Take me to the . . . lake

Today, I did one of my favorite summer things. I drove out to the lake that sits on the outskirts of town and took a nice, leisurely, mile-and-a-half stroll. It was a beautiful morning for a walk -- sunny but not too hot, a gentle breeze keeping things comfortable. I had my mp3 player on playing selections from Entertainment Weekly's "100 Greatest Summer Songs." I was in heaven.

Lake Storey is a sort of marvel to me. A friend of mine once got into a small argument about the lake when I made the comment that Lake Storey was a testament to Mother Nature's gift. He argued that Lake Storey was a man-made lake and therefore Mother Nature had nothing to do with it -- almost impugning "man" for trying to create its own beauty. My counterargument was that while humans had indeed dug the hole and planted the trees, Nature had taken it from there and created a truly beautiful little nook sandwiched between the cornfields and the city.

Regardless of whether the lake is a testament to human engineering or Nature's brilliance, it's still a nice way to spend a morning spotting butterflies and dragonflies and all sorts of beautiful flowers and plants as "My Sharona" propels you along the path. After "working" nature for the past couple weeks out in my yard, it was nice to just appreciate the work someone else had done.

And yes, this is an actual picture of Lake Storey, not just some random lake somewhere in America.

How classic!

To celebrate its 1,000th issue, Entertainment Weekly has compiled lists of what it calls the "new classics" celebrating the best in pop culture of the past 25 years. It includes films, tv shows, albums, books, and theatre (although they only come up with 50 plays and musicals -- I guess 100 was pushing it a little). There are more lists beyond this, but these were the ones I found interesting.


For those of you who know me, you know I'm a sucker for lists like this and am in constant competition with myself to see how many items on these lists I've seen or experienced. Clearly, I've seen a lot of movies in the past 25 years since I've seen 87 of the 100 "new classics." I have not, however, spent much time reading, apparently, since I've only read 29 of the books on the list. (One note about the book list that sort of "bothered" me -- they mashed together fiction, non-fiction, adolescent lit, graphic novels, and satire all on one list. There were several books on the list that are currently sitting on my shelves waiting for me to get around to reading them and some that I just don't know I'm that keen to read -- like John Le Carre or Joyce Carol Oates (Joyce has just never really done anything for me).


Sure, there are glaring omissions (especially on the film list -- note the absence of Shawshank Redemption, JFK, Clerks, The Usual Suspects, Heathers, Resevoir Dogs, etc.) and some head scratchers (seriously -- Napoleon Dynamite? And Titanic is number 3??? I also have a hard time buying Purple Rain as the greatest album of the past 25 years when I've heard Achtung Baby, The Joshua Tree, Appetite for Destruction, Nevermind, Graceland, Odelay, etc -- and does it really count to include Bob Marley's Legend? It's a greatest hits package! Fine, then I nominate The Beatles 1!), but that adds to the fun of the lists, too, as you second guess the "experts" and put together your alternative list. What would be on YOUR alternative list?