The Morning: The best of 2024

Plus, the latest from Syria and Korea.

View in browser|nytimes.com December 7, 2024 By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. As critics issue their year-end lists, we want to know your personal favorites of 2024. María Jesús Contreras Year in review It's the most wonderful time of year, and I don't mean the holiday season, although I've heard that people are excited about that too. No, for nerds like me who love to plan out their holiday culture consumption — those whose appetites are always far larger than their capacity for viewing/reading/listening — December is sacred because it is when critics issue their retrospective best-of lists, their verdicts on the best movies, music, TV, books and other cultural artifacts of 2024. I've always thought it a shame that everyone I know doesn't issue a best-of list. Yes, critics are experts in their fields, completists who have surveyed the landscape of their beats such that their assessments of "the best" are far more informed than the average cultural consumer's. But I also want to know what my friends and family loved, and why. There's no easier way to get to know someone a little bit more deeply than by asking them for a recommendation. I have a fantasy of pulling out a bullhorn on my morning commute and asking everyone in my subway car their top five films of the year. I'm not sure anyone would play along with my reindeer game, but if they did, I expect that I'd get a few good recs, some truly nutty ones, and that it would certainly bring a spirit of joy and conviviality to a typically alienating part of the day. And why stop at the usual categories? Best-of lists are typically limited to the same categories. Tell me your favorite movie, book and song, but I also want to know the best line of poetry you read this year, the best cocktail you devised, the best tradition you started, the best grilling technique, the best piece of advice you received. We're all living and exploring and absorbing. And so I ask you, as I do every year, to send in your own highly specific, idiosyncratic, genre-free favorites from 2024. What did you discover? What did you learn? What did you love? Submit your answers here, and I'll include as many of them as I can in upcoming newsletters. For more The Morning readers' bests of 2023 and 2022. The best advice Morning readers received in 2023 and 2022. "As with everything worth making — bread, sweet love, mix tapes — there's an art to creating a great Top 10 list." From 2011, Dan Kois on how and why to make a best-of list. The Times's best of 2024 lists. More year-end lists from around the internet. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Film and TV Amy Adams in a scene from "Nightbitch." Searchlight Pictures, via Associated Press "Nightbitch," which stars Amy Adams as a stay-at-home mother who turns into a feral dog, is one of the movies Times critics are talking about this week. "The Agency" on Paramount + and Netflix's "Black Doves" are part of a new crop of spy dramas whose biggest battles take place within the hearts and minds of their agents. Art The discovery of a rare picture of the poet Arthur Rimbaud, made by his lover Paul Verlaine, prompted a bidding war in Paris. At New York's Grolier Club, an exhibition renders physical representations of lost or unfinished works by writers including Ernest Hemingway and Christopher Marlowe. More Culture Jean-Charles de Castelbajac Alain Jocard/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images When Notre-Dame Cathedral reopens, the clergy will be wearing new liturgical garb designed by the French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. The most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction — a stegosaurus that went for almost $45 million — has a new home at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The two remaining defendants in the case against Young Thug's rap label YSL were found not guilty of murder and gang charges. THE LATEST NEWS War in Syria Rebel fighters in the streets of Hama on Friday. Bakr Al Kassem/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Rebels fighting to depose Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, advanced on another major city en route to the capital. The sudden intensification of the war has led neighboring countries to close their borders. Iran, which for years has helped Assad maintain control of Syria, is now evacuating military personnel from the country. The leader of Syria's rebel groups told The Times that he was confident his fighters could oust Assad. "This operation broke the enemy," he said. Other Big Stories A vote on whether to impeach South Korea's president, Yoon Suk Yeol, slowed to a crawl as the opposition tried to convince members of his party to support the ouster of the president. A federal judge ruled that the U.S. Naval Academy can consider race and ethnicity in admissions, asserting that affirmative action was essential to protect national security. A panel of federal judges upheld a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, sells the app. Donald Trump opposes the ban. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin testing the nation's milk supply for the bird flu virus. Police officers now believe the man who shot the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare in Manhattan escaped from the city that day. Investigators recovered a backpack in Central Park similar to the one he was carrying. The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning. Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year. CULTURE CALENDAR By Alexis Soloski 📺 "Somebody Somewhere" (Sunday): In the second season of this HBO half-hour, a character graces a potluck with St. Louis sushi, a delicacy that combines ham, pickles and cream cheese. It's delicious. And tough on the gut. That's also true of this riotously funny, achingly tender comedy created by Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen and Bridget Everett. Everett stars as Sam, a woman who returns in middle age to her Manhattan, Kan., hometown. A sweet and salty heartbreaker about family found and chosen, this show will end its three-season run on Sunday. RECIPE OF THE WEEK Craig Lee for The New York Times By Melissa Clark Mulled Cider It's the perfect time to kick off Festive Hot Beverage Season. Why not brew up a big batch of Jacques Pepin's mulled cider to see you through the weekend? Scented with cinnamon, allspice and cloves, and optionally spiked with bourbon (or rum or brandy), it's exactly the thing to sip while snuggled under a blanket with a book on a cozy winter afternoon. And if you've already started your holiday baking (it is Cookie Week, after all), a little dunking is highly encouraged. T MAGAZINE Photograph by Collier Schorr. Styled by Jay Massacret Click the cover image above to read this week's edition of T, The Times's style magazine. REAL ESTATE Alexandra Andorfer and George Croton. Rachel Bujalski for The New York Times The Hunt: Two young San Francisco renters fled the city for a quieter life. Which home did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $800,000: A four-bedroom Tudor Revival house in Oklahoma City; a Spanish-style bungalow in West Palm Beach, Fla.; or a Dutch Colonial house in Sioux City, Iowa. LIVING Alamy Paperbacks: Lesbian pulp fiction thrived in the 1950s and '60s. It offers a portal to early queer expression. Fashion: These are the 63 most stylish people of 2024, according to The Times's Styles writers. A new you: The Winter Arc wellness challenge asks you to lock in for three months. Some adherents take it to an extreme. Reading space: Interior designers share tips for creating a home library. GAME OF THE WEEK Paige Bueckers, left, and Hannah Hidalgo, right. Joe Buglewicz/Getty images, Michael Reaves/Getty Images No. 2 UConn vs. No. 10 Notre Dame, women's college basketball: Notre Dame has the nation's most dynamic point guard duo, Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles. The Fighting Irish look like a championship contender, though they slipped in the rankings after losing two tough games last week. UConn, meanwhile, has Paige Bueckers, the biggest star in college hoops, and the Huskies have not lost a game. But they also haven't faced a team of Notre Dame's caliber. Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was phonily. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week's headlines. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account. To stop receiving The Morning, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. 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