Web Worth Watching: A Peak at Peak Water

Water...if you live in the Southwest United States its hard not to at least think about it (even if it's to absently push its import out of your mind). A couple months back, Wired did a story on the emerging concept of peak water. But the also covered it in the short lived series Wired Science. Interesting stuff...


Wired Science: Peak Water segment


Lack of natural resources has always been a prime mover of civil unrest within and between societies. In the west, the history of water rights is pock-marked with violence so to hear that "the wars of the future" might be over water isn't so surprising. Here are a couple of video from the (admittedly left-leaning series) Democracy Now that address that topic.

Democracy Now: Water Wars (Part 1)


Democracy Now: Water Wars (Part 2)


Slightly more centrist CNN also covered the issue earlier this year as a part of their "Planet in Peril" special. Check out the clip featuring an interview with Dr. Peter Gleick (President of the Pacific Institute).

CNN Planet in Peril: World Water Crisis


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New on KNME.org (August 4): The Very Large Array

New this week on KNME.org...indie filmmaker Deborah Wakshull visits the Very Large Array ("The VLA"), the giant radio telescope located in rural central New Mexico.

The VLA


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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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