Best of 1993

Best Movie: "Hard Target". Bodies were falling everywhere. The acting was wooden (Jean Claude Van Damme emotes less than me) but John Woo's picture was the one I enjoyed most this year. Maybe it was because it was the only movie I went to with someone else, and thus was reminded one of the benefits of the "big screen" experience is sharing the wonder in a communal setting.

Best TV Show: Barry Manilow's "Best of Me" shown recently during PBS's pledge week. To some, Barry was the seventies and to see him arrive in the nineties with a rendition of a Garth Brooks' song, plus a killer version of "Mandy" made me weep and remember a junior high romance. This is a subjective pick, I missed Roger Whittaker's special the following night.

Best Line: The premise-the Simpsons are attending a self helplself improvement seminar (a nineties type thing to do). The presenter ("I may not have the fancy degrees, but I do know about pain") was giving advice about taking care of the "inner child" and not always worrying about taking care of others, that it is "OK" to do something for' yourself. "If you're not a human being, you're a human doing." To which Bart replies, "I'm a human going," as he tries to escape from the hell.

Next Best Line: Philadelphia Phillie's first baseman, John Kruk, when asked what it felt like to be facing a "sudden death" scenario: "If you're going to die, I suppose it's best it be sudden. "

The Dan Quayle Award: Family values, a friend, and Max the cat continuing to show what a companion can be. The complete picturelpackage, the time-feeling continuum and writing for and about, talking to and at.

Best Trip: An excursion to our nation's Capitol, proved to me life on the road, traveling, is the best inspiration of all, made even better by family and friends.

Best CD: Paul McCartney's "Paul is Live". I bought this out in DC impressed with the wacky cover. Two days later, I finally got the real joke; Paul ain't dead, he's live. " And they say I'm losing my sense of humor. . . The nostalgia is a bit sad, but two of what were my least favorite Beatle songs, "Drive My Car" and "Paperback Writer" are now among my favorite because I got to "share" in the experience of the writer being able to "enjoy" his work. Ten years after Paul learned he was a lover not a fighter, he learned he is a performer not an artist.

Best song: Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train". The kids got popular, and the video was just hype, but the song is wonderful nonetheless.

Best Couple: Lyle and Julia. Worst Couple: (Tie) Joey and Amy or John and Loreena.

Best Energy Saving: Tip: Car pooling. It can work. Second place: Bike riding. What a gas.

What's HOT: Hats, Holly Hunter, Snapple, Smoking, Dilbert, Magritte, memorials.

What's < LUKE WARM: Malls, voice mail, E-mail, fax machines, Freddie "the Beedle" Barnes, movies made from books, getting back to one's "roots", wild card baseball races.