There is a sad and painful realization that must be made regarding one of my favorite icons of the horror genre. A statement (inducing a pain in me so great that it creates a want to strike myself in anger at its mere mention) that has become truer now than ever before: Zombies… have become cliché…

In the last five to 10 years, the American pop-culture identity has become inundated with every manner of zombie-related paraphernalia; bridging the entire spectrum from mind-blowingly great: Max Brook’s literary masterpieces “World War Z” and “The Zombie Survival Guide,” as well as Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel “The Walking Dead.” There is also the disastrously terrible: Ving Rhames and Nick Cannon’s cinematic lobotomy that is the 2008 remake of “Day of the Dead.”

People all around Oklahoma took their sense of adventure and their appetite to the Oklahoma State Fair of 2011.

There were many attractions at the fair to tickle anyone’s fancy.

Everything was offered from pig racing, shopping and the adventurous carnival.

The carnival offered many rides for a variety of ages and adventure levels.

The big slide, eight riders racing against one another, was a favorite for all.

The Gravitron was for anyone that would enjoy high-speed spins and being stuck to the wall.

With his audacious paean to the old west in “The Wild Bunch,” Sam Peckinpah unleashed a vision of reality that audiences rarely found reassuring and if they did, we may have found that in and of itself to be disconcerting.

Here we sit 40 years on with a reintroduction to Peckinpah’s own “Straw Dogs” by way of writer/director Rod Lurie’s modern vision of the tale of a man who is assaulted by demons (inner and outer) to the point where he must confront the limits of his reliance on “good manners” and “society” to fight his battles for him.

David Sumner (James Marsden “X-Men,” and a product of Putnam City North) is a modestly successful L.A.-based screenwriter who accompanies his wife Amy (Kate Bosworth “Wonderland” and “The Rules of Attraction”), a modestly successful actress, as she returns home to Blackwater, Miss., after the death of her father.

When most people think of musicians from Oklahoma, they think of country music greats like Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Cary Underwood.

Many do not realize that the state of Oklahoma has a widely untapped R&B/Hip-Hop fan base as well as many talented R&B/Hip-Hop artists.

One of Oklahoma’s own music artists Super Jay is on a one-way track to super stardom in the music world.

With the help of independent record labels Presidential Trap House and Malaco, Super Jay has released several hit songs that are not just receiving local fanfare but are being played on radio stations all over the U.S.

Who remembers the Addams Family, Wednesday Addams in particular? Imagine Wednesday going to an orphanage or toy store filled with children. “Alice: The Madness Returns” is just like that.

Following the first “Alice” game, “The Madness Returns” is a direct continuation, though it doesn’t look like it at times. A much more desolate landscape welcomes you as you sink into insanity.

The game is undeniably strange — creepy as nothing should have any right to be. I’ve never liked dolls, and now they freak me out.

Spooky imagery aside, the game itself is beautiful. The graphics are crisp, and the music fits the mood of every chapter perfectly.

A soulful twang kicked off this year’s Cultural Arts Series as guitarist David Burgess took the stage of the Bruce Owen Theater with “The Music of Brazil.”

Before the show began, Cultural Arts Director Lemuel Bardeguez described Burgess as an award-winning musician rapidly establishing himself as one of today’s greatest musicians. From his performance, it’s easy to see why.

Burgess quickly set the mood with “Sampa,” originally performed by Caetano Veloso.

The tune was slow and relaxing, yet so hauntingly beautiful the auditorium of more than a hundred fell dead silent, practically holding their breath to make sure they didn’t miss a chord.

It was incredibly tempting to lean back, close your eyes, and let the music carry you away to the snow-white beaches of Rio de Janeiro.

Get a facemask and break out the hand sanitizer. This first offering for fall features will make you pause before grabbing a doorknob or shaking someone’s hand.

“Contagion” is the latest global-scale thriller from Warner Bros. and not their first entry into films that follow the events and characters affected by a worldwide pandemic.

A major thing that sets this film apart from movies like “Pandemic” (2009), “Outbreak” (1995), or the Stephen King miniseries “The Stand” (1994) is the structure of the plot.

This plot spreads and grows more complex with every moment in the film. It is as if the plot itself is its own virus.

With the emergence of Facebook’s evil twin, Google+, I’m reminded of an old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Google+ launched its own version of a social networking site a mere three months ago. But after spending some time with this much-anticipated social networking platform, it may be more politically correct to say they created a knockoff of Facebook.

The interface is eerily similar to Facebook, which nonetheless makes it easy to navigate. Where Facebook has implemented a “News Feed,” Google+ has copied this feature into “Streams.”

Imitation is not flattery, in this case. It should be down right humiliating. They are attempting to assault the unconventional prototype of their creation.

“In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir” is former Vice President Dick Cheney’s foray into a congested and largely talentless void that belongs almost exclusively to the political autobiography.

For Cheney, the events detailing his rise, his eight years in the White House and his numerous confrontations with other members of George W. Bush’s cabinet are chronicled with an admitted note of vitriol.

His accounts are nothing if not a codicillary rumination attempting to exonerate him of any “presupposed” wrong doing all while attempting to refashion his identity from that of the “unfeeling, robotic overseer” to that of an actual thinking, feeling human — a mission he fails to accomplish.

You’ve probably never heard the words “healthy eating” and “school cafeteria” uttered in the same sentence — until now.

Last month, Carson’s Catering debuted a cereal and yogurt bar, the first of its kind in a lunchroom otherwise plagued by greasy goods and fried feasts.

The new fare is pretty hard to miss. Where the rotating pretzel machine once stood, a large oval sign hangs chained from the ceiling, bearing the words “Cereal & Yogurt,” backed by a picture of scrumptious-looking berries and granola bits.