Muskegon? Mayhem?

I was reading the USC Hoops message board today and ran across something that sort of made me do a double-take. I had seen the other day that Desmon Farmer signed with the Pacers but today noticed a followup post saying that he was also the number one pick in the CBA draft. I clicked through to that article and had my "what?" moment when I saw:

The Mayhem then flew Farmer to Muskegon on a private jet, which arrived at the Muskegon County Airport at 7:15 p.m., just in time to make it for the draft party's start at 7:30.

Muskegon? Pro basketball? Wha?????

I really hope Des makes it with the Pacers, but the idea of Des playing in Muskegon is pretty crazy. I would definitely chase down some games when I make my annual trip back to Muskegon around Christmas-time.

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someone needs an economics lesson

Walked up out of the subway tonight and into setup for a movie shoot (no big surprise there, this is downtown). Outdoor shot set up to be the exterior of a hotel with maybe a cafe, outdoor seating, etc. Other props included a valet station (complete with keys inside the box) and a newsstand. Walking by the newsstand, here are the two magazines at my eyelevel in what would be a prime selling position: Computer Shopper and Scientific American. I wanted to stop and ask questions. Who thought that was realistic? Who picked these things? I mean, I know you're not trying to portray a real downtown LA, but I've got to believe that's real nowhere.

Crazy movie people.

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To Do: Read more Don DeLillo

One of the readings I had to do today on the train down here was a selection from Don DeLillo's short story "Human Moments in World War III." I've mentioned DeLillo before when I read White Noise. Again I was struck by how much I liked his writing, and how I need to check out more of it.

So, uh, yeah... I need to do that.

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long beach

I rode the train down to Long Beach today (I'll write more about that later). I'm down here for ION GNSS 2004. Don't worry, I don't know what it stands for either; I'm here for work. I've got a little time to kill before on-site registration reopens, so I'm currently sitting at Hooters enjoying Long Beach's downtown wireless zone. I have to write a paragraph on cinema depictions on Utopia to get in to a classmate for a group presentation we're doing tomorrow. Fun fun fun.

My philli cheese steak beckons me to get off the internet.

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Downtown: Arts, Asthetics, Culture, & Education

I went to my second neighborhood council type meeting tonight, this time the Arts, Asthetics, Culture, & Education Committee. I'm not a member of the committee, but I figured that if I'm going to be Area Wide Resident Artist I might as well see what I can do for the arts. A lot of it was what you'd expect of any meeting: motions, procedures, etc. There's always going to be a lot of beaurocratic nonsense associated with any sort of meeting of this size and scope. Neighborhood Council meetings have to follow Robert's Rules, which pretty much assures having to grind through a lot of procedure. At the same time, though, you can quickly see why you have to follow some concrete set of rules. Without it things would just degrade into a mess.

So what was talked about? Arts stuff. A big part of what the AACE is concerned with right now is the business aspect of downtown arts. As the downtown housing boom is occuring there is inevitably upward pressure on commercial rents. Artists aren't really in a position to survive spiralling costs. What groups like AACE can do is work with artists to educate them about the business side of things like negotiating leases, while at the same time working with property owners to identify those interested in bringing arts into the neighborhood and connecting them with tenants.

Next step for me is to start taking advantage of events like the downtown art walk to get out and meet gallery owners and start seeing what's around here.

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