Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
With Jackie Chan too old to do anything but make family films and Jet Li swearing off martial arts, the fight-film mantle is left to Thai sensation Tony Jaa. As we saw in 2003’s “Ong-Bak” and 2005’s “The Protector,” he’s more than happy “? and damned capable “? to pick it up. Now there’s the…
Bonekickers
<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=oklahgazet-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B002UXYCYA&fc1=000000&IS2=1 Although apparently this BBC series was met with indifference during its 2008 run by our English friends, I quite liked “Bonekickers.” It helps, of course, that it adhered to the British tradition of getting out while it’s good. None of our American, 24-episode-season shenanigans; “Bonekickers” called it quits after its sixth hour. It’s…
Whiteout
Here’s the difference between women and men: Within its first 10 minutes, “Whiteout” star Kate Beckinsale strips down for a shower scene. My wife called it “unnecessary to the plot”; I deemed it the movie’s highlight. Too bad, because on paper “? specifically, its graphic-novel source material “? “Whiteout” has a lot going for it.…
The Boys Are Back
For his role as a widower in “The Boys Are Back,” Clive Owen was short-listed last year as a possible Oscar contender. As we saw last week, that didn’t happen, but it remains a good performance, so for a well-executed, underseen drama, rent it on DVD. Owen is Joe, an Australian sportswriter whose wife suddenly…
The Eastwood Factor
Don’t tell film critic Richard Schickel “? or the majority of the voters of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, for that matter “? but I don’t think Clint Eastwood’s films as are as mint-worthy as everyone else seems to. Still, I respect the man as a risk-taking filmmaker “? and as “Dirty”…
Halo Legends
hology plays out in seven separated stories, unrelated other than drawing upon the franchise’s mythology. If you’re unfamiliar with what that mythology is, the opening segment, “Origins,” will spell it out for you, albeit in greater detail, at double the time, and with more exposition than need be. Later segments do much better in telling…
Demo: Volume II #1- Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan
After a six-year absence, Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan’s “Demo” returns to the comics world, now under the auspices of Vertigo and a “Volume II” qualifier. Having never read the title before, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this first issue. Immediately, I liked what I saw, with the art in black and white…
Why Africans Remain Impoverished
The huge, $27 million statue (“African Renaissance”) being built in Dakar, Senegal, was conceived to boost tourism and be a point of African pride, acting as a magnet for visitors and museum-goers. Problems have arisen (the statue was built by North Korean labor, has no distinct African theme, and features a female who reveals perhaps…
First-time candidates seek incumbents’ seats on Oklahoma City Public Schools’ Board of Education
A pair of school board seats is up for grabs in an election scheduled for next week. The Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education is comprised of seven members plus the board chairperson. District 5District 7 The two district positions to be determined in the Feb. 9 election are District 5 and District 7.…
Po’ Girl heads for home on the road and schedules a visit with its metro-area parental surrogates
Po’ Girl9 p.m. Saturdaythe Blue Door2805 N. McKinley524-0738www.bluedoorokc.com$20 Many people discover music, but for some, it discovers them. For Allison Russell and Awna Teixeira, music offered the comfort and purpose that home never did. Traveling the country the last decade playing soulful, harmony-rich Americana, they’ve forged a whole new family to replace the one they…
Government in Action!
What Recession? A December USA Today analysis revealed that during the first 18 months of the recent recession, beginning December 2007, the number of federal employees with six-figure salaries shot up from 14 percent of the federal workforce to 19 percent. Defense Department civilian executives earning more than $150,000 went from 1,868 to more than…
Commentary: Point: Put up or shut up
Republican legislative leadership recently unveiled its 2010 legislative agenda. In it, they outlined their hope of targeting reforms to Oklahoma’s education system, workers’ compensation system and modernizing state government. Additionally, individual legislators have announced specific legislation related to everything from reforming marriage to cutting taxes. However, the only issue certain to be discussed this session…
Kids really do deserve better
Regarding Judy Wesselhoft’s “Kids deserve better” letter: The title was correct ” it is cruel for kids’ different authority figures to undermine each other. I am both a mainstream biologist with a doctorate and a Christian with a high regard for Scripture. My passion for the past 40 years has been to teach kids that…
Readers’ poll reveals top-notch eateries abounding in OKC metro
es. Also listed were Spencer’s Smokehouse & BBQ, 9900 N.E. 23rd, brimming with barbecue; Nic’s Grill, 1201 N. Pennsylvania, where burgers are the thing; and Oma’s Pantry, 2421 N. Council in Bethany, so liked by Nick Alexander. Checking in with the Gazette was Vivian Boroff, a bookkeeper at Taylor of Oklahoma, who thinks Sage Gourmet…
Ironies
Copenhagen, one of the “greenest” cities in the world, endured an added 41,000 extra tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent in December during the 11-day “climate summit.” The 15,000 delegates required 2,000 limousines (only five of which were electric or hybrid) to get around town, and the world leaders arrived and departed in 140 private jets, some of…
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Last week was the anniversary of my very first weekly horoscope column, which appeared years ago in the Good Times, a newspaper in Santa Cruz, California. My initial effort was crude and a bit reckless compared to what I eventually learned to create. And yet it was imbued with a primal fervor and heartfelt adventurousness…
Creme de la Weird
Russell Vanderwerf, 44, an agent of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was arrested in Metairie, La., in December and charged with damaging property while staying at the Residence Inn hotel. According to police, Vanderwerf had removed the bedroom door to his suite and in its place installed a plywood plank which…
Crazy Heart
The whole “love redeems even the most negative bastard” theme can become kind of boring. Whether it’s friendship with a kid (see “Finding Forrester”) or the love of a good woman (see “Lost in Translation”), the template is pretty simple: A good but now-dissolute/cynical man has pushed away the world. The appearance of a child/woman/animal…
PR BS
Lots of press releases related to the Sooner State cross our desk. This week, these titles least screamed “Stop the presses!” “”Pervin & Gertz Publishes Study Analyzing History of Benchmark WTI Crude Oil”””Salmonella Victims Press Lawmakers to Keep Promise of Reform”””AAR to Perform Heavy Maintenance for Allegiant Air”””Copano Energy Maintains Quarterly Cash Distribution”””US Dataworks Awarded…
CFN Quote of the Week
“Kevin Durant is scary “¦ but not as scary as a ghost.”“ESPN Chicago blog by Nick Friedell about the Chicago Bulls visiting OKC to play the Thunder. Word has gotten out about the Skirvin’s possibly permanent guests, creeping out some NBA players.
Phantom Racer
From the cover of “Phantom Racer,” you might think you were getting a “Ghost Rider” rip-off, only with a stock car vs. a motorcycle. Truth is, this flick recalls John Carpenter’s “Christine” crossed with Steven Spielberg’s “Duel,” more than anything. Nearly two decades ago, a racing accident claimed the life of Cutter McCullough (Adam Battrick),…
DVDeficient
Know where you get some mad money and the Queen Latifah caper comedy “Mad Money”? At Dallas’ creatively named store Movies and CDs! Or at least you could, past tense. That’s where Tulsa resident Robert Campbell Jr. once worked. And according to a report in Business Week, he allegedly had quite the lucrative side gig…
Judy Wesselhoft and the diatribe
This letter regards Judy Wesselhoft’s Dec. 16, 2009, letter “Kids deserve better” and the diatribe directed toward it as published in the Jan. 6 Gazette. Just more than 30 years ago, Time magazine ran a cover story proclaiming the world was entering into a new league. Considering the estimated age of the earth, 30 years…
Love and a little intelligence conquer all in Jewel Box’s highly entertaining production of ‘Fools’
“Fools”8 p.m. today-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sundaythrough Feb. 14Jewel Box TheatreFirst Christian Church3700 N. Walker521-1786www.jewelboxtheatre.org$10 adults, $15 students “Fools” tells the story of an young schoolteacher hired to help lift a 200-year-old curse that has rendered all the residents of the small village of Kulyenchikov dumb. Upon arrival, he falls in love with Sophia, only to…
Big Fan
Comedian Patton Oswalt turns in a terrific performance in “Big Fan,” and it’s not a comedic one. Although the film has its funny moments, it’s a drama “? one that aims to disturb, and succeeds. The directorial debut of “The Wrestler” screenwriter Robert Siegel, “Big Fan” casts Oswalt as Paul, a sad, dumpy, middle-aged man…
Punk rocker Exene Cervenka releases country-folk, while still hoping to again lead her X bandmates
Exene Cervenka with Dexter Romweber Duo and Jerry Redd & the Snowmen9 p.m. Mondaythe Conservatory 8911 N. Westernwww.conservatoryokc.com879-9778 Exene Cervenka is back. Back from Missouri. Back with “Somewhere Gone,” her first solo album in a dozen years. Of course, the fact is, Cervenka’s never really been absent. Since California punk pioneers X’s last studio album in…
Compelling Explanations
Being the first licensed male prostitute in Nevada (and thus the U.S.), explained “Markus” in a January interview for Details magazine, is to him “a civil rights thing.” “It’s just the same as when Rosa Parks decided to sit at the front (of the bus) instead of the back.” Lame: Ex-convict John Stephens told a…
Oklahoma City Council looks at reducing costs and eliminating programs to manage 2011 budget
As the Oklahoma City Council embarks on one of the toughest years in city history in regards to the budget, there are two key questions each councilor faces: What, if anything, is off the table when it comes to reducing costs? Additionally, what should be considered first when making reductions?Nothing off the tableNon-value activityProjected Revenue…
Oklahoma-filmed ‘The Killer Inside Me’ survives Sundance scrutiny over its sadistic depictions
Last Saturday, indie distributor IFC Films bought the U.S. rights to “The Killer Inside Me,” a star-studded project shot last spring on location in Oklahoma, in a deal signed amid mixed reactions from audiences at last week’s Sundance Film Festival. Variety reported that IFC paid around $1.5 million for the film, which is based on…
Christians should embrace science
According to history, both science and Christians believed the world was flat a few years ago. Now, both science and Christians have adapted their world view to incorporate the concept that the earth is a sphere. The data is the data. The theories we create are inspired by the data. Teaching theories as fact leaves…
Evolution is a fact’
Judy Wesselhoft’s letter “Kids deserve better” is prima fascie evidence as to why Oklahoma continues to lag behind much of the U.S. in science test scores. She and other loud, threatening ideological extremists have bullied our State Board of Education into expunging the word “evolution” from our K-12 PASS (Priority Academic Student Skills) objectives. Such…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
I wish you could aim tachyon particles through an inverted positronic array while simultaneously modulating synaptical relays through an anti-matter torque-buffer. This would bend the space-time continuum back to a point before your recent detour began. Then, armed with knowledge of the future, you’d be able to navigate your way more elegantly through the crazy…
Give us some sugar
There wasn’t a lot of love for “Buster’s Sugartime,” an innocuously titled children’s book that tangentially featured” gasp and horror ” same-sex parents. According to the Tulsa World, parents asked the Union Public Schools Board of Education’s Materials Review Committee to review the book in October 2009. After the committee voted to keep the book…
Counterpoint: Money fights
The 2010 Oklahoma legislative session, which began Feb. 1, could be bitter and contentious as leaders determine how the state will deal with its worst budget crisis since the Great Depression.It could get ugly on a historic level. With majorities in both the House and Senate, along with help from conservative Democrats up for re-election,…
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Those who know how to win are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories. So said the ancient Greek historian Polybius, and now I’m conveying the message to you. I hope it will serve as a spur in the wake of your recent triumph. Will you be…
Invented-Word Headline of the Week
“Oklahoma congressional delegation reax to State of the Union at a glance”“KFSM-TV, Fort Smith, Ark.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
I got an email from an Aquarian reader complaining that the astrologers she consulted in early 2009, including me, were wrong about the year ahead. All of us said it would be a time of expansion and opening for your tribe, a phase of rapid growth and fresh energy. But according to this reader, 2009…
Edmond’s Lighthouse Theater reopens, hoping to hook audiences with the light ‘Greater Tuna’
“Greater Tuna”8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. SundayThrough Feb. 14Lighthouse Theater844 W. Danforth, Edmondwww.lighthousetheaterok.com330-8182$15 adults, $12 seniors and students After building problems prompted a shutdown following its first production of “Billboard” last September, Edmond’s Lighthouse Theatre has reopened with the immensely popular “Greater Tuna,” set in the fictional small town of Tuna, Texas, and featuring a…
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art looks back at a Depression-era creative stimulus sponsored by Uncle Sam
nication with the masses. So what happened is really an interesting meeting of what we would consider to be abstraction, inspired by European modernism and representational style that is legible for just about anyone.” In 2009, the museum featured a WPA-era poster contest and the winning design by Traci Fuller of Norman will be sold…
Paper Love and Puppy Love pulls at the heartstrings
Love can be the invitation of an unmade bed, the ripples of text on canvas or the warmth in your dog’s eyes. No matter what possesses the heart, the exhibit “Paper Love & Puppy Love” at JRB Art at The Elms has something visual to pull at its strings. “Paper Love” features locals Carol Beesley,…
Intern-rupted
A former intern of U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma, is now facing charges, so getting that good job referral from the congresswoman might not be so easy. But at least the intern’s former boss is still willing to honor his fellow charged co-hort with a congressional resolution. Robert Flanagan was arrested and charged on allegations…
Secret architecture makes Santa Fe Station possible as Oklahoma City’s downtown transportation hub
The plans for the downtown Santa Fe station, along the elevated railway near the intersection of E.K. Gaylord and Sheridan, show the mystery that probably hundreds of passengers walk past and never see. Intermodal hubBring in the expertsLink to the drawing of the subway Anyone riding the Heartland Flyer’s daily service to Ft. Worth, Texas,…
Dante’s Inferno
As it did with “Dead Space,” Anchor Bay Entertainment has unleashed an animated feature film to tie in to a high-profile video game from EA “? in this case, “Dante’s Inferno.” Don’t take “animated” to mean “plop the kids in front of the TV,” because this one’s for the big boys and girls, refreshingly. “Dante’s…
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
Whatever shines should be observed, said 19th-century astronomer William Herschel, discoverer of the planet Uranus. He was referring to his specialty, heavenly bodies, but I’d like to expand the meaning for your use. According to my analysis, it has become very important for you to notice, observe, and think about anything that shines. Doing so…
‘No. 1 Beatles show in the world’ comes to Norman
1964 … the Tribute8 p.m. Friday and SaturdayThe University of Oklahoma’s Catlett Music Center500 W. Boyd in Norman$25 adults, $15 children (advance); $30 and $20 at the door325-4101 Move over, Beethoven. Here come the Brits. The University of Oklahoma’s Catlett Music Center, 500 W. Boyd in Norman, will be stricken with Beatlemania as the mop-top…
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time, wrote French author Andre Gide. I’m guessing that 2009 was a time when you embarked on such a search, Gemini — a half-blind, groping exploration that asked you to leave the past behind without knowing where the…
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
In the Choctaw language, there are two kinds of past tenses. In one, you speak about an event or experience that you personally know to be a fact. In the other, you deliver information that you have acquired second-hand and therefore can’t definitely vouch for. In my perfect world, you Sagittarians would find a way…
An Education’ teaches different social studies in supple send-up to youth culture and rebellion
A little learning is a dangerous thing, and a lot can be pretty damn devastating. That’s certainly the case in Danish director Lone Scherfig’s “An Education,” which is built around a superb, supple screenplay by novelist Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity,” “About a Boy”) and carried by a stellar cast’s consistently fine acting. The film screens…
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, wrote music critic Ernest Newman, “but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand. They didn’t waste time waiting for inspiration.” I think what Newman said applies to those working…
Mother Nature in Fracturing Business
The facts do not support your reader’s accusations concerning oil and gas well fracturing in his letter in the Jan. 27 issue of Oklahoma Gazette (Jay Hanas, “‘Taken aback’ by Chesapeake exec’s assertions”). I have 48 years experience selling oil field specialty chemicals, 38 of which were spent selling to fracturing service companies all over…
Oklahoma City Ballet stages ‘Giselle’ in its entirety with a pair of famous dancers
Giselle8 p.m. Friday-SaturdayOklahoma City BalletCivic Center Music Hall201 N. Walkerwww.okcballet.com848-8637$23-$45 Having debuted in Paris in 1841, “Giselle” has since become among the most celebrated ballets of all time, due in part because its original choreography has been preserved for more than a century with very few changes. Furthermore, the ballet’s title role is considered by…
Motown Blood – Lady Rock and Roll’s Gentlemen Callers
With its full-length debut, “Lady Rock and Roll’s Gentlemen Callers,” Oklahoma City trio Motown Blood establishes a name for itself as the band that sounds like … that one band. The 13-track CD stays true to its creators’ namesake, keeping with call-and-response singing and the guitar- and drum-driven antics of ’50s Motown classics. But what…
Redneck Crime
In Morehead, Ky., in December, two men, ages 44 and 18, were charged with theft for allegedly swiping an 18-inch-long bearded dragon lizard from the Eagles Landing Pet Hospital and trying, in two beverage stores, to exchange it for liquor. Daniel Gable, 61, was arrested for breaking and entering a neighbor’s apartment in Fargo, N.D.,…
Science in Action Day allows kids to get involved in many different sciences
Science in Action Day1-5 p.m., Sunday, Feb 7Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History2401 Chautauqua in Norman. free admission 325-4712, www.snomnh.ou.edu. Kids can trade in their winter coat for a lab coat as they explore a different side of science Sunday during the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History’s Science in Action Day. The…
Chen up!
It’s a CFN lightning round with everyone’s favorite Oklahoma City University alum, the very busy, very diminutive Kristin Chenoweth! “New York Daily News found K-Chen’s guest stint as a judge on “American Idol” to be lacking, stating it was a good thing she was behind the judges’ table “and not standing in front of it.”…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
You would stir up some good fortune for yourself if you brought meals to shut-ins or gave a little presentation at an old folks’ home or donated your old laptop to a low-income family. Oddly enough, it’s also an excellent time for you to scratch and claw for a bigger market share, or to get…
Losing your buzz
In response to the change of the local radio station “94.7 The Buzz” to “94.7 The Brew,” this has been the final straw in my distaste for the radio. What Tom Travis and Bill Hurley where thinking when they aided in making this change I do not know. But the last thing we need is…
Fine Points of the Law
In November, Powhatan County, Va., prosecutors dismissed charges against five corrections officers despite evidence that they were involved in inappropriately fondling a K-9 service dog. During training, officers are expected to “bond” with their dogs, and one of the men was seen “touching the dog’s penis with his hand,” according to a prosecutor. However, Virginia…
Update
President Obama’s figurine was expected to lead in sales for the second straight year in the traditional “caganer” craft industry in Spain’s Catalonia region. As News of the Weird reported in 2008, the popular statuettes are typically modeled on famous people, each with pants down, squatting to answer a call of nature. They are ubiquitous…
Corrective details
Don Bye’s praise of Judy Wesselhoft and his personnel deity (Letters, “Wesselhoft’s letter refreshing,” Jan. 13, Gazette) deserves mention of a few corrective details. Without a tilt in our axis of some amount, areas of the earth would indeed freeze and others would bake. In all habitable zones, life should do as well it does…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
I wish you could aim tachyon particles through an inverted positronic array while simultaneously modulating synaptical relays through an anti-matter torque-buffer. This would bend the space-time continuum back to a point before your recent detour began. Then, armed with knowledge of the future, you’d be able to navigate your way more elegantly through the crazy…
National Signing Day arrives for OU football commit Haywood
While the overall recruiting experience can be a mixed bag for many young players hoping to impress coaches enough to earn a college football scholarship, occasionally, everything falls perfectly into place. Such is the case with Austin Haywood, a tight end prospect from Southmoore High School. As National Signing Day approached and the pressures of…
Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart balance solo and duo musical careers
Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart9 p.m. Fridaythe Blue Door2805 N. McKinleywww.bluedoorokc.com524-0738$20 Stacey Earle’s vocals flow like winter wind across the bare trees: crisp, true and unfettered. There’s a sprightly airiness to her phrasing, like nothing could weigh her down, as if her unvarnished honestly had loosened her from earthly bonds. Vocally, she’s frequently compared to…
Police patrol
It’s a sad day when you can’t even count on the cops to force that fast food employee who clearly stiffed you on your sixth chicken nugget to refund your money. But that’s just what the people of Tulsa might have to look forward to after it was announced that the Tulsa police will no…
