Oklahoma veteran featured in Kanye West TV special
A local Iraq War veteran and his surprise encounter with rapper Kanye West will be featured Monday in an MTV special.
Tirann Laws, 25, of Oklahoma City, and two other young veterans appear in the MTV News documentary “Choose or Lose & Kanye West Present: Homecoming.” The hour-long show will air at 9 p.m. Monday y28 on the cable channel.
It is part of MTV’s Emmy-winning Choose or Lose campaign to educate young voters on important issues. West and MTV News reporter Sway Calloway made surprise visits to the veterans to hear about their wartime and homecoming experiences.
The rapper filmed the segment with Laws on April 29, when West’s “Glow in the Dark” tour stopped at the Ford Center.
Laws joined the Army in August 2001 to earn money for college. He served two tours in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division. He returned with post-traumatic stress disorder, which has made it difficult to keep a job.
He became responsible for supporting his younger brother and sisters after his mother suffered a stroke. Law describes in the show donating plasma to earn gas money.
”You’re inspirational to me because I’m definitely going through a lot of losses,” West tells Laws in the special. “Just to see that you went through these types of things and you have this (positive) attitude, that’s helpful to me.”
West’s mother, Oklahoma City native Donda West, died in November 2007. The rapper’s Dr. Donda West Foundation and MTV gave each veteran a financial gift.
In addition, the veterans received prime passes for West’s “Glow in the Dark” tour date in their city and tickets to the rapper’s concert in his hometown of Chicago.
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What to do in Oklahoma on July 27
Elk City native and songwriting star Jimmy Webb will perform at 8 p.m. today at the Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley. It’s his fourth year to play the venue.
Hear Webb sing “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” “Highwayman,” Wichita Lineman” and many of his newer songs.
For more information, call 524-0738 or go to www.bluedoorokc.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
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“The Force Unleashed” to game consoles
We’ll finally get to find out what happens between the third “Star Wars” prequel (“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”) and the original 1977 film (“Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope”) when LucasArts releases “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.”
The video game will come out on Sept. 16. As the Associated Press reports, the game will “serve as George Lucas’ official median” between the original trilogy and his prequel trilogy.
Players will become Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, using The Force to hunt down the Jedi who survived the official onslaught on the galaxy’s peacekeeping force.
LucasArts project lead Haden Blackman told the AP that the game will alter the way fans view the original films – “A New Hope,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.”
“There’s a couple of big twists and turns in the story,” Blackman told the AP. “One revelation in particular really impacts the rest of the saga as a whole. It goes way beyond filling in gaps. We try to make a bridge on every level. The story has a real implications on ‘Episode IV.’ In some ways, without the apprentice, ‘Episode IV’ couldn’t happen.”
He and his team worked with Lucas to develop the game, which includes already familiar aspects of the “Star Wars” canon with new characters, places and concepts. It will feature a TIE Fighter construction facility, the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and teh Wookie home planet of Kashyyyk.
“The Force Unleashed” will be available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2. Blackman said the story is set up to allow for the sequel.
I haven’t seen what the game looks like, but I’m already looking forward to it. This was really the movie I wanted to see when Lucas created the prequels. Sure, I wanted to see how Anakin turned into Vader, as shown in “Revenge of the Sith.” But for the other two movies, I would like to have actually seen more of the Clone Wars and seen how Anakin really hunted down the Jedi and created this intergalactic Empire.
Of course, we’ll get to see more of the Clone Wars in theaters next month, when the new computer-animated film “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” opens Aug. 10. The film takes place between “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” and “Episode III.” The movie ties into a new weekly animated TV series and a new “Clone Wars” video game for the Nintendo DS and Wii.
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Entertainment podcast: This weekend’s movies
George Lang and I give you the rundown of the movies opening in Oklahoma City this weekend – including “Step Brothers,” “X-Files: I Want to Believe” and “When Did You Last See Your Father?” - in this NewsOK podcast.
Click here to listen to our take on these movies.
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
A few days left to nominate rock songs
Don’t forget, rock fans, you have until the end of the month to nominate titles for Oklahoma’s official rock song.
People from all around the world have nominated more than 300 songs for the distinction. In August, the Official Oklahoma Rock Song Advisory Panel will narrow the field to 10 finalists.
Then, the public will have from Sept. 1 to Nov. 15 to vote on which of the final 10 songs will be Oklahoma’s official rock song.
You can nominate your favorite rock song at www.oklahomarocksong.org.
Right now, it looks like the All-American Rejects have garnered the most nominations. The Flaming Lips, Leon Russell and Hanson also have several of their songs on the nominees lists.
Remember, this is for Oklahoma’s official ROCK song. We already have an official state song (“Oklahoma” by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers), country song (“Faded Love” by Bob Wills and Billy Jack Wills) and folk song (“Oklahoma Hills” by Woody Guthrie and Jack Guthrie). If I catch anyone nominating anything other than a rock song - as some have on the site – I plan to find a giant hamster ball like Wayne Coyne’s and personally bowl them over with it.
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Tween stars get a chance to grow up
A pair of developments in entertainment news this week indicate that people are open to letting tween stars the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and others of their ilk grow up and be heard by mainstream pop radio audiences.
MTV announced that the Jonas Brothers will perform at this year’s Video Music Awards. The MTV Video Music Awards will air live Sept. 7 from Paramount Pictures Studios in Los Angeles.
In a statement, brothers Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas said: “This is an awesome opportunity. We have grown up watching all the amazing and iconic performances on the VMAs. It is an honor to be a part of something so incredible,” the Associated Press reported.
As the AP noted, it will be the first time the brothers, who are known for their wholesome lifestyle and purity rings, will appear at the notoriously wild event.
On the Miley Cyrus front, the 15-year-old released a new album this week – her first that doesn’t bear the “Hannah Montana” name.
In an AP feature, Miley said she hopes the CD, titled “Breakout,” will help people take her songwriting skills more seriously. The songs deal with the environment, relationships and other more mature issues.
The CD’s first single, the rock song “7 Things,” is now No. 9 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, making it her most successful song outside the Radio Disney crowd.
“To be played on these radio stations is awesome, to be able to rock out to it in your car without planning it, without it being just a kids channel,” she told the AP.
“(I’m) making it a little more fun and edgy, and I think being able to step out of the ‘Hannah Montana’ thing – not in a way where I’m forgetting her completely, but as my fans grow up, me growing up too and kind of having my own person.”
A “Hannah Montana” movie is due out next year, the third season of the Disney Channel TV show starts filming in weeks, and the DVD of the hit concert film “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds” comes out this summer.
That tour will likely mark her last as “Hannah Montana,” she told the AP.
She adds, “I probably won’t tour again as a ‘Hannah Montana’ tour … I’m kind of past that stuff. But I definitely wanna keep doing my show. I love doing (it) and I wouldn’t wanna give it up quite yet.”
I know I’ve heard a couple of songs from Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers on local pop radio stations, and it’s a bit of a weird experience. It will be interesting to see if either act can grow up with their target audience.
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What to do in Oklahoma on July 26
Today’s featured event:
Watch Tom Noddy, The Bubble Guy, create bubbles of all shapes and configurations during his Oklahoma debut this weekend at Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52.
Noddy, who has been featured on “The Tonight Show,” will perform at noon, 2 and 4 p.m. today and 1 and 3 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, call 602-6664 or go to www.bubblemagic.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
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Friday Featured Track
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “You Baby” by The Turtles, the title track to the folk-rock/pop band’s second album, released in 1966.
This perky ditty is one of the many songs of the ’60s my dad owns on vinyl 45s. I have very clear childhood memories of my sister and me singing into hairbrushes and dancing on our parents’ bed to this fun love song.
With its peppy percussion and backing oohs and ahhs, this song is perfect for bopping along in the car with the windows or the top down. (Although with the weather as steamy as it’s been, it’s probaby best to wait until after dark for open windows.)
Interesting rock ‘n’ roll tidbit: After The Turtles split, founding members and dual frontmen Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman joined Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention under the unusual moniker “The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie.”
Check out this vintage black-and-white performance of “You Baby,” courtesy some clever YouTuber. (Don’t worry, the bouncy bleachers don’t fall; this isn’t a miniature disaster flick.)
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Matthew Goode and other “Watchmen” at Comic-Con
Matthew Goode, who plays Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias in the feverishly anticipated film version of “Watchmen,” makes his debut today at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
I interviewed the English actor Thursday morning by phone from Dallas, where he was doing publicity for the period drama “Brideshead Revisited.”
He was planning to fly to San Diego Thursday evening for Comic-Con, where director Zack Snyder (“300″) and the “Watchmen” cast are revealing sneak peeks, props, action figures and all sorts of goodies from the film.
“I’m quite excited, and yeah, it should be quite fun,” Goode said Thursday.
He said he was ready to face the notoriously discerning crowds of fanboys and super-nerds at the huge pop culture gathering.
“It should be a really good laugh,” he said.
He added, “We’re just giving them a little teaser, but I haven’t seen any of it. So I’m just as excited as they’re going to be, because I saw the trailer the other day and I thought it was f—ing hello. It was amazing.”
Surprisingly, Goode found quite a few parallels between his characters and experiences on “Brideshead Revisited” and “Watchmen.”
“Brideshead Revisited” is set to open Aug. 1 in Oklahoma City, so I’ll be bringing you more with Goode about both movies in the coming days.
In the meantime, my colleague Matthew Price is in San Diego covering Comic-Con. If you head over to his blog Nerdage, you can read his superheroic coverage of the big event.
Since we’re on the subject of “Watchmen,” I recommend starting your Comic-Con reading with this post about the toys based on the film, which were unveiled Thursday at the convention.
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New roller coaster bringing thrills to Frontier City
People ride the new Steel Lasso Thursday at Frontier City. (Photo by Chris Landsberger/The Oklahoman.)
Frontier City’s new roller coaster, the Steel Lasso, opened to the public Thursday at the theme park, 11501 N I-35 Service Road.
The Steel Lasso is Oklahoma’s first suspended roller coaster, so its cars hang from the track instead of riding along them. Your feet just dangle freely as you race 30 mph along 1,000 feet of track.
The theme park has designed the coaster to accommodate families, with people as short as 38 inches allowed to ride.
The Oklahoman‘s David Zizzo checked out the Steel Lasso on Thursday. You can read his story and see video about the new ride by clicking here.
You can also see the coaster for yourself quite easily from Interstate 35 as you pass by the park. (Much to my husband’s displeasure, it occupies the spot where the old Six Shooter Swings used to be.)
For more information, go to www.frontiercity.com.
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