Fine Points of the Law
Benoit Derosiers, 51, who police said was so inebriated that he could barely speak when stopped for DUI and who had trouble standing, beat the charge in Provincial Court in Sudbury, Ontario, in April when he proved to the judge a “legal necessity” for driving drunk: He had just attempted suicide and thus was forced…
Least Competent Criminals
Not Ready for Prime Time: Lolita Bullock turned herself in to sheriff’s deputies in Jacksonville, N.C., in May, confessing to robbing a Bank of America a week earlier. She then immediately requested the “crimestoppers” reward money, which (since she was then under arrest) she asked be given to her friend who accompanied her. Elevator vandals…
People With Issues
Internationally known West Papuan freedom-fighter Jacob Rumbiak, 49, who was once locked up for 10 years by Indonesia as a political prisoner, was convicted in April of three separate incidents, on the same day in 2005, of masturbating in public on trains in Australia (where he is a research associate at RMIT University). According to…
Wakeboarding tourney making waves
Rain or shine, competitors of the Oklahoma River Wakeboard Series 2007 will be competing Friday to Sunday. Riders from all over the country are scheduled to vie for the tournament’s first-place prize of $2,000. Wakeboarding is a sport when a rider is pulled by a boat and performs a wide variety of tricks and…
Defense Exhibit A
In a Palmerston, New Zealand, court in March, lawyer Janet Robertshawe was called as a witness on behalf of an “alternative health” practitioner who had been charged with taking indecent liberties with female clients, and Robertshawe (a long-time client) agreed to help demonstrate the man’s massage technique. Just feet from the jury, she removed her…
The Continuing Crisis
Stylin’ and Profilin’: For fashionable women this season, the area just above the breasts is the most important part of her chest, according to a May New York Times report. A protruding collarbone is said to suggest a taut, fit (even though covered up) body. Many young Sikhs in India are dispiriting their traditionalist parents…
Car pulled from earth after half century under Tulsa
An intentionally buried 1957 Plymouth Belvedere was unearthed at noon today in Tulsa, following the blast of an airhorn. A blue crane pulled the car from the lawn of the Tulsa County Courthouse. The vehicle was covered in a reddish-brown fabric and whisked away on a flatbed Chevy pickup for an official unveiling at 6:30…
Weird Update
The international movement to anoint apes with “human rights” suffered a slight setback in April when an Austrian judge refused to declare a chimpanzee a “person” (which, under Austrian law, would have entitled it to a legal guardian and allowed individuals to donate money to it). The chimp, Hiasl, and a companion are in limbo…
Severance
Reviewer’s grade: B Ready for a little “Shaun of the Dead”-like black comedy to go with that helping of ghastly slice ‘n’ dice horror? From England comes this yummy tale of seven employees of a weapons manufacturing firm who travel to Hungary for a weekend team-building retreat. And wouldn’t you just know that the forested…
Surf’s Up
Reviewer’s grade: B Let’s concede right off that the world didn’t exactly need another movie about cute ‘n’ cuddly penguins, but “Surf’s Up” is no knockoff. This computer-animated, family-friendly flick visits the world of penguins, but the resemblance to last year’s “Happy Feet” ends there. “Surf’s Up” is more charming and less bombastic. Consequently,…
Federal judge: Cherokee can vote
A federal court ruled Wednesday that the Cherokee tribe could move forward with an election, despite the protests of the tribe’s Freedmen members, court records show. According to a motion handed down by the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, the Cherokees can hold the election — slated for June 23 –…
Pa-rum-pa-pum-dumb
Oklahoma County District Judge Richard Freeman’s decision a decade ago to ban the Academy Award-winning film “The Tin Drum” still goes down as one of the most embarrassing moments in local history. Freeman might as well have issued a judicial decree proclaiming only religious folks and meth-lab cooks would be welcomed henceforth in Oklahoma…
The Kings of New York
Michael WeinrebGotham Books Award-winning sportswriter Michael Weinreb spent a school year tracking the chess team of New York’s Edward R. Murrow High, where the centuries-old board game is something of an obsession to the “geeks, oddballs and geniuses” who often skip class just to play it in the halls. It’s something of an irony that…
Towel-clad man walks Oklahoma interstate
Dude’s walking down the street, wearing only a towel, and along comes a police officer “¦ Well, that’s what happened around noon on a Friday in Edmond recently, when police were notified that a man was walking along the southbound ramp of Interstate 35 and Second Street, wearing only a towel. According to…
Primeval
slow-motion. Gustave’s attacks “? the only reason people watch these kind of things in the first place “? are too obviously fake and outright laughable, on the scale (or is that scales?) of “Anaconda.” That this is supposedly based on a true story makes me feel sorry for real life. When you hit this…
Local Juneteenth celebration planned
The Eastside Capitol Gateway Main Street Association will host the seventh annual Juneteenth celebration Friday and Saturday at the south end of the state Capitol complex. The event will feature:” a barbecue cook-off, ” live music, and” food and games. Juneteenth is the celebration of the June 19 emancipation of the slaves in 1865, at…
Medicine to cure Oklahoma creeks?
The environmental movement certainly is changing the political and cultural landscape of America as more governments and citizens are becoming greener in thoughts and actions. But who knew so many people were concerned about the depressed state of our creeks and streams? The Stillwater News Press recently reported that, according to Doug Gable, environmental…
Casiotone shifts focus to songwriting
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone’s first three albums were made with the idea that art can be truly unique and amazing when made with strict boundaries. Or in Casiotone’s case, one: a Casio keyboard. “I like the idea of making stuff with sort of a limitation,” sole member Owen Ashworth said. “I like the idea…
Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Brotherman in the Fatherland
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Some 100 Ideas funders also Cargill contributors
The three largest contributors to House Speaker Lance Cargill’s 100 Ideas campaign are all maximum contributors to his 2006 House race, records show. According to records recently released by the campaign” Chesapeake Energy Corp. gave $100,000 in cash, ” the Chickasaw Nation gave the same amount, and ” AT&T gave $50,000. Together, these comprise almost…
Hostel: Part II
Reviewer’s grade: B+ Some people tell us that meat is murder, but in Eli Roth’s “Hostel: Part II,” meat is also torture and humiliation. And people are the meat. Roth returns to the torture garden in Slovakia, where rich degenerates pay huge sums of money to torment, mutilate and ultimately kill kidnapped young adults. Americans…
Weird Japan
Sachio Kawabata, 61, was awarded the equivalent of about $5,000 by a court in Kagoshima in January because the police abused him during interrogation over possible violations of election law. The judge found that Kawabata suffered “great mental anguish” when police wrote his family name and derogatory messages on pieces of paper and forced Kawabata…
Study: Healthier diet can stave lung disease
According to the National Institutes of Health, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a lung disease in which the lungs are damaged and airways are partly obstructed, making breathing difficult. It also is the fourth leading cause of death both in the United States and around the world. According to World Health Organization estimates, 80 million…
Need for elderly day care services on rise
More middle-aged children now find themselves the guardians of those who raised them, turning their parents over to trained caregivers at “adult day care” centers. Day services provide a needed break for families of elderly, mostly with some form of dementia who don’t require a full-time nursing home but can’t be left alone. The daily…
Oklahoma town hosts paranormal gathering
Tahlequah recently hosted paranormal investigators from all over the country who met to discuss the trade and its scientific and spiritual methodology, the Tahlequah Daily Press reported. The Oklahoma Paranormal Research and Investigations sponsored the 2007 “Para-Float” last Friday and Saturday, presumably to discuss research techniques. CFN could not confirm any double-fisting of Coors…
Women pilots taking to air in four-day race to Canada
In the morning hours on Tuesday, the sky above Oklahoma will be dotted with dozens of small planes headed north in the all-women Air Race Classic. Some 47 teams of pilots will be racing to Canada, where they’ll all be touching down no later than 5 p.m. Friday. A rich tradition of female pilots exists…
Teen conquering Asia one monster at a time
When school’s out for summer, most teenagers just want to kick back, sleep late, perhaps mow some yards, maybe get a part-time job at the mall. Morgan Tepsic has slightly larger ambitions: He wishes to conquer Asia. His plan doesn’t involve military maneuvers or weapons of mass destruction ” just felt and thread.…
52: Volume One
DC Comics Aiming for the real-time concept of television’s “24,” DC Comics embarked on a yearlong project titled “52” in 2006 “? with each weekly issue representing seven days in an epic story about a year on Earth without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. With the series now complete, those who’d rather experience it in…
Track and field looks bright at OU
At this past weekend’s 2007 NCAA Track and Field Championships, a record 22 Sooners competed and 14 returned home with All-America honors. That second number matches the combined school record established in 1997. Just last year, Martin Smith was hired to lead OU’s struggling track and field programs. All Smith had done in his previous…
Zoo seeks junior curators
Lions and tigers and bears ” heck, yeah! The Oklahoma City Zoo is looking for teens who want to work closely with animal friends in the “Junior Curator” program. The program, which lasts around a year beginning in September, takes teens 14-18 years old and places them side by side by with members of the…
Blues legend emphasizes music over message
Long recognized as one of America’s best country-blues fingerpickers and a scholar of acoustic blues, Paul Geremia has a very clear memory of when music first captured his attention. “My father had an old jazz recording of Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, which was one of my favorite records when I was a teenager,”…
Blue Bell rolling into town with free ice cream party
Oklahoma and Blue Bell Creameries both turn 100 this year, and the ice cream manufacturer is rolling into town to celebrate. The free exhibit is from noon to 4 p.m. Friday, and 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Oklahoma History Center, 2401 N. Laird. Housed in a chocolate-colored 18-wheeler, the “rolling birthday party” includes…
OU hosts prestigious clarinet symposium
Coordinated by David Etheridge, clarinet professor at the OU School of Music, the annual University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium celebrates its 32nd anniversary this year. “It’s the longest-standing one in the United States,” Etheridge said. “It’s the granddaddy and the model for all the rest that go on.” While other symposiums may only have three…
Sexual politics drive Pollard’s production of ‘Man for All Seasons’
Before King Henry VIII became a porcine version of his younger self, he was a frisky womanizer who tailored his belief system to suit his own purposes. In the early 16th century, his concerns were twofold: to marry his latest mistress, Anne Boleyn, and to produce male heirs to the throne. The problem was that…
Rocketplane beat to rocket-launch punch by Texas company
A rocket-powered vehicle launched from the Oklahoma Spaceport in Burns Flat on June 2. But this was not the rocket from Rocketplane Inc., into which the state of Oklahoma poured $18 million. No, this rocket, built by Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace, actually flies. Burns Flat is home to the state’s only federally licensed spaceport. The state…
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
is Baesel’s show. And that’s why the last third disappoints, because once the horny teens are in place and it’s showtime, Leslie rarely speaks, so the film stops being a comedy and becomes the very thing it parodies. Still, the first hour slays, and this is destined to be a sleeper fave. “?Rod…
Ocean’s Thirteen
Reviewer’s grade: C George Clooney takes his third spin around the block as DannyOcean, a rich, well-connected, ever-smirking heist-meister and con man who revels in seemingly impossible challenges. With the help of his pals Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), Basher Tarr (an underused Don Cheadle), Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner), Frank Catton…
OKC’s video vigilante launches blog
So what does the Video Vigilante do in whatever spare time is not taken up by playing “Candid Camera” with metro-area whores? He reviews eateries, shares gift tips and plays Skip-Bo! Hey, you gotta do something while awaiting trial, right? Brian Bates ” aka the Video Vigilante, who regularly captures footage of sex-for-cash transactions…
Ska-inspired Rx Bandits schedule OKC checkup
If you need a prescription for layered melodies, frenetic drums and a bouncing horn section, Southern California’s Rx Bandits are an easy pill to swallow. Born from the late-Nineties SoCal ska scene, the band takes the best parts ” horns and jazzy licks ” and leaves the happy-go-lucky sugar pop behind. The result is pure…
Free concerts part of summer arts program’s weekend celebration
The Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute celebrates its 30th year this weekend, inviting former instructors and visitors to join in the festivities. Visitors’ Weekend kicks off Friday night and events continue through Sunday. OSAI students, some of the most artistically talented high schoolers in the state, will perform free orchestra and chorus concerts. Visitors are invited…
Rough Religion
In April, Bishop Michael Babin, for 25 years a leader of Genesis Ministries International in Oceanside, Calif., was charged (along with his son) with beating a golfer unconscious after accusing the man of stealing his ball at a local course. (Two years ago, Babin was nominated for a Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Award.) In…
Latest Religious Messages
While the California Assembly debated an open-hand-only spanking bill for parents this spring, the Bethel Baptist Church in El Sobrante continued to demand that spanking by flexible rod is the only punishment acceptable to God and that will produce wisdom in the child. No sturdier weapon may be used, nor the open or closed hand,…
Toby Keith: Big Dog Daddy
Show Dog If you are heading to the lake this weekend and your plan includes having a good time, partying and not thinking too much, then Toby Keith’s new album “Big Dog Daddy” could be the sound track to a beer-soaked boat-nanza. Oklahoma native Keith isn’t breaking new ground with this one, but…
Local folkie Ali Harter debuts new disc
Oklahoma City folk siren Ali Harter has assembled a new record, and with the help of a few local musicians, it sounds like her country-inspired Americana cuts even deeper than her previous releases. The new album, “Worry the Bone,” will be debuted Friday at a CD release show at The Conservatory, 8911 N. Western. LINEUP…
Garbage – Absolute Garbage
Geffen You can’t sum up popular Nineties music any better than with Scottish/American alt-rockers Garbage. A new compilation album, set to be released on July 17, features the “best of” Garbage, as well as a bonus disc of remixes. All of the band’s major hits’ “Stupid Girl,” “Only Happy When It Rains,”…
Rio Bravo
1959 “Rio Bravo” is the comfort food of movie Westerns. The tale of a determined sheriff and his motley crew under siege in a Texas town, this 1959 picture directed by the great Howard Hawks (“The Big Sleep,” “Red River”) hearkens back to the days of strong heroes and uncomplicated moral codes. John…
Mrs. Robinson returns to Oklahoma’s journalism program
It’s official. Budding young whippersnappers at the University of Oklahoma’s student-run newspaper will have a new guru to guide them in their first interactions with the fourth estate. Judy Gibbs Robinson was named The Oklahoma Daily’s adviser June 6, replacing the retiring Jack Willis. A 30-year journalism veteran, Robinson handled minority affairs…
Rein in the rainy day fund
Oklahoma ‘s economy is bright and sunny, but taxpayers should note the balance of the interest-free loan we have made to the state in the form of our rainy day fund. For the third consecutive year, Oklahoma will deposit a maximum contribution in the state’s Constitutional Reserve Fund, bringing the balance to more than…
American Indian health tour making OKC stop
“A Healthier US Starts Here” bus tour will be stopping at the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic on Friday to: ” promote disease prevention, ” offer medical services and testing, ” award prizes, and ” provide health information. Sponsored by The Department of Health and Human Services, the tour coincides with the Oklahoma City Indian…
