🤡 Downtown Boston is looking … weird.

It’s Wednesday, Boston.

🏆 The 2024 Oscar noms just dropped. And all we have to say is this: Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie got ROBBED. You can see the full list of nominees here. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• N.H. primary results are in

• And your Women’s Beanpot champs are…

• Boston’s baby names

Up first…

OUT & ABOUT

Get (winter) active

If you need a reason to get outside in these freezing temps … we’ve got 16. Enter: Winteractive, a set of quirky public art installations gracing Downtown Boston from now until April, e.g. the now slightly-infamous giant clown heads.

Here’s what to know:

❄️ It all started with a desire to get Bostonians out of the house. “Boston doesn’t have a lot to do outside in the winter,” said Michael J. Nichols, president of the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District (BID), the organization behind Winteractive. “Winter felt like an opportunity to bring something to the outdoors that would get [Bostonians] engaged.

🇨🇦 Winteractive takes inspiration from our northern neighbors. Canadians, especially the Quebecois, have an “amazing way they do winter,” not only putting on programming that celebrates their cold climate, but actually creating infrastructure that supports cold-weather outdoor activities in the city, said Nichols. So in deciding what programming would work the best for getting Bostonians out in the winter months, BID looked to “replicate elements” of what they do there. In fact, much of the art included in Winteractive actually comes from Canadian artists.

🤡 Some of the pieces they chose are intentionally odd. BID selected “what we thought the Boston audiences would react to,” said Nichols, and not necessarily in a positive way. “You don't have to like it, you just have to be willing to think about it,” he said. That approach is what led BID to make selections that are “a little out there, whimsical, dark, or unsettling.” 

🎨 The artists hope that, if nothing else, their work makes you think. Mark Jenkins, the artist behind “Untitled,” hopes that his pieces stop you in your tracks and cut through the city’s visual clutter. “A good public art project … should stimulate people’s brains,” he said. And Mathieu Valade, who made “Myth and Evidence,” agrees. He hopes that you “find your own idea of what [the piece] is. I don’t want to point them in any direction,” he said, “just give them an experience.”

🙋‍♀️ IMO, it’s worth going out of your way. I spent the better part of my Saturday viewing Winteractive, and not only did it get me out on a 17-degree day I’d have otherwise spent indoors, but the art was totally delightful. My recommendation: Avoid the whole tour in one go, and just pick two or three of the more prominent pieces to hit. 

👀 Want more? Here’s a look at all 16 artworks and where you can find them. 

QUICK QUESTION

⛄ What do you think about Boston’s outdoor winter programming?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🇺🇸 And just like that, the N.H. primary results are in. Former President Donald Trump was declared the winner in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, beating out former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley. While Haley didn’t pull off the upset she was hoping for, she framed her second-place showing as a W, and vowed to stay in the race. And despite not even being on the ballot, President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary via an advocate-driven write-in campaign. Now back to our regularly scheduled Massachusetts programming.

🤑 It’s a good day to work for Gov. Maura Healey. Healey’s Cabinet secretaries (as well as some other state officials) will soon receive their second of two recent salary raises that will total about $15,000. And although the news dropping now isn’t a great look for her amid the state’s rather bleak financial state, the issue has more to do with unfortunate timing than political scumminess. The raises were a part of a negotiation from last year which are rolling out late due to, basically, partisan bickering in the Legislature that delayed their approval. 

🍸️ The state still holds the liquor license keys. When Gov. Healey’s recent Municipal Empowerment Act was filed, one of the more controversial pieces of the bill was missing: Allowing municipalities to set their own caps on liquor licenses. This is currently set by the state Legislature and based on population (except, notably, Boston, which literally operates with Prohibition-era caps). Apparently, the issue was left out in order to get the “language right,” but it isn’t totally clear when it might be reintroduced. 

🏒 The Northeastern Huskies are your 2024 Women’s Beanpot champs. Thanks to Skylar Irving’s siiiick overtime goal, Northeastern’s women’s hockey team managed to defend their Beanpot title with a 2-1 victory over BU. And given this was the first time the women’s championship game was held at TD Garden, we were pleased to see photos of the lower bowl completely full. Harvard also eked out a win over Boston College during a shootout to secure the third place spot.

ONE LAST THING

Boston’s top baby names

If your name is Liam, Emma, Noah, or Olivia, we’re sorry to inform you … you’re not that special. Just kidding! You’re very special, but your name? Not so much.

The list of Boston’s most popular baby names in 2023 just dropped, and out of the 20,645 babies born in the city over the course of the year, top feminine baby names included Olivia, Emma, Sophia/Sofia, and Charlotte. The top masculine names included Liam, Noah, Henry, and Theodore. 

If you’re interested in baby names over the past century, (or if you have a complex about having a unique name), check out this awesome search tool by the Globe that has data going back to 1910.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

👶 Thanks for reading! In 2022, there were 18 Gia’s and 136 Emily’s born in Mass., making Emily the least special of the B-Side squad.

🗳️ The results are in: 61% of B-Siders said they’d vote for Joe Biden out of the N.H. primary candidates. One reader, who chose Vermin Supreme, said: “I mean, it can't get any worse right now, why not shake it up?”

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].