It is almost insensitive to say that the year 2020 was a positive year, but in this tumultuous year many people were looking forward to finding refuge in culture, whether high or low. Cinema, television, books and music have brought us enlightenment and concentration. To count the positive points and find recommendations to help us with the weather in the coming months, we asked 18 cultural personalities to tell us about their favorite quarantine openings and eating habits. Many were attracted to people they knew. Actor Jon Hamm spent part of his free time consuming the comedies from the seventies and eighties that he remembers from his youth. Like many people, I have returned to what I feel comfortable and familiar with, because most of our lives in the past eight months have been uncomfortable and uninformed, he said.
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Others took the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the classical work they had always wanted to tackle. It was a year of devouring Wong Kar-Wai’s films or immersing yourself in Tolstoy. And then there was Mucus. An overly sticky substance that children love and parents avoid may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but musician Norah Jones, as it turns out, has recently converted and received vouchers for her therapeutic qualities. Schwyz Beatz, in turn, is enthusiastic about the articulation of Marvin Gaye. I was in the neighborhood and dug up everything I could find of him, he told us. Candice Bergen enjoys the Wolf Hall trilogy and keeps company with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief. As she admitted: I’m late with my stuff. I just went into rush mode.
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
John Hamm
Actor; this month in Wild Mountain Thyme and next year in Best Gun: Maverick.
Quarantine Discovery, comedy classics from the 70s and 80s with which he grew up, such as Beverly Hills Cop, 48 Hours. and Have Fun with Dick and Jane. There are many iconic comedies of which the tone and rhythm are no longer part, said Hamm. Also on the list: the 1985 Chevy Chase film Fletch. (It has recently been announced that Mr. Hamm will be the star of the restart).
The next runner-up is like Love Country and Queen’s Gambit.
– Actor Jon Hamm swears by the end of the HBO Love Country series, starring (from left to right) Jonathan Majors, Jernie Smollett and Michael Kenneth Williams.
Photo:
Eli Joshua Ade
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Swizz Beatz and Timbaland
Music producer and founder of the Verzuz webcast series, playing hip-hop and R&B celebrities against each other
The forties of Timbaland’s discovery are devoured by Prince’s discography, especially his 1979 album of the same name. I started looking at the sound and tried to understand the difference between a hot band and a digital band, because I have the feeling that Prince cracked the code when this album was released. Mr. Beetz listened to Marvin Gaye a lot. It’s just a classic. Even the Marvin Gaye albums that weren’t famous, you know, Here, My Dear, and so many others that were never mainstream records, but then you go back and find those discoveries.
Next Timbaland: I’m listening to Swizza Area Radio [on Instagram Live] for inspiration. I think I’ll check out his Middle East Zone radio again, because he’s played a lot of records I might have missed.
Music producer Timbaland spent part of his forties studying Prince’s albums.
Photo:
Getty Images
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Jamie Lee Curtis
actor, founder of My Hand in Your Hands, an online store providing services to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and host and producer of the children’s podcast Letters from Camp and Good Friend, the upcoming iHeartRadio friendship podcast.
Forty Discovery My child and her fiancé sat 20 feet away from me and my husband while we ate outside and then, with the doors and windows open, we watched the movie Sonic Hedgehog. I would never have seen him. My husband and I, with our different tastes and backgrounds, also devoured a Scandinavian black series called The Bridge in 2011. It was amazing.
Next: I’m not someone with many prejudices. I’m waiting for new things to come to mind.
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her family unveiled Sonic the Hedgehog.
Photo:
The Everett Collection
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Norah Jones
Singer-songwriter. Last October she released excerpts of her recent concerts as part of a deluxe edition of her album Pick Me Up Off The Floor.
Quarantine discovery mucus. I’ve resisted it for a long time. But after all, I have nothing in common with a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old, and it’s cold out there…. I’ve got Mucus and it’s changed the game. I think I enjoyed it even more than she did. It’s like therapy. I keep touching it, stretching it.
After comedy shows like PEN15 and the SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett. I feel quarantined now, I like to watch things make me smile.
The musician Norah Jones guarantees the healing properties of mucus.
Photo:
Shutterstock
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Kwame Onwuachi
Chef, author of Notes from a Young Black Chef and jury member for the upcoming season of Best Chef.
Discovery of the quarantine The Alchemist [1988 novel by Paulo Coelho]. It’s a story about trying to go with the flow, being open to what the world has to offer and knowing that the journey is worth it. As for the movies, I paid in full for myself in Heavy Rotation. It’s about what the crack epidemic did to the people of Harlem and how they survived.
Next Conversation with God by Neale Donald Walsch. I really want to get my hands on that book.
The film Paid in Full from 2002 is Chief Kwame Onwuachi’s favourite film.
Photo:
The Everett Collection
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Karl U
author of Interior of Chinatown, 2020. National Book Award Winner
Opening of Wong Kar-Wai’s Fallen Angels quarantine. His best-known films are Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love, but I love the intimate tone of Fallen Angels, the way he gets into the characters’ lives and into their heads, usually with a crime story. She mixes emotion and humour with something visceral and exciting. Mr. Yu also introduced his teens to the Twilight Zone.
Then The Wire of the Sopranos.
The film Fallen Angels by Wong Kar-wai (1995), which according to author Charles Yu is too often overshadowed by the director’s other works.
Photo:
The Everett Collection
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Zach selected
Fashion designer
Hollywood Discovery Quarantine is a Hollywood story. I read The Lion of Hollywood: The life and legend of Louis B. Meyer [Scott Eyman], who was very important to understand how they built the studio system. Another amusing book I read that I found very topical but also very relevant was Paul Rosenfield’s The Club Rules: Power, money, sex and fear – how it works in Hollywood. Mr Posen is also interested in gardening. I really learned about the ground and the light in a way I never thought possible.
Secondly, two of my friends have just finished their Annual Departure series, which will be released on New Year’s Eve on Amazon. I’m very excited about this.
Designer Zac Posen immerses himself in the history of Hollywood with Scott Eyman’s The Lion of Hollywood:. The life and legend of Louis B. Mayer as one of the most important parts of his work Deep Dive.
Photo:
Simon & Schuster.
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Candice Mountains
Actor, who plays the lead role in this month’s HBO film Max Let Everyone Talk.
Opening of Quarantine As an old fan of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall books, Mrs. Bergen read Quarantine, the last book in the trilogy. With over 700 pages it’s a monster book, she says. It was about page 330, and I didn’t even get close to half the book. I lost the will to live, except she’s such a convincing writer. I also saw The West Wing and Catching a Thief for the 500th time. Grace Kelly and Cary Grant are two of the most amazing people I have ever seen, and Cary Grant is even a little more amazing than Grace.
Then I thought about going back to Dickens’ novel and Jane Gardam’s Old Dirt in 2006. One of my favorite novels.
ActorsGrace Kelly and Cary Grant of Candice Bergen got another star in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 film To Catch a Thief.
Photo:
The Everett Collection
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Andy Cohen
has hosted Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and returned this month as co-host of CNN’s New Year’s Eve’s show with Anderson Cooper.
Discovering the quarantine, I watched the entire Game of Thrones while I was sick with Covid and recovering. Everyone I know has seen it, at least that’s what I’ve always thought: If I fall in love, the person I’m in love with may not be able to see it, then we can look at it together. But the global pandemic happened before I fell in love, so I saw this as a great opportunity.
Now I’m watching Reagan’s documentary about Showtime.
The entertainment ofTV host Andy Cohen includes this month’s four-part documentary series by Showtime, Reagan.
Photo:
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Hrishikesh Hirway
Introduces the Song Exploder podcast series, which deconstructs songs with the artists who made them
Discovering the quarantine I finally saw ER, which I’d never seen before. It was such an important part of the culture in the 1990s and beyond, but I never really saw it. My wife and I looked at the first four seasons as a whole. But it’s a very intense show, so one of the other things I’m always looking for is something sweet, a show where really good people try to be good. That’s the spirit in which I started looking at Ugly Betty. The American Ferrera is so cute. It’s a very ancient language – the language of the transgender is terrible. But the family dynamic is incredibly moving.
Then he’ll probably consult a spreadsheet. In 2006 I started noting all the films I wanted to see in the cinema. And then it became a Google doc that I could share with my friends so we could all see and follow what others were watching. Now it’s a mix of movies and TV shows.
Hrishikesh Hirway, podcaster and broadcaster from, took advantage of his leave to watch the emergency department.
Photo:
Getty Images
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Scott Sternberg
Fashion designer and founder of Entireworld
Quarantine Discovery Electronic background music. I’m familiar with the hottie, like Brian Eno and Tim Hecker. But I’ve spent so many hours learning about background music…. You know, ambient jazz, film music, nature sounds. – I like it.
Then the films of Taiwanese director Edward Yang and Asian cinema in general. I’ve seen his great movies, but I know there’s a lot more Asian cinema – Korean, Chinese, Japanese. There is a lot to be said for Asian cinema in the eighties and nineties.
Fashion designer Scott Sternberg immerses himself in Asian films such as Edward Yang’s Taipei Story (1985), starring Hsu-Lin Lin and Tsai Chin.
Photo:
The Everett Collection
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Carina Longworth
Film historian and Podcast host Here’s what you should remember about the beginning of Hollywood
Opening Quarantine A long filmic sequel to Wim Wenders’ 1991 film until the end of the world. It is an incredibly ambitious science fiction epic about love in the time of the apocalypse. I found myself completely glued to the screen.
Then my husband [director Rian Johnson] and I started watching The Crown.
Film historian Carina Longworth saw director Wim Wenders’ film, Until the End of the World (1991), starring Solveig Dommartin.
Photo:
The Everett Collection
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Andrew Runnels
Actor, co-writer of the musical Netflix Graduation and author of the musical Too Much Isn’t Enough:. Adult memoriesAdult memories.
Discovery quarantine My friend and I realized we’d never seen The Sopranos before. And it’s one of those things when people ask you if you’ve seen him, you don’t really lie, but you step aside and pretend you know what you’re talking about.
Next I discovered in my HBO Max subscription that there is a Turner Classic Movie extension….. is. So I’m starting to get a little into the subject. I just saw The Honeymoon Killers, that movie from 1969. It’s super exaggerated.
Actor Andrew Rannells finally meets the Sopranos this year.
Photo:
HBO
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Julie Curtiss
artists; the White Cube Gallery in London exhibits in May 2021
Quarantine Discovery, a 1998 novel by Michel Houellebecq, a French author I had always heard of but never read. It was a bit damp and very dark, but I really enjoyed it. I also read Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We Are Beautiful in my artist book club. It was very good.
Next episode of HBO Succession. I became curious after my dealer at Anton Kern Gallery told me it was fun to imagine the art the characters in the series collected.
HBO Continuity Seriesis on the list of artist Julie Curtiss for the upcoming release.
Photo:
Peter Kramer/HBO
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Umberto Leon
The co-creator of the fashion brand’s inaugural party and marketing director of Chifa, a Peruvian canton restaurant in Los Angeles that opened in November.
Quarantine Discovery Sitcom Girlfriends. I looked at it obsessively from start to finish and realised how much I love all the characters. It was very nice to see me in all that stuff.
The next lecture is the novel by Amy Tan, published in 1989 and titled Le club de la chance. Today more than ever, I am proud to be Asian and Peruvian…. I get the impression that Amy Tan’s book speaks a lot about your pride, but also about all the obstacles you encounter when you come to America as an immigrant. We live in a different perspective than the one she had when she wrote it, but it is interesting to come back to it and see all the progress and shortcomings.
Opening Ceremony, co-founder Humberto Leon obsessively watches the show Girlfriends.
Photo:
The Everett Collection
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Emily Adams Bode
designer of men’s clothing for the men’s clothing brand Bode’s
Collection of essays on the discovery of quarantine 2013 Soft Braid : Native wisdom, scientific knowledge and plant science by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It was great to lie barefoot in the grass and read that book.
Next: They all are: I practice, I read or cook, but we go into survival mode. It’s hard to use your free time.
Fashion designer Emily Adams Bode loved the collection of essays Braids of Sweetgrass: by Robin Wall Kimmerer 2013. Native wisdom, scientific knowledge and plant science.
Photo:
Editions de l’asclépiade
Illustration:
Joe McKendry.
Andy Hunter
CEO and founder of Bookstore, an online platform supporting independent bookstores
Discovery of the quarantine Leo Tolstoy War and Peace. I have a three-piece set I’ve had with me since a friend lent it to me when I was 24. So for about 25 years, I never got rid of it and I never hacked it. Someone pointed out that the lecture on War and Peace was resumed during the lockdown, so it seemed like it was time to resume it. Nine months after he was forty, Mr Hunter still hasn’t finished the book. But I was impressed to see how fearless he is when he’s hacked. It really is a lively and fascinating lecture.
After Lizzo. I have a 9 year old daughter and a 7 year old daughter and I love listening to pop music with them.
Shooting Lizzo with his young daughters, bookshop founder Andy Hunter will perform here at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.
Photo:
Getty Images
-From an interview with Raymond Eng.
Corrections and additions
In an earlier version of this article, Michael Kenneth Williams was incorrectly identified as Courtney B. Vance in the title of the photo Love Country. (Corrected 26 December)
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