

Not quite the whole truth. Anyway.

其他的部位在一場大火裡遺失了

The frontispiece of this article was this photo,

不過，事實並非完全如此

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

在這篇文章前面就是這張照片

was great for bringing photos to the New Yorker,

我也和大家一樣認為蒂娜·布朗十分偉大

because this photo completely rocked my world.

她替《紐約客》雜誌拍攝了無數張的好照片

I became obsessed with the object --

而這張照片深深震撼了我

not just the beautiful photograph itself,

我完全地被這張照片所吸引

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

不僅僅是因為照片本身的美麗

the wire you can see on the beak there

還有那色彩光影明暗的變換，以及那些看得到的細節

that the conservator used to put this skeleton together --

牠嘴邊的那一條鐵絲是以前管理員為了

there's an entire story here.

固定骨架而放置的

And I thought to myself,

這張照片本身就是一個完整的故事

wouldn't it be great

於是，我想

if I had my own dodo skeleton?

如果我也有自己的渡渡鳥骨架

(Laughter)

那該有多好阿

I want to point out here at this point that

（笑）

I've spent my life obsessed

所以，我現在想說的是

by objects and the stories that they tell,

我一輩子都在為一些

and this was the very latest one.

奇特的事物和故事而痴迷

So I began looking around for --

而這個是我最近最新的迷戀

to see if anyone sold a kit,

於是，我開始在周遭搜尋

some kind of model that I could get,

看看有沒有人在賣

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

看看能不能買到像這樣的模型

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

在此之中，我找到了很多相關的材料，很多很有意思的圖片

I had saved a few hundred photos of dodo skeletons

但是，完全沒有，沒有我想要的渡渡鳥的骨骼.逝者已矣

into my "Creative Projects" folder --

我在我的電腦裡的"創意計畫"的資料夾中

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

儲存了上百張的渡渡鳥骨骼模型照片

Any time I have an internet connection,

這是我所有感興趣東西的統一收藏處

there's a sluice of stuff moving into there,

任何時候只要我有連上網路

everything from beautiful rings to cockpit photos.

就會有大量的東西流入這裡

The key that the Marquis du Lafayette sent to George Washington

無論是美麗的戒指還是戰鬥場的照片

to celebrate the storming of the Bastille.

拉法葉為慶祝攻克巴士底監獄

Russian nuclear launch key:

送給喬治華盛頓的鑰匙

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

還是俄羅斯核彈起動的鑰匙

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

上面那一把的圖是我在eBay上找到的

because I couldn't afford the one on eBay.

下面那一把是我自己做的

Storm trooper costumes. Maps of Middle Earth --

因為eBay上賣得太貴了，買不起

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

星際大戰軍隊的衣服，這個中土的地圖﹣

This folder has 17,000 photos --

是我自己畫的。這個是渡渡鳥骨骼模型的文件夾

over 20 gigabytes of information --

裡面有一萬七千張照片

and it's growing constantly.

超過20G的資訊

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

還不斷地在增加中

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

這樣過了幾周之後

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

或著大概有一年，有一天我跟孩子在美術用品店

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

我們在買一些陶土用品--我們正準備來一個美勞日

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

我買了一些很好的黏土，一些鐵絲和其他材料

maybe,

我看著這些黏土，心裡想

yeah, maybe I could make my own dodo skull.

也許

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

對，也許我可以自己做一個渡渡鳥的頭骨模型

I'm a hard-edged model maker.

但要先說明一點，我可不是雕刻家

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

我是一個出色的模型製作家

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

給我一幅畫或物品，我就可以複製出來

especially parts from "Star Wars" --

或著給我一個起重機，鷹架，一些星際大戰的東西

I can do this stuff all day long.

特別是來自星際大戰

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

我就可以做一整天

But you give me something like this --

這就是我15年來所從事的工作

my friend Mike Murnane sculpted this;

不過，如果你給我類似這類的東西

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

這是我朋友麥克做的

this is not my thing --

是星際大戰第二部裡面的模型

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

這種我就不在行了

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

這個龍還是其他黏土類的東西，是別人在行的

to actually be able to

但是，我覺得我已經看了夠多的渡渡鳥頭骨的照片

understand the topology and perhaps replicate it --

已經有足夠的條件

I mean, it couldn't be that difficult.

能夠了解牠的結構並將牠複製出來

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

我的意思是，這應該不會那麼困難

I grabbed all the reference,

所以，我開始尋找我所能找到最好的照片

and I found this lovely piece of reference.

我翻遍了所有能找的文獻資料

This is someone selling this on eBay;

然後我找到了這個有趣的資料

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

這是有人在eBay上賣的

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

這個圖明顯地是一個女人的手，希望是

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

假設這雙手和我妻子的大小一樣

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

我量了一下它的手指，由此計算出她骨骼的大小

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

然後把圖放大到實際大小，開始用它

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

和我所得到的數據相比較

exactly how long, etc.

計算出它實際的大小

And over a few hours, I eventually achieved

算出它實際的長度

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

幾個小時之後，我終於得到了

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

準確的渡渡鳥頭骨規模。我沒有想過還要繼續﹣

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

這個就像是在收拾亂房間

I wasn't thinking about a dodo skeleton;

每次你只收拾一個東西，無法全盤考慮

I just noticed that as I finished this skull,

我當時並不是想要做渡渡鳥全身的骨頭

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

一直到我做好了渡渡鳥的頭骨

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

我才發現我用來搭建它們的鐵絲

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

剛好就是脊椎伸出來的地方

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

在過去幾年中我最傾盡全力的

I actually understood the mechanics

就是搜集了幾百個的脊柱和骨骼

of vertebrae enough to kind of start to imitate them.

我十分了解脊椎骨的排列機制

And so button by button,

並且能開始模仿這個東西

vertebrae by vertebrae, I built my way down.

所以我就一點一點地

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

將骨骼一塊一塊拼接完成了！

a moderately good vertebrae and half of a pelvis.

事實上，那天結束前，我已經做好了一個不錯的頭骨模型

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

有一排還不錯的脊椎骨，連骨盆也做好了一半

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

之後我還繼續查了更多資料

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

所有我能找到的資料，像圖片，相片啊我都找了

with a ruler.

我愛死了這個傢伙，他把渡渡鳥的腿骨拿去掃描了一遍

This is the kind of accuracy that I wanted,

旁邊還放了尺

and I

這就是我想要的精確度

replicated every last bone and put it in.

而我最終就是

And after about six weeks,

複製了每一塊骨頭然後把它放進去

I finished, painted, mounted

大約六週之後

my own dodo skeleton.

我終於完成了，包括上漆以及固定

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

我自己的渡渡鳥骨骼模型

that includes a brief history of the dodo.

你們還可以看到我甚至做出了博物館的展示標籤

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

上面有渡渡鳥的簡介

a museum vitrine.

TAP公司還幫我做了一個博物館的玻璃陳列櫥窗

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

不過沒有照片

but I had to finish what I had started.

家裡其實沒地方放渡渡鳥的標本

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

但是既然開始做了就該把它做完

Again, like I said, my life has been about

而且，對我來說，這是個極大的成長

being fascinated by objects and the stories that they tell,

就像我剛提到的，我的生活

and also making them for myself, obtaining them,

總是被某些事物及他們背後的故事給深深吸引

appreciating them and diving into them.

想要複製他們，留在身邊

And in this folder, "Creative Projects,"

欣賞他們，了解他們

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

在「創意計劃」這個檔案夾裡

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

有些是我目前正在做的東西

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

有些是早就開始動工的，有些是我之後想做的

and look at and touch.

有些是我只想到處找找，看買不買的到

But now there was potentially this new category of things

看一看，摸一摸的

that I could sculpt

但是現在又多了一個新領域可以供我發揮

that was different, that I -- you know,

雕塑

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

這跟我以前做得很不一樣

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

我自己有一個星際大戰的R2D2模型

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

但是，說實在話，跟雕塑比起來，那真的不算甚麼

and I happened across the Maltese Falcon.

於是，我又回去看「創意計劃」這個檔案夾

Now, this is funny for me:

然後，我發現了「馬爾他之鷹」

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

愛上漢密特小說裡的

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

馬爾他之鷹，其實有點好笑

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

因為如果真的這個世界的人(讀者）分為兩派

But in this case,

錢德勒派的人跟漢密特派的人，我當然是錢德勒那一派的

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

不過，現在重要的

it's about the object in and of itself.

不是作者本身，也無關這本小說、電影、情節

And in this case, this object is --

重點是放在馬爾他之鷹上

plays on a host of levels.

事實上，馬爾他之鷹

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

有各種不同的面貌

This is the "Kniphausen Hawk."

首先，有這樣一個東西

It is a ceremonial pouring vessel

「尼佛森之鷹」

made around 1700 for a Swedish Count,

它是在17世紀左右

and it is very likely the object from which

為了瑞典伯爵做的祭祀容器

Hammett drew his inspiration for the Maltese Falcon.

漢密特筆下的馬爾他之鷹

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

的靈感很可能就是由此誕生

Built out of words, it is the engine

其次，便是漢密特小說中的那隻杜撰的鷹

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

書裡活靈活現的文字讓

in which another object is created:

馬爾他之鷹成為小說及電影裡的重心

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

於是，另一項產物應運而生﹣

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

尼佛森之鷹給了漢密特靈感，讓漢密特有了描述馬爾他之鷹的依據

And then there is this fourth level, which is

電影為重現漢密特的文字，便做了一個馬爾他之鷹的道具

a whole new object in the world:

而馬爾他之鷹最後的一種面貌

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

於焉誕生

becomes, in its own right,

從電影的道具、文字的產物搖身一變

a whole other thing,

有了自己的價值

a whole new object of desire.

成為一個獨立的東西

And so now it was time to do some research.

一個由慾望交織出的新玩意

I actually had done some research

於是，是時候開始收集資料了

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

事實上，我從幾年前就開始找了

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

所以才會開了這樣一個檔案夾

of the Maltese Falcon on eBay,

我在eBay買了一個馬爾他之鷹的複製品

and had downloaded enough pictures to actually

可是品質很差

have some reasonable reference.

另外，我也存了足夠的圖片

But I discovered,

也有足夠的參考依據

in researching further,

為了取得精確的參考資料

really wanting precise reference, that

我愈來愈深入地研究

one of the original lead birds

然後我發現，在1994年克莉絲蒂拍賣會上

had been sold at Christie's in 1994,

賣出了一個原版的

and so I contacted an antiquarian bookseller

鉛製的馬爾他之鷹

who had the original Christie's catalogue,

於是，我聯絡上一個買賣古物的書商

and in it I found this magnificent picture,

他有克莉絲蒂拍賣會上的拍賣目錄

which included a size reference.

在目錄中，我發現這張絕佳的圖片

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

上面還附有參考尺寸

I found other reference. Avi [Ara] Chekmayan,

這樣，我便可以把這張圖拿去掃描，再放大到原始大小

a New Jersey editor, actually found this

我也找到其他的參考資料

resin Maltese Falcon

在1991年，紐澤西的編輯，査克梅楊

at a flea market in 1991,

在跳蚤市場裡

although it took him five years

找到這隻樹脂做的馬爾他之鷹

to authenticate this bird to

雖然他花了五年的時間

the auctioneers' specifications,

才證明它就是拍賣會中的

because there was a lot of controversy about it.

那件拍賣物

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

對此，當時各界也傳出不少爭議

about the time the movie was made.

因為那時候電影的道具，很少是用樹脂做的

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

而它的材質正是樹脂

because I can see it compared to this thing,

他花了這麼長的時間才證明它是真品，實在可笑

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

跟這張拍賣會上的圖一比

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

我就能跟你保證，這絕對是件真品

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

因為它們是從同一個模子裡塑造出來的

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

因為對這件作品的真偽還有很大的爭議，

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

當時拍賣的古董商(Profiles in History)

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

我記得在1995年時，以10萬美金賣了出去

not just a front elevation, but also

他們特別在目錄上放上了，你在圖片的下方可以看到

a side, rear

不僅有正視圖還有

and other side elevation.

側視圖，後視圖

So now, I had all the topology I needed

和另一邊的側視圖

to replicate the Maltese Falcon.

現在，我有了所有複製

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

馬爾他之鷹的資料

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

他們怎麼做的，我要如何開始？我真的什麽都不知道

I blew all my reference up to full size,

所以我又一次，像製作渡渡鳥模型那樣，

and then I began cutting out the negatives and using

我把我所有的數據放大到實際的尺寸，

those templates as shape references.

然後刪去多餘的部份，用之前提到的那些

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

模型作為外形參考

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

用黏土做了一個雛形出來

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

然後我把它擱起來，直到我有了準確的側視圖後

I worked out and achieved --

再慢慢地一個羽毛 一個羽毛地雕，

working in front of the television and Super Sculpey --

就不斷的在電視機前刻

here's me sitting next to my wife --

終於做出了一隻鷹

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

這是我坐在我妻子旁邊

As I moved through, I achieved

這是整個過程中我拍得唯一一幅像片

a very reasonable facsimile of the Maltese Falcon.

到了最後，我完成了

But again, I am not a sculptor,

馬爾他之鷹的複製，一件很不錯的複製品。