Huffington Magazine Issue 50 | Page 7

ABOUT THIS ISSUE Marilyn Monroe. Her sentiment perfectly carried the magic of summer to me: The feeling that you can do any crazy thing you want. As an adult, summer is the one time of year when you can hit pause on life without any lingering guilt; when you don’t feel like you have to grow, change or rush toward any of the million things that clutter your brain the rest of the year. You can be anyone you choose to be — and maybe all that is is the kind of person who can grill a perfect burger, as we’ll demonstrate in the pages ahead. In this spirit, our issue features the types of people who come out of the woodworks during the summer, from six typical festivalgoers to diehard gas and charcoal grillers (as Craig Goldwyn puts it, “the flame war ... burns brighter than the debate between Mac and PC users.”) As for Summer, it can be anything it wants to be, too, and it’s handed us a few themes to play with this year. There’s punk, which lives at The Met, and in the obscure history of surf music. Stephen King brings us an exclusive excerpt of his upcoming novel, while a TV adaptation of one of his books is gunning to become this summer’s critical BEST SUMMER EVER HUFFINGTON 05.26.13 hit. Then we have the 90s: Hanson, Wu-Tang Clan and The Backstreet Boys all return with new music in the months ahead. A special shout-out to Andrea Nasca, who brilliantly conceptualized the look and feel of this issue, Wendy George, whose hours of research resulted in the stunning photography you’ll see in the pages Summer can be anything it wants to be.” ahead, and John Montorio for his invaluable judgment and guidance amid a grueling weight-loss regimen as he prepares for summer. We hope you’ll enjoy the offerings we’ve presented here, and if you follow our guide correctly, you’ll find some creative ways to use them. Because if you want to sit on your couch in lucite heels and watch Arrested Development, just go right ahead. GAZELLE EMAMI