Slate Culture Feed

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate senior writer Scaachi Koul, who profiled author Lindy West. West’s new book, Adult Braces, details, among many things, her coming to grips with being in a polyamorous relationship. But opening up this complicated story to an audience has incited a tidal-wave of feedback about not just West, but also her partners, Aham Oluo and Roya Amirsoleymani. West is no stranger to online trolls, but something about this time feels different—and the way she and her partners are responding (including in emails to Koul herself) is only making things worse.

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay, with help from Kevin Bendis.

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To mark Hit Parade’s 100th episode, host Chris Molanphy is doing something he’s never done: He’s going to talk about himself—and just how nerdy you have to be to host a show like Hit Parade. Chris reflects on the origins and depth of his chart fandom, and ponders existential questions like: What makes a person want to track these rankings? Why do we care about what, or who, is No. 1?

Join Chris for this exploration of how the charts have informed, inspired and infiltrated his life—and yours, too.

Coming up in Part 2: Chris pays tribute to one of his heroes and a huge influence on Hit Parade: the chart king who counted down the hits every week ... from coast to coast. Available on March 27, but Slate Plus members can listen right now!

Not a Slate Plus member? Get early access, bonus episodes of “The Bridge,” and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe directly from the Hit Parade show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

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Welcome to a very special Money On Film miniseries!

Over three episodes, Slate Money’s Felix Salmon and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe revisit three films at the intersection of culture and finance. On this episode, we’re headed to Wall Street to watch a Felix Salmon favorite: Margin Call, the 2011 thriller-drama starring a long list of famous people, including Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, Stanley Tucci, Demi Moore, and yes, Kevin Spacey.

Directed by J. C. Chandor, the film takes place at an investment bank on the brink of the Great Financial Crisis, as financiers struggle to maintain their balance sheets against the greatest villain of the aughts: mortgage-backed securities.

Coming up on Money On Film: the 2025 rom-com Materialists, followed by the animated masterpiece Spirited Away from 2001. See you next time!

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On this week’s show, Dana and Steve are joined by long-time FOP Isaac Butler (and author of the forthcoming book The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars.) They step into this week’s cultural trenches by way of an animatronic beaver den in Pixar’s Hoppers. Does the kooky eco-romp revive Pixar from its much-discussed slump? They discuss.

Next, they step to the frontlines of middle-age malaise in the new HBO limited series DTF St. Louis, a sex comedy and meditation on male friendship mashed up with a murder mystery starring Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini.

Finally, they debrief on the various battles for golden men in a recap and analysis of the 98th Academy Awards. Are the Oscars a real measure of artistic value? What do this year’s ceremony and winners say about the state of cinema? Why are they so long? Your questions answered here.

In an exclusive bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, the panel takes up a recent excerpt from Michael Pollan’s new book A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness.

Endorsements

Isaac: An earlier instance of Jason Bateman playing sinister, the 2015 thriller The Gift, directed by Joel Edgerton. (Also, don’t forget to pre-order The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars)

Steve: The work of the recently deceased philosopher Jürgen Habermas. As a starting off point, read the Wikipedia page of his early work The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. 

Dana: For more beaver-related slapstick, the exceedingly low-budget 2022 debut—produced for just $150,000— of director Mike Cheslik Hundreds of Beavers. 

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Email us your thoughts at [email protected]. 

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.

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On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate staff writer Nadira Goffe to answer the question everyone is asking since he appeared in a viral moment from the Oscars’ red carpet: Who TF is Jake Shane? The TikTokker has a podcast, an upcoming Hulu show, and a role at a candy company, but is best known for just being around famous people. He insists he’s not a journalist, but he’s not quite a celebrity himself, either. Is this our first “professional clout-chaser” (non-derogatory)?

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.

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

Soon after his wife started experimenting with ChatGPT last summer, Rob* says her demeanor began to change. He says she started using mystical speech, running all communication through AI, and filed for divorce. Now, Rob is left to wonder how much he’s to blame for the end of their marriage and how much can be explained by “AI-induced psychosis.” 

Also in this episode, Anna talks to psychologist Dr. Zak Stein, director of the AI Psychological Harms Research Coalition, about his theory of chatbots and “attachment hacking.” 

*name changed for privacy

If you or a loved one had an experience with an AI spiral and want to check out Rob’s discord, send a message through https://thehumanlineproject.org/

Podcast production by Zoe Azulay

Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus! Members get ad-free podcasts, bonus content on lots of Slate shows, and full access to all the articles on Slate.com. Sign up today at slate.com/dsmplus.

And if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our new email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques, is [email protected].

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Hosts Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh discuss the thrilling World Baseball Classic semifinal between Team USA and the Dominican Republic, as well as the missed calls, Navy SEAL visits, and other strange drama surrounding the tournament. Then the panel previews NCAA March Madness tournament before closing with a look at the expanding connections between Jeffrey Epstein and figures across the sports world.

In this week’s bonus episode for Slate Plus members, the hosts chat about Bam Adebayo’s historic 83-point run against the Washington Wizards last week. 

WBC: (4:52): The called strike heard round the world

March Madness (23:01): Chalk talk.

Epstein and Sports (42:01): The revolting revelations about Steve Tisch

(Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad-free.)

Get more Hang Up and Listen with Slate Plus! Join for weekly bonus episodes of Hang Up and Listen and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Hang Up and Listen show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/hangupplus for access wherever you listen.

You can email us at [email protected].

Podcast production and editing by Kevin Bendis, with production assistance from Patrick Fort.

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On today’s episode, guest host Scaachi Koul is joined by journalist and content creator Melanie Hamlett to talk about the trend of wives who make content about the husbands who seem to hate them. Melanie has covered the toxic dynamics of some heterosexual relationships for years, including a viral 2019 article for Harper’s Bazaar.  She was recently interviewed as part of an article for The Cut called I Love My Husband (Who Hates Me). 

Get more of ICYMI with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of ICYMI and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the ICYMI show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/icymiplus for access wherever you listen.

This podcast episode is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and guest host Scaachi Koul.

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On this week’s monster mash, Steve, Dana, and Julia gather around the proverbial reanimation laboratory to take on the nutty, goth, and unbridled The Bride! Maggie Gyllenhaal’s feminist—or not, it’s up for debate—retelling of Frankenstein features a truly committed performance from Jessie Buckley. Do the disjointed pieces add to a coherent whole? They discuss.

Next, they take a look at Paul McCartney: Man on the Run, the Morgan Neville documentary about the moment when the legendary songwriter and rockstar stopped being a Beatle and had to become something else.

Finally, they wade through the morass of titles like How to Tame a Silver Fox and Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death to explore the exceedingly cheap and increasingly popular world of vertical micro-dramas via the app ReelShort. 

In a bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, they tackle the question of when, in fact, one becomes an adult—inspired by a recent piece in The New Yorker by Shayla Love. 

And if you’re watching the Oscars this week, don’t miss a chance for a special live pre-show with your fave Gabfest critics. Dana joins Isaac Butler, Nadira Goffe, and Sam Adams on Thursday, March 12, for an Oscars preview unlike any other. They’ll weigh in on the sinners and saints of this year’s award season.

Endorsements

Dana: The compilation of Kris Kristofferson songs The Essential Kris Kristofferson, especially the first disc.

Julia: The Helen Garner novel The Spare Room. Also her new LA-based news outlet, L.A. Material, launching next week.

Steve: Jean Guéhenno's account of life in Occupied France Diary of the Dark Years, 1940-1944.

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Email us your thoughts at [email protected]. 

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.

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When Eyes Wide Shut opened in the summer of 1999, it was widely considered a disappointment. This final film from legendary director Stanley Kubrick had been sold as an erotic thriller, and potentially even a peek into the real sex lives of its then-married stars, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. But Eyes Wide Shut was stranger than that: a meditative art film whose much-hyped orgy scene is more creepy than sexy, run by a cabal of rich and powerful men who prey on young women.

But Eyes Wide Shut has received a burst of new attention in the last few years, amid constant revelations about a real-life cabal of rich and powerful men who prey on young women. Across the internet, cinema sleuths have been asking: is it possible Eyes Wide Shut was not fictional? Was Stanley Kubrick trying to warn the world about a real conspiracy? And if so… was he murdered for it? 

In this episode of Decoder Ring, we follow Lane Brown—a lifelong Kubrick fan and features writer for New York Magazine—as he investigates this conspiracy theory and what it says about how we deal with ugly facts and murky fictions.

This episode was written and produced by Max Freedman and edited by Willa Paskin. Decoder Ring is also produced by Katie Shepherd and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at [email protected] or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.

Sources for This Episode

Barbezat, Michael. “‘Pizzagate’ and the Nocturnal Ritual Fantasy: Imaginary Cults, Fake News, and Real Violence,” The Public Medievalist, May 4, 2017.

Brown, Lane. “The Eyes Wide Shut Conspiracy,” New York Magazine, Dec. 17, 2025.

Ebiri, Bilge. “An Oral History of an Orgy,” New York Magazine, June 27, 2019.

Nicholson, Amy. “The Year Tom Cruise Gave Not One but Two Dangerously Vulnerable Performances,” The New York Times, Aug. 27, 2024.

Raftery, Brian. “Dream Team: Cruise, Kidman, Kubrick, and the making of Eyes Wide Shut,” New York Magazine, Apr. 15, 2019.

Shapiro, Lila. “What I Learned After Watching Eyes Wide Shut 100 Times,” New York Magazine, July 1, 2019. 

Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.

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