Satirical Snapshots Bringing You Whimsy On A Wednesday!
Off I galavanted to New Mexico to meet my pals, Matt and Jane, all the way from old Blighty to go on a photo shoot. The air was dry – oh-my-goodness-pass-me-my-strawberry-lip-balm – and hot and it had that suffocating thing going on a bit like Colorado. Ah yes, time to slow down the pace, drink water instead of margaritas and pay attention to the mountains.
Breaking Bad
The mission was about breaking bad in many ways: Get yours truly a new author profile out in the desert by breaking bad juju. Develop a more bohemian, devil-may-care persona (cos I didn’t have one of those already) like a cowgirl drifting from adventure to adventure with just a few bucks and a mind full of stories.
And, of course, to go and shoot in the location of the great TV series ‘Breaking Bad’ because that is just an awesome thing to do.
Albu- QWERTY
Props were needed to create the ‘just up and out on the road’ imagery. Cowboy bewwwts, jeans and a dodgy checked shirt from Walmart – not a problem. But in order to capture that old skool feeling we needed a typewriter. Matt located one of these old relics back in the UK and it travelled over in his luggage allowance. I don’t know how he managed this as my luggage set off sirens at Heathrow for being 9kg over the limit even though I’d taken things out.
Jane named the typewriter QWERTY and we took it with us everywhere should a golden shot opportunity arise.
We got up just before the crack of dawn and drove out to the Tohajiilee (Navajo) Reservation, Albuquerque, right to the spot where Walter and Jessie first started cooking meth in the RV in the genius TV show, Breaking Bad.
The scenery was fantastic. Watching the sun rise and hit the red rocks was inspirational and enchanting. I understand why they call it the enchanted state because the views are magical. There must be enchantment at play because Matt and Jane took some brilliant shots of me where I can actually pass as semi professional looking and even like I seriously know what I’m on about.
Photos by whitbyphoto
Very serious in my poncho. There might’ve been Indians with arrows.
Writing very seriously about incredibly serious things. On a rock as one does.
Typing in this position is easy. Ask anyone.
Rock resting after very serious typos.
Blending in with the scenery…
Los Pollos Hermanos
After a lengthy few hours work we drove to the Breaking Bad restaurant, Los Pollos Hermanos, now cunningly disguised as a Twister franchise. This made me terribly excited although I would have been happier to see a few dodgy Mexicans and Gus behind the counter.
La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís,
Which is more of a mouthful than the name of any Welsh town and I thought they held the torch on that one. Nobody wants to write all that malarkey on an envelope so they shortened it to Santa Fe. Founded by European colonists and established in 1607.
Off we drove to ‘Holy Faith’ which I prefer to call the ‘the land of hanging chilli peppers and Adobe houses.’ How utterly gorgeous and quirky. Unfortunately, Jane fell down the stairs at our hotel and ended up in hospital for four hours. She came back in a sling, plied with drugs and off we went to top it up with cocktails and Cinnamon Whiskey. She felt exceptionally better the next day despite being one handed. Matt says she does this on every holiday and it’s getting old. Not the Cinnamon Whiskey shooting but the falling over bit.
I have far too many pictures of this most excellent adventure so I’ve put them all in a video for you because I’m so bloody thoughtful and have obviously evolved as a better human being already. This magic stuff works.
25 Comments on Hot Dog, Jumping Frog, Albuquerque!
LSP
25th Oct, 2017 15:10
New Skool of Old Skool? Nice. And what great pics!
I think an adobe hacienda is important.
Jules Smith
26th Oct, 2017 02:10
You can’t beat a new skool of old skool. Wisdom. Camp wisdom. I know this.
So do I. All work and no clay, makes Jack a dull boy. 🙂
Theresa
25th Oct, 2017 15:10
Loved it Jules. I see you still enjoy doors x
Ps the Cancale poncho was just the thing.
Jules Smith
26th Oct, 2017 02:10
I love doors, Theresa, as you know. I actually took some out of the vid because it was getting a bit too doory. Not for me, you understand, but the viewer migh’ve found me a little odd and we all know that I’m not.
I can’t live without my poncho now. You know what, I like a poncho better than a coat becase its less faffy. Put it on over your head and go – works for me. It’s like wearing a designer blanket! 🙂
Redshoes51
25th Oct, 2017 15:10
Hey you… what marvelous photographs!!!
You are in my favorite traveling area now… Did you make it to Taos?
Or to Monument Valley??
Beautiful!!
~shoes~
Jules Smith
26th Oct, 2017 02:10
Shoes! I love it when you randomly turn up! Why thank you, sir!
What an awesome place; I really wasn’t there long enough due to other comittments. I intend to do that whole area next time I’m back. Leave it with me, superstar!
Good to see ya – always 😉
LL
25th Oct, 2017 17:10
Adobe and hanging chili peppers has a bucolic feel about it that is at odds with breaking bad, but not with writing. Ok, write.
LL
Jules Smith
26th Oct, 2017 02:10
It’s kind of at odds with breaking bad but at the same time sets a serene and cultured scene that lends itself to everything going hideously wrong. And the light there, it plays with you…. there are shadows in the falling light that play tricks behind your back.
I’m on it, LL. You have my word. 🙂
GruntOfMonteCristo
26th Oct, 2017 07:10
I particularly like Matt’s Route 66 work, and your photo shoot is a masterpiece of equal magnitude.
I can tell you right now it wasn’t Jane’s fault she fell down the hotel stairs. The cockroaches in Santa Fe are particularly active in the pre-dawn hours, and she must have stepped on one and slipped on the slimy remains. The same thing has happened to me many times, though the hotels (motels really) I can afford in Santa Fe may be a few notches lower than the one that laid Jane low. Still, kudos for getting out so early. Impressive.
Santa Fe has a weird way of messing with your life. A friend of ours (Laura) who owns a jazz club in downtown Denver used to play saxophone in a band in Santa Fe, and she once woke up on a Saturday morning after a performance in a hammock on someone’s front porch on a 2-lane highway 5 miles west of town. No one was home, and she had no memory of how she got there, so she hitch-hiked back into town and found her way back to the hotel in time to prep for that night’s performance. None of the other band members remembered anything unusual, so she assumed it was nothing to worry about. They all had a habit of smoking insane amounts of weed, so that kind of thing barely registered as an event, really.
Jules Smith
26th Oct, 2017 20:10
His work is most excelllent, Grunt. I only hang round with cool people.
Have you noticed that people only fall over when they’re sober? Think about that.
What an interesting story. I may want to go and interview her! There’s definitely some magical mojo going on in Santa Fe, it was like clash of the Titans for me! Weird meets quirky. I liked it though. There are many stories waiting to be unearthed there, I feel. 🙂
Jane Lowe
26th Oct, 2017 16:10
Beautiful photos, Jules! New Mexico looks amazing and is now going on my bucket list. Keep on travelling and being our virtual trip advisor!
Jules Smith
26th Oct, 2017 20:10
Thank you, Jane.
You must go – I insist. I intend to continue to let y’all live vicariously through me. However, I’m not promising it’s always going to be pleasant! 🙂
goatman
26th Oct, 2017 19:10
There is a nice hot springs just Northwest of the Albu. but you have to know how to find it. Also there is a warm springs nearby with just a two mile hike. Maybe info is too late?
Jules Smith
26th Oct, 2017 20:10
Sadly too late, Goatman. However, I am definitely going back so when I do I’ll be asking very politely for your secret coordinates! 🙂
the late phoenix
26th Oct, 2017 20:10
sexy writer! writers aren’t usually photographed. I was told to stay in my room, lock the door till the last draft of the script was done, and that cameras were for the stars. I have a good relationship with actors cos I never see them.
Albuquerque, what prevented me from a 100% on that second-grade spelling test. everything could have changed for me.
I went to a mesa once. saw a healer on top of a rockpile. I think I’m still wandering around that mesa and haven’t woken up yet…
the music video to that Prefab Sprout song is what happens when you lick a frog. and you can’t dive in the pool cos your speedo’s on too tight.
*)
Jules Smith
26th Oct, 2017 20:10
As a practising mentalist psychologist I always analyse how my readers respond. A lot can be learnt from what a person does or doesn’t say, but you my sweet are a conundrum; you can be as straight as an arrow and as convoluted as a vegetarian lion.
Never sit on a mesa because it messes with your sense of reality. You see up there, one breaks free from societal norms and it’s liberating. But you have to return, throw that freedom to one side and play by the incessant rules. Living on a mesa is much preferable but eventually you’ll get cold and miss cookie dough ice cream. Whilst you grow in one area, there’s a pay off in another. That’s what happened to Prefab Sprout. They went insane and were never seen again. I looked in Alberquirky but fear they may be with the living dead. *)
Masher
26th Oct, 2017 20:10
And for all these years, there was me thinking it was “… jump in fog”. Honestly.
Duh!
You’ve educated me.
Again.
Some nice pics there, Jules. And I see you managed to squeeze a few doors in too 😉
Jules Smith
26th Oct, 2017 20:10
Masher!
I like to ruin things. Keeps you rocking on your heels 🙂
Of course I have, that’s what I’m here for.
Thank you! There are always doors to be had. I did see a manhole cover but it wasn’t very special so I walked on by. That took great strength, let me tell you.
Hardnox
27th Oct, 2017 14:10
Well done Jules. The pics are superb. Did you encounter any Gila Monsters, scorpions, rattlesnakes in the desert?
Jules Smith
29th Oct, 2017 02:10
Thank you and thank you, ‘Nox!
I heard them all slithering and mooching about but I just stomped my bewwwts like I meant business. That didn’t go so well for me when my foot went straight through a sand dune and I nearly fell off a big rock! 🙂
Terry
28th Oct, 2017 23:10
Oh Thank The Lord ! I finally figured it out.
I read and re-read your article, and didn’t see a thing about hot dogs or jumping frogs. You can imagine my puzzlement.
And then as I watched your video, they were singing about “Hot Dog ! Jumpin’ farts…I want cookies !”, which I found equally confusing. But, as I read the comments from your much more enlightened readers, it hit me. “It’s the song, it’s the song!!” Whew.
Now I can ask you the question that has been eating at me : Are you now aligned with that new alternate-gender group ‘QWERTY’ ?
Jules Smith
29th Oct, 2017 02:10
You mean you didn’t notice the hot dogs and jumping frogs under the rocks, Terry? Well, I had you down as way more observant than that!
Having listened to the track again I will now always hear your version of the lyrics. Ha! Gee, thanks for that.
No, Terry, sadly not. I’m far too old skool and haven’t progressed past the keyboard. But since you know all about it, do tell! ;p
Exile on Pain Street
31st Oct, 2017 10:10
Isn’t that a beautiful part of our country? And dry air makes for good hair days.
Wait…are you telling us he carried a typewriter overseas? No bueno.
Exile on Pain Street
31st Oct, 2017 10:10
P.S. What happened to The Japing Ape? Any idea ??
Jules Smith
1st Nov, 2017 15:11
It’s a fabulous place, M. I need to go back and explore it some more!
Oh yes, he carried a typewriter overseas. You now have an English typewriter left somewhere in an American thrift store!
As for the Japing Ape, well, he’s left me in charge of his administration. I’m like his Miss Money Penny. He is currently on a secret mission trying to save mankind. Worry not. 🙂
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