The Best & Worst of 1994

Of all the entries on our best and worst lists, you would think one would perfectly sum up the year 1994. Love! Valour! Compassion!, the title of Terrence McNally's new play, No. 2 on our Theater list, doesn't really do it; but would the top choice, Three Tall Women by Edward Albee, serve any better? Supermodel Nadja Auermann, the stratospheric antiwaif, does appear on the People list -- but that's only one tall woman. As for the other lists -- yes, Lutoslawski's symphonies are beautiful, and Andre Agassi showed unwonted grit at the U.S. Open, and The Lion King features an amazing antelope stampede, but these are hardly emblematic.

Obviously, instead of searching the Bests for this year's perfect metaphor, we should be studying the Worsts, some of which we have also identified. The Environment rubric "A Little Is Too Much" refers to the discovery that even trace amounts of dioxin can be harmful. Doesn't it also apply to the year as a whole? A little O.J. is too much; even a trace amount of Newt Gingrich goes a long way; a mere grain of Forrest Gump is dangerous. In the cases of love, valour and compassion, of course, too much would still have been too little.