Brown Bunny

brownbunny
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

I finally saw it this weekend. This movie is big, no, gigantic, well, not gigantic, but really, really big. And Chloe's such a trooper. She can act even when her mouth is full. Seriously, though, I kinda liked it. Not as much as I thought I would, but it was thought-provoking. Chloe looked great and Vincent Gallo was funny when a rare bit of dialogue would occur. As far as ultra-boring movies go, I prefer Gerry.

If anyone is interested in my continuing correspondence with Mark Kreidler (the sportswriter at the Bee who is pushing the arena agenda), here's the last couple of emails. He never got back to me about recommending something by the Stanford guy for me to read. As I suspected, he was just namedropping to sound smart. And is anyone surprised that not only does he not live downtown, but he lives in Davis, where he doesn't have to pay for the arena or worry about it moving into his neighborhood and ruining it.

Mark,
Thanks for replying. I appreciate it. Could you recommend something
by Roger Noll that I could read? If he publishes academic papers rather
than books, I have access to those through the university, so it would be
great if you could recommend a few. I didn't question whether you live
here, or say that you were stupid, and I don't think the authors of "Field
of Schemes" really questioned the intelligence of journalists. I think
that they were pointing out that these arena struggles follow a
predictable pattern, and one part of that pattern is that the local
mainstream media always champions the cause of a new, publicly financed,
arena. You say you welcome discussion, but what if part of that
discussion is the idea that we don't need a new arena, or that it should
not be publicly financed?
Listen, I love the Kings as much as anyone (well, not Ostertag), but
just because the Maloofs could pick up and leave doesn't mean that it's OK
for owner after owner to blackmail cities into using tax money to line
their pockets. Even if this could generate revenue for the city (and I'd
like to see some proof of that), I'm sure there are other plans that could
generate more revenue.
Sincerely,

Becky: Great question about access to Noll's writing. In addition to books, I've been able to learn quite a bit about his basic tenets through some very good, longer magazine and newspaper pieces in which either he or his hypotheses were the centerpice of the writing. I'll see if I can find a couple of those and send them along.

I understand what you're saying about the public discussion. I have an extremely clear viewpoint on it: I live in Davis; as of now, it's not my tax money being pondered; therefore, you won't hear me tell the city of Sacramento how to spend it. I'm rising lately to write on the arena issues because I've been involved in so many similar situations regarding sports franchises over the years, and I've never seen the level of naivete that is at work in Sacramento right now.

Regardless of how the city's residents ultimately decide they want their tax dollars spent, it's important to at least understand that the Maloofs (or any owner) will take the franchise out of town without a new facility. That's business. I think that truly embracing that reality helps to clarify the issue so that it can be discussed honestly.

best,
mark