Life and Art from FT Weekend Financial Times

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

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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.

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.

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.

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.

What do you get when you mix female bodybuilding, guns, and a twisted romance? You get Love Lies Bleeding, the latest film from director and co-writer Rose Glass. When she first emailed Kristen Stewart about appearing as its lead, Rose says she described the film as a “crime, romance, thriller, dark comedy, farce, surreal thing”. She talks with Lilah about how she developed the idea, and the kinds of stories she's drawn to as a creator. She also walks through the process of how the film got made – from the script to the final edit.
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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): 
– The FT’s review of Rose’s first film, Saint Maud: https://on.ft.com/3PRIw8C
– Love Lies Bleeding is in theatres now in the US, and will be in theatres in the UK on May 3
– Saint Maud is on Amazon Prime in the US, and Apple TV in the UK
– Here’s a link to watch some of Rose’s short films: https://rose-glass.com/short 
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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.