Slate's Culture Gabfest on Funny People, the death of the music magazine, and the DSM-V.

Slate's Culture Gabfest on Funny People, the death of the music magazine, and the DSM-V.

Slate's Culture Gabfest on Funny People, the death of the music magazine, and the DSM-V.

Slate's weekly roundtable.
July 29 2009 11:52 AM

The Culture Gabfest, the Shrinky Dink Edition

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The Culture Gabfest has moved! Find new episodes here.

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 45 with Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and Jonah Weiner 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 your 14-day free trial from our sponsor Audible.com, which includes a credit for one free audiobook, here. (Audiobook of the week: K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude Starring Nikita Khrushchev, by Peter Carlson, read by Malcolm Hillgartner.)

Find the Culturefest Facebook page here. Leave us a note and see what other Culturefest listeners have to say about the latest podcast. See the results of our "Sketch Steve" contest.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Judd Apatow's third movie, Funny People; the rapid disappearance of the music magazine; and the controversy over some of the new psychological disorders that might be included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

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

The official Web site for Funny People, including links to many fake Web sites for characters in the movie.
Roger Ebert's interview with Judd Apatow.
Judd Apatow talks about Funny People on NPR's Fresh Air.
Todd McCarthy's review of Funny People in Variety.
Jonah Weiner's piece in Slate about why music magazines are dying.
Christopher Lane's piece in Slate about the new disorders that might make their way into the DSM-V.
The official Web site for the still-in-development DSM-V.
Former DSM editor Robert Spitzer's letter to the editors of Psychiatric News on his concerns about the DSM-V.
Larissa MacFarquhar's 1997 piece in Slate defending the DSM.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Julia's picks: two summer songs from Jay-Z, "Death of Autotune" and "Run This Town."
Dana's pick: a video of Merce Cunningham (RIP) and John Cage speaking at the Walker Art Center in 1981.
Stephen's pick: the 2000 Australian film Chopper, starring a young, bulked-up Eric Bana.

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

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Posted on July 29 by Jacob Ganz at 11:52 a.m.

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 44 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, June Thomas, 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.

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Get your 14-day free trial from our sponsor Audible.com, which includes a credit for one free audio book, here. (Audiobook of the week: Buzz Aldrin's memoir Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home From The Moon, read by Patrick Egan.)

Find the Culturefest Facebook page here. Leave us a note and see what other Culturefest listeners have to say about the latest podcast.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni's struggle with bulimia, and the glut of nominations for the 61st Emmy Awards.

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

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Buzz Aldrin advocates for more space exploration in the Washington Post.
Tom Wolfe's op-ed on NASA's disappointing record following the moon landing.
Jason Kottke's blog post on Apollo 11.
Frank Bruni's new memoir, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater.
An excerpt of Bruni's memoir, published in the New York Times Magazine.
Kate Taylor's post on Double X about Michael Jackson's reported anorexia.
The complete(ly overwhelming) list of nominations for the 61st Emmy Awards.
The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan scans the list of nominations for surprises and omissions.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Julia's pick: Cooks Illustrated's blueberry muffin recipe (login required), featured in The New Best Recipe cookbook.
June's pick: the live webcam of Antony Gormley's Fourth Plinth art project.
Dana's pick: Buzz Aldrin's life after Apollo 11, as documented on YouTube.
Stephen's pick: Something Cool by June Christy.

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

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Posted on July 22 by Jacob Ganz at 11:55 a.m.

June 15, 2009

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 43 with Stephen Metcalf, Mike Steinberger, 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.

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Get your 14-day free trial from our sponsor Audible.com, which includes a credit for one free audiobook, here. (Audiobook of the week: Antonia Fraser's The Gunpowder Plot, read by Robert Powell)

Find the Culturefest Facebook page here. Leave us a note and see what other Culturefest listeners have to say about the latest podcast.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss Brüno, the confrontational new comedy from Sacha Baron Cohen; Matt Taibbi's Rolling Stone article about Goldman Sachs; and a new book on the decline of French food and wine by Slate's Mike Steinberger.

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

Brüno's official Web site.
Dana Stevens' review of Brüno on Slate (including a spoiler podcast).
Anthony Lane's review of Brüno in The New Yorker.
Matt Taibbi's article on Goldman Sachs in Rolling Stone.
Megan McArdle's post on theAtlantic.com comparing Taibbi to Sarah Palin.
Mike Steinberger's bookAu Revoir to All That: Food, Wine, and the End of France.
Mike Steinberger's newest wine column on Slate, about why France's troubled vineyards still produce the world's best wine.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Julia's pick: Mike Steinberger's guide (on Slate) to the wine importers that you can count on.
Dana's pick: Easy Come, Easy Go, Marianne Faithfull's 2008 album of covers.
Stephen's pick: "Cattle and Cane" by the Go-betweens, from their 1983 album Before Hollywood.

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

Posted on July 15 by Jacob Ganz at 11:59 a.m.

July 8, 2009

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 42 with Dana Stevens, John Swansburg, 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 your 14-day free trial from our sponsor Audible.com, which includes a credit for one free audiobook, here. (Audiobook of the week: Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, read by Jeremy Irons.) 

Find the Culturefest Facebook page here. Leave us a note and see what other Culturefest listeners have to say about the latest podcast.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the memorial service for Michael Jackson, Michael Mann's new Depression-era bank robber movie Public Enemies, and the various uses that have been found for the Web site Urbandictionary.com.

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

Sasha Frere-Jones and Ben Greenman of TheNew Yorker liveblog the Michael Jackson memorial, with contributions from readers.
Troy Patterson's Slate piece on the service.
Dana Stevens' "Brow Beat" blog post on the great writing that surfaced after Jackson's death.
Dana's do-it- yourself memorial to Michael Jackson via YouTube.
Gail Mitchell and Melinda Newman's piece in Billboard on how Thriller changed the music business.
The official Web site for Public Enemies.
Dana Stevens' review of Public Enemies.
Metacritic's collection of Public Enemies reviews, including those of Manohla Dargis, Roger Ebert, and David Denby.
Otis Taylor's "Ten Million Slaves," one of the pieces of music used by Michael Mann in Public Enemies.
Virginia Heffernan's column on Urbandictionary.com in the New York Times Magazine.
Nicola Woolcock's article in the Times of London on the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Julia's pick: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud.
Dana's pick: Lynn Shelton's upcoming bromance/porn comedy Humpday.
John's pick: The newly released DVD set of the early 1990s sitcom Parker Lewis Can't Lose.

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

Posted on July 8 by Jacob Ganz at 11:30 a.m.

July 1, 2009

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 41 with Dana Stevens, Seth Stevenson, 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 your 14-day free trial from our sponsor Audible.com, which includes a credit for one free audiobook, here. (Audiobook of the week: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach, read by Shelly Frasier.)

Find the Culturefest Facebook page here. Leave us a note and see what other Culturefest listeners have to say about the latest podcast.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics discuss the recent spate of celebrity deaths, including Michael Jackson and the lesser lights—Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Billy Mays—eclipsed by his passing, the way obituaries have changed in the Internet era, and what makes a good obit.

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

Seth Stevenson's coverage of Michael Jackson's 2005 trial.
Seth Stevenson's Brow Beat blog post on Michael Jackson's death.
Stephen Metcalf's Brow Beat blog post on Michael Jackson's role in creating the 1980s.
Alessandra Stanley's remembrance of Farrah Fawcett in the New York Times.
Dana Stevens' Double X blog post on Farrah Fawcett's hair.
Seth Stevenson's piece comparing Vince Offer, the ShamWow pitchman, to Billy Mays.
A collection of Billy Mays' crowning moments in infomercials.
The New York Times' Obits editor, Bill McDonald, answers questions from readers.
Margalit Fox's obituary of John Houghtaling, inventor of Magic Fingers, in the New York Times.
AP obit for Herb Peterson, inventor of the Egg McMuffin.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Julia's pick: The two- partLos Angeles Magazine story about the Bernie Madoff of interior design.
Dana's pick: Caetano Veloso's cover of "Billie Jean."
Seth's pick: The TV dancing competition So You Think You Can Dance.

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

Posted on July 1 by Jacob Ganz at 11:40 a.m.

Stephen Metcalf is Slate’s critic at large. He is working on a book about the 1980s.

Dana Stevens is Slate’s movie critic.

Julia Turner, the former editor in chief of Slate, is a regular on Slate’s Culture Gabfest podcast.

Jonah Weiner is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine.