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Columbia State Historic Park is the best-preserved California Gold Rush town, with six blocks of original brick buildings (30 in all) dating back to the 1850s and 1860s.
Columbia State Historic Park is the best-preserved California Gold Rush town, with six blocks of original brick buildings (30 in all) dating back to the 1850s and 1860s.
How many Tuolumne County locations do you see?
NatGeo is launching this new series with back-to-back hours tonight. Knights of Mayhem is about a group of jousting enthusiasts attempting to transform the medieval competition into a full-fledged professional sport. Meet the team in the première on the National Geographic Channel at 6pm PST, then watch their first competition in Sonora, California at 7pm PST. This episode filmed at the Sonora Celtic Faire @ the Mother Lode Fairgrounds last March.
Will full-contact professional jousting be the next extreme sport? For some, it is a real-life passion and thrives outside of the movies and Renaissance fairs. Reigning Heavy Armor Jousting World Champion Charlie Andrews leads the “Knights of Mayhem,” a group of modern-day Lancelots and Galahads dedicated to transforming this medieval sport from a staged act to a professional sports phenomenon that will sweep the globe. For these “knights,” jousting is no dinner show. Donning 130 pounds of steel armor, they mount 2,000-pound horses and charge at each other with solid hemlock lances at speeds up to 30-mph, while peering through a quarter-inch eye slot in their helmets. When lance and knight collide, riders struggle to control their horses and absorb devastating impacts with potential for concussions, broken bones and far worse.
In Episode #2 entitled “The Harder They Fall”, Andrews puts two rookie knights through a crash course in training for the first major tournament of the year. The Sonora Celtic Faire hosted the event this last March and the crew from Nat-Geo filmed for five days in the Historic Gold Town of Sonora, California.
The series premieres on the National Geographic Channel on November 15th. Episode #2 is presumably the following week; we’ll let you know if that changes.
A mother takes her children, Jojo and Avila, to visit Grandma in the woods. When their mother gets in an accident on the way home six-year-old Jojo is forced to take care of his baby sister, Avila. The two of them battle against the odds as they try to escape from an angry hobo, a ravenous pack of wolves, and the violent fury of Mother Nature. Can Jojo overcome his differences with Avila and make it home to Grandma?
From the looks of the trailer this will be a really special movie for kids! Locals will recognize several of the filming locations from around the Columbia area.
The 2012 Porsche 911 ads are just starting to dribble out, and there’s a lot of Tuolumne County in them. This video features some desert and coastal locations along with shots of the Jacksonville Bridge, New Priests Grade, Hwy 120 and J-59.
SF Bay Area band Blame Sally shot this video earlier this year in ‘The Diggins’ aka Tent Town area of Columbia State Historic Park. These beautiful images were shot entirely with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital camera by filmmaker Emile Bokaer. And as I write this Blame Sally is appearing at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival.
The ITSA Film Festival is coming to Sonora & Groveland, CA on Sept 30-Oct 1, featuring short films from around the world and workshops for current and aspiring filmmakers. Workshops are FREE to anyone attending the film festival. Tickets to the festival start at just $25 and can be purchased online, in Downtown Sonora at The Candy Vault and Swank Boutique, or in Groveland at Hotel Charlotte.
Here’s the current lineup of workshops: