"The Danish Poet"

I spent the week before my Japan trip attending screenings at an animation festival held at the National Museum. At the behest of Frank in Ann Arbor, I made sure I got a ticket to watch "The Danish Poet," one of many international animated shorts featured at the festival. "The Danish Poet" won this year's Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, but I didn't pay much attention to it until Frank wrote to say that I should watch it if it ever showed in Singapore; he was certain that I would love it.

He knows me well. The short film brings up ideas about fate and chance, and the small, everyday details and events that are easily forgettable even if they aid in orchestrating a larger outcome. I loved every minute of it: whimsical art, a light but distinctive soundtrack, subtle injections of humor.

Of course, I didn't know that it's easily available on Youtube. No matter, this means I can watch it any number of times now. And I should also pull Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter off the shelf and finish reading all 1168 pages of it.