Saturday, March 29, 2014

WALKING GNOSTICALLY




Just for the sheer heck of it, I decided to Google “Lady Gaga walking.”  I mean Lady Gaga’s OK with me.  I don’t suppose I’m ever likely go to one of her concerts or buy her music, but her existence seems to add to the general gaiety of the planet, and that's to be respected and embraced.


And the thing is, even if you’ve never seen a concert or heard a note of her music, you’re still aware of her, and at the very least you’ve surely seen pictures of her in some laughable outfit or other.  And as often as not she’s wearing these outfits while walking in the street, not always walking very far admittedly, going from her car to a party or club or whatever, but other times she seems to be just out and about, and somehow the street setting and the just plain folks we often see walking in the background, make the image even more startling.


In one way, walking in the street looking like this seems quite a brave thing to do, but in another way it’s actually very self-protective.  The “real” Lady Gaga (Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) is clearly not on display here. 


And maybe, in a way, this applies even when she’s without clothes. As Catherine Millet, the author of The Sexual Life of Catherine M,  once said to me, “My body is not me.”  I believe she said this had something to do with Gnosticism.  Here she is walking, kind of:



And so even when Lady Gaga is walking naked, doing that ludicrous promotion for the  Marina Abramovic Kickstarter campaign - "The Abramovic Method helps participants to develop skills for observing long durational performances through a series of exercises and environments designed to increase awareness of their physical and mental experience in the moment."  Well again, it still looks like the “real” person is somewhere  else.


I’ve written elsewhere about the piece “The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk” from
1988, in which Abramovic and her then boyfriend Ulay decided to mark the end of their relationship with an art performance, setting off from different ends of the Great Wall of China and walking for 90 days until they met up in Shaanxi province.  There they embraced and went their separate ways forever.

Now, I am not a performance artist, but I do know a little about break ups, and I think that if I’d been Ulay I’d have stayed right where I was – he was actually at the western end of the Wall on the edge of the Gobi Desert, a pleasant enough spot I imagine – and I’d have hung around there until La Abramovic arrived, presumably 180 days later.  “Hey kid, you’re the art superstar who uses endurance as an essential part of her artistic praxis!”
Anyway, for the further heck of it I Googled “Abramovic walking” and up popped this image:

The Abramovic (actually Abramovich) in question is Roman of that ilk, the “Russian businessman” and owner of Chelsea Football Club. The caption reads “After the final whistle in Chelsea’s turgid 1-1 home draw with Rosenberg of Norway in the Champions League Group B opener in 2007, Abramovich was seen marching into the dressing room.”  
I’ll bet that was a performance, if not necessarily art.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

WALKING PERVERTEDLY




As we all know, there’s a ton of walking in the Bible.  And Proverbs 10:9 has something very definite to say, although the specifics of what that something is vary considerably depending on the translation.  

Those of us who like language and literature, as well as walking, might be interested in the ways that an apparently very simple thought has been molded by various translators.  I had always assumed the King James would get it spot on, but now I’m not so sure.

He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

Look, I reckon I walk “uprightly,” I mean my posture could be better, but whose couldn’t?  And I don’t reckon I’m a man who “perverteth his ways,” certainly not while walking, and surely if you believe in an all-knowing deity, all your ways shall be known anyway, right?

As you see below, various hands have taken a stab at changing the language, insisting on “integrity” while walking though sometimes “safely” or securely” or blamelessly,” which strike me as a bunch of different things, but then also there’s an insistence on rejecting the “crooked path.” 


I mean OK, I know it’s a metaphor and all, but really I do enjoy walking the occasional crooked path, and honestly I don’t think that makes me a pervert.  Others, evidently, take a different view.  Here are some translated variations, a couple of which don't even include the walking aspect all:

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall.

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

He who walks in integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will be found out.

The one who lives with integrity lives securely, but whoever perverts his ways will be found out.

Whoever walks in integrity lives prudently, but whoever perverts his way of life will be exposed.

The one who conducts himself in integrity will live securely, but the one who behaves perversely will be found out.

He that walks in perfection goes in hope, and he who perverts his ways will be known.

Whoever lives honestly will live securely, but whoever lives dishonestly will be found out.

He that walks in integrity walks securely, but he that perverts his ways shall be broken.

He that walks uprightly walks securely: but he that perverts his ways shall be known.

He that walks uprightly walks surely: but he that perverts his ways shall be known.

He that walketh uprightly walketh surely; But he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

He that walketh sincerely, walketh confidently: but he that perverteth his ways, shall be manifest.

He that walketh in integrity walketh securely; but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

He who walks blamelessly walks surely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out.

Whoso is walking in integrity walketh confidently, And whoso is perverting his ways is known.


Language and walking and metaphors; it’s a minefield innit?



Thursday, March 20, 2014

RADIO WALKING



And here's a thing, a podcast in which the Hollywood Walker, aka Geoff Nicholson, i.e. me, along with a bunch of other people talk about walking (yet again).


It was made by Marilyn Powell for Canadian Broadcasting, who describe it thus:


Walking Matters, Part 2 - "The Steps We Take"
Ever since our ancestors rose to their feet, our species has been defined by walking upright. But the act involves our minds as well as our bodies. We interpret the act of walking, and give it our stamp - from ramblers to Rousseau, from models and tramps to Buddhist monks. In this two-part series, Marilyn Powell explores the world of walking and what it means to us. 

You can link to it right here.



Incidentally when I went down the recording studio to be interviewed I found this wonderful sign on the back of a downtown liquor.  It's  the kind of thing that makes walking worthwhile.


I think the word "loutering" is a brilliant and much needed invention.  I shall be using it often from now on.