Creativity

Skid row may be known for its devastating poverty and homelessness, but the Festival for All Skid Row Artists will underline a different aspect of the downtown community — its artistic potential. Lots of neighborhood artists (those who live and work there) will participate in visual art, music and spoken word as well as a documentation project meant to preserve the neighborhood's creativity. Gladys Park, 6th Street and Gladys Avenue, L.A. noon-4 p.m. Fri. and Sat. Free. lapovertydept.org.

Top agents at International Creative Management on Wednesday completed the buyout of the agency from longtime Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Berg and private equity firm Rizvi Traverse Management - ending a long-running management drama at one of Hollywood's leading agencies. Staff members of the 400-person firm celebrated with a champagne breakfast. Twenty-nine agents are now partners who will own and control the Century City-based firm, which has been renamed ICM Partners.

"Creativity Must Regain Its Tarnished Credibility," by Dick Turpin (Aug. 4), is an analysis which could well be applicable to a wide range of areas and activities, even though instances in the field of finance are cited, of course. I am particularly impressed with the way in which Mr. Turpin shows how the loss of creativity leads to its downfall, and how its credibility might be regained for the very survival of the affected industry. SHERRY TERZIAN Los Angeles

My Friend Malea Jillian , 9 Magic Pen Kids Laguna Hills Malea's hair is russet brown, the color of fresh potatoes. It falls in curls to her shoulders like Ruffle chips. Her laugh makes me feel silly - like clown pants on a summer day. Two caramel chocolates are her eyes. Her hair is scented with vermillion flowers. She is courage. Blossom on a Spring Afternoon Madison, 11 Meadows Elementary Valencia   When I retire outside on a spring afternoon, I watch that blossom and how it will bloom - pink and yellow, its stem straight.

Dargis misses a crucial point in her slanted and somewhat snobbish article. Whatever "unchecked ego and rampant greed" was present in 1970s filmmaking, a key difference between those films and many productions of the '80s and '90s was that passionate directors created films that were about something. With the passing of the '70s, corporate thinking stepped to the forefront and decisions sprang mostly (and sometimes exclusively) from commerce instead of creativity. Dargis would be hard-pressed to deny that a majority of films today originate from the corporate boardroom instead of the imagination.

I would like to thank Carolyn See for "The View From a Bridge" (Guest Bites Town, July 26). New perspectives are essential to the creative process. Viewing life from one vantage point is monotonous and stifling. As a child, I would lie on my back, on my bed, head hanging backward toward the floor. I'd look up and mentally "walk around" on the ceiling, re-creating my idea of what a room was supposed to look like. I admire Eugene Ahn and others like him who, for the purpose of societal problem-solving or simply refreshing individual awareness, embrace the hitchhiking Voice of Fear on their way up the bridge--to show us what is possible.

Janet Jackson's fast-tempo track "If" blared over speakers as a handful of sweaty dancers moved in unison, their faces focused as they strained their legs to mimic the intricate moves of their instructor. Then the music stopped. "You feeling the flexibility? You feeling the stretching? You want to feel it here," the instructor said, standing in front of a massive mirror, motioning toward her upper thigh -- her leg extended perfectly straight in front of her. Inside the brightly lighted theater that doubles as a studio in the arts district, these dancers are mostly teenagers.

It never ceases to amaze me how music critics and reporters seem to attach such significance to quantity of sales and staggering monetary figures of "artists" while completely overlooking artistic integrity and creativity. A prime example is the 'N Sync worship exhibited in the Calendar section on Dec. 29 ("Encore for 'N Sync," by Geoff Boucher). What about the movers and shakers of 2001 who refused to sell out--artists like Cake, who put out a groundbreaking video ("Short Skirt/Long Jacket")

It seems it's no longer enough for a toy to be fun--now it must be intellectually stimulating. Toy smart.com, the Waltham, Mass.-based online retailer that focuses on educational toys, will emphasize in a $21-million marketing campaign to be unveiled today that toys inspire creative thinking in children.

After 25 years of teaching undergraduates, Douglas A. Bernstein, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, thought he had heard every possible excuse for missed exams and late term papers. Right. So as a lark, Bernstein decided to use his electronic mail network to collect what he now thinks of as a Student Excuse Hall of Fame. Here are some of his favorites. (Feel free to save them for your next mental health day.

If names predict destinies, the venerable UCLA performing arts series anchored at Royce Hall is on the cusp of much bigger things. A new moniker will be unveiled Thursday, Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA. It's a mouthful intended to reflect the broader scope the university plans for the showcase formerly known as UCLA Live. The center (CAP-UCLA for short) aspires to be not just a performance series, but a creative habitat in which new work is developed, ideas are sparked and techniques are taught to the next generation of performers -- with the mission of presenting visiting talent to paying customers still at its core.

Everyone knows Apple is popular in China -- so popular that people riot outside Apple's stores, or set up fake stores, or just crank out fake iPhones. On a recent trip to an electronics bazaar in Shanghai, we spotted a few of the most blatant of these knockoffs. Amusingly, the phones on display didn't look anything like actual iPhones -- instead, the manufacturers concentrated their piracy efforts on attempting to replicate the spelling of the names of popular devices and brands.

Photographer Robert Doisneau is known for Parisian street scenes that reflected his fascination with what he called "the marvels of daily life. " Four of his images - including his famous (if posed) 1950 picture of a kissing couple - graced last weekend's Google doodle, the variation on its home-page logo with which the company celebrates special dates, people and events. The April 14 tribute, which marked what would have been Doisneau's 100th birthday, is one of many doodles devoted to the arts, presented with a style and skill that have made doodling an art in itself.

Generally, post-race celebrations in the Winner's Circle at Santa Anita are fairly sedate, with maybe a dozen or so people posing for a photo with the victorious horse. But that certainly wasn't the case after I'll Have Another edged 9-10 favorite Creative Cause by a nose in Saturday's Santa Anita Derby before a crowd of 33,166 to establish himself as the West Coast's top representative in the Kentucky Derby on May 5. There were hundreds of rowdy people crammed together in the Winner's Circle.

Underneath the stage before February's Super Bowl halftime show, Nicki Minaj felt an emotion she hadn't experienced in quite some time. She was really, really nervous. Over the last three years, the young rapper had become one of the most charismatic and commercially successful stars in pop music, with a gum-snapping flow and acerbic guest rhymes that stole the show from vets such as Mariah Carey, Kanye West and Rihanna. Her pop-inclined solo debut, "Pink Friday," hit No. 1 and launched bestselling singles like the elastic "Super Bass.