LETTERS
Two points: First, accurate Christian theology agrees with Vitsmun that God does not damn people for not knowing who Jesus “is.” Her statement lacks understanding of prevenient grace. This is God’s grace that goes before awareness of Jesus. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died…
Thank you
It was great to see an organization that is so important to me presented in a positive light and in a way that recognizes that atheists are people too. I appreciate it! — Oklahoma City Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor…
Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie
This meteoric rise and fall is chronicled in Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie, a documentary that both celebrates and vilifies its subject, because it tells the truth. Mort would’ve loved it; Mort would’ve hated it. I love it. Predictably, directors Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller and Jeremy Newberger gain much mileage from the prodigious…
The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue
Co-directors/co-writers/co-producers Mike Bradecich and John LaFlamboy also co-star as the Mugg brothers, slackers who run the crappy abode where a mole man (Justin DiGiacomo) lurks the halls for dogs and cats to consume, before moving up the food chain to humans. Any ingenuity begins and ends with the title; Bradecich and LaFlamboy mug(g) their way…
The Haunting of Helena
Newly divorced, Sophia (Harriet MacMasters-Green) moves with her young daughter, Helena (bland first-timer Sabrina Jolie Perez), to one of those incredible old apartment buildings in south Italy. In the basement, Helena takes a fancy to an armoire with deep scratch marks on the doors’ insides, so they have it moved into the girl’s room. In…
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
Fresh from a mental hospital, Jessica (Zohra Lampert, The Exorcist III) is taken by her husband, Duncan (Barton Heyman, The Super Cops) to a farmhouse with a cove nearby for a fresh start. If only Duncan had known that it’s reportedly haunted, which can’t be good for Jessica’s fragile psyche. Almost immediately upon their arrival…
Stories We Tell
In this intensely personal, potentially embarrassing work, actress-turned-director Sarah Polley (Take This Waltz) gathers her brothers, sisters, father and family friends in order to piece together a portrait of her late mother, Diane, who died of cancer when Sarah still a child. That alone is hardly remarkable enough to merit a feature-length look. Note, however,…
Star Trek Into Darkness
That man, Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch, TV’s Sherlock), goes into hiding in the one spot in the galaxy too dangerous for Kirk and company to follow him to: a Klingon planet. However, never underestimate the idealistic hothead that is Kirk, especially when he’s on a mission of vengeance. For him, rallying buy-in among his crew is a…
Contraception empowers women
It was nearly half a century before the United States Supreme Court, in the landmark 1965 opinion Griswold v. Connecticut, overturned bans on the sale of contraception to married women. Seven years later, the Supreme Court would recognize this same right on behalf of unmarried women. More recently, the Obama administration, under the Affordable Care…
New canvas
Art, along with its creation, is a powerful tool that serves as a conduit for human expression. It evolves, and through that evolution, it can be utilized as a means of communication and healing. This September marks the 24th year of National Recovery Month, and in a collaborative effort, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health…
Smokey and the sandwich
The Outlaw BY: Mark Hancock Everybody has one joint they swear is the best barbecue place ever. Sometimes it’s the meat, sometimes it’s the service and sometimes it’s the price. Smokey’s BBQ is all three. Despite a slender, difficult-to-maneuver parking area that should be used as a defensive driving course, Smokey’s is worth the possible…
Barling — Barling With a “B”
Whether it was cheap truck-stop cassette tapes of Freddy Fender or just turning up Ricky Skaggs’ “Honey Won’t You Open That Door” just a little bit louder, it was what I learned to dig, mostly because it was all I had and it was better than nothing. That said, I used to think most new…
Detective in underpants
Many of us were concerned when Andy Samberg retired from Saturday Night Live last spring. Would the comic genius get trapped in more forgettable movies like Hot Rod, then disappear? We needn’t have worried. Samberg stars in Brooklyn Nine- Nine, a single-camera sitcom that perfectly showcases his talent (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., Fox). He plays hotshot detective Jake Peralta, who…
Creepy, crawly infestation
Crickets are everywhere. They’re climbing walls in curtains at neighborhood stores and keeping us up all night with those chirps, chirps, chirps, chirps … chirps. Chirps. Chirps. The insects have invaded the temperate Sooner State, and pictures also have swarmed social media feeds. Entomologists at Oklahoma State University said heat and drought this year helped…
MAPS threat lingers
Kenneth Jordan Since Slane questioned the validity of the MAPS 3 election two weeks ago, OKC’s lead municipal counselor, Kenneth Jordan, delivered a letter Sept. 3 citing a 2011 state Supreme Court case, Thomas vs. Henry, that he claims validates the ballot language and election results. In the letter to Oklahoma Gazette, Jordan said the…
Informed and engaged
Lori Dickinson and Constance Lori Dickinson is entering her fifth year as the foundation’s president. Her passion and enthusiasm is apparent as she talks animatedly about the district and its kids. “So many of our children do not know what the statistics say about their future,” Dickinson said. “They dream, they play, they learn. I…
Dreadful
Terrance Parker told KOKI Tulsa that Deborah Brown Community School singled out Tiana for wearing a dreadlock hairstyle to class, something the straight- A student also did the previous year with no problem. However, the dress code, in writing and quoted by the station, is clear: “hairstyles such as dreadlocks, af- ros, mohawks, and other…
OKG7 game-day stops
Louie’s Grill & Bar301 W. Boyd St., Normanlouies.ehsrg.com366-6291 Hal Smith Restaurant Group has a little something for everyone. In this case, it’s big screens and Golden Tee, a popular golfing arcade game, as well as delicious pub food with a gourmet twist — all at prices that won’t break your pocketbook. Enjoy a brew on…
Sporting injuries bite
The 17-year-old injured a ligament in his thumb while noodling and feared the worst after a doctor told him he might not be able to throw a ball for an entire season, he told News9. “I had some choice words,” his coach, Steve Barrett, told the TV station. Good news, though. He was cleared to…
‘Ex-gay’ ministry
Left, Sam Storm, Pastor of Bridgeway Church, and Stephen Black, executive director of First Stone Ministries, stand in the auditorium at Bridgeway Church. On the Board of Reference there also is Sam Storms, lead pastor of Bridgeway Church, the website shows. Restored Hope Network began with a leadership meeting in Orlando, Fla., in 2011. According…
Hog-wild for fair season
On Thursday, many will make their way out to the first day of the annual celebration, some solely driven by the insatiable hunger that can only be sated by the anomaly that is fair food. This year, the Oklahoma State Fair has taken its food game to a whole new level by adding 20 new…
Frankenstein’s Army
(2013) So towering is the legend of Frankenstein, one found-footage film just isn’t enough. This spring saw the release of The Frankenstein Theory, and now we have the weirder, wilder, wonderfully imaginative Frankenstein’s Army. Near the end of WWII, a cameraman chronicles the mission of a Russian military unit under Stalin’s order. The men and…
LETTERS
They affected me in different ways. There was no water or electricity. Looters combed someone’s home for what they might steal, whether demolished or still left standing. The slow-moving highways and byways had people rubbernecking at the destruction. However, neighbors reached out to share what we had and exchanged stories. Tents of clothes, food, water…
Stepping up
Several large corporations and shopping malls sprang up on the fringes, while most upscale residential developments headed for the suburbs. Downtown was not a welcoming place after 5 p.m. on weekdays, as the exodus of workers left behind an area predominantly populated by vagrants. Mass transit, for the most part, was allowed to wither, its…
Oxford karma
As odd and eccentric as Dent May’s sun-soaked soul tunes might read, they are firmly planted in pop territory — just not the one most of us are accustomed to. “When we are on tour, we only have the radio. It’s either oldies or contemporary pop radio, and I’m an FM pop junkie. In my…
The gospel according to Sean
“It was a record by Sam Cooke that really got me into music,” Johnson said. “It was his voice. There is literally no one who sounds like Sam Cooke. He can sing anything and it’ll be great. You go back and listen to some of the songs and they weren’t overly wordy, it wasn’t extremely…
Running Deer
“I was going to business school, and I had the opportunity to work on a film, so I moved to Panama for three months and worked as a production assistant, and that’s when I really caught the films bug,” Green said. “So, eventually, I bought a camera and traveled around the world, doing different little…
Heavy cargo
Dean DeLeo — guitarist for veteran alt-rockers Stone Temple Pilots — has played all over the world. But only in the Sooner State can he get pancakes served by a fellow freak rocker and petroleum jelly enthusiast. “I love coming to Oklahoma. I love coming to Oklahoma City. I love when Wayne Coyne cooks…
Big lessons, little packages
It’s also the home for Touchstone Youth Project, a local youth mentoring program that pairs underserved kids ages 8 to 18 with a mentor for the school year. Steven Charles, Touchstone’s executive director, said people often don’t realize it’s a mentoring program — although he admits he’s not crazy about the word mentor because he…
Which witch?
The musical Wicked has flown into the Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre on brooms and bubbles, the preferred modes of travel for the show’s witches. The production huffs and puffs, but in the end, it’s no more than a colorful spectacle and emotional dud. Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of…
‘The good crazy’
He wants it to be about Heartland Rabbit Rescue in Blanchard, about Mindy’s Memory Primate Sanctuary, about Hands Helping Paws in Norman and about each and every animal rescue and rights organization in Oklahoma, the United States and beyond. “They’re my real heroes,” he said. What Ingersoll would really like this story to be about,…
Fashion fun
Since Sept. 5, New York has been packed with BCBGMAXAZRIA, Zac Posen, Zang Toi and Betsey Johnson fans, all vying for a glimpse of upcoming, specially tailored garments. It’s one of my favorite months for many reasons that have nothing to do with fashion. There is a hope in the air that temps will dip,…
A lion’s heart
An Oklahoma City artist will showcase over 50 photographs from his three-week African excursion Thursday night to benefit the local organization that made his first international experience possible. Painter, musician and former journalist Jack Fowler traveled throughout the West Nile region of Uganda for 21 days in July. Fowler will sell prints of pictures he…
#wienerup!
With our picks of the un-fair fare of Oklahoma City come indie-owned and offbeat, hand-friendly offerings from street vendors and shaded-lane shops. 1. Gale VanCampen’s Hot Dog OKC tops the list with her one-of-a kind cart, parked 7 p.m.-2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays at 202 E. Sheridan Ave. in Bricktown. She started modestly with a…
Have your cake…
Chef Kenneth Hardiman BY: Mark Hancock There are a few hallmarks of a chain — a strong corporate structure, a disciplined waitstaff, etc. — but to mention Whiskey Cake in the same breath as Chili’s or Applebee’s would be entirely wrong. Whiskey Cake in Oklahoma City (the second iteration of the restaurant after the original…
Junior’s senior
The Anita Trio BY: Shannon Cornman Owner Jim Shumsky said his restaurant is the fifth oldest continuously operated, privately owned restaurant in the metro area. Junior Simon opened his eponymously named restaurant on Sept. 10, 1973. He established a reputation as an outstanding restaurateur and lover of people. He knew his customers by name, and…
William Shatner gets prog-rocky with … Vince Gill?
Star Trek star William Shatner’s next music album, Ponder The Mystery, is expected out Oct. 8, his official website shows. Far out, man. Shatner wrote the lyrics and beamed aboard musicians for the prog-rock project, including guitarist Steve Vai, Mick Jones of Foreigner, Rick Wakeman of Yes, Simon House and Nik Turner of Hawkwind, Edgar…
New words defy, get illogical response
Self-proclaimed protectors of the English language near and far have worked themselves into a frenzy — but not a dancing frenzy. (Because that would be twerking). They didn’t take any pictures of themselves in a frenzy, either, apparently. (Because that would be taking selfies, another controversial addition.) What many of the vehe- mently annoyed failed…
Give peace a chance?
First, it was Tom Coburn, R- Muskogee, with his denouncement of Republican efforts to gut the Affordable Care Act (a law they’ve tried — and failed — to overturn a whopping 40 times). Now it’s Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, who is taking an unlikely stance by opposing U.S. force in the Syrian conflict. But it’s not…
Drink me
Thirst Wine Merchants and 2012 Thirst for a Cause participating wineries Some of the world’s best wineries will be featured Sept. 18 in Oklahoma City at the seventh annual Thirst for a Cause. The event raises money to assist employees in the hospitality industry with medical costs and insurance. Tickets are $75 in advance and…
