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December 7, 2024 
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Good morning. As critics issue their year-end lists, we want to know your personal favorites of 2024.
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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
Film and TV
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Amy Adams in a scene from "Nightbitch." Searchlight Pictures, via Associated Press |
Art
More Culture
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Jean-Charles de Castelbajac Alain Jocard/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
War in Syria
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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.
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Other Big Stories
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📺 "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.
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Craig Lee for The New York Times |
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.
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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.
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Alexandra Andorfer and George Croton. Rachel Bujalski for The New York Times |
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Alamy |
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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
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
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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 |