Least Competent Person
Daniel Petric, 15 at the time, shot his parents in October 2007 (killing his mother) after they took away his violent Halo 3 video game. In January 2009, Judge James Burge pronounced Petric guilty of murder, rejecting his lawyers’ claim that Petric was insane at the time because he had confused “killing” cartoon avatars with…
Recurring Themes
More People Disrespecting Railroad Tracks: Toronto police officers investigating a robbery at The Beer Store in January parked their cruiser to investigate but admitted later (after a train had crushed it) that it was probably “a little bit on the tracks.” A 68-year-old driver got stuck on tracks in Anaheim, Calif., in December, and when…
No Time for Rehab
Katherine Kelly, 76, was arrested in November for stealing a wallet from a supermarket basket in New York City. It was her 73rd arrest, at least, with 16 convictions, but police say it could be more, in that they’ve found 36 aliases so far. Henry Earl, 58, of Lexington, Ky., gave rehab one more try…
Organization suing Oklahoma Department of Human Services submits remedies
Children’s Rights, a child advocacy group based in New York, has submitted its list of remedies in its lawsuit against the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. The organization is pursuing a class action lawsuit against the state for allegations of child abuse to children in the state’s foster care system. U.S. District Judge Greg Frizzell…
People With Issues
“I take (my baby) to the park … maybe put it in its stroller, or put it in its sling, or hold it in a blanket,” the 49-year-old “mother” told ABC News reporters in January, lovingly describing her play-like infant. She is of the “reborn” community of women whose maternal instinct leads them to mother…
Unclear on the Concept
In November, some African-American leaders in Danville, Ill., complained when eight black players were cut from the Danville High School basketball team at once, charging that the coach was engaging in “racial profiling” by, in the words of a black pastor, “(taking) a look at the way the young men wore their hair.” The coach…
Sentence correction
At Channel 5 in the 1980s, I interviewed Roger Dale Stafford, one of Oklahoma’s most notorious serial killers. Like almost everyone on death row, Roger proclaimed his innocence until his execution. Years later, I was asked about the death sentence and my response was that people like Roger could go to heaven or go to…
Choke
2008 There’s a reason the outr
He’s Just Not That Into You
ay guys hanging around to lend irreverent, sassy relationship advice, or no one would ever get together. While there are a couple of semi-funny moments and Miss “Soft and Floppy” Johansson gets it on in a skimpy negligee, there’s not much going on here to put in the “pros” column. Boring, stupid and, at 129…
Edmond Running Club hosts Frigid Five
Valentine’s Day is so predictable, so why not throw your loved one a curveball by signing up for a 5-mile run during one of the most bitterly cold times of the year? Nothing says “I love you” better than mutual suffering, right? That will be the mantra of hundreds of devoted runners this Saturday as…
Inexplicable
Police in New Britain, Conn., arrested Joel Rubin, 42, in January and charged him with using a stolen credit card, but unanswered was why Rubin also tried to use his own store discount card to get a lower price on the merchandise. It was Rubin’s name on the discount card that tipped off police, and…
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
In creating this oracle, I’ve borrowed words from the artist and poet Wolff Bowden. Please steal them from me and use them in cryptic, affectionate communiqués that will deepen your connection with someone who makes your heart sing. Here’s the first batch: “You belong to love as wheels belong to roads, as grapes belong to…
Big 12 tourneys return to OKC for a second run
Exactly one month from today, the encore comes to town. The Thunder heads west for a three-game road swing and leaves the Oklahoma City spotlight shining brightly for its basketball brethren (and sistren) from the Big 12 Conference. That’s right: On March 11, the Big 12 Basketball Championships return for the second time in the…
Oklahoma lawmakers, investigators now want to snag DNA before convictions
The law wants DNA. No fewer than 10 bills are in consideration at the Oklahoma Legislature this session requiring collection of the DNA profile of a subject, some at the point of arrest rather than conviction. EXPUNGING THE RECORDS NATIONAL DATABASE CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS However, a sticking point for some legislators appears to be the issue…
The real ‘gay agenda’
In a speech to a John Birch Society-sponsored event reported Feb. 4, 2009, in Oklahoma Gazette, state Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, pronounced that she had discovered the “gay agenda.” There is a long-standing joke in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community ” anytime someone mentions the “gay agenda” someone will say, “Have…
Native American middleweight opens up doors in the boxing world
Spectacle has a long, proud tradition in boxing, and the walk-in is the moment where a fighter can use a cavalcade of trainers and booming music to intimidate the opponent while psyching up his fans. As far as entrances go, few can best Lawton’s George “Comanche Boy” Tahdooahnippah. War drums, rap and elaborately dressed fancy…
Repo! The Genetic Opera
2008 Back in December 2007, I predicted “Repo! The Genetic Opera” would be the worst movie of 2008, simply based upon its description and casting of Paris Hilton. Now that I’ve actually had a chance to see it on DVD, it turns out I was wrong “¦ but only by a hair. “Repo!” is…
Push
Everybody who watches movies for fun sometimes watches them as time-killers. When it’s Saturday night and I ain’t got nobody, nothing fills in a couple of hours better than one of those mutant-insect movies on the Sci Fi Channel. “Something to do” is a good part of the definition of “B movie.” Which isn’t to…
Coraline
Picasso mused that every child is born an artist, but that the hard part is how to remain one as he or she grows up. I don’t think Picasso meant dexterity with paintbrushes so much as he was talking about the palette of the mind. No frontier is more surreal or vivid than the imagination…
Monson defeats Humphreys in OKCPS election
Oklahoma City school board president Kirk Humphreys was unseated by former state Sen. Angela Monson as the final election results were finalized today. The final results of the election credited Monson with 6,391 votes and Humphreys with 4,840. The percentage breaks down to 56.9 percent for Monson and 43.1 for Humphreys. “I entered this race…
More poetry on the rise
The Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the conviction of Antonio Batista in November, declaring that his “death threat” against a Missassauga city council member, in the form of a sonnet on long-neglected potholes, was more likely literary expression. Jose Gouveia, 45, recently published “Rubber Side Down,” a book of poems by bikers about the open…
Large-scale panoramas created by dynamic artist pair consume Untitled’s walls
Legends about early 20th-century moon colonization and a rogue iceberg that washed ashore in post-World War I Germany will be recounted through elaborately illustrated panoramas canvassing the walls of Untitled [ArtSpace]. “Kahn and Selesnick” opens with a 5 p.m. Friday reception and remains on display through April 18. The exhibit features works by Nicholas Kahn…
Religious youth movements push concept of saving oneself for marriage
Dani Brunet was in college the first time she had sex. She was 20, a sophomore at Southern Nazarene University, and one of the few female religion majors in her class. She grew up in a Nazarene family, and, like many Nazarene kids, she was taught that Christians save sex until marriage. ‘GIFT’ GIVINGPRIVATE PLEDGE…
Jesse Hughes makes an Eagles of Death Metal Oklahoma City campaign stop
Jesse Hughes hasn’t always been a rock star. The former journalist was once a Republican activist on Sonny Bono’s 1992 Senate campaign. It’s not exactly the background you’d expect for the lead singer of a band called Eagles of Death Metal. “My original personal life choice was not to be a rock ‘n’ roller,” Hughes…
Can’t Possibly Be True
An Oregon district attorney’s office set out two years ago to prosecute David Simmons for having sex the year before with his girlfriend, then 14, while he was 17. A grand jury in Jefferson County refused to indict Simmons, but the prosecutor acted exactly like the indictment had gone through, and no one, even Simmons,…
The Romantic Disaster embraces aching hearts with Hi-Lo Valentine’s Day show
Valentine’s Day can end up being a romantic disaster. This year, the Hi-Lo Club is embracing tragedy by inviting those single, taken or otherwise to a free Valentine’s Day show featuring upcoming and aptly named local rockers The Romantic Disaster. WEAVING STYLES UNIQUE SPIN But there’s a lot more to the new Oklahoma City group…
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
It’s a perfect time to cast a love spell on yourself. You don’t necessarily need to consult any pagan books about how to proceed. It may even be better if you improvise your own homemade conjurations and incantations. I can think of two main goals for you to accomplish with your spell. (But feel free…
New G-spot procedure points couples in the right direction
Having a problem hitting the target in the bedroom? Dr. Lisa Waterman of the Central Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation Institute, 500 E. Robinson in Norman, offers a procedure that helps couples put their finger on that elusive G-spot, which helps a woman achieve an orgasm. The procedure, called the G-Shot, is an injection of collagen that…
Paris Rouge’ features classical ballet, modern dance in time for Valentine’s Day
After some behind-the-scenes reorganization last year, Oklahoma City Ballet starts 2009 strong with “Paris Rouge,” a night of three very different ballets with romantic themes. Director Robert Mills put together a diverse lineup with the hopes of changing many people’s perceptions of ballet. “It’s not all tutus and classical music,” Mills said. Friday and Saturday’s…
Enid club is up front with its discrimination
Good luck trying to visit the exclusive Chicaro Club in Enid in Garfield County. According to a recent story by News 9, owner Gary James has a long list of folks who are not welcome in his fine establishment: people who wear hats (because apparently that’s gay), anyone without a manly and strong wrist, “trash”…
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
A mischievous voice in my head rose up as I was contemplating your astrological omens. It said I should tell you to make love in a bed covered with ten-dollar bills. I asked the voice if this was a cracked metaphor for a more practical piece of advice. The voice just cackled. So I’ll have…
The Who’s Tommy’ presents full tilt, an unrehearsed understudy
A backstage drama developed last week at the performance of the awkwardly titled “The Who’s Tommy” at Lyric at the Plaza: Shortly before the curtain, Jon Fletcher, who was to play Tommy, took ill “? “stomach flu,” announced artistic director Nick Corley. Fletcher’s understudy, Christopher Rice, had never rehearsed the show in the title role.…
Group lobbies for Norman Music Festival inclusion
Local musician Chris Cody has expressed his approval of the recently announced Norman Music Festival headlining act. “We can’t wait for Of Montreal,” he said. Cody went on to make the case that his band ” the experimental metro trio Asleep, Audience “¦ Dream! ” would also make a great local stage addition to the…
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Gertrude Stein defined love as “the skillful audacity required to share an inner life.” That’s the perfect seed idea for you to meditate on this Valentine season. It suggests that expressing the truth about who you are is not something that amateurs do very well: Practice and ingenuity are required. It also implies that courage…
Uptown United screens Pictoplasma animation
Uptown United, 24 W. Park Place, will host a free 7:30 p.m. Tuesday screening of Pictoplasma’s “Characters in Motion Vol. 2,” a showcase of some of the most cutting edge, independent animation work in the industry. Uptown United co-founder Chad Mount found out about the Berlin-based organization through his work as an animator and participated…
The Pink Panther 2
Steve Martin is a national treasure. He has leading-man chops, has wit to burn in his screenplays and brightens every scene he’s in with hilarity … if this were 1989, when the manic comedian was on quite a roll with the likes of “Planes, Trains & Automobiles,” “Roxanne,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Parenthood” and “Dirty…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
The Madonna of Orgasm Church is a Swedish institution. Its leader claims that the sect is not obsessed with sex, nor are orgies included in the regular worship services. Rather, deifying the orgasm is a symbol for cultivating a lust for life. Making love is just one of many ways to experience peak states and…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
We’re faced with an economic downturn as well as the need to take strenuous measures to heal the environment. Does that mean we have to dial down our pursuit of happiness? Are we obligated to have less fun and deny ourselves pleasure? I say no, as do the editors at TreeHugger.com. One of their articles,…
Poetry on the Rise
Poetry on the Rise: Twelve local poets jumped into the frigid Green Lake in Seattle in December, just because they thought it would be a good way to publicize their art. “It’s not enough to write,” said one. “You need that audience.”
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
“Greet one another with a holy kiss,” says the Bible’s first book of Corinthians. I think that’s great advice for you. What I take it to mean is that when you come together with someone you care about, bestow a kiss that’s more than merely affectionate or polite. Use it to invoke a sense of…
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
“When we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours,” wrote author Robert Fulghum, “we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness — and call it love.” I mention this, Aquarius, because the Valentine season will offer you ample opportunity to bask in the wonders of mutually compatible weirdness. It could come…
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Would you like to stir up deeper and smarter intimacy? Are you interested in attracting good surprises that would air out your romantic dogmas? Do you think it might be fun to discover a new love secret? To encourage these happy developments, Capricorn, carry out the following assignments. First, practice loving something or someone you…
OU School of Drama presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play ‘Anna in the Tropics’
ng play, “Anna in the Tropics.” Written by renowned Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz, “Anna in the Tropics” is set in a 1920s Tampa, Fla., cigar factory. In addition to the tradition of hand-rolling cigars, the Cuban immigrant factory workers brought another tradition with them, that of the lectors “? well-dressed men who would read aloud…
Library plans fan art, fiction contest
Southern Oaks Library seeks metro youth skilled at telling stories through words or images. The local library is accepting entries for its annual fan art and fan fiction contest ” a competition that centers around art and writing based on copyrighted characters from well-known works of fiction, such as books, video games and comics. “It’s…
Norman Arts Council, museum team up to sponsor monthly museum tour
The Norman Arts Council and the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art have joined to sponsor a monthly tour of Norman’s art galleries, beginning Friday. The “Second Friday Circuit of Art” will provide residents the opportunity to ride the Cleveland Area Rapid Transit from the city’s Downtown Arts District to galleries and museums on Campus…
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
I invite you to get all the mind-blowing sex you can this Valentine season, Aries. The entire cosmos will be on your side if you generate erotic wonders that rearrange your thought processes. For best results, cultivate the attitude described by the philosopher Voltaire in a letter to his partner Marie Louise Denis: “Sensual pleasure…
Native American teen in boot camp does not want to cut hair
David Crosby almost cut his hair, but don’t expect that to happen with Charlie Pathkiller. The Adair County teen was asked to shave his head after being sentenced to complete a boot camp program. Pathkiller, a 13-year-old Cherokee, is refusing to cut his long locks. “It’s my life basically,” Pathkiller told Tulsa-based The News on…
Oklahoma City counselor works to keep couples together
Kim and Nancy Kimberling have never had a perfect marriage. In fact, they don’t believe such a thing exists. But they have worked at theirs ” and made it work ” for the past 39 years. NINE-WEEK CLASS SECOND MARRIAGES UNREALISTIC IDEALS Judging by a divorce rate higher than 50 percent in Oklahoma, however, marriage…
Check is (not) in the mail for former commissioner
Brent Rinehart. That’s really all we have to say. Except for the next part ” “What is it now?” He didn’t deposit a check to his office that was for more than $70,000. At least, that’s the story out of Oklahoma County DA David Prater’s office, according to The Oklahoman. For those of you just…
Current office holders fail to file Oklahoma Ethics Commission campaign reports
Pinned to a bulletin board inside the office of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission is a list of names most people who run for office would like to avoid. Being on the list comes with a punishment of fines and a little embarrassment. WITHIN AN HOUR SUBMIT BUTTON LIST OF THOSE NOT FILING The list contains…
Former Sha Na Na performer visits Oklahoma capitol
You’re not supposed to trust anyone over 30, but anyone under the age of 35 may not get this story. Last week, the folks at the state Capitol took a trip down greaser lane while passing legislation aimed at cover bands. If this line rings a bell ” “Bom-ba-ba-bom, ba-bom-ba-ba-bom, ba-ba-bom-ba-ba-bom, da-dang-da-da-dang, da-dingy-dong-ding” ” then…
