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Hang Up: Is Winning Time a Winner? Apr 25, 2022

Show notes

Vinson Cunningham, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about the decline of the Brooklyn Nets and the rise of the New Orleans Pelicans. They also discuss Wimbledon’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes, and they review the HBO series Winning Time, on the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers.

NBA playoffs (3:55): What’s gone wrong for Brooklyn? What’s going right for New Orleans?

Wimbledon (25:34): Is there any logic to banning individual Russian athletes?

Winning Time (49:08): What the show gets right and what it gets wrong.

Afterball (1:09:52): Josh on hiding in sports.

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Working: Artist Christina Chang on Her Creative Direction for Cartoon Shows Apr 24, 2022

Show notes

This week, host Karen Han talks to Christina Chang, creative director for the animated series We Baby Bears on Cartoon Network. In the interview, Christina explains what a creative director does and describes the common challenges that animators and storyboard artists face. She also discusses her career journey and the challenges of assuming a leadership role.

After the interview, Karen and co-host June Thomas talk about how production budgets can affect animated series. Then they discuss the benefits of studying other people’s work to improve your own.

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Karen and Christina chat about burnout and taking breaks.

Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Big Mood, Little Mood—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus.

Thanks to Avast.com!

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ICYMI: The Girlboss-ification of Casual Sex Apr 23, 2022

Show notes

In the past few years, trend pieces have flooded the internet telling us that Gen Z is a bunch of “puriteens” and not having as much sex as the rest of us. Looks like we’ve got a new moral panic on our hands. On today’s show, You’re Wrong About’s Sarah Marshall joins Rachelle to talk about the hand-wringing reasons people think the youth aren’t engaging in sex, why our society is so obsessed with the sex lives of teenagers, and how Gen Z might just have the healthiest relationship with sex yet, even if they aren’t having any.

Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder.

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The Waves: Ecofeminism Isn’t Just For Hippies Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

On this week’s episode of The Waves, senior producer Cheyna Roth is joined by freelance science writer Eleanor Cummins to talk about the possible resurgence of Ecofeminism. Eleanor recently published “Is Ecofeminism Due for a Comeback?” in The New Republic. They discuss how the term came to be “passe,” what places are embracing the concept of combining feminism and the environment (and trying to save the Amazon in the process), and why the time is right for feminists to embrace the planet.

In Slate Plus, the waves of Ecofeminism, and where the term “tree-hugger” came from.

Recommendations:

Cheyna: Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Eleanor: Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus and Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com

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Working: Teaching as a Creative Practice Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

For this week’s episode of Working Overtime, hosts Isaac Butler and June Thomas answer a question from a physics teacher named Anya, who thinks we should all view teaching as the creative practice that it is. Building a creative atmosphere for students can provide some truly inspired ways of teaching, but it can just as easily wind up going a little overboard…

What did a teacher do that you found really creative? Or are there some creative teaching habits that should really be avoided? Share them with us at (304) 933-9675 or email us at working@slate.com.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis and Cameron Drews.

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ICYMI: Disney Got Fans Arrested Over a Club for Penguins? Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

Three people involved with Club Penguin Rewritten, a fan-made remake of a popular Disney game, were arrested last week by the City of London police because they were infringing on Disney’s copyright. On the show today, Rachelle and Allegra talk about the history of Club Penguin, growing up on browser games, and what this news could mean for other fan-created remakes of now-defunct games.

Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder.

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Culture Gabfest: Wet Leg, Floppy Fingers Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

This week, the panel begins by entering the multiverse of Everything Everywhere All At Once. Then, the panel dives into Apple TV+’s newest spy drama Slow Horses (based on books that were reviewed by Slate’s own Laura Miller). Finally, the panel talks about music’s next big thing: British indie-rock duoWet Leg’s newest self-titled album.

In Slate Plus, the panel discusses a Gawker article from Rachel Connolly, titled “The ‘Pity Me!’ Personal Essay.”

Email us at culturefest@slate.com.

Endorsements

Dana: Dana reads Herman Melville’s sonnet titled “Art” about…art! Also, this video of Dana’s recent book event in Philadelphia!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyODZSE6w_o

Julia: L.A. Times’ Festival of Books—where both Julia and Dana are doing panels!—which takes place April 23–24th. In addition: L.A. Times’ “Lit City” package which includes a list of “The 65 best bookstores in L.A.” Notably from that list is Julia’s listener-inspired selection: Children’s Book World.

Steve: An essay in the NYRoB by M.W. Feldman and Jessica Riskin, titled “Why Biology Is Not Destiny,” in which they review The Genetic Lottery by Kathryn Harden.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Nadira Goffe.

Outro music is "Lonely Calling" by Arc De Soleil

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts, a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest, full access to Slate's journalism on Slate.com, and more. Sign up now at slate.com/cultureplus.

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Outward: Queer Families in Kindergarten and the Multiverse Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

This month Bryan, Christina, and Jules take a break from talking about the hostile legislation queer and trans people are fighting against to talk about what they’re fighting for. Brooklyn kindergarten teacher Eliza Cutler joins the hosts to share what it looks like when teachers are free to speak about LGBTQ lives in the classroom. Then they discuss the queer family drama at the heart of the new genre-bending, multiverse-hopping film Everything Everywhere All at Once. (NOTE: If you don't want to hear spoilers for Everything Everywhere All at Once, you can jump from the 33-minute mark to the 59-minute point, but come back after you've seen the movie. You don't want to miss this conversation.)

Items discussed in the show:

Robbie Pierce’s Twitter thread about the homophobic harassment his family endured while riding Amtrak

Queers responding to homophobic legislation with … merch

The long life and sad demise of Bitch Media.

They She He Me: Free to Be, by Maya Christina Gonzalez and Matthew SG

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress, by Christine Baldacchino and Isabelle Malenfant

Jacob’s New Dress, by Sarah and Ian Hoffman and Chris Cage

Introducing Teddy, by Jessica Walton and Dougal MacPherson

Pugdog, by Andrea U’Ren

“Everything Everywhere All at Once Is a Queer Masterpiece of Colossa Sincerity,” by Drew Gregory, in Autostraddle

“Everything Everywhere All at Once Is an Emotional Gut Punch About Queer Erasure, Acceptance,” by Patrick Ryan, in USA Today

“This One Stale Joke Won’t Let Everything Everywhere All at Once Be Great,” by Kyle Turner, in W

“On Being Trans and Watching Everything Everywhere All at Once,” by Linda Codega, in Gizmodo

Gay Agenda

Christina: “Sex, Love, and Art in the Suburbs,” by Garth Greenwell, in Esquire

Bryan: “This Beach in Mexico Is an L.G.B.T.Q. Haven. But Can It Last?” by Oscar Lopez and Lisette Poole, in the New York Times

Jules: Manhunt, by Gretchen Felker-Martin

This podcast was produced by June Thomas.

Please send feedback, topic ideas, and advice questions to outwardpodcast@slate.com.

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Decoder Ring: “F--k Everything, We're Doing Five Blades” Apr 19, 2022

Show notes

In the early 2000s, an arms race broke out in the world of men’s shaving. After decades with razors that had only one blade and then decades with razors that had only two, the number of blades rapidly spiraled up and up and up.

It’s a skirmish sometimes referred to as The Razor Blade Wars, and it was a face-off about innovation, competition, capitalism, masculinity, and most of all, how strange things can become after you’ve created something that’s the best a consumer can get — and then you have to keep going.

Some of the voices you’ll hear in this episode include Rebecca Herzig, author of Plucked: A History of Hair Removal; Tim Dowling, Guardian columnist and author of Inventor of the Disposable Culture: King Camp Gillette 1855-1932; Dan Koeppel, razor blade zelig; and Kaitlyn Tiffany, writer for the Atlantic.

If you want to read more about razor blades, check out:

Decoder Ring is written and produced by Willa Paskin. This episode was produced by Elizabeth Nakano. Derek John is Sr. Supervising Producer of Narrative Podcasts.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com

If you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you get ad-free podcasts, bonus episodes, and total access to all of Slate’s journalism.

Check out Home. Made. here

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Slate Money Goes to the Movies: The Talented Mr. Ripley Apr 19, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to Slate Money Goes to the Movies, a miniseries in which Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and a different guest each week discuss popular business-themed movies.

Former Slate editor Jared Hohlt joins Felix and Emily to talk about the 1999 thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley…along with another movie! They get into the sexual politics of the movie and the furniture in it, how the movie stacks up against the Patricia Highsmith novel it’s based on, and get into the 1975 grift movie, Fox and His Friends.

Email: slatemoney@slate.com

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

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