Slate's Culture Gabfest
BySlate Magazine
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Podcast Description
Slate.com's critics debate the week in culture, from highbrow to pop.
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1 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: It's Not Me, It's Me Edition | 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. | 12/8/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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2 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: Live from Seattle Edition | 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. | 12/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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3 |
ExplicitSlate:The Culture Gabfest: Seattle Live Q and A | 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. | 12/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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4 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: Junk-Touching Edition | 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. | 11/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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5 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: I Can See My Ego From Russia Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Sarah Palin's new TLC show Alaska, the British jihadi satire Ten Lions and the Sinatra bio "Frank: The Voice." | 11/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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6 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: A Farewell to Arm Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Conan on basic cable, the many facets of James Franco, including his latest film, and the Yale University Press Anthology of Rap. | 11/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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7 |
Slate: The Culture Gabfest: The Things That Won't Die Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, the new zombie apocalypse show The Walking Dead, and Masterpiece Mystery’s irreverent new 21st century adaptation of Sherlock. | 11/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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8 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: Stevie Likes It Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the new documentary Inside Job, the FX show Terriers and New York magazine's anthropological exploration of the hipster. | 10/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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9 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: Friendly Barbarian Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the box office record set by Jackass 3D, the dueling magazine profiles of Gawker's Nick Denton and the best way to handle celebrity sightings. | 10/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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10 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: Does It Get Better Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the It Gets Better web campaign against bullying, a newly unearthed Ted Hughes poem and HBO's Bruce Springsteen documentary. | 10/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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11 |
Slate: The Culture Gabfest: Barely Legal Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Malcolm Gladwell's latest piece on activism and social media, Law and Order LA and the Civil War tourism series by Slate's John Swansburg. | 10/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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12 |
Slate: The Culture Gabfest: Jesse's Girls Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the new film about Facebook, The Social Network, Oliver Stone's Money Never Sleeps and the new NBC comedy Outsourced. | 9/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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13 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: The Velveteen Gabfest Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the new HBO series Boardwalk Empire and the controversial documentary Catfish. They are also joined by Slate contributor Joshua Wolf Shenk to talk about John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and his series on creative pairs. | 9/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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14 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Toast to the Douchebags Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss round two of the Kanye vs Taylor Swift VMA face-off, the new Robert Rodriguez film Machete and the monetization of sex on Craigslist. | 9/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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15 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, The Mooney Clooney Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss George Clooney's latest flick The American, income inequality with Slate's own Timothy Noah and the phone hacking scandal in the Murdoch media empire. | 9/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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16 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, King of the Beach Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens and June Thomas discuss this years Emmy's ceremony, the new handbook True Prep and the songs of summer 2010. | 8/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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17 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Rambo in Blush Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens and June Thomas discuss twenty-somethings, Sylvester Stallon's latest action flick, and the new Arcade Fire album. | 8/24/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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18 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Eat, Pray, Vomit Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love, the sanctity of academic tenure and the Starbucks' bagel standoff. | 8/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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19 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Flavor Burst Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Dan Kois, Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, Julia Turner and Jacob Weisberg discuss the new comic action film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the rules regulating spoilers and the loss of the British historian Tony Judt. | 8/10/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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20 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Biometric Barbie Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Dahlia Lithwick, Stephen Metcalf, Troy Patterson, June Thomas and Julia Turner discuss The Real Housewives of Washington D.C., publisher Andrew Wylie's big bet on eBooks and the new FX comedy television show Louie. | 8/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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21 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Angelina Jolie/Model American Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Jessica Grose, Stephen Metcalf, John Swansburg and Julia Turner discuss the new Angelina Jolie blockbuster Salt, Comic-Con with Time Magazine's Lev Grossman and the Mad Man Season 4 premiere. | 7/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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22 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner and Dana Stevens discuss Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster Inception, Slate’s Josh Levin joins the gabbers to talk about Steve Jobs and the woes of the iPhone 4 and finally Old Spice ads gone viral. | 7/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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23 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, What's Your Provenance Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, June Thomas and Julia Turner discuss the new film The Kids are All Right, Jezebel verses The Daily Show and The New Yorker's David Grann on authenticating a masterpiece. | 7/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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24 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Do Not Go Gently Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Jody Rosen, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner discuss the age when novelists hit their prime, the latest musical foray from Liz Phair and the retirement of music writer Robert Christgau's "Consumer Guide." | 7/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Slate: The Culture Gabfest, Beauty in the Sky Edition | 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. | 6/29/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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26 |
Slate: The Culture Gabfest, Maximum Fun Edition | 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. | 6/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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27 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Old Ball and Chain Edition | 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. | 6/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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28 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, The Girl with the Wealth of Boring Details Edition | 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. | 6/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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29 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Truffle Fries Edition | 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. | 6/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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30 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Kung-Chung Edition | 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. | 5/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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31 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, First Ever Live Gabfest Edition | 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. | 5/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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32 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Bigger Explosions, Smaller Laughs Edition | 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. | 5/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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33 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Optimization of Selfhood Edition | In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, Julia Turner, and June Thomas discuss Kitty Kelley’s unauthorized biography of Oprah Winfrey, the Data-Driven Life, as quantified by Gary Wolf in the New York Times Magazine, and Nicole Holofcener’s new film Please Give. | 5/4/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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34 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Naked Doorway Edition | 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. | 4/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, I'm Not Going to Say That on the Gabfest Edition | 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. | 4/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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36 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Ooh La La Edition | 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. | 4/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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37 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, I Want to Touch the Machine Edition | 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. | 4/6/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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38 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Shake Your Bon-Bon Edition | 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. | 3/30/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Number One Record Edition | 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. | 3/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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40 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, This is Event Programming, Dammit Edition | 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. | 3/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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41 |
Slate: The Culture Gabfest, Busby Berkeley Dreams Edition | 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. | 3/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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42 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Warbly Strangly Edition | 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. | 3/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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43 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest, Meet the Crotchman Edition | 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. | 2/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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44 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: We're Saving Our Own Lives Edition | 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. | 2/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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45 |
ExplicitSlate: The Culture Gabfest: We Have No Pants Edition | 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. | 2/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 45 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Needs a little pepper
Sadly, the Slate Culture Gabfest doesn't hold a candle to the Political Gabfest. Even for a culture snob like me, this show is a little hard to take. One problem is the main host, Stephen Metcalf. He has a creepy way of overenunciating—it sounds like he chews each word twelve times before swallowing it. That, combined with his use of pretentious phrases like "the creative underclass" (referring to himself) and occasional lapses into French, induce mild nausea after prolonged exposure. The other participants, Turner and Stevens, are easier on the ears and slightly more down-to-earth. And all of the hosts are clearly intelligent and well-informed. But since they all have two conflicting opinions about almost everything, the conversation gets bogged down and goes nowhere. Everything good is a guilty pleasure, and everything bad has some sort of redemptive flipside. And you can cut the pretension in the air with a knife. The Culture Gabfest needs a co-host with a functioning BS detector. Someone smart and funny, who can state strong opinions in an entertaining way, and who can stick a pin into Stephen Metcalf once in a while to let the air out. (How about Emily Bazelon and David Plotz, from the Slate Political Gabfest? They deflate John Dickerson regularly.)
I love to hate you
I agree with most of what has been said -- both the good and the bad -- yet this is still my favorte Slate podcast. Hearing the writers present such overly complicated, pretentious arguments about trivial details of pop culture makes me nostalgic for my college years. Outside of academia, there are few places where you can hear such trumped up commentary of, say, Miley Cyrus's decisions. There are lots of cringe-worthy moments, but, like that old college boyfriend who compared Seinfeld to Beckett, I actually find them endearing. Metcalf's accent is hard on my ears, though. Is it from a region I haven't visited, or is it the vocal manifestation of pretentiousness? I agree that Stevens and Turner are easier to take. Perhaps they will start to deflate more of Metcalf's pompous comments in the future. I wish the cultural gabfest recorded more than twice a month. In contrast, I find the political gabfest more grating by the week. They veer into in-jokes and tedious personal anecdotes that detract from the conversation. I long for that part of the summer when they go on vacation and bring in more interesting / less annoying replacements. Both of the gabfests would benefit hugely from more diverse perspectives, if Slate had any to offer.
Ugh.
As a big fan of other Slate podcasts, I was pretty excited about this one, but it really is the weakest of the bunch. The participants are sooo snobbish, which I suppose makes sense, but it is not immediately apparent upon what grounds they are snobbish. On the Political Gabfest, Dickerson knows politics, Bazelon knows the law, Plotz...well, he's editor now so he does what he wants. On the Culture Gabfest, you get a couple of mildly literate twenty-somethings and a thirty-something talking down to the world. No thanks.
- Free
- Category: Literature
- Language: English
- ©2010 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC
