Slate Culture Feed

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Dan Engber, Stephen Metcalf, Troy Patterson, Dana Stevens, James Sturm, June Thomas and Julia Turner discuss life without the Internet, June’s must see list of summer TV shows and love 'em or hate 'em no Fourth of July is complete without fireworks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, Clive Thompson and Julia Turner discuss the third installment of Disney-Pixar's Toy Story, the science behind a great vacation in The Boston Globe and an answer to that eternal question can an IBM supercomputer win at Jeopardy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Hanna Rosin, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner discuss the new documentary on Joan Rivers, the Bravo reality show Work of Art and the downfall of men as reported in The Atlantic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Michael Agger, Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner discuss the Stieg Larsson obsession, our brains on the internet (revisited) and World Cup mania. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner discuss the pop star M.I.A's beef with The New York Times, the new documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop and a Wired article that asks whether the Internet has uncivilized our brains. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens, John Swansburg and Julia Turner discuss Law and Order the final episode, breathing life into the 50 year old Breathless and the vocal stylings of the soon to be pop sensation Janelle Monae. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss director Ridley Scott’s retelling of the Robin Hood myth starring Russell Crowe, Sam Lipsyte’s novel The Ask and the ongoing dispute over Facebook’s privacy setings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner discuss 88-year-old Betty White’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, the 50th anniversary of "the pill," and the release of Iron Man 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, Julia Turner, and June Thomas discuss a new biography of Oprah, the Data-Driven Life as quantified by Gary Wolf, and the new film Please Give from director Nicole Holofcener. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, Lisa Tharpe and Julia Turner discuss performance artist Marina Abramovic retrospective at MOMA, censoring and the 201st episode of South Park and Al Pacino knows Jack Kevorkian in HBO’s new biopic You Don’t Know Jack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss the new film Kick-Ass, literature and cognitive neuroscience and the Library of Congress preserving your tweets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss David Simon's latest HBO endeavor Treme, the loss of British punk rocker Malcolm McLaren and the comic musings of Tina Fey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, Seth Stevenson and Julia Turner discuss Seth Stevenson's new travel book "Grounded", creating your own TV ad with a little help from Google and Apple's much hyped IPad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, June Thomas and Julia Turner discuss the new CBS television show Undercover Boss, the language of coming out when your a celebrity and the website TV Tropes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Mike Pesca, Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discus the death of Big Star front man Alex Chilton, music criticism is it worthless and replacing William Safire at The New York Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and June Thomas discuss HBO's new mini-series The Pacific, Variety firing it's critics and mommy bloggers in The New York Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss the Oscars, finding your way through New York's Penn Station and whether The National Enquirer should be eligible for a Pulitzer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss the singer song-writer Joanna Newsom, the new NBC show "The Marriage Ref" and ten rules for writing fiction. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss this Esquire profile of film critic Roger Ebert, the new animated HBO incarnation of The Ricky Gervias Show, and ChatRoulette the international chat room that pairs you and your webcam with a total stranger. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss "We Are the World" take two, singer-songwriter John Mayer's disturbing Playboy Interview and the start of the 2010 winter games. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Seth Stevenson, Julia Turner and Dana Stevens discuss this years crop of Super Bowl ads, the HBO Temple Grandin biopic and The New York Times story on a killer karaoke Sinatra song. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Meghan O'Rourke, Troy Patterson and Dana Stevens discuss Oscar nominations, death and mourning in American and the loss of author JD Salinger. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Mike Pesca and Dana Stevens discuss the new Charles Darwin biopic Creation, liberal outrage and the airwaves and The New York Times hiding behind a pay wall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Troy Patterson, Dana Stephens and June Thomas discuss the Golden Globes, the Americanization of Mental Illness from the New York Times Magazine and the latest video to go viral from American Idol. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Jody Rosen, Dana Stephens and Julia Turner discuss the fate of late night TV, the works of the late French director Eric Rohmer and twenty years of The Simpsons Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Adam Gopnik, Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stephens and Julia Turner discuss sex and the American novel, the fate of magazines and van Gogh's ear. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the mistress of yuppie comedy Nancy Meyers latest film It’s Complicated, the loss of singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt and predictions for the decade to come. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Jessica Grose, Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, June Thomas and Julia Turner discuss the best TV shows and films of the year and decade and the polluted waters of MTV's reality show Jersey Shore. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Daniel Engber, Stephen Metcalf, Chris Suellentrop, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss the whether you should see James Cameron's Avatar, women both in and absent in the film world and video games as art. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss the decade of change in the music business, the art of selling out and the everlasting Facebook. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss White House party crashers, the "decade from hell," and Eva Tanguay, the first rock star. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Bob Dylan’s Christmas CD Christmas in the Heart, the South African sprinter Caster Semenya and filmmaker Frederick Wiseman’s new documentary Le Danse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, Julia Turner and guests Troy Patterson and Juliet Lapidos discuss what's so great about Lady Gaga anyway, filmmaker Wes Anderson's latest, and how to translate "nuclear waste" to society some 10,000 years from now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner take on the film Precious, the novel Black Dogs (about the fall of communism) and the nauseating, exploitative menace otherwise known as cute. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, Julia Turner and guest June Thomas discuss ABC's new sitcom "Modern Family", Tad Friend's latest memoir and a hundred things a restaurant staffer should never do. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the new season of 30 Rock, the refund offer from Baby Einstein, and the genius – and crossover potential – of country music star Brad Paisley. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the media circus surrounding the Colorado “Balloon Boy,” the case for and against circumcision in New York Magazine, and the new documentary on the 40th anniversary of comedy troupe Monty Python. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Spike Jonze’s film adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, the notion that comedians are starting to take aim at President Obama, and a series on obesity in America by Slate’s Daniel Engber Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the blackmail scandal surrounding David Letterman’s sexual relationship with some of his female employees, the New Yorker’s profile of Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke, and Conde Nast’s decision to shutter Gourmet Magazine Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Roman Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland and possible extradition to California for sentencing on a decades old sexual abuse case, the new Fox TV musical drama Glee, and the New York Times Magazine cover story on gay teenagers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the recent spate of politicians (real and fictional) on TV, led by President Obama on Letterman; Jane Campion’s new film about John Keats and Fannie Brawne; and Neil Patrick Harris as Emmy Awards host with guest June Thomas Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Kanye West’s outburst at the VMAs and other recent examples of bad manners by celebrities; the new, prime-time, Jay Leno Show; and an exhibition of Claude Monet’s paintings of water lilies at New York’s Museum of Modern Art Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner chat about the release of the new digitally remastered Beatles box set, bellies on models and hipsters and the new Mike Judge film, "Extract." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens are joined by Slate's John Swansburg and Jody Rosen. Topics on deck include, Mad Men's Musical Episode, pop star Taylor Swift, and the new Vogue documentary "The September Issue." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Quentin Tarantino’s new WWII fantasy, Inglourious Basterds, with special guest Ron Rosenbaum; the new, long-delayed, season of the fashion design reality series Project Runway; and the winning sketches of Steve. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Ponyo, the new film by Hayao Miyazaki, Japan’s master animator; the to do over Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s opinion on health care reform; and the legacy of the late Les Paul, via the musings of three rock guitar gods. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the passing and the films of 80s auteur John Hughes, the distortion of rock concert ticket prices by forces corporate and renegade, and the rise of cultural tourism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Meryl Streep’s new movie about Julia Child, Julie & Julia; Amazon’s beloved, vexing Kindle e-reader; and Josh Levin’s new series on Slate about the end of America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the arrival of Judd Apatow’s third movie, Funny People; the rapid disappearance of the music magazine; and the controversies over some of the new psychological disorders that might be included in the DSM-V. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni’s struggle with bulimia, and the glut of nominations for the 61st Emmy Awards. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.