The Expendables
Your Blu-Ray player can’t get any manlier than when it’s spinning “The Expendables.” Sylvester Stallone’s action extravaganza is the manliest man’s man movie ever made for mankind. Your muscles expand just from watching. It doesn’t have a brain in its well-oiled body, but who needs smarts when your pores are exuding this much fun? When…
Between Heaven and Hell
I’m impressed by anyone who spends years to make a feature film and achieves their vision, but more than often, the end result is unsuccessful as a narrative. The Texas-lensed drama “Between Heaven and Hell” is another example “? its heart is in the right place, but the amateurish talent can’t pull it off. As…
The Disappearance of Alice Creed
Gemma Arterton delivers such a brave performance in “The Disappearance of Alice Creed” that she deserves to have “Bond girl” stricken from ever appearing before her name again. The Brit thriller marks the feature debut of writer/director J. Blakeson. What he’s cooked up could almost work on the Broadway stage, as it efficiently utilizes three…
Counterpoint: Precedents justify SQ 755
Beginning in 613 AD, Muhammad proclaimed “Islam” as a religion for nearly 10 years with virtually no success. His “new revelation” was soundly rejected by the Christians, Jews and polytheists in Mecca. After brokering peace with several warring Arab tribes in Medina, Muhammad’s message changed as history verifies and the contrast between the “Meccan Verses”…
The inaugural Conscious Living Expo connects metro organizations and people for a weekend of seminars and events
Conscious Living Expo Noon-10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church 1801 Brooks, Norman www.consciouslivingok.org Free Booths abound as more than 30 speakers from various local organizations will offer words of wisdom to interested audience members, all while live music wafts through the air at the first Conscious Living Expo. Living…
Nontraditional is becoming more traditional in modern Oklahoma families
/> Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender adoption laws vary by state, but in most cases, GLBT single-person adoptions are allowed, while some states allow same-sex couple adoption or second-parent adoption. In Oklahoma, single GLBT adoption is allowed, but second-parent adoption is unclear. While being both a same-sex and interracial family sets them apart in a…
CFN Quote of the Week
“A quick note to Juan Williams: Oklahoma is now safe for you to visit. The Okie caliphate has now ended! The good people of Oklahoma, in the midst of war and recession, were all lying there in their beds unable to sleep, wondering, ‘What if Muslim imams come here and impose Shariah, or Islamic religious…
Punk legends The Queers go ‘Back to the Basement’ with new album
They’re here. They’re The Queers. But don’t get used to them, because the punk legends are in town for just one show: 7 p.m. Friday at The Conservatory, 8911 N. Western. Delivering their ever-popular blend of punk and pop since 1982, The Queers are touring in support of their brand-new album, “Back to the Basement,”…
Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman
s still a relevant audience for it.” Brian Hearn, OKCMOA film curator, agreed, and “Visual Acoustics” will play a special engagement at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the museum, 415 Couch. The documentary’s director, Eric Bricker, will be in attendance to introduce his work and answer questions following the screening. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, the film…
Thanks to these local rockers, kids’ music no longer has to induce nausea
Three-year-olds are scolded by adults when they misbehave, not vice versa. That is, unless you’re Brendan Parker. “It’s humbling when a 3-year-old tells you you’ve messed up,” said Parker, a kids’ musician. “It’s a good weird.” It seems that, regardless of age, everyone’s a critic. But a significant portion of “everyone” has been quick to…
After enduring as many stumbling blocks as there are colors in the rainbow, indie rock’s Colour Revolt is ready to shine
Colour Revolt with The City Lives and Coney Island 7 p.m. Thursday The Conservatory 8911 N. Western www.conservatoryokc.com 607-4805 $8-$10 It’s been a quick, but rocky, road for indie-rock upstart Colour Revolt. Over the course of its five-year career, most things have tended to come in reverse. Playing Thursday at The Conservatory, the Mississippi-based group…
Little Flower Church copes with the relocation of Interstate 40
The Little Flower Church building in south Oklahoma City, completed in 1926, maintains its original splendor complete with a two-story ornate altar in the sanctuary, even as the surrounding neighborhood has declined. Outside the building, an uninviting chain-link fence topped with barbed wire had to be erected around the perimeter of the historic red brick…
No bull
There was a running of the bulls down the streets of Bethany Nov. 4. Or, more specifically, a running of a bull. Singular. According to KOCO, the “roadway rodeo” (their words, not ours) kicked off in the afternoon near N.W. 16th Street and Rockwell Avenue when a bull got loose from a trailer. But this…
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector
Phil Spector has some crazy ideas. For instance, the legendary music producer known for the “Wall of Sound” approach can’t understand why, every day he shows up for court to be tried for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, that the judge has to mention someone died. What’s that all about? And why is…
Emerging artists converge for a group show at Mainsite that arrives with much imagination, but no true theme
Gloss and Grime through Dec. 4 Mainsite Contemporary Art 122 E. Main, Norman mainsite-art.com 292-8095 Getting a read on what Mainsite Contemporary Art’s “Gloss and Grime” group show is all about is not easy. Even David Crismon, who helped organize it, called the exhibition a “jambalaya” of artwork, but that’s exactly what he wanted: talented…
Oklahoma City Public Schools hopes a long-term strategic plan can turn the troubled district around
Oklahoma City Public Schools officials, parents and students are hoping that by forming a long-term strategic plan, they can turn the district around. The key is making sure the current effort does not turn out like some past ones, officials said. The district began forming the strategic planning committee over the summer and through the…
‘Noon Tunes’ concert series spruces up lunch in the metro
Your lunch menu each Thursday may include a helping of R&B, or perhaps a side of folk, because the ongoing “Noon Tunes” concert series recently started its second year. The hourlong shows begin at 11:30 a.m. every Thursday in the atrium of the Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library, 300 Park Ave. Admission is free. “We…
Saving humanity
K.A. Straughn’s defense of Glenn Beck and company is certainly persistent (Letters, “Prove or apologize,” Nov. 4, Gazette): I simply maintain that regular listeners to Fox radio’s shock jocks are attracted to the apocalyptic ruminations of skilled personalities who present themselves as patriots exposing dangers to America. I find, however, that, whatever their message of…
Cup runneth elsewhere
Quasi-naked women and football ” for some it’s the best match since the letter S got together with the letter M. However, those fired up to watch some good old-fashioned sex-violence are getting a cold shower, courtesy of Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett. Cornett announced Nov. 11 that he is against allowing the Lingerie Football…
Amber Swisher isn’t just a local Hooters employee, but featured in the company’s 2011 calendar
Recently, Amber Swisher beat out more than 20,000 women for the chance to hang on your wall. The Newcastle native works as a Hooters Girl at the 2109 W. Interstate 240 Service Road location of Hooters, and will be featured in the restaurant chain’s 2011 calendar, which also will be its 25th-anniversary edition. “It was…
A poem to progressives plotting mass exodus
There is a sick pit in your stomach. A plantation in your front yard. The static flicker of black and white. An absurd talking picture, where sepia skin is now villain. You are not sure who to trust anymore. Everyone walks backward in your neighborhood. You are surrounded by billboards with hate-sized font. You are…
Activist encourages participation in the fight against nuclear power
Baltimore native Cathy Garger says there’s a good reason why she doesn’t want nuclear power plants built in Oklahoma. “Why don’t I want you to have nuclear power in your state? Because we have it in mine,” Garger said. Garger is not a scientist, but is an activist, she said, campaigning against nuclear power, radiation…
How tweet it isn’t
Oklahoma City Public Schools has given cell phones to some middle-schoolers as part of an experiment being done by Roland Fryer, a Harvard University professor. Fryer has been doing this for several years in different parts of the nation. It has worked in a few schools. His whole experiment is based on bribing students to…
Fans of wizardry can enjoy the realm of Harry Potter at Science Museum Oklahoma
“Bright Night of Harry Potter” Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 N.E. 52nd 6 p.m. Friday $45 per participant 602-6664, www.sciencemuseumok.org Fans of wizardry, mischief and hushed whispers of Hogwarts can enjoy the realm of Harry Potter at Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 N.E. 52nd. On Friday, the museum hosts “Bright Night of Harry Potter,” where the comings…
Skyline
Some reviews are respectful examinations of a movie’s successes and failures. Others are simply death panels. Guess which kind this is? Brothers Colin and Greg Strause (“Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem”), a pair of crackerjack effects wizards, really want “Skyline” to be the foundation on which a popular franchise can be constructed … and they come…
Pluck yew,’ part deux
Many letters regarding bicyclist’s rights (and wrongs) have appeared since Sara Ferguson (Letters, “Bicyclists vs. everyone else,” Gazette) launched the first on-target arrow on the topic back in September. Many of them ” in particular, Glen Garcia’s response (Letters, “Tone it down,” Oct. 27, Gazette) to my mild response, in which he accused me of…
Indie rock’s Shearwater dissects our relationship with the natural world
Shearwater with Damien Jurado 9 p.m. Saturday Opolis 113 N. Crawford, Norman www.starlightmints.com/opolis.html $12-$14 Shearwater offers an intriguing mix of oddity and familiarity. Elements of folk, baroque pop and post-rock coalesce through music that doesn’t correspond very tightly with any of those styles. Call it “naturalistic chamber drama” because of its rich, orchestral mien; dynamic…
Executive John Allgood switches from the RedHawks to hockey with the Oklahoma City Barons
John Allgood has never been afraid to try something new. That may be one of the reasons he’s survived the better part of the last 20 years in the Oklahoma City promotions market. If you’ve been to AT&T Bricktown Ballpark for virtually any reason the past 15 years, then your experience was either created…
Technically speaking, new NBA rule could help Thunder
In an effort to improve sportsmanship, NBA referees have been instructed to call more technical fouls during the 2010-2011 season. Dubbed a “respect for the game” violation, any player who now vehemently protests a call (or non-call) toward a game official is likely to be hit with a technical foul. Two technical fouls in a…
While the Oklahoma City Council talks redistricting, south-side citizens ask for another inner-city ward
John Foreman, a 29-year resident of Oklahoma City’s Capitol Hill district, had a complaint. On Nov. 9, he let the Oklahoma City Council know about it. “Would you guys consider maybe creating an inner-city south-side ward?” Foreman asked the council during the portion of the meeting set aside for citizen input. “There’s a feeling of…
Shawnee Museum gives back to its community with “A Promise of Home”
Museum of Art has hosted a regional exhibit featuring local artists within a 35-mile radius of Shawnee. Last year, however, Donna Merkt, curator of education, saw a need to get the museum more active in the community. “After three years of the show, we wanted to do something different,” Merkt said. “I wanted the museum…
Point: A guide for all mankind
I don’t know which is worse in Oklahoma: Islamophobia or ignorance of Islam altogether. Islamophobia is using crazy scare tactics to convince people that they should fear Islamic culture, race or people. The ignorance comes in when a person uses these same tactics without the knowledge of the thing they’re scaring people with, but proceed…
Squatch’ sighting
CFN has confirmed a legitimate “Squatch” sighting. No, we’re not talking about a late-night campfire hallucination at the annual Honobia Bigfoot Festival involving magic mushrooms. We’re talking about a bona fide spotting documented with real photographic evidence. Only we’re talking about Squatch, the former mascot of the Seattle Sonics, and not the hirsute beast hawking…
Not braaaains, but lungs
Amid a procession of monsters in Oklahoma Gazette’s Ghouls Gone Wild Halloween parade on Oct. 23, one zombie rode atop a motorized mobility scooter. Along with her barrage of “lung-hungry zombies,” better-known as her family and friends, Oklahoma City resident Carol Craig wheeled through ” rather than marched ” the parade route. Craig has chronic…
A local organization helps families struggling to support their pets
Pet Food Pantry is for the couple who walked in to the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter prepared to give up their pets after tearfully explaining they could no longer afford to feed their cats and dogs. It’s for the low-income senior citizen who didn’t have the means to buy food for her pets. And it’s…
For SeeWorth Academy alternative school’s football team, the coaching continues off the field
Around the state, high school football teams are finishing up or preparing for the playoffs. For Oklahoma City’s Justice Alma Wilson SeeWorth Academy, whose last scheduled game was against the John Marshall Bears Nov. 5, the year came to a challenging close. One team member, Trayston Robinson, 19, a junior, died this fall. Three other…
Musicians emerge from an artists’ collective to form psych-rock outfit Conspiracy of Angels
Conspiracy of Angels with Bridgewater Band and Aliens Vs. Robots 8 p.m. Saturday The Blue Note 2408 N. Robinson www.myspace.com/conspiracyofangels 600-1166 Conspiracy of Angels is not so much a band, as it is the arrowhead for an artist collective its Oklahoma City founders have fostered for three years. On Saturday, the experimental rock group at…
Unstoppable
With “Unstoppable,” Tony Scott (“The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3”), a director to whose hyperbolic stylings I am generally immune, and screenwriter Mark Bomback (“Race to Witch Mountain”) have returned to the basics of action filmmaking and concocted a movie that rips along with the speed and power of a runaway train because it’s…
Local high schools hit the water today for a rowing championship
Oklahoma is famous for its love affair with sports. People “Thunder Up” for basketball, get in fights for hockey and curse as loud as they can at football. But one sport is moving its way quickly up the Oklahoma River to stake its claim as one of Oklahoma’s next premier sports. Rowing teams from Northwest…
Irish eyes are smiling at The Righs, Edmond’s very own Celtic punk band, whose members can’t wait to subvert your expectations
The Righs with The Gunship 8 p.m. Saturday VZD’s Restaurant & Club 4200 N. Western www.vzds.com 524-4203 Celtic punk rockers The Righs don’t actually hail from the Emerald Isle, but they are making a good go of mastering the culture. Marrying a love of Irish heritage with their rebellious nature has been at the center…
November is National Novel Writing Month, where the goal is 50,000 words in 30 days
You know that story idea that’s been scratching at the back of your mind for years? The one you’ve had so long it seems like a memory? It’s time to turn that into a novel. November is National Novel Writing Month, or “NaNoWriMo,” as its organizers call it. Described as the world’s largest writing challenge…
Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series
For years, friends have cajoled me to watch the BBC’s current reboot of “Doctor Who.” Because I don’t have BBC America on my cable lineup, I had to make do with what they could show me, which amounted to maybe two episodes, but I liked what I saw. The show’s fifth season “? now available…
Elvis Presley’ Viva Elvis: The Album
That Elvis Presley, he sure is a workhorse! Some three decades and then some following his death, he’s the subject of “Viva Elvis,” a Cirque du Soleil stage show that brings his music … well, if not into the 21st century, then certainly to new heights of spectacle. This 12-tracker is the companion album, and…
Neil Diamond’ Dreams
while there’s nothing wrong with that, either, the production’ courtesy of Mr. D’ sounds curiously flat. Even at high volumes, these “Dreams” don’t crackle like they should. In what feels like an end-stage retrospective, Diamond tackles a pair of Beatles tunes (“Yesterday” and “Blackbird”) alongside tunes by The Eagles, Bill Withers and himself (“I’m a…
Not of This Earth
<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=oklahgazet-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B003XL6EIA&fc1=000000&IS2=1 You can tell from the start that the 1988 remake of “Not of This Earth” is going to be a blast, because the credits are compiled using scenes from entirely different films, with their only point of commonality being owned by Roger Corman. Full of goopy monsters…
Iron Man: Extremis
I didn’t realize “Iron Man: Extremis” was an animated film in the “motion comics” sense, as I find that approach stilted, lazy and uninvolving. This feature-length treatment of Warren Ellis and Adi Granov’s 2006 six-issue series updates the armored Avenger’s origin for our more high-tech times. In half a dozen serialized episodes, the story of…
