Banksy's art ratified, despite what the papers say......

There seems to be an awful lot of media misrepresentation surrounding Banksy's big rat up in Liverpool. The Capital of Culture has pledged to preserve the 30-foot rodent which adorns the White Hart pub, and has erected some hoardings around it while it does a little renovation.

Liverpool City Council has promoted such art as a way of cleaning up what it calls city 'grot spots'. And as you can see from the photo, they've been carefully painting the building around Mr Rat. This has had various publications stirring up trouble by quoting the council as saying the rat himself is a 'grot spot' that's due to be cleaned up and painted over.

Either way it's good to see Banksy causing some controversy once more. Gone are the days when he skulked unseen around Hackney and created graffiti that made people question the nature of art. Nowadays he's widely acclaimed as an incredible artist with his works selling for £250,000 or more to the likes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

However, Favourite Rat of The Year Award does not go to one of Banksy's many fabulous creations. Paws down the winner is:

Remy from Pixar's Ratatouille.
If you haven't seen the film yet it should really be the very next thing you do! Besides the fact that it is actually a very good film that's been nominated for 5 Oscars, the protagonist is a fluffy little rat living in Paris with a love of fine food. What's not to love? It had me from the opening credits.

Ah, there's something so refreshing about characterisation in animation. Because you're watching talking animals, it's easier to lose your cynicism and be charmed. The same cannot be said for my feelings about the protagonist in Sean Penn's film 'Into the Wild'.

Actor/Director Sean Penn seemed to me so overindulgent with his lead, Emile Hirsh, and clearly assumed a high degree of de facto audience sympathy because the film was based on a true story with a sad ending. Personally I was overjoyed at the film's ending because I couldn't believe I 'd sat through the whole thing and survived.

I wonder if I've just dashed all my chances at the big-game in Hollywood, now I've gone and said that. The almost pedigree positivity of the reviews for Into the Wild would indicate that Penn is Power in LA LA Land. Or that my taste in movies sucks.