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Best Arts Readers' Choice Awards NOT TOO LONG AGO, Drew Carey asked the audience on his improv show to suggest a movie to mock--The Blair Boring Witch Project came back in a heartbeat. Our readers obviously agreed, giving the nod for the year's worst movie to the faux documentary (a.k.a. The Blare Witch Project). For every 10 people who picked American Beauty as 1999's peak cinematic experience, one submitted American Pie (and are those two films really that far apart in their depiction of suburban sexual angst?). Two time-warp victims persisted in voting for Titanic. And we were gratified to see that at least one other medieval gore-fan actually saw The 13th Warrior and realized that it was perhaps the most perfect 14-year-old-boys fantasy every committed to film. In the acting category, tireless Ralph Peduto edged out Shakespeare Santa Cruz's Paul Whitworth and Daniel Hughes, star of too many community theater productions to list individually. Among the radio DJs, Mistress Muff has obviously won a legion of followers for being dumped from KSCO. Most curious of all was the realization that in Santa Cruz, the most popular art form is tattooing. How else to explain the fact that the leading art gallery was a tattoo parlor, the top three visual artists all used human skin as their canvas and the No. 1 pick for best writer was a tattoo-parlor founder (beating out novelist and sometimes Metro Santa Cruz contributor James D. Houston and Ashley Brauner, author of Love Songs of the Tone-Deaf). Curious about winning writer Cheri Lovedog, we requested some samples. In addition to a soon-to-be-produced all-girl rock musical, she has also self-published a book of stories and a collection of disarmingly direct poetry. Our favorite is a haikuish verse titled "I Am Not a Morning Person": "One of my biggest flaws/is that/in the morning/until I've had a few cups of coffee/and smoked a few cigarettes/I have no personality." We know the feeling. Best actor Gold Ralph Peduto Silver Paul Whitworth Bronze Daniel Hughes Best art gallery Gold Lovedog Tattoos 1117 Soquel Ave., SC, 469.3642 Silver Many Hands 1510 Pacific Ave., SC, 429.8696 Bronze Atelier 320 Cedar St., SC, 429.9005 Best artist (visual; local) Gold Garth of Lovedog Silver Zack Gaylord Lovedog Bronze Erica Davis of Papa Joe's Best festival/community celebration Gold First Night Silver Capitola Art & Wine Festival Bronze Gay Pride Day Movie-best of 1999 Gold American Beauty Silver Fight Club Bronze The Sixth Sense Movie-worst of 1999 Gold The Blair Witch Project Silver Mystery Men Bronze The End of the Affair Best movie theater Gold Nickelodeon Theatre 210 Lincoln St., SC, 426.7500 Silver Santa Cruz 9 Theatres 1405 Pacific Ave., SC, 457.3500 Bronze Rio Theatre 1205 Soquel Ave., SC, 423.2000 Best museum Gold Museum of Art and History 705 Front St., SC, 429.1964 Silver Santa Cruz City Museum of Natural History 1305 East Cliff Dr., SC, 420.6115 Bronze Surfing Museum Lighthouse Point, SC, 420.6289 Best radio personality Gold Johnny Simmons (local host of Morning Edition and co-host of Lost Highway , Sundays, 3-5pm, on KUSP-89FM) Silver Mistress Muff (formerly of KSCO) Bronze Ralph Anybody (weekdays, 7pm-midnight, on KPIG-107.5FM) Best radio program Gold Please Stand By (hosted by John Sandidge, Sundays, 10am-noon on KPIG-107.5FM) Silver Daisy Hill Puppy Farm (hosted by Zack Caulden, Saturdays, noon-2pm, on KUSP-89FM) Bronze Cousin Al's Bluegrass Show (hosted by Al Knoth, Sundays, 6-9pm, on KPIG-107.5FM) Best radio station-AM Gold KSCO--1080 Silver KGO--810 Bronze KTOM--1380 Best radio station-FM Gold KPIG-107.5 Silver KUSP-88.9 Bronze KZSC--88.1 Best TV news station Gold KSBW Silver KION Bronze KCBA Best theater troupe Gold Shakespeare Santa Cruz Silver Um ... Gee ... Um Bronze Scriptease Best writer Gold Cheri Hubert Silver James D. Houston Bronze Asher Brauner Best Food & Drink       Reader's Choice       Critic's Choice Best Arts       Critic's Choice Best Music & Nightlife       Reader's Choice       Critic's Choice Best Goods & Services       Reader's Choice       Critic's Choice Best People & Places       Reader's Choice       Critic's Choice Best Sports & Recreation       Reader's Choice       Critic's Choice Best Write-in Web Exclusive: More Goldies [ Santa Cruz | MetroActive Central | Archives ]