Culture Gabfest Slate Podcasts

On this week’s episode, the hosts excavate the psyche and begin by exploring Inside Out 2, a sophisticated children’s movie that tackles the question on every kid’s mind: How does one go about crafting a highly integrated ego? A bevy of new emotions join the motley crew living inside of our teenage protagonist Riley’s mind, most notably Anxiety, voiced brilliantly by Maya Hawke. The film, a sequel to Pixar’s 2015 Academy Award-winner, is filled with wisdom about developmental psychology, but finds itself in murky waters when indirectly tackling issues of free will and the power of the unconscious mind. Then, the panel probes the mind of Andrew McCarthy, whose recent documentary Brats (not to be confused with the new Charli XCX joint) reveals the inner workings of the “Brat Pack,” a term coined by David Blum in a New York Magazine cover story published in 1985. A lifelong member of the “Brat Pack,” McCarthy attempts to reconcile his relationship to the infamous label alongside others who fell under it, including Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, and Emilio Estevez, in a surprisingly personal and peculiar documentary that’s quite revealing of McCarthy – either intentionally or not. Finally, the trio considers Google, the tech giant and the subject of Kyle Chayka’s piece for The New Yorker, “Is Google S.E.O. Gaslighting the Internet?” Chayka’s article sparks a larger conversation about the oversized role search engines have played in our lives and in our understanding of the internet, and comes at a time when Google plans to further integrate A.I. into Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) and eliminate the need for writers, journalists, and news organizations.
In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel answers an excellent listener request from Rachael: “Discuss your favorite content from the early Internet days, before it became a toxic wasteland.” 
Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 
We’re also accepting Summer Strut submissions until July 1st! Send your strut-worthy songs to culturefest@slate.com. 
Endorsements:
Dana: The wonderful documentary Being Mary Tyler Moore, which you can stream on Max, Hulu, and Prime Video, among others.
Julia: Sam Anderson’s new podcast, Animal. 
Stephen: A callback to last week’s episode – the song was “Ballad of the Runaway Horse” performed by Emmylou Harris and written by… Leonard Cohen! (Under the original name, “Ballad of the Absent Mare.”) He also endorses Stereophonic, which just won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Play. 
Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong.
Hosts
Dana Stephens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf
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On this week’s show, Dan Kois (writer at Slate and author of Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) fills in for Dana Stevens. The hosts begin by exploring the latest addition to the Star Wars canon, The Acolyte, created by Leslye Headland (Russian Doll). Amandla Sternberg and Lee Jung-jae lead the who-dunnit mystery, and while there is a lot to admire about the show’s visuals and depiction of the Master Jedi, The Acolyte often sags under the baggage of the vast Star Wars mythology and suffers from fundamental pacing problems. Then, the three tackle Godzilla Minus One, a genius and emotionally rich parable about wounded masculinity and the national trauma felt in a post-WWII Japan. The kaiju film, released at the end of last year, won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 2023, and immediately shot to No. 1 on Netflix when it hit the streaming service last week. Finally, the panel is joined by Dan Charnas (author of Dilla Time and The Big Payback) to discuss Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and his very sharply framed piece for Slate, “The Musical History Lesson Buried Beneath the Song of the Summer.” 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel tackles: children’s birthday parties. To plan, or not to plan, that is the question! 

Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 

We’re taking Summer Strut submissions! Send your strutty-est songs to culturefest@slate.com. 

Endorsements:

Dan: The quick-witted, joke-packed pleasures of Girls5eva season 3. 

Julia: (1) Ambition Monster: A Memoir by Jennifer Romolini; (2) Dan Charna’s playlist, “The Genre With No Name.” 

Stephen: (1) Who wrote this song?; (2) Abdullah Ibrahim’s "Solotude."

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

Hosts:
Dan Kois, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf
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On this week’s show, the hosts begin by asking the question: What even is Garfield? Jim Davis’ overfed, Monday-hating (even though he’s jobless) cultural figure first appeared in comic strips in the late 1970s, and since then, has been surprisingly resilient, most recently conquering the summer box-office with The Garfield Movie. But who is Garfield, and more perhaps more importantly, why is he a thing? To answer these questions, each host watched (or endured) a different Garfield entity, including Garfield: The Movie (2004), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006), and the latest film starring Chris Pratt as the titular cat. Then, the three discuss suspense and its nature in relation to fiction, inspired by Kathryn Schulz’s essay for The New Yorker, “The Secrets of Suspense.” It’s a curious, fantastic essay that questions the human impulse to know what happens next. Finally, it’s a visit from the Gabfest’s oldest and closest Friend of the Pod, June Thomas, who speaks with the panel about her essential new book, A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women’s Culture. 
In the exclusive slate Plus segment, the hosts answer a listener question from Evana: “What is a cultural reference that really bugs Steve/Julia/Dana when they see/hear it being misused or misinterpreted?”
We’re taking submissions for Summer Strut 2024! Send up to three songs that you find particularly strut-worthy to culturefest@slate.com. 
Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 
Endorsements:
Dana: A wonderful documentary on Apple TV+, From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses. 
Julia: Koeze’s Cream-Nut All-Natural Peanut Butter (with no added sugar!)
Stephen: The musical stylings of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Read a profile on the duo: “How Gillian Welch and David Rawlings Held Onto Optimism” by Hanif Abdurraqib for The New York Times. Listen to their songs, “Beautiful Boy” and “Picasso,” and check out the YouTube video, “Getting Started with Licks & Fills in the style of Dave Rawlings.” 
Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 
Hosts
Dana Stephens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf
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On this week’s show, the hosts begin by jumping into Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, a prequel to George Miller’s 2015 Fury Road, in which Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Furiosa, an arachnid beauty who’s stolen as a child and becomes a wasteland road warrior. She’s a “strong, silent type,” typical of the action film genre, but does that trope mean something different with a female protagonist in 2024? The panel discusses. (Read Dana’s review of Furiosa!) Then, the three chat Hit Man, Richard Linklater’s latest starring Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, a college professor who moonlights as a fake gunman for hire. It’s a delightful rom-com tucked within a thriller—a romantic thriller, if you will–that manages to feel like a hangout film despite its ridiculous premise. (Read Dana’s review of Hat Man!) Finally, ScarJo or FauxJo? Tech journalist and author of Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech Brian Merchant joins the panel to parse through Silicon’s Valley’s latest scandal: Scarlett Johansson accusing ChatGPT of stealing her voice for its new interface program. (Read Brian’s newsletter about it!)

In the exclusive slate Plus segment, the hosts answer an excellent listener question from Michael Schulman: What fictional works of art-within-the-art would you most want to see on their own?

Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 

Endorsements:

Dana: An interview between Richard Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth, whose stories Linklater adapted in the films Bernie and Hit Man, for Texas Monthly. 

Julia: Monopoly Deal, a well-designed family card game. 

Stephen: A poem by Janet Frame, “Scarlet Tanager, Saratoga Springs” which was featured on the Yumi Zouma song, “Lie Like You Want Me Back - Alternative Version.”

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Kat Hong.
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On this week’s show, the hosts begin by reviewing Babes, Pamela Adlon’s (Better Things, Louie) directorial feature debut starring Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau. Through raunch-comedy and body horror, Babes explores childbirth and pregnancy through a refreshingly unromanticized lens, but does it succeed as a drama? Then, the three switch gears and turn to Interview With the Vampire, AMC’s Anne Rice adaptation that’s now in its second season. What a weird show! The series–starring Jacob Anderson as Louis de Pointe du Lac and Eric Bogosian as the titular cynical interviewer–brings the novel’s queer subtext to the surface, and is camp in every sense of the word. Finally, the trio is joined by Mikael Wood, the Los Angeles Times’ pop music critic to discuss Billie Eilish’s latest album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. (You can read Wood’s review here.) Produced with her brother Finneas, Hit Me Hard and Soft offers a new way of thinking about the 22-year-old, and features songs like “Birds of a Feather” and “Lunch,” a fun, lusty track about being into girls. 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel answers a question from long-time listener, James: “What things that you love have you been introduced to by advertising?”

Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 

Endorsements:

Dana: This week’s endorsement comes with a brag: Dana’s daughter is going to Julliard! Through that, they discovered the wonderful documentary, Creating a Character: The Moni Yakim Legacy. 

Julia: Two clarifications and an extremely sumptuous sweater recommendation. First, the fashion Substacks mentioned on a previous episode were I Want to be Her!, Girls of a Certain Age, and Blackbird Spyplane. Second, a wool sweater from Dana Lee Brown. 

Stephen: The Time of the Last Persecution, an album by the English singer-songwriter Bill Fay, released in 1971. 

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Production assistance by Kat Hong.
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On this week’s show, the hosts begin by dissecting The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth chapter in the Apes franchise. Set “many generations” in the future, the latest installment (directed by Wes Ball and starring Owen Teague) is an undeniably well-crafted summer blockbuster – but does it achieve the level of complexity and thought its predecessors did? (Read Dana’s review for Slate for further analysis.) Then, it’s onto John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA, a six-part live Netflix special that aired during the streaming giant’s comedy festival. The conceit is thus: Netflix is a Joke attracts the best comedians in the world to LA, John Mulaney interviews them. But the final product is much stranger than that description, both a rejection and reinvention of the tired late-night talk show format, in which Mulaney interviews celebrities and non-celebrities, airs sketches, and delivers long monologues on the character of LA. Is Everybody’s in LA chaotic and sloppy, or a ragged delight? Our panel discusses. Finally, the trio is joined by Slate’s music critic, Carl Wilson, to eulogize the legendary musician and “producing engineer” (his preferred title) Steve Albini. Known for recording albums with Joanna Newsom, Nirvana, and the Pixies, among others, Albini considered himself a documentarian of sound and a technical expert, and brought his punk-rock ethic to everything he did. Read Steve Albini’s essay, “The Problem with Music” and his letter to Nirvana.
In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel discusses cultural arbitrage with Slate’s music critic, Carl Wilson, inspired by W. David Marx’s essay for The Atlantic, “The Diminishing Returns of Having Good Taste.” 
Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 
Endorsements:
Dana: “Who’s Afraid of Judith Butler?” – a profile of the philosopher and gender theorist by Parul Sehgal for The New Yorker.
Julia: “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter.
Stephen: The delightful, catchy, and exuberant (with a tincture of melancholy) music of New Zealand band, Yumi Zuma. (Check out Steve’s playlist here.) 
Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 
Hosts
Dana Stephens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices