Devin O'Leary of the Weekly Alibi in Albuquerque scored a great interview with Shakespearean actor and Thor director Kenneth Branagh. You'll find it in the current issue. Branagh says, "I spent about a month in New Mexico (filming Wild Wild West), and I loved the place — the land, the weather, the drama of the skies and the vastness. I like the mysticism and spirituality of the place and the bohemian vibe. "And so, when it came to where we might bring our portion of the story of Thor that's set on Earth, it was a suggestion of mine upfront. And Marvel was delighted by the very creative and incentivizing tax breaks. It was the one and only place we wanted to be."


Country singer Shania Twain visited the Golden Willow Retreat in Taos earlier this year, to seek help regaining her lost voice. That visit, and her interaction with retreat founder Ted Wiard, will be featured on the Oprah Winfrey Network at 8 p.m. tonight, New Mexico time, according to The Taos News.


First lady Michelle Obama's State Dinner dress in England had a New Mexico link — the gorgeous, white halter top dazzler was by none other than Santa Fe's Tom Ford.


Santa Fe Children's Museum celebrated its new expansion with a Steampunk-themed gala on May 21 at the museum with more than 250 guests. The evening included a dedication of two new classrooms to the late Ransom Reynolds, former children's museum board member and owner of Reynolds Insurance, and Dr. George Cowan, a founder of Los Alamos National Bank and the Santa Fe Institute, and president of The Delle Foundation.

Guests included museum founders Ellen Biderman and Susan McIntosh, Emeritus Board members, Rick Abeles and John Silver, Mayor David Coss, State Sen. Peter Wirth, State Rep. Brian Egolf, and architect John Barton, who designed the museum's expansion.

Michael McGarrity, author of the Kevin Kerney mysteries, is busy finishing Hard Country (due out next summer), the first of a trilogy of historical novels set in New Mexico. Keep up with what he is doing at
www.michaelmcgarrity.com.

Santa Fe artist Nancy Judd is going to the Smithsonian — her Obamanos Coat has been accepted into the permanent collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. The Coat was sewn from 2008 Obama campaign door hangers. You can see it in Santa Fe from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Astilli Fine Art Services, 1807 Second St., No. 105, before it is shipped to Washington, D.C.


Willem Dafoe and Anton Yelchin were spotted last week during the filming of Odd Thomas on the Plaza.


From the latest Condé Nast readers' poll of top spas: Hyatt Regency Tamaya, Santa Ana Pueblo at number 8; Ten Thousand Waves at number 41 and El Monte Sagrado, Taos, at number 78.

Under the hotel spa category, the Inn and Spa at Loretto clocked in at 25.

Send your sightings to elmitote@sfnewmexican.com.