The purr-fectly delightful Isabelle Huppert will discuss ELLE at special screening and Q&A at the Museum of the Moving Image on January 4
Who: Isabelle Huppert What:Elle with Isabelle Huppert in person Where:Museum of the Moving Image, 35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria, 718-777-6800 When: Wednesday, January 4, $25, 7:00 Why: French superstar Isabelle Huppert has been garnering worldwide acclaim for her latest film, Elle, directed by Paul Verhoeven, whose previous works include RoboCop, Basic Instinct, Showgirls, and Black Book. On January 4 at 7:00, the sixty-three-year-old Huppert, who has made more than 120 films, from The Lacemaker, Loulou, and Coup de Torchon to La Cérémonie, The Piano Teacher, and Heaven’s Gate, will be at the Museum of the Moving Image for a Q&A and special screening of Elle, a disturbing tour de force showcasing Huppert’s mesmerizing performance as either victim or monster. Feminists and film theorists might fight about this one for years; the rest of us can just marvel at Huppert, unable to take our eyes off her for a second.
Immersive “Pipilotti Rist: Pixel Forest” is most popular exhibition in history of New Museum (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
New Museum of Contemporary Art
235 Bowery at Prince St.
Tuesday through Sunday through January 15/22 (closed January 1-2), $12-$18
212-219-1222 www.newmuseum.org
There’s a very good reason why “Pipilotti Rist: Pixel Forest” has become the most popular exhibit in the history of the New Museum: It’s a splendidly curated, warm and embracing show that invites viewers into a magical world in which nature and humanity are one. The Swiss artist has been trapped under the floor of MoMA PS1’s lobby for decades, her tiny video calling up to passersby from the floorboards in “Selfless in the Bath of Lava,” and she mesmerized MoMA visitors with the Marron Atrium immersive multimedia work “Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)” in 2008, but her first comprehensive U.S. survey is so much bigger, taking up three floors of the downtown institution, each one offering its own charms. Rist doesn’t just design installations; she welcomes you into delightful environments where you can relax, kick off your shoes, and get lost in a display of pure beauty. “In the generous, lush, expansive, and fecund universe created by Pipilotti Rist, we are all but small, organic specks in a massive, corporeal cosmos — ever-connected, always reproducing, endlessly social and intriguing as we move through space and time, colliding with other molecular debris,” Juliana Engberg writes in her catalog essay “A Bee Flew in the Window. . . .”
Pipilotti Rist’s “4th Floor to Mildness” offers a relaxing multimedia journey at the New Museum (photo by Maris Hutchinson / EPW Studio)
Curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Margot Norton, and Helga Christoffersen, “Pipilotti Rist: Pixel Forest” begins with “Open My Glade (Flatten),” a single-channel video of dreamy colors and Rist pressing up against the New Museum’s front window, as if in a kind of fishbowl that cannot contain her. In the lobby, “Nichts (Nothing)” is a mechanical contraption that emits large soap bubbles filled with smoke, floating through the air until popping on the floor, what Rist calls “peace bombs.” On the second floor, a long, narrow corridor contains several of Rist’s early single-channel videos, set up so only one person can watch each one at a time, as if a personal peepshow, comprising cutting-edge experimental works that play with technology while redefining female identity, including “I’m Not the Girl Who Misses Much,” “(Absolutions) Pipilotti’s Mistakes,” and “You Called Me Jacky,” while “Sexy Sad I” follows a nude man in the woods and “When My Mother’s Brother Was Born It Smelled Like Wild Pear Blossoms in Front of the Brown-burnt Sill” shows a live birth. Those private viewings serve as an introduction to the larger works experienced by groups. In the two-channel “Ever Is Over All,” on the left side a woman marches down a street, gleefully smashing in car windows with a flower stick, being followed by a female police officer, while on the right the camera scans a field of the same flowers. (Yes, Beyoncé took a page from Rist in her “Lemonade” video.) The two-channel cater-corner “Sip My Ocean” is a kaleidoscopic underwater journey set to Rist and Anders Guggisberg singing Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.” Nearby, “The Patience” can be seen on a boulder. “Administrating Eternity” forms pathways of moving mirrors and curtains. And in “Suburb Brain,” a miniature model of a suburban home, with life going on inside, sits in front of a two-channel installation, one side projected onto a wall of whitewashed everyday objects.
Pipilotti Rist’s “Open My Glade (Flatten)” can be seen at the New Museum and in Times Square (photo by Maris Hutchinson / EPW Studio)
On the third floor, visitors make their way through “Pixel Forest,” three thousand hanging LED lights that change color with the music and images surrounding them, each light representing one pixel, to get to “Worry Will Vanish Horizon,” where viewers relax on cushiony duvets while watching a two-channel video of natural surroundings, hands, eyes, and more. “Mercy Garden” also offers respite, while “Massachusetts Chandelier” is a light covered in underpants. As you venture to the fourth floor, be sure not to step on another iteration of “Selfless in the Bath of Lava,” which resides on the floor of the landing, now showing Rist trapped in a cell phone. The fourth floor consists of “Your Space Time Capsule,” a room in a wooden transport crate, and “4th Floor to Mildness,” a large area that offers visitors single and double beds where they get comfortable while watching two videos projected onto amorphous screens on the ceiling as mirrors reflect the light onto the viewer, resulting in a dreamlike trip into mysterious worlds. It’s a rapturous show that confirms Rist’s description of her art as the “glorification of the wonder of evolution,” as she takes visitors on a psychedelic journey into the body and the mind, into life above and below the sea, merging the natural world and technology, sound and image, into private and shared experiences that are especially hypnotic in these dark times. On January 7 at 10:00 am, the museum will host the workshop “First Saturdays for Families: Crafting Eternity”; on January 12 at 3:30, curator and writer Laura McLean-Ferris will give an Outside the Box gallery talk; and on January 19 at 7:00, there will be a conversation between Rist and New Museum artistic director Gioni. The full exhibition continues through January 15, with the second and third floors open until January 22; in addition, Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment will feature a new version of “Open My Glade (Flatten)” every night in January at 11:57 across multiple billboards.
Iago (Daniel Craig) makes his case to Othello (David Oyelowo) in gripping NYTW production (photo by Chad Batka)
New York Theatre Workshop
79 East Fourth St. between Second & Third Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through January 18, $129
Thursday, January 12 benefit, $1,500 – $2,500 www.nytw.org
“Were I the Moor I would not be Iago. In following him, I follow but myself. Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,” Iago (Daniel Craig) says in the first scene of William Shakespeare’s Othello. “I am not what I am.” What he is is a villain, one of the most devious in the Bard’s canon, and in Sam Gold’s captivating, intense production at New York Theatre Workshop, the audience is also Iago’s judge. Set designer Andrew Lieberman has transformed NYTW into a plywood-encased military barracks where the audience sits on benches on three sides of the action, the main sections holding rows of twelve people, like courtroom juries. The soliloquies are delivered as if closing statements in a trial, the characters trying to convince the audience of their innocence — or guilt. Reminiscent of Nicholas Hytner’s 2013 National Theatre production set in a contemporary military base (among other locations), NYTW’s version is sparer, the long, narrow stage area featuring mattresses and lights on the floor. Iago, ensign to military hero and Moor Othello (David Oyelowo), is determined to exact revenge on Othello for an unproved slight by sabotaging his marriage to Desdemona (Rachel Brosnahan), the daughter of Venetian senator Brabantio (Glenn Fitzgerald). With the help of his naïve friend Roderigo (Matthew Maher), Iago concocts a plan to drive Othello mad with jealousy, trying to convince him that Desdemona is in love with Michael Cassio (Finn Wittrock), Othello’s dedicated captain. “Thou art sure of me. I have told thee often, and I retell thee again and again, I hate the Moor,” Iago says to Roderigo. “My cause is hearted; thine hath no less reason. If thou canst cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport,” he adds, explaining how he will get even with Othello, believing that the Moor might have bedded his wife, Emilia (Marsha Stephanie Blake). After Roderigo exits, Iago states his case to the audience-jury: “And it is thought abroad that ’twixt my sheets ’has done my office. I know not if ’t be true, but I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety. He holds me well. The better shall my purpose work on him.” As Othello falls for the ruse, tragedy awaits.
New York Theatre Workshop is transformed into military barracks in Sam Gold’s OTHELLO (photo by Chad Batka)
Royal Shakespeare Company veteran Oyelowo (Volpone, Prometheus Bound) and Craig (A Steady Rain, Casino Royale) make a formidable duo as Othello and Iago, roles previously played by such pairs as Paul Robeson and José Ferrer, Richard Burton and John Neville (alternating parts), Laurence Olivier and Frank Finlay, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor, and Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh. Craig is tough and determined as Iago, dead-set on succeeding in his evil goal, while Oyelowo combines an engaging ardor with a heartbreaking vulnerability. Emmy nominee Brosnahan (The Big Knife, House of Cards) plays Desdemona with a strong independence, Blake (Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Hurt Village) brings depth to Emilia, and Wittrock (Death of a Salesman, American Horror Story) is firm and solid as the loyal Cassio. Through much of the play, other soldiers (Blake DeLong, Anthony Michael Lopez, Kyle Vincent Terry, Slate Holmgren) roam the stage, carrying machine guns, as if violence can explode at any moment, always on the verge of war, keeping things tense as well as frighteningly contemporary, given the state of the world today. Tony winner Gold (Fun Home, The Flick) keeps the racial aspect of Othello simmering just below the surface, ever-present but not overwhelming, casting a black Othello and Emilia and a white Iago and Desdemona among the multiracial cast. (Surprisingly, for most of the twentieth century, Othello was played by white men in major productions, sometimes in blackface.) Gold occasionally breaks the tension with drinking songs led by DeLong on guitar, the characters declaring at one point, “We are, we are, we are, we are the Engineers. / We can, we can, we can demolish forty beers. / Drink up, drink up, drink up and come along with us / ’Cause we don’t give a damn about any old man who don’t give a damn about us.” They’re odd but necessary sidebars in this powerful and intimate three-hour show that grabs you and never lets you go.
Chantal Akerman creates a unique profile of her mother in deeply personal NO HOME MOVIE
NO HOME MOVIE (Chantal Akerman, 2015)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Sunday, January 1, 2:00
December 30 – January 8
718-777-6800 www.movingimage.us icarusfilms.com
Chantal Akerman’s No Home Movie was meant to be a kind of public eulogy for her beloved mother, Natalia (Nelly) Akerman, who died in 2014 at the age of eighty-six, shortly after Chantal had completed shooting forty hours of material with her. But it also ended up becoming, in its own way, a public eulogy for the highly influential Belgian auteur herself, as she died on October 5, 2015, at the age of sixty-five, only a few months after the film screened to widespread acclaim at several festivals (except at Locarno, where it was actually booed). Her death was reportedly a suicide, following a deep depression brought on by the loss of her mother. No Home Movie primarily consists of static shots inside Nelly’s Brussels apartment as she goes about her usual business, reading, eating, preparing to go for a walk, and taking naps. Akerman sets down either a handheld camera or a smartphone and lets her mother walk in and out of the frame; Akerman very rarely moves the camera or follows her mother around, instead keeping it near doorways and windows. She’s simply capturing the natural rhythms and pace of an old woman’s life. Occasionally the two sit down together in the kitchen and eat while discussing family history and gossip, Judaism, WWII, and the Nazis. (The elder Akerman was a Holocaust survivor who spent time in Auschwitz.) They also Skype each other as Chantal travels to film festivals and other places. “I want to show there is no distance in the world,” she tells her mother, who Skypes back, “You always have such ideas! Don’t you, sweetheart.” In another exchange, the daughter says, “You think I’m good for nothing!” to which the mother replies, “Not at all! You know all sorts of things others don’t know.”
Shots of a tree fluttering in the Israeli wind enhance the peaceful calm of NO HOME MOVIE
Later they are joined by Chantal’s sister, Sylviane, as well as Nelly’s home aide. The film features long sections with no dialogue and nobody in the frame; Akerman opens the movie with a four-minute shot of a lone tree with green leaves fluttering in the wind in the foreground, the vast, empty landscape of Israel in the background, where occasionally a barely visible car turns off a far-away road. Akerman returns to Israel several times during the film, sometimes shooting out of a moving car; these sections serve as interludes about the passage of time as well as referencing her family’s Jewish past. At one point, Akerman makes potatoes for her mother that they eat in the kitchen, a direct reference to a scene in Akerman’s feminist classic, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai due Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Knowing about what happened to both mother and daughter postfilming casts a shadow over the documentary, especially when Chantal tells her mother, “I’m in a very, very good mood. . . . Let’s enjoy it; it’s not that common.” As the film nears its conclusion, there is almost total darkness, echoing the end of life. Through it all, Akerman is proud of her mother; reminiscing about kindergarten, she remembers, “And to everybody, I would say, this is my mother.” No Home Movie achieves that very same declaration, now for all the world to see and hear. No Home Movie is screening January 1 at 2:00 in the Museum of the Moving Image eclectic 2016 wrap-up “Curators’ Choice,” which runs December 30 through January 8, consisting of ten films chosen by chief curator David Schwartz and associate film curator Eric Hynes that might have slipped past your radar, including Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, Vitaly Mansky’s Under the Sun, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster, Anna Rose Holmer’s The Fits, followed by a Q&A with Holmer, Ezra Edelman’s 467-minute O.J.: Made in America, followed by a Q&A with Edelman and producer Caroline Waterlow, and Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson, followed by a Q&A with Johnson and editor Nels Bangerter.
Who: Janeane Garofalo, Subhah Agarwal, Kerry Coddett, Martin Urbano, Jenn Welch, Emily Winter, Petey DeAbreu, Josh Gondelman, Jo Firestone, Brett Davis, Langston Kerman, Mike Recine, Rob Haze, Maria Wojciechowski, Carmen Lagala, Laurie Kilmartin, Dave Hill, Jordan Temple, Rae Sanni, Chris Calogero What:What a Joke Comedy Fest Where:The Stand, 239 Third Ave.; the Annoyance Theatre, 367 Bedford Ave., Rough Trade, 64 North Ninth St. When: January 19, the Stand, $40, 8:00; January 20, the Annoyance Theatre, $15, 8:00; January 21, $20, 8:30 Why: During inaugural weekend, comedians in more than two dozen cities around the country as well as in Oxford, England, will be participating in a national comedy festival that will be filled with some very serious laughs. The three-day event, held in response to president-elect Donald Trump’s continued threats on human rights, is a benefit for the American Civil Liberties Union, which was founded in 1920 to, among other goals, “work to change policy as well as hearts and minds.” Here in New York City, the three-day What a Joke Comedy Fest begins on January 19 at the Stand, with Janeane Garofalo, Subhah Agarwal, Kerry Coddett, Martin Urbano, Petey DeAbreu, and event producers Jenn Welch and Emily Winter. On January 20 at the Annoyance Theater, Welch and Winter will be joined by Josh Gondelman, Jo Firestone, Brett Davis, Langston Kerman, Mike Recine, Rob Haze, Maria Wojciechowski, and Carmen Lagala. And on January 21 at Rough Trade, Welch and Winter’s guests will be Laurie Kilmartin, Dave Hill, Jordan Temple, and Rae Sanni, with host Chris Calogero. As ACLU founder Roger Baldwin stated, “So long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we’ll be called a democracy.” And that’s no laughing matter.
Jesse Byrne is sent flying protecting brother Tanner from Muddy Smile in Las Vegas (photo by Andy Watson / courtesy PBR/Bull Stock Media).
PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDERS MONSTER ENERGY BUCK OFF AT THE GARDEN
Madison Square Garden
31st – 33rd Sts. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
January 6-8, $26-$208 ($506 for PBR Elite Seats) www.pbr.com www.thegarden.com
In her introduction to the 1931 book Family Fun: Games and Good Times for Children and Parents, Mabel Travis Wood wrote, “The family that plays together stays together.” The Byrnes have taken that to a whole new level, a kind of Flying Wallendas except trying to maintain their balance on bulls instead of the high wire (although, as the above photo shows, they do occasionally soar through the air). In 2004, bullfighting champion Ryan Byrne was inducted into the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame after a long and distinguished career. His wife, Kelley, is a barrel racer who has written a children’s book about bullfighting. They have raised three athletic sons, Bo, Tanner, and Jesse, who have been involved in rodeo since they were kids; together they run the annual Byrne Brothers Bull Riding and Bull Fighting School in their hometown of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Tanner, a bull rider who has to endure eight seconds atop two-ton bucking bulls, and Jesse, a bullfighter who protects riders from danger when they fall off the bull or dismount after a successful ride, will be in New York City January 6-8 for the PBR Monster Energy Buck Off at the Garden, as professional bull riding — “the toughest eight seconds in sports” — takes over the World’s Most Famous Arena for the eleventh consecutive year. As they prepared for this major event that kicks off the 2017 season, Tanner, twenty-four and married to Meghan, and Jesse, thirty and married to Canadian barrel racer Lauren, reflected on their family, their sport, New York City, and their harrowing run-in with Chocolate Thunder in April 2014.
twi-ny: You both grew up with a father who was a champion bullfighter and a mother who was a barrel racer, and you would all regularly go to the Calgary Stampede. Did you always want to get involved in bull riding?
Tanner Byrne: Yes, I was born into the rodeo and bull riding lifestyle. Tried all sorts of sports and was good at most everything I did, including lacrosse, baseball, basketball. I also played hockey until I was fifteen years old but decided to stick with bull riding. I knew from day one I wanted to be a world champion and follow my one true passion.
Jesse Byrne: Rodeo and bull riding have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I had always wanted to be a cowboy growing up; I loved riding horses, roping, and ranching. As I got older, I tried riding bulls, which didn’t seem to go well with my personality, which is code for, “It scared me!” Once I tried bullfighting, I knew right away what I wanted to make a career of.
twi-ny: As children, which one of your was more protective of the other, whether playing sports or tussling with other kids? Did you fight with each other a lot, and if so, who would usually win?
TB: I’d say as the older one Jesse was more protective of me and always has had my back, looking out for me whenever I was in trouble. If he thought I was doing something too young to do, he always let me know. As for fighting, I have a much bigger reach and height advantage on him now. I think I’d fare OK. But I’ve seen him take some solid hits in the arena and wouldn’t want to fight him, that’s for sure. We are lucky enough to be three brothers who are all best friends. As we got older, we grew closer together as buddies and brothers. We all have a really good relationship, unlike lots of brother combos I know.
JB: Growing up, I was always pretty protective of others, I guess. I’ve never been the biggest person. But what I lacked in size I made up for with heart. If someone was trying to attack, it wasn’t going to go unchallenged as far as I was concerned. Being a far bit older than Tanner, we never really fought amongst each other as typical brothers would, which I’m thankful for, as it didn’t take him long to have the reach advantage over me. One thing I know for sure, if you mess with one of us, you are going to have to deal with us both.
twi-ny: In April 2014, you were both involved in a dangerous encounter with Chocolate Thunder, with Jesse ultimately jumping on Tanner to shield him from the rampaging bull. At the time, are you both just operating on pure adrenaline, or were you well aware of each other, knowing it was brother and brother fighting off the bull together?
TB: At the time of that incident I was unconscious. I didn’t know what was going down, to tell you the truth. After a couple days and seeing the video replay, I was very appreciative of those guys and knew my brother, Shorty [Gorham], and Frank [Newsom] did everything in their power to get that bull off me like they do for all the riders, day in and day out. I know Jesse treats all of us riders like his brothers, and when any of us goes down he really takes it personally. So I’m sure it was more traumatizing for him to see me down. I was out of it so don’t have much recollection.
JB: Being out there to protect the best bull riders in the world comes with a huge responsibility and a lot of pressure. When you then add family to the mix, it definitely creates a unique situation. However, the difference in my mind when it comes to Tanner lies more in his success than safety. I get nervous and excited about the outcome, just being closer to him than any of the other riders and seeing firsthand what he puts into the sport. No matter who comes out of the chute, it’s my job to do absolutely whatever I can to get them out of there as safe as possible. It all comes down to reaction; there’s really no time to think in those moments.
Tanner and Jesse Byrne take a break before the Resort Invitational in Thackerville, Oklahoma (photo courtesy Jared Allen’s Pro Bull Team)
twi-ny: Do you have favorite bulls?
TB: Yes, I do. I like the bulls that I can get the best scores on and the bulls I’ve won the most money on! Some stand out due to riding them at special events. There’s a bull called Compact who I rode at my first event in the championship round that ultimately got me on the PBR Built Ford Tough Series tour, and the rest is history. I also rode that bull again at the World Finals in Las Vegas that led to a top-three finish and lots of money. So my favorites are ones I have a personal history with.
I was recently in contact with Compact’s owner, trying to buy him once his bucking career is over to retire him on my ranch. He’ll live out his days in luxury. He was good to me; I want to be good to him. As a bull owner myself, I’m part of a group, Flying Four Bucking Bulls, raising our own bucking bulls. I’m really fond of growing our young bulls from calves, seeing them grow up and develop as buckers, and go on in their bucking careers.
JB: I’m a huge bull riding fan, and getting to see it up close week in and week out I have the utmost respect for the bulls. They are amazing athletes with a crazy amount of power and agility. It’s always exciting to watch the elite, and when you see the likes of bulls such as Air Time, Long John, and Bruiser, to name a few, you just never know what to expect. But it will definitely be something you remember.
twi-ny: What is the worst injury you’ve suffered from a bull?
TB: Lots of bumps and bruises and broken bones but, “knock on wood,” I’ve been fairly lucky compared to others injury-wise. My knees and wrist give me lots of trouble with torn ligaments that are common with bull riding. It’s nerve-wracking coming back after an injury, but I let my training and my work ethic give me the confidence to know I’ve got what it takes to ride at this level.
JB: Obviously the danger factor is quite high with bullfighting. Like everyone else in the sport, I’ve had injuries to deal with. A few minor surgeries and definitely some broken bones but nothing major in comparison to others. I think the hardest part about injury is not knowing how much your body can take and having to wait to come back to get your answer. It’s not something you can simulate before stepping off into live action.
twi-ny: Tanner, you previously mentioned also playing lacrosse, baseball, and basketball. What other sports did you play as children, along with Bo?
TB: Any sport or athletic event we could do we did. Our parents helped us in all sports and aspects of life. We never were forced into bull riding, probably more pushed to other things like hockey. But we all loved bull riding and rodeo, and with a dad who is a superstar, you grow up wanting to do what your hero did. Like having a dad who played in the NHL or NFL, you’re never forced to do the same, but it’s what you know from day one and all we ever wanted to be. I played a lot of hockey and was a good prospect. Played until I was fifteen and quit when my bull riding and hockey collided. I ultimately had to choose between the two. Josh Manson, one of my best friends and teammates since we were little kids, went on and is now playing in the NHL for the Anaheim Ducks.
JB: Since I grew up in Canada, hockey was a big part of my childhood as well. Rodeo in the summer, hockey in the winter. I also enjoyed playing baseball. However, its season overlapped with rodeo, so it was one or the other, and, well, I’m sure you can guess which one I chose. These days I’m still a fan of both hockey and baseball, and I enjoy getting out for the odd round of golf.
Jesse and Tanner battle Compact during the championship round in Phoenix (photo by Andy Watson / courtesy PBR/Bull Stock Media)
twi-ny: During your off-week from the Built Ford Tough Series each May, you both take part in the Byrne Brothers Bull Riding and Bull Fighting School. What kind of programs are at the school? Is it open to everyone, or do you need some experience?
TB: Yes, we are proud to give back and help everyone we can with the knowledge and work ethic it took for us to get to this top level coming out of Canada and doing well in our fields of riding and fighting. We teach the basics and mindset and try to share everything we know and have in our power to help everyone from advanced riders to rookies to first-timers thinking it would be fun to get on a bull. It’s a fun-filled weekend, and we’re proud to see our students pursuing their careers and succeeding in this sport.
JB: We accept students of all experience levels. If it’s your first time, we provide an introduction to the sport in the safest way possible, teaching the proper basics from day one. If you are experienced and trying to take your skills to the next level, we will work on fine-tuning your approach and eliminating bad habits. Not to forget the mental aspect, which everyone of all skill levels must continuously work on. It’s fun to be able to contribute to the future of our sport and share the passion.
twi-ny: When you’re not involved with bull riding and bullfighting, which seems to be almost constantly, what other things do you like to do?
TB: I love to be home in Canada with my family. We have cattle and bucking bulls, so that always keeps us busy. We love horseback riding and roping. Between events, when my wife and baby daughter, Layla, are able to come with me, we tour around and are tourists everywhere we go. They’re my biggest support, and I owe the world to them. I’m involved in some real estate ventures and different businesses, setting up for life after bull riding, so when I’m not riding I’m always staying busy with one thing or another.
JB: For the last twelve years, bull riding has consumed the majority of my time, if not at an event, traveling to get to the next one. The weeks get pretty short, but I’m thankful to be able to go home for even just a day or two and reconnect with family. Give the senses a break from all the action, let the body recover, and enjoy the calm before it’s back to action.
twi-ny: You’ll be in New York City January 6-8 for the Monster Energy Buck Off. Are the crowds at the Garden different from those at other venues?
TB: I can’t wait! There’s nothing bigger than Madison Square Garden. The crowds are great; they don’t see it often, so they usually get loud and wild. There’s always people we don’t see at other events in New York.
JB: New York is without a doubt one of my favorite events of the year. I get excited just thinking about being able to start our season in one of the most legendary buildings in the world. The passion and energy the fans of NYC bring is contagious.
twi-ny: Do you have time to take in any of the city, and if so, what are some of your favorite things to do here?
TB: I’ve seen lots of popular tourist spots, but the ones that stand out would be the 9/11 Memorial, Times Square, the Empire State Building, and Wall Street. And obviously there’s a lot of shopping when my wife comes with me. I love New York; the atmosphere of it is like nothing else I’ve seen.
JB: I typically find myself arriving a day earlier than a usual event or even departing a day later after it’s over just to take in all the city has to offer. Whether it be Broadway for a musical, touring the shopping districts, or spoiling myself at one of my favorite steakhouses, you can bet you won’t catch me spending much time in my hotel room.
twi-ny: Finally, Tanner, last year I interviewed Cooper Davis, and he went on to win the PBR championship. How do you like your chances for MSG and the season?
TB: I’m planning on the same fate as Cooper! I’ve stepped up my training regimen with my team, Jared Allen’s Pro Bull Team, which is owned by NFL superstar Jared Allen. And I’ve dedicated myself to winning a world championship this year. I believe I have a really good shot in MSG this year and as the winner this year in the PBR as a whole. I’m looking forward to the 2017 season.
Who:The Poetry Project What:Forty-third Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Benefit Reading Where: The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 East Tenth St., 212-674-0910 When: Sunday, January 1, $20 in advance, $25 at the door, 3:00 pm – 2:00 am Why: More than 150 writers, musicians, actors, dancers, and other artists will take the podium in this annual Poetry Project benefit, this year celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Poetry Project, which “promotes, fosters, and inspires the reading and writing of contemporary poetry by (a) presenting contemporary poetry to diverse audiences, (b) increasing public recognition, awareness, and appreciation of poetry and other arts, (c) providing a community setting in which poets and artists can exchange ideas and information, and (d) encouraging the participation and development of new poets from a broad range of styles.” This year’s forty-third annual marathon boasts another stellar lineup, including Penny Arcade, Jennifer Bartlett, Anselm Berrigan, Edmund Berrigan, Justin Vivian Bond, Steve Cannon, Yoshiko Chuma, Andrei Codrescu, Grace Dunham, Steve Earle, John Giorno, Nick Hallett, Yvonne Meier, Jonas Mekas, Thurston Moore, Eileen Myles, Yvonne Rainer, Lee Ranaldo, Will Rawls, Bob Rosenthal, Sarah Schulman, Elliott Sharp, Tammy Faye Starlight, ynne Tillman, Edwin Torres, Rachel Trachtenburg, Martha Wilson, Anne Waldman and Fast Speaking Music, CAConrad, and Church of Betty, among many others.
Chantal Akerman’s No Home Movie was meant to be a kind of public eulogy for her beloved mother, Natalia (Nelly) Akerman, who died in 2014 at the age of eighty-six, shortly after Chantal had completed shooting forty hours of material with her. But it also ended up becoming, in its own way, a public eulogy for the highly influential Belgian auteur herself, as she died on October 5, 2015, at the age of sixty-five, only a few months after the film screened to widespread acclaim at several festivals (except at Locarno, where it was actually booed). Her death was reportedly a suicide, following a deep depression brought on by the loss of her mother. No Home Movie primarily consists of static shots inside Nelly’s Brussels apartment as she goes about her usual business, reading, eating, preparing to go for a walk, and taking naps. Akerman sets down either a handheld camera or a smartphone and lets her mother walk in and out of the frame; Akerman very rarely moves the camera or follows her mother around, instead keeping it near doorways and windows. She’s simply capturing the natural rhythms and pace of an old woman’s life. Occasionally the two sit down together in the kitchen and eat while discussing family history and gossip, Judaism, WWII, and the Nazis. (The elder Akerman was a Holocaust survivor who spent time in Auschwitz.) They also Skype each other as Chantal travels to film festivals and other places. “I want to show there is no distance in the world,” she tells her mother, who Skypes back, “You always have such ideas! Don’t you, sweetheart.” In another exchange, the daughter says, “You think I’m good for nothing!” to which the mother replies, “Not at all! You know all sorts of things others don’t know.”
