The Culture Gabfest: Auteurs Gone Wild Edition
Slate's podcast about Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, the Reddit-based community Gaybros, and the art of book recommendations.
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On this week’s episode, our critics ponder Michael Cimino’s epic and extravagant Heaven’s Gate, the legendary flop that sank its studio but has found acclaim with a new director’s cut three decades after its brief initial release. Then, Slate editorial assistant Bryan Lowder joins them to discuss Gaybros, the online and IRL community of gay men with traditionally manly hobbies. Finally, in light of Amazon’s acquisition of the social reading site Goodreads, the Culturefesters discuss the art of book recommending and share their go-to recommendations.
Here are links to some of the things we discussed this week:
- The Heaven’s Gate Criterion Collection Blu-ray.
- Peter Biskind’s book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood.
- P.T. Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.
- United Artists, the film studio founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks.
- From Slate, Bryan Lowder’s “Meet the Gaybros,” about the Reddit-based community.
- Reddit’s r/gaybros subgroup.
- Stacey Lambe on “The Growing World of ‘Gaybros’ ” for BuzzFeed.
- Amazon’s acquisition of Goodreads.
- Jennifer Egan’s 2010 book A Visit From the Goon Squad.
- Culturefester book recommendations: The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley (Dana), I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (Stephen), and People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished From the Streets of Tokyo—and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up by Richard Lloyd Parry (June).
Endorsements:
Dana’s pick: Matt Debenham’s podcast “What Are You Reading?” Past guests have included Dana Stevens, Bill Corbett, and Julie Klam.
June’s pick: John McPhee’s 1969 book The Crofter and the Laird, about returning to his ancestral homeland in the Scottish Inner Hebrides.
Stephen’s pick: The well-paced, snappy, funny movie that’s a friggin’ delight, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
Outro: “Recommendation” by Little Dragon.
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Julia Furlan. Our intern is Sally Tamarkin.
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