New on KNME.org (September 29): Artisode 1.3 - Rose Bean Simpson

New this week on KNME.org, the third installment in our Artisode series. This month, KNME filmmaker Kelly Kowalski profiles New Mexican artist Rose Bean Simpson.

Artisode 1.3: Rose Bean Simpson

Web Worth Watching: A Different Colbert Report...

Haven't done much artistic on Web Worth Watching but I recently ran across these languid pieces from still photographer/filmmaker Gregory Colbert. Embedded here are a couple of excerpts of his work. Can't decide how I feel about these. Either they are hauntingly beautiful or horribly pretentious. I think it all depends on how jaded you are when you watch them.

Ashes and Snow: Feather to Fire


Flying Elephants Presents (Parts 1 & 2)


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New on KNME.org (September 22): Love in the Land of Enchantment (Part 2)

New on KNME.org this week is part 2 of KNME filmmaker Josh Keenan's "Love in the Land of Enchantment." This episode features the founders of the Flying Star/Satellite eateries.

We're trying to decide whether to do more of these so let us know what you think by posting a comment below.

Love in the Land of Enchantment (Part 2)

Web Worth Watching: "Gimme Green"

When I first got out of college I lived in southern New Jersey, which had a lot of sod farms. Having cut a lot of grass in my teenage years (8 acres...usually once a week...walk-behind mower...I had good calves) I could appreciate the acre upon acre of well manicured grassland. But it did seem a little extravagant to, in essence, adopt a lawn.

Now, living in the parched American southwest I have developed a new appreciation for grass-free living. Here xeriscaping is all the rage. Don't get me wrong, I still do miss the feel (and especially the smell) of a newly mown lawn. But this week's films, all three parts of Isaac Brown and Eric Flagg's film, "Gimme Green," call into question the environmental impact of this national obsession.

Gimme Green (Part 1)



Gimme Green (Part 2)



Gimme Green (Part 3)


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New on KNME.org (September 15): Salt Cedar Invasion

New this week on KNME.org, indie filmmaker Deborah Wakshull explores how the salt cedar is an especially potent invasive species here in the central Rio Grande valley.


Salt Cedar Invasion

New on KNME.org (September 8): The Enchilada Gardener

This week on KNME.org, indie filmmaker Lillian Kelly files this profile of a man in Rio Rancho who has turned his entire back yard into a garden, the product of which he sells weekly at the Corrales Growers Market. It's a nice little story you won't see anywhere else.

The Enchilada Gardener

Why is the McCain/Palin rally not streaming?

Sorry everyone, but we haven't been able to make a reliable internet connection at the convention hall, which means we are unable to stream the rally tonight, Saturday September 6th.

Please check our New Mexico In Focus site on Monday. By then we hope to post the entire video for you to watch whenever and wherever you want (except the convention hall, obviously).

Kevin McDonald
KNME Public Affairs Producer

Why the **** did we interrupt McCain?

That was a question several people called to ask last night. So I wanted to give you the quick dirty answer, because obviously those callers were raising some issues about left-leaning bias on our part.

Before I get into the answer, if what you really care about is seeing what McCain had to say, you can watch the full 55 minute 58 second speech (recorded by C-Span) below....



Now let me start by giving you some background info to last night's interruption. Television broadcasting functions on a complicated system of data that is set up days in advance and executed (usually seemlessly) as the TV programming you watch at home. Our Standard Operating Procedure is to stay with a live event and join the following program in progress. To do that though, that following program (and all the video elements in the break between programs) have to actually still be progressing. We call that a "dead-roll," because no one but the computer sees it.

What happened last night is that the convention ran long, as live events often do. Under the assumption it would end on time last night, we had told the computer earlier in the week to run an ad for Tavis Smiley (and some other promotions) then start a new show at 9p. We did give the computer new instructions to stay with the live feed, but instead the system followed the original instructions and switched the video source away from the convention and over to the Tavis Smiley promotion...turning a dead-roll in to a live program stream. Our Master Control Operator immediately stopped what he was doing and focused on getting the program stream back to McCain's speech. But the damage was already done.

We're working to specifically figure out why the switch happened. We successfully executed four live nights of Democratic convention coverage and the two previous nights of Republic coverage (including, conspiracy theorists, Palin's speech) but something went awry last night...and unfortunately at a critical moment.

Anyone who works with computers will tell you that saying "the computer did it" is lame. Computers do what we humans tell them to do, and we had told it days earlier to run a Tavis Smiley ad at 8:56:46 PM. We're trying to figure out now why newer instructions we gave the computer (i.e. stay with McCain's speech) weren't followed.

I want to apologize to those of you watching who were incensed about the interruption. It's unacceptable and we're working to figure out specifically what happened and how to keep it from happening again.

If you have specific questions or comments please post them below. Or if you would like to voice your opinion personally, feel free to give me a call at 505-277-3296.

Chad Davis
Director of Content

Michelle Obama & John McCain Events On KNME Web - Streaming Live / On-Demand

KNME will be streaming multiple events taking place in the Duke City, in the run up to the November elections. If you can’t attend an event in person , you can always watch these events after-the-fact, on-demand, as they will stream on KNME’s New Mexico In Focus website.

These are events that KNME itself will be taping, and not simply the candidates' press feeds.

Thursday 9/4 - 4:00 p.m.
Michelle Obama
Voter-Registration Rally
UNM - Student Union Building

Saturday 9/6 - 6:00 pm
John McCain, Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin
Road to Victory Rally
ABQ Convention Center

For lively discussions and active debates on the latest issues impacting New Mexico & the Southwest, tune in to NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS broadcast every Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and Sundays at 6:30 a.m., or, again, watch at your own pace at http://www.knme.org/newmexicoinfocus

Happy Voting!

Evy Todd
KNME New Media

Web Worth Watching: Debt & America

According to MSN, the average American household has about $8,000 of credit card debt. While the production values are basic, spend some time with Megan McArdle, author of the blog Asymmetrical Information, as she discusses the historic thread of debt in America and endures The Economist's proposterous set-up of tea. (Come on guys, love the mag, but this tea thing...that's what editing is for.)

Megan McArdle on Debt


Also, Bill Moyers looked at the business of poverty in the August 8 edition of his PBS series. They don't have embed codes up yet but you can watch that clip here.

New on KNME.org (September 1): Artisode 1.2 - Land Art

New this week on KNME.org, KNME filmmaker Kelly Kowalski's second installment in our Artisodes series. This week Kelly focuses on the Land Art movement that began in the 1970s and still has a home here in New Mexico. Take a look and experience a different side of New Mexican art...


Artisode 1.2: Land Art



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