Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Google+, and Met exhibit Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty on this week's Culture Gabfest podcast.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Google+, and Met exhibit Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty on this week's…

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Google+, and Met exhibit Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty on this week's…

Slate's weekly roundtable.
July 20 2011 11:14 AM

The Culture Gabfest, "Vulture Epaulets" Edition

Listen to Slate's show about the final Harry Potter film, Facebook competitor Google+, and the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met.

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Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 148 with Simon Doonan, Dan Kois, Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner by clicking the arrow on the audio player below or  opening this player in another tab:

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In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner are joined by Slate contributor Dan Kois to discuss the final chapter of the Harry Potter film series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. For their next segment, they discuss Google's new social network Google+. Finally, they're joined by Slate columnist and Barneys creative ambassador Simon Doonan to discuss fashion designer Alexander McQueen and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's hot new exhibit Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.

Here are some links to the things we discussed this week:

Dana's review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 for Slate.
Dan Kois' retrospective on the franchise and the director who saved it in Slate.
Slate's dialogue between two "Harry Potter Virgins" about the final film.
Slate's slide show of fans' "Fiercest Wand Poses."
Slate's Audio Book Club about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Jeff Krulik's short film "Harry Potter Parking Lot" on Brow Beat.
Slate V's"Harry Potter in Six Minutes" video recap of the first seven films.
Suzanne Collins' young adult science-fiction series The Hunger Games.
Google's announcement of its new social network Google+.
Farhad Manjoo is unimpressed by Google+ in "More Like Google Minus."
TechCrunch's report of significant traffic from Google+ referrals.
Google's announcement that Google+ accumulated 10 million users in two weeks.
A rather complicated flow chart explaining who sees what on Google+.
Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder.
The official website of the Met's exhibition Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.
Holland Cotter's New York Times review of the exhibit.
The Met's video walk-through of the exhibit.
Judith Thurman's article on the exhibit in The New Yorker.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

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Dana's pick: Archival replays of Casey Kasem's American Top 40 (you can stream them from KFRC).
Julia's pick: Agatha Christie's mystery novels (she just read Murder in Retrospect).
Simon's pick: Taking a train to Greenport, NY, then taking a ferry to Shelter Island, then getting food at Reddings, then talking someone into either giving you a ride to Hay Beach, Silver Beach, or Sunset Beach.
Steve's picks: The Tanglewood Music Festival, Jean Sibelius' symphonic poem Finlandia (here's a recording on YouTube), and the song "Pretty Baby" by Blondie.

Outro: "Pretty Baby" by Blondie.

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Jesse Baker. Our intern is Forrest Wickman.

Follow us on the new Culturefest Twitter feed. And please Like the Culture Gabfeston Facebook.

Simon Doonan is an author, fashion commentator, and creative ambassador for Barneys New York.

Dan Kois edits and writes for Slate’s human interest and culture departments. He’s the co-author, with Isaac Butler, of The World Only Spins Forward, a history of Angels in America, and is writing a book called How to Be a Family.

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.