Tourist v. spy
I saw this on my Yahoo People news......
Joined by his film's costars Gerard Butler, Jeremy Piven and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges to show scenes and sign autographs, Ritchie also spoke about how being married to the pop icon - whom he referenced only as "my wife" - had allowed him to look at his hometown of London with fresh eyes.
"I was born there and I've seen it change and I know a great deal about it, I'm invested," the director said. "I live vicariously through my wife, so I was once a spy and now I've become a tourist, and it's much more fun to live in London as a tourist than it is as a spy."
He further observed, "Someone told me the definition was a spy always looks for the bad stuff, and a tourist always looks for the good stuff. So that makes it easy, being married to an American."
I like that -- the tourist/spy metaphor. Opening your eyes to fresh experiences within a familiar environment. This actually makes the idea of being a tourist a good thing. Usually I think of tourists as those annoying Americans that wear cowboy hats, American flag shirts and insist on paying in U.S. dollars when they go to foreign countries. But tourist as a sort of anthropological traveller, participant in a culture, viewing things with fresh eyes.....that I can relate to.
What do you consider yourself to be? And where have you been a tourist or spy?
Joined by his film's costars Gerard Butler, Jeremy Piven and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges to show scenes and sign autographs, Ritchie also spoke about how being married to the pop icon - whom he referenced only as "my wife" - had allowed him to look at his hometown of London with fresh eyes.
"I was born there and I've seen it change and I know a great deal about it, I'm invested," the director said. "I live vicariously through my wife, so I was once a spy and now I've become a tourist, and it's much more fun to live in London as a tourist than it is as a spy."
He further observed, "Someone told me the definition was a spy always looks for the bad stuff, and a tourist always looks for the good stuff. So that makes it easy, being married to an American."
I like that -- the tourist/spy metaphor. Opening your eyes to fresh experiences within a familiar environment. This actually makes the idea of being a tourist a good thing. Usually I think of tourists as those annoying Americans that wear cowboy hats, American flag shirts and insist on paying in U.S. dollars when they go to foreign countries. But tourist as a sort of anthropological traveller, participant in a culture, viewing things with fresh eyes.....that I can relate to.
What do you consider yourself to be? And where have you been a tourist or spy?