Oklahoma Spring Game features psychedelic grass
The ESPN commentators estimated more than 40,000 Sooner football fans showed up to watch the team play the Spring Game at Owen Field. With the out-of-season cold snap, fans were wearing the same winter-weather gear as the team’s Big XII Conference Championship game. (That was the last game of the season, right?) The biggest development…
Hornets beat Sonics, ho-hum
When the entertainment highlight of a professional basketball game is the announcers showing off a Desmond Mason bobblehead or the sideline reporters’ third-quarter interview with a beekeeper, the on-court action must not be very exciting. But with the team playing to stay in the playoff chase, Wednesday’s Ford Center game should have been riveting. Hornets starters…
Death by lying
Once upon a time, a “straight-shooting” Texas oilman without a single accomplishment to his name decided to run for president as God’s chosen one. Proud of being a C student, and clumsy of speech like Moses, he would nevertheless lead us all to the promised land. He promised to “restore honor and dignity to the…
Not changing his tune
If Bon Jovi, Snoop Dogg, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith Hill wanna sing for global warming, they’re not gonna do it at the U.S. Capitol. At least that’s the tune Sen. James Inhofe seemed to be whistling in Washington, recently. According to a story by TheHill.com, Inhofe is vowing to stall attempts to have…
Meet the Robinsons
Reviewer’s grade: A- Lewis, a brilliant scientist in the making, is an orphan who is hustled away in a flying time machine by Wilbur, a kid from the future. In Wilbur’s day, a villain known only as The Bowler Hat Guy is attempting to take over the world with the aid of computer-run bowler hats.…
Why ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’ hit it big during OKC run
Coscarelli is the writer/director of the 1979 horror cult classic “Phantasm” and its three sequels. The original film and “Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead” will hit DVD in new special editions Tuesday, along with his little-seen 1989 foray into action-adventure, “Survival Quest.” As an independent filmmaker working outside of the studio system, he’s understandably…
Dirty bird
Kids these days. They just have no respect for their elders! What to do? Well, one father in Stillwater knows how to get respect: He allegedly mailed his son a wing from a dead bird covered with a powdery substance, according to court records. According to the records, Brian Keith Hogan, 49, faces a preliminary…
Peaceful Warrior
Reviewer’s grade: C- Victor Salva’s “Peaceful Warrior” is a predictable, often cheesy example of the film genre we can call “sports inspirational,” with Zen master as coach. Calling to mind films like “The Karate Kid,” TV shows like “Kung Fu” and books like “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” Salva’s heavily meaningful film focuses…
They got the hook up
This just in: College students like to do it! It’s true, according to a report by The Oklahoma Daily, the student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma. A March 28 article quoted OU students as saying: “It’s true, at parties you see people hooking up all the time” and “So many hook-ups happen between college…
Blades of Glory
STRONG>BWill Ferrell and Jon Heder played two disgraced figure skaters who have been banned from the sport for life. When they realize that they are banned as singles skaters only, the pair makes a joint comeback as the world’s first all-male doubles team. And that’s the part of the movie that actually makes a little sense. Most…
Oklahoma student wins poetry award
High school competition helps keep poetry alive Established in 2005 by the National Endowment for the Arts, the “Poetry Out Loud” competition encourages high school students to memorize and recite some of the world’s greatest poems in a performance setting. This year, 200,000 high school students from across the country ” more than 1,600 from…
Purchasing a presidency
The 2008 presidential election is more than a year away and campaigns are already in full swing. The candidates will spend about $1 billion trying to get elected. It’s no coincidence the best-financed candidates have won eight of the last 10 contested primaries. New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada have their primaries or caucuses…
The Lookout
Reviewers’ grade: A- Film noir heroes tend to be damaged goods, but even by those dour standards, Chris Pratt, the protagonist of “The Lookout,” is more damaged than most. Once a popular high school jock, Chris has suffered a head injury that leaves him barely able to execute the most innocuous tasks. Haunted by the…
A Tennessee prison tries to poach California inmates
A Tennessee prison tries to poach California inmates (The West Tennessee Detention Facility (Mason, Tenn.) made a video pitch for California inmates, hoping some would volunteer to be outsourced under that state’s program to relieve overcrowding. The hard-timers should come east, the video urged, because of West Tennessee’s “larger and cleaner jail cells, 79 TV…
Water is too wet
Stating the obvious is sometimes too obvious, depending on the context. Take Gov. Brad Henry and the battle over the state budget that erupted inside the Capitol during the past week. Henry’s folksy talk and less-than-poetic speechmaking ability are attaining legendary status. The gov’s annoyance recently was inflamed when legislative leaders finalized a budget while…
Checking the mail
Have our Canadian cousins gotten too wily, or something? Seems so, since propagators of a Great White North-originated mail scam decided to shift to the south, narrowing their targets in on Ada, recently. According to a story in the Ada Evening News, a Pontotoc County resident recently received a UPS envelope sporting his name. Inside?…
OKC area gourmet stores cater to high-end taste buds
A few gourmet stores provide Okies with authentic imported goods, cooking classes from professional chefs, kitchenware and even freshly cooked meals. “I think it’s great for our city; it’s giving us (Oklahomans) more exposure to different cultures,” said Jamie Davis, owner of gourmet food and kitchenware store Jamie’s. At Jamie’s (9313 N. Pennsylvania; 879-9999), Davis…
OKC 1955 high school football game paved way for integrated schools
On Nov. 3, 1955, with a crowd of more than 8,000, Douglass faced off against Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City’s first integrated high school sporting event. The long-awaited matchup served to bridge the chasm that had widened due to segregation laws that were a product of the time. Black athletes had made substantial strides on…
Oklahoma massage therapists hope for licensing
Thirty-seven states have some form of licensing for massage therapists. Oklahoma is not one of them. However, some local massage therapists hope to change that. Scott Rayburn, member of the Oklahoma Massage Coalition, has helped work for two and a half years on a bill to be brought to the Oklahoma Senate to license masseuses.…
White wines awaiting discovery at OKC metro restaurants
Metro restaurants are introducing interesting white wines to charm diners’ palates. CHARDONNAYChardonnay remains the No. 1-selling white wine in America. With flavor profiles like green apple, pear, citrus and melon, a good Chardonnay leaves many consumers with long-lasting impressions. It is perhaps one of the most adaptable grapes in wine production today. FRASCATIFrascati remains the…
Spring brings crappie out for Okie fishermen
For some Oklahoma fisherman, one of the tastier fillets is crappie. Considered one of the easier species to catch, crappie is best caught in spring. Through March and April, crappie swim into shallower waters to spawn, particularly around areas of brush or wood. Minnows and jigs work best for catching crappie.There are two types of…
Sexual violence awareness event held at Oklahoma Capitol
April 1’s Take Back the Night: Oklahoma was the first event of its size in the state, with expected attendance in the thousands. Coordinator Jennifer McLaughlin said the event has taken place all over the country, but she’s excited to have it here. “We are the heartland. We knew that the state would care, and…
TurboTax taking bite out of tax prep business, but not Oklahoma CPAs
Commercials for TurboTax’s do-it-yourself software suggest they’re putting tax preparers out of business. How realistic are they? Tonya Miller, store manager of Liberty Tax Service at 5610 Northwest Expressway, said such software has affected business “to a point.” “With those that are actually competent enough to know how to use the software, it has,” Miller…
