It's been a mediocre-to-poor year for New York. But every December, this magazine puts out a "Reasons to Love New York' issue, and even during this cursed year, we found 37 particularly excellent reasons why we all should. Did you know there is a Victorian mansion in Bed-Stuy owned by an idiosyncratic hotelier from Georgia (the country) who lets people live in it for free and hosts mudwrestling parties in the backyard? A modern-day folk-hero couple are sticking it to landlords everywhere by refusing to move out of their hilariously cheap 5,800-square-foot loft? We have not one but two brassy Frans? Our appetite for gossip only grows thanks to gripping romances (sure, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are swooning on Bank Street, but have you heard of the Air Force officer who fell in love and became a baroness?) and breakups (we're rooting for you, Chirlane!). Here's a heaping pile of tiny miracles that will remind you that even if, yes, that was indeed a rat you just stepped on, there's still no other place anyone in their right mind should want to live.
1 BECAUSE QUEENS GAVE US A RABBLE-ROUSER WHO MAY JUST BE TRUMP'S MATCH...
AS A RULE, judges don't like to be the center of the story. New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron has found that he doesn't have much of a choice. This is thanks mostly to one particularly belligerent defendant, but the Bob Dylan-quoting, former Creedence Clearwater Revival-covering drummer and ex-cabbie's unwillingness to be Donald Trump's punching bag doesn't hurt, either.
This story is from the December 4-17, 2023 edition of New York magazine.
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This story is from the December 4-17, 2023 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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THE BEST ART SHOWS OF THE YEAR
IN NOVEMBER, Sotheby's made history when it sold for a million bucks a painting made by artificial intelligence. Ai-Da, \"the first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork auctioned by a major auction house,\" created a portrait of Alan Turing that resembles nothing more than a bad Francis Bacon rip-off. Still, the auction house described the sale as \"a new frontier in the global art market.\"
THE BIGGEST PODCAST MOMENTS OF THE YEAR
A STRANGE THING happened with podcasts in 2024: The industry was repeatedly thrust into the spotlight owing to a preponderance of head-turning events and a presidential-election cycle that radically foregrounded the medium's consequential nature. To reflect this, we've carved out a list of ten big moments from the year as refracted through podcasting.
THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - BEST BOOKS
THE BEST THEATER OF THE YEAR
IT'S BEEN a year of successful straight plays, even measured by a metric at which they usually do poorly: ticket sales. Partially that's owed to Hollywood stars: Jeremy Strong, Jim Parsons, Rachel Zegler, Rachel McAdams (to my mind, the most compelling).
THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
2024 WAS one big stress test that presented artists with a choice: Face uncomfortable realities or serve distractions to the audience. Pop music turned inward while hip-hop weathered court cases and incalculable losses. Country struggled to reconcile conservative interests with a much wider base of artists. But the year's best music offered a reprieve.
THE BEST TELEVISION OF THE YEAR
IT WAS SURPRISING how much 2024 felt like an uneventful wake for the Peak TV era. There was still great television, but there was much more mid or meh television and far fewer moments when a critical mass of viewers seemed equally excited about the same series.
THE BEST COMEDY SPECIALS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - COMEDY SPECIALS
THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
PEOPLE LOVED Megalopolis, hated it, puzzled over it, clipped it into memes, and tried to astroturf it into a camp classic, but, most important, they cared about it even though it featured none of the qualities you'd expect of a breakthrough work in these noisy times.
A Truly Great Time
This was the year our city's new restaurants loosened up.
The Art of the Well-Stuffed Stocking
THE CHRISTMAS ENTHUSIASTS on the Strategist team gathered to discuss the oversize socks they drape on their couches and what they put inside them.
