The Culture Gabfest “Over the River and Through the Woods” Edition
Slate’s Culture Gabfest on Nebraska, new online shopping site the Prowl, and the highs and lows of Thanksgiving fare.
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On this week’s episode, the critics discuss Nebraska, Alexander Payne’s new film starring Bruce Dern and Will Forte as father and son on an ill-fated road trip. Shot in austere black and white, the film is a study of restrained emotion: Dern’s minimalist performance contains all the pathos of Lear and the hubris of Quixote. Next, the critics turn to the Prowl, a new site that allows you to crowdsource your online shopping. And finally, Dan Pashman, former Culture Gabfest producer and the host of the Sporkful podcast, joins the critics to discuss the highs and lows of the Thanksgiving feast, how not to spoil your appetite, and the waning of Steve’s vegetarianism.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:
- Dana’s review of Nebraska on Slate
- Citizen Ruth
- Election
- About Schmidt
- Sideways
- The Descendants
- Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska
- Bruce Dern on Fresh Air with Terry Gross
- Dana’s Slate piece about the Prowl
- The Prowl
- CafeMom, a parenting-networking site by the creators of the Prowl
- MamásLatinas, a CafeMom spinoff
- Frugal Fannies in Westwood, Mass.
- Dan Pashman’s podcast The Sporkful
- Dan and Julia talk pasta shapes on The Sporkful
Endorsements:
Dana: “Close My Eyes,” from Arthur Russell’s album Love is Overtaking Me
Julia: The joyously poppy “Closer Than This” by St. Lucia
Dan: Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows, an album of John Prine covers by artists including Justin Vernon and the Avett Brothers
Steve: Bruce Springsteen’s “This Hard Land,” as performed in Kilkenny, Ireland, during his worldwide Wrecking Ball tour
Outro: “Close My Eyes” by Arthur Russell
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Sally Herships. Our intern is Anna Shechtman.
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