"Rock Of Ages"

If you like Eighties Rock-'N-Roll, you'll like this movie. Tom Cruise is awesome!

It's like history repeats itself, first as tragedy ("Showgirls"), then as farce ("Rock of Ages"), with "Burlesque" floating somewhere in-between.

We're Not Going To Take It/ We Built This City

This was actually my favorite number, the confrontation between Catherine Zeta-Jones and Russell Brand:



Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Apart from the stripper-pole routines, the choreography was fairly-basic (which actually describes pretty much the entire decade). Catherine Zeta-Jones and company do well here, though.

Here's My Aerobics Workout From Two Years Ago

I feel pretty hot with this routine, but it's clear the others are hotter.

Julissa Veloz Live LA Pride 2012

Stark Difference

Just 300 feet apart:

El Paso, Texas was the safest city in the U.S. in 2010.

Juarez, Mexico, across the Rio Grande river, has the highest murder rate in the world.

Good Advice

Iran Should Get The Bomb

The U.S. and Iran have far more interests in common than they have dividing them. If Iran gets the Bomb, that will tend to stabilize the region. Ultimately, it would be better if Iran never got the Bomb at all, of course, or got rid of it once it had it, but sometimes the price of stability is high. Once stability is achieved, then people can start working on the problems of religious extremism, poverty, and the other difficulties that make the region a volatile place:

Indeed, gradually and without fanfare, the possibility of a military strike against Iran, which only a few months ago seemed imminent, has lately receded from view. It seems that perhaps the U.S. and Israel came to their senses and realized that an attack on Iran would be disastrous.

...It would use Hezbollah and other proxies to sabotage petrochemical infrastructure in the Gulf, and attack “commercial ships or elements of the U.S. Fifth fleet in the area.” ... The Persian nation would attack Israeli military and civilian population centers with its hundreds of long-range conventional missiles. Hezbollah could launch thousands of rockets from Lebanon, and attacks could be forthcoming from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and even beleaguered Syria. Israeli or Jewish targets around the world would not be immune. ... And all of this, according to the report, is far from a worst-case scenario.

...There is little chance, the report states, that an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities would be 100 percent successful, raising the possibility that Iran would retaliate using its residual arsenal. In addition, “an Israeli strike would likely prompt the Iranian regime to rapidly rebuild its nuclear program,” defeating the purpose of such a strike in the first place. In sum, “an Israeli strike would, at best, have limited effects and, at worst, increase the threat.”

The third outlet advocating a different direction on Iran may be the most important. The forthcoming issue of Foreign Affairs has a cover article by Columbia University’s Kenneth Waltz called “Why Iran Should Get the Bomb.” Published by the Council on Foreign Relations, the most important establishment think tank, Foreign Affairs is the most influential foreign-policy periodical in print.

...Waltz’s case goes like this: It doesn’t matter which type of regime gets nuclear weapons, because it has been proven in all instances that “whoever get nuclear weapons behaves with caution and moderation.” He says that countries from Cultural Revolution-era China to the Soviet Union to Great Britain have become more careful with nuclear weapons, because they feel more secure once they have them. Wars become less likely to occur as more countries gain nuclear weapons, because they have a sufficient deterrent to prospective attackers.

'Jumping The Shark' With Alluring Imagery

Hollywood has long realized that beautiful women carrying heavy armaments works well on the silver screen.

It even works well in real life. I remember back in early college days, when a friend from high school confided that his mother had returned home after a long absence. She had been belly-dancing in Idaho for a number of years, and indeed, her and her family quickly assembled a belly-dancing floor show that I witnessed at an Albuquerque cafe. Afterwards, we all went to a party where people were freely passing around machine guns (parties in the ABQ can be a bit different than in California), and she posed with heavy armaments in her belly dancing costume. Quite compelling!

But people have always got to press for more, more, more! These Japanese folks have completely 'jumped the shark' with the idea.

Obama Puts Romney In A Box

No escape. Romney's got to decide whether angering Hispanics or conservatives is most preferable:

This was a doubly clever move by the Obama administration. Over and above the obvious appeal to a key constituency, the policy here mimics, I assume intentionally, what Republicans claim they want to adopt in a scaled-down version of the DREAM Act. But for Republicans, embracing Obama’s move carries the same risk with their base as rejecting it does with immigrants — the voting bloc they’re most concerned about alienating.

The Tropical Moisture Approaches

The last two iterations of model runs suggest that, as a part of the big northward push of tropical moisture next week, that it’s possible a tropical storm, or at least heavy rains, will form in the vicinity of Florida in about six days, on Thursday of next week.

Currently, the modeling can’t decide what form the challenge will take. The NOGAPS model creates a sloppy-looking tropical storm not far west of Tampa and takes it towards New Orleans. The GFS model decides to take the chaotic remnants of Hurricane Carlotta in southern Mexico, transports them across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and creates a tropical storm in the extreme western Gulf of Mexico, but largely leaves Florida alone. Both alternative futures look equally plausible right now.

So, the tropical moisture is coming north, with some embedded surprises for someone.

[UPDATE: And within the last hour, the NOGAPS model changed its very changeable mind and decided it too likes the tropical storm in the extreme western Gulf of Mexico option (while forming a tropical depression east of Florida, just to keep people from getting too complacent).

But these alternative futures are still very squishy.]

A Nice Obituary For Vince Bezdecheck

Many interests:

Vincent Bezdecheck, an artist and longtime leader in efforts to preserve and revitalize midtown Sacramento, died May 30 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, his family said. He was 63.

Mr. Bezdecheck moved his family in 1987 from the scenic American River canyon near Auburn to a faded Sacramento neighborhood near 21st and H streets troubled by crime and social problems. He spent several years restoring hardwood floors, plaster walls, high ceilings and wood paneling in their 1907 home.

He also banded with neighbors – including homeowners, renters, young families and retirees – in a movement to restore and improve midtown. As co-chairman of the Boulevard Park Neighborhood Association, he led efforts to make the area next to downtown a safe and desirable community for residents.

...A talented artist, Mr. Bezdecheck won a grant from the California Arts Council during the late 1990s to serve as artist-in-residence at local schools. He helped students create murals and taught scenery painting.

He designed and built sets for the Davis Musical Theatre Company and taught stagecraft at the Visual and Performing Arts Center at Sacramento High School. Using giant pieces of cardboard and house paint, he taught students to quickly create sets depicting locations ranging from tropical forests to Victorian interiors.

Sacramento Man Mistaken For Captain Ahab

So close!:

A Natomas man's 12-year sail around the world was sunk about 900 miles from its final port when a whale crushed a hole in his boat off the Mexican coast.

"It has always been a dream of his to circumnavigate the world in a sailboat," said his wife Debra Young. Although her husband, Max Young, didn't quite make it, the experienced sailor came close.

Max Young, 67, was rescued from his sinking sailboat about 40 miles west of La Playa, Mexico, on Wednesday. His 50-foot, single-masted sailboat had been clobbered by a whale, the behemoth destroying the rudder and punching a hole in the vessel.

...Max Young began his around the world trip in May 2000 after retiring from his teaching job the first time. His navigation of the world has taken longer than expected as the Youngs have had to stop sailing to work in order to finance the marathon voyage.

Along the way, Young, sometimes accompanied by his wife, sailed to Hawaii, Tahiti, Western Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Australia.

The boat stayed in Australia for three or four years before a different crew sailed to Malaysia. From there it went for a long stay in Thailand, where the boat was out of the water at the time of the tsunami.

Young then sailed to the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean. He kept the boat in Turkey for a couple of years and in Rome a year.

He eventually sailed across the Atlantic and the boat was kept in South Carolina for the last 2.5 years. This year, the Youngs were trying to get it back to the West Coast.

Tropical Storm Carlotta To Affect Southern Mexico

Over the last two days, the weather forecasts have shifted the storm systems to the west, leading to the development of Tropical Storm Carlotta, which will start the summer monsoon season with a bang by afflicting the southern Mexican coast with non-stop heavy rain for days straight.

Things will get so bad on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec that there is an outside chance of the rarest of all tropical storm phenomena: the successful transition of a tropical storm from one ocean (the Pacific) to another (the Gulf of Mexico). I’ve never seen it happen myself. Probably won’t happen this time either, since of all the thin isthmuses in Central America, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the thickest and most formidable. But still, whatever happens, southern Mexico is going to be a mess.

As the big wheel of the Bermuda High spins around clockwise next week, it is likely to catch up with the Mexican mess, and send a big wave of tropical moisture north, in a broad belt, from Florida to Texas. Whether there will be threats to Tampa and vicinity remains to be determined, but for the moment Mother Nature has chosen to kick the can down the road for that area, and make a miserable mess of southern Mexico instead.

Cool California Precipitation Map

Using The Scare Card Of A Stranger Come Visiting To Finally Get Progress Against Well-Entrenched Hoarding Impulses

M.: Wow, I can't believe it! The Pile is gone! That's the first time your bedroom floor has been free enough to mop in four or five years.

E.: I'm so tired. I put most of the papers in one garbage bag and most of the clothes in another garbage bag (plus some in the washing machine too), and then threw both bags into the closet. But at least I can see the floor again!

M.: Every little bit helps!

E.: Every little bit helps! Now, can I go back to sleep?

"The Music Man" - The Mountain Play 2012

Here are a few pictures. I don't have my program with me, so all I can note at this time is that Harold Hill was played by Robert Moorhead and Marian Paroo by Susan Zelinsky.

"Ya Got Trouble"

"Ya Got Trouble"

"Ya Got Trouble"

"Marian, The Librarian"

"My White Knight"

"Wells Fargo Wagon"

"Wells Fargo Wagon"

"Shipoopi" (which I think was the best dance number of the show)

"Shipoopi"

"Shipoopi"

"Shipoopi"

"Shipoopi"

"Lida Rose"

"Lida Rose" (with the barbershop quartet above and Marian Paroo below)

"Gary, Indiana"

That Charlie Cowell fellow ain't too smart.

The Footbridge scene.

Charlie Cowell returns!

"You gullible green-grass goats!"

Find Harold Hill!

Implementing the 'Think System'

A real-life Marching Band marches in, almost like the cavalry, almost in time to save the day!

Bows for Harold Hill (Robert Moorhead).

Last Season With James Dunn Directing The Mountain Play

Left: Sally Forment talks with James Dunn during intermission at the Sunday June 10, 2012 performance of "The Music Man" at the Mountain Play on Mt. Tamalpais. Sally was one of his drama students in the 1960's.

Left: The Mountain Play listed all 99 annual summer shows that have been hosted in the amphitheater on Mt. Tamalpais since 1913. James Dunn directed thirty of these shows (from 1983 to 2012), but he is stepping down after "The Music Man".

Here is a brief James Dunn profile:

At the time of his first onstage performance in eighth grade, James Dunn had no idea that he would one day become the face of the Marin theater world.

...After teaching high school drama in the East Bay and Menlo Park, Dunn began applying for doctorate programs to further his studies in theater directing. After acceptance at one of his schools of choice, word spread that College of Marin was beginning a theater program and needed to hire a staff to launch it. Dunn was hired and laid the groundwork for the school's drama department. Though he retired from his full-time position in 1994, he remains there on a part-time basis to this day—nearly 48 years later—and continues adding his energy and creative magic to College of Marin productions every spring.

...Through his school-based theater work, Dunn estimates that he has taught around 5,000 students or more, including Oscar-winner—and former College of Marin student—Robin Williams. Williams was cast in a supporting role in Dunn's renowned Western interpretation of The Taming of the Shrew, which received numerous awards for its Edinburgh fringe-fest production in the early '70s.

In addition to his work with College of Marin, Dunn has worked for 30 years as the artistic director for Mill Valley's century-old Mountain Play. During this time, Dunn has worked with a behind-the-scenes crew of up to 100 people on a variety of performances from Shakespeare to Broadway musicals.

..."I will stay in theater until they carry me out," says Dunn. "I won't ever be sitting on a porch in a rocking chair. It's just not my style."

Peace In The Park

Tyehimba just raved about how good this made him feel:

Tyehimba Kokayi relaxes during Sunday's Day of Peace as he has sound healing administered by Kellyann Conway. The booths at the six-hour event in Carmichael Park included those promoting healthy living.

The Weekend - Crazy Liberal Idea

And while computerization has many good side effects, one bad side effect is that it has allowed management to partly take back the weekend, since work now has to be done on the time scale of the machines - 24/7, basically.

Management will never be satisfied. Before you know it, and unless people start objecting, management will take back the rest of the weekend too.

Firefighters Of The Whitewater/Baldy Complex 2012 Fire

The musical taste is as appalling as the pictures are compelling. These two images from the video seemed the most compelling of all:







Interesting fire-caused whirlwind in this video.

Feeling Pessimistic About The Future Of Southwestern Forests

Friend John and myself have been watching these Southwestern forest fires with an increasing sense of dread, worried about the ultimate fate of these arid forests:

John starts the conversation:

New Mexico. New fires every day. Will it become a barren desert in a generation? I wonder... I did read a report from the Gila burn area that there is still vegetation left in some areas. And I hope that some of the ancient trees survived. Actually, I'm a bit tempted to go back next year and see what the fire has wrought. I guess it's kind of like seeing an automobile accident from a distance and rushing over to get a good look.

I reply:

I remember back in Corrales days, in the mid-60’s, when we had a fire near the house, and I was surprised how quickly and with what force the vegetation came back. A lot depends, I think, on how much support the new vegetation gets from rainfall.

I also remember spending 3 months at the USFS Ft. Valley Experimental Station, about 12 miles NW of Flagstaff, AZ, in the winter of 1985-86. There was one well-recognized fire scientist on staff (Dr. Richard Tinus) who pointed out to me a problem with the forest all around us. Apparently, weather conditions were perfect in the spring of 1919 for ponderosa pine seedlings to take root, so clusters of seedlings all took root together. Sixty-six years later, you could tell where every, single pine cone hit the forest floor that spring, because sickly trees, starved of resources and thinner than your wrist, were clustered everywhere at those points. Instead of forming open parklands, the ponderosa pine forests were more like crowded thickets. You could tell this was a bad story that would end up only in one way: a nasty forest fire. No forest management regimen would ever have the resources to do what was necessary, and clear the thickets out before a fire swept through.

I’m not familiar with the Gila, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the Flagstaff problem was widespread enough to include it too. The sickness may have been widespread. If so, then there was only one way for the story to end.

Nevertheless, when an entire forest is burnt, as has happened with last year’s Wallow fire, the 2003 Rodeo-Chideski Fire, and now this grotesquely-large fire, then the entire area is launched on a new trajectory. To retain the forests you need enough of the older trees, so as to form something approaching a canopy. Some of these forests may be Ice Age relicts (it’s hard to believe Kit Carson spent his days in the Gila taking out so much beaver), and no longer a good match with the present age, and so maybe will spring back this time with an entirely-different sort of vegetation: pinon-juniper, for example, or manzanita thickets, or grasslands. Ponderosas could disappear from places. Maybe a lot of places.

I sure hope the monsoons this year are generous (but not so generous as to cause flooding).

John replies:

I think the forest of the Southwest have been changing for some time now, and those changes were not--at least until recently--human caused. The last white pine in Chaco Canyon (on the rim) died in 1927 according to accounts of period archaeologists there. A rancher told me in the late 1970's that the last of the white pines in the Ladrones had recently died off.

As to the Gile, I did not notice any clusters of relatively young ponderosa pines, but since I was not aware of that 1919 growth spurt perhaps I just did not see it. Overall my impression of the forest there was that it seemed fairly healthy but dry. There was a huge amount of fallen timber which had accumulated over many decades. I would presume this was the primary fuel for the fire. As you may recall from the Pecos Wilderness there is an equally large amount of deadfall there too. My guess is that the wetter conditions of that area have prevented widespread wildfires there in recent memory. But as the climate continues to become more arid all across the region I believe that will change. My guess is that it is just a matter of time--and probably not much time--until the Pecos suffers the same fate as the Gila.

I have heard that there was a major die off of the pinons in northern New Mexico in the last few years. That would fit into a pattern of pinon forest being replaced by junipers. It will take a number or years to determine if pinons will replace the tall pines of the higher elevations.

I reply:

Here’s a grab-bag of observations….

I know they had a mass die-off of trees on the southern flank of the Jemez Mountains before the recent big Bandelier fire (Las Conchas, I think they call it). I had heard it was pine beetle infestation, accelerated by drought, but I’m fuzzy on details, since a lot of that vegetation would have been juniper too, not just pinon, so I’m confused. I’m also worried about the forests SW of Denver – also dry, and subject to human-caused fires in recent years.

I remember seeing before-and-after pictures of the Reno, NV area, from the Gold Rush days, and today, and being really surprised how much juniper there is in these areas today. In north-western areas of the Great Basin, juniper is almost like a weed, and spreading rapidly. I have a book on the natural history of the Great Basin, and they point out that there are mountain ranges in southern Idaho, SW Oregon, and NW Nevada where pinon/juniper forests should be able to grow, but don’t. They conclude that the natural vegetation of the area is lagging behind climate change, and eventually will support such forests. Maybe as climate warms, the vegetation belts will just shift north.

I’ve also seen old pictures from the Albuquerque area, and been really surprised how stark the old pictures look. I’m assuming that goats and cows from the oldtimers had denuded the hills near Albuquerque, and that things are actually more lush there today than they were 100 years ago. I’ve also walked near the Rio Grande in Albuquerque fairly-recently and been surprised that, despite the anthropogenic chaos, that four-winged saltbush, an alkaline-loving desert-adapted plant, seems to be spreading from places where it was 40 years ago. Plus, without annual flooding from the river, the cottonwood groves continue to age and die. It may signal desertification of the entire area, or it may just signal further changes.

Starting To Keep An Eye Out For The Western Caribbean

I’ve been watching the weather forecasts for the last two days, looking for developments that might affect the Tampa, FL, area, and noticed that the NOGAPS model has been forecasting the generation of a hurricane, starting from thunderstorms near Panama, and eventually moving straight north into the Gulf of Mexico in a week’s time.

Now, the NOGAPS model tends to be alarmist in some ways, often flagging hurricane births that never occur in the real world, but I’m getting worried, because the model has been showing the same basic forecast two days running, so the idea of such a storm at least appears plausible. So, it’s time to start keeping an eye out towards the south. Maybe it will happen; maybe it won’t. If a storm happens, and hits the areas near Pensacola or Mobile where so much rain has fallen recently, it may be a true disaster.

The National Hurricane Center is not showing anything yet, except for the likely development of a tropical storm in the Pacific near Panama.

The current satellite animation supports the idea of a Pacific storm, but doesn’t rule out a western Caribbean storm too.

How I Feel At Places Like Best Buy

Maybe Outsource This?

The folks at Subway have been taking bigger and bigger orders as of late. Now, the orders are so big that I think they could do this more-efficiently by making the sandwiches in China and freighting them across the Pacific.

Today's Fender-Bender

I was behind my workplace, starting to walk to lunch, when I heard the thud and the squealing tires immediately afterward.

So, I went out front to gawk. First blogger at the scene at 18th & J Streets. No one appeared hurt.

Irony Too Thick To Cut With A Knife

So you have to use a gun:

BILLINGS, Mont. —
A man hitchhiking across the country and writing a memoir called "The Kindness of America" was injured in a random drive-by shooting along a rural highway near northeastern Montana's booming Bakken oil patch, authorities said Monday.

Ray Dolin, 39, of West Virginia, was shot in the arm as he approached a pickup Saturday evening thinking the driver was offering him a ride, said Valley County Sheriff Glen Meier.

Bailey Buntain Interview

Dancers from the Sacramento-area rule!

What are three interesting things you want fans to know about you?
1) I’m obsessed with Lucille Ball! I own every season of I Love Lucy.
2) I got my first professional acting job at the age of 10 in the California Music Circus.
3) In memory of my father, I am committed to the fight against cancer, and a supporter and donor of the American Cancer Society.

'Sam Drucker' Perishes

And with him, America's last bit of common sense:

Cady played Sam Drucker, one of the less loony denizens of Hooterville in "Green Acres." The show, about a Manhattan couple who left the big city to live in a rundown farm, ran from 1965 to 1971. Cady also played the same character in "Petticoat Junction" and "The Beverly Hillbillies."

Kathy Ramsay's Busy Trying To Save NM's Animals From The Fires

John writes regarding an old classmate, Kathy Ramsay:

Hey Marc,

I was getting my daily update on the Gila fire when I noticed a familiar name. I don't know if you ever knew Kathy Ramsay but she was in some of my freshman classes. She was a pre-med student and transferred, I think, to UNM at some point. In the Catron County blog there is a mention of help being needed to take care of animal currently endangered by the Bear Fire. A veterinarian named Kathy Ramsay is spearheading the effort. I figure it must be the same person. Anyway, I thought you knew her but was not sure.

John

What do Kathy Ramsay's efforts entail?:

I just got a call from Dr. Kathleen Ramsay, the wonderful wild-animal vet in Espanola, and she said they're trying to mobilize assistance for the animals and folks in the Ruidoso area who are being overwhelmed with the fast-moving Little Bear fire.

[I]f you know of someone who can help move or shelter calves, sheep, pigs, llamas, horses and the like, and who is on the southern end of the state, please let her know. She is coordinating with NM State Livestock Board's Dr. Fly and with Dr. Rebecca Washburn in the south to try and identify transportation and destinations for these animals.

The fire's moving fast and already a bunch of cows have died, standing to surround their calves, and so she and other vets will be bring in the burned calves to treat them.

Roads in to the area, especially from the north, are extremely limited, so they're hoping for southern-located helpers if possible, but any assistance could be useful if it can get there.

This is scary stuff. I replied to John:

Hi John:

Damned memory! I can’t quite recall her, but she was part of our class!

There are some real nice profiles of her too.

Meanwhile, the news from New Mexico is so dispiriting. When will it rain? When will this madness stop?

Marc

Here is one of those profiles:

So went another evening at work for Ramsay, who has devoted her life to saving New Mexico's wild creatures one turkey vulture and black bear at a time. The Los Alamos native founded the Wildlife Center in 1986 in the 500-square-foot home she lived in then.

...About 20,000 rehabilitated animals later, Ramsay's passion has turned her fledgling clinic into New Mexico's only treatment facility for all species of injured or abandoned wildlife, which in December expanded into a 5,000-square-foot building on 20 acres with a mountain view.

Ramsay does veterinary duty at the center for free while maintaining her own domestic-animal private practice. She sets aside every other afternoon and weekend plus numerous evenings to tend to her wild charges.

To cram it all in, she works 80-hour weeks and sleeps little.

..."We do what we can with what we have," Ramsay said. "I've had to work with so little for so long, it's amazing what our facility can do."

...Everson said that emphasis on education outweighed the center's rehabilitation efforts. "The educational message, it's a larger message, that humans and wildlife are able to coexist ... to get folks in the state to function as stewards of their own ecosystem," she said.

...Although Ramsay grew up with a horse, dogs, cats and "anything [she] could smuggle into the bedroom," she didn't settle on veterinary medicine until her junior year at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, where she was studying biochemistry and metallurgy. In 1977, she was accepted to Colorado State University's veterinary program.

...She came to love raptors — eagles, hawks and other birds of prey — and specialized in treating and rehabilitating them. She soon expanded her wildlife center and medical expertise to treat all species.

"If I did anything with my life, I wanted to give wildlife a second chance," said Ramsay, subject of a 1994 nonfiction children's book, "Wildlife Rescue: The Work of Dr. Kathleen Ramsay," written and photographed by friends who support the Wildlife Center.

She spent part of her teenage years in Saudi Arabia with her hydrologist father who worked there, and has traveled to Brazil to work with jaguars as part of an ecotourism project.

She returned to her beloved northern New Mexico after an early 1980s vet stint in Salem, Ore. She chose Española because of its proximity to the mountains and its "desperate" need for local veterinary care.

...There is no question why Ramsay is here.

"You watch that bird play in the winds and feel the air currents under its wings," she said, "and the tears come to your eyes every time you do it.

"You think, because of me, that bird had a second chance."

And another profile:

A: What prompted you to start treating other kinds of animals?

KR: Well, all these mammals kept showing up. What was I supposed to say, Sorry, I only do birds, so now I have to kill you?

A: You once had 56 bears in your care. That must have been a challenge.

KR: It was a nightmare. Bears don’t process food very well. They have the most inefficient GI tracts I’ve seen and don’t absorb more than 10 percent of what they eat. So 90 percent comes out the other end. We were cleaning cages morning and night. About 25 wheelbarrows of crap a day.

Kelsey B At LA Pride

Looks like Kelsey was having a great time, opening for Lil Kim, and all!

Possible Explanation For "Breaking Bad" Locations App Rumor

M. writes:

In case you didn't find the app for filming locations, actually a website, its On Location Vactions. Lists filming around the country. For past few months there have been listings daily for breaking bad locations. Also indicates when in studio. No listing today though. They may be wrapped for now.

I reply:

That actually makes more sense to me, that instead of referring to a Breaking Bad locations app, that the rumor might refer instead to a Web Site that could be associated with an app. "On Location Vacations" makes a lot of sense as that particular Web Site. I refer to it occasionally, but since I live in Sacramento, CA, it doesn't make as much sense for me to follow it as closely as someone who lives in ABQ might.

For example, On Location Vacations has a Facebook page and a Twitter page, both of which can be associated with apps.

Going back through the OLV archives, here are a few locations to keep an eye out for this coming season:

June 6:Breaking Bad is filming around Lexingon Ave NE and Eubank Blvd NE, Albuquerque.

May 31: Breaking Bad is filming around Anderson Ave SE and San Mateo Blvd SE, Albuquerque.

May 24: Breaking Bad is filming around Montgomery Blvd NE and Tramway Blvd NE, Albuquerque.

May 22: Breaking Bad is filming around Lead St SE and High St SE in Albuquerque.

May 20: Breaking Bad is filming around Granite Ave NW & 4th St NW, Albuquerque.

May 18 & May 16: Breaking Bad is filming around Spur Ranch Rd & Camino San Lucas near Santa Fe.

May 8: Breaking Bad is filming at the UNM in Albuquerque again, and also at Edith Blvd NE & Carmony Rd NE in Albuquerque.

May 4 & May 3: Breaking Bad is filming Eubank Blvd NE and Spain Rd NE Albuquerque.

April 2: Breaking Bad is filming around Williams St SE and Dale Ave SE in South Valley (Albuquerque), NM.

Instructions On How To Visit Ned Roscoe In Prison

Via Ned's family:

For those of you who have asked ... this form can be found on the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website, buried in the vast area of inmate matters.

You may fill it out online, then print a copy of the filled out form and then send it to the facility at:

Sheridan FDC, P.O. Box 6000, Sheridan, OR, 97378.

You may not fill it out online then save it to your computer. Only a blank copy may be saved.

Here is what I learned about filling out the form:

Pretend it is coming from Ned.
Addressee: (that's YOU!)
Institution: Sheridan Federal Detention Center
Re: Ned Roscoe 10714-111

Dear: _(your name)__

Then, just fill out the rest of the form with your information and don't forget to sign it.

Ned's latest project is to build up the lending library with Spanish books so there is more for the Spanish speaking population to read. If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know!

He already passes along his copy of the Oregonian and the New York Times to many, many inmates. He says that his atlas is also very popular.

Views Of (And From) Mt. Tamalpais

'The Sleeping Princess'

Gazing out the window from the bus winding up the road to the top.

The Marin Peninsula, with San Francisco Bay on the left, and the Pacific Ocean on the right, and San Francisco right in-between.

Beautiful downtown San Francisco from the Mountain Play amphitheater on top of Mt. Tamalpais.

Beautiful downtown San Francisco, with the Bay Bridge on the left.

Beautiful downtown San Francisco, with the top of one of the Golden Gate Bridge's towers visible on the right.

The beautiful Pacific Ocean, as seen on the descent from the top.

Mt. Tamalpais, as seen from Mill Valley.