What to do in Oklahoma on Dec. 30, 2009
Today’s featured event:
NORMAN - Hear Travis Linville at 10:30 tonight at The Deli, 309 White Street.
For more information, go to www.thedeli.us.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
New releases for Dec. 29, 2009: “9,” “Paranormal Activity,” “Glee”
When it comes to new music, movies or books, the pickings tend to get slim after Christmas.
But for those who have holiday gift cards to spend, a few desirable new options are available this week, especially on DVD, including the hit horror film “Paranormal Activity,” the fine post-apocalyptic animated movie “9″ and for the Gleeks out there, part of the first season of the new TV show “Glee.”
Here is a list of this week’s new DVDs and books, from VideoETA.com and The Oklahoman’s Renee Lawrence:
DVDs
9
Glee Season 1 Volume 1: Road to Sectionals
Jennifer’s Body
The Marine 2
Paranormal Activity
A Perfect Getaway
The United States of Tara: The First Season
Books
“Sizzle” by Julie Garwood.
“Deeper than the Dead” by Tami Hoag.
“The Honor of Spies” (Honor Bound Series, No. 5) by W. E. B. Griffin.
“Altar of Eden” by James Rollins.
“Days of Gold” by Jude Deveraux.
“Fired Up: Book One of the Dreamlight Trilogy” by Jayne Ann Krentz.
“I, Sniper” (Bob Lee Swagger Series) by Stephen Hunter.
“Shades of Grey” by Jasper Fforde.
“You: On a Diet: Revised Edition” by Dr. Michael F. Roizen and Dr. Mehmet C. Oz.
“The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs” by Stephanie Nelson.
“The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life” by Bethenny Frankel.
-BAM
Carrie Underwood to attend People’s Choice Awards
Carrie Underwood (Associated Press photo)
Oklahoma native Carrie Underwood is among the stars expected to attend the Jan. 6 People’s Choice Awards. The awards show will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theater L.A. Live in Los Angeles from 8 to 10 p.m. Jan. 6 on CBS.
A star-studded selection of talent from film, TV and music including Sandra Bullock, Colbie Caillat, Mariah Carey, Steve Carell, Jackie Chan, Chevy Chase, Kaley Cuoco, Ellen DeGeneres, Jenna Elfman, Johnny Galecki, Ginnifer Goodwin, Tim Gunn, Taraji P. Henson, Josh Holloway, LL COOL J, Hugh Jackman, Ashton Kutcher, Hugh Laurie, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Kellan Lutz, Kathryn Morris, Jim Parsons, Paula Patton, Ryan Reynolds, Nicole Scherzinger, Keith Urban, Sofia Vergara and Kate Walsh also are scheduled to attend the show, according to a news release.
The awards show will kick-off with an all-star musical number with host Queen Latifah and surprise guests and later will feature a dynamic performance by Mary J. Blige.
The People’s Choice Award winners are determined by the fans, and the 2010 show already has logged in a record-breaking 60 million votes. The categories of Favorite New TV Comedy and Drama will remain open at www.peopleschoice.com until Jan. 6. For Favorite New TV Comedy, fans can vote for “Accidentally On Purpose,” “The Cleveland Show,” “Cougartown,” “Glee” and “Modern Family.” For Favorite New TV Drama, the nominees are “Flash Forward,” “The Good Wife,” “NCIS: LOS ANGELES,” “V” and “The Vampire Diaries.”
-BAM
Kennedy Center Honors lauding Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro and Mel Brooks airing tonight
The 2009 Kennedy Center Honorees, from left, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen, Mel Brooks, and Dave Brubeck share a laugh at the State Department following the Kennedy Center Honors Gala Dinner. The Kennedy Center Honors special will air tonight on CBS. (Associated Press photo)
The 32nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors will air from 8 to 10 tonight on CBS, with Caroline Kennedy as host for the seventh straight year.
This year’s honorees are award-winning writer, composer, actor, director and producer Mel Brooks; acclaimed actor, director and producer Robert De Niro; celebrated singer/songwriter/musician Bruce Springsteen, pianist and composer Dave Brubeck; and opera singer Grace Bumbry.
Eminent artist friends and peers of the five honorees converged Dec. 6 in Washington, D.C., to present entertaining and heartfelt tributes for tonight’s TV special. This marks the 32nd anniversary of this special, which has been broadcast on CBS each year since its debut in 1978.
This annual event recognizes recipients for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures and television. Keeping with tradition, the roster of performers and presenters remains secret prior to the gala, and a short biographical film is featured during each honoree’s tribute.
Performers and presenters this year included Roger Bart, Gary Beach, Jack Black, Matthew Broderick, Harry Connick, Jr., Cory English, Simon Estes, Melissa Etheridge, Aretha Franklin, Angela Gheorghiu, Herbie Hancock, Ben Harper, Shuler Hensley, Harvey Keitel, Ron Kovic, Jane Krakowski, Richard Kind, Frank Langella, John Mellencamp, Matthew Morrison, Jennifer Nettles, Edward Norton, Carl Reiner, Stephen A. Schwarzman, Martin Scorsese, Martin Short, Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, Sting, Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep and Eddie Vedder.
President and Mrs. Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were seated with the honorees in the Presidential Box of the Opera House at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, after having just attended the traditional White House reception for the honorees.
Host Caroline Kennedy described the five 2009 honorees as “a piano virtuoso from the California hills whose inspired rhythms made him America’s herald of a new age of jazz; a good fella from the mean streets of New York who redefined acting and made movie audiences an offer they couldn’t refuse; the little girl from a St. Louis church choir who could hit high C and became the diva we cheered in the houses of grand opera; a mischievous boy from Brooklyn who provoked billions of laughs by walking loudly and carrying a big schtick; and a rocker from the Jersey Shore who composed his own musical universe and – across America and the world – became the Boss.”
For more TV news, check out Penny Soldan’s informative blog at http://blog.newsok.com/television.
- BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on Dec. 29, 2009
Today’s featured event:
Hear Dallas-based Forever the Sickest Kids play a free show at 7 tonight at The Conservatory, 8911 N Western.
The concert, which also will feature Theatre Breaks Loose, is a MySpace Secret Show and tickets can’t be purchased in advance. Fans must line up today for a wristband to attend.
For more information, go to www.conservatoryokc.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Jason Aldean’s “She’s Country” tops country airplay in 2009
Jason Aldean
The Country Music Association recently released the top 10 country radio hits for 2009, courtesy Mediabase.
Jason Aldean’s hit “She’s Country” topped the list, which includes two songs from the year’s breakout group, the Zac Brown Band, who is playing Saturday at Thackerville’s WinStar World Casino, and two from hitmaker Dierks Bentley.
Norman star Toby Keith’s “God Love Her” came in at No. 5 on the list.
Here is the list:
1. Jason Aldean, “She’s Country”
2. Zac Brown Band, “Whatever It Is”
3. Darius Rucker, “It Won’t Be Like This For Long”
4. Keith Urban, “Sweet Thing”
5. Toby Keith, “God Love Her”
6. Dierks Bentley, “Sideways”
7. Lady Antebellum, “I Run To You”
8. Rodney Atkins, “It’s America”
9. Dierks Bentley, “Feel That Fire”
10. Zac Brown Band, “Chicken Fried”
-BAM
Box office report for Dec. 28, 2009: Christmas weekend breaks records
Hollywood celebrated a very merry Christmas, with the estimated $278 million in box-office revenue over the weekend breaking the previous record of roughly $253 million set in July 2008, the weekend “The Dark Knight” was released.
According to the Associated Press, a diverse group of films drew big crowds to theaters over the weekend: James Cameron’s high-tech sci-fi “Avatar” notched a mighty second week take, while “Sherlock Holmes,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” and “It’s Complicated” all opened strongly
For the second straight weekend, “Avatar” top the box office, earning $75 million for 20th Century Fox, according to the AP. The movie saw only a 3 percent drop from its opening weekend total of $77.4 million; blockbusters usually drop 30 to 50 percent in their second weekend.
In its 10 days of release, “Avatar” has made $212 million domestically – and could be on its way to a worldwide gross of more than $1 billion, according to the AP.
“Sherlock Holmes,” Guy Ritchie’s (“Snatch”) action-packed reboot starring Robert Downey Jr. as Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective, came in second place. The Warner Bros. film opened with a weekend total of $65.4 million, including a record Christmas Day debut of $24.9 million.
The film is perfectly set up for a sequel, and with those numbers, it seems sure to earn a few follow-ups.
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” which opened Wednesday, took in $50.2 million on the weekend and $77.1 million in its five days of release. The sequel, also from Fox, earned $18.8 million on Wednesday alone. The “Squeakquel” likely will surpass the box-office take for the 2007 first film, which made $217 million.
Writer-director Nancy Meyers’ (“Something’s Gotta Give”) ”It’s Complicated,” a romantic comedy starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, debuted at No. 4 with a solid $22.1 million. The audience for the Universal film was 72 percent female, according to the AP.
Two films with Oscar aspirations also opened wide over the weekend: Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” (Paramount) and Rob Marshall’s “Nine” (Weinstein Co.). “Up in the Air,” which has some of the best awards momentum, grossed $11.8 million, bringing its cumulative total to $24.5 million. The movie landed in fifth place for the weekend and already has nearly earned back its production budget.
The bright Christmas weekend results indicate many happy returns for all the films in release this week – one of the most lucrative of the year. Students of all ages are out of school, Christmas with its requisite shopping and activities is past, and a wide array of movies are out to keep people occupied before and after their New Year’s Eve parties.
2009 isn’t quite over, but the year has already set a record for domestic ticket sales with more than $10 billion at the box office. That surpassed the $9.7 billion mark of 2007.
“”It’s an absolutely fitting end to the biggest box office year of all time,” Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com, told the AP. “It’s just been a total roller coaster ride. It’s like audience members are on board.”
While some of the credit must go the recession (movies historically do well in hard times when a trip to the movie theater is a relatively cheap form of entertainment and escapism), there was a feeling Sunday that Hollywood had put forth a better product this Christmas, according to the AP.
“People say it’s the recession,” said Dergarabedian. “It’s the movies – it’s really the movies. It seems like when people aren’t at home, they’re at the movies.”
Christmas weekend also offered films for a variety of demographics: science-fiction, rom-com, family fare, action-packed thriller and serious awards-contender.
“That’s what fueled this Christmas, the diversity of the films,” Dergarabedian told the AP. “It was like a cinematic buffet line. If you can’t find a movie that you like in the marketplace right now, you don’t like movies.”
Here are the weekend’s top 10 movies, from the AP:
1. “Avatar,” $75 million.
2. “Sherlock Holmes,” $65.4 million.
3. “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” $50.2 million.
4. “It’s Complicated,” $22.1 million.
5. “Up in the Air,” $11.8 million.
6. “The Blind Side,” $11.7 million.
7. “The Princess and the Frog,” $8.7 million.
8. “Nine,” $5.5 million.
9. “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” $5 million.
10. “Invictus,” $4.4 million.
-BAM
Monday Catchy Quote No. 96
A catchy quote from a movie, TV show or other source to brighten the beginning of your week:
Harry: I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.
- Click here to learn the source.
What to do in Oklahoma on Dec. 28, 2009
Today’s featured event:
See the work of mixed-media artist E.K. Jeong, who uses a diverse assortment of art materials and techniques to create the works included in her exhibit “Esquisse,” at the state Captiol.
The exhibit will be on display though Jan. 31 in the Governor’s Gallery, on the second floor of the state Capitol. The gallery is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Admission is free and exhibits are curated by the Oklahoma Arts Council.
Translated from French, “Esquisse” means the first sketch of a picture or model of a statue. Now living in Weatherford, Jeong credits her experiences growing up in Korea as well as the landscape of her new home in Oklahoma as influences for this body of work.
“I consider these works as a new beginning for a more productive future as an artist and citizen of Oklahoma,” says Jeong in a news release. She says the compositions experiment with negative space and form and echo the “big open space and red earth of Oklahoma.” However, Jeong also says, “In a couple of pieces that have bright colors, you can see the color combinations are very Eastern. These colors remind me of a local festival I saw in Korea when I was a child with lights everywhere and colorful decorations. Those are the memories inside me and they find their way out into my art.”
Jeong received her bachelor of fine arts in fiber arts from Dong-A University in Busan, Korea. In Korea, she felt “there were certain restrictions for women. I moved to New York in 1993 to go to graduate school because I wanted to move myself out of that restrictive structure and develop independence. It gave me the freedom to make the art that I wanted to make,” she says in the release.
Once in the United States, Jeong studied for a bachelor of arts in art history and an master of fine arts in mixed media and fiber sculpture at the State University of New York at New Paltz. After graduating, she taught art courses in New York City.
In 2005, Jeong relocated to Oklahoma, where she is currently assistant 
professor of art at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. She is also working towards her Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. She is actively involved in a current public art venture in Weatherford titled The Community Tapestry Project, which brings community volunteers together to complete a massive tapestry using a 16-foot-by-9-foot weaving loom.
Throughout her extensive education in the arts, Jeong has explored old and new media including tapestry, weaving, drawing, painting, papermaking, mixed media and installation art. She was invited to show her work in the 4th and 5th International Fiber Art Biennales in China in 2006 and 2008. She also won the best of show in “Paper Work: In, On, and Of Paper IV,” a juried exhibition held by the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, Mo.
For more information on the exhibit, go to www.arts.ok.gov.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on Dec. 27, 2009
Oklahoma City Museum of Art (Photo by Steve Sisney/The Oklahoman Archives)
Today’s featured event:
Get free admission to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, American Banjo Museum, Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum and Oklahoma City Museum of Art from 1 to 6 p.m. today during the Oklahoma City Community Foundation Free Museum Sundays.
The event is part of Downtown in December. For more information, go to www.downtownindecember.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
