• Image courtesy Google Maps

Update from Sunnyside:

The “All Clear” has been issued by Tucson Police. No explosive devices were found. Teachers and staff members have been allowed back in the school at this time.

Still, there's never a good time for a bomb threat, but today was a particularly poor bit of timing.

From the "Seriously People, No One Has Time for This Right Now" file, Sunnyside's Desert View High School has been closed for the day, due to a bomb threat. As the investigation will take hours, students have been sent home, and those who are normally picked up from school will be transported to Gallego Basic Elementary School, 6200 S. Hemisphere Place, where they can be picked up.

• AMC
• For Tom, watching Mad Men might occupy a circle of his personal Hell.

I don’t get it. They’re all a bunch of unlikable people in an unlikable profession doing unlikable things to each other and sometimes to themselves.

Mad Men is the critics’ favorite, which, as we have all learned over the years, doesn’t automatically make it either great or sucko. It just means that a few people who get paid to watch TV and write about it like it. It might also mean that one or two really influential people who write about TV like it and then everybody falls into lockstep.

I hacked my way through the entire first season of Mad Men and kept telling myself that I would get it sooner or later. I’m still waiting. (I have a friend who watches every episode in the hopes that he’ll be able to see Christina Hendricks’ breasts someday. I explained to him that it’s basic cable, but he’s keeping hope alive.)

The main character, Don Draper (Jon Hamm), isn’t even Don Draper. He’s really Richard “Dick” Whitman. During the Korean War, Sergeant Don Draper was killed right in front of Whitman, who swapped dog tags with the dead guy because the dead guy was about to finish his tour and be sent back to the States. This guy is the perfect ad salesman.

This may sound incredibly juvenile, but one of the things that I hate the most about the show is the smoking. I know that people smoked a lot back in those days (the first few seasons take place before the Surgeon General’s warning came into being). Having grown up in a house with two smoking parents, I have a visceral dislike for smoking, which pretty much gives me a visceral dislike for Mad Men. However, after some soul-searching, I’ve come to the realization that I would hate Mad Men if they chewed gum instead of smoking or if they blew pretty bubbles out of their noses instead of chewing gum.

It goes way beyond that. Every freakin’ person on the show is either cheating on a spouse, stabbing a business partner in the back, or trying to blackmail somebody. I find some of the characters on The Walking Dead to be more life-affirming, including one or two that are munching on somebody else’s quadriceps.

Outside, in the real world, the Vietnam War is raging and American society is in complete upheaval. So how does Don Draper evolve? He puts down his omnipresent cigarette long enough to smoke some marijuana. Yeah, that makes me want to watch this show more.

The rest of the episode involved an ad campaign for ketchup. It’s gripping.

How long until Breaking Bad comes back?

• Courtesy of Steven Painter

Tucson author Steven Painter is an expert in film studies, and he’s sharing his expertise with his latest book, Take Her For A Ride.

The book, which follows a film producer in 1930s Hollywood as he tries to save his studio from demise during the Great Depression, calls on a number of actual events that Painter said he researched during the course of his writing. A graduate of the University of Arizona’s media arts program, Painter holds a master’s degree, and researched events from the period using the help of a few professors.

Inspiration for the novel’s premise, Painter said, came from a long-standing interest in movies from that era.

“I’ve always been entranced by classic film,” Painter said, adding that the 1942 classic Casablanca, despite being from a later decade, served as a basis for “Take Her For A Ride’s” storyline. Many of the characters, he added, are based on actual Hollywood actors from that time period.

Though Painter decided to take on the challenge of self-publishing the book, it wasn’t quite as difficult as it can be for some authors, he said, adding that his job with a local publisher gave him an inside look at the process. Additionally, Painter added that the story itself is what counts, regardless of who’s behind it.

Republican state Rep. Ethan Orr and Democratic state Rep. Victoria Steele (both of Tucson's District 9) stopped by AZ Illustrated Politics to bring viewers up to speed on the legislative session. Arizona Capitol Times reporter Hank Stephenson joined the panel to discuss Gov. Jan Brewer's proposal to expand Medicaid to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, as well as the latest on the state budget, election reform bills and other legislation of note.

On Tuesday, April 23, volunteers will give away half a million free books in more than 6,000 locations across the country. Tucson's Antigone Books (411 N. Fourth Ave.) is a partner in World Book Night U.S.

The goal of World Book Night U.S. is to seek out people without the means or access to printed books and give them free, specially printed paperbacks. Thirty specially chosen books have been printed for the giveaway; authors and publishers forgo any royalties. (See the list here.)

Volunteer "book givers" choose a book from the list and get 20 copies of the book to distribute. Antigone serves as a pick up spot for the volunteers. Once a volunteer has the books, he or she decides where to give the books away—at VA hospitals, nursing homes, schools, shelters and so on.

Trudy Mills, co-owner of Antigone Books, says that 45 volunteers signed up and are using her store for their book pickup. She also notes that Tucson ranks 12th in the United States for per capita book givers.

Although it's too late to be a volunteer this year, interested parties can sign up for the World Book Night newsletter for information on World Book Night 2014. Visit www.us.worldbooknight.org for info.

• Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation
• 4/20 Home Tour: Historic Adobes of Barrio Viejo

Six of those adobe mansions you've been curious about in Barrio Viejo are open for a tour tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

It's well worth the $35 tour fee to see the insides of these adobe structures that define our distinctive Tucson style. Many contain furniture and decor consistent with the period of construction.

But the tour benefits even more landmarks we love, including the Valley of the Moon, the Cactus Drive-in, all our cool neon signs and that classic mid-century commercial architecture on Broadway, among many other projects stewarded by the tour's organizers, the Tucson Historic Preservation Association.

Everything you need to know is at preservetucson.org.

Honestly, from the Boston Bombing (from its abhorrent coverage to the shootout between police and suspects this morning) to the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, this week has been completely, absolutely awful. And, again, satirical "news" source The Onion has completely nailed it in a piece yesterday, simply titled "Jesus, This Week" (NSFW language ahead):

“Seriously, can we wrap this up already?” Maryland resident James Alderman told reporters, echoing the thoughts of all 311 million Americans, who have just about reached their weekly goddamned quota for carnage, misery, confusion, heartbreak, and rage. “Because, you know, I’m pretty sure we’ve all had our hearts ripped out of our chests and stomped on enough times for one seven-day period, thank you very much.”

“Man oh man,” Alderman added, shaking his head. “Can you believe this? Can you honestly believe the kind of piece-of-shit week we’re having here?”

According to a new poll by the Pew Research Center, when reached for comment on this week, 93 percent of Americans responded “Okay, enough’s enough here, you have seriously got to be kidding me with this week,” with 84 percent saying “Is it Sunday yet? What? How in the hell are we only at Thursday? What the hell is going on?” and 100 percent of Americans responding “No, no, go ahead, just pile some more horrific shit on this hellish shitshow of a week. Have at it.”

Honestly. I've got high hopes for the weekend, all things considered — I mean, it couldn't be any worse, right?

• Courtesy of the Find Isabel Celis Facebook page

April 21 will mark one year since Isabel Celis went missing from her family’s home in Tucson, and supporters of the Celis family have organized a fundraiser this Sunday to further awareness of the fight to find her.

The “Bring Isa Home” event will be held this Sunday at the Peter Piper Pizza location across from the Park Place Mall, 5925 E. Broadway Blvd. The restaurant will donate 15 percent of their sales that day to the campaign to bring the 7-year-old home if you display this flyer, available on the event’s Facebook page. If you’re unable to make it to that Peter Piper Pizza location, the business will also accept the flyer at their other locations in town. Additional donations can also be made during the event to the Wells Fargo Bring Isa Home Account.

Described as a day of “safety and awareness,” the fundraiser will follow a 9:15 service at Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church, 215 S. Craycroft Rd, and includes children’s activities like arts and crafts, finger painting, face painting and a balloon artist from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Local nonprofit Ben’s Bells will also make an appearance at the event, and children can be fingerprinted per their parent’s request during that time frame.

I don't understand this video, but I'm super-glad it exists.

The Reid Park Band Shell will be the home of Arizona’s first Bacon Fest. Saturday, May 18 is the day vegetarians should hide and pray to their veggie gods.

From the Bacon Fest Facebook page:

For one admission price you will sample creations from restaurants and chefs that all incorporate our beloved bacon along with sampling craft beers to make the day that much better.

Chefs, Cooks, and Individuals compete in the best bacon creation for trophy and cash prize. Judges will crown a winner and title him/her 2013 Bacon Champ.

Live music and DJ’s will be providing background accompaniment to your bacon and beer festivities. Also there will be raffles and contests, with prizes, for all ages to participate in. Including a special “Kids Zone” for proper bacon indoctrination of the younglings.

Tickets are running at $25 for adults which includes all bacon samples and beer samples, $10 for kids ages 13-17 and includes all bacon samples and beverage, and to get them started loving swine early, kids 12 and under are free with paid adult ticket. For more details or to get your tickets go to www.arizonabaconfest.net.