Once a Ham …
At a March British soccer match between Blackpool and Burnley teams, greyhound owner Jane Holland was escorting her retired dog Fool’s Mile for a presentation when the crowd noise evidently energized the champion racer, who broke away. “(W)hen she heard the crowd, she was off,” said Holland, and Fool’s Mile circled the track four times…
The Lather Effect
2006 Terrible title, terrible movie. “The Lather Effect” takes place in the aftermath of a huge, 20-year-reunion party for the graduating class of Pali High Reunion, where a small circle of friends hangs around, cleans up, gets stoned, but mostly whines and mopes for 95 minutes. Like “The Big Chill,” they group together…
Recurring Themes
“Freestyle” dog dancing continues to thrive, at least in British Columbia (where the first organization sprang up in 1999, amassing an 8,000-person mailing list, as News of the Weird reported). A Globe and Mail dispatch in April noted that Gail Walsh’s school for dog dancing, Paws2Dance, teaches moves like dog “weaves” around its human partner’s…
Now, Which One Is the Brake? (all-new)
Elderly drivers’ recent lapses of concentration, confusing the brake pedal with the gas (or however artfully they try to explain what happened): A Citrus Heights, Calif., woman, 81, drove into the ATM lobby of a Wells Fargo bank, injuring a customer (March). A Chicago Heights, Ind., woman in her 80s drove through a Dairy Queen…
Charity on the Cutting Edge
“Obviously, this is not as important as helping starving kids in Africa, but it’s the same basis,” Karla Rae Morris told Canada’s Sun newspapers in February. “They want to help us out,” she said, referring to her benefactors who had donated money (from two men, over $1,000 (Cdn) each) so that she could afford breast…
Least Competent Criminals
Not Ready for Prime Time: Ahmed Jalloul, 20, was convicted in April of robbing a post office in Adelaide, Australia, based on DNA evidence. Witnesses said Jalloul seemed unsteady and unsure of himself during the crime and consequently vomited on the floor before running from the scene. Eric Hardin, 20, was charged in March in…
Late OSU basketball coach Aubrey earned ‘hero’ label
Next to the word “star,” “hero” is probably the most overused term in sports. Its common application by the media in describing a story or by fans in their daily idolization of players almost cheapens its meaning. Sam Aubrey enjoyed his share of big moments in athletics. He was a starting forward on Oklahoma A&M’s…
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
2007 One needs no map to navigate the complex waters of “National Treasure: Book of Secrets,” because there aren’t any. Like its smash-hit predecessor, the sequel is a good-natured, mildly diverting mix of heists and history, making for two hours of adventure that may not have you on the edge of your seat, but at…
Dangerous Assignment: The Complete Television Collection
2008 One of the very best things about the existence of DVD technology is the unearthing of none-too-shabby television shows you never knew existed. Case in point: 1952’s “Dangerous Assignment,” starring cult actor Brian Donlevy, perhaps best known for his film gigs in “Kiss of Death” and “The Quatermass Xperiment.” Here, he dons a snazzy…
Allied Arts hosts ‘Artini’ benefit event
Ideal Saturday night plans: luscious martini tasting, a stimulating art auction and the toe-tapping jams of live music. The Allied Arts Artini Party “? scheduled from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday at the Waterford Marriott, 6300 Waterford Blvd. “? offers them all in an evening featuring an art auction accompanied by the musical entertainment of…
Speed Racer: The Official Racing Book – Sophia Kelly
a glitzy, glossy racing program, with profiles on all the racers and their vehicles, plus stats, ephemera and eye-popping color photos that emphasize the exciting visuals. For those older kids for whom this may prove too fleeting, point them in the direction of “Speed Racer: Born to Race,” Michael Anthony Steele’s junior novelization of the…
Office of Juvenile Affairs puts Oklahoma County on notice
Officials at the state and county levels are well aware of the overcrowding problem with the juvenile justice system. But when the state Office of Juvenile Affairs sent a letter to the Oklahoma County commissioners placing the Juvenile Justice Center on a provisional license, the problem intensified. On April 29, OJA told the county it…
Governor’s veto disturbs Republicans’ latest lawsuit reform efforts
Gov. Brad Henry vetoed a Republican-driven bill to reform lawsuits May 7. House Bill 2458, described as a “modest” attempt at lawsuit reform, would have required civil litigants to obtain an expert opinion backing their claim before actually filing the case with a state court. The measure passed the Senate back in April and was…
Carpenter Square delivers a couple desperate to get pregnant
Carpenter Square Theatre features the play Expecting Isabel about two Manhattanites, Nick and Miranda, who are planning to start a family. Director Brett Young puts together a seamless evening from a complicated pastiche of narration, endless settings and nearly 30 roles played by an ensemble whose members switch wigs and costumes with breathtaking ease. The…
What Happens in Vegas
gal who makes plans to make plans. During a night of “cutting loose” they take part in a blacked-out wedding, each waking up in the morning married to their respective worst-possible mate. After Jack wins $3 million in a slot machine, the couple is for some reason court ordered to live as a couple for…
Metro art programs aim to enrich lives of homeless children
Even something as simple as a sculpture can elevate quality of life in a community, according to Peter Dolese, interim executive director of the Arts Council of Oklahoma City. “What makes a good city a great city, a lot of times, is the beauty of a community, and public art, in my opinion, is one…
Wiener Takes All
Reviewer’s grade: B+ Every dog has its day. For Noodles, an elongated, brown, speed demon dachshund from Huntington Beach, Calif., that day was Sept. 26, 2004 “? the day Noodles was declared, officially, top dog. Noodles was the 2004 winner of the Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals, held annually at the Los Alamitos race course in Southern…
One-man-band El Paso Hot Button charges out of the brush for a combat-rock CD release show
On Saturday, El Paso Hot Button will officially release the “Jungle Fever” EP, a split-album effort with Attractive and Popular, a Hot Springs, Ark.-based rock band whose half of the album is titled “Live from Hell.” PERFORMANCEBoth bands will join local rockers The Neighborhood, DJ John Bourke and Sunshine Bear for a Saturday show at…
Any questions?
Our Populist forebears in Oklahoma feared the concentration of power in one pair of hands. Therefore, they designed our state government with a system closer to the cabinet systems of other English-speaking democracies than our federal presidential system. Unfortunately, all too often this diffusion of power has led to a lack of accountability in our…
Dark Meat plans a barnstormer of Southern psychedelia
Those still hungry for a megamember music collective after The Polyphonic Spree’s performance at last month’s Norman Music Festival can feast on sounds from the Southern-fried psychedelic rock group Dark Meat, which will stretch the stage space Sunday at The Conservatory. “We’ll have 17 (members) at least ” probably more,” bassist/vocalist Ben Clack said, before…
The Fellowship Students plan metro-area performances
Local indie-rock favorites The Fellowship Students ” mute in the metro for more than a year ” are smashing the silence with a 10:30 p.m. Friday show at The 51st Street Speakeasy, 1114 N.W. 51st, according to drummer Jacob Becannen. The band’s singer, Matt Brown, plays the lead in “Rainbow Around the Sun,” a psychedelic…
Shawnee dedicates day to local musician
It’s not an official holiday yet, but mark your calendars for Monday, a day officially dedicated to local singer/songwriter Samantha Crain by her hometown Shawnee. City Mayor Chuck Mills applauded Crain and her band The Midnight Shivers for putting on live shows that “frenzy the emotions of all who are listening,” in his official proclamation,…
During Oklahoma visit, Vice President blames Democrats for high gas prices
Rising gas prices are taking their toll. CFN’s unpaid intern, Bucky, is so desperate, he’s donating plasma for cash to fill up his moped with personalized racing flames. If you’re looking for a culprit to blame for the high cost o’ fuel, Vice President Dick Cheney has the answer: Democrats. The Veep said Dems are…
Oklahoma City doctor, research team help discover process to cure almost any infection
Last week, researchers at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City ” along with others at Emory University in Atlanta ” cured the flu. But wait: You can’t cure the flu. Antibiotics don’t work. There’s no medicine that can kill the flu. You just gotta take acetaminophen and sweat it out ” if you…
Museum hosts family gardening event
With summertime right around the corner, there is no better time to wake up your green thumb, dust off the gardening gloves, and get the whole family in on the earth-friendly action. “Family Day Out: Green Family Gardening” ” slated for 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History,…
Is the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter’s goal to switch to being a ‘no-kill’ by 2010 possible?
The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter says it wants to be a no-kill facility by 2010. “It’s great for us to go no-kill,” Unit Operations Supervisor Jon Gary said, standing nearby. “But we’re not going to be able to go no-kill unless they go no-kill out in the community. “¦ Until they start changing what they…
Nuts, jewels allegedly stolen at Norman’s May Fair festival
The criminal mind travels down its own path, leaving even the most skeptical cynics baffled at times. Take the annual May Fair festival, an event that has brought great art, tasty food and goodwill to Normanites for many years. Even the kiddos get in on the fun with an art contest for every school grade…
Police accuse Oklahoma college student of dismembering dog
Remember, when you care enough to send the very best, give a Hallmark card. Not ” repeat, not ” a severed dog’s head. According to an Oklahoman report, 24-year-old Rogers State University student Tywone Dion Parks is accused of dropping a disembodied doggie noggin on a pal’s porch in Claremore. Fellow student Christina Lynn Shipman…
The Big Squeeze’ brings accordion enthusiasts together
Before The Beatles took over the American music scene with their shaggy hair and guitar-driven British pop music in 1964, people tapped their feet to a different kind of instrument ” one that’s easily portable, always in tune and provides its own bass accompaniment: the accordion. “Believe it or not, the accordion used to be…
Mixed signals
Doesn’t everything happening in the metro seem bifurcated these days? Bifurcated is a word that fits. It simply means divided into two camps. In terms of Oklahoma City, it means recent events here ” good or bad, depending on your point of view ” are sending mixed signals. There are wonderful developments in the metropolitan…
Another Oklahoma judge faces masturbation charges
Sigh. Another day, another alleged masturbating judge. Seriously. According to Tulsa police, Tulsa County District Judge Jesse Harris is charged with indecent exposure, in which he allegedly exposed himself in public to two women. The incident occurred at the Extended Stay motel in Tulsa, according to the affidavit. In that report, the police say one…
D.C. justices hear from descendants of freed slaves, Cherokee Nation
WASHINGTON, D.C. ” A U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing marked the next step in a fight between the descendants of freed slaves and the Cherokee Nation over tribal citizenship. During the May 6 hearing, a three-member panel of judges fired questions involving tribal sovereign immunity to both sides. Federal judges Merrick B. Garland, Thomas…
Ceremony planned for late Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame member
The life of an award-winning Oklahoma blues legend will be celebrated by fans, friends and music lovers Saturday in eastern Oklahoma. D.C. Minner, who died May 6 at age 73, was an accomplished musician who played bass alongside Freddie King, Eddie Floyd, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, and was well-known for his Dusk ‘Til Dawn…
Star Trek: The Key Collection
Checker Book Publishing Group One of next summer’s multiplex tent poles is director J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the “Star Trek” franchise. While I’ve never been a fan of the TV shows or the movies, the Gold Key Comics of my youth are another story, and “Star Trek: The Key Collection” rounds up the first eight…
The Indiana Jones Handbook: The Complete Adventurer’s Guide – Denise Kiernan and Joseph D’Agnese
Quirk Fedora? Check. Whip? Check. Snakes? Why’d it have to be snakes? Unleash your inner action-prone archaeologist with “The Indiana Jones Handbook: The Complete Adventurer’s Guide,” arriving just before the long-awaited fourth Indy movie finally hits screens May 22. As one might surmise, this tie-in is like all those “Worst-Case Scenario” titles, but with iconic…
Bright Ideas
Among the notable offerings at the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, Switzerland, in April were beer-flavored jelly (non-alcoholic) to spread on biscuits, and artificial, removable nose hair (swabs of pipe cleaner for the nostrils to block pollen and dust). (“Most people do not have enough nose hair,” inventor Gensheng Sun told The Associated Press.)…
Redbelt
Reviewer’s grade: C+ Writer/director David Mamet (“Spartan,” “Heist,” “State and Main”). casts Chiwetel Ejiofor (“American Gangster,” “Children of Men”) as the owner of a judo dojo in Chicago who gets involved with a cynical movie star (Tim Allen, “Wild Hogs”), a loan shark (David Paymer), an emotionally distraught lawyer (Emily Mortimer, “Lars and the Real…
Trio reunites for ‘Summer Breeze’ performance
This season’s second installment of the “Summer Breeze” concert series, The Performing Arts Studio presents Kane Welch Kaplin at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Lions Park, 450 S. Flood in Norman. Gaining attention of critics and fans alike from around the globe ” and each a masterful musician in his own right ” core members Kieran…
Oklahoma County voters approve three of five measures
More than 40,000 Oklahoma County voters went to the polls on Tuesday to decide the fate of five propositions county officials put before the public. The main proposition called for spending $55 million to purchase the inactive General Motors plant in southeastern Oklahoma City. The measure passed 20,773 to 18,635. After the county buys the…
John Marshall principal leaving after first year
John Marshall High School Principal Corey Harris is stepping down from his Oklahoma City Public Schools position after this school year ends. The administrator has indicated he intends to finish his doctorate, a district spokeswoman said. The state native was part of a “fresh start” former Oklahoma City Superintendent John Q. Porter implemented last July,…
