Slate Culture Feed

The Gabfest’s end is nigh but we’ve still got a few bits of culture to gab upon. This week, Steve and Dana are joined by longtime Gabfest star pinch hitter Dan Kois.

First up for consideration: Pixar’s Toy Story 5. In this fifth installment of the computer animation studio’s flagship franchise, the threat to the vital bond between toy and child are computers themselves. Will Pixar, of all entities, save us from the threat of screentime? Maybe not. Is it nice to be back with Woody, Buzz, Jesse and the gang of plushies, dolls, and various transitional objects? Maybe so.

Next, the panel drops into the indie comedy ecosystem of the streaming service Dropout TV and talks about its chaotic cult hit game show Game Changer, now in its eighth season. Does the goofy hijinks therein offer a framework for the future of TV? They discuss.

Finally, supreme, very special friend of the program (SVSFOP) Wesley Morris joins to talk about the New York Times’ package on the six sentences that define America and his essay in it about Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam.”

In our bonus episode, Wesley sticks around to theorize with Steve, Dana, and Julia about the point of even having podcasts about culture.

Endorsements

Dana: "What Steven Spielberg Taught Me About Fear, Catharsis, and Being Human" by Wesley Morris in The New York Times as well as, maybe for the first time ever for Dana in Gabfest history, a piece of technology: the MacBook Neo.

Julia: The ongoing career—after composing the Gabfest theme—of the composer Nicholas Britell including his work for the NBA and particularly the composition "Agape" on the film score of If Beale Street Could Talk.

Wesley: The potato salad recipe in Pearl Bailey's cookbook Pearl's Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook.

Dan: Writing fan mail to authors whose work you love. Also, the music of the recently departed South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, particularly the album Mindif.

Steve: The semi-fictionalized documentary about David Hockney A Bigger Splash and Philip French's review of it for BFI. Also, David Denby's 1990 New York Review of Books essay "The Real Thing" about the documentarian Frederick Wiseman.

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Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode, in collaboration with No Such Thing, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Manny Fidel, Noah Friedman, and Devan Joseph to talk about payment apps, and how they’ve changed the way we think about money. Plus, Kate reveals her own payment app predicament, and, with the help of the boys and a handful of experts, brings an unspoken, decade-long Venmo feud to a close.

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay, with help from No Such Thing.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing up, whenever Anna Konkle's parents fought–which was frequently–she usually sided with her dad. As she got older, she started to see those memories differently. Was her dad actually the bad guy? This week on Death, Sex & Money, Konkle talks about her new memoir, The Sane One, and the challenges of unpacking morally ambiguous memories. She also narrows in on her relationship with her dad, their estrangement, and their reconciliation shortly before his death.
Konkle is an actor and writer who was the co-creator and star of PEN15, the tween comedy series where she starred as a middle schooler and reenacted many of these confusing scenes from growing up. She appeared most recently in the final season of HBO’s Hacks.
Podcast production by Cameron Drews.
Get more Death, Sex & Money with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of DSM and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Death, Sex & Money show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/dsmplus to get access wherever you listen.
If you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques, is deathsexmoney@slate.com.

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On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Bridget Read, a features writer at New York Magazine whose recent piece “What If It All Came Out?” reports on the hackers who are weaponizing our extensive digital footprints against us. While public figures have long dealt with embarrassing leaks and exposed group chats, regular people have started grappling with the same problems thanks to the trove of information our devices have amassed without our knowledge. As scams get more sophisticated, and the risk of exposure grows, we’ll have to change everything about how we behave online.

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve, Dana, and Julia gather once more—for almost the last time—to unpack the week’s culture. This week, conversation has to include the cultural, cinematic juggernaut Steven Spielberg and his new film Disclosure Day. Starring Josh O’Connor and Emily Blunt, it’s a sci-fi, action thriller about the longheld Spielbergian obsession: extraterrestrial life. Does it deliver that trademark Spielberg sense of wonder or tired cliches… or both?

Next, they welcome longtime friend of the program Isaac Butler to discuss his new book The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars and threats to free expression past, present, and future.

Finally, and for the final time, beloved chartologist Chris Molanphy joins the show to remember Summer Struts past and curate the ultimate shortlist of shortlists. The panel shares their most adored songs from previous years and the tracks that never made the list but should have.

Listen to the final, ultimate, best of Summer Strut shortlist here. And for even more struttin’, you can listen to ten years of Summer Strut shortlists in one playlist here.

For Slate Plus subscribers, our bonus episode includes even more propulsive, groovy tracks and reflective conversation about what was Summer Strut.

Endorsements

Dana: Slate’s Spielberg Week and the 2023 conversation between the three philosophers John Vervaeke, Iain McGilchrist, and Daniel Schmachtenberger on "The Psychological Drivers of the Metacrisis."

Chris: The 2025 music video, directed by Mike Mills and starring Saoirse Ronan, of the Talking Heads classic Psycho Killer.

Julia: L.A. Material's upcoming Culinary Cup, a tournament of Los Angeles restaurants from the national diasporas represented in World Cup teams.

Steve: Sports. (Latecomers and bandwagon fans welcome! Go Knicks!)

And don’t forget to preorder Isaac Butler’s book The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars.

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Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.