Local media personalities often feel like a part of our families or circle of friends, what with waking-up with them, or spending part of our evening with them, they share news and entertainment with us, we become accustomed to them, even look forward to seeing or hearing from them.
When we read their interesting and/or informative social media posts we can all imagine the sound of their professional voice, maybe even picture their friendly face…well now that’s all you can do if and when you’re looking for your weather updates from arguably the state’s favorite weatherman, because KOB-TV has gone and unceremoniously FIRED meteorologist Jason Stiff.
After more than three years of upstanding work, amassing a substantial fan base all over the state, the veteran WX man is out of a job and likely out of the lives of New Mexicans entirely. Due to a 12 month non-compete clause in the broadcaster’s contract, if Stiff wants to work in his chosen profession he’ll have to leave the market, i.e, New Mexico for an entire year. Outrageous.
Yes, it happens. We’ve seen television and radio shake-ups before, disgruntled with other drop kicks to our media landscape and oftentimes it’s a damn shame. True, these career setbacks don’t take away from the talent of those who garner our admiration and respect, and their stars do and will go on to shine. But if you, like we are mad as hell and want to let your voice be heard, please exercise your right to free speech and contact KOB-TV general manager Mike Burgess at mburgess@kob.com or call the station at 505-243-4411.
(AP) NEW YORK – After years of hope, stalled efforts and studio frustration, “Veronica Mars” creator Rob Thomas watched a long-held dream come to fruition in a sudden digital rush.
“There were a few minutes of nothing happening,” he says. “Then in an hour, watching that ticker go was mesmerizing. I had an attention span of, like, four seconds because everything on my computer screen I wanted to look at at the same time. The Twitter feed was going crazy, the emails were going crazy and then watching that Kickstarter total go up.”
Thomas last week launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a movie of his cult TV show, which was canceled after three seasons in 2007. It met its stated goal of raising $2 million in less than 11 hours, meaning it would be greenlit to begin shooting this summer. It’s surpassed $3.7 million with more than two weeks still to go.
The resounding, immediate success of the crowd-funding campaign sent shockwaves through the movie business. Films had found much-needed financial support on Kickstarter before, but “Veronica Mars” is different. It’s a studio project, owned by Warner Bros., which produced the show.
The money given by the fervent fans of “Veronica Mars,” which starred Kristen Bell as a teenage private eye, will go not to a filmmaker operating on his own, but one with the distribution and marketing muscle of a very large corporation _ just one that hadn’t previously been convinced to bankroll a “Veronica Mars” film.
Were donating fans spurring a goliath to action, or its unwitting pawns?
The wide majority of “Veronica Mars” fans couldn’t care less. They will get the movie they craved, as well as the proud feeling of having played an essential role in the show’s resurrection. Maryland fan Matt Clipp typified the eager contributors, writing: “I am MORE than happy to donate $100 to this project. This movie has been a dream of mine ever since the series ended back in 2007. … LET’S GET THIS THING MADE, `VERONICA MARS’ FANS!”
While the emotional side is surely the biggest motivation for most donors, they’re also paying for tangible goods. Rewards range from an emailed copy of the script ($10 contributions), all the way up to a speaking part in the film as a waiter who says, “Your check, sir,” (a single $10,000 donation). All money is refunded if for any reason the film doesn’t get made.
“Most of the people who are pledging are getting in at the $35 and $50 range where they’re getting a download of the movie, a T-shirt, a copy of the script at $35, and all of that plus the DVD and the making-of documentary at the $50 price point,” says Thomas. “So I don’t think anyone’s being taken advantage of. I feel like the rewards are worth it.”
Typically in film financing, any investor has the chance to earn his money back and potentially share in the profits. Slate claimed the “Veronica Mars” project sets a “terrible precedent.”
Joss Whedon, whose devoted fanboy following is similar, if larger, than Thomas’, said that he reacted in “unfettered joy” at the “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter campaign. But Whedon, who realizes he’ll now be hounded to follow suit with another movie of his canceled cult TV series “Firefly,” acknowledged some trepidation about the financial arrangement for fans.
“I understand that it feels not as pure, and that the presence of a studio makes it disingenuous somehow,” Whedon told BuzzFeed. “But people clearly understood what was happening and just wanted to see more of the thing they love. To give them that opportunity doesn’t feel wrong. If it was a truly wrong move, I don’t think it would have worked.”
Thomas says he’s been in daily contact with Warner Bros., which approved the plan in advance. The studio hasn’t sought to flaunt its involvement. Executives for its digital wing, which is planning a limited theatrical release followed by video-on-demand early next year, declined to comment.
Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler, too, declined to comment when asked through a spokesman about whether corporate involvement compromises Kickstarter’s mission. Kickstarter takes a 5 percent fee from money raised for successful projects.
Since being founded in 2009, Kickstarter has raised more than $500 million for some 35,000 creative projects. The “Veronica Mars” film is far and away its most lucrative movie project.
Earlier this year, the documentary short film “Inocente” became the first Kickstarter-backed Oscar-winner, having raised about $52,000 on the platform. Kickstarter has drawn several big Hollywood names, including David Fincher (a producer of an animated project that raised more than $440,000) and Charlie Kaufman (whose short animated film “Anomalisa” brought in $406,000).
Some have derided Kickstarter’s growing influence (Gawker lamented its “online panhandling”), but few would argue it’s been a positive force for getting dozens of films made in an industry landscape that can be brutal for independent filmmakers.
Thomas admits some of the talk of the “revolutionary” impact of the “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter campaign has been “an overreach,” but he hopes it leads to more low-budget films finding their way in the world.
“I don’t know that I would bet that a Kickstarter model starts to work across the board and that everyone who wants to make a $3, 4, 5 million movie can expect to go to Kickstarter and get financed,” he said. “When there is a brand name product that people have responded to and want to see and there’s already a built in following for it, people can be very successful. I hope that in that respect we are pioneers and we see more of them.”
Many are already seeing new potential to capitalize on small but dedicated fan support. (On the CW, “Veronica Mars” averaged less than 2.5 million viewers.) Shawn Ryan, whose FX drama “Terriers” was canceled in 2010 after one season, tweeted that he was “very interested” in the “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter campaign. “Could be a model for a `Terriers’ wrap up film,” he said.
Thomas also co-created another canceled show _ the Starz cult comedy “Party Down” _ that may be reborn as a film. He’s still hopeful that will happen, but says funding is already lining up more traditionally.
In the meantime, he’s hoping the Kickstarter contributions keep coming. More money means being able to shoot in Southern California (where the show was set) and gradual boosts in production value. The screenplay, of which he has 37 pages written, features a 10-year high school reunion for Mars’ Neptune High _ a gathering that will include inevitable strife.
“In the barebones version, angry words would have been exchanged,” says Thomas. “We’re now starting to look comfortable enough to say there will be a brawl.”
It already promises to be a different kind of filmmaking experience. He’ll have 100-plus Kickstarter contributors to use as extras. A documentary on the making of the movie has begun tracking Thomas with cameras. And the production schedule has been built to include two days purely for Thomas, Bell and others to sign the thousands of movie posters and other items they’ve promised their Kickstarter backers.
Rumors are swirling about who will step in to replace Jude Law in the upcoming Natalie Portman western “Jane Got a Gun”…but has anyone thought that it may be TWO of the a fore mentioned studs instead of just one????
L’est we forget that there’s more than just one vacancy left after the upheaval resulting from a certain director’s direct exit from the film…as we alluded to here, prior to that directorial mess, a genuine scheduling conflict caused a leading man void in the Portman produced pelicula.
IF anyone has ever taken a word of my advice on what a riveting film NM’s Own 2009 “Brothers” was, they’ll know that both Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal are a natural fit to work with Portman, and as for Jeff Bridges…well, CRAZY HEART!!!! Need I say more? If so, how ’bout a little film called “True Grit”, starring the naturally dreamy and perfectly aged Jeff Bridges!
Finally I’d be remiss if I didn’t disclose that Bridges’ co-star in Grit, none other than THE Matt Damon of the long ago NM Film, “All the Pretty Horses” is, as of this writing, a scheduling clear contender…
Of course it will be no surprise if none of the above make it to set, as is the world of movie making…maybe one of the locals can take a stab at one or two of the vacant roles on this pic.
Meanwhile, word on the wire is that another long lived leading man is recently signed on for a yet to be announced NM western, namely one Kurt Russell who is said to be on board with “Bone Tomahawk”, led by Timothy Olyphant (Justified) and Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter).
Keep your ears to the grindstone my friends, New Mexico’s Summer shoot schedule is set to be a bumpy ride!
UPDATE 3/4/13: The confirmation hearing continues TODAY.
HUNDREDS of New Mexico educators testified for hours on Saturday, at the Senate Rules Confirmation Hearing of gubernatorial appointed Hanna Skandera. Can you take a moment to weigh-in?
Senator Linda M. Lopez – (D) linda.lopez@nmlegis.gov
Senator Daniel A. Ivey-Soto – (D) daniel.ivey-soto@nmlegis.gov
Senator Jacob R. Candelaria – (D) jacob.candelaria@nmlegis.gov
Senator Stuart Ingle – (R) stuart.ingle@nmlegis.gov
Senator Mark Moores – (R) mark.moores@nmlegis.gov
Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino – (D) jortizyp@msn.com
Senator Cliff R. Pirtle – (R) cliff.pirtle@nmlegis.gov
Senator Clemente Sanchez – (D) clemente.sanchez@nmlegis.gov
Senator Michael S. Sanchez – (D) Capitol Phone: (505) 986-4727
Senator Sander Rue – (R) sanderrue@comcast.net
Click here for full contact information and individual representative websites.
UPDATE 3/2/13: the AP reports:
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – School workers made a show of opposition against Public Education Secretary designate Hanna Skandera as lawmakers consider whether to confirm her appointment by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.
But a vote was delayed until sometime next week.
The Senate Rules Committee heard more public testimony on Saturday about Skandera, who’s been in charge of the Public Education Department since Martinez took office in 2011.
Skandera drew opposition from educational unions at Friday’s hearing, and teachers turned out in large numbers Saturday.
Opponents say Skandera doesn’t meet a constitutional requirement for an education secretary to be a “qualified, experienced educator.”
Skandera’s defenders, including some business leaders, say she has broad experience in educational policy although she’s never worked as a public school teacher.
The Senate last rejected a cabinet secretary in 1997, when Republican Gov. Gary Johnson was in office.
The hearing was moved to the Senate gallery to accommodate crowds for the public comment portion. As as a result, the full Senate floor meeting was cancelled.
New Mexico Education Secretary, Hanna Skandera was nominated by Governor Susana Martinez, sans confirmations from the senate, two years ago.
Today the Washington Post has released a scathing story about the secretary’s less than savory dealings with an organization headed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, wherein Bush emails point to “working” with multiple state officials in re-writing education laws to “benefit some of its corporate funders.”
In response, the Democratic Party of New Mexico says, “Susana’s Secretary-designee Skandera is caught in the scandal — students suffer when education goes to the highest bidder.”
Here, in part is what the Post has uncovered:
• FEE provides its donors — including for-profit digital education companies — access to the chiefs. A draft agenda for the Excellence in Action 2011 Summit blocked off two hours for “Chiefs for Change donor meetings.” Another draft agenda for the meeting allocated nearly three hours to “Chiefs for Change donor meetings.” The donors for the summit were the Walton Family Foundation, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the Carnegie Corp., Susan and Bill Oberndorf, GlobalScholar, Target, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Microsoft, State Farm, IQity, McGraw-Hill Education, Doris and Donald Fisher Fund, Intel, Pearson Foundation, Apex Learning, ETS, Electronic Arts, Koret Foundation, SMART Technologies, K12, Morgridge Family Foundation, Charter Schools USA and Connections Academy. Demand for donor time was so high that Patricia Levesque wrote that she had to turn down opportunities for the chiefs to meet other representatives from companies.
[Martinez appointee Skandera] Unconfirmed but still on the job – El Paso Times
Superintendents criticize NM education chief – El Paso Times
• FEE staff served as advisers to acting education commissioner Hanna Skandera. FEE, and, by extension, its donors, had great influence over New Mexico legislation. In a Jan., 2011, e-mail, Skandera directs a staffer from the legislature to forward all education bills to FEE’s Christy Hovanetz for edits: “Can you send all Governor’s office ed bill language to Christy, including social promotion?” Another FEE staffer, Mary Laura Bragg, wrote to Skandera, “I’m at your beck and call.”
• The foundation sought to make connections between Skandera (as well as the other Chiefs for Change) and the Hume Foundation for funds for digital learning projects from Hume that “must flow through the Foundation for Excellence in Education as a project-restricted grant.” The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Oct. 21 that Skandera had indeed applied for such a grant, which ultimately could lead to digital learning legislation favorable to FEE funders Connections Academy and K-12 Inc.
• The e-mails indicate that FEE paid for Skandera’s travel, reimbursing New Mexico $3382.91 for her expenses, including trip to Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress.
Is there a wager somewhere within the sitting administration, or a race between gov. agencies on how fast New Mexico dollars can be sent out of state?
Unfortunately, as we’ve already told you here, here, and here…Indigenous services from Film Production to Web Design and all those creative links inbetween continue to receive the proverbial SMACK DOWN from government agencies sending New Mexico Monies anywhere but here!
This time, your tax dollars are being outsourced to the far Northeast all the way to the land of the Cunucks, for the production of state anti-smoking ads. Fed-up filmmakers say:
“They’re at it Again…Much to our exasperation the State is again spending money on out of state production companies.
I don’t get it, wasn’t a front page story in the ABQ Journal enough to get them to spend our money locally? There is an anti-smoking commercial for the Depart of Health being shot this weekend with a minimal crew because they “can’t afford” to hire people on their budget. Really? They can afford to use a NY/Canadian production company. There is no reason why this money is not being spent locally.
We’re perfectly capable of doing our own spots. What’s it going to take before the Martinez administration stops shipping our money out of state?
-BA480″
To quote myself just a few moments ago when a fellow New Mexican sent over the news that a whopping $180,000 New Mexico Tax dollar payment has been APPROVED to go out of state, “ARE YOU FK’N KIDDING ME!?!”
From the state department who brought you a whites/light skinned casting call for a New Mexico commercial shoot, helmed by a Texas firm, produced by a California company for a $2M NM price tag comes the latest development to further New Mexico Tourism.
KRQE reports that the state Tourism department is again citing their own arbitrary ratings system to award our tax dollars elsewhere – this time to Missouri, the “show me state”.
“The department paid $180,000 to a Missouri-based company, MMGY, to redesign its decade-old website.”
Perhaps the underlying goal of this administration’s Tourism Department is to send as much New Mexico money out of state, employing hundreds of people anywhere but here…to encourage them to visit?
May 9, 2012
By Robert Redford
Actor, Director, Producer
The Albuquerque Journal published a prominently placed editorial on May 1 that was based on a recent story written by a reporter who, in fairness, requested an interview, on a short deadline, which I was unable to meet as I was out of the country. This editorial portrayed me as an unethical Hollywood interloper who, by inference, had made great personal gain from taxpayer money.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s time to set the record straight.
In February 2008, the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs announced that it was purchasing the Los Luceros property. I was not even in the picture. Over some years prior, we had put time into requests from the Richardson administration on how our Sundance programs were conceived and run. That was the extent of it.
A year after the purchase the state requested that we explore whether or not there may be a collaborative model involving the property, which would result in providing programming with a focus on Native American and Hispanic populations in preparing them for careers in film and other aspects of the entertainment industry, which had been growing fast in New Mexico. It seemed a worthy goal, so we began meetings with the state.
Out of these meetings came a Memo of Understanding between Redford Enterprises, Cultural Affairs and the New Mexico Film Office. In May 2009, Gov. Richardson announced the collaboration.
The intent of this relationship was to create and expand training programs in film, arts and the environment at Los Luceros. This, he said, would enable Cultural Affairs to fulfill its dual mission of protecting the state’s cultural heritage, while supplying educational programs to benefit the people of New Mexico.
We began providing and collaborating on programs immediately, with most taking place at Los Luceros — writing and audition workshops, actors labs, directing, cinematography, production and economic development workshops. The highly regarded Sundance Native Program continued its labs and workshops, in New Mexico.
All of this education, job training and career building have been provided free, at no cost to any of the New Mexican participants.
These programs, agreed to in the MOU signed in February 2010, were the operating framework for the state-funded master plan and federally funded architectural designs, building renovations and new construction. The MOU provided for us a priority reservation use of Los Luceros via the Department of Cultural Affairs, and participation in a job-training program funded by the New Mexico Department of Economic Development and the New Mexico Film Office.
In late 2010, as state budget cuts appeared necessary, we were asked to amend the MOU in order to reduce the state financial commitment. We readily agreed. The use of state training dollars was dropped from the revised MOU that we, and the state, signed in December 2010.
This revised MOU became an issue when Gov. Susana Martinez took office. Mind you, it’s the MOU that drops a state funding requirement. We remained in limbo on many aspects of the relationship, and yet, we continued to provide programs at Los Luceros and at other locations.
As of today, Cultural Affairs hasn’t unequivocally said the department will honor either MOU. We were asked to obtain liability insurance, which was in process when they closed Los Luceros.
We continue offering programs in other locations and are exploring alternatives should collaborating with the state prove too political or impossible. I have a long history with the state of New Mexico and I love it here. I try to make a contribution as both a taxpayer and a citizen and will continue down that path with or without the blessing or cooperation of Martinez and her administration.
Since nobody wants to hear me whine about this anymore, we’ll let a true professional break it down. Click here for this week’s News/Opinion from the Weekly Alibi, written by Gene Grant.
Don’t cry, kids decorate pics like this all the time…the software comes on their “baby iPads”.
As we’ve been covering for you since the original RFP was released back in August 2011, the then recently appointed face of the New Mexico Tourism Department was poised to launch a new brand of New Mexico to the world…One that perhaps would eventually lend locals the luxury of not having to explain that New Mexico is in fact a part of the continental United States, to everyone from Washington State to Timbuktu.
New Mexico may perhaps be best known as an extra terrestrial landing strip or that dusty land which one passes through en route to another destination, but brand new leadership handpicked and handsomely paid is now at the helm to “rebrand” New Mexico, USA. The rally cry chosen by our new leader in branding, State Tourism Director, Monique Jacobson, to entice the world over to make New Mexico their destination of choice: “Adventure steeped in culture.” Okay. First question, whose culture?
Next, putting the reins of representing New Mexico to the world in the hands of a Texas Co. were enough to ruffle more than just a few local feathers. When Job Creation is touted as being a top priority of the sitting administration, sending a $2M job to a neighboring, tourist destination competitor state was perplexing at best, especially taking into account the plethora of skilled ad agencies all over the home front who no doubt KNOW New Mexico.
Regularly citing a seemingly “gold standard” of criteria, that the Tourism Department herself/itself either devised or adopted, the Texas firm won out over the many locally based firms who applied, even over the few NM firms which allegedly made it into the “final round” of “scoring” despite their in-state “preferential” allowances. Vendor Inc. ultimately won the dough, and apparently unabashed contract, creative and casting control.
Herein lies either the genius or the critical downfall of a campaign that has yet to air, New Mexico is already making news; First in the few rumblings about the Texas award, then almost under the radar the contracting started to go out. Initially with the multi-state (CA, NV, TX, NM) staffed casting outfit based out of Santa Monica, CA, which sent out the campaign devised casting call…(Back to that in a hot minute).
First round of FREE ADVERTISING begins here, where in a state which had worked, and risen to world-renowned ranks as tops in film production the mighty Vendor picked California filmmakers to jet in and out of the state with their own crew to film a weather ravaged four day shoot. The story of “irked” local filmmakers and production houses went from viral to news worthy, then broadcast all around the country painting New Mexico as a state set to advertise themselves without much faith in themselves.
To today and into mañana’a news, as dictated by the aforementioned ad campaign casting specifications, we shall only be represented by the “light-skinned” and fit among us. By these standards not even the woman who is our top elected official need apply to appear in this first round of advertisements requesting that the world take a look at New Mexico as an “Adventure steeped in culture.”
Where New Mexico is already hurting in some circles as appearing steeped in gas & oil interests and enriching corporate culture (see SB9 tax veto here), we’re now a step further to the right to most, elitist/racist or just plain out of touch at best. Because unlike a feature or indie film casting call which may rely on scripted requirements for certain characters – this is destined to be a multi-million-dollar motion picture representation of our great state, broadcast to the world.
All excellent moves if subscribing to the old adage that “any press is good press”, or aiming to flagrantly fly insensitivity in the face of the majority of your product/state’s population, or if politically angling to shine a spotlight on our state leader’s already dubbed war on immigration – good show.
Click here for the adults cast as Caucasian or “light-skinned” Hispanics in the ad, as released by the contracted casting director.
This just in: Expect NM Tourism select, Vendor Inc. to be without comment on this debacle just as they seemed to be in this 2011 Super Bowl bust.
Special thanks to our media “partners” and certain “whispers in the wind” in covering these developments…
UPDATE: Vendor Inc. has issued the following statement to Gabriel Escobar of The Dallas News:
“The focus of our shoot was on showcasing to the country the many amazing experiences and adventures one can have in New Mexico. The casting call you referenced was for the role of “tourists” who could be coming from any number of states. This is the first of many spots which will feature the wide range of people who are drawn to New Mexico.”
-Tom Hollerbach, Managing Director and COO, Vendor Inc.
So, as the statement(s) would suggest, we’ve got it all wrong. The cast are not New Mexicans, they are tourists. Caucasian or “light-skinned” Hispanic tourists.
Perhaps they were actually making special concession in allowing local “lights” to be considered to portray the desirable white market…
UPDATE 03/28/12:The Santa Fe New Mexican has picked-up on our story about the very fiscally secure Mr. & Mrs. Jacobson.
While the average annual household income in NM is $43,000, the Governor Martinez Administration appointed Jacobson household weighs in at a hefty $204,000.
Nice work if you can get it. Especially for two young people whose combined work experience equals just over 12 years…most especially convenient for Mr. Jacobson who, according to his Linkedin resume hadn’t worked in five years prior to landing the original, “highly complex” political appointment last July.
Welcome to your government funded high-life of civil servitude.
For the love of Government Transparency…
According to the Albuquerque Journal, the spouse of Governor Susana Martinez’s Cabinet Secretary, Monique Jacobson had procured a temporary government job in the middle of 2011.
It seems that Cabinet Secretary Jacobson’s husband’s glass slipper has turned to brass (a brass ring that is), as he has landed the position of Director of Finance Policy in the New Mexico Department of Finance & Administration.
Though not yet listed on the department website directory of the board, the Office of the Governor’s 2012 Financial Disclosure documents and The Sunshine Portal NM both show a hire date of December 2011 for Andrew Jacobson, just about the time Mr. Jacobson’s plum “Temp Job” was to wrap-up.
For the full article click through here, where you’ll come to find the following gems:
“His wife’s Cabinet position didn’t and shouldn’t have any bearing on his being hired,” said Finance and Administration Secretary Tom Clifford.
“Andrew was the only qualified applicant for a highly complex position and thus the only person interviewed,” he said. “He agreed to take the job knowing it didn’t include benefits and that it would expire by the end of the year.”
The budget division that employs Jacobson is tasked with preparing the governor’s annual budget recommendation to the Legislature. Specifically, Jacobson’s job duties include analyzing state projects and other components of the $5.6 billion budget, Clifford said.
Between dueling chopper shots* of a mysterious and remote set, to our own ABC** affiliate broadcasting their interview with the New Mexico extras casting director for The Lone Ranger (record scratch…aka “Silver Bullet” – worst kept secret in town btw and there’s a lot of ‘em) Disney’s The Lone Ranger continues kicking-up dust in the New Mexico desert like no other production before it has.
You may recall this whole extravaganza kicked-off when this was the shoot that almost never was, but director, producer and stars alike dug in their boot heels and made it happen. Salary cuts and budget wrangling aside The Lone Ranger will likely continue to spur controversy right up until its DVD/Blu-ray™ release.
The film has already landed on apocalyptic predictions lists as possibly being “the last movie you’ll ever see“, as its first estimated premiere date aligns with the Mayan calendar’s forecast of the end of the world.
So while Marvel’s** entire crew of mighty Avengers were able to sweep in and out of town with ~less ruckus than TLR has had thus far, don’t count the masked man, his loyal sidekick or New Mexico out of the controversial headlines for the duration of filming.
Why, even our little space here on the web has been hit with a trickling trail of fury when this blogger chose to publish these pics sent in to us of some rather generic western props – leading to some healthy industry banter?
“Shame on you for posting this! Is your purpose to support the NM film industry and the local New Mexican’s [sic] it employees [sic] or are you one of the weak links in the chain that will cause what remains of the NM film industry to most certainly disappear?” – fb comment
“It must be pictures like these that drove them away from Hollywood….”
- Industry Journalist
Wielding this kind of power delusion to stir-up such controversy, perhaps this blogger can now lead the charge in the next round of TLR Escándalo:
One of the most hotly contested debates from the word “Yo” on this project was the casting of the still smoldering Johnny Depp as Tonto.
While this touch of Chinese, Mexican girl with smatterings of alleged Native American and Irish descent can appreciate the demand to cast true to race, the bigger picture on this big picture is clear, and that is that hundreds of many races now have a chance at work on this sure to be blockbuster New Mexico production (unlike this lost production – but I’m the one running film out of NM).
BUT MOREOVER – The smoking (pun intended) hot Armie Hammer, who’s cast as The Lone Ranger himself, IS NOT FROM TEXAS!
The LONE RANGER was written as a Texas cowboy qué no? Boy is from L.A. Escándaloso up!
Rest assured state treasure, Steven Michael Quezada is safe and sound and not in need of emergency rescue from the streets of Madrid. OHI and likely hundreds of Quezada’s associates received the following email message from the actor’s email address this a.m.:
from Stevenmichael quezada
date Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 1:09 AM
subject Holiday Trip!!!
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com
hide details 1:09 AM (6 hours ago)
Just hoping this email reaches you…Well,i’m sorry for this emergency and for not informing you about my urgent trip to Madrid,Spain but I just have to let you know my present predicament. Everything was fine until I was attacked on my way back to the hotel, I wasn’t hurt but I lost my money, bank cards, mobile phone and my bag in the course of this attack….I immediately contacted my bank in order to block my cards and also made a report at the nearest police station. I’ve been to the embassy and they are helping me with my documentation so i can fly out but I’m urgently in need of some help from you to pay up my hotel bills and my flight ticket back home…My return flight back home is scheduled to leave in few hours from now…Now am freaked out….Please i need your help..
Hope to read from you soon.
Thanks and Regards.
Steven Michael Quezada
Actor/Comedian/Writer/Producer/Director
A quick check of the most trusted site for news and information on the web, Facebook (second only to Wikipedia), verifies that the overtly suspicious email was a fake, as confirmed by Quezada who wrote, “I am not in Spain and everything fine.”
Say it ain’t so JoeJim James! In the name of dashed sports dreams everywhere, the good sportsmanship of Albuquerque’s favorite band is being put to the test.
Last month, beloved Albuquerque band The James Douglas Show was asked to perform at Jim McMahon’s Swang N’ Super Bowl Charity Bash 2012 on February 2nd in Indianapolis, the home of the Super Bowl. This high-profile celebrity event is a charity concert benefiting The Lynda McMahon Ferguson Literacy Foundation and Hope for the Warriors.
The JDS is honored to be invited. Check them out here on the list of headliners…
HOWEVER last week, their travel sponsor backed out – now band, bus and gear are all sidelined and they need our help!
A word from The Jame Douglas Show:
“…we do not have the funds necessary to make it to this show…and it is a BIG show. Most of the other performers on this bill have support from record labels to pay their expenses…that is not the case for The JDS. Most (if not ALL) of our travel expenses have come out of our own pocket from performances we do. However, traveling to and from Indianapolis would cost FAR more than what this organization can afford on its own…especially since we just returned from a two-week run of Nevada and California [dates].”
ALBUQUERQUE, NM – YOUR 6 Time Grammy Nominees, The James Douglas Show who have stepped up to the plate so many times right here in NM, performing countless free shows, donating their time to charity, playing backup for anyone who asks, always willing to lend their help to anyone in the business, who constantly hit the road and the airwaves making a good name for New Mexico all over the country will be performing LIVE TOMORROW night!!!
The James Douglas “Road to the Super Bowl Fund Raising” Show
Hooligans Nightclub 9800 Montgomery NE
SE CORNER EUBANK AND MONTGOMERY
7:00 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.
Just $10
Come out and have a good time with us, and with your helpful generosity, we just might be able to make this happen.
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As we told you here back in August, the NM Governess appointed State Tourism Secretary, Monique Jacobson had put out the call for marketing proposals to help re-brand the state in the collective side-eyes of the nation nay, the world.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported a New Mexico State Tourism Department study finds that much of the nation sees New Mexico as “Arid.” “Barren.” “Dull”, and on the ~upside “Close to Arizona”? At least that perception places NM in the continental United States, right?
Ms. Jacobson, tells TWJ that she’s confident she can leverage her limited resources to build “a strong, iconic brand.” Not included in the article is the recent development that those “limited resources” of $2.5M has been awarded by the New Mexico State Tourism Department to a TEXAS firm.
Despite submissions by no less than six New Mexico firms for the job, our bottom barrel, 36th ranked national tourism standings (formerly run by a Los Angeles, CA firm), and state tourism marketing dollars are headed out of state.
UPDATE 2/3/12: Independent Source PAC Video explains Dirty Downs Dealings
UPDATE 1/13/12: KRQE reports that Laguna Development company has filed a formal protest regarding the process in which the state contract to operate the racetrack at the Albuquerque State Fair Grounds. After what many have called a possible “sweetheart deal”, heavily influenced by acts of the Governor, the contract was swiftly awarded to the Downs. Laguna is citing multiple issues with the hasty procedure and practices therein, further claiming that the State Fair Grounds Committee may currently be in violation of the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act. Full story here.
I’m always up for reviewing our Governor’s stance on NM Film and where her actions lie otherwise.
Fortunately I’m not the only one keeping one eye on the Gov. Democracy for New Mexico headlined Saturday with, “US Attorney Alerts FBI to Martinez Expo Deal”.
The must see post outlines how a bid-rigging complaint filed by political action group, Independent Source PAC has been forwarded to the FBI by US Attorney Kenneth Gonzales.
Democracy for NM implores readers to take action saying: Today’s news is big news, and we need you to help spread the word, New Mexicans won’t stand for “pay-to-play” deals and back-room gambles with our money!
As my beloved Michael K. would say…here is your “Hot Slut” of the day…
And by hot I mean water, because chicky is in all kinds of hot water. And by slut I mean, ho please!
Irina Kristy has gone and attempted to go all “Walter White” in Mass. #Fail.
BOSTON (CBS) – A 74-year-old professor who has lectured at Boston schools for two decades has been charged with running a methamphetamine lab.
Irina Kristy, who teaches math at Boston University and Suffolk University, will be arraigned next month for allegedly running a meth lab out of her Somerville home.
Kristy’s son Grigory pleaded not guilty to the same charges last month.
Kristy has been placed on administrative leave at Suffolk.
BU officials, meanwhile, said they are aware of the charges.
