2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Director Kevin Macdonald's Last King of Scotland is an engaging masterpiece. Powerful and at times disturbing, Last King offers a story of power, corruption and relentless brutality. Whitaker's performance, which earned his nomination in this year's Academy Awards as the Best Leading Actor, casts a brilliant shadow over the film's various other deserving qualities.
BOSTON - The menacing eyes of Chris Cooper filled the silver screen, as the eyes of the audience closely focused in on him. In a moment far more typical of Sunday's Academy Awards, the actor on screen stood no more than four feet away from the edge of it, pressed up against the wall, watching himself.
Bob Dylan is known as a folk music legend and a pioneer of the folk-rock genre. He is credited with articulating the feelings and thoughts of a generation in rebellion against the government and any authority figure in sight. And while Dylan stood on the front lines and pioneered a new form of music with some pretty stiff resistance (see the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when he went electric in front of the purists), writing songs like "The Times They Are a-Changin'" that spoke to millions, he has always had limits to his popularity and his talent.
Paninis, or pressed sandwiches, are becoming ever more popular on restaurant menus. The diminutive for the Italian word for bread, paninis generally are made from ciabatta bread stuffed with grilled or cured meats, cheeses and vegetables and then pressed between two hot skillets.
It may have been cold outside, but Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen kept it hot and heavy with tight beats and ivory slamming funk this past Monday at the Iron Horse in Northampton. It was a treat to see such a great band from New Orleans playing the music they know best.