Entertainment Weekly has ranked what it terms “The New Classics,” cultural works released in the last 25 years. This is the list of the 100 best films from 1983 to 2008. I have bolded the movies I’ve seen. Feel free to share in the comments movies on the list you think I might like. Remember, I’m not going to watch things that are scary or bloody.

(And, no, I’m not even going to comment on the fact that Titantic is considered to be the third-best film of the last quarter century.)

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)

11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
12. The Matrix (1999)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
16. Boogie Nights (1997)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)
20. The Lion King (1994)

21. Schindler’s List (1993)
22. Rushmore (1998)
23. Memento (2001)
24. A Room With a View (1986)
25. Shrek (2001)
26. Hoop Dreams (1994)
27. Aliens (1986)
28. Wings of Desire (1988)
29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
30. When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

31. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
32. Fight Club (1999)
33. The Breakfast Club (1985)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. The Incredibles (2004)
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
37. Pretty Woman (1990)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
40. Speed (1994)

41. Dazed and Confused (1993)
42. Clueless (1995)
43. Gladiator (2000)
44. The Player (1992)
45. Rain Man (1988)
46. Children of Men (2006)
47. Men in Black (1997)
48. Scarface (1983)
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
50. The Piano (1993)

51. There Will Be Blood (2007)
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
53. The Truman Show (1998)
54. Fatal Attraction (1987)
55. Risky Business (1983)
56. The Lives of Others (2006)
57. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
58. Ghostbusters (1984)
59. L.A. Confidential (1997)
60. Scream (1996)

61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
63. Big (1988)
64. No Country For Old Men (2007)
65. Dirty Dancing (1987)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
67. Donnie Brasco (1997)
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999)
70. Broadcast News (1987)

71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Office Space (1999)
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
75. Out of Africa (1985)
76. The Departed (2006)
77. Sid and Nancy (1986)
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
80. Michael Clayton (2007)

81. Moonstruck (1987)
82. Lost in Translation (2003)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
84. Sideways (2004)
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
86. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
87. Swingers (1996)
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

91. Back to the Future (1985)
92. Menace II Society (1993)
93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001)
96. Far From Heaven (2002)
97. Glory (1989)
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
99. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)

The thermostat I passed today read 95 degrees. I grinned.

It was not because I enjoy ridiculously hot, humid weather.

Instead it was because we were on our way out of town headed to the beach.

Wouldn’t you have smiled giddily, too?

We headed to Calvert County to North Beach, which is out near where I visited Karen last summer. The town has cordoned off a shallow sand bar for a swimming area and it makes for a pleasant, if only knee-deep, place to cool off.

Keeping with the previous post’s theme, we saw a nesting pair of osprey, a heron, lots of gulls and ducks, and a mama duck and her six ducklings. We also saw a few fish and a tiny clear jellyfish or two.

Shortly after we laid down our blanket, the skies clouded over and we heard what might have been a single rumble of thunder, so I quickly popped up to hit the water in case the folks running the beach wanted people to evacuate the water. Lightning and thunder never materialized, although rain did, so I just plopped myself down on the blanket after I came out of the water and laid it out.

A few hours later we decided to head home. Rudi took me along some of his bike routes, curvy, shady routes off the beaten path that I could see why he loves. We paused at a little mom and pop ice cream stand, where we both got delicious milk shakes.

We also stopped at a farm stand along one of the main roads, picking up a few peppers, the first peaches of the season, and two ears of corn that we ate salted and buttered with hot dogs for tonight’s dinner. Hot and sweet and perfectly summery.

As we meandered home, we stopped at a P.G. County shopping mall where Rudi found tea and a bathing suit and I finally tracked down a mirror and a pair of sneakers. I will now be able to ride my bike again and look at myself in the mirror without having to stand on the tub and lean in front of the medicine cabinet. Contrary to what you might think, that’s not a really flattering pose, regardless of what you’re wearing.

As we hit the District line, lightning forked across the sky, piercing the clouds so the rain could seep through again. It started as drips, but once we’d arrived downtown, the skies opened up and just — dumped. The good thing about storms like that, though, is they don’t tend to last too long, so by the time we reached home (about 2 miles later, but factor in lots of stop lights), it was back to drips again.

It really was a wonderful way to spend the final Saturday in June, 95 degrees, torrential thunderstorm, and all.

D.C. is home to the National Zoo, a magnet for tourists (especially young ones). You’ve all seen the photos of pandas and golden tamarinds and tigers that encourage people to flock to see the animals.

What you may not know, however, is that the grounds of the zoo are open from sunrise to sunset, substantially longer than when the zoo buildings are open. Locals favor the zoo as a safe, quiet place to jog, and if you go in the off-hours, you may find you have the place nearly to yourself.

That was the case for me a few weeks ago, when Rudi and I headed to the zoo to snap a picture with my scavenger hunt sock and an endangered animal. The mammals’ enclosures we passed were all empty (the animals often opt to eat their dinner and then retire for the evening, so it can be hit-or-miss), so we decided to see if any of the outside birds were around.

They were.

Rudi took a bunch of shots before I remembered that I, too, had a camera. Somehow, though, happening upon brightly hued birds reminded me. The one at the top is a Scarlet Ibis.
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Today’s Thursday, which means it’s actually time for three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Two teenage girls stand on the Metro, splitting ear buds between them. Their bodies sway both to the motion of the train and to the beat of their shared music.

2. I never liked peas as a girl, except when they were fresh from the garden and consumed raw. They’ve grown on me as an adult, but they are still best when plucked from a vine in the garden. I pick several pods to take home, but cannot help but sample one on the spot. I run my nail along the seam, revealing four fully formed, pale green orbs. I pop them into my mouth and savor the sweet solidness that is a raw pea, grown myself.

3. Rudi and I head to the garden at sunset on Thursday night. The first fireflies of the season flit across the playing field, blinking their existence.

No, no. It’s not Thursday. But I thought I’d share three beautiful things from this week’s farmers’ market:

1. Sunday’s dinner comes almost entirely from the market: baguette topped with fresh mozzarella, basil, and tomato and accented with olive oil Sam and Alexis brought us back from their honeymoon in Greece.

2. Nectarines have been afternoon snacks at the office this week. I slurp and clutch napkins in futile attempts to keep the juice from running down my arm.

3. I arrive at the market later than I’d planned. As I’m walking past a stand, I realize they have a half-pint of raspberries. In a blink I’ve handed over money; a full circuit around the market later and I realize that I’d managed to procure the last one of the week. To celebrate, I eat them all for breakfast.

The New York Times reviews root beer in today’s paper.

One question: How do I get to be a taste coordinator for such an event?

No need to send out a search party!

The Summer of Socks has commenced and I’m spending lots of time with fine wool and pointy sticks.

Apparently having two socks on the needles and a third sock in need of a mate is not enough to prevent my browsing through my yarn stash to think about what else I could begin.

(There has also been movie watching, swimming, gardening, and reading, just in case any of you were worried I’d become a one-track gal.)

Move over San Francisco. Watch your back, Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Washington, D.C., would like you to know it plans to be known for its chocolaty goodness now, too.

Earlier this month, my friends Sarah and Amani and I decided to investigate the new downtown chocolate restaurant Co Co. Sala.

The Wednesday afternoon had turned rainy, and periodically the skies would pour forth water as if someone were wringing the clouds out like a washcloth. We each arrived separately, me first and Amani soon after. We’d heard that Sarah was waiting for a bus, so we headed to the bar to take in the scene.

The room was decorated in dark wood and red chairs and booths with lots of modern cube shelving on the walls and with chocolate encased in the bar to accent the hip quotient of the place.
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If it’s Thursday, it’s time to share three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Yesterday, The Killers’ “Somebody Told Me” came up on my iPod just as I was getting to work and I had to resist dancing down H Street with it cranked up all the way. (Please note: I only resisted the dancing part. When I’m totally deaf by the age of 50 it will be moments like these and from back in high school when I’d blast Eponine’s lament or the penultimate song of the musical from Les Mis at full blast.) The song had four seconds left on the song when I paused it and so came up again this morning. So I played it again and skipped and danced a little on my walk to the Metro. I wonder what those Moroccan diplomats thought of me…

2. Yesterday evening, just after Rudi IM’ed me to say it was raining again, Suzanne called to me from down the hall: “There’s a rainbow!” In fact, it was a double rainbow glowing over the eastern part of the city. The bottom rainbow had some funky coloration issues going on with repeats of its purple and blue bands. I can’t believe I’ve seen double rainbows twice this spring!

3. Allison Krauss has a hauntingly beautiful voice and she and Robert Plant clearly enjoy performing together. She sang “Down in the River” a cappella and it was enough to make one weep with joy.