Recurring Themes
More people who put their brains on “standby” while using satellite navigation systems: In July, a group of 10 children and 16 adults from California were stranded in their cars in wilderness near cliffs close to the Grand Canyon, to which they had been misdirected by their navigation system. Rescuers were able to talk them…
A News of the Weird Classic (December 1999)
Saskatchewan physician John Schneeberger, then 31, implanted a thin, 6-inch tube of someone else’s blood in his own arm in order to beat a DNA test after two female patients had accused him of rape. He cut open his bicep, inserted the tube, and pushed it down to the crook of the arm from which…
Least Competent Criminals
Robert Garrett, 33, and Jesse Dyer, 32, were arrested in Lincoln, Neb., in November and charged with burglary and the theft of a 55-inch TV, which they had taken to their car, only to realize that it wouldn’t fit. When a next-door neighbor spotted them, they tried to bribe her for $100, to hold the…
Science on the Cutting Edge
Latest Off-Label Uses of Viagra: Britain’s The Sun reported in November that Calvin Muteesa, 2, of South London has been forced to take Viagra four times a day since he was 3 months old to stave off a potentially fatal case of pulmonary arterial hypertension. And Bentley, a 7-year-old springer spaniel, has apparently recovered from…
The Continuing Crisis
A group of recently published cookbooks touting imaginative dishes served by world-renowned chefs includes Ferran Adria’s volume on just his everyday fare at the world’s top-rated elBulli in Spain. Probably too complex for home cooking are the parmesan ice cream sandwiches, quail eggs with crispy caramel coating, calamari tube ravioli with coconut gel, and especially…
Video game enthusiasts aren’t just arcade rats, prepubescent shut-ins anymore
R.O.B. stared out blankly from his perch on a shelf, flanked by stacks of gaming magazines and other related novelties collected over the years. The ill-fated Robotic Operating Buddy from the Nintendo Entertainment System is just one of the many obscure treasures in Eddy Hrdlicka’s apartment, including a “Halo” Master Chief helmet, posters and 540…
Poet reflects on life in Oklahoma and California in ‘The Wrath of Grapes’
Like the Joads of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” three generations of local poet Tracy Townsend’s family fled Oklahoma for California, beginning in the Dust Bowl. Unlike the Joads, the Townsends came back. That shift in states “? and back again “? informs the pieces of her first full-length book, “The Wrath of Grapes,”…
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Four out of every five people testify that if such a thing were possible, they would buy more time. If you’re one of those four, I’m here to tell you that conditions in the coming months will provide some interesting opportunities. While you may not be able to actually purchase more of that precious commodity,…
Electric Touch charged, ready to light up a ‘Green’-themed Christmas show
Switching on less than two years ago, the Austin, Texas-based Electric Touch has quickly charged through the South Texas music grid and is generating enough current to power performances throughout the high-profile music festival circuit. SHINY GLOSSOKGREENFEST The band’s energy is derived from immediately catchy pop songs that fuse layers of straight-ahead rock guitars with…
Case challenging Oklahoma’s foster care faces hurdles
A case which could dramatically change Oklahoma’s foster care system faces two major hurdles in the coming weeks. The first deals with whether the case has merit, and the second would take the case from a simple lawsuit to class-action status. BETTER ARGUMENTCLAIM BOLSTER In February, New York-based Children’s Rights filed a major federal lawsuit…
National group helps to restore Oklahoma properties
A community’s historic buildings are more than just reminders of the past; they also connect generations through their shared experiences with these sites, said Daniel Carey, director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Southwest Office. “A community that loses its sites loses its memory. It loses a sense of place ” a place of…
Oklahoma’s restaurants could be bitten by new Ethics Commission rule
A new ethics rule intended to crack down on the direct influence between lobbyists and legislators may have some unintended consequences. In July, a new rule was enacted by the Oklahoma Ethics Commission that lowered the limit a lobbyist can spend buying gifts and meals for elected officials. The limit went from $300 per year…
Pantsless caganer
The Christmas Nativity scenes in northeast Spain’s Catalonia region have, for three centuries, featured not only Mary and the Three Wise Men but the ubiquitous “caganer” icon, always portrayed with pants down answering a call of nature (and often so obscured in the scene as to popularize Where’s-Waldo-type guessing by children). The origin of the…
Some Oklahoma churches split from U.S. Episcopal Church
Oklahoma City Anglican and Episcopalian congregations are taking different directions in response to the news recently that a new Anglican province, or group, is being formed in the United States. Representatives from hundreds of churches, including at least one from Oklahoma City, met in Chicago and adopted a provisional constitution on Dec. 3, giving birth…
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
In the Broadway play “Passing Strange,” the narrator Stew says, “You know how one morning you wake up as an adult and you realize your entire life is based on a decision you made as a teenager?” If that description applies to you, Cancerian, 2009 will be the best year ever to do something about…
Leading Economic Indicators
Budget Relief for the California Government: A homeless transient, Steven Butcher, 50, was convicted of starting fires in the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Barbara in 2002 and 2006 (the latter which burned 163,000 acres) and in November was sentenced to nearly four years in prison. When Butcher gets out, he can work on…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Happy Holy Daze, Pisces! My gift to you is advice about the coming year. First, read this quote from W.H. Auden’s book The Dyer’s Hand. “A daydream is a meal at which images are eaten. Some of us are gourmets, some gourmands, and a good many take their images precooked out of a can and…
Tropic Thunder
2008 The best type of comedy, which rarely come along in Hollywood films, is that which mixes well-written jokes with a dose of improv and genuinely funny actors. “Tropic Thunder” manages all this, easily, with a near-perfect script of comedic marks nailed by a stellar cast of actors who effortlessly hit, riff and romp with…
Oklahoma filing mistakes make for board games
Virgil Lee Wallace Sr. decided to run for a spot on the Tulsa school board. He filed as a candidate before the deadline to run in District 2, against incumbent Oma Jean Copeland. One problem, however, according to a report in the Tulsa World: He had meant to file in District 3. Wallace was only…
Burglary suspect allegedly robs on day of another trial
We swear, sometimes these things just write themselves. Zachary Shaw, a 24-year-old from Tulsa, was arrested earlier this month in connection to an early-morning robbery, which allegedly occurred the same day the man was set to stand trial for “¦ you guessed it … previous robbery allegations. According to the Tulsa World, Shaw was scheduled…
American Teen
2008 Regardless of your own high school experience, chances are a lot of memories will come flooding back with “American Teen,” a remarkable documentary that chronicles four teens navigating their senior year. Oscar-nominated documentarian Nanette Burstein took her cameras to small town Warsaw, Ind., to follow school archetypes familiar to anyone who remembers John Hughes…
Tulsa jazz outfit brings 2,000 years of fictional history to Uptown United
If a “Space Music”-era Miles Davis joined Meredith Monk to form an acid rock band, BEN.BEN. would be the approximate result. The handful of tracks from the Tulsa group’s new EP, “New Stone Works,” are playfully cryptic, sparse and, at times, impenetrable. Some listeners will find the bizarre odyssey thrilling, and others might find it…
Figuring out a few items to include on a holiday wish list
Only eight days left until Christmas and I’ve finally taken time out of my hectic holiday season schedule to jot down a few items on my annual wish list. It’s been a great 2008 so far, and while I probably fall somewhere in the middle on the whole naughty or nice thing, I’m hoping to…
Pollard Theatre’s holiday play returns for 21st season
Looking to the past, present and future is cause for change “? at least for one Scrooge. Pollard Theatre’s most popular play, “A Territorial Christmas Carol,” returns for its 21st season and a series of performances that stage today through Sunday at the Guthrie venue. Ghosts of the past and present pay a visit to…
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Happy Holy Daze, Scorpio! If I could give you one symbolic gift to set the right tone for 2009, it might be a clear glass vase with a potato growing partially submerged in water, allowing you to see its gnarly roots. I’d hope that would inspire you to put diligent yet playful effort into getting…
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Happy Holy Daze, Taurus! If I were gong to give you a holiday gift, it might be a ticket to go visit your imaginary friend — you know, the invisible ally you’ve been neglecting . . . the sweet, fierce companion who lives in the threshold between the light and dark . . . the…
Okay, Oklahoma faces crime after dismissing police officers
Just days after a small northeastern Oklahoma town dismissed its two-man police force, robbers looted the police station and absconded with equipment, money and a gun. A witness in Okay ” a town of about 600 situated seven miles north of Muskogee ” called the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office about 3 a.m. Dec. 8, and…
Thunder roll call
Oklahoma City has a great deal for which to be proud. Virtually recession-proof, economically stable and culturally diverse, we are certainly a city on the move and our commitment to the new NBA franchise is evidence of our strength as a community. While other cities are struggling to sell tickets, the Oklahoma City Thunder occasionally…
Nothing Like the Holidays
Here’s something you don’t see every year: a new Christmas movie that isn’t about characters who use the holiday as an excuse for making fools of themselves before learning in a swift 90 minutes The True Meaning of Christmas, which is, of course, that we should all get along “¦ at least until we start…
Northwest Classen students do their part to keep trash out of landfills
After lugging around bags of empty soda bottles for an environmental club at her Oklahoma City high school, 17-year-old Andrea Hernandez decided to take her eco-ethics home to a family that wasn’t all that excited to hear her ideas. Her mother acted confused when she found her daughter labeling the family’s trash bins by categories:…
Animals in ‘Jungle Book’ do not quite come to life
It would be nice to report that if all the Christmas shows playing around town have you down, Oklahoma City Theatre Company is offering a respite in the jungles of India, which is about as far as you can get from the North Pole without being at the South Pole. Alas, OCTC’s production of Rudyard…
Prayers instead of poems
State Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, has wasted no time pushing her religious agenda since her re-election to the Oklahoma House last month. Kern, along with state Rep. Mike Reynolds, another Oklahoma City Republican, has introduced the “Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act” for the 2009 state Legislature to consider. The bill should actually be titled the…
Ashes of Time Redux
ough the seasons of one year, each one bringing a different story of woe or revenge. In one, Brigitte Lin (“Chungking Express”) plays a brother and sister, Murong Yin and Murong Yang. The brother wants a man killed who promised to marry the sister, but then abandoned her, and the sister wants her brother killed…
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
One of your most fun assignments in 2009 will be not only to think way outside of the box but also to think way outside of the bigger and more interesting (but nonetheless boxy) boxes that all the outside-the-box thinkers customarily think inside. That’s why, if I could give you a Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, and…
The Day the Earth Stood Still
officers and whisked away to a military installation, where she and a group of scientists are informed that in about an hour, a large object from space will crash into Manhattan’s Central Park. When the moment comes, the object “? which turns out to be a huge, translucent sphere “? slows down and lands. Helen…
OKC band reaches end of road
The rock ‘n’ roll road has ceased for Streets of Thieves, a metro metal band ending its four-year run with a show in Oklahoma City. In an e-mail, singer Dirk Mathews wrote the breakup was neither “happy” nor “unhappy,” and came as the band’s four members moved on to separate commitments in the military, at…
Oklahoma City’s Academy of Contemporary Music accepts applicants
Students eager to enroll in Oklahoma City’s new Academy of Contemporary Music may now apply for admission, organizers said. Patterned after an acclaimed British school and directed by Flaming Lips manager Scott Booker, the University of Central Oklahoma academy is set to open fall 2009, offering students courses of study in vocal, guitar, bass and…
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
When she applied for admission to New York University as an undergraduate, Rehka Malhotra was rejected. Years later, after she’d become a well-known Brooklyn DJ, that same school invited her to teach a class, “Pop Culture: South Asians in the U.S.” “It was the sweetest revenge,” she told Good magazine. I predict a comparable development…
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
What I foresee for you in 2009 is an upgrade in your approach to creating and maintaining your alliances. I envision you having dramatically enhanced intuition about how to connect with people in satisfying and interesting ways. I picture you being able to push beyond your habit-bound ways of conducting your relationships, ensuring that you’ll…
Oklahoma pump judge faces DUI charge
It must be rough to go to prison for indecent exposure as a sitting judge. We’re guessing it’s enough to drive one to drink. Or vice-versa. Former Oklahoma judge Donald Thompson, 62, was released from prison in April after serving 20 months for his conviction only to find himself behind bars in the chokey, according…
Capitol gallery display features technology, scientific discoveries
Cutting-edge technology and scientific discoveries influence an Oklahoma City artist who creates artwork with a component of controlled chaos. Sarah Hearn’s “Connecting Constellations of an Intangible Universe,” on display at the North Gallery of the state Capitol, connects science and art to represent the natural relationship between science and photography. Hearn said her artwork “comments…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
At Salon.com’s forum “Table Talk,” participants were urged to come up with a six-word sentence that captured the essence of their lives. One person wrote, “Broke. Payday. Broke. Payday. Broke. Payday.” Another said, “Oh, no, not again. Again. Again.” But the testimony I really wanted to call your attention to is this: “I never learned…
OMRF doctors chart next wave of preventative care
When “Walt” was a young man, he was active, energetic and worked in the military as a medical officer. Through a 30-year military career, he remained physically fit into his 40s, to the point that he could scale the obstacle course faster than the young Marines he was tasked to treat. POINT OF CRISISEARLY ON…
Philip Zoellner Band puts away piano, turns up guitars
Marked by crisp vocals, tight and efficient melodies, and solid songwriting, power pop is the benchmark for mainstream rock. Tulsa trio The Philip Zoellner Band is on its third album of sharp and shrewd rock, and the act’s latest offering, “I Love Jets,” is soaked to the bone with a world-weary weaving of American rock…
Science Museum Oklahoma features deep-sea exhibit
Ahoy, matey! Climb aboard for a deep-sea exploration. An adventure awaits young oceanic explorers at “Shipwreck! Pirates and Treasure,” an interactive exhibit with games and more than 300 marine and pirate artifacts. The exhibit is on display at Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 N.E. 52nd. Climb aboard the “Quarter Deck” and marvel at treasures of gold…
Norman’s famous porcupine passes away
It’s not every day a community mourns the death of a porcupine, but Della was different. The Norman Transcript reported that Della the Porcupine died last week at the Little River Zoo, which is located south of Norman off Highway 9. The 8-year-old critter, described as a popular attraction at the zoo, died peacefully overnight.…
KGOU reporter fished out some of Oklahoma’s best news stories for NPR
KGOU news director Scott Gurian remembers the first story he did when he joined the Oklahoma public radio station back 2004 ” it was a comparison piece between his native New Jersey and his soon-to-be-new home. He asked New Yorkers for advice. LAST DAY10 FIRST-PLACE AWARDS “I spent an afternoon walking around Times Square and…
The Customer Is Always Wrong
At least one good thing has come out of the economic recession. Well, if you’re Tulsa author Jeff Martin, that is, and you’ve just edited the new anthology “The Customer Is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles,” which collects 21 essays of store-set suffering. “A year ago when we were putting this book together, we had…
People Different From Us
Larry and Diana Moyer set out in November from Beaver Dam, Wis., in their oversized RV to spend some warm days in St. Petersburg, Fla. Since they travel with their pets, Jack (Diana’s “service” kangaroo) and Edward (an elderly goat that uses a cart for mobility because of front-leg paralysis), their route south was circuitous…
Momma’s Man’ presents boring story of a man afraid of real life, growing up
Opposite the feeling most adults get after such a trip, Mikey decides his holiday visit with his parents just wasn’t enough, in “Momma’s Man.” Lying about trouble with his flight, Mikey (Matt Boren) leaves the airport and heads back to his childhood home, insisting to both mom and dad ” and his wife ” that…
Oklahoma City council approves TIF for Devon headquarters
Oklahoma City’s council today voted 8-1 to approve a new Tax Increment District, or TIF, for downtown Oklahoma City. The planned TIF will exist in the footprint of the proposed tower headquarters for Devon Energy, across from Myriad Gardens and next door to the Colcord Hotel. Mayor Mick Cornett and seven city council members supported…
