The Ins and Outs of 2024
I know I said I wouldn't... but it's a meme now. How could I not?
I said a few weeks ago, when the In+Out lists started showing up on my various timelines, that it felt presumptuous of me to make any such assertion for myself. How could I say with any certainty what is in or what is out? I am but a simple spud. I’ve always operated in a strange liminal space where I manage to be, simultaneously, au courant, avant-garde, and anachronistic all at once. “In and Out” is Heidi Klum’s job.
There’s something different about this year’s lists, though. The whole practice feels more democratized than it used to. Instead of only seeing lists from media institutions or Notable People, I’m seeing everyone and anyone drop their take on what’s in vs what’s out for 2024. And I’m not going to lie, it’s entertaining as hell. I like that we’ve memed it, and as with any meme, I must participate. Here is my list of what’s OUT and what’s IN for the coming year.
Elaborations below the image…
"OUT"
“you were sooo fucked up last night”
I made a tiktok about this because I’ve been thinking about it lately, but it all bears repeating. Can we all agree to be done with this kind of post-party commentary? Beyond the fact that I’ve always thought it was somewhat gauche to comment on other people’s partying habits (and if it’s out of concern there are ways to go about it— none of which include “you were sooo fucked up last night”), it’s really fairly juvenile. I fail to see this statement producing any positive outcomes. At best, you’re putting someone on the spot, potentially making them uncomfortable. At worst, you’re being an asshole. I’ve been over this since college, but the closer I get to 30 the more ‘over it’ I become.
bruschetta-adjacent appetizers
I love bruschetta, theoretically. Nothing in bruschetta is terribly offensive to me, but its construction has always left a little to be desired. I’ve never eaten bruschetta neatly, never managed to indulge without dropping half the toppings, taco-style. Tacos, with their second tortilla (which may or may not be used to gather the dropped ingredients) can be forgiven for this structural failure. Bruschetta and bruschetta-style appetizers cannot. There is no second carb to gather what you’ve lost. It feels wasteful in a way I can no longer abide. Oh, and another thing: You can try and pass off beans on toast as something vaguely Italian by calling it bruschetta, but beans on toast is always beans on toast, no matter how much you dress it up.
grown women talking about what it was like to be a teenage girl
This one is about those waxing poptimist poetic about Taylor Swift et al, those who cannot and will not shut up about what it was like to be a teenage girl (horrible, we know), the ones who I see saying stuff like “being a feminine woman is finally acceptable thanks to [insert feminine pop artist here]” First of all, has being a feminine woman ever been unacceptable? Perhaps my take here is biased given the fact that I was always a bit of a tomboy, even at my most feminine, and suffered for it. Or it’s that by way of capitalist-friendly pop feminism, they’ve misidentified garden-variety misogyny as hatred for… what, enjoying romance novels? Wearing pink? Honestly ladies it’s been very hard seeing this many adults indulge in adolescent discourse— often, as it turns out, with adolescents. They get a pass, they’re babies. You’re too old for this, girlypop. Grow up! You’re not in high school anymore. It’s all over.
poetry about fruit
There’s nothing wrong with it, I just think it’s a bit tired. Oh, the orange is yonic? You don’t say. Write something as impressive about an asparagus and then maybe we’ll talk.
"IN"
box lights with diffuser
Like this one from Lumecube. Good lighting is essential. This is mounted on a DSLR in the image, but I just set mine on whatever object is close by (I’ve put it on stacks of books, on top of a water bottle….wherever it fits, it sits.) Its shape and size means it can go anywhere. It fits in most standard sized coat pockets. Its battery life isn’t stupendous if you’re hoping to use it for several hours at full power, but in a pinch it’s perfect. This one has a nifty temperature adjustment as well. This sort of box light is great if you’re sick of seeing a ring of light reflected in your glasses like I am. In the new year, I’m hoping to upgrade my lighting setup to a smaller, stripped-down version of Bella Roberts’ lighting setup (she is the reigning queen of Premiere Pro editing tips, by the way) to further improve the glasses-glare situation.
tinned fish from the balkans
By being so hard to find, it becomes rare and sought-after, and therefore more delicious. It’s just science.
science about ancient cadavers
I’m into bog bodies, in case you didn’t know. Like, so into them that I spent the better half of a year researching Tollund Man for fun before approaching Whetstone magazine with an article about him. In 2021, a team of researchers out of Denmark took a second look at Tollund Man’s gut contents in an attempt to better understand his and his contemporaries’ lifestyles. I took it a step further, combining the information they gathered (as well as all their conjectures about what cannot be proven with forensic science) with modern information about Danish foods to better illustrate what Tollund Man’s last meal was. I just think it’s neat!
70s judaica
All the coolest families on the Upper West Side had apartments full of 70s-era menorahs, mezuzahs, and more. I even saw a brutalist Yad that changed my life. There is something profoundly cool to me about the abstraction/modernization of religious artifacts and tools. Like, we have every reason to keep them looking the same for thousands of years. It’s especially lovely when someone ignores that logic and just goes and makes a wild-looking menorah because it looks cooler that way.