Slate Culture Feed

After hearing from more than 200 listeners about their siblings, it's clear that the people we spend our childhoods with aren't the easiest ones to act like adults toward. This episode first aired in 2015. Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox, and up...

TikTok star William White has a large and devoted fanbase of middle-aged women lusting after him as he lip-syncs to ‘80s songs. But things have taken a darker turn recently, as his fans have started turning on each other. On today’s show, Madison and Rachelle talk with journalist Jessica Lucas , who reported on White’s fanbase in a recent piece for Input . They discuss why these women are so obses...

This week, the panel begins by assessing Nicolas Cage’s satirical cinematic metaverse in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent . Then, the panel is joined by co-host of Slate’s Working podcast, Isaac Butler, to discuss the final season of Better Call Saul . Finally, the panel is joined by Washington Post columnist Will Oremus to break down Elon Musk’s recent acquisition of Twitter. In Slate Plus...

When we think of method acting, we tend to think of actors going a little over the top for a role – like Jared Leto, who allegedly sent his colleagues dead rats when he was preparing to be The Joker, or Robert De Niro refusing to break character on the set of the movie Raging Bull . But that’s not how method acting began. On this episode of Decoder Ring: we look at how “The Method” came to be so w...

Vinson Cunningham, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about the decline of the Brooklyn Nets and the rise of the New Orleans Pelicans. They also discuss Wimbledon’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes, and they review the HBO series  Winning Time , on the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers.   NBA playoffs (3:55):  What’s gone wrong for Brooklyn? What’s going right for New Orleans?   Wimbledon (2...

In the past few years, trend pieces have flooded the internet telling us that Gen Z is a bunch of “puriteens” and not having as much sex as the rest of us. Looks like we’ve got a new moral panic on our hands. On today’s show, You’re Wrong About ’s Sarah Marshall joins Rachelle to talk about the hand-wringing reasons people think the youth aren’t engaging in sex, why our society is so obsessed with...

Three people involved with Club Penguin Rewritten , a fan-made remake of a popular Disney game, were arrested last week by the City of London police because they were infringing on Disney’s copyright. On the show today, Rachelle and Allegra talk about the history of Club Penguin , growing up on browser games, and what this news could mean for other fan-created remakes of now-defunct games. Podcast...

This week, the panel begins by entering the multiverse of Everything Everywhere All At Once . Then, the panel dives into Apple TV+’s newest spy drama Slow Horses (based on books that were reviewed by Slate’s own Laura Miller ). Finally, the panel talks about music’s next big thing: British indie-rock duo Wet Leg’s newest self-titled album.   In Slate Plus, the panel discusses a Gawker article from...

In the early 2000s, an arms race broke out in the world of men’s shaving. After decades with razors that had only one blade and then decades with razors that had only two, the number of blades rapidly spiraled up and up and up. It’s a skirmish sometimes referred to as The Razor Blade Wars, and it was a face-off about innovation, competition, capitalism, masculinity, and most of all, how strange th...

Vinson Cunningham, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss the epic Game 1 of the Nets-Celtics series. They also talk about the Minnesota Timberwolves, young playoff stars, and Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai. Finally, the Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh joins for a conversation about near-perfection at the start of the baseball season. Nets-Celtics (3:05):  Jayson Tatum,   Kyrie Irving, and a whole lot more.  ...

The Black Menaces are a group at Brigham Young University who have recently gained popularity on TikTok for their videos in which they ask their fellow students about political and social issues. On the show today,  Rachelle  and  Madison  talk to Rachel Weaver and Nate Byrd, two members of the  Black Menaces , about what it’s like to film these interviews, how they’ve been received on campus and...

Five years ago this month, Hit Parade launched on the Slate podcast network. What have we learned in that half-decade? And what episodes did you love the most? We asked you to vote—and the results may surprise you. Sure, you enjoyed our shows about Madonna, Nirvana, Whitney, Mariah, Bruce, Stevie and Janet. But even more than that, you loved our nerdy deep dives about the producers behind “Le Frea...

"Sex is a much more copacetic and enjoyable experience when it is about the experience rather than results." This is the third episode of a three-part series about ED and Viagra. If you missed the previous episodes, about relationships impacted by ED and the origin story of Viagra, go back and take a listen. Are you new here? Make sure to subscribe to Death, Sex & Money so you don't miss any n...

Another day on the internet, another online challenge to laugh at. Even the ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary is getting in on it. On today’s show, Rachelle and Madison talk about the Abbott Elementary episode that so perfectly skewers all the adults posting their challenges online, the reemergence of the water cup challenge, and what’s really at the root of online challenge culture. Podcast production...

This week, the panel is joined by June Thomas, co-host of Working (Slate’s podcast on the creative process). They begin by digesting HBO’s Julia Child series, Julia , starring one of June’s favorites: Sarah Lancashire . Then, the panel dives into the world of AI with After Yang . Finally, the panel answers Dana’s very important question: is Chris Pine the Robert Redford of our time ?  In Slate Plu...

Decoder Ring is coming back with a new season featuring a whole new set of questions…and some good surprising answers. Like, how did razors come to have such a ridiculous amount of blades on them? Did one line from Paul Giammati in the movie Sideways really change Americans’ wine buying habits? And why is our understanding of method acting wrong? You can hear these episodes and more on the new sea...

Vinson Cunningham, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss the death of quarterback Dwayne Haskins. Slate’s Jim Newell also joins to discuss Tiger Woods’ dramatic return at the Masters. Finally, they assess the Los Angeles Lakers’ terrible season.   Dwayne Haskins (1:29):  How should we talk about athletes who die young?   Tiger Woods (24:57):  What comes after his miraculous comeback?   Lakers (47:...

In February, Etsy emailed its sellers to announce that it would be taking a larger cut of their money, even while announcing in the same email that the company’s profits were up. A group of sellers reacted to this increase by starting a movement for sellers to strike on April 11-April 18, 2022. On the show today, Rachelle and Madison explain how we got to this standoff and what the strikers’ deman...

How Welsh coal miners and a pants-dropping presentation eventually led to the invention of Viagra.  If you missed the first episode in our Hard series, go back and take a listen. And look out for the finale next week, when we meet people for whom Viagra opened up a deeper conversation about their bodies and what it means to have good sex.  Are you new here? Make sure to subscribe to Death, Sex &am...

This Sunday, the Unofficial Bridgerton Musical took home a Grammy. But how was it allowed to compete in the first place? On the show today, Rachelle is joined by our producer, Daniel , to discuss why the Grammys have become so internet-focused , and how the Bridgerton musical sprang from TikTok. Then, Rachelle speaks with University of Colorado law professor Kristelia Garcia about the legal issues...

This week, the panel begins by revisiting the iconic film The Godfather in celebration of its 50th anniversary. Then, the panel answers the question Is It Cake? as they cut into Netflix’s newest hit. Finally, the panel is joined by Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Memphis, Jeremy Orosz, to discuss forensic musicology and what counts as musical plagiarism—which he wrote abou...

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss Kansas’ win over North Carolina’s in the men’s basketball title game, and the Athletic’s Chantel Jennings joins to talk about South Carolina’s win over UConn for the women’s title. Finally, they talk about Eric Church, and when it’s OK for sports to trump social and professional obligations.   NCAA men (2:21):  How the Jayhawks turned it around...

April Fool’s Day is every brand’s favorite holiday. Social media and PR teams get to make all the jokes their marketing department can come up with and face few repercussions. But it’s not all fun and games. On the show today, Rachelle and Madison talk about what nonsense the brands are up to this year, why we’re so easily taken in by internet hoaxes, and how skepticism can harden into something d...

The early ’70s was a great time for R&B queens on the charts: Roberta Flack. Dionne Warwick. Patti LaBelle. Chaka Khan. They had come through the ’60s—Dionne as a smooth pop-and-B star, Patti as a girl-group frontwoman, Roberta as a cabaret pianist—and found themselves in a new decade with limitless possibilities. Flack turned folk songs into chart-topping, Grammy-winning R&B. Warwick shif...

In the first episode of a three part series, we focus in on people’s intimate lives and relationships that have been impacted by both erectile dysfunction—and Viagra—in ways that the cheeky public conversation about the drug has never quite captured.  Come back next week for the wild story of how Viagra came to be, as we go back in time to tell the story of how medicine, science, money and marketi...