Slate Culture Feed

We revisit our most popular episode, featuring your stories about secret hard drives, fantasy plot lines, illegal downloads, titillating Tumblr feeds, and giving porn up completely. Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out a note from Anna, fascinating listener letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at...

On today’s episode, Candice Lim and Daisy Rosario give their takes on Doja Cat’s latest controversy:  hating her fans . They trace her long-documented and problematic history with the internet, then ask how much a fandom can endure before the unstanning process begins. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...

Once you start listening for catchphrases in everyday life—you can’t stop hearing them. From the radio era’s “Holy mackerel!” to Fonzie’s “Ayyy!” to Urkel’s multiple go-to lines on Family Matters , we explore the irresistible quotables from sitcoms, movies and social media that have burrowed into our collective lexicon. Oh, just one more thing… bazinga! (Did I do that?) This episode was written by...

This week, the panel is joined by pop critic and chart analyst (and host of Slate’s Hit Parade podcast) Chris Molanphy for our annual Summer Strut episode. The four dive into the longest listener-suggested summer playlist to date (this year, it’s a 682 song behemoth that adds up to approximately 42 hours!) and take turns in an electric, strut-ty roundtable discussion of their top picks. You can fi...

Josh Levin and Stefan Fatsis talk about the U.S. national soccer team’s early exit from the Women’s World Cup. Slate’s Ben Mathis-Lilley also joins to discuss the huge shakeups in the Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-12 conferences and ESPN’s Jeff Passan assesses the fallout from the Major League Baseball trade deadline. Finally, Josh interviews Wimbledon quarterfinalist Chris Eubanks.   Women’s World Cup...

The mosh pit has a reputation as a violent place where (mostly) white guys vent their aggression. There’s some truth to that, but it’s also a place bound by camaraderie and—believe it or not—etiquette. In this episode, we explore the unwritten rules of this 50-year-old live-music phenomenon with punks, concertgoers, and a heavy-metal physicist. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin with Katie S...

In this episode we asked listeners if they were currently planning a wedding, and if money had become a sticking point. We heard from couples with vastly different ideas of what they wanted to spend, about opinionated parents and in-laws, tips from people who managed to spend less, and one Icelandic wedding planner’s mission to give the gift of a free wedding to a lucky, deserving couple.  Want to...

When Slate’s Evan Chung was a kid, he was obsessed with a mysterious advertisement that ran for decades in the scouting magazine Boys’ Life. Under the enticing headline “You Can Float on Air,” the ad assured Evan—and generations of scouts—that a personal hovercraft could be theirs for just a few bucks.  In this episode, the adult version of Evan journeys halfway across the country to wield power t...

This week, the panel begins by diving into Theater Camp , a mockumentary-style comedy about gloriously talented misfits. Then, they pay tribute to Sinéad O’Connor, the dearly missed Irish singer, songwriter, and activist whose 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live rocked the world. Then, the trio is joined by screenwriter (and co-host of the Scriptnotes podcast) John August to discuss the WGA an...

On today’s episode, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton dive deep into the ethics of AI-generated music. Since the days of Alan Turing, music created by computational models has been inextricably bound up with technological process. But now that tools like Voicify. AI are going viral on TikTok and the Recording Academy has updated their rules to allow music created with AI tools to be eligible for Gr...

Josh Levin and Stefan Fatsis are joined by the Washington Post’s Chuck Culpepper to talk about big wins for Colombia and Australia at the Women’s World Cup. Alex Kirshner of Slate and the Split Zone Duo podcast also joins to discuss whether NFL running backs should go on strike and the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown getting the biggest NBA deal ever.   Women’s World Cup (2:40):  The scene in the stadium wh...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice reach into the ICYMI mailbag to answer why TikTokers are pretending to be video game characters, how a city girl became an anti-feminist prairie wife, and why snacktime is getting an obnoxious rebrand. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...

What do Lenny Kravitz, a hitmaker primarily in the ’90s and ’00s, and Bruno Mars, a 2010s–20s hitmaker, have in common? It turns out, a lot: Each man has a wide-ranging ethnic and musical background, with early exposure to unusual sides of showbiz. Each has scored hits in a variety of styles. They are admirers of each other’s work and have even performed live together. But the main thing Lenny and...

Kissing—the romantic, sexual, steamy kind—is so ingrained in us that it just seems like a fact of life. Like breathing or eating, we just do it. But what if it’s not like that at all?  In this episode, we’re going to look at passionate kissing, well, dispassionately, not as something instinctual and innate but as a cultural practice. We’re going to backtrack through history in search of the origin...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice dive deep into the ICYMI mailbag to answer listener questions about Colleen Ballinger’s 10-minute ukulele-backed apology, the renaming of Twitter, and the disappearance of 25-year-old Carlee Russell. This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information...

This week, the panel begins by examining Barbie , Greta Gerwig’s hot pink, record-breaking movie about the iconic Mattel doll. Then, the trio dives into Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer , which chronicles the life of the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” and explores whether the film achieves its aims. Finally, they are joined by Slate’s Chris Molanphy to discuss the controversy behind country singer Ja...

Josh Levin is joined by the Athletic’s Steph Yang to talk about the opening days of the Women’s World Cup. Author Jonathan Clegg also joins to discuss Lionel Messi’s MLS debut. And the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay assesses the 2023 Tour de France and the Netflix documentary  Tour de France: Unchained .   Women’s World Cup (3:32):  What are the main takeaways from the U.S. win over Vietnam?   Me...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice meet in person for the first time! They recap the July 10 attack on fanfiction site AO3 — Archive of Our Own — which caused a site outage and a state of panic for many writers, readers and their fandoms. The site was created in 2008 as an online fanfiction archive that soon became a safe haven for women and the queer community. So what happens when that saf...

Kate Beaton was determined to work her way out of debt. But nothing could have prepared her for the experience of toiling in the Canadian oil sands. This episode is from This is Uncomfortable , a podcast from Marketplace about life and how money messes with it, hosted by Reema Khrais. You can find a more detailed episode description  here .  Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the D...

This week, Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe fills in for Julia. The panel begins by discussing Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One , Tom Cruise’s latest romp against rogue A.I. Then, the trio review Wham! , a bittersweet and perhaps hollow documentary following the ‘80s English pop duo’s rise to fame. Then, they explore Spill , a new image-based platform claiming to be the next “Black T...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice are joined by sustainable stylist and fashion educator,  Lakyn Carlton . The three break down  a now-infamous factory tour  that the fast fashion giant Shein coordinated for a group of (un)lucky influencers. Since its founding in 2008, Shein has grown to a reported $100 billion valuation that is sustained by  alleged labor violations  and a cult-like follow...

The mosh pit has a reputation as a violent place where (mostly) white guys vent their aggression. There’s some truth to that, but it’s also a place bound by camaraderie and—believe it or not—etiquette. In this episode, we explore the unwritten rules of this 50-year-old, live-music phenomenon with punks, concertgoers and a heavy metal physicist. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin with Katie S...

Josh Levin is joined by Joel Anderson and Ben Mathis-Lilley to talk about Northwestern firing football coach Pat Fitzgerald in the midst of a hazing scandal. Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim then comes on to discuss Carlos Alcaraz’s win over Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. Finally, Josh and Stefan Fatsis speak with the Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins about her piece on Chris Evert and Martina Navrat...

On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice talk all about the Emmys. This week the TV Academy announced the nominations for the 71st Emmy awards. Just a few days later, SAG-AFTRA announced that negotiations with the Academy had officially broken down and the actors’ guild was joining the writers’ guild on strike. So what does this all mean for the monthslong campaigns that actors have waged online t...

What do Lenny Kravitz, a hitmaker primarily in the ’90s and ’00s, and Bruno Mars, a 2010s–20s hitmaker, have in common? It turns out, a lot: Each man has a wide-ranging ethnic and musical background, with early exposure to unusual sides of showbiz. Each has scored hits in a variety of styles. They are admirers of each other’s work and have even performed live together. But the main thing Lenny and...