Least Competent Criminals
Not Ready for Prime Time: Robber Adam Grennan, 39, did not make it out of the Mt. Washington Bank in Dorchester, Mass., in December. So intent was he in not appearing nervous that he waited patiently in line, eyes straight ahead, until the time came to hand the teller his holdup note. He did not…
Update
Padre Pio, who died in 1968 and was sponsored for sainthood by Pope John Paul II, has been a controversial figure, as News of the Weird reported in 1999. He was wildly loved by his parishioners, yet viewed skeptically by some Vatican officials who found his claim of hands bleeding from crucifixion holes (similar to…
Undignified Deaths
Latest Electro-Sensual Accidents: Toby Taylor, 37, of York County, Pa., was charged with involuntary manslaughter in January after his wife died of a heart attack in an accident during sex, and police found the woman’s body (according to the York Daily Record) with “alligator clips on the end of a stripped electric cord … attached…
Leading Economic Indicators
To feed the fast-growing women’s hair-extension business, brokers in India scour the countryside for Hindu temples that encourage female worshippers to shear themselves as good-luck offerings to the temples’ gods, according to a February dispatch in Germany’s Der Spiegel. Historically, the hair was used to make mattresses, but because the celebrity-driven extension business is so…
The Continuing Crisis
At a February casting call in Pittsburgh for the movie “Shelter” (to star Julianne Moore), producers announced they were seeking extras to play West Virginia mountain people from the hollers (Pittsburgh is about 40 miles from the state line), specifically an albino woman, extraordinarily tall or short people, those with unusual body shapes and faces…
Tireless Obsessives
Takahiro Fujinuma, 37, was arrested and charged with making at least 2,600 calls (perhaps more than 10,000) to directory assistance (“I would go into ecstasy when a lady (operator) scolded me,” he told a reporter) (Tokyo; January). Ms. Lee Amor, 23, pleaded guilty to calling or texting her jilting ex-boyfriend more than 10,000 times over…
Governor approves emergency funds for public schools
Gov. Brad Henry’s office announced today he approved $11.5 million in emergency funding for Oklahoma public schools. An official statement also said Henry indicated kindergarten through 12th-grade education will need additional supplemental funding to help address a funding shortfall this fiscal year. “As I said last week, this is only a first step to…
Request for 60-bed facility would house youthful offenders
The state Office of Juvenile Affairs is requesting a budget increase of nearly $50 million, including $20 million for a new youthful-offender facility. OJA Executive Director Gene Christian made the request to the state House Human Services Committee at a time when the Legislature is in the midst of heavy budget negotiations. The youthful-offender facility…
Gene Simmons Family Jewels: The Best of Seasons 1 & 2
s” lacks luster. “?Rod Lott
Ineffective counsel earns death row inmate a second chance
Keary Lamar Littlejohn now has a second chance to have his life spared. Convicted of a 2002 murder connected to a carjacking, Littlejohn was facing execution if an appeals court didn’t step in. But it did. By a unanimous decision, all five judges of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals granted Littlejohn a new sentencing…
Meat-judging national championship
While March Madness dominates intercollegiate athletics, another group of collegians works out amidst coaches’ whistles, endures bloody, 12-hour practices, and cheers on teammates preparing for the national championship in meat-judging, in which about 40 colleges compete, according to a March Wall Street Journal report. Coaches at powerhouses like Colorado State and South Dakota State say…
Oklahoma man who lived through being pronounced dead appears on ‘Today’
CFN can’t help but be a sucker for happy endings sometimes ” and after the previous, we’re all ready for something a little cheery. What better than this update on a 21-year-old Oklahoma man still hanging in there after being pronounced dead last November. For those who missed this story the first time round,…
Weston photo exhibit showing in Paseo district
Brett Weston may have passed away in 1993, but the photographer remains in high demand. Not only is his first major retrospective exhibit in 30 years, “Out of the Shadow,” currently running at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, but now his masterful black-and-white photos of natural landscapes can be seen “? and purchased “?…
Sick call
What is more “Oklahoman” than football, the Fourth of July and ” well ” fast foods? Apparently, we could also add to the list of common experiences flu, colds and respiratory illnesses. How does it happen? Not washing our hands enough, being in crowd with a “wet” sneezer, giving our kids a hug after…
Singer/songwriter Dave Barnes has a fan in Vince Gill
When one looks into the chief exports of Kosciusko, Miss., pop singer/songwriter Dave Barnes’ only real competition is Oprah Winfrey. “It’s a tiny town of only 8,000 people,” Barnes said. “It’s where Oprah was born, thank you very much, which is the only time my name will ever appear that close to hers.” Barnes, who now…
The Del Tenney Collection
1963-1964 Del Tenney has a reputation as a hack director, built largely upon his 1964 monster musical “The Horror of Party Beach.” It’s the one with the creature who “? to quote Gilda Radner in “It Came from Hollywood” “? looks like he has a bunch of hot dogs in his mouth. As…
Renowned Adkins art collection finds permanent home in two museums
Until recently, one of the largest private collections of art was stored in a crowded Tulsa apartment. But now, two Oklahoma museums have acquired selections from the lauded Eugene B. Adkins Collection. “Highlights of the Adkins Collection,” shown at the University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art,…
Superhero Movie
Reviewer’s grade: D Drake Bell, Sara Paxton, Kevin Hart and a few other actors you’ve never heard of and hope you’ll never hear of again join Leslie Nielsen, Marion Ross, Christopher McDonald, Brent Spiner and some others whose rent is due in a feeble attempt to spoof a genre of movies that usually manage…
Opposing Jewish sects explored in Carpenter Square’s powerful ‘The Chosen’
It is difficult to imagine a richer, more complex backdrop for Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen.” Two father-son relationships are tracked during the period when World War II raged on, Franklin Roosevelt died, the Holocaust killed 6 million Jews, and the struggle began to create a Zionist state in Palestine. As if those…
Local nonprofits face more challenges as economy slows
Oklahoma ranks second in the nation in generosity, according to a six-year study conducted by NewTithing Group, a philanthropic research organization, which released the figures in 2006. The state’s more than 18,000 nonprofit organizations depend on this giving spirit, but even with the support, heads of local groups say they’re not immune to the challenges…
Science on the Cutting Edge
A team of researchers from the University of Calgary and the Tokyo Institute of Technology proudly announced in February that they had successfully stored “nothing” inside a puff of gas and then had managed to retrieve that same “nothing.” That “nothing” is called a “squeezed vacuum,” and the physicists tell us that a light wave…
Pro-Kern rally crowds Capitol
Hundreds of supporters turned out to the State Capitol Wednesday for a rally in support of embattled Republican legislator Sally Kern, under fire in recent weeks over her comments about gays. The largely white, working- class crowd – with many members wearing patriotic or religious symbols – crowded three floors of the Capitol, disrupting…
The Vice The Complete First Season
1999 In sharp contrast to “CSI” and its spin-offs, the British take their crime dramas very seriously. Think “Prime Suspect” or “Cracker.” And perhaps too seriously, as is the case with “The Vice.” Not well-remembered despite a five-season run beginning in 1999, “The Vice” specialized in the sleazy and the seedy, taking advantage of…
Aspiring female boxing teen uses punch to win science contest
Here’s something every parent probably wishes to hear his or her child say one day: “I chose boxing as my science fair project because it’s my favorite sport. I wanted to teach other people about boxing.” Yet, it’s something 13-year-old Stephanie Tatum said. And did. Tatum uttered those words to the Claremore Daily…
Experimental rockers Xiu Xiu bring kitchen-sink instrumentation to town
In the world of Xiu Xiu (pronounced “shoe-shoe”), quick blasts of electronic noise and dissonance clash with kitchen-sink folk ” the only constant being the committed intensity of James Stewart’s lead vocals. He’s not a singer, exactly, but a confessional raw-nerve vocalist fronting a group emotionally reminiscent of Plastic Ono Band, although the band is…
Oklahoma City women report panty problems to police
A recent sexual assault has prompted authorities to seek the arrest of a man they said they believe took a fetish too far and stepped over the (panty) line. Bethany police are looking for a white, 6-foot, 250- to 300-pound man who grabbed and groped a woman March 17 at the Rockwell Arms Apartments,…
Mike Oldfield – Music of the Spheres
get=’_blank’>best listened to in one start-to-finish sitting. “?Rod Lott
Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk
Reviewer’s grade: A- Go rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in large format IMAX with anthropologist Wade Davis and conservationist Robert Kennedy, Jr. in this spectacular new movie by documentarian Greg MacGillivray (“Hurricane on the Bayou”). The movie, playing exclusively at the Science Museum Oklahoma’s OmniDome theater, is narrated by…
Recent work of state’s ‘master’ painter Lafon reveals age-worn subtlety
D.J. Lafon’s portraits of businessmen mingling with birds are an expression of his limitless talent, as well as the process of aging. Lafon was born in Utah and received two degrees from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, but after working in Oklahoma for more than 40 years, he has become one of…
Official English’ amendment passes Senate committee
An amendment that would require Oklahoma to conduct all official business in the English language passed a state Senate committee Wednesday and will go to the House for approval, according to the lawmaker who authored it. State Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, said the amendment to Senate Bill 163 passed by a vote of 11-5.…
Assumptions about Islam violence to be addressed at conference
The Institute of Interfaith Dialog and Wimberly School of Religion at Oklahoma City University are sponsoring “Denouncing Violence in the Name of God: The Case of Islam,” an all-day conference Saturday at the Henry Freede Center at OCU. The conference is free of charge and open to the public. The conference keynote speaker will be…
Disabled rowers train Boathouse for Paralympic Games at Chesapeake
Angela Madsen’s passion for the ocean cannot be easily quelled. A botched back surgery in 1993 robbed the surfer of her ability to walk and, presumably, her avid connection with the water. Despite her disability, she took to a new sport called adaptive rowing, which is a category of rowing specifically designed for the physically…
Fine Points of the Law
Italy’s highest appeals court ruled in March that it is not illegal for a woman to lie in a police investigation if the reason is to cover up her adulterous affair. Court of Cassation judges said that her honor is more important than providing intimate information about her lover. The North Carolina Court of Appeals…
Legal saga for alleged scrotum-injuring Sooner supporter continues
The Sooner fan accused of tearing a Texas fan’s scrotum is facing trial, and it looks like it’s going to be a ball-buster. Allen Michael Beckett, 54, claims he was only defending himself from a younger man when he allegedly grasped the scrotum of Brian Thomas, 35, and tore it, according to a recent…
Lemma – Long Way Home
Oklahoma City four-piece Lemma recently released “Long Way Home,” a collection of seven mostly down-tempo rock tracks. “Long Way Home” is the first full-length release from the band, which coalesced from other projects in 2004. The musicianship on the new album is clearly evident, especially so in growling bass lines delivered by Luke Mullenix…
Provision declaring English as state’s ‘official language’ with Senate
A provision that would require all the state’s business to be conducted in English is scheduled for Senate action this week, its author said. State Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, said he plans to insert the provision into an existing measure, Senate Bill 163, a “shell” bill. Terrill said the English-language legislation would have been the…
Stop Loss
Reviewer’s grade: B+ Ryan Phillippe (“Cruel Intentions,” “Breach”) stars as Sgt. Brandon King, a young Army enlistee back in the heart of Texas after his final mission in Iraq. He’s accompanied through the war and back by childhood best friend Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum, “She’s the Man”). The two are given a hero’s…
University of Oklahoma students rank in hot college women list
Hey, if Oklahoma can no longer be No. 1 in college football, it just makes sense we can’t be No. 1 in hot college women, either. And according to the celebrity Web site www.popcrunch.com, we aren’t. In “honor” of the NCAA basketball tournament, Pop Crunch decided to rank the top 50 universities strictly…
Best-selling ‘Kindergarten’ becomes family-friendly play
Revisit the wonder years of Play-Doh, ABCs, and milk and cookies with Family Theatre Group’s production of Robert Fulghum’s “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” Serving as your guides are first-time director Tim Morris and his cast of actors, who vastly range in age and life experiences, each contributing talent to…
A modest proposal
Introduced in the Legislature this session was Senate Bill 1875, which, if enacted, would go where no smoking ban has gone before: everywhere! Under present law, smoking is still allowed in taverns, retail tobacco stores, cigar bars, bingo parlors, restaurant smoking rooms vented to the outside, private workplaces where only the owner and immediate…
The Entrepreneurial Spirit!
When Johnny Diablo’s year-old vegan restaurant failed to catch on in Portland, Ore., last year, he converted the space into Casa Diablo’s Gentlemen’s Club, which is what he believes is the world’s only vegan strip club. He has no rule against meat-eating dancers, he told Willamette Week newspaper in February, but won’t permit leather, fur,…
Origami-inspired art takes flight in Norman exhibit
Origami has migrated across cultures for centuries, and a new exhibit Norman examines how the art of paper folding has nested in the minds of local artists. The Dreamer Concepts Foundation is exploring how local artists integrate origami into their own style with an exhibition titled “Migration “¦ the Origami Experience,” which opened last week…
Oklahoma Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff – P.J. Lassek
kcuriosities.jpg” width=100 border=0> Insiders’ Guide Tulsa World journalist P.J. Lassek chronicles some out-there, out-of-the-way sites and Sooners around our state in “Oklahoma Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff.” It’s hard not to lose big chunks of time when thumbing through this one, as even native sons and daughters are bound to come…
Morrissey – Greatest Hits
Decca As a latecomer to the music of The Smiths, my first exposure to their former front man Morrissey was via a 1991 appearance on “The Tonight Show” (back when Johnny Carson was the host, to put it in proper perspective). Judging by the audience’s fervent reaction, you would’ve thought you were witnessing an Ed…
100 Days of Monsters – Stefan G. Butcher
HOW Books At his Web site , artist Stefan G. Butcher makes monsters. But it’s how he does it that’s noteworthy. He starts with a splotch of fresh black ink, which he blows on with a straw, thus forming a random shape that he then supplements with eyes, limbs, tentacles, what have you. On the…
Museum fund-raiser offers sneak peek at Paleozoic exhibit
The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua in Norman, welcomes history lovers to celebrate the site’s third-annual fund-raiser, “Muse-A-Palooza,” from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday. The event features exclusive tours of the museum’s first permanent gallery exhibit since opening in 2003, currently under construction. Guests can witness change from inside the caution…
Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
Atlantic The weird pop/soul collaboration of Gnarls Barkley has released another strange brew of songs that span the gap between melodic depth and fun party music. Cee-Lo Green’s soaring falsetto croons through “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul,” one of the most musically interesting songs on the duo’s second album, as is “Run (I’m…
OU’s Sam Bradford proved skeptics wrong in QB role
When Sam Bradford arrived in Norman as part of the University of Oklahoma’s 2006 recruiting class, almost all of the stories produced about the team’s incoming crop of talent mentioned the Putnam City North signal caller merely as an afterthought, destined to spend his time at OU dwelling at the bottom of the depth chart.…
Oklahoma State athletic director announces resignation of men’s basketball coach
Oklahoma State University Vice President of Athletics Mike Holder announced today that he and OSU head men’s basketball coach Sean Sutton mutually agreed on a new direction for the OSU program. Both agreed, the university said in a statement, Sutton would resign. Holder said OSU would begin an immediate national search for a…
Child advocacy group looks to future as it celebrates 20th anniversary
On this first day of “Child Abuse Awareness Month,” an Oklahoma County advocacy program is celebrating 20 years of providing volunteer advocates to speak to judges on behalf of metro children, to represent their best interest in court. The Oklahoma County Court Appointed Special Advocates program will fete volunteers, board members and community supporters…
Inhofe visits Oklahoma troops in Iraq
Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe returned Tuesday from Iraq after visiting Oklahoma National Guard troops deployed there, according to a release from his office. State Adjutant Harry M. Wyatt III accompanied Inhofe to missions in Baghdad, and to two detainee holding centers where members of Oklahoma’s 45th Infantry, the Thunderbirds, are stationed. “Currently, over…
