Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 26 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner by clicking the arrow on the audio player below: You can also download the program here, or you can subscribe to the weekly Culture Gabfest podcast feed in iTunes by clicking here.

Get your14-day free trial from our sponsor Audible.com, which includes a credit for one free audio book, here. (Audiobook of the week: Rudyard Kipling's Just So Storiesread by Boris Karloff.)

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Barack Obama's inauguration, Hua Hsu's Atlantic Monthly piece on the end of white demographic dominance, Daniel Bergner's New York Times Magazine piece on the vexing question of female desire, and the death of author John Updike.

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned in the show:

The Obama inauguration page on Hulu.
Jon Stewart not quite taking down Beyoncé and the Obamas on The Daily Show.
Hua Hsu's Atlantic  article "The End of White America?"
Daniel Bergner's New York Times Magazine cover story "What Do Women Want?"
Troy Patterson's Slate piece on the best of Updike, the worst of Updike, and how they're related.
"The Full Glass," John Updike's final story, published in The New Yorker in May 2008.
An October 2008 conversation between Updike and New York Times Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus.
Poetry, letters, and art criticism by Updike, published in the New York Review of Books.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Julia's pick: "The Itch," Atul Gawande's article about how scientists are mapping the brain-body connection in The New Yorker.
Dana's pick: Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock.
Stephen's pick: V.S. Naipaul's travel essay "The Return of Eva Peron," from the book of the same name.

You can e-mail us at culturefest@slate.com.

Posted on Jan. 28 by Jacob Ganz at 11:13 a.m.

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 25 with Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and John Swansburg by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

You can also download the program here, or you can subscribe to the weekly Culture Gabfest podcast feed in iTunes by clicking here.

Get your14-day free trial from our sponsor Audible.com, which includes a credit for one free audio book, here. (Audiobooks of the week: Winnie-the-Pooh and The Metaphysical Club.)

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the Golden Globe Awards (and awards-season ennui), the long-delayed return of TV's pro-torture hit 24, and the Biggie Smalls biopic Notorious.

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned in the show:

A list of Golden Globe winners.
Video of acceptance speeches by Golden Globe winners at NBC's Web site.
Jane Mayer's 2007 New Yorker profile of 24 creator Joel Surnow.
Edward Wyatt's New York Times piece on how 24's producers are changing the show to fit a new political landscape.
The Notorious Web site.
Jon Caramanica's profile of Jamal Woolard, Notorious' Biggie Smalls, in the New York Times.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Dana's pick: Expose on PBS.
John's pick: The Unfortunates by B.S. Johnson.
Julia's pick: The HBO series True Blood (but mostly its amazing, NSFW title sequence).

You can e-mail us at culturefest@slate.com.

Posted on Jan. 14 by Jacob Ganz at 10:27 a.m.

Dec. 31, 2008

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 24 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and June Thomas by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

You can also download the program here, or you can subscribe to the weekly Culture Gabfest podcast feed in iTunes by clicking here.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Tom Cruise's screen adventures as a one-eyed German soldier, Bruce Springsteen's decision to sell his new best-of collection exclusively at Wal-Mart, and the 2008 year in culture.

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned in the show:

The Valkyrie Web site.
Stephen's Slate piece looking at Tom Cruise's career through the lens of his 1983 comedy Risky Business.
Box Office Mojo chartsValkyrie's success in its opening weekend.
Billboard reports that the new greatest-hits collection from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be available exclusively at Wal-Mart.
Jon Pareles' piece in the New York Times on coming to terms with musicians selling out.
Stephen's Slate piece on Springsteen and his guru Jon Landau.
Dana's list of the best films of 2008.
Slate's staff picks the best books of 2008.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Dana's pick: HBO's documentaryJacques D'Amboise in China: The Other Side of the World
June's pick: The Archers, a quintessentially British radio show from the BBC, now available as a daily podcast
Stephen's pick: an upstart podcast from a trio of culture-gabbers, and a happy 2009.