Innholdsfortegnelse for December 16-29, 2024 i New York Magazine

1 New York’s 20th annual “Reasons to Love New York” issue (December 2–15) catalogued 39 things that make us love this city at this moment. For the occasion, and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, the magazine corralled 60 SNL luminaries and photographer David LaChapelle to create a foldout cover. On Instagram, @sirstinson called it “a reason to still have print in 2024—magazines that treat covers like art. I wanna see all 5 panels not on my phone screen!” Will Sloan said he “was doing ‘Where’s Waldo’ for Joe Piscopo and I found him.” Wesley Boutilier joked that he was “going feral over these covers like a tween buying Tiger Beat in 2004.” Inside the magazine, readers appreciated how the list captured the city’s unique charm. Commenter…

THEY WERE GOING TO BE LATE— that much became clear as clouds gathered over São Tomé, a verdant island 190 miles off the coast of West Africa. The group of eight—six Americans and two Australians—had left its Norwegian Cruise Line ship that morning, March 27, for a day trip across the island. But they had car trouble on the way back. Time ticked by as they sat in the tropical heat waiting for a replacement car. “Call your boss,” the passengers urged their driver. “Tell him to call the ship.” When they arrived back at port, an hour late for their all-aboard time, they were relieved to see that their ship, the 2,290-passenger Dawn, was still there, a white rectangle anchored offshore. Now, all they had to do was reach…

What’s the secret to a delightful Christmas stocking? LIZA CORSILLO, senior writer: My father has always been our family’s stocking filler. His philosophy, which I agree with, is there should be one bigger thing that costs up to $30 and a bunch of little things that fit into its story. The bigger item is wrapped, and the other things are not. JEN TROLIO, senior editor: I do the stockings for all of us, including myself. My feeling is that stocking stuffers are supposed to be cutesy add-ons that are largely quirky and sometimes practical. And you want brand-name items— Lip Smackers ($12 for an eight-pack), not the off-brand lip gloss from the corner store. It’s a real bummer when there’s a good concept but a crappy execution. AMELIA JERDEN, sleep…

Bridges 9 Chatham Sq., nr. Doyers St. bridges-nyc.com ➻ AFTER OPENING in September, Bridges quickly became that rare thing: a buzzy new restaurant that refused to compromise on either its vibes or its values. Visits tend to include sightings of notable local art directors and dishes that aren’t served anywhere else (despite frequent comparisons with Estela, where chef Sam Lawrence spent several years cooking): the best-selling Comté tart; eel dumplings in chicken broth. For all its high-design gloss, Bridges has a scrappy, keep-at-it-till-it-sings mentality in the kitchen. That may be why an entrée of pork was still finding its way in the early days while sweetbreads glazed with soy had fully arrived. Briscola 798A Franklin Ave., nr. Eastern Pkwy., Crown Heights; briscolabk.com ➻ ANY ITALIAN restaurant can call itself a…

IN MAY 2016, in the middle of Donald Trump’s first run for president, the salad chain Sweetgreen announced a cheerful clean-eating campaign called “Make America Healthy Again” centered on the removal of bacon and Sriracha from its menus. The slogan went into disuse—it was briefly resurrected by a radiologist and Fox News contributor who released a book in 2020 by that name—until it resurfaced in grand fashion on August 23 of this year, when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his presidential campaign and threw his support behind Trump. At a joint rally that night in Glendale, Arizona, Kennedy told the audience that, despite their differences on other issues, he and Trump had bonded over a shared commitment to restoring the nation’s health and fitness. “Don’t you want a safe environment…

FLUORIDATED WATER RFK Jr. claims “fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.” ➨ The CDC says water fluoridation, which began in the 1950s, prevents cavities and tooth decay. High levels of fluoride exposure over long periods can potentially lead to skeletal fluorosis, but the levels in water are much, much lower. FOOD DYES Some people affiliated with MAHA worry food dyes cause cancer and neurobehavioral problems in children, including ADHD and learning disorders. ➨ Their concern is supported by some studies, which have found an association with hyperactive behavior in some children. One study identified a particular gene that may moderate adverse reactions to food dyes. While there isn’t any evidence to suggest that food dyes cause cancer,…

SERENITY THOMAS Third-grader, Union County, New Jersey KASSIDY LIGHTEN Fourth-grader, Elizabeth, New Jersey Are you two good pals? KASSIDY: Oh yes, and we have a lot in common. SERENITY: We play Roblox over the phone. KASSIDY: Also we both have a little sister and have the same opinion of them. Did you meet through double Dutch? SERENITY: Yeah. At first, I didn’t really know her, then I got to see her personality. She’s nice. KASSIDY: And I’m crazy. SERENITY: No, I don’t think so. KASSIDY: I am. Teachers love me because I’m funny and energetic. Kassidy, what was your first sense of Serenity? KASSIDY: I don’t want to be mean, but she was kind of mean, but also 90 percent nice. She’s also funny. Sometimes she falls, out of nowhere!…

THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR ALISON WILLMORE’S TOP TEN ➻ 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. Audiences have been craving ambition, which is something that movies—caught forever between art and commerce—haven’t been in a place to deliver. There are big entertainments and small personal films, but to grapple with weighty ideas on a large canvas? You have to do what Francis Ford Coppola did and pony up $120 million of your own money (something I wouldn’t advise, personally). Or what Brady Corbet did with The Brutalist, creating something grand…

E. C. Harrington (active: 1910s–’20s). The attorney, labor activist, and suffragette became chair of San Francisco’s newly formed Anti-Mask League during the Spanish Flu epidemic. Harrington and the league decried the mayor’s mask mandate as lacking a scientific foundation and being unhygienic and unconstitutional. Soon after the league submitted its petition, the mayor ruled that masks were no longer required. Linus Pauling (active: 1920s–’90s). In his later years, the Nobel Prize–winning chemist insisted that vitamin C could prevent up to 75 percent of cancers. The Mayo Clinic later investigated, using human patients, his claim that vitamins could cure cancer. The study did not corroborate Pauling’s results, but he repeated his belief in their veracity until his death. Lord Northbourne (active: 1930s–’40s). The agriculturalist, often credited with coining the term organic farming, published Look…

The Crunchy Mom SHIVA ROSE BECAME MYSTERIOUSLY SICK Following the birth of her first daughter, she was diagnosed with lupus, scleroderma, and rheumatoid arthritis. FOUND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE After her rheumatologist told her she had only a year to live, she switched to a doctor who practiced holistic medicine and claimed he could get her better within a year. She adopted a lifestyle with all-organic foods and products. Eventually, she says, her body healed. LAUNCHED AN ALL-NATURAL BEAUTY BRAND Her “toxic and chemical free” face oils and moisturizers were praised by Goop. MAHA’D During the pandemic, she compared vaccine mandates to McCarthyism, slavery, Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Holocaust, all in one Instagram post. Later, she moved to Texas, where she made a presentation at RFK Jr.’s “American…

Marty Makary Food and Drug Administration commissioner Trump nominated Makary, a top surgical oncologist at Johns Hopkins, to “course-correct” an agency RFK Jr. has criticized for being a revolving door to big pharma. A frequent guest on Fox News, Makary opposed widespread vaccine mandates but endorsed universal masking and vaccinations for health-care workers during the pandemic. Jim O’Neill Health and Human Services deputy secretary O’Neill served for years as the head of Peter Thiel’s personal foundation and as the CEO of an anti-aging research nonprofit—a pet issue of the Silicon Valley billionaire’s. Mehmet Oz Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator The television doctor and failed Senate candidate had been an informal adviser to Trump during the pandemic after going on Fox News to promote hydroxychloroquine as a COVID treatment.…

A COLLECTION OF expert-vetted, spotted-around-town, or otherwise just especially excellent products that recently appeared on thestrategist.com. To shop all these items in one place, scan the QR code. CELEBRITY SHOPPING Rollbahn Spiral Notebook, $7 “There’s nothing more satisfying than cracking open a new notebook. I use this one for everything: songwriting, journaling, scheduling. It has a really nice writing surface that pens don’t bleed through, and I love that there’s a little pocket in the back.” Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare All-Physical Lightweight Wrinkle Defense Sunscreen, $42 “My makeup artist showed me this sunscreen, and I was so happy that the packaging was yellow. I was like, ‘Okay, this looks like something I’m going to like.’ A lot of sunscreens leave a white cast on Black skin, but this doesn’t. It’s…

➻ OVER THE PAST DOZEN months, as our food team ducked into the subterranean seafood shanties, plush hotel lobbies, and revamped chrome diners that make up this year’s roster of new restaurants, we kept noticing a particular feeling: It all seemed so fun. There were no chefs pontificating on the genius of their own recipes, no processions of overtweezered intricacies, no “suggested” dress codes that forced us to swap out our old sneakers. Instead, we found drink lists filled with Moxie (the soda, in addition to some chutzpah), banchan platters inspired by Korean cabbies, overstuffed dessert trolleys, and even noodles drenched in Sprite (again: the soda). Stuffing our faces each night is not always the dream assignment it may sound like—one person can tackle only so many shellfish towers in…

DECEMBER 18–JANUARY 1 For more culture coverage and streaming recommendations, see vulture.com. TV 1. Watch Laid “It’s not you, it’s me” the series. Peacock, December 19. The eight-episode romantic comedy stars Academy Award nominee Stephanie Hsu as Ruby, a woman who realizes all her former lovers are dying in weird and mysterious ways. Is she cursed? The format is a little like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World in reverse. ROXANA HADADI MOVIES 2. See The Fire Inside A champion hitter from Flint. In theaters December 25. Christmas is crowded with edgy new releases this year, but those searching for something to take the family to should check out Rachel Morrison’s directorial debut, written by Barry Jenkins, which turns the story of boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields into a rousing sports drama…

BABYGIRL Nicole Kidman plays a girlboss in sexual thrall to her much younger intern (Harris Dickinson). See it with: The girlies. Don’t see it with: Your supervisor. NOSFERATU Robert Eggers, master of impeccably researched horror, remakes the German vampire classic, which is not, I repeat not, the same as Dracula.See it with: Your goth girlfriend or nerd boyfriend.Don’t see it with: Someone who can’t handle fangs, rats, or anything bloody. A COMPLETE UNKNOWN Timothée Chalamet stars as Bob Dylan in a biopic about when the folkie went electric.See it with: Your parents who are into Bob Dylan. Don’t see it with: Your parents who are really into Bob Dylan.…