The Culture Gabfest: A Rhythm of Liquids Edition
Slate's podcast about the daily rituals of artists and writers, the Sundance Channel’s series Rectify, and the camp aesthetic.
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On this week’s episode, author Mason Currey sits in to talk about his new book on the daily routines of creative people and how the coffee vs. booze dialectic played out among the artists and writers he profiles. The Gabfesters then discuss Rectify, the new series from the Sundance Channel about a man released from prison after 19 years on death row. Does the show’s flouting of narrative convention and its lack of the usual trinkety TV thrills make up for some of its heavy-handedness? Finally, Slate culture editorial assistant Bryan Lowder returns to the Culturefest to discuss his Slate series about the camp aesthetic. Our critics ponder the distinction between camp and campy and the oft-blurred line between camp and kitsch.
Here are links to some of the things we discussed this week:
- Mason Currey’s new book, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work and the blog that lead to it, Daily Routines.
- Mason Currey’s series for Slate on the daily rituals of artists and writers.
- The relocation to a Dublin gallery of Francis Bacon’s studio.
- Mike Hale on Rectify for the New York Times.
- Bryan Lowder’s Slate series, “Postcards From Camp.”
- Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay “Notes on Camp,” which brought the concept of camp to the mainstream.
- The video for Annie Lennox’s song “No More I Love Yous.”
- The classic campy movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- The production of The Testament of Mary now playing on Broadway, which stars Fiona Shaw.
- The Joan Crawford movie Trog.
- The literary theorist Roland Barthes and the cultural critic Wayne Koestenbaum.
- Director John Waters’ kitchsy sensibilities.
- This week’s Audible suggestion is Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, narrated by Michael Kitchen.
Endorsements:
Dana: Buster Keaton’s 1920 short One Week, a masterpiece of American cinema and an allegory about love and marriage with jaw-dropping stunts.
June: “Writing in the Dark: Confessions of a Literary Night Owl,” Kathryn Schulz’s 2012 essay for New York about doing her best writing in the middle of the night, which inspired June to wonder if it’s possible to live an upside-down life.
Stephen: New York’s interview with the founding editor of the New York Review of Books: “In Conversation With Robert Silvers.”
Outro: “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Julia Furlan. Our intern is Sally Tamarkin.
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