Culture Gabfest

Latest Episodes:

Viral Songs and Quarantine Culture Mar 18, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Culture Gabfest, Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and guest host and Slate staff writer Dan Kois talk about the film Spenser Confidential, starring Mark Wahlberg on Netflix. Next, they discuss Reply All’s recent episode “The Case of the Missing Hit.” Finally, the panel is joined by Dana Stevens to lay out how they approach culture during this time of quarantine. How much do we lean into escapism?

On the Slate Plus segment this week, the panel takes on Steve’s own “missing hit” mystery.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Rachael Allen.

Outro Music: Lost Something in the Hills" by Sibylle Baier.

Endorsements

Dana: Colour Greenby Sibylle Baier.

Dan: The “Sondheim at 90” package by the New York Times.

The album Side by Side by Sondheim.

Julia: The poem “My Heart Leaps Up” by William Wordsworth.

Steve: Always Narrating: The Making and Unmaking of Umberto Eco by Costica Bradatan in the Los Angeles Review of Books.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cows and Capitalism Mar 11, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Culture Gabfest, Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and guest host and Slate staff writer Dan Kois talk about Kelly Reichardt’s film First Cow. Next, they bring on Slate television critic Willa Paskin to discuss the latest episode of her podcast Decoder Ring, which dives into the real-life bookstore battle behind You’ve Got Mail. Finally, the panel dives into Molly Fischer’s feature in the Cut on the millennial aesthetic.

On the Slate Plus segment this week, the panel discusses the cancellation of Woody Allen’s memoir.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Rachael Allen. Additional production help by Rosemary Belson.

Outro Music: "Party All The Time" by Eddie Murphy

Other items discussed on the show:

“I Made the Oily Cakes From First Cow,” by Dan Kois in Slate.

“Bookstores That Live Only in the Mind,” by Dan Kois in the New York Times.

Endorsements

Dan: The March Badness bracket of songs.

Julia: Print out your cooking recipes.

Steve: “Reading Richard Rorty in Tehran” by Samuel Thrope in the Nation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Love Blind? Mar 04, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Culture Gabfest, Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and guest host and Slate staff writer Dan Kois talk about the hit Netflix dating reality show Love Is Blind with Slate podcast producer Daniel Schroeder. Next, they discuss tomboys, jumping off of a recent New York Times op-ed. Finally, the panel takes on the coronavirus, analyzing the epidemic through various pieces of culture.

On the Slate Plus segment this week, the panel discusses a New York Times op-ed from an editor whose ex-boyfriend is now dating Lady Gaga.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Rachael Allen. Additional production help by Rosemary Belson.

Outro Music: 'Shattered & Hollow' by First Aid Kit

Endorsements

Dan: The graphic memoir Tomboy by Liz Prince.

Pitchfork’s Sunday Reviews.

Julia: The viral video where a camera falls from an airplane…

Steve: “No Ghost in the Machine” by Mark Halpern in the American Scholar.

The album Stay Gold by First Aid Kit.

Hosts

Stephen Metcalf

Julia Turner

Dan Kois

Social Media

@slatecultfest on Twitter

https://twitter.com/slatecultfest

@slateculturepodcasts on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/slateculturepodcasts/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Portrait of Taylor on Fire Feb 26, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Culture Gabfest, Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and guest host and Slate staff writer Dan Kois talk about Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Next, they discuss Taylor Swift’s documentary Miss Americana. Finally, the panel dives into “garbage language” a.k.a corporate buzzwords—unnecessary or effective?

On the Slate Plus segment this week, the panel discusses a contentious subject—whether Leonardo DiCaprio was already a star before Titanic?

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Rachael Allen. Additional production help by Rosemary Belson.

Outro Music: 'The Man' by Taylor Swift

Endorsements

Dan: Reading Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Halland Bring Up the Bodiesbefore The Mirror & the Light, the third book in the trilogy, is released March 10.

Julia: Golden State by Ben H. Winters.

Steve: “Reading Sade in the Age of Epstein” by Mitchell Abidor in The New York Review of Books.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gender Swap Feb 19, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Culture Gabfest, Stephen Metcalf is joined by two guests hosts: Sam Anderson, New York Times Magazine staff writer and author of Boom Time, and Dan Kois, Slate staff writer and author of How to Be a Family. First, the panel discusses The Assistant, the indie film with heavy Harvey Weinstein overtones. Next, they dive into Hulu’s reboot of High Fidelity, starring Zoë Kravitz. Finally, the panel breaks down the work of Jenny Odell, including her book How to Do Nothing and her recent Paris Review essay “The Myth of Self-Reliance.”

On the Slate Plus segment this week, the panel discusses Dan Kois’s recent Slate story on a New Zealand fantasy masterpiece—an article that catalyzed the book’s publication in the U.S.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Rachael Allen. Additional production help by Rosemary Belson.

Outro Music: ‘Lonely World’ by Moses Sumney

Endorsements

Dan: The writing of Charles Portis, including True Gritand Norwood.

Sam: John Cage’s performance of “Water Walk” on “I’ve Got a Secret” in 1960 (as Jenny Odell recommends).

Steve: Seeing Parasite a second time.

“The Professor of Denial” by Amanda J. Crawford in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Moses Sumney’s Aromanticism

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Parasite Without a Host Feb 12, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Culture Gabfest, Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner break down the Oscars and Bong Joon-ho’s historic win. Next, the discuss Star Trek: Picard with Slate associate editor and Trekkie Marissa Martinelli. Finally, they dive into a recent New York Times Magazine article on the way television imagines New York City.

On the Slate Plus segment this week, the fashion of the Oscars.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Rachael Allen.

Outro Music: Eminem Performs 'Lose Yourself' at Oscars 2020

Endorsements

Dana: Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar acceptance speeches, as Dana wrote about in her recent Slate piece “Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar Night Had All the Genre-Bending Twists of His Movies.”

Julia: “Chasing Colombia’s ‘cocaine hippos’” by Peter Rowe in the Los Angeles Times.

Steve: “The Seriousness of George Steiner” by Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker.

“An Evening With George Steiner (1929-2020)” by Kinton Ford in n+1.

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Boingity Boing Music Feb 05, 2020

Show notes

`This week on the Culture Gabfest, Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner dive into Ford v Ferrari before the Oscars this weekend. Next, they discuss Netflix’s reality show The Circle with Slate’s editorial director—and Circle-enthusiast—Laura Bennett. Finally, they analyze the controversy surrounding Jeanine Cummins’s American Dirt with Los Angeles Times staff writer Daniel Hernandez.

On the Slate Plus segment this week, the panel discusses Super Bowl ads with Slate’s Justin Peters.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Rachael Allen.

Outro Music: ‘The Circle Theme (Netflix)’ by Patrizio Knight

Hosts

Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner

Endorsements

Dana: “‘Jojo Rabbit’ Captures the Horror and Absurdity of our Trumpian Moment,” by Masha Gessen in The New Yorker.

Julia: The Good Wife.

Steve: Cheer(specifically, La’Darius’s brother’s face).

“The Money Behind Trump’s Money,” by David Enrich in The New York Times Magazine.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Making Mat Jan 29, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Culture Gabfest, Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner untangle the oddity that is Jojo Rabbit, discuss whether Netflix’s sport docu-series Cheer lives up to the hype, and talk to Slate’s music critic Carl Wilson about this year’s Grammys.

On the Slate Plus segment this week, the panel discusses Kobe Bryant and the reactions to his death.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Rachael Allen.

Outro Music: Lizzo's "Cuz I Love You" & "Truth Hurts" 2020 Grammy Performance

Endorsements

Dana:

‘Gigi Bryant Was a Great Basketball Player’ by Josh Levin

Julia:

‘The Rise of the Dancefluencer’ by Makeda Easter

Steve:

‘The Myth of Self-Reliance’ by Jenny Odell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Half for Me, Half for You Jan 22, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Culture Gabfest, Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner dive into Honeyland, Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s Academy Award-nominated documentary following a beekeeper in Macedonia. Next, they chat about Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time. Finally, Slate’s Laura Miller joins the panel to discuss Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror and the role—and critiques—of the modern female essayist.

On the Slate Plus segment this week, the panel discusses Oscar nominations.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Rachael Allen.

Outro Music: The Futureheads’ cover of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love.”

Hosts

Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner

Endorsements

Dana:

Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror audiobook.

Julia:

Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing.

Steve:

Ian Rankin’s “Inspector Rebus” book series.

The Futureheads’ cover of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Royal Pain In The Arse" Edition Jan 15, 2020

Show notes

Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and June Thomas discuss Sam Mendes' film 1917, the new installment in the UP documentary series, 63 UP, and the British royal phenomenon that has become known as Megxit.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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