Web Worth Watching: Bronco Roads

Sometimes you find cool videos because you're looking in the right place online, and sometimes you find cool videos because you meet cool people. This is a case of the latter. Check out this episode from a new series being created by Stacy Dean Campbell in Carlsbad, NM.



And while on the theme of the west, as I was trolling Hulu the other day I ran across the 1995 Imax film entitled The Great American West. In terms of information, it's no PBS doc, but it is a pretty beautiful piece of filmmaking.

The Great American West (1995)


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New on KNME.org (July 28): Artisode 1.1 - Grant Hayunga

New on KNME.org this week, KNME filmmaker, Kelly Kowalski, gives us this profile of Santa Fe artist and musician Grant Hayunga. It's the first in her occasional series of "Artisodes." Coming soon, the New Land Art Movement, but for now...meet and enjoy Grant!



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“The Last Conquistador – A NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS Special”

Spanish Conquistador Don Juan de Oñate is one of the most controversial figures in the history of the Southwest, and is also the subject of a controversial and colossal statue that now calls El Paso home.

That statue, and the emotions it evokes, is the subject of a new national PBS documentary, P.O.V. “The Last Conquistador” airing on Thursday, July 31, at 8:00 – 9:00 pm.

KNME looks at a community's controversy over a Hispanic heritage monument depicting a man known to have murdered and enslaved Native Americans. After screening the program, N.M. IN FOCUS held a panel discussion, which included one of the filmmakers, exploring different sides of the issue, and took questions from the studio audience (including the statue’s creator - artist John Houser), moderated by Gene Grant. Does the controversy divide solely along racial lines? Are old wounds just too deep, or are new wounds being inflicted? Can some kind of healing take place and can there be reconciliation? Tune in and decide for your self.

“The Last Conquistador – A NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS Special” airs THREE times: Friday night, July 25, at 7:00 p.m.; Sunday July 27 at 6:30 am, and again Thursday, July 31 at 9:00 p.m.

Want to See the Whole Thing? --- Due to the length of the post-screening response taped at the KNME Studios (which ran over 1 ½ hours!!), KNME has included an edited version in the broadcast program. However, if you'd like to see the complete version, including all of the taped questions, answers and comments, in their entirety, please go to:
http://www.knme.org/newmexicoinfocus/blogger/2008/07/episode-204-last-conquistador.html

NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS - This week

This week's show is highly charged, to say the least. It focuses on one of the most controversial figures in the history of the Southwest: Don Juan de Oñate. Also known as "The Last Conquistador", Oñate is also the subject of a new documentary, airing here on KNME on Thursday, July 31 from 8-9pm.

The film focuses on a statue of Oñate that was erected last year in the city of El Paso, Texas. That statue is also one of the largest equestrian statues in the world, but for many people it is nothing more than a symbol of racism and oppression. That is especially true for the people of Acoma, a culture that was nearly erradicated by Oñate centuries ago.

The movie is a fascinating look at a difficult topic. It raises issues not only of race and history but also the role of public art in our society. We tried very hard to use the movie to start up a dialogue on many of these topics. And, we hope in some small way we have succeeded. In case you can't watch Friday night, the episode of NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS will re-air immediately after the film on July 31st, from 9-10pm.

For more information, check out our NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS webpage. We also have a lot of extras for you there, including an in-depth interview with one of the films producers, and over 90 minutes of videotaped discussion about the film, recorded after a recent screening of the movie here in our studios.

As always, thanks for watching!

Kevin McDonald
Public Affairs Producer

Web Worth Watching: Of Crows & Ravens

I was recently watching this video lecture about crows and was amazed to learn how into learning they really are. Check out the following talk given by Josh Klein, inventor of a crow vending machine...





Thinking about crows got to thinking about ravens (both are species of corvidae), which (as any person who was goth in their youth would) made me think of Edgar Allen Poe. Check out this short performance of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" by Vincent Price. Looks like it was shot on the old set on which Price shot the intros to Mystery! back in the 1980s. Whether it was or not I don't know but it's a nice bit of PBS retro...





Then if you're feeling really brave check out this live version of "The Raven" performed by the Alan Parsons Project, taken from their tribute album to Poe. The video is poor but the audio is good, if you like mid-70s prog-rock.

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New On KNME.org (July 21): Locomotion - How Does the Railrunner Run?

New to KNME.org this week, filmmaker Lillian Kelly files this brief on the "how" behind New Mexico's new commuter rail syster, the Railrunner. Watch it below, or check it out on our homepage.



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Chad Davis
Director of Content

John McCain Town Hall - Watch it here!!

We will have much more on Senator McCain's visit here to Albuquerque on this Friday night's show, but for those of you who couldn't make Tuesday's event, here's the video:

Part 1

Webcast by Ustream.TV

Part 2

Free Videos by Ustream.TV

Here are a couple of pictures from the event as well.



Tune in Friday night at 7pm for much more with Gene Grant, David Alire Garcia, and the rest of the gang here at NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS!

Kevin McDonald
Public Affairs Producer

Web Worth Watching: Posh Nosh

After last week's climate change post I thought we'd skew a little more fun this week. I was trolling YouTube the other day and as it turns out episodes of one of my favorite BBC series are just hanging out there (until the BBC figures it out and has them taken down). It's a faux cooking show entitled Posh Nosh, starring Richard E. Grant and Arabella Weir. We aired it for a while on KNME but you can view all but episode 2 (couldn't find that one) here...for now...

...oh, the video is slightly better than the thumbnails suggest...

Episode 1: Fish & Chips



Episode 3: Paella



Episode 4: Beautiful Food



Episode 5: Bread and Butter Pudding



Episode 6: Leftovers



Episode 7: Sauces



Episode 8: Comfort Food

New on KNME.org (July 14): The Train to Lamy

Check out our latest web-only video for a fun, family-friendly afternoon activity if you're traveling in/around Santa Fe. Filed by independent filmmaker Deborah Wakshull, this short piece tells you a little about the history of the railroad in Santa Fe and Lamy, and introduces you to a man whose passion for trains will keep him in the engineer's seat until they unbolt it out from under him.



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Chad Davis
Director of Content

Web Worth Watching: Climate Change

Welcome to a new blog series on KNME.org where we bring you some of the videos and sites that we're watching and visiting. It's true that the web is filled with a lot questionable video content. The goal of this series is to highlight videos that are thought provoking, insightful or just plain cool.

For the first installment, we're looking at climate change. I'm typing this in the Corrales Flying Star (giving a shout out both for the Mediterranean Nosh - try it with avocados - and for the free Wi-Fi) and watching a storm roll in from over the Sandias. There's been a lot of talk of the monsoons arriving early (or at least on time) this year. That inevitably leads to some discussion of our climate change. Most everyone knows Al Gore popularized the issues, but not many know he's been working on a sequel PowerPoint deck and presentation. He gave a conference in Cali a taste of it a couple months back. Give it a watch...





Of course Gore isn't the only one talking about climate change. New Mexico's Senator, Jeff Bingaman, gave a lecture at MIT on April 25 about this issue. It's definitely more of a wonkish presentation of the issue. You can watch that lecture here. (Note, you'll need Real Player...yes, it's still around...to see it.)

Please give us feedback on this blog series and if you find videos you think we should see, send me links at cdavis@knme.org.

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Chad Davis
Director of Content

New On KNME.org (July 7): Chaco Canyon

New to KNME.org this week. Freelance filmmaker Lillian Kelly spent her summer solstice out at Chaco Canyon, and filed this short film with us about the experience.


Summer Solstice at Chaco Canyon



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Chad Davis
Director of Content

This Week on New Mexico In Focus

An Independence Day Special: Patriotism, and the effects of coming home from war.

Explore Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, with someone who's been there: Sgt. Andrew Brandi, who has written a book called "The Warrior's Guide to Insanity: Traumatic Stress and Life."

Then, Gene Grant and The Line panelists take on what patriotism means to them, and we have a special interview with ABC News Anchor John Stossel.

Explore more here!