Read: The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway is, hands-down, my favorite read. I'm actually a little surprised it's taken me up until this year to read Cunningham's immaculately crafted take on the story. The movie adaptation has been a go-to of mine for years (a little weird, I know); however, there's magic in Cunningham's actual words that Stephen Daldry's silver-screen visual doesn't capture.
Watch: Gravity
This movie is riveting. I will sing its praises from the top of my building until I can't sing anymore. Sandra Bullock gives one of her best performances, and George Clooney does Clooney well. But, the real star of this film is the cinematography. The trailers make Gravity seem like it's riddled with quick-cut action shots and heavy-hitting explosions, but the reality is they don't exist. And that's a good thing. Not since Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey has a movie moved at a space pace. Director Alfonso Cuarón's keen understanding of weightlessness makes the entire 91-minute (yep, it's short) film feel like one long take. I even found myself questioning whether the camera had actually cut to another scene. It's this very cinematic decision that makes Gravity the most immersive film you'll see (I recommend seeing it in IMAX 3D if you can).
Play: The Bones of What You Believe by CHVRCHES
It's an exciting moment in music history. Aside from the pop divas all coming back with new material, the alternative scene is burgeoning back into a MySpace-type of glory. Tiny bands are quickly rising with original sounds and new takes on rehashed electronic formulas, while songwriting has never felt more escapist. CHVRCHES is a leader of the pack, and rightly so. Its debut LP is a sublime collection of songs that sound like the product of a generation of artists growing up on the Internet, searching for a way to make electronic instrumentation rock 'n' roll.
Its synth-heavy songs are atmospheric journeys through time and space. Grand lyrical intimacies and the triumphant fragility of lead singer Lauren Mayberry's voice make for stark contrasts that take you off and away to a new soundscape. One minute you're floating, and the next you're underwater, weightless, but with the keen sense of your own gravity. It's a glorious loss of innocence and search for kindred spirits that make this album one of 2013's best.