Banksy's Bathroom Art - Are We Buying It?

Banksy is an artist, con artist and magical conjurer.  Banksy's works mysteriously appear as public installations.  The works are not for sale (mainly) and draw worldwide attention for their political, non-political, humanistic messaging that magically appear (or disappear).   Banksy last accredited work was spotted in Bristol on Valentine's Day of this year, prior to the global pandemic acknowledgement, according to BBC news is his hometown.  Firstly, I didn't know anything was known about the artist - other than the name.  Secondly, this is a great time for everyone amidst this global pandemic to join in the game.  A new, post confirmed corona virus global pandemic, has been posted on social media showing a bathroom being overrun with rats (a common motif) with the caption "My wife hates it when I work from home."  Are we buying this as a certified Banksy stunt or artistic creation?  I do find this and many other "Banksy's" works to be that of an artistic genius and showman extraordinary.  So, are we buying this latest audacious claim as an authentic Banksy installation?  Again, there's no buying here, here.  But, yes, I say touche' the wonderkind struck again. Bravo!  I'm also suggesting while we're all working (or whatever the hell we're doing or not doing) from home, a challenge to construct our own creative wanna be Banksy pieces.  Is this fraudulent?  Is this appropriation?  No! This is a superlative suggestion (if I do say so) to use our imaginations and show the world what we got going on!  Banksy, perhaps you may want to weigh in on what may be popping up all over.  Thanks for the fun Banksy, but you needn't be the only game in - whatever town?  You're on!

Doc. The Last Dance - Don't be Bullheaded Watch It!

Ladies & gentleman, this is a rare opportunity to get inside the Chicago Bull's during the team's NBA winning epoch with Michael Jordan on center court.  In episodes 1 & 2 - we see a young Michael Jordan in h.s. & at NC Univ. before going pro (as the #3 draft pick) to the Chicago Bulls.  Who were #'s 1 & 2?  Exactly!  Nobody did it 1/2 as good as MJ but MJ will be the 1st to tell you he couldn't do it alone.  The cameras are up close and personal.  The picture painted of the Bull's organization is not always pretty.  The Gen. Mgr. Jerry Krause comes off as a major louse.  Coming off their 5th NBA Championship in 1997 and looking to win their 6th in 1998 with the same roster, Krause deems the winning deem has lost its luster.  Why change a winning game?  Exactly!  The changes Krause meant breaking up the team and replacing Phil Jackson as head coach.  Hell no - he won't be let go thanks to MJ.  But, this only leaves Jackson with a one year contract for the 1997-98 season.  Jackson knows he's gone at the end of the season.  Jackson dubs this season "The Last Dance.  "Michael tells us the best teammate he's ever played with...drum roll...is Scottie Pippin.  Michael & Scottie have miracles plays to play - parts to perform...hearts to warm. Kings and things to take by storm.  Pippin is the unsung hero for whom the ball rolls and  Jordan extols.  Can you feel the injustice in a NBA player's multi-million deal as a flagrant foul?  Yes!  Pippin may have been overshadowed by Jordan's superhuman abilities to soar & score but the guy is shoved to the sidelines.  Pippin was a savvy selfless teammate on the court.  Off the court Pippin punches back.  This doc. has more drama & excitement than double over-time in the 7th game of the championship game.  Make time to watch this basketball doc. that's as much about Michael Jordan as it about keeping score on pushing one's limits.  There's some kind of magic inside...It keeps me from running.  Just keep it coming!

BAD EDUCATION Makes the Grade as Good Entertainment

"Bad Education" is an HBO movie just released based on the true story of the extortion of millions by the Rosalyn H.S. superintendent, Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman) and the school's asst. superintendent, Pamela Gluckin (Allison Janney).  The scandal has been usurped by the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, however, they both share more than their proximity to NYC.  They're both audacious crimes of fraud that flourished unfettered and both were taken down in a David. Goliath scenario.  Moreover, there are complicit parties whose blinders abetted the culprits because of self-serving greed & gain.  Tassone & Gluckin's blatant bamboozling of the school's funds was brought down by a high school student doing a "puff piece" on the plans for a skywalk construction project.  In truth, the school reporter was investigating the sudden dismissal of Gluckin whose extortion was revealed.  Tassone, a narcissistic egomaniac defended Gluckin to the school board from pressing criminal charges not so much out of loyalty but out of fear of being outed for his own flagrant misappropriation of the school's finances.  The school board who are outraged by Gluckin's theft are kept from notifying the authorities who convinces them that it is in the interest of the school's excellent reputation for placing seniors in the Ivy Leagues and keeping their real estate values in the big leagues.  What makes this made for TV movie such a guilty pleasure is the unctuous performance by Jackman and Janney's bombastic portrayal of Gluckin.  Supporting actors on the bench are also first rate, Annaleigh Ashford as Gluckin's greedy niece and Rafael Casal as Tassone's boyfriend. Everyone has to love Ray Romano in his convincing role as a character actor.  In summary, the acting is A+.   Jackman & Janney are varsity standouts in a division one league despite an uneven playing field of storytelling.  It's their unflinching ugliness and delusional grandeur characterizations that inflates this incredulous, albeit factual crime to something worth cheering.  Both Tassone & Gluckin served prison time for their crimes.  The most disturbing & hard to fathom fact to digest is Tassone still draws a pension of over $174,000 annually and hasn't made full remuneration to the Rosalyn school district.

Spanish Dir J L Guerin's THE ACADEMY OF MUSES

"The Academy of Muses" is a loquacious, erudite film that centers around Prof. Raffaela Pinto (playing himself) and his pompous posturing on poetry and women's roles as muses for inspiring the creation of the arts.  The film begins and returns to his lecture hall where he does most of the talking while the camera lingers on several attractive women in the class.  The camera's lens captures these enraptured beauties, who have captured the wandering eye of the Prof.  His wife (played by Pinto's actual wife) is seen seated amongst the students.  The camera doesn't linger upon her elderly & wrinkled face amongst the young students.  The few male students are never heard from in class.  Pinto & his wife are filmed from outside a glass window.  We are voyeurs into their marital discord.  They speak without looking at each other.  His wife critiques his lectures.  It doesn't require Socrates to show Pinto is not one to accept criticism or miss an opportunity to seduce his female students.  Amongst the beguiling women muses in the classroom there is one with the gumption to defy the professor's set construct for poetry.  She's then berated by a classmate whose besotted by him and questions the quality of her prose.  Pinto tells his wife after she accuses him of philandering "teaching is seducing."  The overweight & overbearing prof. lavishes language, poetry & philosophy onto his attentive disciples who also love to hear themselves talk.  The spurned wife blames poetry for creating the myth that love exists.  Pinto's pretentious pandering argues "poetry brings light to the world."  Music, literature & nature are extolled for enhancing emotions & passions.  "Dancing is everything in life." Other than Pinto men are sublimated to the background.  Yet, the women are portrayed mainly as passive participants for inspiring rather than creating art.   Spanish dir. screenwriter Jose Louis Guerin aims to overflow one's cogitation on everything that adds luster to life.  This is a master class in the power of words and fathoms love, desire & jealousy.  The mundane is sometimes viewed as sublime.  Love is considered omnipotent & unattainable.  Love is also equated to the sharing of bookshelves.  Eros shot a golden arrow at Apollo who fell madly in love with Daphne and then launched a leaden arrow at Daphne so she would be repulsed by him.  There's a plethora of philosophy to muse and garner from this endlessly fascinating film for whom many will find endless to endure.  Dante has oft expressed "Love can move the sun and the stars."  "I love to doubt as we all as know."  I loved this film, although I'm not so sure.

Cyprus Avenue by David Ireland with Stephen Rea

Looking for a dark play during these dark days, "Cyprus Avenue"  would be up your alley.  Brilliantly written by David Ireland   this is a story of one man's descent into insanity born of inbred hatred by Protestants in Belfast towards Catholics in Ireland.  The mayhem unfolds through Eric's (a tour-de-force Stephen Rea) sessions with his psychologist Bridget (Ronke Adekoliego) and builds to a violent crescendo that is viscerally abhorrent.  Bridget registers Eric's racist, sexist prejudice towards her.   We get an inkling of an Archie Bunker mentality.  Though Eric doth protest too much he's not racist he riles against being called Irish instead of British.  He's appalled & angered by Bridget's assertion she's British.  Bridget assures Eric he's in a safe place to say anything and asks him to tell her what happened.  Bridget disappears into the background as Eric talks about the the traumatic events that begin at a joyous time in his household.  Eric's daughter Julie (Amy Molly) brings her infant daughter to visit him & her mother, Bernie (Andrea Irvine).  Bernie is ecstatic with happiness but Eric acts  adversely to holding baby Marymay nor concedes how wonderful she is.  His peculiar response to his granddaughter grow more extreme.  He asserts the baby is in fact the political head of Ireland and paints a beard & places spectacles on her face to prove his point.  Eric cruelly offends his daughter wife.  Bernie banishes him from their home.  Whilst he's away from home he finds kindred spirits, whether real or imagined, who share his extremist views.  Fueled with liquor & rage for the loss of his loyalist, cultural identity he returns home.  Once home he commits unfathomable atrocities.  The writing and acting are brilliant.  Although, it's hard to reconcile how someone as deranged as Eric wouldn't have alerted family members to have sought professional help or protection.  The political themes of racism, prejudice and supremacist tribalism are hammered into our skulls. This powerful play holds up a wicked mirror to our divisive society and self-destructive anathema directed towards anyone who looks or thinks differently or is perceived as desecrating one's perceived righteous identity.  "Cyprus Avenue" was awarded Best New Play at the Irish Time Awards & James Tait Black Prize for Drama in 2017.  This is a play that will shock you into reckoning with today's inhumane justifications for hatred.  I cannot conceive of a more potent play.  It packs a powerhouse punch during this nightmarish time of global pandemic when the world should all be coming together.

The Bark and the Tree -Vivian Nesbitt's Biopic Odyssey

"The Bark & The Tree" written & performed by Vivian Nesbitt is a biopic sojourn into the playwright's Irish family tree that branches into the past while staying rooted in the present. Nesbitt's proclivity for the whiskey & the alcoholism & suicide that haunt her are & family are not the essence of what defines her. At 14, Nesbitt experienced her 1st black out. Her great-great-grandmother Eva Mary Kelly had her first poem published in Ireland at 14. Nesbitt is lured back to her ancestral homeland in Ireland by a dream of Eva chanting to her. Blustering with pride & ambition having just earned her MFA, Nesbitt travels to Ireland to connect with her past with aspirations for building upon a lineage of strength hoping for a brighter foothold into the future. Nesbitt's writing is elegiac and poetic. She magically shifts from her intimate conversation into eccentric characters she encounters on this mystical sojourn. The past, present merge, "History is as present as the ground under foot." Harsh realities co-exist with lyrical storytelling & chanting lit with a warm glow & a shot whiskey.

Mourning the Loss of Mr. Ellis Marsalis

Yesterday, April 1st, the music died with the passing of Mr. Ellis Marsalis at age 85 in New Orleans.  Mr. Ellis is a legendary musician, composer, arranger & patriarch to a family of musical geniuses.  He died of  complications from the corona virus.  His contributions to music and the arts are immeasurable.  My heartfelt condolences to his family.  The world mourns his passing.