Sometimes They Just Don’t Make the Cut
Randy Crouch, right, tunes his guitar with fellow flute player and bandmate at his side at the Brick Street Cafe during Woody Fest in Okemah, Okla. Photo by Ashley McKee, The Oklahoman
Will Anderson of Haslet, Texas gets hung up in the rigging during bull riding during the first go-round of the International Youth Rodeo at the Expo Center in Shawnee, Okla. Monday, July 13, 2009. Photo by Ashley McKee, The Oklahoman
DVD REVIEW: “The Haunting in Connecticut”
I guess this is why they call it "throwing up."
2 stars out of 4
Nothing immediately scary comes to mind when thinking about Connecticut, but “The Haunting in Connecticut” tries to change that.
The horror film, based on true events, follows the Campbell family as it moves to an affordable and completely haunted Victorian house that’s close to a cancer treatment center.
Eldest son Matt Campbell (Kyle Gallner) has cancer, but he’s nowhere near as sick as the twisted history of his new home. After choosing to live in the basement (sigh), Gallner starts seeing things that go bump in the night and perform terrible rituals on the dead.
His hallucinations are possible side effects of his cancer treatment, so he tries to keep his visions to himself.
After enduring countless ghost sightings, a surprisingly convincing Gallner starts to freak out his family; most notably his mother (Virginia Madsen, who also gives a solid performance).
The most chilling problems occur because “Connecticut” gets lazier as it gets longer. It’s slow and predictable. The film is full of nauseating close-ups of corpses, which get old quickly.
Although some sequences can be intense, the film continually reuses the same scare scenarios. Flickering lightbulbs and games of hide-and-seek can only work so many times in one movie.
WORTH CHECKING OUT
Kyle Gallner stars as the freaked out son in “The Haunting in Connecticut.” Be ready to see him a lot soon. Not only will he be starring in the latest “Nightmare on Elm Street” translation, but also he will have a part in Diablo Cody’s (writer of “Juno”) latest film “Jennifer’s Body” with Megan Fox.
As if I didn’t have enough reasons to be afraid of girls … this film’s preview alone gives me at least two dozen more.
MUSIC VIDEO: Weezer covers MGMT and Lady Gaga
MUSIC VIDEO: The Dead Weather “Treat Me Like Your Mother”
*edit*STREAM THE DEAD WEATHER’S ALBUM in full here.
Band mates Jack White and Alison Mosshart make playing music look cool, but apparently that wasn’t enough. They had to make a music video where they make walking look cooler than shooting thousands of bullets into your favorite leather jacket. Take a look at the video for “Treat Me Like Your Mother.” I am hoping it will become a promotional video for the NRA. Also, tomorrow is the release of the Dead Weather’s debut album “Horehound.”
The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother
Top five soccer books
Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham chases the ball during an exhibition match in Hong Kong Sunday March 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
“The Beckham Experiment” comes out tomorrow.
In case you don’t watch ESPN or follow soccer, “The Beckham Experiment” is book by Grant Wahl detailing David Beckham’s first few years in America playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Beckham, arguably the world’s most popular, recognizable and marketable athlete, starred for European icons Manchester United and Real Madrid and served as captain of the English national side for five years.
In 2007, he headed to America. Wahl, an award-winning sports writer for Sports Illustrated and SI.com, followed all of it, on and off the field. An excerpt from his book, in which the United States’ all-time leader in goals and assists and Galaxy captain Landon Donovan had some controversial comments about Beckham’s professionalism, was released last week.
I’ll be picking up the book tomorrow, but for now, here is a list of the top five soccer books I’ve read, in no particular order.
Part biography, part explanation of England’s obsession with the beautiful game, Hornby’s quasi-diary is a must read. The book is filled with humor as it explains and describes clashes between the police and hooligans, the first time Hornby saw Arsenal play, and the why 22 guys on a field takes priority over girlfriends and jobs.
The movie “About a Boy” was based on one of Hornby’s books, so fans of romantic dramedies might be drawn in with that.
Hill is an investigative journalist, and he put “The Fix” together after snooping around the world’s gambling scene. Hill details the world of match fixing in soccer by organized criminal groups and the desperation some poor players, especially those in impoverished African nations, that lead them to participating. Match fixing is something a lot of people don’t want to talk about, but Hill provides a rather shocking account of not only soccer’s problems with organized crime, but also how it affects other sports like basketball.
“Soccer(Football) Against the Enemy: How the World’s Most Popular Sport Starts and Fuels Revolutions and Keeps Dictators in Power” by Simon Kuper
If there is a book out there that better explains why soccer means so much to people outside the U.S., then I haven’t heard about it. Kuper explains political turmoil in the Ukraine, Croatia, South Africa and many other places and how the sport has affected it. For those not familiar with Scottish soccer, the city of Glasgow has long been a hotbed for violent activity. One of the sources of it? The two teams in Glasgow, Rangers and Celtic, have centuries old religious prejudice on their side. Rangers is long a team associated with Protestants, while Celtic is strictly Catholic. A must read. Nothing explains the sport’s impact on lives better than this.
“Ajax, the Dutch, the War: Football in Europe During the Second World War” by Simon Kuper
Another great work from Kuper. This time, the book focuses on how the world’s game operated in Europe during World War II, but perhaps more importantly, focuses on Amsterdam’s Jewish population and the role Ajax, a popular Dutch soccer team and European soccer legend, and the Dutch played in the resistance against the Nazis. This isn’t just one of the best soccer books I’ve read, but many World War II historians say it’s a masterpiece as a book about world’s most widespread conflict in history.
“The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the World Cup” by various authors
Thirty-two chapters, 32 teams in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Each chapter talks about soccer as it relates to the country. Highlights? England’s love-hate relationship with its national team and the globalization of English soccer, Saudi Arabia’s view of playing soccer as training for jihad, and all the accounts of small nations like Togo and Trinidad & Tobago.
Bullock Proof
- Photo by Paul Southerland, The Oklahoman
OVERRATED/UNDERRATED- STEAKS
I am doing two segments this week because I missed one last week. This segment is about steaks, a little more light hearted than the past two entries. This isn’t going to be about brands of restaurants this is actual cuts of meat.
OVERRATED- SIRLOIN
Is there any steak that gets ordered more at restaurants? I hope so but it seems like every time I go out to eat there is a sirloin on the menu. Most sirloins offered are bottom sirloin which is the lesser of two different sirloins (top and bottom). This steak is incredibly tough because it gets used often by the cow, but is also lacking all natural flavor due to its low fat content. This steak is low of the lows. Yet because this steak is inexpensive, it gets ordered all the time. Put enough seasonings on it and you can make it taste any way you want it to. Pound it with a tenderizer for 30 min and it may become slightly more tender. There may be lesser cuts of meat but they have specific uses. As far as cuts of beef used mainly for “steak” the sirloin is definitely overrated.
UNDERRATED- BONE-IN RIB EYE
Ok so the rib eye is just about the most popular steak of all the “gourmet” cuts of meat, and rightfully so. The rib eye is marbled with intracellular fat that produces the most flavorful natural beef flavor of all the steaks. The fat also keeps the rib eye incredibly juicy when cooked to the right temperature and using the correct methods. It is a medium tenderness. It is comprised of two different muscles, the “cap” or the outside portion is very tender, while the “Eye” makes up the bulk of the rib eye. It is a heartier slightly leaner portion. The bone-in rib eye doesn’t get the respect it deserves. The bone and the fat lining it just help improve the flavor and moisture content of the rib eye. Having a properly cooked rib eye and a properly cooked bone-in rib eye is a different in flavor and moisture intensity. It’s like having Ice Cream and Gelato. Both are incredibly tasty and wonderful. But the gelato (because it has less air mixed in) is stonger in flavor than its ice cream counterpart. So although the rib eye is popular, the bone-in needs a little more respect and thus Underrated.
Following US Marshals working Project Falcon
Project Falcon. It sounds like that should be a movie or some super spy mission. While it is neither of those things, it was no less exciting to watch from a distance as US Marshals and other law enforcement agency officials went out to fulfill Project Falcon. Project Falcon is a law enforcement task force led by the US Marshals to serve as many warrants to the individuals that are still at large. Usually it is a week long but this year, Marshals extended it to a month.
After first talking to Deputy U.S. Marshal Mike Parks, head of the Metro Fugitive Task Force the week before, the reporter I was following, Jay Marks, a videographer and myself went to Moore to shadow Parks, two other Marshals and two other law enforcement officials who were volunteering for Project Falcon. The warrant they had that day was for a man who had drugs less than 1,000 feet from a school.
The first stop was his apartment. While Jay and I were watching from the sidewalk, Parks and the others were led to the suspect’s best friends apartment and from there to the suspect’s girlfriend’s apartment. While at the girlfriend’s apartment complex, neighbors began to come outside as they saw US Marshals and a video camera wandering around.
After showing the others a picture of the suspect, a woman said she just saw him on a purple bike ride to the other side of the complex. Quickly, we got to the other side and the onlookers followed us.
When they knocked on the door with a purple bike in front of it, a 20-something year-old guy opened the door and it reeked from the smell of pot. He wasn’t our guy, though he looked similar. Though he continually denied he was high, he knew he was in trouble when an officer came out of the apartment with weed in his hand. Parks and the others then asked him if he knew the suspect and the guy said he knew him but stopped hanging out with him because he “saw the road he was going down and it was a bad one.” After a long talk, the guy made a deal with the Marshals that he would help them find their suspect.
While all of this was happening, neighbors pulled out their lawn chairs and watched. I’d say about 20 people were sitting outside their apartments watching.
With another lead at hand, the Marshals got ready to take off and we thought this was a good way to end our tag-along. After thanking Parks, I overheard the Marshals’ new source as he said one thing to his friend, “I can’t see straight.” That had to be the quote of the day.
By the way, that’s the mayor
Five interns (Nathan Poppe, Emily Holman, Jack Burk, Ashley McKee [edit: McKeen? Where did that come from] and myself) have been working on content for the My Stillwater community guide due out later this year.
One of the stories I am working on is about Nathan Bates, Stillwater’s 26-year-old mayor who also moonlights as an OSU student.
Ashley and I met him at his apartment complex the other day for an interview and photos. When we were nearing the end of our interview, one of the office workers at the complex walked into the clubhouse where we were doing the interview. He was showing a new resident around.
He gave her a quick tour around the clubhouse, and as he was leaving, he said something to the extent of, “By the way, Stillwater’s mayor lives here.”
The girl laughed and said, “Wow, that’s cool.”
Bates chuckled, and we continued our interview.
Transformers makes millions with help from Tinker Air Force Base
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” just passed the $300 million mark. Because we’re talking about Transformers, there is more than meets the eye. A few select airmen and airwomen got to take part in the filming of this blockbuster hit. Did you know that? If you didn’t then read the story below.
Not people from Tinker, but neat looking
“Transformers” star Megan Fox said she doesn’t like seeing herself onscreen, but Lt. Col. Jimmy Warren said he’s looking forward to the DVD of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” — so he can hit pause and show his kids exactly where he is.
Getting rewarded for hard work usually involves a small get-together featuring cake or pastries, but a select group from Tinker Air Force Base was rewarded with something bigger: an opportunity to appear in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”
Director Michael Bay approached members of the 552nd Air Control Wing with this scenario: There’s the “mother of all battles” happening on the ground in Egypt, and you’re here to give air support to make sure the Autobots beat the Decepticons, Warren said.
“(It) was very similar to what we do, at times, on our aircrafts,” Warren said. “(We did) what we would really do … if we were deployed somewhere.”
Read the rest here.
