People With Too Much Money
The adolescent offspring of some well-to-do parents are serious art collectors, according to a September Wall Street Journal report, and their interest appears not to be motivated solely by parents’ strategies to shield income from the tax collector. Ms. Dakota King, 9, for example, owns 40 pieces and specializes in animals and “happy colors.” Ms.…
Obsessions
Just when Internet newspaper sites appear to be gaining ground as replacements for printed editions, a 70-year-old woman identified only as Maggie told the Edmonton (Alberta) Sun in September that her paper edition of the Sun is a crucial part of her daily diet, literally. She eats it, in strips, and has, she said, for…
Demons / Demons 2
1985 / 1986 “Demons” promises demons, and gives you just that. “Demons 2” promises demons, too, and does the same. What more could a horror fan want? Since their short theatrical runs and long lives on VHS, Lamberto Bava’s pair of “Demons” films have built a strong cult following “? one which is bound to…
News That Sounds Like a Joke
Oral-B’s Triumph SmartGuide toothbrush, available in the United Kingdom for the equivalent of about $280, uses navigation technology to transmit the exact location of the toothbrush to a base unit so that the user can see which areas in his mouth the brush might have missed. The wireless LCD mouth display can be mounted on…
The Puzzling World of Winston Breen – Eric Berlin
G.P. Putnam’s Sons$16.99 As if one couldn’t guess from the title, Winston Breen loves puzzles. Whether he’s in school, at home or in between, this is one kid who’s into creating, solving or thinking about puzzles “? all kinds. But they cease to be all about fun and games when he inadvertently stumbles into a…
Knocked Up: Unrated
2007 Judd Apatow’s “Knocked Up” is many things: quite filthy, often funny and sometimes sad. And now that it’s out on DVD in a two-disc, unrated edition, it’s at least filthier. Co-scripter Seth Rogen makes for an unlikely leading man in Ben Stone, a perpetually stoned loser who somehow lucks into a one-night stand with…
State natives prep to do battle in ‘Masters of the Cage’
Get ready to rumble as the Masters of the Cage XVI Ultimate Night of Champions hits the ring 8 p.m. Friday at the Coca-Cola Bricktown Events Center, 429 E. California. Watch six Oklahoma natives battle it out in 10 fights for six titles. Oklahoma City natives and NCAA wrestling champions Jared Hess and Cole Province…
Flickipedia: Perfect Films for Every Occasion, Holiday, Mood, Ordeal, and Whim – Michael Atkinson and Laurel Shifrin
Chicago Review Press Netflix and Amazon recommendation lists aren’t mind-readers, but computer-generated doodads that more often miss the mark when trying to pimp more movies your way. Michael Atkinson and Laurel Shifrin have put a little more thought into it with “Flickipedia,” which suggests film rentals not according to director or genre, but the mood…
Chimineas putting hearth in the heartland
Here’s a recent arrival from south of the border that has Oklahomans scrambling to get one: the chiminea. Chimineas ” as well as a variety of other fire pits ” can be had throughout the metro area. Kathy Emmert, owner of Statuary World Patio & Fireside, said the cooler weather has a lot of customers…
Sydney White
Reviewer’s grade: C Sydney White (Amanda Bynes) is a college-bound girl looking forward to joining her deceased mother’s former sorority. However, when she gets to college, she discovers that she’s too “real” for the other sorority girls, who kick her out in the rain. Sydney immediately moves into a ramshackle house called The…
God. vs. Allah
In August, a Roman Catholic bishop in the Netherlands, Martinus Muskens, suggested that Christians start referring to God as “Allah” as a way of relieving world tensions. “Allah is a very beautiful word . … What does God care what we call him? It is our problem.” A priest in Rome said Muskens’ intentions were…
Mr. Skin’s Skintastic Video Guide: The 501 Greatest Movies for Sex & Nudity on DVD – Mr. Skin
SK Books What do you do when you’ve already written the book on female movie nudity (2005’s “Skincylcopedia”)? You write another one. Instead of an A to Z listing of actresses who’ve appeared sans clothing on film, Mr. Skin’s follow-up focuses on the 501 best rental bets for bare bits, prodigiously illustrated and sidebar-heavy. “Skintastic”…
Rural Oklahoma woman finds zebra in her yard
Nights in rural eastern Oklahoma have a lot of stars ” but it’s another thing to find stripes. Sharon McConough knew something was odd at her rural Ranger Creek home near Fort Gibson Lake, something making her shepherd, Bizzy, bark like mad, according to a story in the Muskogee Phoenix. Of course, the…
Metro area is full of sites for Halloween fright
Fall is the season of ghoulies and ghosties, and if the deluge of fright films and plastic Halloween lawn decorations isn’t enough, Oklahoma City has plenty of places to get your shriek on. Frontier City’s House of Screams11501 Northeast Expressway478-2414 Halloween’s most extensive celebration in the metro is at Frontier City’s annual Fright Fest, including…
Kansas City offers lots to do for weekend getaway
At an easy half-day drive from Oklahoma City, Kansas City is a perfect fall weekend destination. “The best thing is the fountains,” said Kansas City resident Kathryn Young. “We are known as the ‘City of Fountains,’ and no matter where you walk in the spring, summer or fall, you can hear the sound of running water.”…
Police Blotter
Just Say No: In September, police in Hertfordshire, England, stood fast under criticism for their program of placing posters around the area reading, “Don’t Commit Crime.” Said a police spokeswoman, “If stating the obvious helps to reduce crime or has any impact at all, we will do it.” (The police also installed signs at gas…
In the Valley of Elah
lations. In “In the Valley of Elah,” he plays smackdown with war’s impact on those who plan and wage it and the culture that goes along, even knowing, to quote a character, “It’s fucked up.” His points are many and well-taken, but they aren’t as powerful as they could be because he is often…
Pick your pumpkin from variety of local patches
Pumpkins grow in the ground, not in the asphalt outside the local grocery store, so why not head to a metro patch to grab your orange orb? Oklahoma Gazette wants your autumn to be awesome, so we did the work for you and scooped out the most scenic spots to shop for the seasonal squash.…
Norman’s Mean Spirits conjure up psychobilly rock
If Norman garage band The Mean Spirits set up shop in your neighborhood, area residents probably would think, “Well, there goes the neighborhood.” “The first description I ever heard anyone say about it, they said it was like schizophrenic heroin addicts dancing around at a Christmas party, on a spaceship,” lead singer and guitarist Zach Massey…
Professor’s paintings re-create historical photos
If a picture is worth a thousand words, David Crismon’s paintings say it all. Each one tells a story about Oklahoma’s past that would have gone untold, had Crismon not brought the characters back to life and put them on display for all to see. In his exhibit “The Light of Day,” Crismon’s paintings are…
Former OSU pitcher, coach making a difference with Red Sox
At some point in the not-too-distant future, John Farrell is going to make some Major League franchise one heck of a general manager. In fact, many in the baseball community found it a bit surprising the former Oklahoma State hurler and coach opted to leave his job as Cleveland’s director of player development prior to…
Point: No merit in merit pay
What will it take to make some Oklahoma politicians and leaders understand how detrimental it is for the state that teachers here are paid below regional and national levels? Low teacher salaries send a clear signal to everyone here and outside the state that intellectualism and enlightenment are not appreciated in Oklahoma. This is…
CD Warehouse has eye on the future with digital music kiosk
Management with Oklahoma City-headquartered CD Warehouse, which sells music to a worldwide market with more than 150 franchise stores, is hoping a new digital music kiosk will keep their brick-and-mortar record stores relevant in this digital age by giving customers access to a massive music database. The kiosk is getting a trial run at the…
Edmond dancer spoils ‘Indiana Jones’ plots for the Internet to see
Director Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones” film franchise has been stocked with great villains, like that creepy Belloq fellow with the burnt palm or that one guy who pulls the heart out of that other dude’s chest. Now add another name to that list. Because of Tyler Nelson’s talents in the highly coveted realm of…
Festival celebrates contributions of Hispanic residents
One good celebración deserves another. Capitol Hill Main Street, a nonprofit community development agency, hosts the second annual Fiestas de Las Americas on Saturday. The festival, livening up Commerce Street between S. Robinson and S. Walker avenues, unites efforts between Capitol Hill Main Street and businesses in the Capitol Hill district. Jorge Hernandez ” who…
Phallic Frenzy: Ken Russell and His Films – Joseph Lanza
Chicago Review Press Director Ken Russell is no stranger to taboos of any kind, and Joseph Lanza’s bio of the maverick moviemaker explains why, starting with the boy’s most unusual reaction to seeing Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio.” “Tommy,” “Altered States” and “Crimes of Passion” are among his best-known works, but his filmography is full of controversy…
Good Luck Chuck
Reviewer’s grade: F “This movie is what we professional reviewers learn to identify in critics school as ‘a piece of shit.'” So wrote Walter Satterthwaite recently about another film but, with apologies to Satterthwaite, it is so much more appropriate a description of this Dane Cook/Jessica Alba/Dan Fogler up-ended outhouse of a comedy. …
Oklahoma City diner owner shares economic predictors with New York Times
Cancel your subscription to the Wall Street Journal, America. Forget watching stocks and bonds. When it comes to leading economic indicators, all you have to do is sidle up to a table in Sherri’s Diner, 704 S.W. 59th, in Oklahoma City. Annie Cox and her eatery made the front page of The…
State adoptions subject of controversial legislative hearing
The Children and Juvenile Law Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, and Sen. Harry Coates, R-Seminole, will meet on Friday to discuss new adoption procedure rules, which could have a huge impact on who can perform adoption services. “It boils down to regulated versus unregulated adoptions,” said Dierdre L. McCool, executive director of…
Counterpoint: ‘Rewarding success’
As someone who used to work under the dome of the state Capitol, I can tell you that many interim study hearings are not worth the ink spilled printing their agendas. A refreshing exception is the review of merit pay for teachers under way in the state House. We say that teachers are professionals…
Thomas the Tank Engine pulling into Oklahoma City
Put away the plastic toy trains and take the kids for a ride they’ll never forget. Children’s books and TV star Thomas the Tank Engine makes a stop at Oklahoma Railway Museum this weekend, bringing fun for the whole family. “Day Out with Thomas 2007: All Aboard Tour” will visit 45 cities in the Unites…
Government in Action!
Bookkeepers Wanted: Pentagon investigators discovered in August that a small South Carolina company fraudulently collected $20.5 million in shipping costs, including one invoice of $999,798 for sending two washers (cost: 19 cents each) to a base in Texas. According to Bloomberg News, the Defense Department was said to have a policy of automatically and unquestioningly…
Earnest performances win out in Poteet’s ‘Boys Next Door’
“The Boys Next Door” are four guys sharing a group apartment in Boston, working at menial jobs in the community. They have dreams of going to Russia, getting married and having children, golfing on the pro circuit and collecting library books. All of them also happen to be mentally and/or physically challenged. For those struggling…
State’s largest malpractice insurer claims it’s debt-free
For the past few years, the leading advocates for changes in the criminal justice system have been doctors and health care organizations, claiming that numerous frivolous lawsuits are:” driving up costs,” putting them out of business or ” making them move to Texas. The organization leading the charge is Physicians Liability Insurance Co. Owned by…
Oklahoma City Web site names 100 top embarrassments
In the spirit of the centennial year, Chicken-Fried News’ second favorite Oklahoma Web site has come up with a unique idea to celebrate the state’s 100th birthday. The folks at TheLostOgle.com decided a list of Oklahoma’s top 100 embarrassments was needed. We at CFN are glad we didn’t make the list. At the top…
Local jazz combo downplays greatness
Although guitarist James Slaw describes the band as “just a couple local players,” the seven members of the metro act A Little Jazz are more musical heavyweights then they might let on. When Grammy Award-winning jazz guitar legend George Benson came to Oklahoma City for a gig at the Civic Center early this summer, members…
Area trails offer scenic venue for hikers
As temperatures drop and leaves begin to change, the greater metro area offers surprises for hikers and nature-seekers alike. Amid a bevy of lake, refuge and state park offerings, here are four lesser-known hikes to consider, off the pavement but not far from the beaten path. Bluff Creek TrailThe trail north of Lake Hefner may…
Saving Grace’ ends first season outpacing other debuting cable television summer series
Turner Network Television’s “Saving Grace” television series, set in Oklahoma City, completed its first season Sept. 17 by outpacing other debuting primetime cable television series with nearly 5.3 million viewers. Its closest competition, Lifetime Television’s “Army Wives” averaged 4.53 million viewers during its 13-episode season. The new 15-episode second season will premiere in…
