Next year – The New York Times

Four days into the year, anything is possible now. You have an idea of how it’s going to go – what you’re looking forward to, what will be a challenge – but you’re working on archival material. Memory, experience, and educated guesses. “2025 is going to be very difficult for me,” a friend of mine said the other night, before she listed all the things she needed to do this year: take her business to the next level, consider moving. To me, these things seemed interesting, the amazing content of someone else’s life.

We’re all sitting here now with the equivalent of days in the same year, the same calendar. What activities and events will we fill it with? How will we receive the material of our days? What meaning do we give it?

I recently saw Christian Marclay’s installation “The Clock” at the Museum of Modern Art. It’s a 24-hour montage of thousands of clips from movies and shows, each featuring a clock, clock, line of dialogue, or other clock. The film is synchronized with real time, so each scene captures the moment you’re watching it, making “The Clock” an effective watch in its own right. You’re watching a movie, but you’re also watching an hour, for hours on end.

The museum remained open for 24 hours on December 21 for a special screening of “The Clock” from 7pm on Saturday to 7pm on Sunday. On my way there Saturday night, I caught myself rushing: it was 8pm, I was late! But then I stopped. It didn’t really matter when you arrived. People will come and go throughout the show throughout the night and into the next day. Here was an invitation to reconsider the way I think about time. A “clock,” like real time, is not a display with a beginning and an end. It happens whether you are there or not. You show up or you don’t. You pay attention or you don’t. You can’t do it wrong.

Sitting in the audience three, four, five hours later and somehow never getting distracted, I thought about that suggestion again. Maybe you are doing it wrong. Should I pay attention to each segment’s plot, characters, and dialogue, or should I pay attention to the hours? 11:22, 11:23 Did I miss the on-screen clock that says 11:24 because I was trying to figure out which movie the last scene was from? (I later discovered that there is a whole bunch Wiki dedicated to “The Clock” With the source of each clip identified – 11:24 includes scenes from “Shanghai Knights,” “Malice in Wonderland,” and “Se7en.”) Can you make a mistake with the time, by paying too much attention to its passage, or not enough?

The Clock forces you to contemplate time, the way we involuntarily turn the successive scenes of our lives into a story, projecting cause and effect onto everything that happens, assuming that everything has a meaning and deciding whether that meaning is positive or negative. We, the artists and architects of our lives, survey today or the coming year and try to figure out what story to tell. Will this be a good year? Will it be difficult? Who decides?

I stayed at “the hour” until I started falling asleep and dreaming sometime Sunday morning. Marclay supports sleep During the film: “This is what you’re supposed to do — let go and absorb it and feel like you’re part of this thing,” he told my colleague Mark Tracy. If I had remembered that, I probably would have stayed longer. Instead I stumbled through the early hours of the first day of winter in midtown Manhattan.

That was two weeks ago. Since that time, the sun has risen and set 13 times, and one year has ended and another has begun. I’ve been trying to pay attention to time, but not too closely, to notice it passing without me getting too attached to it. This year stretches out before us, much is written in pencil but nothing is certain. It might be difficult, as my friend predicted to herself. In the words of one of the morning readers who wrote to introduce them Best advice – The question mark for me is what makes this advice good, as if the idea that things aren’t terrible is a discovery – “Could they be great?”

For more

Week in culture

Cinema and television

Cultural calendar

🏆 Golden Globes (Sunday): The Globes, once the glamorous, drunken cousin of the more austere Oscars, are now on life support after a series of ethics, financial and diversity-related scandals. The series had a new owner (the Hollywood Foreign Press Association no longer existed), a more diverse constituency, and a new network. But will these changes change – and by whom? List A candidates -Is it enough to attract viewers? The concert will be broadcast tomorrow evening on CBS and Paramount+.

Recipe of the week

Split pea soup

Suddenly the holidays are over, and the lively sparkle of December has been replaced by the relaxing, carefree days of January. This means it’s time to pull out the biggest pot you have and simmer a batch of Ali Slogal Split pea soup. Her hearty and fragrant recipe is packed with three different types of garlic (leeks, onions, and garlic) plus carrots and thyme, all of which enhance the thick broth and add sweetness and depth. Many pea soups call for ham or bacon, and you can use either in Ali’s flexible version, or leave the meat out altogether and sprinkle with some smoked paprika. Either way, be sure to add a squeeze of lemon at the end to brighten everything up.

Real estate

hunting: In Harlem, two friends teamed up to buy a row house. Which one did they choose? Play our game.

What you get for $1.3 million: Queen Anne House in Denver; Top floor unit in a 1916 apartment building in Chicago; or 2020 Ranch Style Home in Austin, Texas.

Valuable import: Saffron is difficult to harvest. But in the United States, there are more small farmers and home gardeners They grow spices For profit, or just for fun.

Platonic Romances and AI Cloning: Experts share them Predictions for the future of dating.

Not just leggings: Some women’s activewear has become popular More flexible and more comfortable.

Do you want some scotch?: Luxury brands are Using alcoholic drinks and sweets To keep customers engaged.

TIP FROM WIRECUTTER

How to (easily) clean your refrigerator

There’s a good chance your fridge is full, Tetris-style, of leftover leftovers from November. to clean up the mess, Follow this advice: Mentally divide your refrigerator into small sections that you can tackle in five-minute chunks — leaving the door open longer isn’t ideal. Next, set a timer and clean each section, piece by piece, giving the refrigerator at least 20 minutes to return to temperature in between. You can get it all done in a day if you want, but for me, the real appeal of this approach is that it turns a daunting task into something that can be easily done in a few days. – Rachel Wharton

New York Rangers vs. Washington Capitals, National Hockey League: As we approach the halfway point in the NHL season, the Capitals are the team to keep an eye on. They are at the top of the standings in the Eastern Conference and are No. 1 in The Athletic’s latest power rankings. And Alex Ovechkin, in his 20th season in Washington, has a chance Passing the record for goals scored by Wayne Gretzky. Today at 12 noon ET on ABC.