Needing new shoes to roller skate in Xanadu

Just to show how uncultured I am in most things, I did not know who Kublai Khan was when I mentioned him from a post William Tychonievich wrote (and as he noted, didn't even spell the name right).  I mentioned that character because of the reference that was made in conjunction with him in WJT's post Milkommen, specifically what his friend wrote about black and white cats.

The black and white had stuck out to me, as I noted in my previous posts, due to some other imagery, such as the black and white Rabbit potentially associated with this story, as well as black and white holes, and the whole imagery of the 'new moon shining' or Stone alignment.

In any case, at the end of his latest post, "Assorted syncs: Finnegans Wake, Kubla Khan, dayholes" where he again references Kublai Khan, he closes with some syncs or potential connections around shoes or footwear.

This caught my attention for a few reasons.

I mentioned in my previous post that in Through the Looking Glass, Alice was set up as a Pawn by the Red Queen.  The etymology of Pawn, at least in the context of chess, has to do with feet, specifically meaning "foot soldier" and based on Latin that means "one going on foot".  I was going to make a specific reference about this, but didn't actually have anything to lead it into (and I sometimes feel my points are tangential and disjointed enough).

Whereas in Ava Max's song "Kings and Queens" (which has come up multiple times here on this blog, and which features, both in lyrics and the video, the idea of chess) she references that "Queens are free to go wherever they like", the same cannot be said of Pawns.  In the actual song she contrasts the Kings, who can only move one square at a time, but the Pawn is even lowlier.  One square at a time, and only in one direction (straight-forward) is the limitation.  One might even analogies that to how you and I move through space and time, for example, always in one direction and always single-unit sequential.  

But exploring that thought isn't my primary focus here.  I was more interested in the footwear reference, and any implications, because it also brought to mind a phrase about feet that I haven't quoted here on this blog before, I don't believe, but came with those funny phrases I referenced in my post on Asenath's defeat of the Son of Baal-ox spoken by those who I believe are the Daughters of Asenath (in that post, I was more interested in the "Good Times to Roll!" comment... this other phrase came along with that, but just later).

WJT mentions a specific shoe model that he saw an advertisement for on TV:  the Gel-Nimbus.  It is a running shoe made by Asics which I am familiar with, but never wore as it has too much cushion and stability control features for me (I have worn other Asics models, though).  I prefer Nike's Air Pegasus shoe right now, for whatever reason.  But in the spirit of running shoes, recall that the concept of running has come up in instances such as Run Boy Run, where the Boy is trying to get from one place to another.

Anyway, because I like looking into names, I thought I would check out Gel-Nimbus.  "Gel" is an elvish word, it turns out, that means, appropriately "Sky" (could mean "joy" also).  "Nimbus" was interesting when I looked it up on Etymonline.  From the 1600s, it meant "bright cloud surrounding a divine or sacred personage".  Before looking it up, I recognized the word as having something to do with "cloud" from words I was familiar with, such as Cumulonimbus clouds, but I was surprised to see such a direct, specific reference to a bright, divine cloud.

In reading that definition, my mind instantly went to the story of Jesus' visit to those at Bountiful, where he both descended from the sky with nothing else around him (meaning, people saw a Man descending out of Heaven, and just a Man), as well as noted the he ascended into heaven with the assistance of a cloud.  At first my memory was that he ascended into a cloud, but that was the New Testament account of Jesus' ascension, and my memory was wrong.  In the account from those at Bountiful, a cloud actually overshadowed all of them, so that they couldn't see Jesus, and from the midst of this cloud Jesus ascended into the sky.

Nevertheless, we have Jesus seeming to 'walk on air' in a way, or at least not needing any external means of propulsion through the air, as described in both his descent to and ascent from those at Bountiful, with the aid of a cloud in the former case, at least.  

At this point, my mind went to those strange words from 2020, where it seemed a whole group of Beings were excitedly talking, and from what I got the question in one line:

Why is it that our feet never touch the sky as we rise to the silver pedestal?

Here we have this concept of feet, but not feet seeming to travel on ground, but through the sky, and some riddle about why for these Beings their feet don't even touch the sky as they go to a place.  In looking at the phrase again, I actually noted that 'foot' is here twice, captured in the etymology of Pedestal.  As in, Ped-di-stal.  This is actually also called out on Etymonline as I then looked it up, with a reference to 'foot or seat', for Ped.  The "Stal" was an interesting word to look up, because it can mean exactly what it has sounds like:  A stall, as in a place where animals can be kept.

In seeing this, I thought to Jesus' words to those at Bountiful about the Son of Righteousness, some notion of rising with wings, and of people being led to a stall:

But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall.

Recall that I have the Son of Righteousness referring likely to both a Man (Faramir-Eonwe) and a Stone (El-Anor... and the Sawtooth Stone, potentially).  I will get to wings in Jesus' statement and how that might specifically apply to this Son in a different post (hint:  Hermes/ Mercury).

Thus, the "Silver Pedestal" in this case, is none other than Tirion, the Shining Stall or Holy Place that people will be gathered to.  As another interesting not on this, as Etymonline specifically references, Pedestal also has an Old English variant that means "foot-stone".  So, we also have a reference to a a Silver Foot Stone, potentially, which could be the Ithil Stone (as an aside, we also have a character in Tolkien who is named "Silver Feet" - Idril of Gondolin, who would marry Tuor and become the mother of Earendil... who I also have as JRR Tolkien.  I think there is something to also explore further here, but that will need to be another post as well).

In any case, apparently 'walking' (on air, or some non-solid ground avenue or path, in some way) is what is involved in order to reach wherever it is that this Silver Pedestal is.

This brings me back to WJT's rapper lyrics he also cited and overheard while he was in the diner.  The last line of the lyrics states that everybody in the family, it seems, is going to need new shoes: 

 

Only got two feet, why we need new shoes?
Papa need new shoes, baby need new shoes, Imma need new shoes . . .

Everybody needs new shoes.

Why, though?  Well, it might have something to do with where they are going and how they will get there, as mentioned above.

At this point, my connections get strange and oblique, so bear with me, but it is kind of random and funny.  We are going to go 70s disco here to cap off this post.

About a week ago, the song "Give it Up" by KC and the Sunshine Band snuck on to my running music queue when I was out for a run.  I have never heard it before, but it is a nice, upbeat song so I spared it the skip fate.  On spotify, the little video clip that plays while the song is going is a repeat loop of KC basically doing karaoke step moves shuffling across and back a stage that has a cloud or smoke blowing on to the floor, making it look like he and the dancers are dancing on the cloud.  Here is the music video, and starting about the 0:15 mark (so right at the beginning) you see the dance move I am talking about.

I thought it was pretty hilarious to see KC in these bright blue pants cruising across the clouds, but didn't really pay any other attention to it.  However, my youngest son later came home from school and asked me if I knew what a karaoke step was.  Apparently at school he and his buddies must have been talking about football warm ups (I think I mentioned that he is obsessed with football).   So he wanted me to join him doing karaoke steps around the kitchen and dining room table so he could show off his moves, and as we were doing that, I thought of KC and his fancy dance steps.

In any case, you have this video of KC and the dancers appearing to dance on top of the clouds, in light of this 70's disco theme.

This then brings me back to Kublai Khan.  WJT quotes the poem with Kublai Khan:

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.

 

Xanadu stood out to me because I thought I had heard of this before, but couldn't place it.  So, I did an online search, and sure enough the 1980 movie "Xanadu" starring Olivia Newton-John comes up first (clearly not the same Xanadu that Samuel Taylor Coleridge intended!).  I had heard of this movie, but have never seen it.

I looked up a couple clips of the movie on YouTube, and I got really interested.  The first clip was what turns out to be one of the final scenes of the movie, with the title song track "Xanadu".  It honestly struck me as one of the more bizarre scenes I have seen, and what made it so bizarre was that everybody was wearing roller skates!  Xanadu was a roller disco!  I am not sure I expected Gene Kelly to be cruising around in roller skates, but here we were.  Here is the clip.

The next clip caught my attention as well, not only because the actor was cruising around the street in roller skates again, but it involved a locked green door, which came up recently in WJT's blog.  In the clip, the actor goes up to what appears to be an abandoned building and attempts to open the green door, but obviously can't.  Undeterred, he still looks for a way in, and eventually finds one in an upper level.  Inside, we see the building is definitely abandoned, but he comes across Olivia Newton-John, who is also roller skating around.  This also reminded me of WJT's restaurant, which was abandoned, and even though he found it locked and closed up, he was still determined to try and find a way in.

In all of this, the roller skates were catching my attention, and seemed to tie somehow in what the rapper expressed in needing new shoes.  Why does everyone in the family need new shoes?  Well, that is what you wear in Xanadu, apparently, so if you want to go, you need to get a pair of new shoes, specifically shoes with wheels attached to them.

This, then, became my 'homework' last night.  After the kids went to bed, I watched Xanadu to see what this whole thing was about.  I am not sure what I just watched!  That was one weird, probably mostly awful movie!  I have to process what exactly that was meant to be.  I looked up Gene Kelly's thoughts on being involved in it afterward, and he, with class, said something like the concept was good, but execution was not great. However, a few things did stand out to me that maybe I will bring in in future posts.  Some pretty uncanny things, actually.

In any case, there is a scene were Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John recite the Kublai Khan/ Xanadu poem as they determine what the name of the abandoned building they are going to turn into the new roller derby rink will be.

But, I am going to wrap this post up, and then maybe call out some of those things from the story that stood out to me at some point in the future, though not sure when.

One last point: "Alph" came up not only in the Kublai Khan poem, but also in WJT's reference of a sync to my misspelling of Khan.  When I saw Alph, I thought of ALF, the 80's TV show with a character whose real name is Gordon Shumway, but goes by ALF which stands for Alien Life Form.