Dead Souls
Steve Niles’ Remains comic-book miniseries is terrific; Michael Laimo’s Dead Souls novel was average even by horror-paperback standards. Both resulting movies were directed by Colin Theys and written by John Doolan (the team behind Chiller’s inaugural telepic, Alien Opponent, not considered here because it’s not based on pre-existing material). Both also reside on a similar…
Abuse of power
—tracked our every movement with location information from our personal cell phones;—spied on millions of law-abiding U.S. citizens’ cell phone information, in addition to Internet searches, emails, pictures, videos, etc.; —recorded the personal phone calls and e-mails of reporters who disagreed with him (in addition to their families); —used the IRS to target, bully and…
In praise of petroleum
Why? you ask. Petroleum oil produces thousands more products than listed. One 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline, and then the rest is used to make everyday items. I wasn’t raised with a computer or cell phone, but the future generation cannot seem to live without their electronic leash. I was raised…
Thanks from Moore
The outpouring of support both physically, emotionally and monetarily has been so heartwarming and gratifying. We are unpretentious folk down here and take pleasure in the simpler things. And one of those will be in a few weeks, where happiness will be watching TV news reporters headed home with an out-of-state roofing contractor under each…
Too red for government aid?
Sens. James Inhofe and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma both voted against the Hurricane Sandy Aid bill, Inhofe saying that the money requested amounted to a “slush fund.” Hurricane Sandy affected a total of 24 states, and the costs have amounted to $50 billion. Now comes the question: What will their vote be concerning these recent…
Still the ‘Oklahoma Standard’
I’ve lived in Oklahoma City for just three years, so this is my first “let’s all pull together” Okie moment. Nicole Hill (“To be an Oklahoman”) summed it up wonderfully. This place gets in your blood really quickly. And now that the degree of separation is no more than two for everyone in OKC regarding…
The cannabis justice system
Credit: Brad Gregg Black-and-white because some believe its medicinal benefits outweigh the stigma. Others want to nip that conversation in the bud. Green all over because Oklahomans both black and white use the drug at comparable rates. But — and here’s the punch line — black citizens in the state are arrested nearly three times…
New Zoo revue
3Horse Productions’ Michelle Colbert and Zoo Amp manager Russ Garrett Photo: Mark Hancock Michelle Colbert, president of 3Horse Productions, the new leaseholders, not only wants to allay those fears, but tout all the work that’s been done to make the venue bigger and better than ever. “We’ve done all kinds of great things out here.…
Motor skills
Have You Tried Walking A Stillwater-based sculptor will detail the ever-changing relationship among humans, industry and environment through 10 pieces in an exhibition opening Friday at Mainsite Contemporary Art in downtown Norman. Matthew Boonstra, an artist and visiting sculpture professor at Oklahoma State University, put together Interruptions by selecting sculpture, installation and projection pieces that…
Face time
Clara Luper A wayfaring painter shares eight years of her experiences on three continents through portraiture in her first solo art exhibition, Legacy … Oklahoma & Beyond, currently on display at Urban Roots cafe in the Deep Deuce district. Ebony Iman Dallas’ exhibition highlights 11 influential figures in her life, from a local mother, a…
Hardcore Doppler
Credit: Brad Gregg Long before the likes of Pirates and Posh Kitten made Jane a household name — provided your household is crammed with French ticklers and Ben Wa balls, natch — the Moore native turned down a full ride (ahem) to the meteorology program at the University of Oklahoma. We’ll never be able to…
Oh, hair, no!
Credit: Brad Gregg In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Major- ity Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Coburn called for curtailing transportation perks for lawmakers and their staff as well as various programs offered by the Senate and House learning centers. A number of those classes, he contends, range from spring cleaning…
Paint the town RED
Local organizers hope to heighten HIV/AIDS awareness with Thursday’s RED Rooftop Party, a downtown fundraiser featuring live music, cocktails, light hors d’oeuvres and surprise entertainment. Members of AIDS Walk of Oklahoma City Inc. initiated the new event to supplement their preparations for their annual downtown 5K race and donations to nonprofits that provide HIV/AIDS care,…
OKG7 Moore places to eat
Harry Bear’s All American Grill2113 Riverwalk Drive, Mooreharrybears.com799-2327 Harry Bear’s menu is packed with amazing dishes. Try the pickle-o’s, which are pickle slices breaded and deep-fried, before moving on to the Indian taco, a house favorite. The fry bread is hand-rolled and covered with ranch-style beans, house-made spicy chili and all the fixin’s. Dessert is…
Gimme shelter
People packed the showrooms only days after the May 31 tornado — the widest recorded in U.S. history — ripped through El Reno, eager to learn about underground shelters or above-ground safe rooms. Many had one key concern: How soon could it be installed in their home? The answer, no doubt, startled them. Some would…
Howard stern
OKC Downtown Airpark rendering He made a name for himself as a photographer for the likes of The Allman Brothers Band and Delaney & Bonnie. When the management of the latter refused to pay him, they instead offered him the opportunity to promote a concert for New Riders of the Purple Sage. Pollack accepted and,…
Vulgar incident
You’re doing something right when the powers that be shut your show down early. Denton, Texas’ experimental duo Vulgar Fashion endured this rite of passage on May 30, when the owners of a posh Dallas nightclub called The Dram instructed the two to call it quits a mere 20 minutes into their set. The band…
Graves encounters
Shakey Graves Photo: Kirk Stewart Certain musicians enjoy a reputation for being great performers — an innate skill for some, a learning process for more. For Alejandro Rose-Garcia, aka Shakey Graves, it’s been the latter, but his training for a different form of performance art helped perpetuate a now-budding music career. Since his days growing…
Music Made Me: Laura Leighe
Nichole Nordeman, Wide Eyed (1998) This woman will forever be one of the greatest singer/songwriter/pianists on the planet. Her honest lyrics, hauntingly moving chord choices and beautifully pure voice elevate your soul to a new, better place than you were before. It was in high school that I discovered Christian music, and Nichole was a…
A time to heal
As America learned of Moore’s utter devastation by the May 20 tornado, the news hit the two members of New Orleans-based Generationals especially hard. “Everybody is aware and thinking about what has happened in Oklahoma,” said Grant Widmer, lead singer and guitarist. “Tragedies like these are particularly resonant for us because of what happened to…
‘Senior’ shenanigans
The Sooner State’s senior citizens might just be the liveliest in the nation. Every year, the Oklahoma Senior Follies feature some of the state’s best live talent from experienced senior performers, including former actors, radio personalities, dancers and other creative types. The Ziegfeld-inspired show, rife with flashy costumes and catchy tunes, combines the efforts of…
‘Eve’ plum
Lana Lumas Images and words from Oklahoma’s incarcerated women informed one local artist’s latest exhibition, currently on display at Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum. It also reflects his longtime hope to liberate a state that has led the nation in per capita female imprisonment for nearly 20 years. Photographer Yousef Khanfar shot 101 images of women…
Pushing [Un]boundaries
Tim Dooley and Aaron Wilson’s M&M For Curtis Jones, a professor of printmaking at the University of Oklahoma, the [Un]bound exhibition opening Friday at [Artspace] at Untitled represents his big chance to share his passion for 3-D printmaking with Oklahoma City. Because the art form rarely is seen outside “bigger cities,” he said locals may…
Junk in the trunk
A couple of “junkers” will make a pit stop Saturday, bringing nearly 200 booths of vintage apparel, handcrafted jewelry and refurbished furniture to the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. The Junk Hippy Roadshow is paying its third visit to Oklahoma City since husband-and-wife team Shawn and Kristen Grandi started the business in March 2012. The traveling twosome…
Western world
We’ve seen it in connection with the Devon tower; a flourishing downtown, midtown and uptown; arrival of the Thunder; the Core to Shore plan and boathouses that train Olympian rowers. But just southwest of those emblems of modernity lies the Oklahoma National Stockyards — a section of the city that bespeaks history, despite having undergone…
Dear Dad
It’s that special day set aside to honor the exemplary men in your life. Father’s Day is always a sneaky holiday to me. It’s not that far after Mother’s Day, but it’s far enough that it feels like the Fourth of July will be the next thing on your radar. But, hey, now that you’ve…
Viva Vaqueros!
John\’s Special By: Mark Hancock On a recent Friday evening visit to Los Vaqueros Mexican Restaurant, co-owner/operator Roberto Deloera spontaneously burst into an a cappella song between waiting tables. He alternated those cheery outbursts with whistles mimicking tropical birds. It was the kind of festive atmosphere that can’t be faked. The Mexican native and his…
Papa of pizza
By: Shannon Cornman Isn’t it funny how some restaurants become “our” restaurants? There are destination spots, places we go because we’re willing to travel for the food. And there are places that are convenient and close. And if you’re lucky, sometimes you will find both at once. For the people of Bethany, there is Papa…
Summertime sippin’
Lobby Bar By: Mark Hancock The ingredients of the steamy season should reflect the weather (and what is seasonably available), so expect freshsqueezed juices, fresh herbs and lighter, brighter drinks. Since Oklahoma heat drives us to patios and pools where we might be wearing far less clothing, calorie-counting is more important in summer for weight-conscious…
What, me bothered?
Credit: Brad Gregg The issue arose last month on a Sirius/XM radio program, when the Minnesota Vikings running back and former University of Oklahoma All-American was asked about former teammate Chris Kluwe, an outspoken gay rights advocate. “I have relatives who are gay. I’m not biased toward them. I still treat them the same. I…
PR BS
Credit: Brad Gregg —“Catch Up with Outdoor Channel’s Ted Nugent”—“Introducing Difrax, The Pacifier That Grows With Your Baby”—“Miley Cyrus named the hottest women of 2013” —“Layout-8000 helps Gannett consolidate pagination services”—“Celebrate 25 Years of Love & Friendship with All New ‘Dance with Barney’ On DVD” —“Ukulele master kicks off TODAY SHOW Adventure week”—“Join Wonderheart In…
Undaunted Durst
Credit: Brad Gregg Those guys are still around. No, really. Limp Bizkit challenged the May 31 tornadoes to “Break Stuff” at Diamond Ballroom and played afterward for an audience of about 20 plucky concertgoers who had braved the storm with them. The nu-metal band, all Florida residents, had an interesting day in Oklahoma. Front man…
PR BS
Credit: Brad Gregg —“Catch Up with Outdoor Channel’s Ted Nugent”—“Introducing Difrax, The Pacifier That Grows With Your Baby”—“Miley Cyrus named the hottest women of 2013” —“Layout-8000 helps Gannett consolidate pagination services”—“Celebrate 25 Years of Love & Friendship with All New ‘Dance with Barney’ On DVD” —“Ukulele master kicks off TODAY SHOW Adventure week”—“Join Wonderheart In…
And justice for all
Russ Florence Credit: Mark Hancock “What OCCJ looks like in Oklahoma City might be different than what it looks like in Tulsa, or it might look similar. The central component is the mission, and that’s what we focus on,” said Russ Florence, OCCJ’s chairman-elect. The group has been operating independently in Tulsa since 2005. Prior…
God and tornadoes
Those messages are coming from everywhere. After speaking in Vermont at the annual meeting of United Church of Christ churches in my denomination, this small and cash-strapped body of small New England parishes handed me a check for $5,000 to help with tornado relief. So many people have prayed for us and supported us through…
Touting marriage: Why knot?
Using Census Bureau data, researchers Patrick Fagan and Nicholas Zill have determined that only 4 in 10 Oklahoma teenagers (ages 15 to 17) have grown up in an intact married family (i.e., with both their birth mother and their biological father legally married to one another since before or around the time of the teenager’s…
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 number…
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 number…
Jumpship Astronaut — Lights Burn Out
There’s not an acoustic strum, hoot or holler to be found in the EP’s five offerings; instead, you’ll find cavernous ’80s synth landscapes, glitzy guitar hooks and an obvious penchant for catchy melodies, covering the full axis of electro-bent pop artists in the process. Standout track “Something to Outrun” does bear a striking resemblance to…
Smart traffic
As part of the city’s ongoing Intelligent Traffic System (ITS), stoplights communicate through Wi-Fi to keep lights green longer along certain corridors. The project is a part of the 2000 and 2007 bond issues to create traffic corridors throughout the city. More than 320 intersections are affected by 18 corridors, 14 of which are already…
Getting creative
A 10-month survey that included 324 people across varied demographics illustrates the problem with attracting new participants to the arts, said Sharon Astrin, community arts program director for Arts Council. The programs are available and the desire of citizens is there, but bringing the groups together has been a challenge. “There are big parts of…
On the Road
Walter Salles’ On the Road extends a fragmented blip on the map of American poetry — one that doesn’t necessitate resurrection. An ode to poet Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation, On the Road fails to elicit nostalgia for all things Beat, but not for lack of ambition. Its Americana backdrop depicts the unbridled beauty…
Before Midnight
Jesse (Ethan Hawke, Sinister) — the writer we’ve watched meet, fall for and settle down with Celine (Julie Delpy, 2 Days in New York) — tells some colleagues about a story idea of his. It involves a group of characters with unique quirks of perception: One has déjà vu, someone else has no facial recognition,…
‘Cupcake’ crown
Tiffany Magness and her assistant, Kerstin Bellah, represented Green Goodies, 5840 N. Classen Blvd., a staple cupcakery of Classen Curve since 2009. In October, when the episode was taped, the pair participated in three timed rounds, baking specialty cupcakes along two other competing teams, Magness said. Sunday night’s airing broke eight months of secrecy for…
The Philadelphia Experiment
Based on the 1984 sci-fi movie of the same name, this made-for-Syfy version doesn’t improve upon the premise of scientists cracking invisibility. Again, it has terrible consequences — namely, a World War II destroyer ship suddenly transported to a modern-day runway. Holy Battleship! Coffee barista Molly (Emilie Ullerup, TV’s Sanctuary) worries when her cop boyfriend…
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Granted, that title tells you everything you need to know. Armed with steampunk weaponry and high-gloss camp, siblings Hansel (Jeremy Renner, The Bourne Legacy) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton, Clash of the Titans) have devoted their lives to dispatching witches. In the case of this film, their current target is one (Famke Janssen, Taken 2) responsible…
National Lampoon’s Vacation: 30th Anniversary Edition
Although I much would prefer a theatrical re-release or a fourth Vacation sequel, Warner Bros. celebrates the Griswold family’s inaugural cinematic sojourn with a 30th-anniversary Blu-ray edition. Think about it: Christie Brinkley and Beverly D’Angelo in high-definition; the 12-year-old me would have wept horny tears of joy. Then still beloved by the public, Chevy Chase…
Cruising
Thanks to Warner Archive’s new manufactured-on-demand pressing, this represents my first time to catch Cruising, and I was willing to give Friedkin the benefit of the doubt. But wow — even a straight, open-minded man as myself can see how offensive this film is to the gay community. His Oscar success with The French Connection…
Mad Max Trilogy
The first film introduces future cop Mad Max Rockatansky and director George Miller’s violent, pedal-to-the-metal world of carmageddon. Its chase sequences are as exciting as anything the action genre had seen, and they still hold up because their influence is ever-present. While Max’s family life slows the middle, it fuels a bang-up final act of…
Snitch
Here, he’s John Matthews, a successful businessman with a trophy wife (Nadine Velazquez, Flight) and an adorable little daughter. He doesn’t live with his other child from his starter marriage, Jason (Rafi Gavron, Celeste & Jesse Forever), now a high school senior. He’s a good kid. He just has bad taste in friends, one of…
College and life
Which school offers a real, semesterlong class where kids are shown the reality of college-based occupations vs. technical school occupations? Which high school has a mandatory class that has testing for a student’s interests/abilities and helps a kid match that to real job careers with a livable salary? Kids watch TV and see different situations…
You kidding me?
I soon realized that Mr. Oliver was deeply deluded and/or vastly enriched by the eight years in which G.W. stole two elections, started two entirely unnecessary wars (making puppetmaster Cheney millions in no-bid contracts), bankrupting the country with tax cuts for millionaires, stopping much-needed stem cell research, tortured suspects in violation of the Geneva Convention,…
Getting past coal
Rixmann lauded a coal-fired power plant in Colorado that was retrofitted recently, touting it as a model for Oklahoma. My research shows that Colorado Springs City Council members were vehemently opposed to spending an additional $121 million on top of tens of millions already invested in retrofits for the plant. The council was particularly opposed…
Don’t believe the rhetoric
As we draw near to a decision on a presidential permit to build the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the rhetoric by our opponents trying to make the project a referendum on oil sands development is becoming more shrill and even less factual. These activists would have you believe that a Keystone XL approval means game…
Love Is All You Need
Luckily, the film is smarter than the average adult-oriented romantic dramedy, and not just because it speaks in three tongues. The main reason for its ultimate (if unspectacular) success is its director and co-writer, Susanne Bier, who won an Academy Award for the Danish drama In a Better World, deservedly named 2010’s Best Foreign Language…
Beautiful Creatures
Set in a South Carolina small town where the drawls are Okie-thick, the film follows Lena (New Zealand newcomer Alice Englert) as she nears her all-important sweet 16th. Because she is a member of the Ravenwood family of witches and warlocks — they prefer the term “casters” — that birthday is when she finds out…
This Girl Is Badass
But how much more badass might she be if her stunts were rooted in reality? For example, Jackie Chan can do — or could do — most of the things we saw him do in his movies; the blooper-ridden end credits attest to that. But from the start, Jukkalan’s tricks are aided by, well, tricks…
