The Men Who Stare at Goats
e=9325&creativeASIN=B001AEF6D6″>The Big Lebowski – 10th Anniversary Edition” to channel more than a bit of The Dude, Bridges steals most of the best scenes as he leads his chosen ones through bizarre experiments and tangles with military bureaucracy. Playing it straight as a powerful chosen one with an edgy ulterior purpose, Kevin Spacey is fine in…
The Princess and the Frog
Sometimes, old-fashioned can seem downright revolutionary. “The Princess and the Frog,” Disney’s first hand-drawn feature since 2004, is a reminder that the high-tech wizardry of computer animation, motion-capture and stop-motion doesn’t mean much without a compelling story. The movie is irresistible because it understands the basics: strong narrative, gorgeous animation and characters that are well-drawn,…
Steven Seagal: Lawman – The Complete Season One
For a reality series that takes the premise of “Cops” and simply adds a thick, gooey layer of Steven Seagal up top, A&E’s “Steven Seagal: Lawman” is strangely unsatisfying. As inane as it sounds, the once-mighty action star has been a reserve deputy with the Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish for some two decades. But now that…
A request to raze one of OKC’s oldest structures is slated for consideration March 18
Over time, buildings come and buildings go in any city. But downtown, where SandRidge Energy plans to raze four structures of the former Kerr-McGee complex as it creates a corporate campus in its corner of the world, some are concerned that the company is unnecessarily taking away irreplaceable pieces of the city’s history. No one…
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
There’ll be an abundance of unambiguous choices for you to make in the coming days. I’m not implying they’ll be easy, just that the different alternatives will be clearly delineated. To get you warmed up for your hopefully crisp decisions, I’ve compiled a a few exercises. Pick one of each of these pairs: 1. exacting…
Liquor lobby is holding back the state
In 1974, I moved from Orlando, Fla., to Birmingham, Ala. Talk about culture shock. Alabama still enforced blue laws, which meant virtually no businesses were open on Sunday. The state owned and operated all liquor stores, which meant few hours of operation and very high prices.Life and time were stuck in the ’50s, but I…
Brooklyn’s Finest
Director Antoine Fuqua (“Shooter”) attempts to make a silk purse out of three sows’ ears with “Brooklyn’s Finest,” an overly long look at the final days of three Brooklyn cops. One is Eddie (Richard Gere, “Nights in Rodanthe”), set to retire in seven days. When was the last time you saw that plot device used?…
A new take on ‘Lysistrata’ turns tame and somewhat dated
t=”210″ hspace=”10″ />Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre continued its season last week with a brief run of that classic “? in an early sense of the word “? comedy from 411 B.C., Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata,” in a new adaptation by James Tyra. Continuing its generally admirable practice of producing plays in conjunction with area universities, City Rep…
Explore the history of the region at an exhibit of baskets and pottery made by Southwestern Indian tribes
“Stories in Fiber and Clay: Baskets and Ceramics of the Southwest”Sam Noble Oklahoma Natural History Museum2401 Chautauqua, NormanDaily, through May 5$5 for adults, $4 seniors, $3 children 6-17, 5-under free. 325-4712, www.snomnh.ou.edu. Looking back, the only way to know today how the people of yesterday lived is by examining what they left behind. An exhibition…
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Among Eastern religions, some traditions preach the value of getting rid of your desires. To be righteously attuned to current cosmic rhythms, however, I think you should rebel against that ideal, and instead cultivate a whole host of excellent desires. Use your imagination, please! Here are a few I highly recommend: a desire for a…
Love Song’ is a serious kind of comedy that delays audience affection
Love Song7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-SaturdayCarpenter Square TheatreArena Theater, Stage Center400 W. Sheridanwww.carpentersquare.com232-6500$19, $16 seniors/military Carpenter Square Theatre advertises John Kolvenbach’s “Love Song” by as an “offbeat comedy,” but the first act is about the dullest 58 minutes of comedy that you’ll find this side of Neil Simon’s “Rumors.” Turns out that the play…
Girl in a Coma’s latest album is all over the map, because that’s where the women have been
Girl in a Coma with Xiu Xiu9 p.m. WednesdayOpolis113 N. Crawford, Normanwww.opolis.org447-3417$10 advance, $12 door$12 advance, $14 door under 21 If you can count among your fans ’80s icon Joan Jett, alt-rock demigod Morrissey and art rocker Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu, then odds are, you’re doing something right. Given how widely a net must…
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
This week you’ll be working overtime while you sleep. Your dreaming mind will be playing around with solutions to your waking mind’s dilemmas. Your ally, the wild conjurer in the ramshackle diamond-encrusted sanctuary at the edge of the deep dark forest, will be spinning out medicine stories and rounding up help for you. So of…
Wine in grocery stores
Sen. Andrew Rice’s Senate Bill 2205 was defeated several weeks ago for good, sound economic reasons. His argument was that passage would bring Oklahoma liquor laws out of the Dark Ages and deliver into our hands Whole Foods and other upscale grocers. Texas and Colorado were cited as the models of modernity since they have…
Former educator Sam Botkin exhibits vibrant paintings at a show at the Paseo Arts Space
“The Evolution of an Artist” Paseo Art Space, 3022 PaseoOngoing, through March 31525-2688 For Sam Botkin, art is about having fun. “I have fun with my art and my art has fun with me,” he said. Botkin doesn’t have a formal background in art. In fact, he taught math all of his life. After he…
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
Humans have been baking and eating bread for at least 5,000 years. But it wasn’t until the 20th century that anyone figured out a fast and easy way to cut it into thin, precise pieces. Then Otto Rohwedder, who had been working on the project for 16 years, produced a machine that cut a loaf…
Mick’s margin
In a race that was closer than Nostradamus may have prognosticated, incumbent Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett defeated independent candidate Steve Hunt on March 2. Cornett won by 58.3 to 41.7 percent, but Mayor Mick’s margin of victory was on a diet compared to 87 percent in 2006. He was first elected with 58 percent…
Bio grads
Good news for environmentalists: OU recently announced that students graduating this year will be wearing biodegradable gowns during commencement. Bad news to students: The new gowns will still be worth more than your degree in this job market. According to an OU press release, “The gowns are made from wood fiber harvested exclusively from renewable,…
Legendary Gun Club and Cramps sideman Kid Congo Powers makes solo mark with ‘Dracula Boots’
Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds with Willie V. and Gandhi Hospital9 p.m. Mondaythe Conservatory8911 N. Westernwww.conservatoryokc.com879-9778$8 If you don’t know who Kid Congo Powers is, you should. From the late-’70s to mid-’90s, he played guitar for seminal punk acts The Gun Club, The Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. His…
Rural telephone companies, cellular users at odds over state-wide toll-free plan’s proposed fee
As the Oklahoma Corporate Commission’s telecommunications staff debates over the draft of a new toll-free policy, rural telephone companies are arguing to keep the proposal alive. Many others are in opposition to whole idea of the proposal. “Earlier this year, staff asked the commissioners for permission to look into developing rules, with an eye looking…
Barhop with a map that shows how soaked our city is and where the most booze oozes
From winemakers and brewers to retailers and more, there are 649 (legal) ways to get a drink in Oklahoma County, as of February. Here’s a different view of the permits the Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission requires of those dealing in adult potions. In all, Oklahoma County has the most alco-outlets statewide. Residents here are…
Oklahoma’s tiered alcohol retail system and pricing methods benefit Okies
Mike Weeks, an Oklahoma City land man, was surprised to find the $90 bottle of wine he purchased for his business partner’s 2009 Christmas present online for $50 two weeks later. “Why is the price so different in California than here?” Weeks said. “We’re getting screwed, obviously. Someone is making money off of us.” Tier…
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
It’s quite possible that the nature of consciousness is in the midst of a fundamental transformation. The human race seems to be getting more empathetic, more compassionate, and even more psychic. Many of us are having experiences that were previously thought to be the province of mystics, such as epiphanies that give us visceral perceptions…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
I used to have an acupuncturist who, as she poked me with needles, liked to talk about her understanding of Chinese medicine. Once she told me that every human being needs a “heart protector,” which is a body function that’s “like a holy warrior who serves as the queen’s devoted ally.” But the heart protector…
Girls’ night out events offer stressed-out moms a social outlet, as well as peace of mind
Female bonding has morphed over time from quilting circles and tea parties to bunco and book clubs, but one thing remains the same: Girls just wanna have fun, and nothing spells it quite like G-N-O. Beverages and benefits Turns out, girls’ night out isn’t all gossip and lemontinis. The ladies-only excursions may actually be good…
A short history and future of liquor laws in Oklahoma
Everyone in Oklahoma knows you can’t buy liquor in grocery stores. But how did these laws come about in the first place?Pending alcohol legislation Some think Oklahoma is still in the dry ages when it comes to liquor laws, like the group Oklahomans for Alcohol Law Reform. And there are those who think this state’s…
Frontier Ruckus cuts a trail through bluegrass with deeper arrangements and a singing saw
Frontier Ruckus with Noah Earle and the Double Clutchers10 p.m. Saturday51st Street Speakeasy1114 N.W. 51stwww.myspace.com /51speakeasy463-0470 Matthew Milia is a poet in a songwriter’s skin. As a creative-writing major at Michigan State University, his mentor was poet and professor Diane Wakoski, whose guiding hand was an immense influence on then-duo Frontier Ruckus. “Her emphasis that…
Sexes ed.
Thanks to a University of Oklahoma freshman, OU students will get a chance to learn all about the sexes next year. Antonin Fusco thought up the idea for a class geared toward relations between men and women through the ages (not those type of relations “¦ well, not entirely those types of relations). And all…
Ex-Pedro the Lion leader David Bazan’s solo work questions God, himself and the world at large
David Bazan with Headlights9 p.m. FridayOpolis113 N. Crawford, Normanwww.opolis.org447-3417$10 advance, $12 door$12 advance, $14 door under 21 A basic tenet of politeness that states one should never talk about sex, politics or religion. There’s another canon, slightly less specific, that implies rock musicians are exempt from the above. David Bazan, for most of his career,…
Build on differences
While it is still within our rights to give an open opinion, I am writing. Do we, as citizens of the most free, wonderful country in the world, understand we did not get here without sacrifice and duty? It does not matter which side of the fence you are on right now. It does, however,…
Firsthand accounts are key to understanding American history
The “Ex-slaves” article (Rob Collins, Feb. 24, 2010, Oklahoma Gazette) is such a striking piece! Before even reading the story, I broke down upon seeing ex-slave Charlotte Johnson’s photo, in which her face tells the reader so much about the atrocities her people endured. Like you so eloquently state in your closing, these firsthand accounts…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
If you were living in Greece in the fifth century B.C., I’d urge you to bathe in the healing spring at the shrine of Asklepios in Athens. If you were in 19th-century France, I’d recommend that you trek to the sacred shrine at Lourdes — being sure to crawl the last half-mile on your hands…
Ali Harter – No Bees, No Honey
e road / I’ve got that feeling that we gotta long way to go / Where we going, no one really knows / Let’s close up that house and get out on the road.” “No Bees, No Honey” was recorded at The House in Choctaw with producer Matt Dylan Street, a multi-instrumentalist who deserves considerable…
Commentary: Enough with the MAPS bashing
Following the re-election of Mayor Mick Cornett, some are questioning this and asking what direction we’re going. Specifically, some are questioning where we should be spending MAPS dollars. Criticizing MAPS has become a ratings bonanza for some, and it’s an easy way to attract attention in this community. However, for those of us who are…
Good or bad, alcohol remains a staple in the world of sports
Alcohol and athletics have enjoyed a long, prosperous relationship. The two, it would seem, are a match made in pro-sports heaven. If this sounds like some sort of revelation, perhaps you haven’t noticed the long, winding beer lines during any recent trip to the Ford Center or AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. This, despite the fact a…
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
You might have to use primitive means to accomplish modern wonders. It may be necessary to hearken back to what worked in the past in order to serve the brightest vision of the future. Take your cue from Luis Soriano, a saintly teacher who carries a library of 120 books on the back of a…
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) was called “the most famous actress the world has ever known.” She did a few films in the early days of the cinema, but most of her work was in the theater. At age 70, she played the role of the 13-year-old Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. I commend her on…
The Anti-Family Act of 2010′
Consider that young couple with the beautiful children. Picture the kids’ smiles, their laughter, their infectious joy. Now imagine the world without those children. The couple not raising a family. Grandparents without their grandkids. Uncles and aunts unable to spoil their nieces or nephews. The children’s choir at church with fewer voices. Because that is…
Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton is one of those auteur-style directors that brings such a distinctive visual style to his projects that it’s difficult to ignore his presence — even if you would like to — when discussing his work. Burton stopped pushing his own boundaries with 1994’s “Ed Wood.” Since then, he’s become increasingly predictable — the…
For the health of it
My friend in Canada is a retired teacher whose life in their universal health care system astonishes me. Twenty years ago, she had a hysterectomy requiring a hospital stay. She brought in baskets of organic vegetables she wanted to eat, which they cooked and served to her. Some years ago, at retirement, she had bouts…
An installation woven from wire and another that applies paint to large-scale images taken from space open at City Arts Center
Asia Scudder and Andrew PolkOpening reception 5:30 p.m. ThursdayOn display through April 10City Arts Center3000 General Pershingwww.cityartscenter.org951-0000 A pair of exhibits opening Thursday at City Arts Center take art to great heights, soaring from the peaks of music scales all the way up to the sky above. Asia Scudder’s “Music Builds a Life” is an…
PR BS
Lots of press releases related to the Sooner State cross our desk. This week, these titles least screamed “Stop the presses!” “”Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Extends Vehicle Supply Agreement With Ford Motor Company”””Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. Filed Form 10-K With The Securities and Exchange Commission”””Holly Energy Partners Announces the Execution of a Letter of Intent…
Local Irish dancing performance to feature kids as young as seven
Jean Hill and her Irish Dance Troupe3 p.m. SaturdayBethany Library, 3510 N. Mueller.789-8363Free Four-leaf clovers, leprechauns, pots of gold under a rainbow and the jig are all things that come to mind when one thinks of Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day. Celebrating the rich cultural heritage, Jean Hill and her Irish Dance Troupe will perform…
Quote of the Week
The Oklahoma Supreme Court is “growing weary of admonishing the Legislature for so flagrantly violating the terms of the Oklahoma Constitution.”“from the unanimous ruling affirming a lower court’s ruling that last year’s abortion bill, the much-talked-about House Bill 1595, is unconstitutional
Brooklyn trio The Vivian Girls gets over the hype and to the business of dark, drenching distortion
Vivian Girls with Abe Vigoda, Male Bonding and more8 p.m. MondayOpolis113 N. Crawford, Normanwww.opolis.org447-3417$10 Advance, $12 door$12 Advance, $14 door under 21 Our lives have gotten faster and faster, and the Internet has only amplified the pace. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the life of musicians. The transition from an unknown act to…
Would changed alcohol laws result in revenue for Oklahoma?
Oklahomans for Alcohol Law Reform is a grassroots organization attempting to change alcoholic beverage laws that are vestiges of the old “blue laws” system, including allowing liquor retailers to sell on Sundays. Randy Burleson, a founding member of the organization, said OFALR is not pushing for “obligatory regulations.” “We think it’s a matter of consumer…
Distracted from facts
As the health care debate continues, we all seem to get more and more distracted from facts. You can believe the nonsense if you like; such as the following statement that has recently been made by both Sen. Tom Coburn and Rush Limbaugh who said we have the best health care system in the world.…
Nashville trio Turbo Fruits’ unbridled energy and juicy hooks are no longer a side project
Turbo Fruits with Mondo Drag and the Boom Bang8 p.m. Sundaythe Conservatory8911 N. Westernwww.conservatoryokc.com879-9778$8 If Sunny D made garage rock, it might sound like the Turbo Fruits: crackling with barely restrained energy, thick-as-corn-syrup hooks and the joyful, childlike abandon of a recess with electric instruments. The Nashville, Tenn., trio recalls its late Memphis neighbor Jay…
Bitch Slap
mp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003498RD6″>Bitch Slap.” And if you don’t, perhaps we’re not meant to be the best of friends. “Bitch Slap” wears its influences on its torn sleeves, aping the exploitation classics of the 1950s to the 1970s, particularly the cleavage-heaving oeuvre of Russ Meyer. About the only difference is that Meyer never opened and closed a movie…
Sparta U.S.A. – David Lapham and Johnny Timmons
David Lapham does great things for crime comics, but WildStorm’s new “Sparta U.S.A.” finds him working in a zone more attuned to sci-fi, although not heavily. The debut issue introduces us to the titular tiny town “? population 9,923 “? where dozens upon dozens of football leagues provide the primary entertainment. One of its former…
