Fiction Of the more than 100 novels I read in 2006, none gave me more pleasure than this summer’s debut from Paul Malmont, “The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril.” A serious book with a funny name, Malmont’s what-if adventure features two real-life writers as its protagonists: Lester Dent and William Gibson. Dent and Gibson serve […]
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Posted inArts & Culture
Thunder Bunny by Barbara Helen Berger
Fiction Looking for a lasting Easter gift for the kindergarten set? Spring for this, about a bunny rabbit born blue, to the amazement of its mother and siblings. The bunny seeks to frolic in the sky “? and does “? until a storm gives it second thoughts. One could view “Thunder Bunny” as an allegory […]
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Photography museum showcases Oklahoma centenarians, farmhouses
Ageless faces and rural places of Oklahoma adorn the halls of the International Photography Hall of Fame & Museum for exhibitions by Oklahoma artists M.J. Alexander and Wilson Roberts. An opening reception for the already in-progress exhibitions will be held 5-7 p.m. Saturday at the IPHF museum inside the Omniplex, 2100 N.E. 52nd. CENTENARIANSAlexander’s “Centenarians […]
Posted inMusic
Tony Brown’s Happy Hour’ The Samson Mammoth
Oklahoma City indie band Tony Brown’s Happy Hour leans toward the stark coldness of Pink Floyd psychedelia instead of the woozy distortion of Haight-Ashbury psychedelia on its debut album, “The Samson Mammoth.” While some distorted, bright moments appear early in the record, the majority of the album focuses on acoustic guitar, piano, simple drumming and […]
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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Much of my recent book, Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia, is rated PG. Some is R. But there’s one story that’s X. Not in the same way that porn is. While it’s uninhibited in its rendering of ecstatic eroticism, it’s a feminist meditation on spiritual intimacy, not a heap of vulgar stereotypes. Still, when […]
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Jack of Fables: The (Nearly) Great Escape
Fans of the award-winning “Fables” series will want to follow the comic title’s first spin-off, “Jack of Fables Vol. 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape.” The five-issue collection plops Jack (as in “and the Beanstalk”) in a prison community for those fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme characters who have fallen out of favor. Between bedroom romps with Goldilocks, […]
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Hostel
2005 Writer/director Eli Roth (“Cabin Fever”) is the grimly gleeful face of the America’s horror resurgence “? weaned on stomach-churningly graphic Asian imports and unafraid to revel in spilt blood, Roth’s slight filmography to date marks him as a talent adept at synthesizing the visceral brutality of the Eighties and the modern, sleekly terrifying works […]
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Odd Couple’ still funny in Jewel Box’s production
What happens when two guys “? one divorced and one separated “? move in together to save money as well as support one another? The guys end up having the same problems and blowups they had while married, in Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple,” a perennial favorite since premiering in 1965 and now in residence […]
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Graceland: An Interactive Pop-Up Tour by Chuck Murphy
rom the ol’ missus, Priscilla, it’s not some easy cash-in. Best of all: no waiting in line with sweaty tourists. Worst of all: the $40 price. “?Rod Lott
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The New Bedside Playboy: A Half Century of Amusement, Diversion & Entertainment by Hugh M. Hefner
Nonfiction This literary anthology encompasses 50 years of Playboy magazine content, much of it fiction, with authors as varied as Arthur C. Clarke, Jay McInerney, Ray Bradbury, Donald E. Westlake and Ian Fleming. On the commentary side of things, there’s Norman Mailer, Scott Turow and Daves Barry and Mamet. Iconic features of Hef’s influential revolutionary […]