Stay ConnectedLife and Art from FT Weekend is the twice-weekly culture podcast of the Financial Times. On Monday, we talk about life, and how to live a good one in one-on-one conversations. On Friday, we talk about ‘art’ – in a chat show. Three FT journalists come together to discuss a new cultural release across film, TV, music and books. Hosted by Lilah Raptopoulos, together with the FT’s award-winning writers and editors, and special guests.
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Copyright: © Financial Times
This week, Lilah talks to Liana Finck, a graphic novelist and New Yorker cartoonist with a fan base on Instagram that’s half a million strong. Liana is known for her funny and astute explorations of what it means to be human. She talks about how to free yourself up to be creative in quarantine, where confidence comes from, the most interesting human expressions to draw and what it’s like to have Ariana Grande slide into your DMs.
We also share some of your Netflix recommendations, which we are still collecting to publish! Let us know what we should be watching that the streaming algorithms are hiding from us. Fill out our short form at ft.com/culturecallout, or email us at culturecall@ft.com. If you want to get social, we're on Twitter @FTCultureCall and Instagram at @griseldamurraybrown and @lilahrap.
Links and notes from the episode:
–A special gift from us to you: sign up to the FT's Coronavirus Business Update newsletter and get free access to our journalism for 30 days https://www.ft.com/newsletter-signup/coronavirus?segmentId=0d92d58c-2c7d-178e-6aa8-81529dd53b1b
About Liana Finck:
–Liana's Instagram: https://instagram.com/lianafinck/
–Her graphic memoir is called Passing for Human
–Some of Liana’s New Yorker cartoons about quarantine: https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/some-drawings-from-week-three-at-home
–Unpopular likes and unpopular dislikes: https://www.instagram.com/p/B8pSyMMlHcG/
–Me/you/us, plotted: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Yy65xlYQB/
–Liana’s recommendations for which graphic novels to start with:
–Lilah and listener Martha O’Neill’s film recommendation, Three Identical Strangers, is on Netflix
–Martin Wolf video: How might the world be different after the pandemic? https://www.ft.com/video/dafc3578-5c76-412a-8ba3-016495031bd1
–Martin Wolf column: Maintaining the lockdown and saving the economy are mutually compatible (paywall) https://www.ft.com/content/e486590e-8539-11ea-b872-8db45d5f6714
–Apps about trees: Tree Talk (London) and Leafsnap (US and UK)
–Gris' film recommendation, 120 BPM, is on Hulu and available to rent
–Listener Victoria Amico's Netflix recommendations are 13th (Ava DuVernay's documentary on racialised mass incarceration in the US) and The Great Hack (on the Cambridge Analytica scandal)
–Listener Kana Kamagae's Netflix recommendations are Never Have I Ever (Mindy Kaling’s TV series) and Tigertail
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This week, Gris talks to the brilliant 30-year-old playwright Jeremy O Harris about his Broadway sensation Slave Play and his autobiographical "Daddy". This is an interview that will stick with you for a long time. They discuss how black art is re-packaged by white institutions, how black and white audiences respond differently to his work, and how to make theatre more accessible — both for quarantine and for younger audiences (Harris is also an executive producer on Euphoria). Plus: a special appearance from Phoebe Waller-Bridge!
As always, we want to hear from you. This week, we'd love to know what gems the Netflix algorithm is hiding from us. What are you streaming that we should be watching? We'll publish your list! Fill out our short form at ft.com/culturecallout, or email us at culturecall@ft.com. f you want to get social, we're on Twitter @FTCultureCall and Instagram at @griseldamurraybrown and @lilahrap.
Links and notes from the episode:
–A special gift from us to you: sign up to the FT's Coronavirus Business Update newsletter and get free access to our journalism for 30 days! https://www.ft.com/newsletter-signup/coronavirus?segmentId=0d92d58c-2c7d-178e-6aa8-81529dd53b1b
–The recipe for kuku sabzi, a delicious Persian frittata: https://youtu.be/OJFoIfzY7eI
–A great piece about Jenny Odell's How To Do Nothing: https://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-jenny-odell-interview-how-nothing-20190509-story.html
–Wesley Morris on ESPN's The Last Dance https://www.nytimes.com/article/the-last-dance-jordan.html
–(More Wesley Morris content) Still Processing dissects Tiger King: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/podcasts/still-processing-tiger-king.html
–FT review of Becoming on Netflix (paywall): https://www.ft.com/content/e46b7582-8df7-11ea-a8ec-961a33ba80aa
–Aisha Harris' review of Slave Play: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/opinion/slave-play-broadway.html
–Slave Play's set designer on the choice behind the onstage mirror: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/rihanna-mirrors-and-america-processing-slave-plays-set-design
–Genre defying women that Jeremy mentioned: Aphra Behn, Caryl Churchill, Suzan-Lori Parks
–Jeremy's recommendation of Perfect Blue by Satochi Kon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_Blue
–Jeremy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyoharris
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This week, we've dusted off a little gem from our archives. Gris spoke to the writer Sally Rooney in 2018, just before her bestselling novel Normal People was published in the UK. It went on to win tremendous acclaim, prizes and the hearts of many readers. Fast-forward eighteen months, and Rooney's tale of passionate young love has been turned into a gripping 12-part TV series on the BBC and Hulu. It's all we can talk about: Marianne, Connell — and Connell's neck chain. But what were the origins of the novel? And what does it have to say about sex, class and power?
We love hearing from you. Have you watched Normal People? How do you think it compares to the book? Email us at culturecall@ft.com or tweet us at @FTCultureCall. Also, we're still collecting your cultural recommendations: what are you watching, reading and doing at home? Fill out our short form at ft.com/culturecallout, or record a short voice note on your phone and email it to us. You can also find us on Instagram at @griseldamurraybrown and @lilahrap.
Recommended links:
–Sign up for the FT's Coronavirus Business Update newsletter and get free access to our journalism for 30 days: www.ft.com/culturecallcovid
–Our colleague Horatia Harrod interviews film-maker Lenny Abrahamson about adapting Normal People (paywall): https://www.ft.com/content/c590914c-8870-11ea-a01c-a28a3e3fbd33
–You know it's a phenomenon when a BuzzFeed writer digs deep into Spotify to unearth Sally Rooney's playlists for Connell and Marianne: https://www.buzzfeed.com/tatianatenreyrowhitlock/normal-people-playlists
–The FT's book review of Normal People (2018): https://www.ft.com/content/00461b64-b504-11e8-a1d8-15c2dd1280ff
–Neck chain hottake 1: 'Why Are Those Little Neck Chains So Sexy?': https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/bvgwp8/normal-people-connell-silver-chain
–Neck chain hottake 2: 'Is This the Sexiest Thing About Normal People?': https://www.thecut.com/2020/04/why-is-normal-people-connells-chain-so-hot.html
–'Normal people takes sex seriously': https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/arts/television/normal-people-hulu.html
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This week, we turn to Esther Perel, psychotherapist and host of the hit podcast Where Should We Begin?, to help put our fears and emotions around coronavirus in context. She also gives us useful strategies for living in lockdown. There are insights in this episode that we think will help listeners in any circumstance, so we've decided to drop it early.
We hope you enjoy the episode, and would love to hear your thoughts. Email us at culturecall@ft.com or tweet us at @FTCultureCall. We're also still collecting your cultural recommendations under quarantine: what are you watching, reading and doing at home? Fill out our short form at ft.com/culturecallout, or record a short voice note on your phone and email it to us. We'll use a selection in upcoming episodes.
Links:
–Our last episode with Esther, on surviving (and thriving) at work: https://www.ft.com/content/e271eac4-e41a-4577-b6e3-6c24e4e01c75
–Esther Perel's podcast, Where Should We Begin? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/where-should-we-begin-with-esther-perel/id1237931798
–Roxane Gay on the value of giving people money to help them get through Covid-19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8XQpOrAgWs
–A great article on ways to help during this pandemic (US focus): https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/4/14/21212199/donate-masks-blood-coronavirus-stimulus-checks
–Another resource with ways to help (UK focus): https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/27/coronavirus-and-volunteering-how-can-i-help-in-the-uk
–Lucy Kellaway's piece, "Is it okay to be happy in lockdown?" (paywall) https://www.ft.com/content/2203813e-797e-11ea-9840-1b8019d9a987
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We can't stop thinking about food: how to cook it, where to buy it, how many meals are too many meals and why everyone's making bread. This week, Lilah talks to Samin Nosrat, of bestselling cookbook and Netflix hit Salt Fat Acid Heat, about tips for cooking in a pandemic, the meaning of comfort food, her next cookbook — and the long-term effects of coronavirus on the restaurant industry.
We’d love to hear what you're turning to these days. What are you watching, reading, listening to...or cooking? Let us know at ft.com/culturecallout, or record a short voice note on your phone and send it to culturecall@ft.com. You can also tweet us at @FTCultureCall. Stay safe, and stay in touch.
Links from the episode
–It's your last chance to tell us what you think of the podcast (and be entered to win a pair of Bose wireless headphones!): ft.com/culturecallsurvey
–Christine and the Queens EP La Vita Nuova: https://youtu.be/EIdSORj_dd0
–Samin's new podcast, Home Cooking https://homecooking.show/
–Samin's foccacia recipe: https://www.saltfatacidheat.com/fat/ligurian-focaccia
–Kenji Lopez's guide on food safety and coronavirus, recommended by Samin: https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/03/food-safety-and-coronavirus-a-comprehensive-guide.html
–Sarah O'Connor's FT column on essential workers: "The people we need the most are often the ones we value the least." (free to read): https://www.ft.com/content/2b34269a-73f8-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca
–FT piece on China retailers facing a hard truth: if you reopen, they won't come (paywall): https://www.ft.com/content/07bd5ad6-6979-400f-a26e-bb0eefac1e6d
–The FT Bunker Food series (paywall): https://www.ft.com/content/c84f3fdc-73b2-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca
–Every day, the FT makes a selection of our coronavirus coverage free to read. You can find it all here: ft.com/coronavirusfree
–Lilah's interview with Mission Chinese chef Danny Bowien: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culture-call/id1179847741
–Pedro Almodóvar’s lockdown diary: https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/pedro-almodovar-coronavirus-lockdown-diary-part-1 (in English) and https://www.eldiario.es/autores/pedro_almodovar/ (in Spanish)
–The two guides Lilah depends on for making sourdough bread:
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Lilah chats with Ira Glass, the host of This American Life, the long running, seminal and wildly popular radio show that launched a genre of podcasting. But what does its name really mean? And what does American life look like today? They discuss reporting during a pandemic, whether the show has spurred or stifled creativity in audio, how having a more diverse staff has changed their stories — and why Ira is so often name-checked on online dating sites.
We’d love to hear what's keeping you centered and whose work you're turning to in these uncertain times. Let us know here: ft.com/culturecallout
You can also tweet us at @FTCultureCall. Stay safe, and stay in touch.
Links from the episode
Tell us what you think of Culture Call (and be entered to win a pair of Bose wireless headphones): ft.com/culturecallsurvey
A great example of New Journalism: Frank Sinatra Has a Cold, by Gay Talese https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a638/frank-sinatra-has-a-cold-gay-talese/
FT piece on gardening as ‘weeding the psyche’ (paywall): https://www.ft.com/content/2ce783ba-6944-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75
DJ D-Nice, who hosts Club Quarantine funk and hip hop dance parties on Instagram Live: https://www.instagram.com/dnice
The Salt Drop, Lilah’s workout recommendation: https://www.instagram.com/thesaltdrop
FT piece on the rise the lockdown celebrity (paywall): https://www.ft.com/content/a51fa513-423e-4e93-9097-bef36129d0a4
Gris’ film recommendation, Honeyland, is on Hulu
Lilah’s TV recommendation, Unorthodox, is on Netflix
---
Recommended This American Life episodes
'The Test', a recent episode about coronavirus: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/698/the-test
'We Come from Small Places', about Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/685/we-come-from-small-places
'Are We There Yet', about the refugee crisis in Greece: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/592/are-we-there-yet
'Tell Me I'm Fat', one of Gris' favourite episodes of TAL: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/589/tell-me-im-fat
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Gris and Lilah here, coming to you between episodes to find out how you're holding up. As we live through this surreal pandemic together (and apart), we want to know what's going through your mind. What are you noticing around you? How have you seen culture already begin to adapt to this new reality? And what have you been watching, reading, listening to, crafting, cooking, etc to get through? This is our Culture Call Out. We want to hear from you.
Let's put our observations, epiphanies and cultural recommendations together to try to get through this time. Send your voice memos to us at culturecall@ft.com by Monday, and we'll put a bunch in our next episode.
Here's how to send a voice memo: open the voice notes app on your phone, talk right into the mic, and email the file to culturecall@ft.com. If you're more comfortable in writing, feel free to email us the old fashioned way.
And if you want to connect online, you can find us on Twitter at @ftculturecall and on Instagram at @griseldamurraybrown and @lilahrap.
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This week has been dominated by the spread of coronavirus. The situation is changing so fast that we decided to publish a couple of days early. In the first half of this episode, Gris and Lilah discuss how coronavirus is already changing daily life — and how it might impact culture in the longer term. Will we lose our fear of missing out? What will the 'experience economy' look like? And can the thrill of a live performance be replicated online? The second half of the episode is an escape from all that: Gris meets the Irish novelist Eimear McBride, who wrote the literary sensation A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing. They discuss one-night stands, middle-aged women in literature, and her new novel Strange Hotel.
We’d love to hear how you’re doing in these strange and scary times, and in particular which TV shows, films and books are bringing you comfort. We’ll put a selection of your recommendations in our next episode. You can tweet us at @FTculturecall or email us at culturecall@ft.com. Stay safe, and stay in touch.
Links from the episode:
Let us know what you think of Culture Call (and win a pair of headphones): ft.com/culturecallsurvey
Henry Mance’s FT piece ‘Will coronavirus change how we live?’ (paywall) https://www.ft.com/content/8044788c-5e05-11ea-b0ab-339c2307bcd4
Trend forecaster Emily Segal discusses the experience economy on Culture Call: https://www.ft.com/content/d5f298c8-ca35-43bd-af3c-fdc5c4c7edf7
The New Yorker on the Netflix show Love is Blind: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/how-love-is-blind-transcends-the-norms-of-reality-television
FT review of Jenny Offill’s novel Weather: https://www.ft.com/content/5050a052-4766-11ea-aee2-9ddbdc86190d
FT review of Eimear McBride’s novel Strange Hotel: https://www.ft.com/content/5fd7880a-3ddf-11ea-b84f-a62c46f39bc2
‘Today I Learned That Not Everyone Has An Internal Monologue And It Has Ruined My Day’:
New York Times interview with Jeremy O Harris, our next podcast guest: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/theater/jeremy-o-harris-slave-play.html
Episode in which Lilah recommends Jeremy O Harris’s Slave Play: https://www.ft.com/content/c71cfeee-1ca8-4b07-be68-a05500c6067
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To mark International Women's Day on March 8, and following Harvey Weinstein's recent conviction in New York, we're doing something a bit different. In this episode, Gris speaks to three of today's most compelling writers and campaigners about feminism now. They touch on everything from changing beauty standards to teens and social media to modern motherhood. Prepare to be surprised. Or as Lilah put it: "whatever I thought I was going to hear, that is not what I heard." (A warning if you're listening with kids: this episode contains some swearing.)
The discussion was recorded at FT NextGen, a one-day festival in London in November 2019 — watch this space for details of this year's NextGen festivals in London and New York.
Feminism is a subject that inspires strong reactions — and we'd especially like to know what you thought of this episode. Tweet us @FTCultureCall or email us at culturecall@ft.com. And if you enjoy the show, why not leave us a review on Apple Podcasts?
Links to some of the things we discussed:
Gris's piece on female essayists, including Rebecca Solnit, Jia Tolentino and Emilie Pine: https://www.ft.com/content/e8126aec-b1e3-11e9-bec9-fdcab53d6959
Gris's podcast interview with Jia Tolentino: https://www.ft.com/content/7d248852-e840-477c-b4c8-8bdbd48a43f2
Lilah's podcast interview with Lisa Taddeo: https://www.ft.com/content/14f68996-d4a8-4d7f-ae2b-4398f35a9a24
A good piece about My Dark Vanessa: https://www.vulture.com/2020/02/my-dark-vanessa-kate-elizabeth-russell.html
FT House & Home piece on maximalism and heritage interiors (paywall): https://www.ft.com/content/4d78b96e-4e5f-11ea-95a0-43d18ec715f5
Hospital Sant Pau in Barcelona: https://www.santpaubarcelona.org/en/visits-sant-pau-art-nouveau-site
Lilah's tilapia recipe, stolen straight off the back of the Trader Joe's label (this is not sponsored!): https://www.food.com/recipe/lemon-butter-tilapia-147551
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