Well, life being as it is, it seems I may be about to become a talking
head. Over the weekend I was filmed to
be part of a documentary titled Walking
Fool, directed and starring Mark E. Phillips, produced by John Maslowski I was there as the
bookish, professorial, “walking expert.” Want to know about the Savannah Theory - I'm your man. Here are Mark and I faking spontaneity:
Mark is the kind of pedestrian who makes me feel like a complete
trifler. He has made several attempts, only
the last one successful, to walk across America. Cheap technology means that he’s been able to film
pretty much all of it. Editing is
currently underway.
I don’t really know Mark at all but having met him briefly, having seen
his website and the various clips I’ve seen, he seems to be a man with the kind
of sensibility I like, essentially serious (nobody who walk thousands of miles across
America is completely frivolous) but he’s also well aware of the unbearable
lightness of being. He ain't no Cheryl Strayed, I'm pleased to say. Above and below are
some of his postings.
Of course he suffered for his art, so that we don’t have to, but it’s seeing
that back pack that really makes me feel his pain. There are times when I that even carrying a
camera and some water is an impediment to walking, Mark’s pack sometimes
weighed as much as 70 pounds, I’m told.
The idea of course is that the film will be shown at film festivals,
win prizes, and then there’ll be a spin off TV show and a web series, and a
lot more walking. I do hope it all
happens, and I also hope I don’t end up on the cutting room floor.
The website, with trailer, is here:
