Author: Jacques René Zammit

Nobel prize winner Dario Fo has suffered a temporary setback while touring with his latest show entitled “Giotto o non Giotto?”. During this show Fo queries whether the famous painter Giotto is actually the person to have painted the famous affreschi in the Assisi basilica. According to Fo the painter was too young to have painted them himself.

The show that was meant to take place in the beautiful piazzale in front of the upper basilica in Assisi had to be cancelled when Bishop Sorrentino refused permission. For once it was not Fo’s notoriety for irreverent material that had incensed a representative of the church but rather the very denial of Giotto’s authorship of the paintings. Sorrentino refused to allow a show that, according to him, would “destroy the magnificent illusion for the last poor Assisi folk”.

Fo is not the first to contest Giotto’s authorship of the painting and neither the mayor nor the friars of the convent had found anything wrong with the show. Fo’s comment on the Bishop’s decision is interesting:

Questo è il segno dei tempi. E’ davvero un’espressione di quel retrivo conservatorismo culturale per il quale ogni alterazione dello status quo diventa un atto di blasfemia.

*Picture:  Saint Francis speaking to the birds (Assisi Basilica,attributed to Giotto)

J’accuse is no architect and notwithstanding the ever-expanding ego does not deem itself an expert in the field of architectural appraisals. What follows is a barbarian appraisal of the sketches, plans and whatnot that have been unveiled for the hoi polloi to see and for the commentators (or bloggers as the Sunday Times editor seems to insist) to comment.

In primis we should say that we are always a tad bit mefiant (mistrusting) when it comes to abbozzi or models prepared by prize architects or upcoming upstarts alike. Whenever the work is actually finished the artist’s impression remains just that – an impression – and something gets lost along the way.

Having rid ourselves of that uncomfortable premiss let J’accuse also get rid of the part nobody could give a pig’s bottom (or a salvu balzan face, as the experts in anal discourse and bestiality seem to have decreed) about. J’accuse likes it. We mean the plan and not the swine’s rear-end.

And now for the candid, barbarian observation. What I find most thrilling about the whole shebang in a “I can’t wait to experience it” kind of way is not the Parliament house on stilts (a prize image for us commentators/bloggers) or the fact that 60 years later we decide to preserve the status quo for the Opera House ruins (luverly). Nor is it the ironic fact that the City Gate project will have anything but a gate (charming, and I’m serious).

What I do like is the idea of the subterrenean gallery that, if I read the dastardly sketches right (dastardly because they are miniscule online), should lead through the very entrails of the city for gentlemen and allow the visitor to surface magickally in the midst of what one supposes will be the hustle and  bustle of the starting point of Strada San Giorgio (all right, Republic Street).

I recently went on a fleeting visit to the Italy city of Perugia. Having parked in Piazza dei Partigiani the easiest access to the city was through the Rocca Paoliana – a magical city under the city made up of old tunnels and galleries complete with escalators that led you to the very heart of the city. I remember thinking what a magnificent way to get the feel of a city and its history. Who knows, maybe Renzo Piano could have something like that in mind?

Then again, these are only the scrawls and ramblings of a barbarian.

*image taken from the OPM site: Valletta Projects

They might have not won it while exuding sparks of brilliance and samba football but Dunga’s XI twice proved that this new Brasil has added resilience to its repertoire and style of play. Yesterday’s performance was typical of recent runs – an execrable first half in which Brasil all but threw the towel to disciplined army of stars and stripes transformed into a fighting spirit mixed with some polished moments of smooth passing football. Everybody wondered what Carlos Dunga could have said to the Brasilian team at half time when they were still two goals  down… well Kakà told us the answer:

 “Cosa ci siamo detti nell’intervallo, sotto 0-2? Yes, we can”.  (What did we say to each other at half-time, down 0-2? yes, we can).

Sweet irony… he may belong to Jesus (as his t-shirt proudly proclaims) but Florentino Perez might beg to differ.

Bring on South Africa 2010!

This article and accompanying Bertoon appear in today’s edition of The Malta Independent on Sunday (28.06.09).

I was a hundred per cent certain that the first time I had heard Bob Marley sing was on a Xandir Malta re-run of the Banana Split Adventure Show. That would have been some time in the late seventies or early eighties. I am not usually a pedant when it comes to this type of trivia but I did look for the actual reference to a Split episode that contained the Legend from Jamaica and guess what… there never was one.

The Splits show folded in 1970 and that must have been a good ten years before it appeared on that wonderful vehicle of people’s choice programs known as national TV in socialist Malta. I was convinced that I had seen (or at least heard) Bob Marley on the Splits because of the “Wo Yo Yo” tune that is world famous. The tune is actually to be found in the song Buffalo Soldier -released (posthumously) in 1983, a good thirteen years after the last episode of the Splits was filmed. So was my mind playing tricks?

Actually no. All I had to do to find out was google “Banana Splits and Bob Marley” and hey presto the answer was before me in the form of a BBC news item. What actually happened is that the Banana Split theme song – titled very unceremoniously “The Tra-La-La Song” is uncannily similar to Bob Marley’s refrain in “Buffalo Soldier”. So similar as to cause confusion among unprofessional listeners like myself – and not only. Speculation is rife as to whether the Great Rasta actually plagiarised the theme song. Apparently it would have been very hard for Bob to have heard the Split’s tune – he was not, after all brought up in an island with one TV channel for choice that was regurgitating decade old programs for the entertainment of its youth.

This is not the J’accuse obit. It is one of those “reflections” on how the pop world, pop culture and the internet-driven global village will “deal” with the passing away of the  King of Pop (“self-styled” -as some radios are insisting). Bereavement won’t have much to do with this. Sure, some fans (and that some is an understatement) will miss Michael. Others like myself, whose generation was, for a long period, marked by Thriller, the moonwalk and “being bad” and who still live in a world where it matters if you are black or white will probably not know how to describe the feeling of emptiness (not a black hole, but that nagging feeling that something is missing).

What J’accuse is interested in observing for now – before the real reflection on Michael Jackson’s death – is the reaction. It’s the world’s latest opportunity for a not-so spontaneous manifestation of mass “mourning”. I think the words of a Los Angeles editor interviewed by the BBC might be an interesting indicator:

“I feel this is the biggest celebrity story in a long time and has the potential to be the Princess Diana of popular culture.”

It was raining in Glastonbury as BBC crews interviewed those who were already on their feet in their steady downpour. The news story was not any public shows of prayer or remembrance for the man who thrilled millions. Nope. It was a story about what to expect once the thousands of festival goers crawled out of the tent in the mud and slush and once they were told that Michael Jackson – THE Michael Jackson – is no more.

If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with. -Michael Jackson “King of Pop” b.1958 d. 2009

ADDENDA (from BBC report):
Google reported an upsurge of “Michael Jackson” searches that led the company to believe that it was under a cyber attack.:

Search giant Google confirmed to the BBC that when the news first broke it feared it was under attack. Millions of people who Googled the star’s name were greeted with an error page rather than a list of results. It warned users “your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application”.

Google might have avoided a crash but the same was not to be for Twitter:

The microblogging service Twitter crashed with the sheer volume of people using the service. Searches for topics related to Michael Jackson peaked at 3PM Pacific. Queries about the star soon rocketed to the top of its updates and searches. But the amount of traffic meant it suffered one of its well-known outages. Before the company’s servers crashed, TweetVolume noted that “Michael Jackson” appeared in more than 66,500 Twitter updates.

Thanks to Ettore Bono for the pointer.