Some Guy Who Kills People
Corrigan often plays losers and underdogs, but rarely as the lead. Here, he’s ice cream parlor worker Kenny Boyd, sometimes further humiliated by having to don a costume as a mint chocolate chip cone at kids’ birthday parties. But, hey, it beats the loony bin, from which he’s newly sprung. Bullied and tormented since his…
ATM / Brake
I’m beginning to think Chris Sparling is trying to carve a screenwriting career as the Tight, Enclosed Spaces Guy. First, he put Ryan Reynolds in a coffin for the entirety of Buried. Now, he’s trapped three young co-workers (played by Men in Black 3’s Alice Eve, The Hurt Locker’s Brian Geraghty and The Wackness’ Josh…
Bloat and potential scandal
The OK Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents Program has a long list of qualifying factors for the successful bidder that doesn’t include such things as national recognition of workers, programs or training — but does include a number of established factors, including an already existing relationship with the Office of Juvenile Affairs. Since there is…
Playing snow day roulette
It seems our Republican “leadership” has opted for a similar strategy regarding the establishment of a health care exchange. Rather than taking federal funds to establish the exchange, the governor, under right-wing pressure and the hope that the U.S. Supreme Court would strike down the entire law, rejected the funds. This risky move did not…
Hyperbolic overdrive
Gov. Mary Fallin said, “Today’s decision highlights the importance of electing leaders who will work to repeal the federal health care law and replace it with meaningful reform focused on commonsense, market-based changes.” So what exactly is a “market-based” change? It’s as though Mary strung a bunch of big words together without any intention of…
Bare necessities
Visitors can hook up their RVs, pitch a tent or rent one of the cabins. Activities include volleyball, hiking, stargazing from scenic vistas, swimming and general outdoor fun. The only difference from any other outdoor utopia is that everyone at Oaklake is nude. If you’re in the mood to be nude, Lady Godiva is a…
News ease
America has embraced many bands and musicians over the years, but only a few dozen have wrapped themselves into the fabric of the country’s pop culture like Huey Lewis and the News. A massive presence in the formative days of MTV, the blues-influenced pop rockers unleashed a string of feel-good, smash-hit singles, including “The Heart…
Play in the water
Under the sharp direction of Michael Jones, The Tempest is one of Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park’s best presentations of a Bard play in some time. Jones has assembled a top-notch cast, led by Hal Kohlman as Prospero. The second scene is a lengthy exposition in which Prospero tells his daughter Miranda how they came…
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…
Extra-strength EDM
When house DJ and music producer Kaskade steps out onstage and is greeted by thousands of screaming fans, it sort of feels like a dream. “It’s a shock,” said Ryan Raddon, 41, aka Kaskade. “I’ve been doing this so long, watching for over 20 years, and some people feel like this electronic explosion happened overnight,…
Tit for tat
Credit: Brad Gregg On July 11, Businessweek reported that Chesapeake was ordered to pay $100 million to three leaseholders who claimed the Oklahoma City-based company reneged on an agreement to purchase mineral rights. Filed in 2008, the lawsuit brought by three Texas energy companies alleged Chesapeake failed to complete the purchase of three gas leases…
‘Bad’ teacher
In the AMC cable series, which kicked off its fifth and final season Sunday, Bryan Cranston portrays Walter White, organic chemistry teacher by day, meth manufacturer by night. Since nearly the start, Breaking Bad staff writers call upon Nelson to ensure their series’ science is solid. “It was a little bit of a difficult decision…
Childish melodies
Surprise: The guys behind power-pop outfit Forever the Sickest Kids never wanted to grow up. Playing a brand of music popular mainly with the Clearasil set, the Dallas-based outfit hasn’t overhauled its sound dramatically since its 2008 debut, Underdog Alma Mater, even as its four members approach their 30s. Their friends and ex-bandmates are getting…
OKG7 places to get your brew on
Elemental Coffee 815 N. Hudson 604-9766 With its modern, sleek design, this coffeehouse is great for many reasons. Come and study, bask in the delicious and always fresh-roasted aroma permeating the space, or simply enjoy an espresso or cup of hot tea. Pick up a bag of beans to take home or keep at the…
Wine wedding
It might seem overwhelming at first — among the many tasks to complete before the big day — but wine is a crucial detail. Tradition dictates you sample the wedding menu and the cake in advance, so it’s important you imbibe a bit, as well. Aside from preferences, it’s wise to consider several factors that…
Oklahoma and Medicaid expansion
Based on the court’s ruling, Oklahoma now could choose not to expand Medicaid to cover more people without insurance living below the poverty line. But such a choice would squander the chance for as many as 180,000 struggling Oklahomans to get health insurance coverage while leaving hospitals and other health care providers on the hook…
Father knows best?
Credit: Brad Gregg At least that’s if you’re comparing it to IBM’s decision to help Germany’s Nazi government in the 1930s, White Star Line daring fate to sink the “unsinkable” Titanic and some jackasses’ decision to introduce New Coke. In other words: Context is everything. Pickens in 2005 donated $165 million to OSU to build…
Living with character
“This is where people are going to be hanging out in the evenings,” he said. No one would mistake Oklahoma City for the city that never sleeps, but until recently the area around Level was quiet with all the action to the south and west. McKown envisioned a lively community where residents could leave their…
Grape expectations
Winery owners and winemakers nationwide will be in town Tuesday for wine tasting at the Jim Thorpe Association and Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. Proceeds from the event benefit the organization’s Bright Path programs, which affords competitive sports opportunities for kids and provides drug prevention education. As the major sponsor, Premium Brands will provide all…
Dead zone
Photo: Ande Spenser Lensed locally, Time Expired is a terminal-illness comedy — strange as that may sound — written by Oklahoma native Rachel Tucker. The film is focused on Randall, played by Eric Starkey (Bringing Up Bobby), who discovers that he is dying. Rather than visiting the Grand Canyon or bungee-jumping off a bridge, all…
Slippery when wet
Credit: Brad Gregg Neighborhood pools filled with kids splashing and swimming! Creepy older guys masturbating! Granted, the final image doesn’t exactly fit, but different strokes for different folks, as they say. At any rate, it’s allegedly how Lee Bourn celebrates hot fun in the summertime. Police arrested the Oklahoma City man July 9 after he…
The Visible Man — Chuck Klosterman
While both are after larger, more unsettling truths that don’t readily make for such conventional fiction, Visible Man remains pretty compelling stuff, largely thanks to Klosterman’s incisive, humorous prose and his pointed criticisms on human social behavior in a heavily mediated age. The book’s plot hinges on a Philip K. Dick-type premise, with the evermeta…
Exchange rate
Dozens of high school pupils from countries like Japan, Taiwan, Germany and the Netherlands are eager to experience American culture and education. Before they can do that, however, they need a place to live. John Gearhart, regional director, said that normally, finding host families isn’t a problem, as many Americans welcome the opportunity to learn…
Foodie feat
Kurt Fleischfresser Credit: Shannon Cornman Some artists use paint and canvas as a medium. Others use clay or words as an outlet to showcase their creativity. Chef Kurt Fleischfresser uses food, and if the menu is any indication, his Culinaire for a Cause banquet is shaping up to be a masterpiece. “Culinaire” is a French…
The price of modernizing alcohol laws
This will mark the third major statewide vote on liquor law reform since the national repeal of Prohibition in 1933. In the first major statewide vote, Oklahoma swiftly (26 years) followed up on that 21st amendment to the U.S. Constitution by repealing prohibition here in 1959. Twenty-five years later Oklahomans allowed the sale of liquor…
Parrot talk
Since when do people think “authentic” means the same thing as “delicious”? I want “authentic” food to be made out of natural ingredients and not a big pile of chemicals, but other than that, who cares? Chefs change things all the time based on taste or the availability of ingredients, or just because. So what…
On the fly
Suppose someone approached you at work, gave you a random word or phrase, and told you to act out a 30-minute scene based on it. Could you do it? If you’re like most of us, probably not so much. But that’s exactly what improv actors do daily, and do well. See for yourself this weekend,…
Wanna be the next Carrie?
Credit: Brad Gregg Have a high tolerance for criticism? Thirst for 15 minutes of fame? OMG, like, you should totally audition to be the next American Idol! Excitement in Oklahoma City is growing as auditions for the hit show’s 12th season are held this week at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Producer Patrick Lynn said he…
Let there be light
As a lover of nighttime, I’m not partial to the day rays that people get so crazy over. I’ve no problem with leaving the lights low during dusk. In fact, I’m perfectly content if the lights never come on and night takes over. Alas, sometimes it’s not functional to run around after sunset without the…
I Wish
In the Japanese-language film I Wish, two brothers are coping as best they can with their parents’ separation and impending divorce. Twelve-year-old Koichi (Koki Maeda) is pensive and anxious, not cripplingly so, but enough for him to worry — not without some justification — why no one in his town seems alarmed about living in…
Jon Lyle Williams and the Bravest Retreat — Jon Lyle Williams and the Bravest Retreat
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal;mso-outline-level:1″><span style=" Times New Roman” ,”serif”;mso-fareast-times=”” new=”” roman”;=”” mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:es-bo”=””> I assume Jon Lyle Williams and the Bravest Retreat miss it, too, because their self-titled album seems like an ode to the decade with a certain affection for their Oklahoma roots thrown in for good measure. Williams’ voice is a husky and powerful…
Game on
Credit: Brad Gregg Just when it looked as if Oklahoma might need to slow down on executions, the state secured 20 additional lethal doses of the chemical needed to kill death row inmates. Close call! It had been touch and go for a while. In the midst of a nationwide shortage of the anesthetic, Oklahoma…
Fore your eyes only
When the summer sun gets too hot to hit the links, enjoy the leisure sport via your eyeballs at The Art of Golf, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s newest exhibition, opening Thursday. Organized by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the National Galleries of Scotland, it is the first exhibition devoted to…
No time for wine
Credit: Shannon Cornman Brian Howe of Oklahomans for Modern Laws said he doubts the group can collect the 155,216 required signatures by the deadline. If the campaign is unsuccessful, Howe said, the organization will focus on 2014. On June 28, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the drive could proceed. Oklahoma law states that petition…
Harp dreams
It’s been a long music career for Oklahoma City songstress Camille Harp — one that’s lasted as long as she’s been alive, really. “I was born into it. It was never having to decide if I was going to do this or do that,” said Harp, born to country-musician parents. “I’ve been asked when I…
Dancing queen
Recently, the Edmond native was selected as a top 20 finalist of the hit TV series So You Think You Can Dance’s ninth season. “So far, So You Think You Can Dance has been the biggest roller coaster and blessing, all at the same time,” Case said. The recent high school graduate said she experienced…
Better late than never
Guess what Woody Guthrie got for his 100th birthday last week? A book deal, courtesy of actor Johnny Depp. According to Paste magazine, the Pirates of the Caribbean star has joined forces with author Douglas Brinkley to bring Guthrie’s novel, House of Earth, to print. Written by the folksinger in 1947, the book on Texas…
Endeavour
Set in 1965, the Masterpiece Mystery telefilm finds young Detective Constable Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans, Being Julia) at a career crossroads, thinking of quitting the force when a big case diverts his attention: the disappearance — and subsequent murder — of a poetry-loving student. Needless to say, it’s not the only corpse that will show…
Live. Local. Leaving.
Mitchell, who has been with KOCO for 18 years, called the move to Texas the toughest decision he’s ever had to make. “It’s all very bittersweet,” he said. “I think it was a combination of a perfect storm — if you want to use a weather term — of an opportunity there. I’ve loved my…
Central suitor
OCU officials said moving the law school into the historic structure on the 800 block of N. Robinson Avenue will put students and faculty closer to the law firms and courthouses downtown. Constructed in 1910, the old Central High building operated as a high school until 1968, when it became a junior high. In 1981,…
Mary in the Motor City
With that in mind, state Gov. Mary Fallin, along with her Energy Secretary Michael Ming and Commerce Secretary Dave Lopez, are visiting Detroit today to pitch a multi-state, bipartisan compressed natural gas vehicle initiative to U.S. automakers. Fallin was among a dozen governors who wrote automakers in April expressing their commitment to explore ways to…
Exit Stage?
Built in 1970 by renowned architect John Johansen, the building at W. Sheridan and S. Hudson avenues has been empty since it sustained significant flooding damage in 2010. Afterward, the Arts Council of Oklahoma City transferred ownership of it to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. Groups such as the Central Oklahoma Chapter of the American…
Vision statements
How would you describe blue to a blind person? How would you describe Chihuly glass or downtown’s Crystal Bridge? If you’re at a loss, Daniel Brookshire suggests using textures or objects. “Give me something to visualize,” said the 16-year-old, who is blind. “Describe something that represents the object so I can see it in my…
Cherry Bomb
The title refers to a stripper (Julin Jean, The Final) who is raped on the job by five guys in the “champagne room” at 3 a.m. Because one of them is a big construction honcho in the community and properly lawyered up, the cops do nothing. In revenge, her estranged brother (John Rodriguez) accidentally kills…
Of Dolls & Murder
What are nutshell studies? CSI viewers might recall season seven’s year-long arc of dollhouse miniatures of the crime scene left at each crime scene (“I think Malibu Barbie did it”). Those were based on the real-life models ranging from 1-inch- to 1-foot-scale, made with an über-meticulous attention to detail in the 1930s by the unheralded…
Best Laid Plans
Subbing as the British film’s George and Lenny are, respectively, drugged-out thug Danny (Stephen Graham, Al Capone in TV’s Boardwalk Empire) and mentally handicapped giant Joseph (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, TV’s Lost). The former enrolls the latter against his will in unregulated MMA scuffles for quick paydays. Danny and Joseph are friends out of necessity, depending upon…
Django, Kill! (If You Live Shoot!)
After helping steal a trunkful of Wells Fargo gold, half-breed Django (Tomas Milian, Traffic) and his fellow minorities are not only denied their share by Oaks (Piero Lulli, My Name Is Nobody) and his evil white bandits, but gunned down and dumped in a mass grave they were forced to dig. Being the hero of…
Fallin appoints Native liaison
The position was created after the Legislature eliminated the Indian Affairs Commission in 2011, but the post has been vacant since then in the wake of questions about raised its quarter-Indian blood requirement. The lack of a liaison between tribal governments and the state has caused some tribal leaders to complain that their requests and…
The Deep Blue Sea
Written and directed by Terence Davies — who performed such duties on 2000’s well-received The House of Mirth and 1992’s The Long Day Closes — the film announces its dreary, depressing nature right from the opening scene, in which Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz, Dream House, The Lovely Bones) decides she wants to die. So she…
Black Limousine
At an AA meeting, Jack meets Hollywood actress Erica Long (Bijou Phillips, Hostel: Part II), who’s just as messed-up as he is. When he later sees her while on his job, he attempts to strike up a relationship, despite her extreme reluctance. His ability to listen wins her over, so things begin to look up…
Zoom In: Sex Apartments
The 1980 Japanese film is part of Impulse Pictures’ “Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection,” which would equate to a hard-R rating here. While nudity is often, it’s all above-the-belt, frontally speaking, and this work in particular is like a Skinemax flick with an actual plot, and where sex is integral to the story. Well, sorta. That…
Nobody Else but You
A rather unconventional murder mystery fueled by the power and pain of celebrity, Nobody Else but You plays Saturday night as part of Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s French Cinema Week. Originally titled Poupoupidou in its native France for reasons that quickly become apparent, writer/director Gérald Hustache-Mathieu’s film stars Jean-Paul Rouve (La vie en rose)…
