We the people of the 253 are well acquainted with serial killers, so it shouldn’t come as a shock that a T-Town icon would turn up as the cover art for a violent piece of pulp fiction.
Though we’re not aware of anyone being murdered there.
Yes, crimestoppers, that’s the venerable 11th Street Bridge, aka the Murray Morgan, pictured on the front of a new thriller called “Dark Revelations,” the third in a trilogy by Anthony Zuiker, creator of the “CSI” TV-series empire.
Don’t suppose the city will get a cut of the royalties. Too bad. Might’ve paid part of the $57 million it’s costing to rehab the long-closed span over the Foss Waterway.
The noirish photo shows a trenchcoated man with a gun running toward the moonlit bridge – another Norman Rockwell moment in downtown Tacoma.
It was shot by local photographer Angie Bare, the wife of a Joint Base Lewis-McChord service member. (He’s also the trenchcoat model.)
Mr. DeMille, Tacoma is ready for our closeup. In the last few years we’ve had two car commercials – Toyota and Lincoln – filmed in front of the Museum of Glass hotshop cone. And last year, T-Mobile set up its cameras at Dorky’s Arcade for a smartphone ad.
So if media moguls want a Grit City bridge to convey a sense of menace, bring ’em on.
But if we were Hollywood-type big shots, we’d skip the ol’ Murray Morgan and go straight to a modern example of civil engineering genius: the new T-shaped exit ramp at State Route 16 and Sprague Avenue.
Think of the potential for blood, guts and carnage there.
Speaking of bridges: Anyone still smarting over the $700 million cost of the second Narrows Bridge might find relief in this: At least it came with a bike lane.
Down in No Cal, the state is building a new east span of the Bay Bridge. Meantime, cyclists are pushing to add a bike route on the old west span between Yerba Buena Island and San Francisco.
The cost of the bike lane alone, according to the Contra Costa Times? $550 million.
That oughtta make you feel better when you dig deeper for your Good to Go toll later this year. For about five seconds, anyway.
This just in, part 1: Some quick math shows that dearly departed U-Dub football defensive whiz Nick Holt, the state’s third-highest-paid employee, earned just under $1,400 for every point his defense allowed this season.
This just in, part 2: We will need to recalculate. Though the Alamo Bowl is over, Baylor has somehow scored again.
Chris Nye, the Candidate Guy! A brand new bouncing University Place city councilman – not believed to be related to Bill Nye, the Science Guy – must enjoy sniffing the heady fumes in the laboratory of civic affairs.
The stork delivered Chris Nye to UP in the 2011 election, and already he announced Wednesday that he’s running for Pierce County Council in 2012.
Nye’s hand must’ve been tired typing the press release, ’cause he was holding it up the night before for his swearing-in ceremony.
Memo to the Candidate Guy: We appreciate that, unlike other pols, you didn’t bother with a drawn-out charade acting like something other than a résumé padder. But why not extend the UPeople’s illusion a little longer than 14 hours?
Nobodddy knowwwwws the troubles I’ve seen: Some 34,000 local troops get psychoanalyzed by association in an MSNBC story this week headlined: “Ex-soldier in Mount Rainier killing stationed at deeply troubled base.”
It follows last month’s Los Angeles Times description of JBLM as “on the brink,” and last year’s Stars and Stripes report of it as “the most troubled base in the military.”
It’s almost comical how national newsies like to anthropomorphize an entire military installation into a breathing, seething lump of dysfunction.
To his credit, the MSNBC reporter backtracked somewhat the next day after he caught up on information showing that killer Benjamin C. Barnes had big-time troubles before he joined the Army.
So is JBLM deeply troubled? Doubtful.
Mildly irritable, maybe.
A bit under the weather, perhaps.
Prone to mood swings, possibly.
The remedy: Take 34,000 of these and call us in the morning.
Got news for The Nose? Write to TheNose@thenewstribune.com.
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