Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXIV
This edition — four episodes on four discs, per Shout! Factory’s usual — is like a cinematic-crap tour around the globe. We venture south of the border for 1962’s Samson vs. the Vampire Women, a masked-wrestler epic that stars Santo (not Samson, no matter what the title says), the caped superhero of Mexico’s wrasslin’ ring.…
Searching for Sonny
They were both shot in Texas and, hell, they even share a character name in “Future Man,” but by no means am I suggesting Sonny should be held anywhere near the level of Bottle Rocket’s giddy brilliance. Jason Dohring (TV’s Ringer) stars as Elliott Knight, who’s accomplished a big bunch of nothing a decade after…
Quick
Swapping a bus for a motorcycle, it’s more than a fair comparison. Young, handsome Gi-soo (Min-ki Lee) has left behind his days as a former biker gang member, but not his sweet set of wheels, which he uses to make a meager living as a courier. On a run early in the day, he inadvertently…
Safe
Meanwhile, former cage fighter Luke Wright (Jason Statham, The Expendables 2) is on the brink of suicide after his wife was killed by the Russian mob when he didn’t throw a fight. He’s given purpose when he sees Mei being pursued by bad guys, and he steps in to save her. She’s wanted because of…
Anything but a drag
Opening its 14th season with gusto, Oklahoma City Theatre Company presents Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The show boasts a cult following; its inaugural Oklahoma City show was staged in 2001. The leading role of Hedwig has been performed by Matthew Alvin Brown each time. “When I was living in New York, I would see…
Show ’nuff!
CARPENTER SQUARE THEATRE Sept. 7-29: God of Carnage Oct. 19-Nov. 10: Lady Nov. 30-Dec. 22: The Last Romance Jan. 11-Feb. 2: The Good Counselor Feb. 22-Mar. 16: Mrs. Mannerly April 5-27: My Name Is Asher Lev May 17-June 8: Something Intangible June 28-July 20: Out of Sterno CELEBRITY ATTRACTIONS Oct. 9-14: Les Misérables Nov. 6-11:…
Start a brew-haha
From the city to the farm lands, locals are turning their love of beer into a pastime. The learning curve on home brewing is fairly small and the pleasure tremendous. “It’s a fun hobby,” said Gail White, owner of The Brew Shop, 3624 N. Pennsylvania. White believes the increase in popularity might also relate to…
Heady holidaze
Credit: Brad Gregg Or so suggests a press release last week issued by Warner Bros. Records shilling Flaming Lips swag for publications’ holiday gift guides. Among the items suggested are: —The Flaming Lips Silver Trembling Fetus Ornament, $30 and “back by popular demand … and not just for your Jewish friends”; —The Flaming Lips Gummy…
OKG7 Norman noshes
The Library Bar & Grill 607 W. Boyd, Norman 366-7465 Grab a Left Hand Sawtooth or get fancy with some Lindemans Framboise, to name just a couple of the many brews on tap. Munch on appetizers like chips and salsa or hot pretzels, or enjoy a full dinner: pizzas, sandwiches or salads. Happy hour runs…
CFN Quote of the Week
Hey! Read This:• Bigfoot DVD review
CFN Quote of the Week
Hey! Read This:• Bigfoot DVD review
Out of step
Despite projections of 70 miles of new sidewalks in 2009’s MAPS 3 campaign, the program’s Trails and Sidewalks Subcommittee was informed that the $9.1 million set aside for the projects would pay for only about 26 miles. Those 26 miles represent around 31 sidewalk alignments, selected using criteria such as proximity to schools, existing sidewalks…
The most amazing Chicken-Fried News you’ll ever read
Credit: Brad Gregg Odds are it was Bixby resident Todd Jason Rutherford. The New York Times reports that in 2010, Mr. Rutherford launched the website GettingBookReviews.com. He advertised to self-published authors eager to expand their fan base beyond friends and family members that he would write one review of their sparkling masterpiece for $99. For…
Matt Stansberry & the Romance — Let’s Brighten It Up
The brilliant new nine-player band brings all sorts of new layers to the formula. Stansberry’s melodies are good enough to stand on their own; the backing vocals, horn section and keys add another dimension to his sound. The title track bridges the gap between ’50s pop and soul, beaming like sunshine with a good amount…
Shining a light on crime
Happily, Oklahoma County was ahead of this trend, and a new law will make our efforts even more effective and cost-efficient. In spring 2010, I joined with judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys to create a new program called SHINE. It stands for Start Helping Impacted Neighborhoods Everywhere, and it created a structure for low-level, nonviolent…
Living off the grid
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US” lang=”EN-US”>At the shot of gun, thousands of optimists and opportunists – in wagons, on horse or on foot – raced to stake a claim and build a life. In northeast Oklahoma County, in a grove of post and blackjack oaks, mulberries and poke bushes, Rob Elliott and Cynthia Wilson are homesteading five…
Letters
Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to pbacharach@okgazette. com or sent online at okgazette.com, but include a city of residence and contact…
Letters
Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to pbacharach@okgazette. com or sent online at okgazette.com, but include a city of residence and contact…
Shadow of no doubt
Photo: Alex John Beck George Lewis Jr. — the New York City-based New Wave musician who performs as Twin Shadow — is in a different place than he was in the time surrounding the release of his 2010 debut, Forget. Touring behind that record found him abusing drugs, canceling some shows and waking up in…
Easy ethics
Marilyn Hughes Credit: Mark Hancock Oklahoma Ethics Commission Executive Director Marilyn Hughes and Ethics Commission General Counsel Rebecca Adams provided an overview and some practice filling out the new forms required of certain municipal and local candidates. In 2013, Oklahoma City voters will go to the polls to elect council wards 1, 3, 4 and…
Seeking the truth
Robin Howard The case is a controversial one for the Oklahoma City Police Department. Chief Bill Citty admitted that it was a mistake that family members were not informed of Howard’s death until four days later. The police department is not releasing documents related to the investigation, and has turned the completed investigation over…
Dress you up
When the fashion god calls, you answer. Anna Wintour — the editor-in-chief of the fashion bible known as Vogue — asks shopaholics around the globe to pump funds into the fashion industry — and the economy — with the fourth annual Fashion’s Night Out. Locally, Penn Square Mall is getting in on the action as…
Still lovin’ and learnin’
It was early 1972 when 13-year-old Tanya Tucker headed for Nashville to cut her very first record. By spring, “Delta Dawn” was a hit on every radio station in America. “I was in Las Vegas when I heard ‘Delta Dawn’ and myself on the radio for the first time,” Tucker said. “It was the beginning…
PR BS
Credit: Brad Gregg —“Restaurant Urges Fans to ‘Give Your Friends the Finger’ on National Chicken Finger Day®” —“Golf Rounds Up Nationwide, According to PGA of America” —“PostRock Announces Second Quarter Earnings Call” —“Rita K. Hill Recognized By Strathmore’s Who’s Who Worldwide Publication” —“Kill Speed Movie LAWSUIT – NETFLIX-Blockbuster Duped by Serial Plagerist” —“ON-THE-GO HEALTH PRODUCT:…
Silky smooth
The menu at Silks, Remington Park’s upscale dining option, is pretty much what you’d expect: steaks, seafood, pasta and a few sandwiches. The tablecloths are white. The servers are dressed up. But it’s the view that makes it. Sitting there, overlooking the track, turns a normal night out into an event. The races are right…
PR BS
Credit: Brad Gregg —“Restaurant Urges Fans to ‘Give Your Friends the Finger’ on National Chicken Finger Day®” —“Golf Rounds Up Nationwide, According to PGA of America” —“PostRock Announces Second Quarter Earnings Call” —“Rita K. Hill Recognized By Strathmore’s Who’s Who Worldwide Publication” —“Kill Speed Movie LAWSUIT – NETFLIX-Blockbuster Duped by Serial Plagerist” —“ON-THE-GO HEALTH PRODUCT:…
Cheaper than therapy
Credit: Brad Gregg YouPurge offers itself as an alternative for those who are sick of seeking gossip solace by visiting Internet chat sites. You get the same relief of unburdening your mind in anonymity without all the A/S/L propositions and dick pics. So go ahead: Call the number on YouPurge’s homepage and rant about your…
Gold in them thar dome?
Credit: Brad Gregg Built as a bank in 1958, the building was saved from destruction once before by its former owner in the 1990s after public protests. The dome has lost a number of its tenants in the past few years, including the Prohibition Room restaurant and bar. Now, Bank 7 officials plan to hold…
Metal man
You’re probably familiar with the phrase “less is more.” Whether you subscribe to this credo is another matter. But Oklahoma City-based designer and sculptor Larry Pickering believes there’s an undeniable truth in simplicity. “I’ve always been a simple person,” Pickering said. “I like simple colors. I like natural colors. I’m driven by that. I can…
Hair care
Hairstylist Madi Martin at Oklahoma City’s Starlite Salon is all too familiar with cancer. Her father-in-law, who has overcome prostate cancer, has been diagnosed with bone cancer. Eager to show her support in his fight, Martin decided to do what she does best — hairstyling — to raise money for the cause. The idea for…
2 Days in New York
According to online language tools, the title Meet the Fockers roughly translates to Rencontrer les Fockers in French. I bring this up only because Parisian-born actress Julie Delpy (Before Sunset) essentially has made a French-flavored version of that comedy with 2 Days in New York, which she directed and co-wrote. 2 Days plays for exactly…
Slim chance
You might think that Denver alt-country act Slim Cessna’s Auto Club would have claimed Oklahoma City as a second home a long time ago, but in its two-decade existence, this show marks its first time here. “It makes sense really, for us to play more in Oklahoma City,” bandleader Slim Cessna said. “I can’t believe…
Have a ball
Erin Richards at Erin Royce Clothing Credit: Shannon Cornman No, fall is my favorite because the breezes are cooler and the leaves change into beautiful hues of red, brown and yellow. The days are shorter (hooray, nighttime!) and warm drinks of the cider variety are highly encouraged. Also, the scarves. Oh, the scarves! For many…
Bigfoot
Personally, the morbid-curiosity draw isn’t seeing the giant hairy beast, but watching The Brady Bunch’s Barry Williams square off against The Partridge Family’s Danny Bonaduce. Not since ’80s pop tarts Tiffany and Debbie Gibson matched wits in Mega Python vs. Gatoroid has The Asylum’s casting been this interesting. Williams plays a former rock star turned…
Sweet Kill
Available exclusively from Shout! Factory’s online store, the Roger Corman production suggests that the sexual hang-ups of high school coach Eddie Collins (Hunter, Grease 2) are to blame on him watching his mom undress to her birthday suit when he was just a sneaker-wearing child sneaking peeks from her curtained closet. Which she knew. Discount…
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
Enter Charles P. Pierce, covering this week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. for Esquire’s The Politics Blog. Halfway through Gov. Mary Fallin’s speech, he nearly lost it. Recalling the Land Run of 1889 and the drilling of the first oil well in Oklahoma, Fallin said the state’s pioneers risked their own money and that…
Zombie A-Hole
I wish I could say the live-action Zombie A-Hole matched those felt-based shenanigans of Massacre; instead, I must admit being disappointed. While it exhibits flashes of Mills’ indie-minded manic brilliance, three things killed it for me: • amateurish acting, • nudity just for the sake of nudity (to a ridiculously exploitative degree), and • a…
Ten Thousand More Ways to Die: Spaghetti Western Collection
Specifically, Ten Thousand More Ways to Die, Mill Creek Entertainment’s follow-up to 2010’s Ten Thousand Ways to Die (naturally), counts Django, Kill! (If You Live Shoot!) among its dozen films. True, the quality of the print pales in comparison to Blue Underground’s recent Blu-ray reissue, but newcomers to the character — and there will be…
