Brian Keene’s Ghoul
Brian Keene’s Ghoul is not it. Based on his 2007 paperback and new to DVD, the misleading movie is another of the Chiller cable channel’s in-house films, none of which have impressed me thus far, but continue to get a little bit better with each outing. What this nice-looking effort has going for it is…
Tune in
As the founder and director of the Music Moves Mountains Foundation, Julie Frost has witnessed firsthand how music can change lives. As a young person, she wrote in a journal that she hoped someday to use music to positively contribute to the world. After studying commercial music management at Austin Community College in Texas and…
Cop to it
Credit: Shannon Cornman That push comes in the wake of the city’s 99 homicides last year, an increase of 41 compared to a total of 58 in 2011 and 56 the year before. And while it’s too soon to read too much into that jump, violent crime does appear to be in an upward trend,…
OKG7 places to shake it up
Billy Sims BBQ1001 E. State Highway 152, Mustangbillysimsbbq.com256-0760 It’s a name you already know, just another location. Grab a combo plate, which includes a meat — from brisket to ribs — two sideliners, one super side and some Okie toast. Sideliners include potato salad, add-a-rib or baked beans, to name a few. Chapala Mexican Grill1001…
Putting the gross in groceries
Credit: Brad Gregg Wait, what? With its organic line of pH-balancing feminine hygiene products, Healthy Hoohoo has penetrated the Whole Foods market, launching in select stores in four states, Oklahoma included. The Seattle-based company’s news release says it best: “Healthy Hoohoo makes it easier to cleanse and deodorize without the worry of drying out and…
Midtown medley
Credit: Mark Hancock There’s no easy way to describe Foodies. I’m talking about the Asian-American diner in Midtown, not people who are persnickety about food. Foodies is a tiny eatery that probably seats 20, if everyone packs in. It’s in a building that was formerly a gyro shop and a purveyor of Jamaican food, among…
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…
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…
Boner jams
Not many bands look forward to their first trip to Oklahoma as much as Fort Worth, Texas’ Skeleton Coast … although a quick listen to its spotless, self-titled debut is telling. The hazy, textured and delightfully out-there disc owes a certain debt to Oklahoma’s native sons The Flaming Lips, whom front man Bobby McCubbins notes…
Medicaid expansion is affordable, and vital
Under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, the federal government will pay the lion’s share of the cost for Oklahoma to extend SoonerCare coverage to most uninsured low-income adults. This would provide coverage to about 150,000 residents living near the poverty level. Expanding Medicaid would cut Oklahoma County’s uninsured population nearly in half, with more…
Bravo Bayless
By: Shannon Cornman He noted that it was special because he was born there. When he exited the metro many years ago at the ripe age of 19, he made sure to pack his love of local with him. “I grew up in a barbecue restaurant. That’s sort of near and dear to my heart,”…
Child’s play
The 21,000-square-foot exhibition, made possible through a $12 million grant, is the latest product of an institutional reboot started several years ago. As part of the project, the museum at 2100 N.E. 52nd will renovate its exterior, improve parking, re-engineer the main entrance and establish a new master plan. The new exhibition will provide an…
At bat
Curtis Grimes’ life reads like your classic country narrative: A promising baseball prospect ditches his chance at a shot in the big leagues for a girl, only to come away heartbroken a short while later. But instead of picking up the bottle, he picked up a guitar, and what sounds like the character in so…
Booby trap
It was in retail, and the most exciting part was that I truly thought, over the course of training for my new salesperson position, I would learn Victoria’s secret. Weeks later, I realized that, in general, lingerie shopping is terribly involved and confusing — mainly because “lingerie” means different things to people. For the most…
Lobby for a loophole
Credit: Brad Gregg The Green family, founders and owners of the OKC-based company, don’t want to provide their employees insurance coverage for birth control — namely the morning-after pill — that they believe is tantamount to abortion. As a result, Hobby Lobby is facing $1.3 million in fines for each day it fails to comply…
Tom Tom, clubbed
Credit: Brad Gregg Apparently, that was just a warm-up act. Now, the news agency is examining SandRidge Energy and its CEO, Tom Ward. In a recent story, Reuters showed how some practices at SandRidge didn’t differ much from those at Chesapeake, which Ward had co-founded with McClendon. Reuters reported that Ward received $75 million in…
Bills of goods
Credit: Brad Gregg We’re talking about the Oklahoma legislative session. Each year, bills are filed that, in the kindest of terms, could best be described as “paste-eaters.” Last year’s winner, hands down, was a proposal to ban the use of fetuses in food. It never made it to a vote, so be extra cautious…
Dog’s best friend
The Fisher family with Rookie Credit: Mark Hancock Fisher, who was on duty that night, received a call about a dog that had been thrown off a bridge along Interstate 40 between Choctaw and Anderson roads in eastern Oklahoma County. When the trooper arrived at the scene, she found a German Shepherd by the name…
Coffee’s mate
Credit: Brad Gregg The mystery of where Secretary of State Glenn Coffee will go once his resignation takes effect Jan. 31 has finally been solved. The former state senator revealed last week that he will buy the OKC law firm of attorney Lee Slater. Slater, a former head of the state Election Board, was appointed…
Brew on this
By mid-March, Bricktown Brewery will be settled into its third location, previously a Garfield’s eatery, on Kickapoo Street in Shawnee, just off I-40. The new locale will be exteriorly similar to the downtown Oklahoma City restaurant, said Marilyn Ruggles, vice president of marketing for the Edmond-based Enduring Brands. “You will see brick, and when you…
Diamond dolls
Credit: Brad Gregg AAA’s Four Diamond rating is a recognition associated with a level of regality that the thread-count of sheets can’t relegate. The standards for North America are rigorous, but not any match for Oklahoma City’s Waterford Marriott, now a proud four-diamond recipient for 17 consecutive years. Downtown’s Renaissance Oklahoma City Convention Center Hotel,…
Getting Smashed
“I wandered into a Smashburger in California for lunch a few years ago,” he said, “and I knew that I was going to invest in this company.” Klepper, who unveiled Oklahoma City’s first Smashburger in 2011, said he was won over by the food. The menu is surprisingly diverse for fast-food, including grilled chicken sandwiches,…
Health matters
Dr.Fred Loper examines a patient at the Good Shepherd clinic. Credit: Mark Hancock “The end goal is for each person with health care needs to be directed or become a patient at the most appropriate place for them,” said Pam Cross, executive director of The Health Alliance for the Uninsured, a local nonprofit. The network…
Lethal distraction
Cherrish Abinah Credit: Shannon Cornman Edmond Memorial High School’s Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is leading an effort to get stricter laws on the books. In Tulsa, a youth-run group called Generation tXt has also been a large part of a grassroots push for an Oklahoma law. Both organizations work on outreach…
Getting physical
The Sooner State Games is Oklahoma’s version of the Olympics, with both winter and summer competitions, for which amateur athletes train year-round. A new competition this year, the CrossFit “Fittest in Oklahoma,” will be held as part of Saturday and Sunday’s winter games. Event coordinator Aaron O’Neil said individuals and teams will compete in a…
Laura Leighe — The Laura Leighe EP
But it’s not like there isn’t good pop music being made, and one of the brighter spots is the angel-faced and -voiced Duncan native Laura Leighe, who seems more concerned with connecting to her listeners than selling them a product. Her EP’s opener, “Find Me,” is a saucy and masterfully produced single with a clever…
Medicaid expansion is unaffordable
In like manner, I don’t recall Gov. Mary Fallin receiving open records requests from curious journalists when taxes were hiked in 2011 to prop up LBJ’s Medicaid program in Oklahoma. It was only when she decided in 2012 not to expand Medicaid that the watchdogs started barking. In any case, Gov. Fallin should be applauded…
Big Jim
From Jim Halsey’s collection are guitars signed by Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney. You may never have heard of Jim Halsey, but surely you’ve heard of the acts he’s discovered, managed or guided the careers of: Wanda Jackson, Roy Clark, Hank Thompson and The Oak Ridge Boys, to name just a few. Chances are, without…
Fallin fails
In 2007, Fallin voted against raising the minimum wage above $5.15 per hour, where it had been for 10 years. Then she opposed House Resolution 4, which gave Medicare authority to negotiate with drug manufacturers for lower prescription drug prices. In other words, she voted to turn pricing of our prescription drugs over to pharmaceutical…
A failed philosophy
I agree with Bleakley that we do have some well-meaning board members, educators and civic leaders who have made sincere attempts to address the ever-growing problems with our schools. I also agree these attempts have resulted in failures, except for some successful efforts in specific schools. It is these “specific, successful schools” I would like…
Beware a well-armed government
His lamentations are selective, however, because he does not say anything about the firepower held by those armed by the force of government. Within the past two years, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Education (!) ordered 27 Remington rifles. The Department of Homeland Security has ordered more than 1 billion…
Robin is right
We need more informed and intelligent dialogue on this issue. There is a solution that lies between the extremes on the issue. —Bob Hanlin, Oklahoma City
The Thompsons
Personally, I went in to The Thompsons relatively cold, having heard of its big brother, but never having caught up with it. In doing so, I felt like I had jumped onto a sitcom in its second or third week: I could immediately get into its groove without knowing the backgrounds of the players. All…
A ‘transformational’ gift
“This is the single biggest day, I think, in the memorial’s history,” said local attorney Mike Turpen, co-chair of the memorial’s 9:03 Fund, a campaign to raise $15 million for the museum. That amount includes $10 million for an endowment and $5 million for museum enhancements. The Insasmuch grant, announced at a news conference today,…
The Possession
Now that the former has followed the latter onto Blu-ray and DVD, the difference is startlingly clear: The Possession is by far the superior ghost story. I’d expect nothing less from Evil Dead mastermind Sam Raimi, who produced it under his Ghost House Pictures banner, which has brought some of the better entries in the…
Water matters
The odd/even watering program includes both businesses and residents, and will remain in effect until further notice. Residents with home addresses ending in an even number can water their yards on even-numbered days, while residents with addresses ending in odd numbers can do so on odd-numbered days. Cities that use OKC water also are required…
Searching for Sugar Man
Take, for example, Searching for Sugar Man. Currently up for the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award and new to DVD, the doc introduces us to the saga of the one-named Rodriguez, a criminally unknown singer-songwriter from the early 1970s whose career sank into obscurity in his native United States, but whose influence proved monumental in,…
Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft
Another: H&G: WOW is directed by David DeCoteau, whose dirt-cheap filmography includes 1313: Giant Killer Bees! (exclamation theirs), Test Tube Teens from the Year 2000 and the forthcoming A Talking Cat!?! (exclamations and question mark theirs). In this flaccid effort, Hansel and Gretel Jonah and Ella (real-life sibs Booboo and Fivel Stewart, respectively) play orphan…
Wake in Fright
Gary Bond (Zulu) works wonders as John Grant, the only teacher in the Australian desert town of Tiboonda, where the tiny, single-room schoolhouse is surrounded by sand and dust. On Christmas break, Grant heads for Sydney, but must spend a night in Bundanyabba before catching a flight the next morning. At least that’s the plan.…
