Slate Culture Feed

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and John Swansburg discuss the death of Osama bin Laden, and whether it’s okay for Americans to celebrate his demise. They are then joined by Johann Hari, columnist for The Independent and presenter of the Johann Hari Podcast, to discuss the recent royal wedding hoopla and whether it too is a cause for celebration. For their...

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss Atlas Shrugged Part 1, the new film adaptation of Ayn Rand’s novel. They are then joined by Slate senior editor Daniel Engber to discuss Gary Taubes’ New York Times Magazine article “Is Sugar Toxic?” For their final segment, they are joined by historian and New York Times columnist Adam Goodheart to...

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Dana Stevens and Julia Turner are joined by Slate culture blogger Nina Shen Rastogi to discuss HBO’s new fantasy series Game of Thrones and Will Ferrell’s send-off for Steve Carell on The Office. They’re then joined by Slate culture editor John Swansburg to discuss New York Times “On the Street” photographer Bill Cunningham and the new documentary Bill C...

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss the classic films of recently deceased director Sidney Lumet and PBS’s new celebrity wine talk show Vine Talk. For their third segment, they’re joined by Slate culture critic Meghan O’Rourke to discuss her new memoir about grieving The Long Goodbye. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss Todd Haynes’ new HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce starring Kate Winslet, the death of leading lady Elizabeth Taylor and the future of Web journalism in light of The New York Times’ new paywall. 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 AMC’s new murder mystery The Killing—based on the Danish series Forbrydelsen— and Spike’s reality series Coal, the latest from the producer of Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers and Ax Men. For their final segment, they’re joined by The New Yorker’s David Grann to discuss his report on the murder of...

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss Netflix’s entry into original programming with David Fincher’s House of Cards, Web sensation Rebecca Black’s “worst song ever” “Friday,” and the debate surrounding the European Union’s proposed “right to be forgotten” on the Internet. 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 Mel Gibson in Jodie Foster’s The Beaver, their favorite concerts at South by Southwest and elsewhere, and the latest incarnation of Jane Eyre. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, Mike Pesca, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner are joined by Slate’s Farhad Manjoo to discuss his tirade against NPR listeners’ tedious complaints. They then discuss gourmets, gluttons and B.R. Myers’ Atlantic article, “The Moral Crusade Against Foodies.” Finally, they’re joined by extra special guest Stephen Metcalf to discuss his recent New York essay, “The Sleeping Cu...

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss Charlie Sheen’s bizarre career-killing antics, James Franco and Anne Hathaway at the 83rd Academy Awards, and the new Justin Bieber documentary Justin Bieber: Never Say Never – Director’s Fan Cut. 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 Lawrence Wright’s article “Paul Haggis vs. Scientology” in The New Yorker, FX’s Elmore Leonard-inspired crime series Justified, and the future of marginalia in the age of the e-book. 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 are joined by Slate columnist Fred Kaplan to discuss the exhibition Abstract Expressionist New York at the Museum of Modern Art. They’re then joined by New York magazine’s music and architecture critic Justin Davidson to discuss John Adams’ Nixon in China at the Metropolitan Opera. Finally, they’re joined by...

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss Rupert Murdoch’s new iPad newspaper The Daily, Eugene Jarecki’s new HBO documentary Reagan, and the virtual museum tours of the Google Art Project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Troy Patterson, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss Jason Statham in The Mechanic and the satirical Onion News Network on IFC. For the final segment, Dana and Julia are joined by Slate senior editor Michael Agger to discuss Jane McGonigal’s new book Reality Is Broken and whether video games can make us better people. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss the 2011 Oscar nominations with Slate Brow Beat writer Nina Shen Rastogi, IFC’s new sketch comedy Portlandia with Slate associate editor Jessica Grose, and Brock Enright’s pay-per-thrill “reality adventures” with Slate’s pop critic Jonah Weiner. 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 Gwyneth Paltrow in Country Strong and the recent kerfuffle over the shifting signs of the zodiac. They’re joined by author Lauren Redniss to discuss her new illustrated biography Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, June Thomas and Julia Turner discuss PBS’s new upstairs-downstairs drama Downton Abbey, the controversy over NewSouth Books’ new censored edition of Huckleberry Finn, and the overnight fame of a “homeless man with a golden voice,” Ted Williams. 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 Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine, the year 2010 in film, and Google’s new Ngram database. 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 Sofia Coppola's latest film Somewhere with film critic Dan Kois. Plus the best TV shows of 2010 and their New Year's resolutions. 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 Coen brothers’ film True Grit. They’re joined by Slate’s political reporter Christopher Beam to discuss the movement to abandon caps lock, and by Slate’s music critic Jody Rosen to discuss the death of Captain Beefheart. 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 Tom Hooper’s film The King’s Speech and NBC sitcom Community. They’re joined by Slate’s Daniel Engber to discuss the state of peer review. 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 fate of narcissism as a psychiatric disorder and director Andrew Jarecki’s film All Good Things. They’re joined by Slate pop critic Jonah Weiner to discuss Kanye West’s latest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. 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 Burlesque, MFA's and today's writers and Microsoft's latest gizmo Kinect. 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 answer questions from the audience live from Seattle's Town Hall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Dan Engber, Troy Patterson, John Swansburg, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss the outcry over the TSA's new scanning procedures, the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly and HBO's new documentary Public Speaking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.