Veteran reporter accepts Gaylord Prize in OKC
Hundreds of students, alumni, guests, faculty and staff from OU gathered Dec. 7 in the Century Ballroom at Sheraton Hotel, 1 N. Broadway, to witness the second inaugural Gaylord Prize event. This year, Gaylord College awarded the Gaylord Prize to Thomas L. Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winning economics reporter at the New York Times.…
Names in the News
The victim of fatal gunshots in Buffalo, N.Y., in October: Mr. Mister Rogers, 23. Arrested for flashing women in Annville Township, Pa., in October: Mr. Hung Thanh Vo, 19. Sentenced for burglary in Portland, Ore., in November (for a December 2008 incident in which he, nude, was detained by the 88-year-old female homeowner, who had…
Least Competent Car Owners
From a police report in the Oct. 6 Jersey Journal: An out-of-state visitor who parked his Ferrari Modena overnight on the street in Jersey City returned the next morning to find the car burglarized and a $100,000 Audemars Piguet watch that he had left inside the car missing. A still-unidentified driver who had just spent…
Learn from Dallas
A city’s public investments are a reflection of its social priorities. Oklahoma City has a history of deliberately supporting highway-induced suburban sprawl and a car-dependent culture. With the poorest one-fifth spending more than 30 percent of their budget on automobiles, the necessity of car ownership is a poverty trap in this community. Our unreliable and…
Oklahoman offers ‘paid volunteer leave’ for employees campaigning for MAPS 3
An Oklahoma Publishing Co. memo this week encouraged Oklahoman employees to earn paid volunteer leave to campaign in favor of voting for MAPS 3, according to Poynter.org’s Romenesko site. “The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce is looking for volunteers to walk key precincts and neighborhoods this Friday and Saturday to encourage people to vote for…
Inspiring children
As parents, we want our children to be healthy and happy. In today’s world, the allure of video games and passive activities compete with the childhood we knew, and although these activities provide entertainment for the children, it substantially increases the time spent in relative inactivity. Children are naturally active, and there can be new…
Friends of Mick
I’m responding to Avis Scaramucci’s letter praising MAPS 3 (‘A Vote of Confidence,’ Nov. 25). Domer and Phil Scaramucci and their wives, Janis and Avis, apparently have a close working relationship with Mayor Mick Cornett, chief proponent of MAPS 3. That family has contributed $17,800 to Cornett’s two campaigns for mayor and one campaign for…
News That Sounds Like a Joke
In September, prominent chocolate food engineer Hanna Frederick introduced her latest concoction at a conference of the Meat Industry Association in New Zealand: dark chocolate truffles tinged with venison and salami. Said Frederick: “There’s this smoky taste to start, then a strong chocolate flavor comes in, and at the end you have this wonderful taste…
Opposing our city’s progress’
Voting “yes” for MAPS has proven to be the best choice for OKC on MAPS 1 and MAPS 2. Trusting the process and the visible results of these two programs, I choose to fully support MAPS 3 with my ‘yes’ vote on Dec. 8, 2009. Union business agents have no good intention opposing our city’s…
MAPS 3 and state
Mayor Mick Cornett says if we pass MAPS 3 we will not have a tax increase. But if we do not pass MAPS 3 and six months later we pass the inevitable MAPS 4, will that be a tax increase? Or, will our taxes decrease if we do not pass MAPS 3? Congressional candidate and…
Address core city services
As a lifelong resident, I too would love to have all the things that MAPS 3 promises. However, the city leaders do not want to pay for the services that a growing city like ours requires. I have been an OKC firefighter for 15 years. Our department has decreased in number since I began my…
Questioning Wanda
In response to Wanda Jo Stapleton’s letter “Questioning Progress” (Nov. 18) ” yes, Wanda Jo, yes it is. It may not be the progress you envisioned in the past, but those railway battles have been fought, that war has been waged, and (cue salient metaphor) that train’s already left the station. The planned regional transit…
A critical first step’
The Union Station debate brought rail transit to the forefront of public and political awareness. While the matter involved saving a rail yard, of greater importance was changing our mindset and joining peer cities in the 21st century of public transportation. More importantly, it was about ensuring our economic future. The rail yard issue is…
Keep our city moving forward’
The American Institute of Architects, Central Oklahoma is a professional organization committed to serving the community and the profession by promoting excellence in, and public awareness of, the built environment through quality architecture. AIA believes that we are impacted daily by our built environment, and this is why the American Institute of Architects, Central Oklahoma…
Family Values
Kenny Jackson, 30, was arrested in St. Paul, Minn., in August after rampaging through his house, destroying furniture and menacing his son, 4, upon finding the boy wearing a blue shirt, which happens to be the color favored by a rival gang (to Jackson’s Bloods). In April, Helen Ford was evicted from her home of…
Dark Mirror
2007 Despite its reflection, “Dark Mirror” isn’t an Asian horror film, but an American take on that genre. That writer/director Pablo Proenza was able to do more than a little with very little is a testament to this indie effort. Even if it’s not entirely successful, the end result is certainly admirable. Lisa Vidal (apparently,…
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
The week ahead will be a ripe time to pull off magic reversals. May I suggest that you try to transform dishwater greys into sparkling golds? Or how about recycling the dead energy of a lost cause in such a way as to generate raw fuel for a fresh start? I’m confident, Gemini, that you’ll…
Paper Heart
2009 In the quasi-documentary “Paper Heart,” Charlyne Yi has co-written a neat twist on the romantic comedy by blurring identity and reality. The premise is this: Yi, playing herself, claims to not believe in love. She agrees to let her direc tor friend Nicholas Jasenovec (the only person in the movie who doesn’t play himself;…
OCU may soon kiss frog on west side of Downtown
As redevelopment efforts have flourished in the central business district, Bricktown, Deep Deuce and Midtown in the last decade, the west side of downtown has had a few victories. Overall, it is still littered with vacant lots, dilapidated buildings and a former automobile manufacturing plant largely underused. OPPORTUNITY FORMER FILM DISTRICT FITS THE PICTURE That…
Paseo’s aka Gallery displays ‘free spirit’s’ work
If anyone has ever considered himself a free spirit, it would be Dustin Oswald. His new exhibit, ” Right Where You Are,” opens Friday at the aka Gallery, 3001 Paseo. The exbibit features 25 of his new pieces, all with the underlying theme of living in the moment and remaining conscious of the world. He…
Needed: ‘MAPS for people’
Planners of the first MAPS sales tax projects launched new pride in our city’s appearance, development and national reputation. The problem is that sales taxes always fall most heavily upon middle-income and lower-income families, while benefits of MAPS projects ” particularly the proposals for MAPS 3 ” all feed the investment dreams of Oklahoma City’s…
Frat Party
2009 I’d say “Frat Party” is one of the worst movies you’ll ever see, but I hope this review dissuades you from ever laying eyes on it. The T&A flick is so uncreative, so painful, I’m hoping its logical target — fraternity brothers — even despises it. Not a single laugh is to be found…
At 78, country legend George Jones is a Cracker Barrel regular
A testament to his iconic status, country legend George Jones has more greatest-hits compilations than even the most prolific musicians have traditional albums. His latest, “A Collection of My Best Recollection,” contains 12 of his classics, including “Why Baby Why,” “The Race Is On,” “White Lightnin’,” and, of course, “He Stopped Lovin’ Her Today,” along…
Yikes!
Lisa Blair and her six sisters were enjoying a Thanksgiving meal in Hamilton, Ontario (in Canada, Thanksgiving was Oct. 12), when they began noticing suspicious flecks in the food and realized that their necklace lockets, containing the ashes of their mother (who had passed away two weeks earlier) were leaking. A local funeral services store…
Eager for death-row sentence
In October in Orange County, Calif., Billy Joe Johnson, who had just been convicted of murder as a hit man for a white supremacist gang, begged the judge and jury, in all sincerity, to sentence him to death. Johnson knew that those on California’s death row get individual cells and better telephone access, nicer contact-visit…
Eyewitnesses spot alligator at OKC youth park pond
Remember the alligator sighting at a metro apartment complex last month? Well, the gator’s back, and he’s signed a new lease to make a city pond his home. Or it could just be an angry beaver. In October, an alligator was spotted at the Willow Cliff Lakeshore Apartments. Last week, an alligator was spotted about…
New book chronicles rise, fall, rebirth of Oklahoma City’s crown jewel: Skirvin Hilton Hotel
Two veteran newspaper reporters who chronicled the turbulent years and subsequent rebirth of downtown Oklahoma City in a 2006 book have returned with a volume about the rise, fall and rising again of what many consider the city’s crown jewel: the Skirvin Hilton Hotel. DE FACTO HISTORIANS FORMER GLORY SPIRITUAL EFFIE Jack Money and Steve…
(Untitled)’ is effective art-snob satire that hangs from great acting
High art is both lampooned and championed in writer/director Jonathan Parker’s knowing satire “(Untitled).” Adam Goldberg (TV’s “The Unusuals”) is well-cast as the movie’s brooding musician Adrian, a “sound artist” whose sparsely attended cacophonous concerts drive even his otherwise supportive parents to the exit doors. To make matters worse, his brother, Josh (Eion Bailey, “Mindhunters”),…
A down payment on transportation
The MAPS 3 proposal provides a substantive, responsible first step toward a comprehensive regional transit system. If there is any one element in MAPS that is truly and defiantly “citizen initiated,” it is the MAPS transit proposal. Undoubtedly, for many years, grassroots activism has surrounded the desire for a workable local and commuter transit system.…
Local pugilist previously brandished dukes in the rink
Nine fights into his professional boxing career and Ron Aubrey is still working on transforming his reputation from brawler to bona fide boxer. His ambitious quest no doubt flies in the face of the old adage about the rigors of teaching old dogs new tricks, considering the Oklahoma City-based fighter turned 43 back in September.…
Downtown in December presents annual Santa Run
While the holidays are primarily known for bringing us all a little extra bulk, Downtown OKC Inc. offers locals a way to stay trim after eating their way through the season. The sixth annual Santa Run is a 5K and one-mile fun run that steps off at 9 p.m. Saturday at Leadership Square, 211 N.…
Former Norman sportswriter passes away
For longtime University of Oklahoma sports fans and Norman residents, this past week had sad news off the field. Jim Weeks, a well-regarded and respected sports editor at The Norman Transcript, died after battling Alzheimer’s disease for the past several years, The Transcript reported. He was 76 years old. Weeks starting working at The Transcript…
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
“There is light enough for those who wish to see,” wrote French philosopher Blaise Pascal, “and darkness enough for those of the opposite disposition.” I’m hoping you will align yourself with the first group in the coming week, Aquarius. More than ever before, what you choose to focus on will come rushing in to meet…
Dangling promises’
With all due respect to the honorable mayor, he needs to get better writers to help him with his letters: These sweeping, Obama-esque proclamations of unity and togetherness are empty and tired. Unbeknownst to you, Mayor Mick Cornett, some of us are fans of the early seasons of “The Simpsons” and remember “Marge vs. the…
Associated Press becoming less local, less meaningful
The Associated Press is cutting staff, like most everybody else on the planet, and regionalizing its operations ” and that’s not good for Oklahoma news consumers. The not-for-profit news cooperative, which has won 49 Pulitzer Prizes, has been the standard bearer of journalism for 163 years. It’s an institution widely respected for its news coverage…
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
When Carolee Schneeman was a kid, her extravagant adoration of nature earned her the nickname “mad pantheist.” Later, during her career as a visual artist, she described her relationship with the world this way: “I assume the senses crave sources of maximum information, that the eye benefits by exercise, stretch, and expansion towards materials of…
The Continuing Crisis
Veteran marathoner Jerry Johncock, 81, was four-fifths through the Twin Cities Marathon in October when he was overtaken by a medical problem common to men of his age: urinary blockage. As he stopped to discuss his plight with officials, noting that he would have to quit the race to get to a hospital before his…
Wayne Coyne and ‘the invisible hand’
My mother, who died in 2004, was aware of the things poor families needed. So throughout the year she would look out for useful, “poor family things” at garage sales and thrift stores. I remember her excitement at buying a set of knives, spoons and forks ” all for just 25 cents. At the end…
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History hosts scavenger hunt
The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History has created a scavenger hunt for kids to help them find the artistic beauty within the exhibits. In “Picturing Oklahoma,” kids can choose a gallery within any of the exhibits to learn about the state’s past and present history. The list includes clues and specific graphics and…
Sooner Theatre wants audiences to grab fairy dust as ‘Peter Pan’ flies into Norman
0″ />Ambitious productions, great performances, fantastic live music and an unmistakable sense of fun have been constants in recent Sooner Theatre shows, and “Peter Pan” is no exception. Based on the play by James M. Barrie that later was adapted into a Broadway musical, Sooner’s production features great songs and choreography, colorful sets and costumes,…
Four young-but-committed musicians assemble a psychedelic Action! plan
The four men of Norman psychedelic rock outfit Action! are just babies, relatively speaking. UNDER-THE-RADAR ACTS RELEASE CELEBRATION Each piece of the quartet ” Zach Nedbalek, Ben Murdaugh, Travis Pierce and Geo Morgan ” is only 20 years old. Do not, however, let Action!’s infancy serve as deterrence; those baby faces belie a collective experience…
There’s nothing fishy about City Rep’s take on ‘A Tuna Christmas’
“A Tuna Christmas” is the second in a popular series of plays about Tuna, the fictional third-smallest town in Texas. The story revolves around the town’s annual Christmas yard display contest, won the previous 14 years by town snob and acting leader of the local Smut-Snatchers, Vera Carp, who has taken to censoring an already…
English singer/songwriter Bobby Long sticks it out in America
While success is a long, hard slough for some, others find it charges like lighting. English singer/songwriter Bobby Long was finishing his final collegiate year studying film and sound when “Twilight” struck. SECURE THE RIGHTS TWO-WEEK TOUR ASSEMBLING DEBUT Long had nurtured a friendship with a trio of London performers ” Sam Bradley, Marcus Foster…
Chronic social-media users may not require rehab, but are hooked
Feet tap an irregular rhythm. Fingers are swollen and twitchy and scratch up and down arms, desperate to placate an itch that is proving insatiable. And the look. The look on the face says it all. “I have to tweet this.” HOW TWEET IT IS ALL EARS BUSTED ON THE BLACKBERRY HOW TO UNPLUG While…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
White dwarfs are small and extremely dense stars. They’re typically no bigger than the Earth but as heavy as the sun. You currently have a resemblance to one of those concentrated balls of pure intensity. I have rarely seen you offering so much bang for the buck. You are as flavorful as chocolate mousse, as…
Appalachian alt-country singer/songwriter holds attention with wisdom, foreboding new album
The surest way someplace isn’t always a straight line. Malcolm Holcombe will tell you that. An anachronistic songwriter, he sounds like he’s fresh from the mountain with a creaking twang and the raspy growl of a murder ballad come to life. The musician has a down-home vernacular and a carpe diem attitude that comes out…
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XVI
y continues its bang-up job of collecting episodes of the late, great “Mystery Science Theater 3000” TV series with “Volume XVI.” We’re up so high that I’m starting to think a few seconds on what the Roman numerals translate to. This four-disc set bestows another quartet of ultra-cheesy movies made more than watchable by our…
Oklahoma City voters will decide on the latest capital improvement projects Dec. 8
On Tuesday, Oklahoma City voters head to the polls to determine the fate of MAPS 3, the city’s latest version of capital improvement projects. The ballot contains one question: asking for voter approval or denial of extending an existing one-cent sales tax on all goods sold in Oklahoma City. If approved, the tax would go…
(Untitled)’ is effective art-snob satire that hangs from great acting
High art is both lampooned and championed in writer/director Jonathan Parker’s knowing satire “(Untitled).” Adam Goldberg (TV’s “The Unusuals”) is well-cast as the movie’s brooding musician Adrian, a “sound artist” whose sparsely attended cacophonous concerts drive even his otherwise supportive parents to the exit doors. To make matters worse, his brother, Josh (Eion Bailey, “Mindhunters”),…
Series of dreams
Oklahoma City said “yes” to a dream when its citizens voted in favor of a set of initiatives that forever changed the face of our city 16 years ago. We said “yes” to a new arena, the Ford Center, that now houses Oklahoma’s first professional sports team, the OKC Thunder. We said yes to a…
Your council is in fantasyland
Imposing a new MAPS tax on OKC residents is economic insanity. Sensible people don’t build expensive, unnecessary projects at the beginning of a depression. But our City Council is in fantasyland. The national economy is collapsing, dragging states and towns with it. Unemployment, bankruptcies and foreclosures are rising. Tax collections are falling. The Oklahoma budget…
A call for civility
One of the things that makes Oklahoma City a great city is the friendliness and cordiality of its citizens. However, aside from partisan elections for political office, this MAPS election seems to have developed a particularly vitriolic tone. As the MAPS 3 election approaches this Tuesday, we must make an extra effort to be civil…
Dylan Hammett – 13 Steps
ive=9325&creativeASIN=B001SAQVDQ”>Green Day ‘s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”‘ is stripped and sterile, as is “You Belong To Me,” which would be ethereal if the lush, legato cello weren’t masked by church-worship guitar work. “Good News” is a bad-news Juliana Hatfield , and “Supernova” collapses into a black hole of chorus effect and undulating percussion,…
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Roald Dahl’s body of work has lent itself to myriad film adaptations, some good (“James and the Giant Peach”) and some not-so-good (“The Witches”). The best adaptations keep Dahl’s sense of dark humor intact, pitting his protagonists against villains representing conformity, ignorance, and society’s status quo. It seems a natural fit for writer/director Wes Anderson…
Terminator Salvation
2009 John Connor is still at it, trying to save the world from pesky robots and a bleak timeline that promises to render the planet a cratered-out wasteland unfit for human life. In the not-so-distant future, Connor (Christian Bale) is the unofficial leader of The Resistance, the target of machines hell-bent on assassinating him before…
Police question bunny-costume-wearing Oklahoma man
Some bunny got pulled over! Specifically, a young man in a pink rabbit costume, sans mask, according to a report in The Woodward News. On Nov. 19, police were summoned to the city’s McDonald’s restaurant because visiting Elk City students had complained of being harassed by the would-be Peter Cottontail. How did he harass them?…
Pollard Theatre stages 22nd annual Oklahoma original, ‘A Territorial Christmas Carol’
Set in the days of the Land Run, this adaptation of Charles Dickens’ beloved novel succeeds in transporting the familiar tale of the redemption of infamous holiday-hater Ebenezer Scrooge from the world of London, England, to the recently settled Oklahoma Territory. While the setting change works quite effectively, the best parts of the play are…
Ninja Assassin
Ninjas were historically clandestine, disciplined warriors trained to skulk from the shadows and strike from the darkness like phantoms of death. The feudal mercenaries in “Ninja Assassin,” however, are more akin to whirring Cuisinarts that spin, slice and puree targets into a frapp
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
An estuary is a bay where the salt water of a sea mixes with the fresh water of rivers. These days you remind me of such a place. You are two-toned, Libra. You’re dual-purpose and double-tracked. You’re a hybrid blend of the yes and the no, the give and the take, the extravagant and the…
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Big shiny egos with flashy tricks may be mucking around in everyone’s business, calling narcissistic attention to themselves as they pretend to do noble deeds. Meanwhile, I hope you’ll be doing the hard, detailed work that must be done to serve the greater good — quietly and unpretentiously improving people’s lives without demanding major tribute.…
Highway patrol evacuates Oklahoma State Captiol building
Remember all those fire drills and tornado drills we use to have to practice in elementary school with our classmates every few months? What a great excuse that was to get out of history class for a few minutes. Well, it was like being back in elementary school for several workers at the state Capitol…
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
In an early version of the tale of Pinocchio, friendly woodpeckers chiseled his nose back to its original size after it had grown enormous from his incorrigible lying. From a metaphorical perspective, Capricorn, a comparable development may soon occur in your own life. A benevolent (if somewhat rough) intervention akin to the woodpeckers’ assistance will…
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History explores Charles Darwin’s scientific contributions
“It is a richly illustrated travel narrative that made Darwin famous around the world,” Magruder said. “But more than that, it helped define for 19th-century readers the character of the naturalist as an explorer, an adventurer ”? someone who on a day-by-day basis encountered the sublime and the exotic in nature. “It’s a page-turner and…
OKC airwaves feature return of The Spy
Finally, we here at Chicken-Fried News have something else to listen to other than KGOU and CFN intern Bucky’s constant complaining. Not that we don’t love our local NPR station, but it’s nice to hear music again. After five long years in the desert of bad music, The Spy has saved us. At 12:01 a.m.…
