We do not want to dwell too long on 2016, a year most people who read fact-checked news are happy to see in the rear view mirror, even if the new year brings with it the need to deal with the wake-up call that was the previous one. Still, Flung came into its own as a publication largely over the past 12 months, and looking back at our most successful efforts is something we hope you’ll enjoy as much as we did. And so, getting on with it as quickly as possible, here are our 10 most popular pieces of 2016 (which, it’s worth pointing out, we hold to a high editorial standard of quality and accuracy).
10: What It Was Like To Get Appendicitis During the Turkish Coup
“There’s getting sick while traveling overseas, a patently awful experience. Then there’s getting appendicitis while traveling overseas. And then there’s getting appendicitis while traveling overseas during a military coup. This is that story.”
9: A Guide To the Old Florida Charms of Matlacha
“Pockets of Old Florida endure, both in nature and in some towns. When we head down for the holidays or some other trip, it’s become a sort of tradition between my boyfriend and me to seek out these places. This past Christmas, we found it in a fishing village called Matlacha, on a tiny island just west of Fort Myers.”
8: The Balenciaga Museum and Fashion as Art
“The Balenciaga Museum makes a point of including the history of each piece’s owner and wearer. The likes of Bunny Mellon and the socialite Mona Bismark (at one time married to the richest man in America) appear frequently. In this museum and others of its genre, the fashion of the masses rarely makes the cut. Instead, visitors ogle items they could never afford. You’ll note that you’ve never seen an exhibition of J. Crew designs in a museum setting.”
7: Which Ride-Hailing App Should You Use in New York City?
“Navigating New York City has become a different beast in recent years—with the advent of Citibikes and Uber, all of a sudden options for getting from point A to point B have multiplied, especially in the outer boroughs. And then, of course, Uber competitors have cropped up, and the taxi industry finally got the hint that it was time to innovate, meaning that now there are more apps to choose from than ever. Here’s our guide to the best apps for getting around the Big Apple.”
6: 5 Countries that Do Breakfast Right
“They say it’s the most important meal of the day. It also happens to be my favorite meal of the day, and one I’d gladly trade lunch or dinner for. When traveling, there’s nothing I love more than to linger over a well-done version that I’m less familiar with. Here are five interesting, amazing breakfasts to be had around the world.”
5: Following Hemingway To the Met’s Cezanne Gallery
“But Hemingway didn’t aspire to write like any other writer. Instead, he wanted to write the way Cézanne painted. In service of understanding this influence more viscerally, I ended up at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art one sunny afternoon this spring. I was, incidentally, following in Hemingway’s very own footsteps.”
4: 4 Mexico City Museums for the Bucket List
“Mexico City has so many museums, in fact, that of all the major cultural capitals of the world, only London can compete. The debate rages on over who has more, but where London’s museums bespeak a certain formalism in appreciating their contents, Mexico City’s are feistier, beholden to fewer rules. In short, they’re more exciting. I’m not sure I’d ever felt so eager at the prospect of visiting museums as I did day in and day out in Mexico City.”
3: The Fascinating Ruins of 5 Long-Lost Beach Resorts
“It’s a spine-tingling thing to see things that were once coveted fall into decay. That sentiment guided my interest in researching the glamorous beach resorts of times past, places that were once in history the apex of life for those fortunate enough to visit them, but ended up abandoned, seaside ghost towns left to crumble, left unloved. ”
2: A Winter Guide To the Rockaways
“Out where Queens meets the ocean, the community of Rockaway welcomes almost 8 million beach-goers in the time between Memorial and Labor Days. The peninsula can envelop one more thoroughly in the winter months, though, when the landscape comes at you through a soft glowing grey filter and the hordes that descended in the summertime have left in their void a desolate landscape that beckons introspection.”
1: 5 Classic NYC Buildings Likely Coming Down for a Purple Neon Moxy Hotel
“A passerby today would note that there appears to be no space on this stretch large enough to accommodate a 300-room hotel. That’s because five 19th century Beaux Arts buildings will have to come down to make room for what Marriott’s VP of brand consulting has called Moxy’s “culture of experimentation.” These are the kinds of gorgeous New York buildings that make one think of West Side Story, of Rent, of a previous century’s immigrant life on the Lower East Side; essentially, of all the things that place New York City so firmly in the cultural imagination.”
