Least Competent People
The Providence (R.I.) Journal, reporting on a campaign by the area’s legal immigrants this summer to apply for citizenship, selected Juan Garcia, 54, as typical of the community. Garcia said he decided to apply after being encouraged by this year’s immigration-reform debate, adding that he had been in the United States legally since 1978, with…
Recurring Themes
Ticketed for DWEC (Driving While Eating Cereal): Four people were injured in Houston in October when a driver failed to stop for a red light while eating a bowl of oatmeal and collided with a transit bus. (Three passengers were hurt, in addition to the motorist, and witnesses said oatmeal was found all over the…
The Poor Dear!
A federal magistrate in Tampa, Fla., ordered a doctor’s appointment in October for the incarcerated Brian Wilcox, who is being detained on several child pornography charges, after he complained that he was suffering from a series of medical problems. He said that his back hurt from a 4-year-old injury; that he has problems with his…
Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores to donate fuel for troops
Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores announced Nov. 21 they would donate the fuel for Operation Holiday Homecoming. Gov. Brad Henry announced Nov. 9 the Operation Holiday Homecoming initiative to bring the National Guard’s 45th Infantry Brigade troops back to the state for the Christmas holidays. The initiative needs to collect $600,000 to…
Creme de la Weird
In Charlottesville, Va., in October, a judge found white-nationalist leader Kevin Strom not guilty of the sexual enticement of an 11-year-old girl, despite humiliating testimony from Strom’s wife. According to prosecutors, she (also a white-nationalist activist) had caught him at home naked, masturbating to photographs of nude women whose faces had been replaced by face…
The Great Texas Outdoors
In August, entomologists found a spider web in a state park about 45 miles east of Dallas, covering trees, shrubs and the ground along a 200-yard stretch. The originally white web had turned brownish because “millions” of mosquitoes had been trapped in it. In September, wildlife experts tried to assure the public that the jellylike…
The Litigious Society
At press time, the top-notch Basketball Town recreational facility for kids in Rancho Cordova, Calif., was on the verge of closing permanently because its legal fees stood at about $100,000 and counting, for the lawsuit filed by a wheelchair-using man who said he was once prevented from attending a party there because the mezzanine level…
Volunteer community garden helps feed metro’s hungry
Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma 2006 statistics reveal that 79 percent of all clients are food-insecure and 44 percent are experiencing hunger. Helping hungry Oklahomans by servicing and sharing a community garden is Floyd Jameson, who started the garden with the assistance of his family in 1999. The City-County Community Garden, located at N.E. 36th…
Paul Potts – One Chance
0in 0pt”>Columbia Cell phone salesman Paul Potts became an instant celebrity in his native England earlier this summer by singing opera on television’s “Britain’s Got Talent” competition, moving an initially suspect audience to tears. Then he became the same worldwide thanks to a kajillion YouTube viewings of said performance. Haven’t seen it yet?…
Jewel Box’s ‘Arsenic’ still hits the spot
brings the characters alive and provides laughs every sip of the way. “?Linda McDonald
Dyslexic doctor who presided over OKC bomber’s execution banned
According to stories in the Los Angeles Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the doctor who helped execute Timothy McVeigh is the subject of 20-plus malpractice suits, has been barred from two hospitals and also has been barred from performing executions in Missouri because of concerns about his reported dyslexia interfering with the job. But the…
Dwight Yoakam – Dwight Sings Buck
IN: 0in 0in 0pt”>”?Joe Wertz
Dogs save life of Oklahoma woman after automobile accident
A woman who ended up trapped inside an overturned car with four pooches for two days was kept alive by ” yes ” dog drool. KSWO-TV Channel 7 of Lawton reported recently Betty McCord, an “elderly Oklahoma woman,” was driving her ’86 Oldsmobile along Highway 9 (we knew we didn’t like that road) when…
Death row inmate says attorney’s substance abuse caused poor defense
A year ago, attorney John Albert was facing the greatest challenge of his life. His law license suspended, Albert needed to convince a panel of his peers that alcohol and cocaine no longer controlled him. If he didn’t, his downward spiral from hotshot attorney might have continued, even as friends and colleagues tried to help.…
Baptist pastor in Enid censured for blogging about board
Enid pastor Wade Burleson has been censured by the trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board. Burleson has been at odds with the trustees since November of 2005 when the IMB enacted policy changes to prevent missionary candidates who had spoken in tongues privately from becoming Southern Baptist missionaries. Burleson objected to the…
Construction on American Indian center slated through 2012
While construction continues on the facility that will house Oklahoma City’s American Indian Cultural Center & Museum, the building’s completion is slated for 2012. The multimillion dollar facility will sit on 300 acres of land on the east side of American Indian Boulevard from Interstate 40 to S.E. 15th Street along the Oklahoma River. The…
Current college football chaos calls for new playoff system
At no point in recent memory has any college football season produced so many jaw-dropping upsets, so much overall pandemonium in the polls and such a level of mass paranoia among high-profile programs hoping simply to survive another volatile week on the endangered species list. Whatever happened to the good ol’ days when two or…
Oklahoma’s rock-and-roll governor shows off his talents to the masses
Delegates from all over the United States found out at a recent meeting of state governments that Oklahoma’s Gov. Brad Henry knows all about takin’ care of business, according to a spokesman. According to a source in Henry’s office who preferred to remain anonymous, the gov knows how to lay down a few hot…
Compelling Explanations
Hawaiian Airlines is suing Mesa Air Group on a business matter and believes Mesa’s chief financial officer, Peter Murnane, has, or had, documents relevant to the lawsuit on his office computer but that, recently, conveniently, the documents had been deleted. Mesa acknowledged in a September court filing that Murnane had indeed recently erased a huge…
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
Reviewer’s grade: C Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is a 243-year-old toy inventor who owns the Wonder Emporium, the greatest toy store in all the world. The Emporium is managed by Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman, who still refuses to grow her hair out), who was once a musical prodigy, but now a 20something who never…
Love in the Time of Cholera
Reviewer’s grade: C Adapted from the 1985 book from Colombian author Gabriel Garc
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier – Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
America’s Best Comics Approach “Black Dossier” “? the long-anticipated third volume of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s acclaimed graphic novel series “? with lowered expectations. It is not the work of greatness as the others, even though the concept of imaging Victorian literary characters as superheroes remains intact (as does the handsome built-in cloth bookmark).…
Illumination’ showcases cutting-edge design of furniture
Oklahomans lamenting the lack of contemporary and modern furniture in the city don’t need to drive out of state to get their design fix. A new exhibit at City Arts Center that runs through December showcases cutting-edge furniture and lighting design. “Illumination: The Art of Lighting and Furniture” contains the functional artwork of more than…
Roots and Ties’ features art of former Oklahomans
Paintings, prints and photographs from Oklahoma artists who have moved out of the state have made the trip back down Route 66 and onto the walls of the Untitled [ArtSpace] gallery for its newest exhibit, “Roots and Ties.” “It’s really about bringing these native sons home,” said Betsy Barnum, artistic administrator for Untitled. “They’ve made…
The gospel of greed
The conversation at a pastoral conference in the Northeast some years ago went something like this: “Pastor, you head up one of the largest yet poorest churches in the region and today, you’re dressed in the finest apparel and you drive one of the nicest and most expensive cars here.” “Yes, son, that…
Despite scary names, Vampire Weekend offers sweet sounds
Don’t let the frightfully bad name throw you; Vampire Weekend is actually an endearing indie-pop outfit from Brooklyn, N.Y., with merry melodies so delicious, a lobotomy might be needed to get its tunes out of your head. Bassist Chris Baio said the band’s full repertoire will be on display on its forthcoming album, due in…
Country legend Hubbard looks forward to Blue Door gigs
Not content with resting on his reputation as a Texas music legend, Ray Wylie Hubbard is busier than ever these days with multiple projects. In the year since his last appearance in Oklahoma City, Hubbard has been producing recordings by other artists, writing a screenplay and ” oh, yeah ” continuing to write and perform…
Ironies
In interviews with reporters from McClatchy Newspapers in October, cemetery workers in Najaf, Iraq, lamented the recent downturn in violence in that city, as they admitted having grown accustomed to the income from the estimated 6,500 caskets a month that they serviced. (The number had fallen to less than 4,000 a month, and others dependent…
Entertainment-seeking Newcastle man’s yard features lightning-attracting device
We’ve really been meaning to install a pendulum out back that can saw visitors in half, with plans to follow it up with a pit of alligators. But we haven’t found the time, and now our deathtrap dreams have been beaten by a Newcastle man stealing our thunder “¦ er, make that lightning. As…
Kids get closer look at elephants at weekly zoo demos
If your kids ever have wondered what the story is behind the Oklahoma City Zoo’s Asian elephants, Asha and Chandra, this weekend is their chance to find out. Every Saturday and Sunday, visitors are invited to witness the elephant behavior demonstrations. The demos begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Oklahoma City Zoo, 2101 N.E. 50th…
Oklahoma City’s The City Lives debuts new CD
The liner notes for “American Kids,” the Oklahoma City indie-pop band The City Lives’ newly released full-length CD, notes that food from Arby’s was used as partial payment to a recording engineer for the 11-track recording. Featuring some of the most honest and well-written songs released by a metro rock band, “American Kids” just might have…
Free sessions to reveal ‘The Secret’
If you’re one of those people who can’t keep a secret, you’re in luck. Consultant Holli Walker will host free “Secret Sessions” for the next four weeks in Oklahoma City. A one-hour session will take place tonight at 6:30 p.m., when Walker will introduce the powerful concepts and practical information from “The Secret,” a New…
Beowulf
Reviewer’s grade: A- Robert Zemeckis returns to his monster-loving roots “? he was one of the producers of HBO’s “Tales from the Crypt” “? with this gaudy, rambunctious re-telling of the old epic tale of a boastful warrior who kills a monster, becomes a king, loses his soul to lust, and then redeems himself…
No Country for Old Men
Reviewer’s grade: A Ethan and Joel Coen have taken a critical drubbing in recent years, but the sibling filmmakers behind such quirky masterpieces as “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski” are back in fighting form with the bloody, brilliant “No Country for Old Men.” It helps, of course, that they have the benefit of great…
Heck of a job, Pervez
There are plenty of things to be worried about these days, but few of them are as frightening as what is happening in Pakistan. Right after Sept. 11, 2001, when President George W. Bush saddled up to fight the war on terror and “smoke out” Osama bin Laden, then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is…
Emmy Rossum – Inside Out
Geffen I’ll admit I took one look at “Inside Out,” the debut album of actress Emmy Rossum’ the starlet-in-peril of “Poseidon,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “The Phantom of the Opera”‘ and thought that, like Katharine McPhee’s freshmen effort, the best thing about it would be the photos. But surprise, surprise: The classically…
News of the Weird Update
Update: The man noted in News of the Weird in 1996 for keeping an almost unbelievably detailed personal diary died in October at age 89. For 25 years, Rev. Robert Shields of Dayton, Wash., had chronicled his life in five-minute segments of banalities, leaving 37 million words on paper filling 91 boxes. His self-described “uninhibited,”…
Nonprofit seeks holiday-tradition gift baskets for new parents
A metro-area nonprofit is asking residents to share their traditions in the form of a gift basket this year. Family Expectations is a free community program for lower-income couples expecting a baby or who just had a baby. “We wanted to do something that would be a lasting memory for these couples,” said David Kimmel,…
