Failure to Keep a Low Profile
University of New Hampshire officials banned Bert Allen III, 44, a convicted sex offender, from campus in September for posting fliers without permission, seeking a “trophy wife.” To further draw attention to himself, Allen sued for a restraining order (unsuccessfully) to allow the continued solicitation. Police in Covington, Ky., arrested Gregory Griggs, 19, in October…
Lawsuits From the Nether Regions
In August, a woman filed a lawsuit in Orange, Texas, against the manufacturer of the Sea-Doo personal water vehicle, claiming negligent design, after she fell off the back end and directly into the powerful jet stream from the vehicle’s water pump. According to the lawsuit, “The high-pressure stream … penetrated her orifices, causing massive, mutilating…
Recurring Themes
Many people believe Israelis have more important things to worry about these days, but the city government of Petah Tikva (a Tel Aviv suburb) became the latest municipality to implement a registry of dog DNA, to encourage owners to pick up after their pets in the city’s streets and parks. Abandoned droppings will be analyzed…
News That Sounds Like a Joke
In October, the local government council in Worcester, England, ordered Bill Malcolm to take down the 3-foot-high, barbed-wire fence he had installed to deter the thieves who had broken into his storage shed three times in the previous four months. According to the Daily Mail, the council said it feared the government would be sued…
The New Nature of Work
Officer Keith Breiner, suspended from the police force in Beaumont, Texas, for crossing the line during an undercover prostitution sting (that is, he actually had sex), defended himself in an August hearing: “It was a job, sir. I didn’t have pleasure doing it.” It was, he said, “something I did for the city.” In his…
The City Lives join Rejects on tour
City Lives have joined The All-American Rejects as a tour opener and eager students of sold-out shows and international audiences. The Oklahoma City five-piece will return with the Rejects for Friday’s Diamond Ballroom show with Jet Lag Gemini and local rockers Aranda. Drummer Eric Pennell said audience response has been “way better” than the band…
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
e’s disastrous denouement. Bruno’s family represents a boiled-down cross-section of German society, with Father as the party loyalist, Mother as the naive, apolitical bystander and Gretel as the gullible young acolyte. Bruno is the nation’s innocence, temporarily occupying the eye of the storm, unaware that destruction is slowly moving in over him. Watching the family…
Dispute between Oklahoma, Texas fan ends
Texas fan in an Oklahoma City bar last year will have the charges against him dropped. Attorney Billy Bock told AP that District Attorney David Prater notified him late Tuesday, Nov. 18, that he will dismiss an aggravated assault and battery charge against Allen Michael Beckett, 54. For those who don’t remember this gripping account,…
3December’ brings in some of the nation’s innovators
How are Nemo’s swimming motions so fluid? How can “Madden ’08” replicate the human physique so realistically? And how can an average computer user mirror the techniques used by the pros to create imagery for the highest-grossing films and video games of the year? These questions and more will be answered by “3December,” a celebration…
City Arts Center to celebrate flag, neighborhoods of OKC
Antiestablishment nihilists might be a common perception of modern artists, but community pride isn’t unheard of within the creative class. JEFFERSON PARKCOMPANION EXHIBIT City Arts Center has two large exhibitions that will be on display through Dec. 20, featuring dozens of artists focusing on Oklahoma. One exhibit features artists who redesigned the state flag, while…
Synecdoche, New York
You know to expect a head trip from a movie written by Charlie Kaufman, the brilliant, solipsistic screenwriter behind such mind-benders as “Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” But no amount of therapy or narcotics would sufficiently prepare one for his directorial debut, “Synecdoche, New York.” Kaufman is the most…
Labor pains
With the national economy in the tank, the residents of Central Oklahoma are experiencing cautious optimism. Noted Oklahoma State University economist Mark Snead has projected a relatively rosy outlook for 2009 for the state as a whole, with the Oklahoma City area leading Tulsa. Oklahomans are too practical to fall for the promise of an…
Exhibit investigates gender in America, explores impact of culture
d in how men and women in America define and act out gender in relation to cultural memes.” Stokes said the exhibit addresses a range of issues, including questions about whether instincts “inform our choices,” or if those choices are actually guided by society. “Gendering America” also explores the advent of feminism, the sexual revolution…
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
A Serbian beekeeper shares his deep religious fervor with the insects he spends so much time with. Slobodan Jeftic builds beehives shaped like churches because he believes bees have souls, too. I urge you to draw inspiration from his example, Taurus. Get together with your favorite animals for a rowdy prayer session. Bark or purr…
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
If you’re average, you blink about 17,000 times a day. But I’m urging you to reduce that number for the foreseeable future. Why? Because the coming days will put you in the path of meaningful, interesting, and useful sights that will be fast-paced and transitory. You might miss them if you blink too much. So…
Oklahoma man faces battle to house miniature horse
CFN seems to be all about the mini horse lately. First, we had the mini show horse with the prosthetic eye, now we have the saga of Dakota, a tiny equine in danger of being evicted. Greg Copeland, of Broken Arrow, was cited in June for keeping a horse in the backyard of his home…
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
At one point during the comedic film Life of Brian, set in ancient Rome, the hero Brian is working as a vendor selling snacks to spectators at a gladiator match. “Wrens’ livers,” he says. “Jaguars’ earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get ’em while they’re hot.” A potential buyer turns to him and asks, “Got any nuts?”…
Dream City – Brendan Short
MacAdam/Cage Brendan Short’s ambitious debut novel, “Dream City,” begins, appropriately enough, in the throes of the Great Depression. In that era, dreams were all many had to hold onto, but some had already given up on even those. Not young Michael Halligan. As the only child to a loving mother and abusive father, the Chicago…
New proposed rule to Oklahoma Judicial Code of Conduct gets feedback
A proposed new rule for Oklahoma judges is bringing out great dissent among the state’s judiciary. At issue is proposed Rule 3.6 of the Judicial Code of Conduct which, if adopted, would place new restrictions on organizational activities by judges. The proposal states: “A judge shall not hold membership in any organization that practices invidious…
Death of a councilman
One of the finest city councilmen ever to serve Oklahoma City died on Nov. 13. Mark Schwartz strived tirelessly from 1987 to 1998 to prepare our city for the 21st century. We are all rewarded by his efforts. As with any accomplished elected official, Mark’s work was both seen and unseen. Among his best-known efforts…
OKC activist works on behalf of homeless, abused dogs
Willy Domenack believes dogs are truly man’s best friend. “In order for the relationship to work,” he said, “it must be reciprocal. Dogs would be so much better off if more of mankind would be loyal to them.” HARDWORKING AMBASSADORLATINO COMMUNITY For those like Domenack, who possess an inherent compassion for pets, a positive reaction…
The Sacred Institution of Marriage
In September, a Wisconsin appeals court suppressed the surveillance video that allegedly captured David Johnson, 59, having sex with his comatose wife in a Portage nursing home, obviously violating the state law against sex without consent. Nursing home caregivers had installed the camera to protect the wife, but the court ruled it an invasion of…
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
One of the greatest landslide victories in any election for U.S. President was Ronald Reagan’s in 1984. He got 54 million votes, 17 million more than his opponent. On the other hand, Reagan’s total was only 31 percent of all the Americans who were eligible to vote. So his “landslide” consisted of fewer than one…
Oklahoma City Zoo welcomes Brazilian ocelot kitten
Romping around his new den, Joaquin ” a 4-and-a-half-month-old ocelot kitten ” makes his debut at the Oklahoma City Zoo. The 8-pound Brazilian ocelot kitten is the first ocelot to be born at the zoo since 1997, keepers said. Weather and outdoor temperatures permitting, Joaquin and his mother, Pinga, can be seen daily at the…
University of Central Oklahoma professor wins U.S. award
It’s not hard to believe a U.S. Professors of the Year award exists. It’s just hard to believe hardly anyone has heard of it until a local professor claimed the prize. Dr. Wei Chen, a professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, was in Washington, D.C., last week picking up his professor of the year…
The Continuing Crisis
Deceitful mating strategies may be rife in the animal kingdom (especially among humans), but Australian researchers recently documented the sexual guile of a group of orchids that basically trick male wasps into pollinating them by resembling the look and smell of female wasps. Writing in The American Naturalist, the authors noted that female wasps reproduce…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
The wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy loves how smart her husband is. The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd quotes Carla Bruni-Sarkozy as saying, “He has five or six brains which are remarkably irrigated.” I suspect that description will apply to you in the coming weeks, Libra. Even if you have had just one brain…
A pledge to support the public’s right to know
Perhaps more Oklahomans want their government conducted in the open than the politicians realized. Voters on Nov. 4 elected 13 of the 25 candidates for statewide, legislative or county offices who had pledged to support the public’s right to know at every opportunity. Among those elected are five metro-area members of the state House and…
Bolt
We begin to see the benefit in John Lasseter’s takeover of the entire Disney animation empire with the new animated movie “Bolt.” The film isn’t Pixar “? and Lasseter executive-produced but did not direct it “? but to say that it could be a Pixar release isn’t far off the mark. Bolt (voiced beautifully by…
Oklahoma’s top mental health official lays out sobering facts
The state of mental health in Oklahoma is frustrating, but optimism springs. That’s how Terri White, commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, describes her feelings when talking about Oklahoma and its treatment of mental health. “Often, mental health is overlooked when talking about health,” White said before a crowd of…
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
There’s a new source of abundance available for you to tap into, Sagittarius. It won’t necessarily come in the form of a pile of cash or an influx of hot suitors or an upgrade in your social status. I mean those things are possible, but I’d rather concentrate on identifying the plenitude that’s more likely…
The Toasters roll into Oklahoma to play, visit Norman-based record label
Twenty-five volatile years haven’t shaken Toasters front man Rob “Bucket” Hingley’s faith in ska. The long-standing survivor of “third wave” ska music ” the 1980s renaissance of rocksteady and reggae-styled music cast through a British pop-punk prism ” Hingley keeps the embattled music form alive with a relentless tour schedule and solid album releases, which…
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Last June, Neculai Ivascu was re-elected mayor of Voinesti, a Romanian town he had led for almost two decades. The only problem was, he was dead. “I know he died,” said one of the villagers who voted to return him to office, “but I don’t want change.” I hope you won’t go that far in…
Poteet Theatre converts audiences with lively, entertaining ‘Nuncrackers’
There’s something amusingly perverse about watching a musical on a stage in the basement of a Methodist Church that pokes fun at Catholicism and those eternal sources of humor: nuns. Catholics shouldn’t fear, however: “Nuncrackers” is a good-natured satire that is out to entertain, not offend. Aside from a few instances of somewhat bawdy humor,…
Stem-cell injections
When a four-bedroom house inhabited by 50 tenants partially collapsed in October in Honolulu, at least 10 of the residents said they had been pressured to let the property manager give them experimental “stem-cell” injections. Manager Daniel Cunningham, 56 and a de-licensed chiropractor, said he has been injecting the substance, phenol, into himself for years,…
TIF on steroids
On Dec. 16, the Oklahoma City Council will vote on a tax increment finance district comprised solely of the Devon Energy world headquarters complex. Since the building site, less than two city blocks, is already part of the existing Downtown/Bricktown TIF district, why create a new TIF? There appear to be two main reasons. The…
Noble-based nonprofit sees more than 3,000 animals every year
Two bald eagles found freedom in the sky above Arcadia Lake on a recent blustery, mid-November Saturday after spending most of their lives in Noble at a wild animal rescue and rehabilitation agency. One of the eagles had been found as an abandoned infant in 2001. The other was discovered with broken bones and a…
Reduxion Theatre Company produces ‘Romeo and Juliet’ adaptation
Taking a creative leap across the Pacific, a local theater company has adapted William Shakespeare’s classic love story, staging star-crossed lovers who meet on an American naval base in post-World War II Japan. The Reduxion Theatre Company’s opening performance of “Romeo and Juliet” is 8 p.m. Friday at Stage Center, 400 W. Sheridan. “There’s a…
The All-American Rejects eagerly ‘Move Along’ home for the holiday
Nick Wheeler, guitarist for The All-American Rejects, sounds rehearsed. It is 12:40 p.m., and although he admitted he was just starting the day, the 26-year-old has a quick, often promotional answer for everything. This is par for the Rejects’ course, where even in their days as a local band with a markedly smaller audience, Wheeler…
OKC ranked 79th in a national list of the best sports cities
jor-league sports ” the Cowboys, Mavericks, Rangers and Stars. For many years, Oklahoma City strived to develop its sports potential, a move started by the MAPS sales tax in 1993 that is responsible for the dramatic changes in Bricktown today. But it was a gamble, said Norick, known as the “Father of MAPS.” Building the…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Research by forensic anthropologist Martin Jarvis suggests that Johann Sebastian Bach’s wife probably wrote some of his music. Anna Magdalena didn’t get the recognition she deserved because “women were not allowed to take credit for composition” in the 18th century. I expect a comparable theme to emerge in your own life, Pisces. A source that…
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Have you ever arrived at a mountaintop on a clear day? Do you remember what you felt like? Can you re-imagine the sparkling purity of the air as it sweetened your lungs, the shimmering light that washed through you in lush waves, the exaltation of the sweeping vista as it lifted you to a deeper…
PBS anchor visits Oklahoma, tells media to take chill pill
This just in: The media should take a chill pill and not worry about extinction. Believe it or not, all news begins with a living and breathing journalist, according to Jim Lehrer. The PBS anchor recently received the inaugural Gaylord Prize given by the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. “In…
Sooners, Cowboys have plenty riding on weekend Bedlam game
ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew didn’t have to go very far between stops this week. After setting up shop in Norman over the weekend for the Oklahoma-Texas Tech game, it made the 80-mile trek north up I-35 and then east to Stillwater. There’s a fairly important game on tap there this Saturday, as Oklahoma and Oklahoma…
Oklahoma chapter of The Nature Conservancy plans to attract young people
Many environmental groups are realizing that to ensure the future of their organizations and environmental efforts, they’ll need the support of the younger generations ” soon to be the community’s decision makers. NEW YORK MODELWIDE VARIETY The Nature Conservancy’s Oklahoma chapter, for example, found that many of its members were older. Wanting to re-introduce conservation…
Twilight
Imagine a mediocre episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” without the self-awareness and humor. Now imagine a leading lady who, instead of being cute, is only middling-attractive, and her vampire lover who is hunky in an androgynous, Tiger Beat way. Add a plot of the kind Jane Austen satirized 200 years ago in “Northanger Abbey,”…
Paseo pioneer passes
A well-known business owner and adored local personality died unexpectedly last week, prompting a lyrical send-off from local poets and a open-mic-style memorial organized by area musicians and performers. Craig Roche, co-owner of the Galileo Bar & Grill, died Nov. 18 at the age of 59. Born in Patterson, N.J., and raised in Gardener, Mass.,…
Sooner Theatre stages ‘Annie’
The Sooner Theatre continues its “Sooner Stage Presents” series with a production of the beloved Broadway classic “Annie.” Among the most-known musicals of the last three decades, the Tony award-winning “Annie” tells the story of a spunky, Depression-era orphan determined to reconnect with parents who abandoned her years before on the doorstep of a New…
Inhofe wants to target organizations that ran campaign ads against him
It was a good night for most at the Republican election night watch party at the Marriott on Northwest Expressway. The Oklahoma state Senate finally, after a century, went into the control of the Republicans. The party’s penetration into the ranks of the House deepened. FLAMENCO-SOUNDING MUSICSUBVERSIVE ELEMENTS However, for U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, the…
