The House of the Devil
Although not much actually happens in it, “The House of the Devil” is one of the better horror films to come out of 2009. Barely released in theaters, writer/director Ti West’s ’70s-style shocker is sure to carve out its own little cult on DVD. Set in the early 1980s, when Walkmans were the size of…
Electronic signs now have guidelines in OKC after three years of task force work
It took more than two years and countless meetings, but the city has finally adopted an ordinance dealing with emerging sign technology. Neighborhoods PleasedLandmark Areas At a Jan. 19 meeting, the Oklahoma City Council unanimously passed a measure that redefines the scope and location of Electronic Message Display, or EMD, signs, which use computer-generated graphics…
Toddlers learn through music, movement, games at Kindermusik
Kindermusik 10 a.m. FridayRonald J. Norick Downtown Library, 300 Park Ave.Ages 2-5 with a parent Pre-register at 231-8650, ext. 4 Using movement and music to learn, Miss Ginger loves nothing more than to see the look of amusement on a child’s face. As a teacher of the Kindermusik curriculum for 30 years, Ginger Waldrip will…
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
In the coming week, I predict that you will NOT experience disgusting fascinations, smiling-faced failures, sensationalized accounts of useless developments, or bizarre fantasies in the middle of the night. You may, on the other hand, have encounters with uplifting disappointments, incendiary offers of assistance, mysterious declarations of interdependence, and uproars that provoke your awe and…
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
This horoscope borrows from one of my favorite Sagittarian visionaries, Jonathan Zap. The advice he gives below, which is in accordance with your astrological omens, is designed to help you avoid the fate he warns against. Here it is: “Many of the significant problems in our lives are more about recognizing the obvious rather than…
People With Issues
Ewwwwww! Prominent eastern Idaho prosecuting attorney Blake Hall, 56, was fired in November (and he also resigned from a major national political position) after his conviction for stalking an ex-girlfriend. Evidence at trial revealed that Hall had been tossing used condoms onto the woman’s lawn, a total of 19 collected on 10 different days. Truck…
Perspective-skewing Oklahoma City Museum of Art installation challenges ideas of art
‘Anti.Gravity.Material.Light’Through April 11Oklahoma City Museum of Art415 Couchwww.okcmoa.com236-3100$12 adults, $10 seniors, students and children Jason Peters is almost always armed. His piece is scuffed and worn, but Peters’ contractor-grade cordless drill only leaves his hip when it’s time for action. Space OdysseyForce of ‘Gravity”Material’ Mentor As an artist, Peters is a contemporary cowboy of sorts.…
Chaotic rock ‘n’ roll cacophony Music Hates You brings unmatched intensity to OKC
Music Hates You with Los Hijos Del Diablo and DeadPlanetTuesdaythe Conservatory8911 N. Westernwww.conservatoryokc.com879-9778$5 Bands come and go like cars passing on the highway. Few have the passion and fire of Music Hates You, which is a big reason why most don’t survive. Inspired by Iggy Pop and Jesus Lizard, this punk trio strives to shake…
Policy ideas for the tea party crowd
The “tea party” crowd can be a force in Oklahoma politics. To do so, they need to do more than protest the status quo, which inexplicably emerged before their eyes this past May after eight years in the driver’s seat of the Bush administration. The tea party’s real issue is corporate America, which is capable…
Cutting-Edge Research
In December, University of London math professor Simon Blackburn published a complicated, square-root-deriving formula to determine whether a driver has enough room to parallel-park within a given space. By inputting such measurements as a car’s wheel base and the radius of its turning circle, a driver can calculate an exact, when-to-turn steering instruction. A December…
Least Competent Criminals
World’s Laziest Bank Robbers: In December in Cardiff (Wales) Crown Court, James Snell was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a bank robbery from which he made his getaway in his own car with an easy-to-remember personalized license plate (“J4MES”). Mark McAvinew, 52, was arrested in Kansas City, Mo., in December after allegedly robbing…
Volunteer group with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma gets dirty to save money and feed families
Last year, the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma recycled six tons of cardboard and 500 pounds of shrink-wrap each month, but still spent $28,000 on trash removal for the year, said Bruce Edwards, director of the food bank’s Urban Harvest program. Volunteer BenefitsTracking Compost But Edwards hopes a new program will change that. The food…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
My theory is that right now the whole world is in love with you. In some places, this simmering adoration is bordering on infatuation. Creatures great and small are more apt than usual to recognize what’s beautiful and original about you. As a result, wonders and marvels are likely to coalesce in your vicinity. Is…
Taken aback’ by Chesapeake exec’s assertions
I commend Tom Price Jr., senior vice president of Chesapeake Energy Corporation, for his willingness to discuss the toxicity issues of natural gas extraction (“Chesapeake executive responds to letter,” Jan. 13, Oklahoma Gazette). An honest discussion is needed to ensure that the method for extracting gas from shale (horizontal drilling/hydraulic fracturing) does not negate the…
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Shakespeare got modest respect while he was alive, but his reputation as a brilliant bard didn’t gel right away. It wasn’t until almost 50 years after he died that anyone thought his life and work were notable enough to write about. By then, all his colleagues and compatriots were gone, unable to testify. He himself…
Government in Action!
In January, the Berkeley (Calif.) School Board began consideration of a near-unanimous recommendation of Berkeley High School’s Governance Council to eliminate science labs from its curriculum, reasoning that the classes mostly serve white students, leaving less money for programs for underperforming minorities. Berkeley High’s white students do far better academically than the state average; black…
Police Blotter
Clovis, N.M., Nov. 21: “The (grandmother), who said she relied on a walker for mobility, said the (son-in-law) had come into the bathroom while she was using it and had grabbed and twisted her nose until she could hear the bones and cartilage cracking. The man was arrested.” Apple Valley, Minn., Oct. 13: “Officers responded…
Brandi Twilley and Binod Shreshtha display religious themes in paint, mixed media
Brandi Twilley and Binod ShreshthaWednesday-Saturday, through Feb. 6 Individual Artists of Oklahoma (IAO) Gallery706 W. Sheridan232-6060 or www.iaogallery.org. Systems of faith swing from the extreme of religious cults to the beauty of a simple ritual. Inspired by those opposites are Brandi Twilley and Binod Shreshtha, both exhibiting at the Individual Artists of Oklahoma Gallery. Twilley,…
City Arts Center’s ‘Elevation’ fund-raiser peers into the future with a retro party and exhibit
Café City Arts: Elevation7:30-11 p.m. FridayCity Arts Center3000 General Pershingwww.cityartscenter.org951-0000$50 in advance, $60 door After flipping the calendar on a new decade, it’s tempting to look into the crystal ball to see what lies ahead. Oklahoma City’s forecast certainly seems bright, and City Arts Center artistic director Clint Stone is using Café City Arts, the…
Bald eagle watchers find much to love in Oklahoma lakes
Across Lake Thunderbird, the Southern bald eagle perched on one of the scrubby trees that lined the far side of the lake. On an opposite shore, a group of visitors stared through binoculars and peered naked-eyed at America’s bird, excited to have the opportunity to just see it. Winter GuestsRocky Romance Suddenly, with a wingspan…
Extraordinary Measures
Nothing is more frustrating for parents than having a sick kid. A simple cold, the risk of a P.E. class asthma attack or a few missed school days are enough to drive any parent to total distraction. But when a child’s illness is chronic and life-threatening, as it is with Pompe disease “? a rare…
Pew Forum ranks Oklahoma No. 7 for adherence to religion in first-of-its-kind survey
More than 20 years ago, superstar pastor Rick Warren created composite characters who best exemplified members of his congregation at the Southern California Saddleback Church. Meanwhile, Bill Hybels at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., constructed Unchurched Harry and Mary to better help his congregation target the unsaved. Jews and Jehovah’s WitnessesWhat about…
Poor columnist
Kurt Hochenauer should have a disclaimer at the end of every one of his columns in the Gazette: “Any quoted facts and figures mentioned in this article a) bear little resemblance to reality in Oklahoma and b) willfully omit any sort of proper perspective.” The U.S. Census Bureau’s national poverty level by income is a…
Great Art!
In December, Portuguese dancer Rita Marcalo, seeking to raise public awareness of the tragedy of epilepsy (which has afflicted her for 20 years), performed a 24-hour “show” at a West Yorkshire, England, theater in which she attempted to trigger an epileptic seizure on stage. She had stopped taking medication beforehand and continually stared into flashing…
Erroneous assumptions
In discussing erroneous assumptions, Doug Rixmann makes one in his Jan. 6 Gazette letter (“GOP not economically selfish”). Although often repeated, lowering taxes does not generate growth nor increase revenue. Reports indicate this, but the conclusion is obvious. Removing money from circulation or increasing the cost of borrowing money do lower growth and are the…
Llama mamas
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram gives us this report on three “crazy ladies” from Oklahoma. Dana McCullough, of Elk City, Pat Bodkin, of Edmond, and Joy Swihart, of Blanchard, hitched up a trailer and headed south of the Red River with their partying cohorts: llamas. “We’re just three crazy ladies, out playing and having fun,” Bodkin…
Our Facebook is better than your Facebook
At least, no. 1 when it comes to Facebook. And when we say “we,” we mean the University of Oklahoma (but since everyone seems to talk about what “we” did on the field, “we” figure it’s cool to go with the royal pronoun). Anyway, SoonerSports.com, the official Web site of OU athletics, announced last week…
Durham County: Season One
t hearing of it, as its American home is the cable channel ION, formerly known as PAX, purveyor of repeats of family-friendly shows like “Highway to Heaven” and “Touched by an Angel.” Well, “Durham” isn’t one to watch with the kids, and that goes double for this two-disc set, which presents all six episodes in…
Buster’ Douglas takes part in OKC Charity Fight Night
OKC Charity Fight NightThursdayCoca-Cola Bricktown Events Center425 E. Californiawww.okccharityfightnight.com James “Buster” Douglas took part in one of the most significant events in boxing history when he toppled the seemingly invincible Mike Tyson with a 10th-round knockout on Feb. 11, 1990. The image of Tyson fumbling with his mouthpiece as he struggled to his feet lives…
Chet Chat
Rent the zombie movie “Pontypool,” newly available on DVD ” and we strongly recommend you do ” and you’ll find an interesting bonus feature in a short film on an Oklahoma jazz legend. Clocking in at seven minutes and 53 seconds, “The Deaths of Chet Baker” depicts what may or may not happened to the…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
Congrats on your growing ability to do more floating and less thrashing as you cascade down the stream of consciousness. I think you’re finally understanding that a little bit of chaos isn’t a sign that everything’s falling apart forever omigod the entire planet’s crashing and evil is in ascension . . . but rather that…
Haiti relief concerts feature Travis Linville, DJ Neu, The City Lives and more
A series of relief concerts raising funds for earthquake-ravaged Haiti are booked in throughout the metro. Here are five worth supporting. “Joe Wertz Rock for ReliefTravis Linville, Penny Hill, the Bridgewater Band, Roe Sham Beau and the Buffalo Family7 p.m. FridayPicasso ‘s Café3009 Paseo Drive Organized by Students for Haiti, a grassroots Oklahoma group, “Rock…
Paraphrasing Cheney
The Jan. 21 Oklahoman has an editorial (“Cap and tirade: Benge is right in urging caution”) that basically tells state Rep. David Dank, R-Oklahoma City, to sit down and shut up. As I understand it, Rep. Dank wants to bring a couple of property tax issues to a vote of the people, and the good…
Half-Life’ envisions the end of the world with art-house pacing
The end of the world is one of those subjects that people everywhere simultaneously fear and can’t stop thinking about. Our mixed reaction to the world’s death is a reflection of a struggle with our own individual deaths, and as much as we try to ignore the inevitability of both, it’s still there, waiting. Most…
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition pulls the bus into Norman
A family and Ideal Homes of Norman are asking people in the metro area to help “move that bus!” For the first time, ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” bus is pulling into town to change a family’s life. With a mission of giving back to the community, Ideal Homes was selected by the show’s producers…
No more deep space whine
As everyone knows, there are stages in the recovery process of a broken relationship. There’s grief and anger and other stages that usually lead to overeating or picking up a Jane Austen novel. It appears the folks with the Oklahoma Space Development Authority may be in the final stage of recovering from a broken relationship:…
Not a CAIR
What do you do when you arrive to protest the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and they don’t show up? You apparently go to Braum’s. That’s what protesters did after CAIR switched its meeting location to avoid a protest orchestrated by Congressional candidate Kevin Calvey, according to The Oklahoman. Calvey sent a…
Tulsa pop-rockers Safety Suit return to the state as pop stars
Safety Suit with Parachute and Graham Colton7:30 p.m. FridayDiamond Ballroom8001 S. Easternwww.diamondballroom.net(866) 977-6849$10 advance, $14 door Editor’s note: Parachute & Safety Suit’s management have agreed that for safety reasons the artists’ vehicles cannot travel to the state of Oklahoma due to the current inclement weather. The Friday, 1/29 Diamond Ballroom Show is NOT canceled “?…
Are the Terrorists Safe?
Although the U.S. military stateside can direct a drone aircraft halfway around the world to deliver bombs mostly on highly specific targets in Iraq, the Pentagon acknowledged in December that even after six years of war, its signals to the drone are still not encrypted. Thus, Iraqi insurgents can pinpoint drone locations merely by using…
Risky investment
In December, a prominent online game player, Buzz “Erik” Lightyear, won the auction for ownership of a virtual space station in the Planet Calypso game, paying 3.3 million Project Entropia Dollars (PEDs), which at various points entered the game’s play-like economy at an out-of-pocket cost of 10 actual U.S. cents per PED. Thus, Lightyear “paid”…
Saw VI
hus, allowed him to live. Getting the worst of it is William Easton (Peter Outerbridge), who has to choose which of his employees will live and die as he makes his way through Jigsaw’s elaborate traps, which include a wire maze with jets of scalding steam and a merry-go-round with a shotgun. Carrying out Jigsaw’s…
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
I hope that you saw the horoscope I wrote for you last week. And I hope that you acted on my advice and refrained from all sweating and striving and struggling. These past seven days were designed by the universe to be a time for you to recharge your psychic battery. Assuming that you took…
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
It’s a good time to take inventory of all the stories you allow to pour into your beautiful head. Do you absorb a relentless stream of fear-inducing news reports and violent movies and gossipy tales of decline and degeneration? Well, then, guess what: It’s the equivalent, for your psyche, of eating rotting bear intestines and…
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
You are the lord of all you survey! I swear to God! I’m almost tempted to say that you now have the power to command whirlwinds and alter the course of mighty rivers! At the very least you will be able to mobilize the ambition of everyone you encounter and brighten the future of every…
Race fans scramble to save historic track
Save the Speedway Noon “? 4 p.m. Saturday Forest Building Supplies 300 N. May www.statefairspeedway.com Money will be pouring into the Oklahoma State Fair Park from tax dollars being purposed through MAPS 3, and a hotel and motel tax intended to upgrade the existing facilities. When longtime race fan and mechanic Erich Petersen pulled up…
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
It’s time for you to fly away — to flee the safe pleasures that comfort you as well as the outmoded fixations that haunt you; to escape at least one of the galling compromises that twists your spirit as well as a familiar groove that numbs your intelligence. In my astrological opinion, Gemini, you need…
Legion
“Legion” is the amiable drunk at the party. You’ve heard all his jokes before but he puts enough of a spin on them, you don’t mind listening for a while. He get mawkishly sentimental at times and just when you think he’s in danger of taking himself too seriously, he puts a lamp shade on…
Chicago’s The Audition faces ‘Great Danger’ in self-producing its punk pop
The Audition with The Dangerous Summer, Sparks the Rescue and more6 p.m. Sundaythe Conservatory8911 N. Western879-9778www.conservatoryokc.com$10 advance, $12 door The Audition isn’t a typical punk-pop act. Although hailing from Chicago, its style is a lot harder to pin down than Fall Out Boy or The Academy Is”¦, and the band has steadily picked up momentum…
Governor and Legislative leaders announce budget agreement
Gov. Brad Henry and Legislative leaders announced an agreement on how to fill the budget hole for the remainder of the 2010 fiscal year. Because of lagging revenue, the budget was more than $1 billion short of appropriations. Under the agreement, most agencies will continue at the 10-percent cut to their monthly allocation through June.…
Fire ravages Flip’s Wine Bar and Trattoria
Flip’s Wine Bar & Trattoria will be closed for a few weeks while repairs are being made after this morning’s fire. Oklahoma City Fire Chief G. Keith Bryant said a security guard reported the blaze into the fire department. “He spotted the flame in the northeast corner of the building and noticed smoke inside the…
United States of Tara: Season One
Toni Collette gets the role of her lifetime “? or five of them, in fact “? in “United States of Tara,” a Showtime series whose first season is now out on DVD. Initially, I was skeptical, as many cable series seem to be less than the sum of their parts, but this dramedy “? created…
Bleak outlook for city budget
The Oklahoma City Council embarked on its first meeting concerning next year’s city budget, and the news was not good. According to an economist, the city should expect meager growth for the coming year, which means the city budget will be tighter. Based on projections from the Center for Applied Economic Research at Oklahoma State…
