The December magazine lists “Conservatives We Love,” and two of the five are U.S. Sen Tom Cole, Oklahoma deputy majority whip, and T.W. Shannon, Oklahoma Speaker of the House. Of Cole, the mag gushes, “Because he respects people regardless of their political ideologies.” Of Shannon, the magazine says, “Because he believes in investing in infrastructure.” […]
john
Posted inMusic
Bitchin’
“Bitch” might have started out as a negative term, but the women (and man) behind Norman punk act John Wayne’s Bitches are hell-bent on making it a positive one. “Women are called bitches all the time because they don’t do what society wants them to do,” guitarist Katie Hawkins said. “If a girl has an […]
Posted inNews
School values don’t fit into a single score
Scholars at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, in Oklahoma School Grades: Hiding “Poor” Achievement, anticipated the mess. They concluded, “a primary assumption of the A-F accountability system, that student test scores can be dissected and manipulated into valid indicators of school performance, is simply false.” The bubbling-in of three questions out of […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Body Bags / Assault on Precinct 13
The opener is the best of the bunch, documenting the first — and quite possibly the last — night shift worked by a pretty young college student (Alex Datcher, Passenger 57) at a gas station. She sits locked in the cashier’s booth as a serial killer lurks close. The suspense gets to her as much as […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Shiver
That’s where the fun of Shiver starts. That’s where the fun of Shiver stops. In Portland, a killer (John Jarratt, Wolf Creek) who calls himself The Gryphon (sounds like “Griffin”) delights in offing women and, as the aforementioned line has it, keeps their heads in jars as trophies. His latest target is a secretary […]
Posted inNews
‘No tolerance’ doesn’t teach
In 1999, the committee was shocked to learn that the OKCPS only had 485 alternative school slots for students with behavioral or attendance problems, health conditions, pregnancy or parenting challenges or who were institutionalized. According to the state’s Needs Assessment, the OKCPS needed another 1,205 slots. We also knew that punitive policies, such as “zero […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Prince of Darkness / Halloween: 35th Anniversary Edition
Well, in so many words. The important part is that the prof thinks that’s a swell idea. For the job, he selects Jameson Parker (TV’s Simon & Simon), Lisa Blount (An Officer and a Gentleman), Dennis Dun (also from Little China) and a host of random, more expendable character actors to monitor the evil force. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Seconds
Seconds tells the story of Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph), a terminally unsatisfied and bored executive whose familiar life has grown stale. Lately, he has been in communication with a supposedly deceased friend who promises him a chance at a new life. Taking the plunge, Hamilton wanders into a shadowy corporate world of identity transplantation in […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Seconds
Seconds tells the story of Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph), a terminally unsatisfied and bored executive whose familiar life has grown stale. Lately, he has been in communication with a supposedly deceased friend who promises him a chance at a new life. Taking the plunge, Hamilton wanders into a shadowy corporate world of identity transplantation in […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A joyful vision
Photo: Mark Hancock “I certainly want to do all I can to advance John’s vision. He was a community-builder,” Belt said of her husband, who died in March. That’s a vision tied up in John Belt’s desire to provide Oklahoma City with an arts district, being an anchor for the Paseo Arts District, promoting artists […]