Kim Shanahan, a charismatic curmudgeon in the best way
Everyone calls or emails.
Everyone wants at least 30 minutes.
Everyone knows your first impression matters more than theirs.
For Seinfeld rerun fans, the first month for a new editor feels like Festivus.
That's why I do a bit of sleuthing instead of giving a quick yes to a spontaneous professional meetup. Rerun reality often meets déjà vu all over again, where a seemingly pleasant person goes full Frank Costanza, turning social niceties into a shouting lecture on how I need to improve the newspaper.
I've learned through the years to go poker face when those Franks essentially say, 'Welcome, newcomer editor! The tradition of New Editor Festivus begins with the airing of grievances. I have a lot of problems with you people! And now you're gonna hear about it!'
And that's the backstory of how I grew quickly to like Kim Shanahan.
When I started at The Santa Fe New Mexican in mid-September, Kim was quick to reach out. I was not as quick getting back to him. Was I sleuthing? Maybe.
Kim's email sank quickly to the bottom of my in-box as new messages popped up in bold type, jockeying for the top spot. Kim sent another email, and the same sinking feeling happened.
After an extended game of email tag, we tried to find a time to meet. But Kim was busy in Costa Rica, my calendar was full, and our back-and-forth game of tag stretched into October.
He was gracious, though, and laughed off my weak apology when we finally found 30 minutes for a phone call. He launched into his younger years at Michigan State, where he thought about becoming a journalist. Kim knew I had spent time in Michigan, so we bonded over hockey, Lansing and what could have been if he had chosen a career in journalism.
I recall talking about the peculiarities of trying to buy a home in Santa Fe. He asked where our house was. When I told him where, Kim guessed what we paid. He was right. He added, 'You made a good choice.' To this date, he's been right.
What I grasped about Kim was his knowledge and candor. There's a level of diplomacy that plays out in most first social encounters, but Kim knew how to rush through the niceties and articulate grievances — such as city public policies in our first conversation — without going full Frank Costanza.
Longtime readers of his Sunday Real Estate commentary in The New Mexican knew where Kim stood on issues. But he wrote with passion and reasoning that forced smart critics to think before reacting.
Kim called out elected officials, but he didn't pen his commentaries with a personal ax. Read the first two paragraphs of Kim's April 20 column, and notice how he gave credit where due while pointing out a public policy problem that needs an answer:
If it were not for City Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth, who has announced she's not running for reelection, Santa Fe's residential green-building codes would remain stuck at 2018 levels, where they are today.
Fortunately, she is determined to get the long-overdue revisions and updates over the finish line before her term expires at the end of the year. Unfortunately, given its slow walk within the corridors of City Hall, it may take that long to get approval on a product that has been finished for months.
Kim turned in the column without a chance to read it on santafenewmexican.com. He died Friday of a heart attack. His column was published Sunday.
Subscriber Brian Weiss' email encapsulated Kim's impact:
Condolences on the sudden and shocking passing of Kim Shanahan. Though I never met him in person, Kim and I exchanged a few emails when I either agreed or disagreed with what he'd had to say. His presence in The New Mexican's pages will be missed — agree or disagree, he put forth significant issues that always merited consideration and debate.
We will miss Kim.
As an advocate for Santa Fe and New Mexico.
As a talented real estate and public policy expert.
As a charismatic curmudgeon who everyone respected as a friend.
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Los Angeles Times
9 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Everything you wanted to know about ‘The Traitors' castle but were afraid to ask
The grandiose castle on 'The Traitors' is an apt setting for the conniving game show, immersing players in a historic location in the Scottish Highlands. Both the U.S. and U.K. versions of the series use Ardross Castle, a 19th century structure once owned by the grandson of the creator of Worcestershire sauce. It's now owned by the McTaggart family, who graciously allow 'The Traitors' to take over multiple rooms and the vast grounds during filming. 'There's something about coming to a place that's so steeped in history and playing a game there,' says executive producer Rosie Franks. 'The castle has contributed so much to the identity of the show. We'd struggle to make the same show without it. It is a gift of a location because you don't need any TV trickery.' 'If it wasn't for that environment, I don't think the players would get so invested,' adds executive producer Mike Cotton. 'That feeling of being somewhere special in the middle of an isolated place allows us to create this very three-dimensional world they can inhabit.' Here, Cotton and Franks answer all of your burning questions about 'The Traitors' castle. How was Ardross Castle selected? The producers looked at more than 40 castles. Scotland was always a draw, as was something with fantastical flourishes. 'It's like a Disney castle that's got Gothic and dark undertones to it,' Cotton says. 'We wanted something that had that feeling but also had a great hall where we could house the round table. We needed a really big room for that.' Do we see all of the castle on the show? Not even close. When 'The Traitors' first arrived, the team discovered that areas of the building were desolate. 'There's huge parts of that castle that we don't use within our show because they're not renovated or haven't been touched for a long time,' Franks says. 'Plus, to rig an entire 19th century castle with cameras would be a big job.' 'What you see onscreen is a majority of the downstairs of the castle,' Cotton adds. 'The cast can roam free in our space, but obviously we can't have them roaming free over the entire castle because it would be impossible to cover it.' The castle's size has led to new discoveries during the series' run. 'It wasn't until Season 2 that we discovered it had this space that felt like a dungeon,' Cotton recalls. 'When Phaedra asked Kate to become a traitor, she was in this dungeon. It was a discovery we didn't realize was underground. We'd walked over it for a whole year.' How many cameras are in the house? There are about 50 cameras in the castle, most of which are hidden. In the great hall, the cameras are behind wood paneling that was built inside the room to surround the round table. There are also cameras in the pillars throughout the house in addition to actual camera operators. 'A lot of the pillars look like they've been there for 50 or 100 years, but they've actually been built specifically for us,' Cotton says. Not all of the cameras are recording at once. 'We've got a gallery of screens where we can see all of them, and then we choose a certain number that we're recording,' Franks says. 'We're located separately in a production village in the castle's stable block, and we're very hands off with the game.' Does the set change from the U.K. to the U.S. editions? The sets are mostly the same, but the art does change. For the U.S. show, there are pictures of Alan Cumming and Andy Cohen added to the walls. Occasionally, small trinkets will be swapped out. Does the set evolve between seasons? Yes. The producers make 'small alterations,' Franks explains. 'We like to freshen up little bits each time,' she says. 'We did create a little secret room, which has been through different iterations. Last season, it was a wine cellar you access through the bookcase.' 'It feels like it's a real place,' Cotton adds. 'Yes, we fill it with some slightly eccentric decor at times, but we want it to be its own thing. With all these big Scottish castles, they don't redecorate every single year, so we don't either.' What was the inspiration for the round table? The round table is 14 feet in diameter to accommodate all the players. Season 1 production designer Mathieu Weekes looked at the table on the original Dutch show, 'De Verraders,' which featured a compass, and added the phases of the moon. It houses a few cameras and is as hefty as it looks. 'The top is a really big, solid piece of wood that's got some light slightly embedded in it,' Cotton says. Are there Easter eggs in the decor? Of course there are. The producers hide tongue-in-cheek details in the rooms each season. For example, the book that opened the wine cellar in Season 3 was titled 'The Seer,' a nod to the big finale twist. 'The artwork sometimes alludes to the tones of the show or things that are going on in the castle or missions,' Franks says. 'We like to drip-feed viewers throughout so that the whole thing feels like a joined-up experience.' Do the players sleep in the castle during filming? The producers refuse to answer this definitively because it could affect future games. 'The success of 'The Traitors' really does rely on us maintaining the integrity of the game, and that includes us keeping the details of what happens behind the scenes a secret,' Franks says. 'Keeping the traitors' identities secret is the No. 1 thing for us,' Cotton adds. 'For everyone to go to their rooms and go to bed, and then for us to get the traitors back out is a military operation. As soon as we start to talk about exactly where they sleep and how it works, we're really worried that might unpick it all. The players are desperate to find out who the traitors are and they'll go to any means possible to do it.' Does the show film all of the outdoor challenges on the actual castle grounds? Cotton says about 90% of them are filmed on site. The other 10% are done at a nearby loch. But one of the main attractions to Ardross was its 2,000 acres of land. 'It's got a river that runs through it. It's got its own hills, it's got fields, it's got forest, it's got marshland,' Cotton says. 'And we use all of that. Part of the appeal was that it has a huge natural playground around it that we could use for missions.' Are there any restrictions on using real fire when filming? None. 'The Traitors' even has its own fire team to light the medieval-looking torches around the castle. 'We love fire,' Cotton says. 'There's nothing like when you go in somewhere and you can smell a wood fire. We always say that the game plays really psychological because they're immersed. So much of that is down to the castle and the set and the smells.'
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
At Our Lady of the Angels, free organ recitals unleash the majesty of Los Angeles
Even in a building as massive as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown, the organ stands out. How could it not? Standing 85 feet tall behind the right side of the altar, weighing 42 tons, featuring over 6,000 pipes and bearing the epic name Opus 75, it looks half smokestacks, half battleship and all awesome. It's regularly used during Mass and has hosted organists from around the world since its 2003 debut. But what's coolest about Opus 75 — and what not enough people know — is that the Cathedral holds free lunchtime recitals featuring its star instrument on the first Wednesday of each month. As an organ fanatic, I have long wanted to attend one. I finally had the chance this week. Accompanied by my Times colleague (and fellow classical music head) Ruben Vives, I arrived at the cathedral during the daily 12:10 service, just before the Eucharist. Resident organist Sook Hyun Kim worked the King of Instruments like the seasoned pro she is, including a moving version of 'Make Me a Channel of Your Peace' — an apropos hymn for the era of Pope Leo XIV. About 40 people representing the breadth of L.A. — white, Latino, Asian, Black and all age groups — spread out across the pews after Mass ended to listen to guest organist Emma Yim. The 22-year-old graduated from UCLA (Go Bruins!) two years ago with degrees in biology and organ performance. She is pursuing a master's from our alma mater in the latter discipline, does research for a UCLA Department of Medicine women's health lab and also plays the cello. Man, and I thought I covered a lot of ground! Her choice for the cathedral recital: three of the five movements from French composer Charles-Marie Widor's Symphony No. 5. It would be Yim's first time playing Opus 75. The first movement was mostly variations on a cascading theme. Kim stood to Yim's side to flip the pages of the score while the latter's hands leaped around the rows of the organ's keys. Yim played at first like she didn't want to tempt the power of the behemoth before her — the notes were soft and cautious. But during Widor's playful second movement, the young adults in attendance who had been on their smartphones began to pay attention. Heads began to sway with every swirl of Baroque-like chords that Yim unleashed. 'I could hear elements of 'Lord of the Rings' in there,' Ruben whispered to me as we looked on from our center pews. She skipped two movements to perform the Fifth's fifth, better known as Widor's Toccata. Its soaring passages have made it a popular song for weddings. More people began to poke their head in from the hallways that ring the cathedral's worship space to see what was going on. Yim became more animated as she worked the keys and foot pedals faster and faster. High-pitched arpeggios accentuated resonant bass notes. Kim stopped flipping the score, stepped back and looked on in awe like the rest of us as Yim roused Opus 75 to its full might. The majesty of L.A. suddenly crossed my mind. Even in tough times like these, it's unsurpassed in beauty, in its people and especially in its capacity to surprise and delight in places expected and not. It's people like Yim and performances like hers that stir us all forward to a better place. The recital ended. 'Beautiful, just beautiful,' Ruben said, and I agreed. The applause the crowd gave Yim was swallowed up by the cathedral's size and our sparse numbers, but she was visibly moved. 'Thank you all for coming,' the youngster quietly said, and we all went off to our day. Kim told Ruben and me that the cathedral's organ series will take a summer break before it relaunches in September. See you then! Polly says, 'My dad used to love the saying, 'if you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space!' He would say it as reminder for himself and to my sister and I to not overthink things and to just let loose, stop worrying, or try something new.' Peter says, 'I was around 8 or 9 years old and prattling on about something I knew nothing about, when my father sternly admonished me. He said 'Peter, you only learn when you listen, never when you talk.' His words resonated and got me to my core.' Email us at essentialcalifornia@ and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. Today's great photo is from Times photographer Juliana Yamada at the Manhattan Beach home of Paul and Cailin Goncalves, who turned their formerly compartmentalized home and ADU into a bright, flexible family home. Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Kim Kardashian Turns Heads With Bizarre Courthouse Behavior
Kim Kardashian Turns Heads With Bizarre Courthouse Behavior originally appeared on Parade. If there's one thing the Kardashians know how to do, it's how to make lemonade out of lemons. After all, they first sprung to fame after the release of Kim Kardashian's infamous sex tape, which happened to coincide with the launch of their long-running reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians. The rest, as they say, is history. Back in 2016, the most famous Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in Paris—a traumatic event for anybody, to say the least. Now, Kim has found herself back in the French city to testify at the trial of the so-called "grandpa gang" who robbed her. But her behavior outside the courthouse has gotten people talking. In true Kardashian fashion, the family is apparently aiming to make lemonade out of Kim's horrific robbery. According to Radar Online, the reality star showed up to court with a "full entourage" that included an entire camera crew. "Her team was constantly asking where they could set up for confessionals between breaks," a source told Radar. "It was like a scene from Law & Order: The Kardashians." It appears that we'll get to see the trial play out from the inside on the next season of the family's Hulu reality show. Reportedly, the massive entourage made French court officials "uncomfortable." While the behavior may seem odd to outsiders, it's not exactly surprising. After all, Kim has been accused of calling the paparazzi on herself several times. "Let's be honest," another source told Radar, "everything is content for Kim." Putting content and media buzz aside, a family insider insisted this was simply Kim's way of taking back power over the situation. "This was one of the darkest times in her life," they explained. "If sharing it helps someone, or adds ratings, she's going to do it." In another victory for Kim, eight of the ten people tried were found guilty. Kim Kardashian Turns Heads With Bizarre Courthouse Behavior first appeared on Parade on Jun 2, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
