Navigating the World of Media and Finding What’s Right For You
DISCOVERING NEW MUSIC
For finding new music, music-map.com and rateyourmusic.com are all incredible resources. Being able to search through practically all the music through filtered lenses based on your interests makes it easy to find new music. Music map has the user input an artist and then creates an interactive map of similar artists to explore. No matter how mainstream or obscure your music tastes are, Music Map will guide you to find more of what you are looking for. Rate Your Music is a data-based communal website that contains hundreds of lists around specific genres and artists that can open new gateways for all types of listeners.
FINDING LIVE MUSIC
For finding live music, ohmyrockness.com and donyc.com are your best options for finding live events throughout the city. Both websites offer up-to-date schedules of live events and instructions on how to purchase your tickets for them.
This is a picture of what you can expect from a live show at Brooklyn Steel, one of the city’s best venues for live music. Photo by Max Cane.
DISCOVERING NEW MOVIES
For finding new movies to watch, Letterboxd is one of the greatest resources available for movies of any kind. The website has an easy-to-navigate user interface, a great free mobile app, and is filled with thousands of lists made by individuals on any topic or theme in a movie you want. Reviews and ratings for every movie are one of the defining features of Letterboxd. Allowing anyone to voice their opinion and allowing all movies to be given a collective five-star rating makes it easy to discern quality from real people rather than from ads from larger corporations. Looking up individual actors, directors, crew members, etc., is another feature Letterboxd makes easy and practical compared to other websites like IMDB or TMDB.
FINDING FILMS
For live screenings of films, both new and old, Screen Slate provides the best way to find events in NYC. For individual theaters, IFC Center, Anthology Film Archives, Angelika, The Roxy, Cinema Village, and Film Society at Lincoln Center are all amazing locations that constantly offer new things to see at great prices and quality.
This picture is a physical piece of an original 35 mm cut of the film Eyes Wide Shut that was screened at The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. Photo by Max Cane
NEWS AND CURRENT EVENTS
Navigating through the constant stream of news and current events is something that we all struggle to navigate. I discussed this with Marcus Harun, a journalist and broadcast news producer who is currently teaching at Hunter about his thoughts around the current state of news media.
“Misinformation is one of the greatest threats our country faces. Finding reliable, factual information is key to a functioning society. So it’s very important that students seek out verified information. Relying on the websites and social media pages of major, respected news organizations is one way to be sure you’re reading reliable stories.”
“There are pros and cons to Twitter, Instagram, Threads, and other social media sites for news. If you read something that seems too good, or too crazy to be true, it probably is. When you see something outrageous online, check the source of the story. Then check if mainstream outlets like the New York Times, NBC News, or ABC News, have the same story confirmed.”
Overall, Marcus Harun didn’t specifically recommend any individual sources for news or current events, but relying on checking multiple sources for current events most important to you is a great approach for finding quality news. Hopefully these recommendations can show you how to navigate and discover new types of entertainment and media in the best ways available with ease.
