LETTERS
As long as any politically useful segment of the American electorate believes that preachers can cure cancer with their bare hands or that intelligence is a product of education rather than a prerequisite, then the nation’s political life will be both insane and idiotic. — Oklahoma City Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the…
LETTERS
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Moore) says, “Shutting down the government is a suicidal political tactic. Eventually, it will be reopened, but the president will not have capitulated and you will have discredited yourself, and along the way, you will have hurt the American people.” It’s the “political equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum.” A few days…
LETTERS
Planned Parenthood does believe that women who choose to terminate a pregnancy have that right, and 1 percent of Planned Parenthood’s budget funds those services. Because planned pregnancies are rarely terminated, Planned Parenthood should be considered an abortion preventer, as they help untold thousands of women avoid unwanted pregnancies. Everyone concerned about abortion should answer…
LETTERS
The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma reports that “more than 675,000 Oklahomans [more than the population of Oklahoma City] are at risk of going hungry every day” and that “one in four children in Oklahoma struggles with hunger.” That’s why continued funding of food stamps is critical for Oklahomans. The majority of food stamp recipients…
Maniac
That’s not to say this update isn’t gory — oh, boy, is it ever — but it has a style the first film sorely lacked. Admittedly, Lustig had little budget to work with back then, whereas P2 helmer Franck Khalfoun enjoyed a $6 million sandbox, now clumped with blood. Playing aggressively against his nice-guy rep, former…
Horror Stories
Like all good anthologies, a wraparound story takes a stab at clumsy cohesion. Here, Arabian Nights-style, an abducted schoolgirl must tell her captor stories to stay alive. The best comes first with “Don’t Answer the Door,” in which a two young siblings awaiting Mom’s arrival home find their apartment infiltrated by … wait and see.…
Static
Marrieds Jonathan and Addie Dade (respectively, Kiss of the Damned’s Milo Ventimiglia and Bullet to the Head’s Sarah Shahi) know this, yet answer the door anyway. There stands a young woman in distress (Sara Paxton, The Innkeepers) who says her car broke down and now is being pursued by men in gas masks. It’s a whale…
Snuff
To make a long story short, in 1971, the notorious New York husband-and-wife team of Michael and Roberta Findlay (responsible for such underground cult items as the Touch of Her Flesh trilogy) made a movie titled The Slaughter in Argentina. It was deemed unreleasable until half a decade later, when some enterprising producer made it…
Nightmare Honeymoon
Dack Rambo (TV’s Dallas) and then-newcomer Rebecca Dianna Smith play David and Jill. He’s been home three days after a two-year stint in ‘Nam; she’s such a Southern belle, all she lacks is a hand fan. The film opens at their outdoor wedding reception, which they surreptitiously ditch in order to get down to bedroom…
Three-ring ‘Warp’
Brad (Sean Eckart), Dr. Frank N. Furter (Monte Riegel Wheeler) and Janet (Lexi Windsor) BY: Shannon Cornman Well, babies, prepare to give yourself over to a few nights of absolute pleasure. On hiatus since 2010, The Rocky Horror Show returns 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to its live stage production at Lyric Theatre in the Plaza District,…
Motley ghoul
Recently released digitally and on demand, Ghost Team One is a spirited spoof. BY ROD LOTT With this Halloween season being the first without a new chapter in the Paranormal Activity series, perhaps a Paranormal Activity spoof is the next best thing. There’s no shortage of them, but of the roughly half-dozen I’ve seen, Ghost…
The Younglings — The Younglings
The album bounds to a start with a drum cascade firmly out of the Queens of the Stone Age bible before making a firm turn with an old-school guitar riff that devolves into sparse verses and fleshed-out choruses. “Take My Hand” follows a similar path, if lighter and prettier, that veers into snotty series of…
Party play
Petra Lusche with her special recipe BY: Shannon Cornman It’s understandable since the splurge can wreak havoc on the waistline for game-day revelers. The time-honored tradition of the tailgate party bursts with school spirit, but if not careful, it can pack a hefty calorie count, too. According to calorielab.com, a trip around the tailgate table…
Hard and ’toned
There are few modern hard rock bands that come to enjoy the wide appeal and critical acclaim that alt-metal act Deftones has over the course of its 20-plus years as a band, and the five-piece isn’t looking to slow down anytime soon. “I think the fact that people get this band is not so much…
Choir ‘Boyz’
Theatergoers around here sure have been getting a strong dose of religion lately. First came Godspell from City Rep, and now Pollard Theatre Company is presenting Altar Boyz. Going to the theater these days reminds us sinners that we’re backsliders. In Altar Boyz (Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker, music and lyrics; Kevin Del Aguila,…
Harvest-time hooch
Fall drink at Picasso’s on Paseo BY: Shannon Cornman The cornucopia is typically composed of many of the foods we associate with fall, and while the idea of gourds rotting on your table makes fake cornucopias a better idea, the flavors of fall are meant to be tasted, not looked at or made into fakes.…
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal;mso-outline-level:1″><span style=" Times New Roman”,”serif”;mso-fareast-Times New Roman”; mso-font-kerning:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:ES-BO”> Updates — The family of the great Native American Olympic athlete and Oklahoma native Jim Thorpe (1888- 1953) was so disappointed that the then-governor of Oklahoma would not properly honor Thorpe on his death that one faction of his family moved the body to…
Love is in the air
Then, Oct. 2, four red river hog piglets were born. And on Oct. 7, the zoo announced that Asian elephants Rex and Asha are having a baby — 18-year-old Asha is seven months pregnant with her second calf. Asha’s first calf, Malee, born in 2011, was the first elephant born at the OKC zoo. Zoo…
Politicians say the darndest things
Did you know, for instance, that the British pull their own teeth? “The British think they have dental care but they can’t see a dentist,” the Tulsa World quoted him as saying at a recent Tulsa County Republican Men’s Club. “They just go to the hardware store and get a pair of pliers and pull…
Counterpoint: Streetcar budget defies reality
Numbers can make us numb. But they show why it’s imperative for city staff to stay on top of this project, to see if we can actually afford to build it at this length — and then to run it. Otherwise, budget overruns will imperil needed taxpayer support not only for the envisioned expansion of…
Cultish comedy
The film, about a goofy slacker who starts his own indie television station, should have been just another cultural oddity, but Hollywood completely underestimated the collective power of Yankovic’s fans. Twenty-five years later, UHF is more popular than ever, continuing to make generations of geeky kids and their even geekier parents laugh uncontrollably with its…
OKG7 places foodies love
Mama Sinmi’s Chop House2312 N. Macarthur Blvd.mamasinmi.com947-6262Enjoy the luxury of authentic West African fare here. Try its meat pies baked in a butter crust, spicy suya (meat on a stick), moi moi (bean cakes), efo (sautéed spinach with seasoned tomatoes) and golden-friend plantains. The lunch special includes a choice of rice and chicken or beef…
One strip, two strip
Bacon. “The King of Meats,” it has been called. “The meat of kings,” as well. Also, “meat candy.” There are some who believe everything is better with bacon. All these truisms will be tested Thursday at the Midtown Association’s annual fundraiser at 1114 N. Harvey Ave. Those who attended Six Degrees of Bacon (or those…
Come closer
When you are having this much fun, who needs words? That must have been the thought process behind And So I Watch You from Afar, the instrumental rock act from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Armed with cheeky ’80s metal hooks sandwiched between spacious post-rock pillars, the four-piece outfit sounds like Dan Deacon covering Explosions in…
Bread + butter
Yet, for the last several years, the medium has been thriving on the Internet. And LAMAR+NIK — two twenty-somethings from Oklahoma City — are arguably the scene’s fastest rising talents. “I feel like there are two different types of filmmakers: people who want to make artistic stuff and people who want to make money,” Jesse…
Groomed for success
Brooklyn-by-way-of-Oklahoma indie outfit Grooms is just over a month removed from releasing Infinity Caller, its best album to date. It’s a record that almost didn’t happen at all, though. “We weren’t sure if we were going to finish it, really. Once we did finish it, we weren’t really sure whether to try and put it out at…
Reign turns an Elizabethan royal into a Gossip Girl
BY DEAN ROBBINS In 16th century France, the virginal Mary, Queen of Scots (Adelaide Kane), is swept up in palace intrigue. Her fiancé (Toby Regbo) cares less for her than he does for France, nattering on about the political advantage of their union. An evil queen (Megan Follows) plots against her, while her ladies-in-waiting indulge…
LIFE
Dating can get a little monotonous. You go out, eat, go home, then … who knows. But if you’re going to have a special night with that special person, why not prepare the food yourself with a Date Night Cooking Class? Petra Lusche from Happi Lives hosts the event that highlights fall flavors. The class…
Here, kitty! Wait. No, nevermind, kitty.
This is the possible thought process of 27-year-old Kelci “Saff” Saffery, whose arm was ripped to the bone last week at G.W Exotic Animal Park, according to news9.com. The menagerie, located in Wynnewood, features about 150 big cats. According to entertainment director of the park and owner of the cats, Joe Schreibvogel, Saffery was in…
Heeeere’s Johnnie’s corpses
“Just trying to scare people, that’s what I like to do,” Mullins told News9, and then laughed. It worked. Neighbors called 911, and the police and fire departments responded. So far, News9 reports, nobody has broken any laws. In fact, Mullins has added another corpse. They will rest where they rest until after Halloween, Mullins…
1, 2, Pizza23!
Justin Price with Bleu Burger pizza BY: Mark Hancock Why are foods always trying to be other foods? Pizza is the worst offender. Every pizza burger I’ve ever had is a cheeseburger with mozzarella, pepperoni and some marinara on top. Pizza tacos? Same thing in a shell. It tells you a lot about what people…
Debt ceiling? Global warming? (Internet?) Bah!
For years, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Tulsa) has argued global warming doesn’t exist. It’s fictional and a figment of every scientist’s imagination. According to the good senator, it’s an attack on the energy industry by tree-hugging environmentalists. Now, Oklahoma’s other senator, Tom Coburn (R-Muskogee), contends the nation’s debt ceiling isn’t real and the U.S. won’t default…
Scary pretty
Sure, you were probably really excited about your costume at the beginning of trick-or-treat night, but by the end, all you could think about was going home and sifting through the bag full of sugary goodness you were tired of carrying around. As an adult, Halloween is a lot more interesting — parties and costume…
Go home, teacher; you’re drunk
Authorities took 30-yearold Chamberlain into custody after she appeared intoxicated and fell asleep at her desk. They claim her speech was slurred, she was a little wobbly and she smelled of Grandpa’s old cough medicine. Apparently, an empty whiskey bottle was also found in her purse. There are bigger issues at hand here: Doesn’t Chamberlain…
Unnecessary freshness, indeed
“Unnecessary Freshness” — the latest campaign in a long line of bizarrely comical television ads for the men’s grooming product line — involves Denver Broncos wideout and Oklahoma City native Wes Welker, who apparently has no issue channeling his inner weird. The first — titled “Snow Globe” — finds Welker in the Broncos locker room,…
Forced out
Nichols, 64, filed a legal challenge last week to a state law that went into effect July 1, 2012, which prevents two or more sex offenders from living in the same place. “They (lawmakers) made the law specifically for this ministry because I’m the only one in Oklahoma who does this,” he said. “Oklahoma law…
Never again
Photo by Mark Hancock She endured physical and mental abuse from the person who was supposed to love her — until the day her husband hit their children. That was when she left and found a way to change her future. “When they’re only 2 and 3, they can’t defend themselves. I felt bad because…
Big hurt
Photo by Mark Hancock The husband and father (pictured) also never anticipated he’d be at the center of a constitutional fight over free speech and a potentially unconstitutional city ordinance. Martin, considered a big man by any standard at 6 feet 2 inches tall and 485 pounds, arranged for a security team to work a…
Glorious resurrection
But that was more than half a century ago, when the church was a key part of the Oklahoma City black community and the civil rights movement. There, King preached a sermon as an audition to be the church’s full-time pastor. Ironically, church leaders thought King was too young to lead a congregation of that…
LETTERS
Architecturally, Stage Center is an artwork in and of itself. And yes, as with all art, not everyone appreciates it. Stage Center is an important architectural structure of national and international acclaim. Oklahoma City leaders would be unimaginably foolish and incredibly stupid to allow this internationally renowned diamond in the rough to be destroyed. What…
Point: Streetcar route a beginning
The framework for Phase 1 of the streetcar system has now been approved. This initial route will connect civic treasures, institutions, major employers and new housing downtown, reinforcing the significant economic engine that drives sales tax revenue benefiting our entire city. In addition, we are in the process of acquiring the historic Santa Fe Depot…
The East
If you’ve seen one, you haven’t seen them all. But you should, and The East — unjustly ignored in theaters earlier this summer amid such competition as Man of Steel, This Is the End and World War Z — is now available on Blu-ray from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. It’s still one of the 10…
Fright Night 2: New Blood
Charley (the unappealing Will Payne) and his pal Evil Ed (the even more unappealing Chris Waller) take a class trip to Romania, where low budgets for such sequels go far. Says Charley will all the enthusiasm he can muster, “So … Romania, huh?,” and viewers may agree. But then our show’s vampire, college professor Gerri…
Dissenter sandman
Unfortunately, for many Oklahomans, it happens all the time. Oklahoma ranks No. 2 nationally in sleep disturbances and disorders, just beating out West Virginia, according to a recent study by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and published in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. This is…
