Top Five New Year’s Pop Culture Resolutions

By Michelle Patterson

Saucy broad Rosalind Russell

1. Make classic cinema my friend again: A former obsession, those old black-and-whites fell by the wayside in favor of marathons of foreign or cult films (snagged from Netflix) saved for rainy day weekends. There were many female role models then who could show the emaciated, blank-eyed ingénues of current film and television a thing or two. If I stick to this, I could be knee-deep in saucy, independent broads! Since the discovery of a hidden gem is more of a natural high than anything else I know, I might kick-start this one before January.
2. Appreciate the feminist-friendly pop culture more: I told myself a while ago that the disturbingly huge pile of magazines I subscribed to was a good thing. After all, they gave me plenty of options to choose from when I created artwork and collages for family and friends. Yet, when I flipped through the collection I noticed the majority of them were obsessed with looking pretty, staying thin, how to improve the sex life with your man, and making as much money as possible. They’ve turned my brain off to the idea that women in pop culture are worth more than whether or not they’re looking good for their age. Duh, Michelle. Clearly, I didn’t just find this out. Being pretty and funny is cool; being funnier and more talented than everyone else in the room is cooler.
3. Rediscover my adolescent crushes: Mickey Dolenz, Michael J. Fox, and Val Kilmer: At the time I was giddy and weird about them; I wrote in my diary with a reference to Val only as his character from Top Gun, Ice Man, and was obsessed with how Mickey Dolenz never kept a straight face for long except when he was singing. Thing is? These three men were all pretty damn great in their respective careers and thanks to my young age I never thought about how fun Mickey’s vocal performance was on “Gonna Buy Me a Dog” or how fiercely hilarious Kilmer could be or that Fox’s withering double-take was something to be admired. There’s no reason for me to watch The Island of Dr. Moreau, though. That would be pure masochism.
4. Listen to more music: It’s telling how much the various podcasts I’ve subscribed to have changed my listening habits,. Unless someone was talking or there was twee/atmospheric/melancholy music playing low in the mix, my thumb hit the forward button on my iPod as fast as humanly possible. If there was a quiet period before a song started, my brain told my thumb to wait just a damn minute because someone will be talking soon. Now, I grow restless with the 800+ songs from which I have to choose. So I will start with my alarm clock. No more waking up to NPR; a jangly pop tune will have to force me out of my bed from now on. . .
5. Buy DVDs that I actually want to watch more than once: I’d grown fixated on the idea of a well-rounded film and television DVD library. While I realized this made me seem like both a colossal snob and a tedious bore, I liked the idea of being able to thumb through the collection when a friend came over and lending out a particular title I thought they would enjoy. However, when the mood of pure laziness strikes (as a general rule this mood falls on the Saturday afternoon of every single weekend) and I want to turn my brain off I end up watching the same television shows and movies weekend after weekend. Don’t get me wrong: I find gratification in doing this, but once I realized I was never going to get any guilty pleasure from a foreign film about the horrible and depressing life of a donkey I knew I would have to get really proactive what I do watch.

NEXT: Nicole V.’s list

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