Culture Gabfest

This week, the panel begins by dissecting The Golden Bachelor, the latest spin-off of the classic reality TV series starring a 72-year-old bachelor searching for love amongst a group of women in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. Sincerity ensues… or does it? Then, the three return to the ‘80s to discuss A24’s re-release of Stop Making Sense, Jonathan Demme’s seminal 1984 Talking Heads concert movie that’s widely regarded as the apex of the genre. Finally, they investigate the celebrity apology video aesthetic, an artform that’s been attempted—and by no means, perfected—by Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Russell Brand, and Drew Barrymore recently, as an unusual document of the times.

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel discusses the meme and viral TikTok trend, “How often do you think about the Roman Empire?” and the ways it encourages a faux-performance of gender on the internet. 

Email us at [email protected]. 

Endorsements:

Dana: In the spirit of revelatory live shows, Dana endorses The Bengsons, a folk-rock duo (by married couple Abigail and Shaun Bengson) whose recent concert she describes as “performance art.”

Julia: “Stop Talking” by Miya Folick, one Julia’s favorite songs from the 2023 Summer Strut Mega-mix, that exasperatedly laments about a friend whose brain space has been eaten up by some boy–and Folick doesn’t want to hear about it anymore! 

Stephen: Lucky in Paris by saxophonist Lucky Thompson, a relatively under-the-radar record that has become one of Stephen’s top five jazz albums of all time. 

Outro music: “On the Keys of Steel” by Dusty Decks.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

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This week, Dana and Stephen are once again joined by Kat Chow, author of the memoir Seeing Ghosts. The panel begins by jumping into the ring with Cassandro, the oddly conflict-adverse biopic about the lucha libre superstar and exótico gay icon, Saúl Armendáriz, who is played terrifically by Gael García Bernal in a provocative, tour-de-force performance. Then, the trio wades into comedian–and future Daily Show host hopeful–Hasan Minhaj’s thorny web of lies with Slate staff writer, Nitish Pahwa, who detailed the devastating impact of Minhaj’s many falsehoods in his essay, “Hasan Minhaj Meant Something to Brown Americans. Was It All an Act?” Finally, the three react to “The 40 Greatest Stand-Alone TV Episodes of All Time,” written by the Slate Staff, a massive labor of love and fun thought experiment that spans The Sopranos, Atlanta, The Larry Sanders Show, Black Mirror, and High Maintenance. 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel discusses the impact the last few years have had on their lives, inspired by Katy Schneider’s essay for The Cut, “The Pandemic Skip.”

Email us at [email protected]. 

Endorsements:

Dana: Dana sent this to everyone she knows–family, friends, etc. It’s a new interview with Martin Scorsese, written by Zach Baron for GQ entitled “Martin Scorsese: ‘I Have To Find Out Who The Hell I Am.’” In addition to films and moviemaking (his latest, Killers of the Flower Moon, is set to be released in October), the legendary director, now 80, also speaks candidly about life, its inevitable end, and his own mortality. It’s a dream of an interview and absolutely sublime. 

Kat: Small Things Like These, a beautifully written historical fiction novel by Claire Keegan about the horrific conditions women and children endured at Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. 

Stephen: “Quantum poetics,” an essay in Aeon written by William Egginton, a professor of humanities at James Hopkins University. In it, Egginton describes the ways Argentine short story author, Jorge Luis Borges, and German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg “converged on the notion that language both enables and interferes with our grasp of reality.” 

Outro music: “Forbidden Love” by OTE

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.

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This week, Stephen and Dana are joined by long-time friend of the pod and co-host of Slate’s Working podcast, June Thomas. The panel begins by puzzling over the return of Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot in A Haunting in Venice, the actor-director’s third Agatha Christie whodunit adaptation. Then, they dig into Jann Wenner’s disastrous New York Times interview with David Marchese in which the Rolling Stone co-founder manages to disgrace himself in almost every conceivable way. Finally, the trio concludes by discussing Naomi Klein’s new book, Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, which captures the strange ways selfhood is performed in the internet age. 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel reveals their cleaning playlists and audio accompaniments, inspired by Lindsay Zoladz’ essay for The New York Times, “A 20-Minute Cleaning Playlist.”

Email us at [email protected]. 

Endorsements:

Dana: The wonderful world of Better Call Saul table reads (which can be found on YouTube), specifically, the one for “Switch,” Season 2, Episode 1. 

June: As someone who enjoys reading biographies of unpleasant people, June endorses A Thread of Violence by Mark O’Connel, which chronicles the gripping tale of one of the most scandalous murders in modern Irish history.  

Stephen: The West Cork podcast, a non-fiction series reported and hosted by Sam Bungey and Jennifer Forde about the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. 

Outro music: “Mother” by The Big Let Down.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.

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This week, Stephen and Dana are joined by guest host Kat Chow, journalist and author of the 2021 memoir Seeing Ghosts. The panel begins by wading through HELL, Chris Fleming’s new hour-long comedy special that’s both puzzling and delightfully goofy. Then, the three consider Astrakan, a deeply dark and unsettling first feature from director David Depesseville, and attempt to parse through the film’s (intentionally?) ambiguous messages. Finally, they conclude by discussing Rotten Tomatoes, the widely used critical review aggregation site and subject of the recent Vulture exposé by Lane Brown, “The Decomposition of Rotten Tomatoes,” which details a “gaming of the system” by Hollywood PR teams. 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel dives into the 2023 U.S. Open, specifically the effect of extreme heat on gameplay and how the sport will need to contend with climate change going forward. 

Email us at [email protected]. 

Endorsements:

Kat: C Pam Zhang’s brilliant upcoming novel The Land of Milk and Honey. 

Dana: One of the best novels she’s read in years, Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas.

Stephen: The Guest by Emma Cline, a novel that serves as a “carefully observed ethnography of the super rich.” 

Outro music: “On the Keys of Steel” by Dusty Decks.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.

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

This week, the panel jumps into Bottoms, the chaotic second feature from director and co-writer Emma Seligman that satirizes… something (what that thing is, they have yet to discover). They then discuss Telemarketers, a Michael Moore-style documentary that exposes the telemarketing industry’s dark underbelly in a weirdly captivating tour de force. Finally, the trio takes on Strike Force Five, a new Spotify podcast hosted by late-night veterans Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, and Seth Meyers that deals with the ins and outs of the trade and raises money for their striking writing staffs. 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel considers the joys of trains and sleeper cars, inspired by Bryn Stole’s essay for Slate, “Wake on a Train.” 

Email us at [email protected]. 

Endorsements:

Dana: A very funny, investigative piece in The Guardian by Elif Batuman: “Proust, ChatGPT and the case of the forgotten quote.” 

Julia: In a wonderfully kismet moment, Julia stumbled upon Hilltown Hot Pies, a neapolitan-ish pizzeria in the Berkshires run by chef Rafi Bildner, who previously owned one of Stephen’s favorite pizza spots in Ghent. 

Stephen: “The Inheritance Case That Could Unravel an Art Dynasty” by Rachel Corbett for The New York Times Magazine, an essay that lays bare an empire built on shell companies, weird art depots, and paintings sequestered in vaults.

Outro music: “Break The Line” by Coma Svensson

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.

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This week, Julia is joined by Slate associate culture writer Nadira Goffe and Jamelle Bouie, opinion columnist at The New York Times. The panel begins by test driving Gran Turismo, a sports movie that is essentially a Playstation commercial based on popular intellectual property and “real life.” Then, they explore Mask Girl, a visually stylish K-drama that tackles men, capital letters, systemic violence, Korean beauty standards, and fame through smart social satire. Finally, the three discuss the virtues, or lack thereof, found in Oliver Anthony’s number one hit song “Rich Men North of Richmond” (which Jamelle also covered in his essay “The Irony in the ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’”).

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel considers prep, preppy style, and their relationships to the American art form, inspired by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela’s piece for The New Republic, “We’re All Preppy Now.” 

Email us at [email protected]. 

Endorsements:

Jamelle: The films of Satoshi Kon, the legendary Japanese film director, animator, and screenwriter. Jamelle particularly enjoys Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress, which he calls a “love letter to mid-century Japanese filmmaking.” 

Julia: A recent tomato sandwich devotee, Julia endorses Eric Kim’s furikake tomato sandwich recipe for The New York Times. It calls for Wonder Bread, a bit of mayonnaise, heirloom tomatoes, and a sprinkling of the dry Japanese condiment. 

Nadira: British neo-funk electronic collective, Jungle, and the dance-based music videos for their latest album, Volcano, specifically “Candle Flame,” “Dominoes,” and viral sensation “Back on 74,” brilliantly choreographed by Shay Latukolan. 

Outro music: "Warefare" by Sandra Bjurman

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

Hosts

Julia Turner, Nadira Goffe, Jamelle Bouie

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This week, Dana is joined by Slate’s books and culture columnist, Laura Miller, and senior editor Rebecca Onion (who are filling in for Julia and Stephen). The panel begins by unraveling Passages, the sexy but also, at times, repelling feature from director Ira Sachs about a complicated love triangle. The film received a controversial NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association. Then, they head to Detroit to discuss Justified: City Primeval, FX’s revival of the Raylan Givens cult classic that ran for six seasons. Finally, the three consider Michael Oher’s recent legal allegation that the Tuohy family (immortalized in the 2009 Oscar-winning movie The Blind Side) never really adopted him but instead, placed him in a conservatorship. It’s a scandal at the fascinating convergence of exploitation, fame, race, and adoption. 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel examines nature writing and their relationship to the form, inspired by Jonathan Franzen’s essay for The New Yorker, “The Problem with Nature Writing.” 

Email us at [email protected]. 

Endorsements:

Laura: Her quest for a new detective series (that isn’t stupid or cliché) is over: Laura endorses Deadloch, a Prime Video comedy set in Tasmania that’s equal parts genuine mystery and delicious social satire. 

Rebecca: Anya Liftig’s memoir, Holler Rat, beautifully recounts her upbringing where she often felt caught between two worlds: the comfortable, upper-middle-class life in Connecticut where she lived, and the summers spent in Appalachia, her mother’s home. 

Dana: A behind-the-scenes video for, what could potentially be the song of the summer, “I’m Just Ken” has just been released. In it, we see Ryan Gosling rehearsing and cameos from Greta Gerwig, Simu Liu and co-writer Mark Ronson, and it’s just super fun. 

Outro music: “I Want a Change” by The Big Let Down. 

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

This episode is sponsored by the podcast About the Journey. Learn more here: https://traveler.marriott.com/about-the-journey/

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

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This week, the panel begins by dissecting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, a zany piece of intellectual property that’s been taken off the shelf by Jeff Rowe, Seth Rogan, and a slew of animators and turned into a critical darling. Then, the trio reviews The Retrievals, a five-part narrative podcast hosted by Susan Burton for The New York Times and Serial Productions that chronicles the systematic ways American healthcare continually denies, discounts, and ignores women’s pain through a series of events that unfolded at the Yale Fertility Clinic. Finally, they are joined by Wesley Morris, critic at large at The New York Times, to discuss his tour de force essay, “How Hip-Hop Conquered the World,” and how the history of the radical art form is as porous and complex as the nation itself. 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel commemorates hip-hop’s 50th anniversary with a lightning round of personal accounts about their first encounters with the form. 

Email us at [email protected]. 

Endorsements:

Dana: Since their conversation about Sinéad O’Connor a few weeks ago, Dana has dived even deeper into the late Irish singer/songwriter’s oeuvre. One gem she found was The Year of the Horse, a concert documentary recorded live in 1990 at Forest National, Brussels. It’s a fantastic snapshot of a live performance at a very specific time in O’Connor’s life. 

Julia: Taylor Swift fans! Julia recently attended Swift’s concert in Los Angeles and was struck by the overall kind, positive, and good vibes of the crowd. Fans of all ages and body types exchanged bracelets with one another, trading “Hi Barbie!” greetings, which made the concert-going experience feel even more special. 

Stephen: It may be difficult to convince a teenage girl in 2023 to listen to Tom Waits’ catalog, but Stephen has done exactly that: he created a playlist for his daughter called “Broken Bicycles,” which highlights Waits’ extraordinary ability to write a pop melody. 

Outro music: “Spinning Wheels” by Dusty Decks.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

This episode is sponsored by the podcast About the Journey. Learn more here: https://traveler.marriott.com/about-the-journey/

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

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This week, the panel is joined by pop critic and chart analyst (and host of Slate’s Hit Parade podcast) Chris Molanphy for our annual Summer Strut episode. The four dive into the longest listener-suggested summer playlist to date (this year, it’s a 682 song behemoth that adds up to approximately 42 hours!) and take turns in an electric, strut-ty roundtable discussion of their top picks.

You can find their collective favorites here in the Summer Strut '23 Shortlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Ivpm4HVLsMw3LFwkgp7lw?si=90d2d26d65264157

To view Dana, Steve, Julia, and Chris's personal shortlists, and the original massive playlist, check out the Summer Strut show page at slate.com/culturefest.

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel does an additional round of their Strut-iest picks.

Email us at [email protected]. 

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

This episode is sponsored by the podcast About the Journey. Learn more here: https://traveler.marriott.com/about-the-journey/

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

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

This week, the panel begins by diving into Theater Camp, a mockumentary-style comedy about gloriously talented misfits. Then, they pay tribute to Sinéad O’Connor, the dearly missed Irish singer, songwriter, and activist whose 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live rocked the world. Then, the trio is joined by screenwriter (and co-host of the Scriptnotes podcast) John August to discuss the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, what’s going on in Hollywood, and how this “double strike” feels different than others past.  

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel chews over our relationships to our digits, inspired by the delightfully small yet cerebral piece by Charlie Warzel for The Atlantic, “In Praise of Phone Numbers.”

Email us at [email protected]. 

Endorsements:

Dana: While not released on one of her albums, Sinéad O’Connor’s performance of “The Foggy Dew” with The Chieftains at the 1995 IRMA awards in Dublin perfectly captures the singer’s gift for singing live. 

Julia: A big fan of lighting candles at dinner, Julia recommends Mole Hollow, a Massachusetts-based company that produces stunning handmade candles in bright, vibrant colors. 

John: Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s novel, This is How You Lose the Time War, is a beautiful and intimate story with science fiction influences, told through the exchanging of letters, epistolary-style. Shout out to Twitter user @maskofbun for the viral recommendation. 

Stephen: He doesn’t normally join the bandwagon of clear winners, but Patrick Radden Keefe’s profile of art dealer Larry Gagosian for The New Yorker is so impressive, it left Stephen speechless. 

Outro music: “Forbidden Love” by OTE

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

This episode is sponsored by the podcast About the Journey. Learn more here: https://traveler.marriott.com/about-the-journey/

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

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