- Manrepeller's Pop Culture Highlights
- Obama's Favorite Songs of 2017 (spoiler: he's a Frank Ocean fan.)
- New Yorker's Best Films & Most Read Fiction Posts
So I thought I'd pulled together my favorite things from this shitstorm of a year. Because despite the emotional and mental stress I was put through this year, it was also a year of discovery and some incredible finds.
1. NY MoMA's Items: Is Fashion Modern? If you can catch it before the exhibit goes away then this is definitely a must. It sounds gimmicky on paper, a postmodern reflection on normcore using displays of Champion hoodies, Birkenstocks, Adidas Superstars, Levis 501, but also, the Hermes Birkin Bag and berets, but at the end of the exhibit you see a intelligently put together graph of the origins of these items. It's educational and even if sure, it's a bit contrived. Fun fact: Berets are representations of emancipation see: Che Guevara.
2. a Mano: Oh pasta, how my heart beats for you. I first passed by a Mano with my friend (Tina) and had no idea what it was about, then on second passing the allure of the pasta and the killer interior got me. I finally got to try it out, and boy oh boy do I constantly want to go back. Reasonable price, great atmosphere, and fantastic plates of carbs. What more can you ask for?
3. Junot Diaz: The half life of love is forever, and the half life of my love for Junot Diaz is infinite. Junot Diaz writes my favorite kind of prose, the kind of prose that straddles the line of high brow academic and cultural (& geographical!) vernacular. He embodies the voice of a male Puerto Rican immigrant but while his stories speak to a specific cultural and social experience, as a child of immigrant parents as well they genuinely resonated with me. In the particular is the universal, after all.
4. Lady Bird: Where do I even begin with this film? Lady Bird speaks to growing up in an incredibly mundane, realistic, nonchalant but full of heart kind of way. A time where we sweat the small things and don't realize the big changes happening around us because we're so caught up in the day to day. Can't wait for it to be released from theaters so I can watch it over and over again.
5. Frank Ocean's Lens - Despite the life I lead, all this life in me. I don't know but this was my favorite bop of the year with the way Frank Ocean expertly waxes poetics like the wordsmith he is, Lens is so damn catchy.
6. Amazon's Purchase of Whole Foods - thank you, for maybe blackberrys 2/$5. For the $1 deli meats. For the hot foods bar. For the Harmless Harvest coconut water sales you sometimes have. You make me feel so safe.
5. Frank Ocean's Lens - Despite the life I lead, all this life in me. I don't know but this was my favorite bop of the year with the way Frank Ocean expertly waxes poetics like the wordsmith he is, Lens is so damn catchy.
6. Amazon's Purchase of Whole Foods - thank you, for maybe blackberrys 2/$5. For the $1 deli meats. For the hot foods bar. For the Harmless Harvest coconut water sales you sometimes have. You make me feel so safe.
