American culture continues to grow beyond borders — thank you Social Media 🙁 which has been the primary spreader and yes, defiler of culture); we have the Right Wing to thank as well — the ultra Right for another year continued its march backward into the Cretaceous period “when men were men and women were women. . . . ” /s
Meanwhile, these 2023 trends and favorite lists are a matter of opinion from Variety, Entertainment Weekly and such, but we all have our own opinions (which often make SO much more sense….)
Best Movies, 2023
Barbie (Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling)
Oppenheimer
The Boy and the Heron (voiced by Dave Bautista, Christian Bale, Florence Pugh)
The Holdovers (Paul Giamatti)
Poor Things (Emma Stone)
May December (Natalie Portman, Juliannne Moore)
HONORABLE MENTIONS: All of Us Strangers, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Asteroid City, M3GAN, Priscilla, Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, Suzume, John Wick: Chapter 4.
A Few of the Worst. . . .
Lousy Movies, 2023
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ with Paul Rudd:; “Ghosted” with Chris Evans; ” The Flash” with Ezra Miller;; and “The Expendables,” with 50 Cent.
Food Trends, 2023
Tinned Fish (not just Tuna)
Pasta Alternatives (pasta from zucchini or…. carrots
Urban Farm Products (community, roof top or median Island )
Charcuterie Boards (AGAIN?)
Dates (used to naturally sweeten and flavoring
Best Books of 2023 (NYT)
The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray
Chain-Gang All-Stars, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Eastbound, by Maylis de Kerangal
The Fraud, by Zadie Smith
North Woods, by Daniel Mason
Trends in Fashion 2023 (Oh Lordy…..)
Popular culture for 2023 includes music, poetry, architecture, with TV shows, hairstyles — you name it. 2023 was one of our least impressive in terms of style and culture. We came off a Pandemic and the habit of schlepping around in our jammies, and we moved into a time of war and ultra right wing fundamentalism and evangelism. Makes for a 2024 with room for creativity and improved artistry in daily life.
in 2024, ,In fashion, architecture, music, literature, not to mention our movies and TV, I predict militaristic themes and simplicity with jarring uses of color. Not so much “matchy matchy” as uniformity. As usual, it will be color, creativity, and a rebellion against straight lines when it comes to the way we express what it is to live and possibly flourish on this earth. Culture. . . . ..
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