Have a ball
New Year’s Eve celebrations are expected to be in full swing this year, in spite of an uptick in Covid-19 cases and a warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention against new respiratory viruses.
Over 80 million Americans will be travelling for the New Year’s holiday, although most people usually prefer to stay at home. The average cost for a couple to enjoy dinner and a show on NYE in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago is $865, says the consumer insights group, WalletHub.
The most expensive NYE party ticket can be found in New York City, Miami, New Orleans and Cleveland. The lowest-priced ticket was in Durham, North Carolina. Las Vegas, of course, is number one on the list for partying. The top five cities to enjoy the countdown are New York, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Atlanta.
New York City has always been the hottest NYE destination. You can watch CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live, hosted by Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, with performances by Usher, Ellie Goulding and Patti LaBelle this year. CNN has restricted its anchors and correspondents from drinking on camera. The Times Square Ball, measuring 12 feet in diameter with over 2,600 Waterford crystal panels and weighing over 11,000 pounds, has already been installed. Times Square also celebrated the annual ‘Good Riddance Day’, an occasion to bid goodbye to past memories, on December 28.
Yuletide fervor
This Christmas was marked by frigid temperatures and snowstorms, leading to thousands of flight cancellations as families tried to travel for the holidays. While last Christmas was marked by the emergence of the Omicron variant, this year saw an increase in cold and flu infections. Officials warned New Yorkers to stay at home as the blizzard took over, killing people in the upstate area. Hearteningly, the weather is expected to warm up in the upcoming weeks.
The White House put up its Christmas decorations. The theme for this year is “We The People”, taken from the US Constitution. The 54,900 square feet space was decorated with 77 trees and adorned with over 83,000 lights. It also displayed the annual Gingerbread White House, which includes a cookie replica of the Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
Celebrities took to social media to share their festive moments. Kim Kardashian and her sister, Khloe, visited homeless women at the Alexandria House in LA. Victoria Beckham shared a photograph with her husband, wearing a hoodie that read, “All I want for Christmas is David Beckham”.
Vibrant space
Manhattan’s iconic Fifth Avenue, extending from Bryant Park on 42nd Street to Central Park on 59th Street, has been the go-to destination for tourists and New Yorkers alike. However, the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, recently declared that the famous corridor will soon become a pedestrian-only boulevard. Fifth Avenue houses the Rockefeller Center, the ice skating rink during winter, the Saks Fifth Avenue, the luxury department store, and The Plaza Hotel among other quintessential spots.
“Fifth Avenue is an iconic corridor and an engine of our midtown economy. But it is also an unmissable opportunity to show the city and the country how world-class public space can help create vibrant central business districts,” Adams stated.
The plan will include the expansion of sidewalks, planting more greenery, expanding the bike pathway for safe cycling and even installing and improving lighting. The plan is expected to kick off early next year and be fully complete in the next two years.
Family business
The internet can’t stop talking about “Nepo Babies” — the term refers to the offspring of a celebrity who follows his or her parents into the arts and entertainment industry — experiencing easier success in the hyper-competitive market. The New York magazine called 2022 ‘The Year of the Nepo Baby’ and published an “all but definitive guide to the Hollywood nepo-verse” in their popular culture magazine, Vulture.
Nepo is short for nepotism. The article includes infographics of family trees and divides nepo babies into categories. It describes nepo babies who are born to famous parents but are also big names in their own right as “platinum grade”.
The report soon sparked a debate. Celebrities weighed in on the topic. Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, said that the conversation “is just designed to try to diminish and denigrate and hurt.” Zoë Kravitz pointed out that it’s normal for people to join the family business. Lily Rose-Depp, the daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, received backlash after she denied her privileged status.
