guides
good will hunting (1997) dir. gus van sant
Even if it has little to do with psychology or therapy itself, there’s something we can all learn from the visuals of therapist’s offices we see on screen. If nothing else, the sets of these spaces inspire us with their approaches to interior decoration.
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A collection of essay collections for every mood.
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How to (and how not to) go about the trek to your new place.
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A guide for stepping up your cold email game.
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How to tune into your past, present, and future self.
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As we envision what 2021 will look like, we’re seeking out ritual rather than resolution as a way to reconnect with ourselves and embrace gradual metamorphosis.
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Still from Kirsten Johnson’s Dick Johnson Is Dead
Without further ado, here’s the best of what our passersby (and some of you!) have watched, listened to, and read this year.
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For this year’s holiday gift guide, our founder Clémence Polès takes over with our first founder's edition. In the spirit of generosity and community, it begins with suggestions and ideas for how and where you can support...followed by some of her favorite independent businesses and brands. All are just giftable things that she loves and hopes will make you and your loved ones' lives a little more joyful!
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When you give someone a book, you’re giving them a reason to put down their phone and be in the present moment. It’s the gift of a break, of greater knowledge, of deeper connection This holiday season, consider these tiles, from exploring pandemics past, the future of our planet, issues of race, collective healing, and more. Reading means more now than ever. Feeling connected to those we are missing means more, too. Shopping locally, or at bookshop.org, per passerby Courtney Preiss’ recommendation, means even more.
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We've asked a bunch of Passerbuys from across the States and in Europe for their albums of the year, and some debut albums made the list giving us brand new artists to look forward to next year.
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Plants are perfect for transient lifestyles and cramped apartments. Plus, they’re not just aesthetically pleasing. Their benefits range from improved concentration and cleaner air.
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Staying organized can sometimes feel like an unattainable peak, growing higher and higher as the chores, tasks and deadlines pile on. We asked passersby how to deal with it.
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With its shady, verdant streets and brownstones galore, Cobble Hill has long been a destination for families seeking upscale tranquility à la Prospect Park. But there is more to this out-of-the-way Brooklyn neighborhood than meets the eye, as Cobble Hill combines a charming small-town feel with a surprisingly dynamic culture and food scene. Yet it is unusually (and delightfully) low on tourist traffic and pretension, both impressive feats in NYC. Read on for our suggestions of how to make the most of out a day trip to Cobble Hill.
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Hosting is a great way to get old friends together, or introduce new ones. However, if it’s your first rodeo, you may be asking yourself, “What do I serve?” “What music should I play?” “How will everyone interact with each other?” We know it seems like a lot - keep reading to ease your mind with tips and advice on what makes a great time.
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There's no shortage of places to grab a drink in New York, but the perfect spot for dancing is not quite as easily found. We surveyed passersby for their favorite places to go dancing so you can find where to bust a move this weekend.
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The journey may be the destination, sure, but once bags are unpacked and jet lag has worn off, there’s nothing that rounds out a holiday like the perfect home away from home.
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For this year’s holiday gift guide, we provide a list of places to give back, either with your time or money.
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From salt-water pools to medieval villages, this is your starter's guide to Girona with a bonus day in Barcelona thrown in for good measures.
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We’re here to help make your holiday shopping a bit easier with a list of items under $100 from passerby-recommended brands.
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Great Food, Great Coffee, Great Colleges and Brutalism - what more could you want in a city?
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“As 2016 comes to an end we’re looking back at our favorite tv shows of the year...”
From brand new series to new seasons, these are the ultimate binge-worthy series you need to know about. These next couple of weeks really are meant for clicking that 'continue watching' button on Netflix — though we admit we're a little hurt every time it asks. (Yes, Netflix, I really am going to watch this episode of The Office for the 52nd time.) But for these shows you'll definitely want to clear your schedule and hunker down to run through these episodes. Happy Bingeing!
Atlanta is 2016's new comedy show written by and starring Donald Glover. The show centers around life in Atlanta with Alfred Miles, a hot up and coming rapper, and his entourage.
Togetherness follows two couples living together in Los Angeles. It catalogues their relationships as friends, couples and as individuals pursuing their dreams.
Better Things revolves around the life of a single mom raising three teenage daughters and trying to hold onto her acting career. The brilliant writing is the result of the shows star, Pamela Adlon, and comic genius Louis C.K.
Transparent is - in our opinion - one of the greatest shows of the decade. The Amazon show follows a family as they learn that their patriarch has kept his identity as a transgender person private from his children. We watch as family dynamics change, become raw and other family secrets come to light.
Julia Louise-Dreyfuss plays VP Selina Meyer in this uber-successful HBO series that, very appropriately, released a new season right in the midst of the election. Personally, if she were real, we would've preferred a President Meyer than what we ended up getting.
This years new Netflix series follows infamous Colombian kingpin, Pablo Escobar. We alternate POVs between the Drug Enforcement Agency and Escobar as they play out their game of cat and mouse.
A weekly roundup of all things cultural and political - and generally relevant - with a splash of satire courtesy of John Oliver. Perfection.
In the era of Serial, Making a Murderer and The Jinx it should hardly come as a surprise that HBO contributed another series to add to the genre. The Night Of, an eight episode mini-series, explores an odd murder in New York City that brings in issues of culture and politics.
This pick shouldn't come as a surprise as this kid crew has pretty much taken the world by storm. Stranger Things is set in 1980 in a small town in Indiana. The plot of this science fiction show follows the disappearance of a young boy from the town and the mysteries his friends and families have to unravel in order to find him.
Mr. Robot is about a mentally unstable computer hacker in New York City. The show is wildly confusing and totally worth it. We want to think this is what Anonymous is like. Kind of. This show originally premiered in 2015, but released its second season just recently in fall 2016.
“With everyone seemingly listening to singles or playlists these days, I feel like artists are stepping away from crafting long-playing albums, and that’s fine by me when there are so many great one-offs to discover.”
Usher's No Limit is probably my favorite song in 2016, along with Young M.a.'s OOOUU. Still I can't help but miss the experience of a great album, and it was refreshing to see what artists went that route, with Frank Ocean, Blood Orange and Solange setting the bar high. Hopefully that'll inspire more artists to follow suit next year. In the meantime, here's yet another playlist, my favorite tracks of 2016. There were a select few albums that did it for me, from songs that grew on me with repeat listens (Anohni), to songs that immediately grabbed me but I might not listen to in 2017... which you won't find here! So without further ado, here are favorite albums of the year. I'd also love to hear what you've been listening to (in the comments below.) And don't forget, every week we publish playlists from featured Passersby, so if you're still looking for more great music, be sure to follow along. Happy listening!
By Clémence Polès
Elle, Image Courtesy of IndieWire
“Every December, I carefully pick my top ten favorite films and albums of the year. Over the years, I’ve posted my lists on Tumblr or whatever blog I had a the time.”
I had no readers, yet for some reason it’s become a thing I’ve looked forward to every year - I even get made fun of for taking it so seriously! My Decembers have been reserved for canceling every plan I may have so that I can binge watch the remaining movies of the year. I’m not going to lie, I’m glad I started Passerbuys because now I have a better platform to inflict my list upon (I’m sorry!) I’m not much of a writer, so I’ll let the synopses take it from here, but I do hope that you enjoy these films as much as I did.
After being attacked in her own home, the ruthless head of a video game company tracks down her rapist and is drawn into a thrilling game that threatens to spiral out of control at any moment.
Karamakate is an Amazonian shaman and the last survivor of his people. In the early 1900s, he befriends two German scientists as they search for a rare healing plant over the course of 40 years.
A dark, starkly funny story of a single dog and the many different people she touches over the course of her short lifetime that offers an honest look at the American experience.
In 1980, a group of college baseball players navigate their way through the freedoms and responsibilities of unsupervised adulthood.
A teenage girl with nothing to lose joins a traveling magazine sales crew and gets caught up in a whirlwind of hard partying, law bending, and young love as she criss-crosses the Midwest with a band of misfits.
Three sisters who live together travel to the countryside for the funeral of their estranged father and meet their shy teenage half-sister. Bonding quickly with their orphaned sibling, they invite her to live with them.
In 1930s Korea, during Japanese occupation, a new girl hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress is secretly involved in a plot to defraud her.
A young man deals with his dysfunctional home life and comes of age in Miami during the "War on Drugs" era. The story of his struggle to find himself is told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love while grappling with his own sexuality.
Nathalie is a philosophy teacher with a seemingly settled existence, juggling a rich life of the mind with the day-to-day demands of career and family. But beginning with the bombshell revelation that her husband of twenty-five years is leaving her, one by one the pillars of Nathalie's life start to crumble.
A middle aged carpenter recovering from a heart attack befriends a single mother and her two children as they navigate their way through the state welfare system.
Words by Clémence Polès
