New Mexico often a stand-in for Mideast
SANTA FE – Actress Tina Fey is currently in Santa Fe, filming a movie based on the memoir of a journalist who spent years in the Middle East after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
The Santa Fe New Mexican points out that New Mexico has frequently been a stand-in for other locations. Remember those sweeping views of Montana in the movie “Lonesome Dove?” Or the Mexican badlands in “All the Pretty Horses?”
In both cases, it was actually New Mexico. But in recent years, the New Mexican reports, the film industry has looked to New Mexico’s rolling deserts and wide-blue skies as a stand-in for the sun- and blood-soaked conflict zones of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
Rebecca “Puck” Stair, film locations manager, said productions choose New Mexico for movies set in mideastern locations because of two primary reasons: the state’s tax incentives and its similar topographies and climates.
“Any script with desert or aridity, New Mexico is the best choice,” Stair said. “But if Arizona had incentives, they would be doing it all in Arizona.”
The Hollywood blockbuster, “Batman v. Superman,” was also filmed in New Mexico, with parts of it shot in the Taos Ski Valley.
Moose knocks down yet another walker
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – By the recent numbers, there’s greater evidence that you should be more wary of moose in Colorado than either bears or mountain lions.
Yes, both bears and mountain lions have killed people. But moose have proven themselves more than capable of inflicting harm. The latest story comes from Steamboat Springs, where a woman was run over and injured by a bull moose.
Wildlife officials tell the Steamboat Pilot & Today that they suspect something other than the woman spooked the moose, causing it to run toward the woman and her dogs. The woman, 31, barely had time to react. She turned and was head-butted by the animal.
The 31-year-old woman had injuries sufficient that she was flown to Denver for treatment.
Local residents told state wildlife officers that the area where the woman was injured has had as many as 14 moose at one time, and they have sometimes acted aggressively
The Pilot & Today says this is the fourth moose attack in the Steamboat Springs area in the last two years. In the other cases, the attacks are believed to have been provoked by dogs that moose perceived as predators
At Grand Lake, about 50 miles east of Steamboat, a woman was knocked down by a moose two years ago. Again, dogs were involved. But in 2006, a former mayor of the town suffered fatal injuries after being knocked down. He was without dogs.
What to do with a dope-sniffing dog?
BEND, Ore. – With marijuana becoming legal in Oregon July 1, what happens to all the doper dogs, wondered the Bend Bulletin?
Zoey, the Belgian Malinois trained to detect marijuana for the Bend Police Department, will probably be without a job or may be sold to a police agency in a state where possessing even a small bit of marijuana can send you to jail.
Then there’s Ditto, an employee of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Department for 12 years. While still sniffing with the best of them, the dog’s stamina isn’t what it used to be, and agency personnel tell the Bulletin it’s probably time for Ditto to retire.
Few A-frames linger in Summit County
SILVERTHORNE – You don’t see them much in other ski towns anymore, but Silverthorne still is chock full of what used to be a common sight: A-frame houses.
First designed in 1951, the A-frame had a modest surge of popularity for about 20 years before waning in the early 1970s. Now, they’re being demolished, although a few here and there are being upgraded, reports the Summit Daily News.
The basic design of an A-frame creates certain problems of efficiency. They’re not for everybody.
“You have to be more simple,” explains Amy Smits, a real estate broker with Century 21 Gold. “Your kitchen doesn’t have 20 cabinets. It might have six or seven. You don’t get the upper cabinets because that’s part of the ‘A.’ You definitely need a more simple lifestyle in the A-frame.”
Mountain culture and Aspen’s mall
ASPEN – Aspen’s flirtation with sweat and technology continued last weekend at a tandem event, the Aspen Uphill and the Power of Four ski mountaineering race.
Unlike traditional downhill skiing and snowboarding, with their reliance on lifts, both events emphasized aerobic conditioning and defiance of gravity
An avid uphiller himself, Aspen Mayor Steve Skadron sees potential synergy with manufacturers and designers of uphill and backcountry gear. To that end, he invited representatives of Dynafit, La Sportiva and Scarpa, along with others, to discuss possibilities.
Nicola Fiordalisi, legal counsel for various Italian corporations that do business in the United States, said Aspen’s brand is well recognized in Europe. “Aspen is world-known,” he said.
Steve Barwick, city manager for Aspen, said that in his 21 years in Aspen, the city government has been approached by a wide variety of American corporations. But Aspen has turned them all down.
“We never wanted to cheapen the Aspen brand by being associated with products,” he said. “But this is different. This speaks to our roots. This is going to support our ski culture rather than take advantage of it. You have a unique opportunity to be the only industry on the planet that’s associated with one of the sexiest brand names on the planet, and that’s Aspen, Colorado.”
Skadron said his long-term vision is to create year-round jobs that attract individuals who value mountain-town culture.
Aspen’s biggest challenge, said Skadron, is the increasing suburbanization and homogenization of mountain towns. “As you know, our downtown core isn’t unlike a high-end shopping mall,” he said.
Utah bargains over ski area connections
PARK CITY, Utah – A few years ago, when ski areas in the Wasatch Range announced their interest in connecting to one another, the response of the environmental community seemed to be “hell no.”
In recent meetings in Park City and the Salt Lake Valley, evidence of compromise has been reported. Peter Metcalf, from the Outdoor Industry Association, mentioned potential for a “grand bargain” that would ensure environmental protections while giving the ski industry the connections it wants.
Still, any deal seems far from done. The Park Record, reporting on a meeting last week, described considerable discomfort with any transportation solutions that add more cars to the roads. One idea is a tunnel under the Wasatch Range between Cottonwood Canyon and Park City.
Former city councilman Joe Kernan, told The Record that the city remains in denial over its transportation problems. It will have to spend money to address the congestion or people will start having to ride buses, he said.
Among at least some, there’s also some fear that this is prelude to another bid for the Winter Olympics.
Recycling a tough sell in Canmore
CANMORE, Alberta – Curbside bins have failed to generate more recyclables in Canmore after the first year. The town’s solid waste services director tells the Rocky Mountain Outlook that the community diversion rate remains less than 30 percent.
Where do recyclables go? Cardboard gets shipped to the Vancouver or Seattle areas, metal gets shipped to Calgary, and glass to British Columbia.
As for plastic, it gets hauled across the Pacific Ocean to China, where it is made into plastic pellets. Those pellets presumably get pushed back across the Pacific for purchase in North America.
– Allen Best
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