Update
The quasi-religious “philosophical” group Summum has been on News of the Weird’s radar since 1988, when leader “Corky” Ra and his small band in Utah began offering to mummify household pets for $7,000, or create statues of them for $18,000 (though the price is considerably higher today), with an eye toward future mummification of humans,…
A News of the Weird Classic (December 2000)
A New York Times dispatch from India highlighted the growing problem of intra-family frauds in which one member claims a living relative’s land or wealth by swearing to the government that the relative is dead. According to the Times, the “deceased” had finally begun to fight back. An advocacy group, the Association of Dead People,…
The Jesus and Virgin Mary World Tour
Recent Public Appearances: Arkansas City, Kan., September (Jesus on the ceiling of the One Stop Body Shoppe weight-loss clinic). Pittsburg, Texas, August (Jesus on the body of a moth). Goshen, Ind., July (Jesus in the facial fur of the family cat). High Ridge, Mo., July (Jesus on a Cheeto). Arlington, Texas, September (Mary on a…
Oops!
One of the items in a November seized-contraband auction by the Denver Police Department was a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass that was ultimately bought for $350 by a 19-year-old woman, but which is still evidence in an active murder investigation. Police eventually took back the car, which has bullet holes and a bloody interior and contained…
Chutzpah!
Veteran Massachusetts thief Robert Aldrich applied for compensation because his latest arrest happened to have been illegal, and a state law permits recovery for lost income during wrongful incarceration. However, in November, a Suffolk County judge turned him down as she was unable to find any “income” that Aldrich might have earned during his six…
Creme de la Weird
Ms. Hang Mioku, 48, is winding down her 20-year obsession with cosmetic surgery, having been at one time bulked up with enough silicone in her face to earn the nickname “the standing fan” because her head was so large compared to her legs. Hang moved from South Korea to Japan for better access to surgery…
TheatreOCU, Oklahoma Children’s Theatre present ‘A Christmas Carol’
Probably one of the most overadapted pieces of literature in the English language, “A Christmas Carol” endures for a reason: It’s a light morality tale with a supernatural spin that encourages even the most miserly bastards to aspire to something better. Oh, and it’s also hard to screw up. More difficult, however, is bringing originality…
Tender years
With the holidays now upon us, many thoughts turn to our children. What do they want for Christmas? Can we find a babysitter? How to maintain some semblance of schedule? And yes, our hearts go out to those reflected in the stories of homeless families, child abuse victims, hungry children and the charities that do…
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
It’s an ideal time for you to throw a party for all the people you’ve ever been and all the different selves who live within you now. Invite the teenager who once seethed with frustrated potential and the four-year-old who loved nothing more than to play. Include the hopeful complainer who stands in the shadows…
Nobel Son
On-screen, Alan Rickman can be snarkier than pundit Christopher Hitchens giving an interview to the Vatican newspaper L’osservatore Romano. If you were disappointed by the postponement of the latest “Harry Potter” movie because you need a fix of Snape-condescension, you can get a tide-you-over from “Nobel Son,” in which Rickman plays Eli Michaelson, a loathsome…
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
In one episode of the TV show “Seinfeld,” Elaine couldn’t get her favorite Chinese restaurant to deliver take-out food to her apartment. The manager said her neighborhood was just beyond the boundary of where his drivers were authorized to travel. But Elaine was determined. She went over to the apartment building across the street, which…
Bloc Party – Intimacy
ss=MsoNormal style=”MARGIN: auto 0in”>Trading post-punk for paranoia, Bloc Party now aggressively offers “Intimacy,” an often interesting but inconsistent electronic-infused album. Startling and abrasively catchy, “Mercury” is the best summation of the band’s new direction. While the straight-ahead, jumbled guitars of “Halo” offer a familiar flashlight to committed fans, the cascades of big-beat-inspired, Chemical Brothers-esque drums…
Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre’s stages ‘A Tuna Christmas’
If “The Nutcracker” is too creepy (all those mice) or “A Christmas Carol” is too depressing (Tiny Tim dies at the end, you know), you might try “A Tuna Christmas,” now being presented by Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre at the Civic Center’s CitySpace theater. You may rest assured that “A Tuna Christmas” is neither creepy…
Devon, Oklahoma City face TIF for tat
n which Humphreys reported to the board, but the item was not on the agenda, so it was not voted upon: “There was no formal place on the agenda to talk or make any motion or anything like that. It was just discussed under board member comments.” Repeated requests for an interview with OKCPS Superintendent…
Creative Oklahoma Inc. to host a 2010 forum
>’RUNNING THE GAMUT’ But, that wasn’t the only project members from Creative Oklahoma were hoping to gain traction on at the forum. “I was there primarily to assist in connecting with other people in the international delegation, trying to encourage them to look at Oklahoma for their 2010 Creativity World Forum,” said Susan McCalmont, a…
Punisher: War Zone
“Punisher: War Zone” is everything its predecessor was not: namely, fun to watch. With Thomas Jane in the lead as vigilante Frank Castle, 2004’s “The Punisher” held promise, but that’s it —? done in by a so-hammy-he’s-glazed John Travolta as the villain and a gritty bleakness that drained the Marvel Comics property of its punch.…
How could wind power evolve in Oklahoma’s future?
People often talk about Oklahoma’s wind power industry in the future tense ” as if wind turbines will magically appear in 2030, the year some economic projections say the state could become one of the nation’s biggest producer of the renewable resource. POLICY AND POLITICSWIND POWER TO THE PEOPLEPRAIRIE-CHICKEN PLIGHTTHE ROAD TRAVELED Left out of…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
There’s a new elective surgery that makes it impossible to ever blush again. It’s an expensive procedure that involves boring a hole in your armpit and cutting the nerve endings that are responsible. I wouldn’t recommend it for you, even though you’re entering a phase when you’ll be more prone than usual to blushing. Why?…
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
I’m pleased to be able to offer you a Zen riddle that will prepare you well for the immediate future. Study it, meditate on it, and refer back to it often when dealing with upcoming challenges. Question: What did the big chimney say to the little chimney? ÿAnswer: nothing. Chimneys can’t talk. I don’t want…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
“I was walking down the street agonizing over what to do about a particularly troublesome person in my life,” writes Tai Moses in her blog (aerophant.com), “when I saw a playing card laying facedown on the sidewalk. I turned it over.” It was a joker. Her thoughts immediately turned to the words of the philosopher…
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Book Project hopes to introduce history
I want all Indians and white men to read and learn how the Indians lived and thought in the olden time and may it bring holy-good upon the younger Indians to know of their fathers. “Hiamovi, Cheyenne With thousands of American Indian children in Oklahoma public schools, the ground is ripe to sow the seeds…
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cardinology
Lost Highway Building on last year’s “Easy Tiger,” Ryan Adams entered the same New York studio with the same pack of players to record a collection of consistent country-rock songs. Having staved off a breakdown, “Cardinology” could be considered a breakthrough for Adams, who’ while not laying stellar songs to tape’ is coherent and seems,…
Compelling Explanations
“I’m really sorry. … I thought he was just tired,” said Lynne Stewart, who was arrested in West Melbourne, Fla., in October and charged with stealing items from a 56-year-old, unconscious man who in fact had just suffered a fatal heart attack during sex with Stewart. She blamed her larceny on a cocaine binge that…
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
In California’s recent election, citizens voted to liberate poultry. Proposition 2 passed, mandating that from now on farmers cannot confine chickens in cages where they’re unable to spread their wings. Meanwhile, in the same election, voters decided to make it illegal for gay people to be married, a right that had previously been granted by…
Cadillac Records
With “Cadillac Records,” first-time feature film writer/director Darnell Martin tries to tap into that “Ray” and “Walk the Line” groove with the story of white entrepreneur Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) building a recording empire in Chicago in the 1940s and 1950s by producing “race records” with black blues legends Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Little Walter…
Sodaville elects mayor with rap sheet
Believe In: The voters of Sodaville (pop. 290) elected Thomas Brady Harrington, 33, mayor in November, notwithstanding his criminal rap sheet showing robbery, eluding a police officer, felon in possession of a gun and other crimes (with his electoral success perhaps due to voters’ confusing him with his father, a respected town elder). And the…
Oklahoma improves health ranking from 47th to 43rd
Strike up the band, get the ticker tape ready for the parade ” Oklahoma has improved its health rating. This calls for a celebration. You bring the doughnuts, we’ll bring the booze and “¦ oh, what now? While Oklahoma has indeed improved its health rating in the U.S., according to a report in the Tulsa…
OKC’s minor leagues welcome professional sports competition
Seemingly overnight, Oklahoma City became a major-league city when it landed an NBA franchise. In about that same amount of time, everyone seemed to want to buy season tickets ” so much so that there’s still a waiting list. OFFSEASONCOMING TO OKCON THEIR OWNGONE TO THE DAWGZTHE PUCK STOPS HERE Now with an 800-pound big-league…
Sportswriter B(ull)CS
The Oklahoma Sooners made the BCS title game. The path was criticized by sports writers, who think OU going to the Big 12 championship is nothing less than a Red River sellout. Lord knows what they’ll think of OU going to the big dance. For those who don’t know, Oklahoma made the championship game based…
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Novelists and actors make a living by using their imaginations to create fictional stories. In recent years there has emerged a new group of workers whose pretending skills also earn them money. They make imaginary weapons, armor, potions, and other computer-generated gear to sell to people who play online role-playing games like World of Warcraft.…
Oklahoma’s prisoners watch cable television
Life in prison sucks, which it’s supposed to. But during these hard economic times, some prisoners might be better off than some General Motors employees. It was reported last week by The Associated Press that the state spends $280,000 a year to pipe in cable television at Oklahoma correctional facilities. The state has 17 prisons…
Internet changes the porn industry, even in Oklahoma
Steve said he was willing to do an interview, but only under certain conditions. Those conditions could not be met. Steve was concerned about legal ramifications of adult material. “Oklahoma has some pretty archaic laws on the books and even doing nude work is technically illegal here,” Steve wrote in an e-mail. “Are you aware…
Various artists – The Best of Bond
Capitol With each new James Bond film, it seems as though another CD compilation of 007 music is released. With “Quantum of Solace” in theaters, this season is no different “¦ except that “The Best of Bond “¦ James Bond” tacks on some bonuses that make it worth replacing the last disc you bought. As…
Plaza Arts District hosts holiday-themed showcase
he Plaza, said events like Friday’s are part of an effort to “promote the local artists” and to make the public aware of the district’s new businesses. A diverse array of new businesses have opened in the district, Vails said, reflecting the owners’ common affection for community and creativity. Collected Thread sells handmade and vintage…
Milk
Sean Penn is an amazing actor. You probably knew that already. Still, the guy insists on proving it time and again. The most recent evidence is the biopic “Milk,” in which he delivers a remarkable, heartfelt performance as Harvey Milk, the slain San Francisco city supervisor who was among the nation’s first openly gay elected…
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum displays murals
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the nation’s Federal Indian Policy centered around the concept of assimilation. During this time, programs were set up to provide vocational training for Indians, said Steve Grafe, curator of American Indian Art at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Several Indian artists “? mostly Kiowa “? were…
Ironies
Hummer H2 driver Yvonne Sinclair, 29, was convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter in November in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., from a 2006 crash that killed two people and in which her intoxication was a major factor. Sinclair had bought the Hummer from proceeds of a lawsuit settlement over the 2003 death of her boyfriend, who was…
OCMA screens Hurricane Katrina documentary
For those of us who don’t know New Orleans, the damage left by Hurricane Katrina is still an abstract concept. Aerial shots on the news showing roofs peering up from the stagnant floodwater surface, ant-sized people crowded on bridges, and bunched-up washes of unidentifiable, muddy debris were the only concrete evidence we had of the…
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Would you like to consistently be in the right place at the right time in the coming weeks? Personally, I’d love you to have that knack. It would make my job more enjoyable, since I could fall asleep each night with the comforting thought that you are meeting your dates with destiny while you’re at…
Oklahoma County jail inmates sport black and white instead of orange
Continuing this week’s incarceration theme at Chicken-Fried News, let’s talk prisoner fashion. Stripes are the new orange at the Oklahoma County jail, according to a recent story in The Oklahoman. Some inmates facing murder charges at the jail are sporting black-and-white striped ones instead of the hunter orange, the story said. Jail administrator Jack Herron…
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
2008 Six years after the TV show called it quits, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson returns in “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, investigators of unexplained phenomena for the FBI. Except now, they are not. Scully is a saintly surgeon, while Mulder has become a hygiene-shunning hermit. They’ll called…
Minutes Too Far says goodbye
It seems that the clock and rock are about to stop for local band Minutes Too Far. Ending an eight-year run, the Bethany pop-rock outfit bid farewell to fans and its 22,000-plus Internet friends through a posting on its MySpace page. “We’ve been all over this beautiful country, met hundreds of amazing guys and gals,…
Lincoln Shot: A President’s Life Remembered – Barry Denenberg and Christopher Bing
Feiwel and Friends A name that comes up often when media pundits discuss a Barack Obama presidency is Abraham Lincoln. That’s because of their shared desire to unite a divided nation and not “? oh, Lord, how one hopes “? for a life of promise taken too soon at the hands of a madman. April…
Delta Spirit headlines Norman’s Opolis before returning to California
Faithfully following a GPS navigation unit, the band’s van veered onto a dirt road somewhere between Little Rock, Ark. and St. Louis. “I think we’re going to get shot,” said singer Matthew Vasquez. “There’s a farmhouse, a dog chasing us and a guy in boxers looking at us like we’re a bunch of murderers.” INDIE…
Breaking news’ is breaking the news
Anybody out there fed up with the lack of news in the newspapers and on news programs? Have you noticed all our newspapers have gotten smaller? It’s not just The Oklahoman; The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today have all shrunk. Worse yet, the stories are shorter and there are fewer…
Blake Griffin’s fabulous exploits lost in football-focused shuffle
There is one longstanding fact everyone knows or needs to know about the University of Oklahoma and athletics: Football is king. Plain and simple. OU is a football school. Always has been, always will be. OFFSETMAINE GAME Legendary basketball coach Billy Tubbs recognized that truth 20 years ago and still does. Recently on a local…
Two Oklahoma women bring Bolivian art to OKC
Spread across Bolivia, 2,000 artisans knit and weave with alpaca wool, working with leather and wood to create products for an American market. Their link to the U.S. runs straight through Oklahoma. In 2005, Cara Barnes, of Oklahoma City, quit her full-time job in the marketing world to concentrate on volunteering. MICROFINANCINGDESIGN AND COLOR PALETTEPROARTESANIA…
Yes We Can: A Biography of Barack Obama – Garen Thomas
versity in the classroom than we ever were. They may have even read “Yes We Can: A Biography of Barack Obama,” Garen Thomas’ nonfiction account of the president-elect’s life, geared toward children too young to vote, but old enough to care. Released before the election and not authorized by the Obama campaign (although it certainly…
The Dark Knight
2008 Times are tough for everyone in Gotham City in “The Dark Knight.” The criminal underground “? once led by big-time mob bosses and established thugs “? is facing problems from every direction. First is Gotham’s new lead district attorney, Harvey Dent, an innovative, incorrupt do-gooder whose city vision and reckless determination are starting to…
Oklahoma legislator who declared bankruptcy chairs budget committee
See if this sounds weird: A man who filed for bankruptcy a few years ago and then recently ordered to turn over some that moolah he didn’t report in said bankruptcy is now chairman of a state budget committee. Impossible, you say? Not so fast. That is exactly what Oklahoma Speaker of the House Chris…
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cardinology
Lost Highway Building on last year’s “Easy Tiger,” Ryan Adams entered the same New York studio with the same pack of players to record a collection of consistent country-rock songs. Having staved off a breakdown, “Cardinology” could be considered a breakthrough for Adams, who’ while not laying stellar songs to tape’ is coherent and seems,…
Tennessee transplant Luke Dick rejoins local musical missionaries
Despite signing a publishing deal and moving to Nashville, Tenn., in 2006, Luke Dick hasn’t broken ties with the band he left behind. Returning to the state a few times a year, the singer/songwriter occasionally rejoins Oklahoma City’s Redbud Revival, reuniting the roots-rock band’s original lineup. Although only together for two proper albums ” “Sweet…
Oklahoma Children’s Theatre stages ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’
Anticipation has left everyone in Candyland frazzled. The formal invitation to the Sugar Plum Fairy’s dance in “The Nutcracker” is expected, and even her chief adviser and three apprentice fairies are anxious. But the invitation’s arrival is cause for celebration in Candyland. Fairy wings are dusted off while costumes are pressed and fitted. Tasty treats…
