Slate Culture Feed

Candice Lim is joined by Slate business and tech writer Nitish Pahwa to break down two stories surrounding artificial intelligence in fashion and advertising. They explore Baggu’s  recent collaboration  with Collina Strada, which used an A.I. tool in their designs and possibly went against both brands’ commitment to sustainability. Then, they discuss the internet’s reaction to a bad  Toys R Us com...

Carvell Wallace’s brilliant new memoir Another Word for Love has been rightfully praised for its passages about childhood trauma, about apologies and forgiveness, and about the healing power of love. But the book also features some important lessons about sex, consent, and the ways popular culture can send the wrong messages about both of those things. This week on the show, Carvell digs into thos...

Joel Anderson, Josh Levin, and the Ringer’s Bryan Curtis talk about Klay Thompson’s move to Dallas and whether there will ever be another NBA dynasty. They also check in on the state of sports media TV rights, and they welcome Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. Klay to Dallas (2:38): Is the Golden State breakup what the NBA wants? Sports media rights (19:08):  Will the money keep on flowing forever? S...

Candice Lim is joined by TIME culture reporter Moises Mendez II for the five-year anniversary of Tati Westbrook’s “ BYE SISTER ” video, a 43-minute long confessional about her then-friend and fellow beauty YouTuber James Charles. What started as a hair care vitamin sponsorship gone wrong, then became a video accusing Charles of using his fame to coerce straight men into sex. This led Charles and c...

On this week’s show, Dan Kois (author of Vintage Contemporaries and the upcoming Hampton Heights ) and Laura Miller (Slate’s books and culture columnist and author of The Magician’s Book ) fill in for Julia and Dana. The panel is first joined by Carl Wilson, Slate’s music critic and the author of Let’s Talk About Love , to parse through I Am: Celine Dion , a new documentary on Prime Video. Directe...

Candice Lim and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe excavate and preserve the internet history of Ayo Edebiri, a star in the making whose  Letterboxd reviews  should be crystallized in amber. They break down her best internet moments and discuss Edebiri’s social media presence since  The Bear , from her dedication to Ireland to the  fan-shipping  that has percolated into real-life speculation. This...

Axolotls. Narwhals. Llamas. Sloths. Every few years, it seems like American kids and parents collectively decide they cannot get enough of a creature that makes teddy bears seem impossibly quaint. In today’s episode we’re going to swim after the axolotl, as it takes us to some far-flung and unexpected places, to understand how it came to rule the stuffed animal kingdom. Though the answer absolutel...

Since the #MeToo movement, the presence of intimacy coordinators have become more common on movie and TV sets. In this episode, Elle McAlpine the intimacy coordinator for many projects including Poor Things and Baby Reindeer , talks about what her job entails, from choreographing the perfect orgasm to navigating tricky workplace dynamics. Podcast production by Zoe Azulay Death, Sex & Money is...

Stefan Fatsis and Joel Anderson talk to the New Yorker’s Louisa Thomas about the 55th pick in last week’s NBA draft: LeBron James’ son, Bronny. Plus, Joel and Josh Levin interview Wil Aaron about racism in baseball in the decades after Jackie Robinson. Bronny James (3:33) : LeBron James wanted to play with his kid in the NBA. Will that be good for Bronny? Wil Aaron (20:54) : Hank Aaron’s cousin on...

On today’s episode, ICYMI says so long, farewell to Rachelle as she departs for a new adventure. First, Candice allows her to update her internet diaries, then they run through fan-favorite moments and Rachelle’s greatest hits. Finally, we hear from friends of the podcast on what Rachelle’s run has meant to ICYMI. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Ra...

What does a music producer do? If his name is Quincy Jones, a little bit of everything: conducting, arranging, composing. Assembling teams of ace session musicians. Sometimes, even picking a catchy title and telling an artist to go write a song about it— would “Thriller” have worked as well if it had been called “Starlight”? Quincy Jones was pop’s Renaissance Man, and he could not be limited eithe...

On this week’s show, Isaac Butler (co-host of Slate’s Working podcast and the author of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act ) sits in for Julia Turner. The panel first turns their attention to Ren Faire , HBO’s three-part documentary chronicling the surreal power struggle at the heart of America’s largest renaissance festival. Director Lance Oppenheim ( Spermworld , Some Kind of H...

On today’s special Pride Month episode, Rachelle and Candice hear from two listeners about finding queer friendship and community online. From a group for late bloomers to an Instagram account for personal ads, their online life rafts became offline friendships that played a big part in their identities and internet histories today. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario,...

Anna talks to Dr. Orna Guralnik, the psychoanalyst from Showtime’s Couples Therapy , and then to Kara Swisher, the pugnacious tech journalist and podcast host, about the art of the interview, and how they get people to open up to them.  Kara Swisher’s new book is Burn Book: A Tech Love Story , and you can read her 1989 Washington Post article here . This episode is from a live conversation, earlie...

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin share their thoughts on baseball legend Willie Mays, who died last week at age 93. Morgan Campbell of the CBC also joins to analyze the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials and to look at how the sports world turned on Drake. Mays (3:02): His greatest catch, the racism he faced, and his run-in with Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Track (28:05):  Sha’Carri Richa...

On today’s episode, ICYMI is bringing back a time-honored tradition: High Speed Downloads. For Candice’s first and Rachelle’s last HSD, they’ll have exactly one minute to explain some of their favorite internet stories. This includes tall people  finding love on TikTok , Jenny Nicholson’s iconic four-hour  Star Wars hotel review  and that time John Green was bullied off Tumblr. This podcast is pro...

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 seque...

Today, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes from October 2023 about LinkedIn. In this episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim dive into the decades-long transformation of LinkedIn from a website for digital resumes to a social networking platform whose devotees have earned the name LinkedIn Lunatics. Founded in 2003 and sold to Microsoft for $26 billion in 2018, LinkedIn has become an i...

30 years ago, the Stanley Cup playoffs ignited a rumor that has been messing with Jane Macdougall ’s life ever since.  In 1994, the Vancouver Canucks had made it all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the New York Rangers. When they barely lost, fans expected the team to come back blazing the next year. Instead, 1995 was a total letdown. Team chemistry disappeared and fans started...

Mark Duplass’s first big dream came true when he was 28: a movie he wrote and directed with his brother, Jay, got into The Sundance Film Festival. It was a major accomplishment, but Mark was miserable. “The week after Sundance was probably one of the worst weeks of my life because I realized I hit the top of the mountain. The top of the mountain didn't make me happy. So now what am I going to do?”...

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin talk to Slate contributing writer Alex Kirshner about Bryson DeChambeau’s win—and Rory McIlroy’s heartbreaking loss—at the U.S. Open. Then, Washington Post columnist Jerry Brewer joins Stefan and Joel Anderson to analyze the NBA Finals and discuss his series “Grievance Games.” U.S. Open (2:56): What went wrong for Rory McIlroy. NBA Finals (22:19):  Checking in on the C...

On today’s episode, Rachelle is joined once again by Slate staff writer Nadira Goffe. The two dive into  Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Scandal , a recent Netflix docuseries that documents the rise and fall of the dating website targeted towards cheating spouses. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

What does a music producer do? If his name is Quincy Jones, a little bit of everything: conducting, arranging, composing. Assembling teams of ace session musicians. Sometimes, even picking a catchy title and telling an artist to go write a song about it— would “Thriller” have worked as well if it had been called “Starlight”? Quincy Jones was pop’s Renaissance Man, and he could not be limited eithe...

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...

On today’s episode, Rachelle is joined by ICYMI fave and Slate staff writer Nadira Goffe. The two sit down to discuss one of Netflix’s newest docu-series  Dancing for the Devil: the 7M TikTok Cult  which explores the alleged misconduct of Robert Shinn through the church and management company that he founded. Since the docu-series premiered on May 29, it’s consistently been one of the top 10 most...