298 episodes
Life and Art from FT Weekend Financial Times
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- Arts
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4.5 • 390 Ratings
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Life 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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Spring cooking tips with chef Ayesha Nurdjaja
Spring is upon us, which means a bounty of fresh, green seasonal vegetables, from asparagus to artichokes to ramps. To help inspire us to make our own spring feasts, Lilah invites Ayesha Nurdjaja into the studio. Ayesha is the executive chef and partner at Shuka and Shukette, two beloved New York restaurants. Shukette has been called “a Middle Eastern party”, both for its open kitchen and bountiful meals, and for its energy. Visitors are encouraged to mix and match kebabs, breads, herb-covered fish and more in an approach Ayesha calls the “rip and dip”. She shares tons of tips and recipes for spring, and talks about growing up in a household of great global cooks – where her mother’s Italian-American food melded with her dad’s Indonesian cooking.
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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews on Apple, Spotify, etc.
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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):
– Ayesha is on Instagram @ayesharare
– Her restaurants in New York are Shuka (in SoHo), and Shukette (in Chelsea)
– Last year we talked to Ayesha about balancing and building flavour for our food and drinks series. You can check out that conversation here: https://on.ft.com/3Up7mQe
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The FT Weekend Festival is coming back, and will be in Washington, DC, on May 4. Speakers include Nancy Pelosi. To book tickets, go to ft.com/festival-us and use our exclusive discount code: weekendpodcast.
Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Culture chat: ‘Civil War’ is not the film you think it is
This week, we talk about the new film ‘Civil War’, directed by Alex Garland, which depicts a future US that’s divided and decimated. It stars Kirsten Dunst as a veteran photojournalist, who is on a road trip with a ragtag group of colleagues. They’re driving through the war-torn north-east to reach the White House before it is stormed by rebel forces. The film has been highly praised as well as highly criticised. What is it trying to say about the state of America? Is it a war film, a political film, or both? The FT’s politics columnist Stephen Bush and US executive producer of audio Topher Forhecz join Lilah to discuss.
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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews, on Apple, Spotify, etc.
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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):
– Danny Leigh’s review of Civil War (he liked it less than we did): https://on.ft.com/4aTzD6P
– FT critic Leslie Felperin’s interview with Alex Garland: https://on.ft.com/3W03lmt
– You can get a free trial of Stephen’s political newsletter Inside Politics – which includes a daily cultural recommendation – by clicking here
– Stephen Bush on X at @stephenkb.
– Listen to our episode ‘How to process the news when it all feels bad’, with FT foreign editor Alec Russell. You can find it in our feed
More or Less:
– Topher wants to see more interesting landmarks used in films, as in ‘North by Northwest’ and ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’
– Stephen wants to see no more ‘Ghostbusters’ ever. Here’s the FT’s 2-star review of ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’: https://on.ft.com/4aVOEot
– Lilah wants fewer menus. She recommends 15 Fox Place in Jersey City, and Osteria 16 in Copenhagen
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The FT Weekend Festival is coming back, and will be in Washington on May 4. Speakers include Nancy Pelosi. To book tickets, go to ft.com/festival-us and use our exclusive discount code: weekendpodcast.
Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart
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Clips this week are from A24
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Design series: Debbie Millman on how brands impact culture
Welcome to the final episode in our special four-part series on design. Brands are everywhere and sometimes feel so omnipresent that it’s hard to know what counts as one. So we’ve invited designer, educator and Design Matters podcast host Debbie Millman to help us make sense of brands. At its core, Debbie says, branding is the process of manufacturing meaning to come up with a shared symbol. And it’s something we’ve been doing for thousands of years. Today, Debbie and Lilah discuss the history of branding and its relationship with design, and the relatively recent phenomenon of ‘personal brands’. Debbie also shares insights from nearly two decades hosting Design Matters.
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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email the show at lifeandart@ft.com.
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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):
– Lilah recommends Debbie’s interview with cartoonist Lynda Barry: https://www.designmattersmedia.com/podcast/2019/lynda-barry
– Here are the latest episodes of Design Matters: https://www.designmattersmedia.com/
– Debbie has written seven books. Here’s Brand Thinking: https://www.debbiemillman.com/brand-thinking
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The FT Weekend Festival is coming back, and will be in Washington, DC, on May 4! To book tickets, go to ft.com/festival-us and use our exclusive discount code: weekendpodcast.
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Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart
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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
How to process the news when it all feels bad
The FT’s foreign editor Alec Russell has been reporting on crises around the world for more than 30 years. He was in Romania during the fall of the Ceaușescu regime, in South Africa for the fall of apartheid, and in 1994 he reported on the genocide in Rwanda. So when we recently felt ourselves losing hope at the news from Gaza and Ukraine, we decided to ask him: is this an especially tough time in history, or does it just feel that way? And what has he learned from being present for so much of history? Today, Alec gives us tips for finding perspective, and tells us where he finds hope.
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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews, on Apple, Spotify, etc.
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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):
– Alec’s piece commemorating 30 years since Rwanda’s genocide is here: https://on.ft.com/3QnQbfx
– You may also be interested in Alec Russell’s book After Mandela: the Battle for the Soul of South Africa
– Alec is on X @AlecuRussell
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The FT Weekend Festival is coming back, and will be in Washington, DC, on May 4! Speakers include Nancy Pelosi, Alec and Lilah! To book tickets, go to ft.com/festival-us and use our exclusive discount code: weekendpodcast.
Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Design Series: The fashion of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’
For the third episode in our design series, we’re talking fashion design through the lens of the 2006 classic The Devil Wears Prada. The film is having a moment on the internet. We’re here to revisit it with fresh eyes, and with two experts in fashion: Jo Ellison, the editor of our luxury magazine HTSI, and Rob Armstrong, our men’s style columnist (OK, he’s also our US financial columnist). The film stars Meryl Streep as a powerful magazine editor based on Anna Wintour, and Anne Hathaway as a young, idealistic journalist who becomes her assistant. It’s a Y2K fairy tale about the fashion industry, magazine politics and power. How accurate was the film about fashion then, and why is it still resonating now?
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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews, on Apple, Spotify, etc.
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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):
– The Devil Wears Prada is available on Netflix and Disney+ in the UK, and HBO/Max and Hulu in the US.
– Rob wrote his most recent fashion column about power dressing in The Devil Wears Prada: https://on.ft.com/4cS25Yr
– Jo recently interviewed the actor Cillian Murphy. Read the interview here: https://on.ft.com/3vOnCRi
– You can follow Jo Ellison on Instagram @jellison22 and on X @jellison. Rob is on X @rbrtrmstrng.
– Rob recommends the late André Leon Talley’s book The Chiffon Trenches. You can read the FT review here.
More or Less recommendations:
– Rob wants to see more womens’ college basketball. This FT piece is on how star Caitlin Clark is changing women’s sport: https://on.ft.com/3Jbfehw
– Lilah recommends the Apple TV documentary, ‘Steve! (Martin) A Documentary’. You can read Rob’s interview with Martin here: https://on.ft.com/440txzm
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The FT Weekend Festival is coming back, and will be in Washington, DC, on May 4! Speakers include Nancy Pelosi, Jo, Rob and Lilah! To book tickets, go to ft.com/festival-us and use our exclusive discount code: weekendpodcast.
Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart
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Clips this week are from 20th Century Studios
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Design series: Jonathan Adler on making your home your own
Designer Jonathan Adler is known for a style that is classic but eccentric. Think gold chairs shaped like hands, vases shaped like heads, and beautiful cookie jars labelled ”quaaludes”. He got his start as a potter, but he now designs everything from furniture to dinnerware to custom upholstery, which are sold by hundreds of retailers around the world. In the second instalment of our design series, Jonathan talks to Lilah about how he developed his style and how we can develop ours. And his biggest piece of advice is to “turn it up”.
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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email the show at lifeandart@ft.com.
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Notes:
–Jonathan Adler has retail stores across the US (from New York to Dallas to Miami to Chicago) and in London
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Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart
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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Customer Reviews
The quality of the show is not as good as before
I have been a big fan of the show through its many reincarnations and have loved the show and the hosts over the years. However I feel like the quality of the content has become more and more diluted. I really miss the “Culture Call” during early pandemic days when it has been such inspirational and joyous conversations between the hosts and the in-depth interviews with the cultural figures. Perhaps it’s an intentional pivot, since the name of the podcast has also changed. I welcome the experiments and do like a light-themed fun show sometimes. But I find the recent episodes very watered down and it’s become much more of a spontaneous chitchat that’s not that fun anymore because how it only scratches the surface of many topics… which leaves me wonder whether I should move on to other shows to satisfy the expectation of intellectual stimuli. I really loved the show and that’s why I wanted to share my thoughts about it!
Great insights
Lived this espisode. New to the show but really liked the practical advice and insights into every day issues.
Listening to ‘How to have a good summer’ made my summer better already
I love this show and this week’s one with call ins from listeners has to be a fave. Funny and also profound, I approached my day in hot sticky London with renewed enthusiasm having heard this. Always a great variety of topics and thoughtful inverviews. And no adds! Yay!