Eastbound & Down: The Complete Third Season
In the longest season yet (eight episodes) of HBO’s raunchiest comedy, the washed-up, pot-bellied, coke-snorting blowhard Kenny Powers (Danny McBride, 30 Minutes or Less) now lives in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The change of locales, however, hasn’t changed him: The minor-league baseball pitcher remains a major-league asshole. In the season opener, an intoxicating reunion with April…
Circle of life at the zoo
Only days after the zoo celebrated the birth of a baby gorilla, a Western lowland gorilla named Kathy died early this morning. Cause of death is pending an autopsy. The 50-year-old Kathy came to the OKC facility from the Philadelphia Zoo in 1971. “Kathy was considered the matriarch of her troop,” said Alan Varsik, the…
And we all bike on
Schlegel Bicycles is gearing up for Ladies’ Night, an event for any woman with even a casual interest in cycling. Leslie Schlegel, CFO and general manager of Schlegel, said that the event is a fun social get-together meant to make women feel welcome in a sport that’s normally male-dominated. Schlegel said that they try to…
Pig out
By: Mark Hancock From the name alone, you wouldn’t mistake Van’s Pig Stand for a kosher deli or Middle Eastern restaurant. But Oklahomans not in the know might not realize the place, which originally launched in Wewoka, is a bastion for barbecue. The Van clan has been hickory smoking ribs, pork and brisket in the…
Moneyball
Thunder majority owner Clay Bennett Credit: Shannon Cornman Home games at the Chesapeake Energy Arena routinely sell out. Signs of Thunder mania, from car flags to T-shirts, are everywhere. Lengthy, glowing profiles about the team and its relationship to OKC have appeared everywhere from The New York Times to USA Today. The team’s devoted following…
Samantha Crain — Kid Face
Likewise, her music sounds like the kind of earthy Americana that could have emerged from any of the last five decades. Both her vocal efficacy and reverential know-how have been and remain a testament to the uncommon maturity of her skill set. But if anything was holding the Shawnee native back, it was her aversion…
OKG7 new dining adventures
Aravalli333 W. Sheridan228-8386 Lots of things are exciting about Aravalli in Devon tower. For one, it’s a great spot for lunch. Grab menu items like pork carnitas burritos or corn and potato chowder. Don’t forget the dessert, either. It offers pastries, cookies and truffles. Get a cup of fresh-brewed Illy coffee, from an Italian bean,…
Mad, mad, mad men
Credit: Brad Gregg Ackerman McQueen, stated the Post, is responsible for one of the most controversial pro-gun ads in recent years, the one that bravely asked: “Are the president’s kids more important than yours? Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at…
Through the grapevine
Photo: Shannon Cornman Michael David’s Zinfandels, especially 7 Deadly Zins, are well-established in the state, but now the California winery’s higher-tier wines are finally available. In keeping with the deadly sins theme, the upper-tier Zinfandels are named Lust, Gluttony and Sloth. Not the jammy, soft David wines we’ve seen thus far, these bigger and brawnier…
GIF a little bit
Credit: Brad Gregg “I often find myself screaming or laughing,” Rancho told Chicken-Fried News. “I used to fire off various rants on Facebook that, while satisfying, didn’t endear myself to friends and non-friends.” After he lost his Facebook outlet — and an ugly bout of defriending — he was tumbling about on tumblr.com when he…
Coverage controversy
Protesters push for Medicaid expansion at a Feb. 5 rally at the state Capitol. Credit: Mark Hancock Oklahoma currently ranks near the bottom among states in terms of wellness. Both opponents and advocates of an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program say action is required to improve the state’s health. Fallin and other state leaders…
Marrs invaders
Gary Marrs Greiner, a graphic-design team leader for Hobby Lobby, described himself as a limited-government conservative who believes government works best at the local level and that his life is guided by a biblical worldview. “My life motto is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever,” he said. “That’s what I’m all about, and…
Marriage ‘Pains’
According to the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, 32 percent of marriages in the state have ended in divorce — one of the highest divorce rates nationwide. As many Sooner couples find themselves saying “I don’t” more often than “I do,” one unlikely man has taken it upon himself to save these remaining marriages: former teen heartthrob-turned-evangelist…
An affair to remember … or several
Credit: Brad Gregg “Life is short. Have an affair.” That’s the icky slogan of ashleymadison.com, an equally icky dating site for married people seeking something on the side. According to the company, a lot of folks in Oklahoma City are taking that advice to heart. Ashley Madison recently reported that OKC is the fifth most…
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…
Hats off
But what makes for a hit on the catwalks of New York or Paris can seem far-fetched when making the translation to your personal life. If you’d like to dabble in the spirit of the week, however — maybe even get a little crazy — artistic options are closer than you might think. Local artist…
D-graded
Credit: Brad Gregg A. Yes B. No C. Spaghetti If you answered B, congratulations. You scored better than state Superintendent Janet Barresi. According to the Tulsa World, Barresi told the Republican Women’s Club of Tulsa County on Feb. 12 that University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University research scientists who authored the aforementioned report had…
Cave in
“They say no news is good news,” sing The Caves, and given the six-year gap between the Kansas City, Mo., band’s loose formation and the release of its first record, Duplexiaville, maybe they’re right. The Caves find its players abandoning their earlier ties to harder rock, instead spending their lengthy off-season honing sweet harmonies, subtle…
Thai-ed up
Credit: Shannon Cornman Thai food scares me a bit. See, I have a fair idea what a cheeseburger is supposed to taste like, even though there are endless variations. And I’ve had enough spaghetti in my time to identify the good from the bad. I have eaten and enjoyed some Thai food, but I’m nowhere…
Pr bs
Lots of press releases cross our desk. Recently, these titles least screamed “Stop the presses!” —“Feature Topic/Product Info: New Tips & Trends In Drain Clog Prevention” —“News release: EDT Corp Raises the Sanitation Bar with KleanCap Screws” —“FISHING IS FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY”
The truth of emergency contraception
New rules under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, require contraception coverage without cost to women as part of basic health care coverage. Despite overwhelming evidence that the ability to plan and space pregnancies critically impacts a woman’s health and the health of her children, many employers, most notably the Oklahoma City-based Hobby…
Con air
Credit: Brad Gregg According to a recent Gallup survey, however, we’re is the nation’s sixth most conservative state, with a little more than 47 percent of Oklahomans describing their ideology as such. The Sooner State ranks behind — in descending order — Alabama, North Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi and Utah. While sixth is certainly nothing to…
’Bee season
Credit: Brad Gregg That day, the 29-year-old “rising rapper out of Oklahoma City” was featured in an interview by XXL. To be clear, that’s a hip-hop magazine, not a big men’s clothing shop. CFN’s three takeaways from the interview, viewable at xxlmag.com, are: 1. Jabee has three tattoos on his chest:• Tupac Shakur, • Lauryn…
Road to everywhere
His trio, Horseshoe Road, has been chosen as one of 12 ensembles to partake in a monthlong international cultural exchange tour as part of the American Music Abroad program. Nearly 300 groups nationwide auditioned for the program, which is administered by American Voices on behalf of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and…
Up in smoke
On a 6-2 vote, the Senate General Government Committee rejected Senate Bill 36, which sought to repeal the state pre-emption law that supersedes local governments. SB 36 was referred to that panel after Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, had declined to grant a hearing on the legislation.…
Brooklyn Castle
The feature debut of director Katie Dellamaggiore, the documentary is now available on demand from FilmBuff. While this institution holds more championship chess titles than any other middle school in the nation (26), the film opens with them experiencing loss — well, second place, at least, among 862 teams. They win so often that not…
‘Tik Tok,’ Russell
But Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook definitely tunes into her. The point guard not too long ago was caught jamming out before a game to the music of Ke$ha, who performed in Houston last night as part of the NBA All-Star Game festivities. “It was the cutest, hottest thing ever to see a basketball…
Becoming Contemporary
The nonprofit, which works to provide Oklahoma City with quality, accessible and affordable arts programming and education, broke ground on its new home in Automobile Alley this morning, and unveiled its new name: Oklahoma Contemporary. City Arts Center announced in March 2012 that it would move from its home of 23 years at the Oklahoma…
Sinister
Had I been watching it alone, on a dark and stormy night, my neck likely would be sore by the end of it, from making repeated glances behind the couch — you know, just to be safe. It’s 2012’s Insidious: well-built, respectful of viewers’ intelligence and yet genuinely freaky. Ethan Hawke (Daybreakers) plays Ellison Oswalt,…
The Imposter
Nicknamed “The Chameleon” by the press, Bourdin is known for having assumed untold hundreds of identities; Bart Layton’s film wisely chooses to focus on just one of those cases. Luckily, it’s a doozy — one so unbelievable, you wouldn’t believe it without the proof. In 1994, in San Antonio, Texas, a 13-year-old boy named Nicholas…
Bath Salt Zombies
Set in New York City, the film imagines such a huge crackdown on “bath salts” — a real-life drug currently making headlines for its zombie-like effects on users — that one enterprising chemist has synthesized it in cigarette form. Smoking it, however, proves even more addictive than usual, causing withdrawal symptoms so bad “it will…
Take two
Robert E. Bacharach, a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma, first was nominated to serve on the 10th Circuit by Obama in January 2012. Both of Oklahoma’s Republican senators, Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe, expressed strong support for Bacharach’s nomination. However, when Senate Democrats brought the nomination up for a closure vote…
The Great Gildersleeve Movie Collection
In other words, think of him as the Frasier of the 1940s. As first glimpsed by us in 1942’s The Great Gildersleeve, Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve is an “overstuffed walrus” with a scary laugh and a deep, singsongy voice. He also serves as guardian to his orphaned niece and nephew (Nancy Gates and Freddie Mercer), but…
Tangled web
The site in question, zooamp.com, was set up by Howard Pollack’s company, Facilities Management Group (FMG), which had managed the Zoo Amp from 2003 until last summer, when the Oklahoma City Zoological Trust awarded the venue’s management contract to another company. The parting between FMG and the city was acrimonious, with both sides exchanging barbs…
Boldly going …
A dedicated band of die-hard Star Trek fans has crafted an exact replica of the bridge of the Starship Enterprise (from the original TV series, in case you were wondering) for a work-in-progress web series inspired by the sci-fi classic. The impressive circular set is resplendent with its blinking read-outs; its dazzling array of switches,…
Amour
In other words, the guy is definitely not the lovey-dovey type. But that unblinking, cold-blooded aesthetic is largely what makes Amour, which opens Friday at AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, so remarkable. In its depiction of an elderly Parisian couple coming to terms with illness and looming death, the film is almost brutal in its…
School board bucks
Unofficial results from the Oklahoma County Election Board show that Hardin, a former development officer for the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, received 51 percent of the vote, or 3,376 total votes. An entrepreneur and founder of Friends of Northwest Classen High School Foundation, Hardin had outraised Monson by a nearly 5-to-1 margin in…
Seven Psychopaths
Working again with McDonagh, Colin Farrell (Total Recall) is Marty, a screenwriter having troubles on the job — all he has on paper is a title — and at home with his girlfriend (Abbie Cornish, Sucker Punch). These pale to the life-or-death situation his slacker pal, Billy (Sam Rockwell, The Sitter), gets him into, involving…
