The Killer is in the Details.

02 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by danielwalldammit in Irritation Meditation, Movies

Tags

Arizona, Film, Irene Bedard, Las Vegas, Movies, Navajo Blues, Navajo Nation, Southwest, Yuma

Okay, this is just silly but…

I noticed that “Navajo Blues” can now be found on Youtube. This is a clunky old crime story with a Navajo cop and a Vegas cop providing the obligatory odd-ball team of police officers. It’s one of the sillier movies that Irene Bedard has made in her career, and I’m sure that I could find all manner of absurdities in this flick if I went back and watched it again. (A casino and some roadside sandpaintings come to mind.) Still, one particular thing stands out in my mind. I first saw this film when I was living in Fort Defiance, Arizona, a short drive from Window Rock, and a long drive from Las Vegas. I made the first drive every day to and from work, and the latter about once every month or two so as to visit friends and family in the Vegas area.

Point being that I was pretty familiar with the drive out I-40 from Vegas to Window Rock. Which is why I was pretty surprised to learn that one of the main protagonists of this film, a cop from Vegas, was going to fly out to Yuma so that Irene Bedard could go pick him up at the airport.

Yuma?

I kept thinking, is that even closer to Window Rock than Vegas?

Turns out it is.

By about 2 miles.

…which might just prove that Irene Bedard is about nicest person that ever lived. Who else would drive that far to meet someone too stupid to find a closer airport?

(You can find the reference at about the 19-minute mark.)

Gray Mountain Murals

05 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by danielwalldammit in Native American Themes, Street Art, Travel

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Arizona, Art, Gray Mountain, Jetsorama, Murals, Navajo Nation, Southwest, Street Art, Uranium

69915490_10220346134668553_8025486970597670912_n “Honey, this place looks like it’s closed.”

Moni is trying to brush the sleep from her eyes. Leaning forward as far as the seat belt will let her, she cranes her neck around to see if she can see why I have pulled over. The more she sees, the more she realizes how very right she is. As I recall, this place was already closed over ten years ago when I used to drive through Gray Mountain on my way to work. It’s well past closed now.

“Why are we stopping here?”

After a moment, she realized the answer to her question.

(Click to embiggen. …You know you wanna!)

The reddish figure has been there awhile. Each of the other murals seems to have replaced earlier pieces.

Front View

Around the backside

Care

67249260_10219925050021700_6301611780883873792_n

Four Cylos, One Mural

‘No!’

Good Question

Red Figure

Gray Mountain

This seems to be the work of Jetsonorama whose “Painted Desert Project” has produced a lot of wonderful pieces. I am occasionally lucky enough to get down there and see some of this beautiful work.

FWIW: My Instagram.

Moar Rez Murals!

08 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by danielwalldammit in Native American Themes, Street Art

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Arizona, Art, Murals, Navajo, Navajo Nation, Paintings, Southwest, Street Art, Travel

Power Plant

It’s been a very long time since I worked in Navajo country. The last couple years I’ve made a point to take Miladydebennet through a lot of my old haunts, and this summer that meant a trip through the Navajo Nation. It was great to see some of the old sights again, and to see them a little bit through the new eyes of my girlfriend. It was also great to see some new things in the old places. One of my favorite new things (new to me anyway) is the addition of street art all around the rez. These had me smiling all the way from Page to Santa Fe. I had even more reason to smile when I learned one of my former students had been involved in painting one of these murals.

It seems that these have been part of an ongoing project, called Paint the Desert initiated by a doctor who goes by the name, Jetsonorama. You can find a few articles on his project here and here, here, and here. I’ve previously posted some of the murals from along Highway 89, so I was very happy to catch some more this summer.

As always, you may click to embiggen. (In fact, I highly recommend it.)

These were in Kayenta, just south of Monument Valley.

Prayer

Kayenta Horses

These paintings were all at the Crossroads Trading Post.

Crossroads Trading Post

CTP Love

Well-Painted Mutton Stand

CTP

Corn

Water Rights

Saw this somewhere along the road from Kayenta down to Chinle.

Windmill

Found this piece on the road between Many Farms and Chinle.

Brotherhood

Backside

Abalone Road

Windmill between Many Farms and Fort Defiance

These (and many more) were all painted along a wall in Fort Defiance. It would have been walking distance from my home for a few years. Kind of a surreal experience to get a soda from the old convenience store and walk around checking this out. Surreal, and very cool.

For me anyway.

Hope y’all enjoy the pictures.

Turning

Rez-Ball

A Bit Eerie

Downright Scary

Rodeo at Monument Valley

With Jigsaw

Flags

…and a little rider too

Code Talkers

Monument Valley

22 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by danielwalldammit in Bad Photography, Childhood

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

America, Arizona, Immigration, Mexico, Monument Valley, Navajo Nation, Southwest, Travel, Utah

16143701_10211829276472421_7117143568644666373_o So my girlfriend and I were talking the other night and she’s asking me about my blog. I told her I should write something about our visit to Monument Valley this December, but I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to say about it. I mean, I could say the usual stuff about it, …Blah, blah, …John Wayne, …blah blah Roadrunner cartoons – all very done-before. But I tell Moni I don’t have anything inspiring to put in with our pictures. So, I tell her she should write the post for me. Moni says she can’t write. I know she’s lying. So, I keep telling her she’s going to have to write the post for me, because I’m mean like that. Finally she says something like “you know what I think of Monument Valley?”

…and I’m like “got her!”

“What do you think of Monument Valley?”

She tells me it’s too stupid; she doesn’t want to say it.

I insist.

We repeat this about 3 times.

Finally, she starts talking. I grab a sheet of paper and start scribbling as fast as I can. These aren’t quite her exact words, but they are pretty close:

To me, it was a good deal to go to those places, because that’s what America was to me when I was living in Mexico City. That’s the picture that I saw when I thought about America. It’s been a very long time, but it was still a very big deal for me. It took me back to when I was a kid and I was just thinking about coming to America.