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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Walk, Don't Run

"Our language can be seen as an ancient city:
a maze of little streets and squares, of old and new houses, and of houses with additions from various periods;
and this surrounded by a multiple of new boroughs with straight regular streets and uniform houses."
--Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations
I've talked with three people so far about their experience of Sixties design for my Starship and Museum project--just briefly, but each person could be a book, of course...
Now I'm feeling a bit lost in the city of language, among the jumble of articulated ideas.

So I am reminding myself to walk, don't run, through the city by singing to myself, "isogaba--gaba gaba--maware", from this oddly comforting and cute (in that almost frightening way Japanese things can be cute) video by the Japanese ukelele band U900.
Jen posted it at From Maine to Japan a couple months ago:


Jen explains:
The rabbit starts off by saying "All right, the faster we finish this the faster we can go eat," and the bear agrees. The translated lyrics are basically like, "If you rush things, you'll get it wrong...you should take your time, relax. It's no good if you get it wrong." At the end the rabbit announces, "That was perfect!"

5 comments:

  1. That bear is one tormented-looking artist. I know his pain!

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  2. That bear and that rabbit should join LittleAnimalTheatreTroope! Their talent is great!

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  3. ARTS: The bear is very serious, yeah, I hadn't noticed.

    BINK: The troupe needs some cloth Little Animals, for sure.

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  4. The bear has been reading Sorrows of Young Werther, I believe. :)

    I find "gaba gaba" very reassuring to mutter at times...

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  5. Gaba Gaba is one antidote to Goethe...

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