An allergy sufferer gives thanks
As a lifelong allergy sufferer, I was not surprised to learn that Oklahoma City and Tulsa ranked high on the list. According to AAFA, Oklahoma City is the seventh-toughest American city for residents with fall allergy symptoms, while Tulsa is the 19th. These rankings illustrate how important it is for Oklahoma allergy sufferers to have…
Get real about climate change
Mickey McVay (“Kool-Aid’s global warming flavor,” Oct. 24, Gazette) then tells us that those who believe in anthropological climate change need courses in historical geology. This is from a man who previously and falsely told us (Letters, “Mistaken environmentalists,” Sept. 14, 2011, Gazette) that the atmosphere is 95-percent water. People who can’t get what is…
The Phynx
To review the movie, I need only tell you what it’s about. The dictator of communist Albania has swiped dozens of United States “world leaders,” including Butterfly McQueen, Johnny Weismuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, Dorothy Lamour, Xavier Cugat, Col. Sanders, Busby Berkeley, the Bowery Boys, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. (Mind you, all of them appear as…
OKG7 veggie-heavy eats
Pho Kim Long1121 N.W. 23rd528-8826 If you’ve been searching for hearty veggie-only pho, not just a few carrots and pieces of corn, then your pursuit can end here (unfortunately, the broth is still meat-based). It’s no wimpy dish. Enjoy the lightly browned tofu, baby corn, carrots, sprouts, fresh jalapeños and parsley. It’s plenty for two,…
Bad Moon rising
Credit: Brad Gregg Unfortunately, on Oct. 7 at an Oklahoma City bar, the only form of jurisprudence available was street justice featuring Lewis B. Moon, an OKC attorney. Apparently he and another attorney, identified by The Oklahoman as Edmond lawyer James Pasquali, had some beef. It’s noteworthy that Moon was the star of a video…
Magnificent 7
Photo: Nathan Poppe Right in the thick of a deep run into the NBA playoffs, Oklahoma City came together earlier this year in not only a frenzy of fandom, but a dawning realization that this indeed is a major-league city and, by extension, state. Somewhere between the OKC Thunder sweeping the Dallas Mavericks and taking…
Let’s get heavy
Black Skies Photo: Mutter It’s difficult to affix a name to a genre. As soon as one is figured out, two more subgenres spring out from under it. For example, “heavy metal” is an all-encompassing term for music that is harder and darker than your typical three-minute pop ditties. But beyond that are its ever-increasing…
All that jazz
Ask local jazz enthusiasts about vocalist Michael Summers, and they may refer to him as the “Michael Bublé of the 405.” This, however, is news to Summers. “You know what? I’m not offended,” Summers said. “He’s a great singer, for sure. I’ll take it!” While pleased with the comparison, he’s quick to note that he’s…
Walk this way
Bike routes aren’t the only transportation method the city is hoping to improve, as the City Council last week approved a master plan for the MAPS 3 sidewalk projects. An earlier plan presented to the Council had been sent back to the subcommittee level after council members expressed concern that so few miles were slated…
Little bakery on the Prairie
If you’ve ever used the words “carbohydrate” or “carb” in the pejorative, you can stop reading right now. (I mean, you all can stop reading right now, if you choose. I wouldn’t recommend it.) Adherents to the Atkins Diet beware: It’s about to get very hard for you to continue. Prairie Thunder Baking Company is…
Bike boom
Credit: Mark Hancock The city is planning for more than 200 miles of bike routes, which includes so-called “sharrow” lanes. The word “sharrow” is a combination of “share” and “arrow.” The lanes are designated by pavement markings showing a picture of a bicycle below two arrows. The bike routes will be added in phases. The…
Get creative
Good news, Oklahomans: You’re creative. At least, you have the capacity to be, and Tuesday’s State of Creativity Forum aims to give you the tools to channel creativity and innovation into every aspect of your life. “The goal is that we will, individually, take something away that will inspire us to be more creative individuals…
Pump it up
If you didn’t get enough treats for Halloween, the World Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation will provide plenty of eye candy at the Southwest U.S. Championship on Saturday. “You’re going to see athletes from all over the world who’ve honed their bodies to extreme fitness,” said WBFF promoter Randy Sandberg. “It’s like a Victoria’s Secret show,…
CFN Headline of the Week
Credit: Brad Gregg — News9.com, Oct. 31.
Copperheads — Apocalyptic Behavior
Turns out they were just gently working out the kinks on their hellacious debut LP, Apocalyptic Behavior, on Okie Dope Records. This is just as strong as anything like-minded contemporaries Ty Segall or Thee Oh Sees are pumping out, only truer to the wellspring of ’70s punk that inspired the garage revival in the first…
CFN Headline of the Week
Credit: Brad Gregg — News9.com, Oct. 31.
Rice returns
Andrew Rice Credit: Mark Hancock Rice resigned from his legislative seat when his wife, Apple, a physician, accepted a position in Nashville. The family headed east. Now the Rice family is back in Oklahoma City. “The job opportunity for my wife that took us there was not an ideal situation for her or for us,…
Full ‘Circles’
Americana artist Greg Reichel describes his music as “very real and soulful.” And while many singer-songwriters typically use such terms to describe their sound, Reichel believes he goes out of his way to prove it. “I try to write with as much soul as I can, instead of just throwing a song together,” he said.…
Gun crazy
Credit: Brad Gregg Got to run by the grocery store for eggs and toilet paper? Bring that .45! Ordering a no-fat mocha frappuccino? Do it with a .44! After enduring an obscenely long period of anti-Second Amendment fascism in our fair state, the estimated 141,000 Oklahomans with a concealed-carry permit can now breathe easy and…
Head of the class
Credit: Brad Gregg “Oklahoma is arguably the most conservative state in the country,” reported Alex Blumberg. “So how in the world did anyone get the conservative state of Oklahoma to agree to a dramatic expansion of the state’s public education system in preschool, something that many conservatives would oppose? How did anyone get away with…
Well preserved
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB” lang=”EN-GB”> Twenty years ago, Preservation Oklahoma, Inc., made its debut as the state’s only private nonprofit dedicated to promoting historic places and buildings. Founded in 1992, the group since has played key roles in the preservation of the Skirvin Hilton Hotel, the Journal Record Building, Centre Theater and the Gold Dome. Those…
KD’s kitchen
When not shooting hoops, Durant plans to be on-site at his namesake restaurant. “I’m going to be visible in the restaurant, and try to spend as much of the time as I can there,” Durant said at the Oct. 30 groundbreaking. “If somebody has a complaint, I’m going to try to go back in the…
‘Glory’ be
Spending hours glued to the TV watching Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations isn’t difficult to do. On the show, chef and jet-setter Bourdain whisks himself and his crew around the globe to explore local culture and cuisine. From Beirut to south Florida, he has a true wanderer’s heart. “I’m pretty sure I could sit…
‘Free’ at last
Rap has long held domain over comedy skits between songs until country crooner Jerrod Niemann laid claim to them with his breakout 2010 album, Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury. “We were just laughing, having a blast and couldn’t stop between takes,” said the self-described half-Oklahoman who grew up in Liberal, Kan. “We’d get these…
Peace be with you
Go ahead and check my math; I’ll wait. Once you’ve accepted the fact there are only eight weekends between you and Christmas, don’t panic. Leave the parking-space hostility and sale-item aggression to someone else. After all, ’tis the season of peace and love! And that’s the motto at the 27th annual Peace Festival. From 11…
Take my campus … please!
Credit: Brad Gregg The original plan was to convert the 43-building campus into C.S. Lewis College. Lewis, who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia as well as a number of books on Christianity, was a British Anglican, but he is beloved by millions of evangelicals who either don’t know he was anglo-Catholic or only read children’s…
Granny larceny
Credit: Brad Gregg Unfortunately for Elvenia Lorreta Wiggins, that’’s what police say happened (figuratively speaking) when her 15-year-old grandson stole from her. Suspicions arose after $800 went missing from Wiggins’ purse. Soon after, the boy began coming home — Wiggins is his legal guardian — with expensive items that Grandma hadn’t purchased (well, that she…
Medicaid expansion is the new SQ 744
Public- and private-sector leaders joined the campaign to publicize its unsustainable structure and potential harm to core services. Voters overwhelmingly rejected it. Oklahoma lawmakers now face a similar scenario. The Affordable Care Act provides for a massive expansion of Medicaid, allowing states to expand Medicaid to include many individuals below 133 percent of the federal…
Viva la comunidad
Credit: Mark Hancock But when it was signed into law five years ago, HB 1804 sparked “sheer panic in the community,” said Pat Fennell, former president and CEO of the Latino Community Development Agency (LCDA). Many immigrants fled the state immediately. Those who stayed lived in fear. In the time since, the measure has lost…
House of Dark Shadows / Night of Dark Shadows
Both directed by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis (Dead of Night), the pair of flicks conveniently has arrived in long-overdue DVD and Blu-ray releases from Warner Home Video. Both also benefit in the production value inherent of theatrical releases, which the live, shot-on-video soap often severely lacked. It took me a while to realize this,…
Lotta pot
“When approached, both the driver and the passenger produced fake Mexican driver licenses,” said Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel, who announced the bust at a news conference today. Whetsel, who faces a re-election vote tomorrow against challenger Darrell Sorrels, said officers easily spotted several cardboard boxes wrapped in tape in the backseat. “A K-9 was…
The Campaign
After helming two fact-based political dramas for HBO in Recount and Game Change, director Jay Roach must have found the opportunity to poke fun at the circus irresistible. I’m glad he did. In North Carolina’s 14th congressional district, the four-time incumbent is Cam Brady (Will Ferrell, Casa de Mi Padre), a shoo-in for a fifth…
A closer look
Robin Howard died June 23 from pneumonia caused by blunt force trauma to the chest. The manner of death was ruled a homicide by the state medical examiner. The 54-year-old Howard was arrested on June 19 after officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop, at which point Howard allegedly led them on a short vehicle…
Safety Not Guaranteed
Feature-debuting director Colin Trevorrow’s Safety Not Guaranteed marks the rarest of indie comedies — the speculative kind — as Jeff, a cocky magazine writer (Jake Johnson, TV’s New Girl) in Seattle, relies on his intern, Darius (Aubrey Plaza, TV’s Parks and Recreation), to use her feminine wiles to get close to the lonely grocery clerk/would-be…
Seven Keys to Baldpate Triple Feature
Well, thanks to Warner Archive, you can watch three adaptations of Seven Keys to Baldpate in one set, making movie lovers as lucky as drawing 21. The MOD DVD purveyor’s new two-disc set contains a trio of RKO’s versions of the 1913 Earl Derr Biggers novel: from 1929, 1935 and 1947. Doing so was a…
The Man with the Iron Fists — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The compilation is packed with hip-hop heavyweights like Kanye West, Pusha T, Talib Kweli and Wiz Khalifa. Also making appearances are the remainder of the Wu-Tang Clan, R&B singers Corinne Bailey Rae and Mable John, and indie rock band The Black Keys. First things first: You can’t really go wrong with Wu-Tang, whether it’s a…
Recognizing grief
Each of us experiences grief through a range of emotions such as sadness, confusion and anger, and the grief process is unique for each person. But sometimes intense feelings of hopelessness and guilt do not go away, and are accompanied by physical symptoms like loss of appetite, sleeping problems and trouble concentrating on daily tasks.…
Old gray Mitt
If you had my trained eye, you would recognize that the gray has been combed in and then given a smooth brush to make the temples just perfect. Now, when old Mitt puts on a sport coat with a white shirt and a tie and denims, he’s sure he’s the sexiest 65-year-old in America. How…
Mitt’s no everyday folk
Romney has hundreds of millions of dollars in offshore tax shelters, allowing him to dodge his real fair share. This is the true American way: capitalism, profit for profit’s sake. Hiding his millions in the Cayman Islands in special accounts set up for Mitt by Bain Capital is not against the law. It should be,…
A chilling effect
But the threat of new taxes on intangible property could have a chilling effect on home builders and homeowners. When the state Supreme Court ruled that all intangible property could be taxed, we realized that this could impose new taxes on our designs, architectural drawings, computer software, and even the awards we’ve won for our…
Don’t tax ideas
As executive director of the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation, I believe it’s wrong to tax ideas, inventions, brand names — all are “intangible property” that are the seeds of future growth. These are the very things that fuel new businesses and new jobs across our state. New ideas are at the core of Oklahoma’s success.…
Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide: Second Edition — Glenn Kay
Allow me to explain: In 2008, Chicago Review Press published the paperback book focused on films of the undead, on which there were many to munch. Seeing that Kay found the horror subgenre all but over with, the time to take a comprehensive look was right. It was a blast — a book I relished…
The Pact
Following the death of her mother, an independent-minded waitress named Annie (Caity Lotz, TV’s Death Valley) returns with dogged reluctance to her childhood home — and that’s before her sister (Agnes Bruckner, Kill Theory) and friend (Kathleen Rose Perkins, TV’s Episodes) have vanished there. As made perfectly clear by the cover art, a malevolent force…
Halloween II / Halloween III: Season of the Witch / Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers / Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
And if there weren’t, why do the sequels keep being re-released? The first four recently were — yet again, but with valid reason to upgrade and/or double-dip. Modest theatrical hits in 1988 and 1989, respectively, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers make Blu-ray debuts courtesy of…
