On the Horizon--Boo!

We all remember those spooky stories by the camp fire and when grandpa would tell us ghost stories right before we went to bed. But what happens when those ghost stories come to life?

In today’s video blog we take you to a business in North Central Oklahoma where the past life is still present. From creaky doors to items flying off shelves, the paranormal takes spooky to whole new level. Turning skeptics (me) into believers, and believers running for their lives.

Andy Barth

On the Horizon: The New Hollywood

I love going to the movies.  It’s always interesting to see how they make them and where they are filmed.  But I often wonder, why aren’t more films done here in Oklahoma?  Especially the ones about Oklahoma, that would make sense after all.  We have the wide open spaces you see so often depicted in movies and our cities are prettier than many on the East or West coast.  Take Tulsa for example:  I was there just the other day, up in a very tall building looking out over the city area and was amazed at all the green.  Houses and buildings were interspersed throughout all the trees almost like they built them around the trees.  How much prettier is that than the concrete jungle you see in most cities/movies.

Now don’t get me wrong, there have been some movies shot here in places like Tulsa, but I think most people just don’t think of Oklahoma when then think of movies.  And it can be big business for Oklahoma.  The Oklahoma Film and Music Office is working toward making Oklahoma the next Hollywood.  What they’ve discovered is that for every dollar spent in Oklahoma’s film industry, an impact of $1.72 is made on our state’s economy.  The impact just continues to grow.  Due to recruitment efforts, the 2010 production of “The Killer Inside Me” was filmed almost exclusively here in Oklahoma even though the story was set in Texas.  Another Red River Rivalry???  That production spent three million dollars in Oklahoma in only six weeks to make the movie and generated over five million for the state.  That’s huge.  Some may complain about tax rebates the film industry gets but overall, I think it’s worth it.  You have to have some kind of incentive to bring the film industry out of their comfort zone and into our state.

In this week’s video blog, meet one Oklahoman who didn’t run to Hollywood to make his movie, but kept it right here in Oklahoma using local talent and local crews.

Alisa Hines

On the Horizon: Thinking in Pictures

The first time I met the focus of today’s video blog, I didn’t know quite what to think.  I was sitting in an out of state conference, when Temple Grandin sat down beside me.  Decked out in a pair of wranglers and an embroidered pearl snap western shirt she did stand out a bit.  Actually a lot.

Fast forward a few years, and I send a TV crew to Colorado to interview a leading animal behaviorist, and guess who is there in her pearl snaps.  Dr. Grandin is widely credited as driving force in the humane treatment of animals in slaughter houses.  (Interesting note:  while many people in the meat industry refer to animal slaughter as “harvesting” Temple says such semantics are bunk.  She says not only should the industry not try to “sanitize” what’s going on, but slaughter houses should have cameras set up to webcast  the entire process.)

To fully understand Temple’s impact on the meat industry you need to understand her background. Grandin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and diagnosed with autism in 1950. Having been labeled with brain damage at age two, she was placed in a structured nursery school with what she considers to have been good teachers. Grandin's mother spoke to a doctor who suggested speech therapy, and she hired a nanny who spent hours playing turn-based games with Grandin and her sister.

At age four, Grandin began talking, and making progress. She considers herself lucky to have had supportive mentors from primary school onwards. However, Grandin has said that middle and high school were the worst parts of her life. She was the "nerdy kid" whom everyone teased. At times, while walking down the street, people would taunt her by saying "tape recorder," because she would repeat things over and over again. Grandin says that, "I could laugh about it now, but back then it really hurt."

After graduating from Hampshire Country School, a boarding school for gifted children in Rindge, New Hampshire, in 1966, Grandin went on to earn her bachelor's degree in psychology from Franklin Pierce College in 1970, her master's degree in animal science from Arizona State University in 1975, and her doctoral degree in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989.

Grandin is considered a philosophical leader of both the animal welfare and autism advocacy movements. Both movements commonly cite her work regarding animal welfare, neurology, and philosophy. She knows all too well the anxiety of feeling threatened by everything in her surroundings, and of being dismissed and feared, which motivates her in her quest to promote humane livestock handling processes.

Take a look at this week’s video blog.  I am interested in what you think.
Rob McClendon

 

On the Horizon: A Mixed Bag

I have a cool job.  It has allowed me to travel the world and witness first hand events that most people just read about.  I really enjoy international air travel in part because they put domestic airlines to shame, but also because of the people I meet and the places I get to see once I get there.  Unfortunately, this week’s blog is not one of those stories.

When an OSU professor asked me to travel with a group of students and a representative of an OKC nonprofit, I assumed it would be like most of the international shoots I do…Hot, sweaty work during the day, but a clean bed and a warm meal at night.  Wrong Again!

My trip to Sierra Leone, Africa was one of the hardest I have ever taken.  One hundred plus degrees during the day…ninety at night, sleeping on concrete, getting bit by mosquitoes throughout the night in the malaria belt, and eating rice.  Lots and lots of rice.

Despite the inhospitable conditions I am proud to say the stories I did from there are important and life changing for all involved.  This week and next I am going to show you some of the things I saw.  I invite you to watch and learn just as I did.

Rob McClendon