2008 Woodie Awards
It's not often Newark is in the national television spotlight, so when Tara Voigt got a call from the Food Network saying her shop would be featured on one of its shows, she was speechless.
Amanda Kaletsky was preparing to perform at a venue in her home state of Connecticut when her mother called to tell her the news. The popular band Coldplay chose Kaletsky from 15 contestants and five finalists in an online contest to open for the band on Aug. 2 in Hartford.
Publications like US Weekly and PerezHilton.com cater to those who monitor young Hollywood. The novel, "True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet," written by university alumna Lara Zeises, follows these interests and was recently made into a film for the Lifetime network.
For university professor Peter X. Feng, the experience of watching himself on television was a mix of fright and boredom. As the first night of the series, "Race and Hollywood: Asian Images in Film" aired on Turner Classic Movies this June, Feng watched himself host, but only through a mask of fingers.
While summer to-do lists included activities like visits to the beach, long tanning sessions and lengthy novels, film aficionados had a more specific list in mind - their must-see movies. Near the top of this list for a handful of university students was the long-awaited release of "The Dark Knight," the second Batman installation from director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter Jonathan Nolan.
What could be more fun than watching Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan burst out in ABBA tunes? It's a matter of personal taste. "Mamma Mia!" is sweet and satisfying like peach sangria.
The days of fairy-tale animation have passed, and this summer, nobody understood that better than a compact waste-collecting robot. "WALL-E" hoards the remnants of bygone cinema in Disney/Pixar's latest flick.
If there was one movie women everywhere saw this summer, this was it. The highly anticipated "Sex and the City" movie showed that a girl can never go wrong with Manolo Blahniks and her best friends.
Tugg Speedman might not be as commemorated as Derek Zoolander or White Goodman, but Ben Stiller's return to the absurdly dim-witted character bank has yielded a similarly hilarious film. Robert Downey, Jr. pulls off black face with ambiguity and precision, and Jack Black's addition of a low-brow actor going through withdrawal keeps this mock-war comedy full of laughs.
Director Guillermo del Toro must have grown tired of the grimness of the Spanish Civil War after "Pan's Labyrinth" - "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" is a perky, playful, enticing visual treat. The film extends beyond an old woman who eats cats to more accessible characters - horns and scales aside - satisfying through tenderness.
Full of ridiculous gun-slinging action and illegal drugs, "Pineapple Express" was the must-see for bud aficionados this summer.
After years of being dubbed a U2 copycat band, Coldplay finally goes beyond emulating them on its fourth album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. Even while working with renowned U2 producer Brian Eno, the band was able to create a record that is stimulating and pleasing to both old and new fans.
He's the mix-tape king, the punch-line dropper and the must-have featured guest, but whether or not Lil Wayne could match the anticipation he had built for three years remained to be seen. Weezy F left no doubt, as Tha Carter III went platinum in its first week and has doubled that achievement since.
I can picture it now - I'm sitting on a couch, all cozied up, reading a trashy novel about romance and love and next thing I know, the main characters are having sex on the beach.
I was obsessed with the Olympics. Absolutely obsessed. During the two weeks it aired, I hid in my cubicle at work watching live streams, only to sprint to the subway so I could catch the primetime events at home.
I sure do love weddings. I also love tuning into NBC during the weekdays just in time to catch some of Ellen DeGeneres's antics on her talk show. The interviews, the games and especially the dancing always give me a hearty laugh, and no one can rock a suit and sneakers quite like she can.
