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BEST DAY TRIP

Clyde Butcher's Muck-About

BEST DAY TRIP Clyde Butcher's Muck-About Big Cypress Gallery

52388 Tamiami Trail

Ochopee

239-695-2428; 888-999-9113 The Swamp. Is it a place of psychedelic gases and weedy monsters? Do alligators battle pythons for dominion over a few feet of muck? Are creepy crawlies lying in wait for a hapless tourist to wander by? Is it fodder for comic books and horror movies or simply a place of misunderstood beauty? At Everglades photographer Clyde Butcher's studio on the outskirts of the Big Cypress Preserve, the swamp becomes a friendly, inviting place. Every Labor Day even the most citified flatlander can get up-close and personal with the complicated wetlands that give life to the tail end of Florida. There are photographic workshops, displays, music, food, and other festivities, but the real gem is the popular Muck-About. A guided tour wanders through a pristine cypress strand. This is no prance across an elevated walkway. It's a down-and-dirty plod in brown water and decomposing matter sure to destroy some article of clothing. You'll observe nature in its mostly quiet glory. And in case you are wondering, the gators and monsters mostly snooze during the day -- unless disturbed.

BEST DIRECTOR

Michael Hall

BEST DIRECTOR Michael Hall The Loman Family Picnic The veteran Hall has long been known for consistent professionalism, but this time out his direction of Donald Margulies's oddball memory play really excelled. Hall's compelling visuals were easy to spot, and to admire, while his subtle, beautifully paced scene-work and careful coaching of two child actors were far more subtle but just as effective. The result was a carefully orchestrated, fully realized theatric vision that was the highlight of the season.

BEST DOLPHINS PLAYER

Randy McMichael

BEST DOLPHINS PLAYER Randy McMichael During what was arguably the Dolphins' worst year, tight end Randy McMichael caught 73 passes for 791 yards (passing Keith Jackson for the Dolphins' single-season records for catches and yards), averaging 10.8 yards per reception. At times McMichael seemed like the sole offensive weapon, and though he posted career-best stats, he probably would have had an even better season if he'd been playing with passers more capable than those in the Dolphins' rotation.

Readers´ Choice: Jason Taylor

BEST DRAG QUEEN

Adora

BEST DRAG QUEEN Adora Out of costume Adora is a seriously cute Latin boy by the name of Danilo. In costume she's one of Miami's hardest-working girls, surviving the trends of fickle Miami for the past fourteen years. Her trademarks are platinum tresses, glittering red lips, and ostentatious eyelashes. She's loud, funny, and of course outrageous. Her style is campy glam, heavy on the Fifties fashions with a Cuban accent. Her favorites -- songs by La Lupe, Yma Sumac, and Maria Callas -- still kill onstage. So how does a girl keep her act fresh after so many years when other queens have come and gone? "It's a lot of work," Adora admits. "If you blink, you can bore people. You have to be alert to what's going in the news so you can be funny. I can't explain it. It's like a baby. You have to feed it and wash it and always be on top of what's going on with it." Adora works weekly at Back Door Bamby -- crobar's Monday-night party -- and holds down regular gigs at Score, Twist, and O'Zone.

BEST FILM FESTIVAL

Cinema Vortex

BEST FILM FESTIVAL Cinema Vortex If the goal of a film festival should be to bring high-quality pictures to town -- worthy movies that would otherwise never hit Miami -- then Cinema Vortex deserves its stellar reputation. The fest's history traces back to the defunct Alliance Cinema in Miami Beach, but during more recent years, co-curators Baron Sherer and Kevin Wynn have lighted up many of the area's more distinctive venues -- from the University of Miami's Cosford Cinema to the Miami Shores Performing Arts Theater to the Wolfsonian Museum -- as they continue to unspool the offbeat, the unjustly ignored, the classics that simply demand to be seen on the big screen. Fifties noir such as On Dangerous Ground, French New Wave works from Jean-Luc Godard, American New Wave responses such as Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and The Outfit, as well as a retrospective of reels by Hollywood's master of melodrama, Douglas Sirk: All have graced their schedule. Some of their programming choices may challenge, but in a world where the marketplace triumphs all too often over the pure love of movies, Cinema Vortex is a program that should be held over.

BEST FM RADIO PERSONALITY

Papa Keith

BEST FM RADIO PERSONALITY Papa Keith The Beat (WMIB-FM 103.5)

www.mega1035.cc/pages/papakeith The Baka Boys might get you wired and ready for work while you're battling morning traffic, but Papa Keith is the man who takes you home smoothly and safely, easing the stress of the day with hip-hop and humor. On his daily drive-time show (6:00 to 10:00 p.m.) he treats audiences to slick urban hits, including the daily diet of 50 Cent, Ludacris, Pitbull, Lil Jon, and Trick Daddy. While some of his disc jockey counterparts choose the oft-traveled crass-and-snarky path, Papa Keith loves the kids and isn't afraid to show it. A weekly segment is "Papa's Pep Rally," during which teens are invited to the studio to give on-air props to their schools. A live teenage audience might seem like an odd fit considering that Papa Keith adopts playfully lascivious and pro-marijuana stances, but this DJ's exuberance manages to take the inappropriate edge off his more risqué comments. He makes occasional reality-TV-esque phone calls to his girlfriend. He extends raw words of wisdom to his listeners on the sometimes poignant, often hilarious, always insightful call-in segment "Cleaning Out Your Closet." "Rumor Control" has Papa Keith taking time to clear up celebrity rumors by calling famous people for verification. Sunday nights he reps his Caribbean background to the fullest with the reggae countdown show "Island Beat." His hope is to get the show syndicated so he can take his earnest blend of rhythm, honesty, and charisma to the nation. Preach on, Papa. Preach on.

Readers´ Choice: Kenny and Footy, Y-100 (WHYI-FM 100.7)

BEST FRINGE THEATER

Mad Cat Theatre

BEST FRINGE THEATER Mad Cat Theatre The Light Box Studio

3300 Biscayne Boulevard, #100

Miami

305-576-6377 Between hurricane threats and last-minute schedule changes, this wasn't the Cat's luckiest season. But it remains the most interesting and original theater company in South Florida. The acting ensemble, which works out of the Miami Light Project's Light Box studio, is particularly notable because the members concentrate on shows for young adults, a vital audience that virtually every other theater company in these parts ignores. They also write much of what they produce and perform. The Cats take chances with every show, and the result is fresh and full of risks that pay off.

BEST GIRLS' DAY OUT

Rik Rak Salon and Spa

BEST GIRLS' DAY OUT Rik Rak Salon and Spa 1428 Brickell Avenue

Miami

305-371-5577 It's easy to visualize the agent and the TV network exec getting together to negotiate this concept: What happens when a clothing store owner and a hair stylist get together? They open a full salon and spa featuring racks of designer clothes, shoes, and accessories. The sets alone would be enough to carry the show, especially with gorgeous Miami location shots. Even better: real life in the land of the permanent vacation. Raquel and Richard Watters have been married and in business together for twenty years, and they make sure that everyone who enters their bustling salon is treated like a star, whether it be Nicole Kidman, Beyoncé, or a starving writer who doesn't even have an agent. "You can walk in from the gym," says Raquel, "get your hair, nails, and makeup done, and then I will dress you from head to toe, including purse, shoes, and jewelry." The salon offers full massages, waxing, facials, manicures, and pedicures. And with a bar featuring fine wines, gourmet coffee and tea, and even empanadas, you can spend the entire day at the spa and not go hungry -- or care about what's on TV.

BEST HEAT PLAYER

Shaquille O'Neal

BEST HEAT PLAYER Shaquille O'Neal Sure, the way young Dwyane Wade dunks over opposing centers and dishes out dimes like candy at a parade is a thing of grace and grandeur. The way Damon Jones, who looks more like your neighbor than an NBA guard, swagger-skips down the court after one of his automatic three balls brings smiles. And the rest, a gathering of talent that brought a season of joy to this sports-loving city, deserve commendation. But the abundant wins, the reason the seats filled up for each game, the Heat's ability to spend so much time this year as odds-on favorites for the Eastern Conference crown can all be attributed to the fact that the most dominant center in the league for the past ten years now wears the black and red. When the team traded its entire starting front three for Shaq, it received much more than an athlete. He's a Greek play in four periods, the human colossus, court jester and king, Santa Claus on Christmas, and the Fort Knox of NBA hardware. Other teams can't stop him because, as he says, "I'm like the Pythagorean theorem: No one has an answer to my game." With a nickname for any occasion -- from the Big Aristotle to Shaq Shogun to the Big Diesel -- he never takes himself too seriously. He jokes with the media, is generous to the fans and the community, and is beloved by his peers. Shaq's main contribution has been the way he's created off-court camaraderie with the other players by engaging them in social activities. Going to movies or dinner together may not be much at first glance, but many marriages, and perhaps one championship, have been built on same. Take a big smirking bow, number 32.

Readers´ Choice: Dwyane Wade

BEST HURRICANE PREDICTIONS

Weather Underground

BEST HURRICANE PREDICTIONS Weather Underground www.wunderground.com/tropical This season, when you get tired of phrases such as "this is what the track of the hurricane will look like if it takes a sharp, impossible turn and heads straight into downtown Miami" and you want a reasonable prognostication about where any storm might be heading, the place to go is the Weather Underground. The Website presents some of the same models that the TV forecasters use to make those cone-shaped prediction maps, but without the hours of speculative fodder broadcast alongside them. The site is simple to use and free, providing a bevy of other images, information, and links to similar meteorological sites, all adding to a fuller picture. You might even find out it's sunny outside.

Best Of Miami®

Best Of Miami®

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