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I have always found myself absorbed in generations I'll never know, attempting to connect to movements I'll never be a part of, nostalgic for a time I'll never experience. But it's not a wistful look to a bygone era, it's a desire to understand where I'm going. As someone on the brink of real adulthood, well past adolescence but freshly into a new chapter of life, I find myself reflecting back on the years in between, wishing I could retrace my steps. Never having truly appreciated the freedom and spark of youth, always longing for adulthood, if I knew then what I know now, would I have allowed myself to just enjoy it? Would I have been so afraid? Now, at the age of 22, I'm constantly wondering where to place myself. If this was the 1930s, I would have been an "adult" for years now, possibly married off and succumbing to whatever societal standards were set in place for me, or perhaps fighting against those standards. Either way, I wouldn't have had the luxury of making the mistakes and having the experiences of being a teenager, because the cultural construct of a teenager had yet to even come into existence.

So it’s the first day of the work week and there are four more days to go. We get it. But why ruminate when you can start to make Mondays the best night of the week? This weekly column is devoted to finding the best events across NYC hosted by individuals and places that are doing amazing, crazy, wild, sexy things on Monday nights. And we’re here to honor them. Here are tonight’s top events.

You know that Harry Nilsson song, "Everybody's Talkin'"? That's from a movie called Midnight Cowboy. That movie starred Angelina Jolie's father Jon Voigt and Dustin Hoffman. It is a very good very very very dark film. It's a love letter to a city that eats men alive. As part of their ongoing cultural engagement, the W Downtown is hosting a screening of said sad film followed by a discussion with Spike Lee, whose films capture another equally dark but somewhat more vibrant New York. There will be tears. There will be discussion. There will be 360 degree views. 

Everyone loves brunch, but no matter the food spread there are always ways to make it better. For one, how about brunch and movie?

Earlier this month, we shared our love for Makeup and Vanity Set’s 88:88, the soundtrack to Joey Ciccoline’s film of the same title. Both the film and the album transport you into a bygone cinematic era that’s at once reminiscent of its predecessors yet entirely unique and thrilling. What we love so much about the film is that in its 14 brief minutes, it manages to capture the essence of the science fiction films you grew up with and love, rife with glowing hypnotic visuals and ever-present looming suspense. The film draws you in piece by piece as it builds to its crescendo, like a rope you’re following that when completely unraveled just leads to another door. We went more in depth with the synopsis in the previous post but the best bet is to just to watch the film and discover the story for yourself. Until yesterday, only the trailer was available to watch online but now, thanks to Ridley Scott’s, Your Film Festival, you can watch the entire short in its entirety as many times as you wish.

When the famously raunchy South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut was released in 1999, people expected it to be funny. It was. What moviegoers didn't see coming, though, was that the film's many original songs would actually be good--so good, in fact, that one of them, "Blame Canada," would be nominated for an Academy Award. In the years since I first saw the movie, I've often wondered why nobody ever did a live action version of it for the stage... until now.

Celine Dion's massive hit song "My Heart Will Go On" became the de facto theme to Titanic--and so much more--when it was released 15 years ago. To this day, it's difficult for someone to go long without hearing it somewhere, whether it be on the radio or in a supermarket. And while the song brings a feeling of warmth to some, it  elicits less positive reactions from others. Take Kate Winslet, for example.