The Culture Gabfest “Prime Directive” Edition
Slate’s Culture Gabfest on The Americans, the rising cost of Amazon Prime, and trigger warnings in college classrooms.
The Culture Gabfest has moved! Find new episodes here.
Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 287 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner with the audio player below.
And join the lively conversation on the Culturefest Facebook page here:
The sponsors of today’s show are Audible and Stamps.com. Get a free audiobook from Audible’s collection of more than 150,000 titles and a subscription to a daily audio digest when you sign up for a 30-day free trial at www.audiblepodcast.com/culturefest. This week’s pick for the Culture Gabfest Bucket List—the books you’ve got to read to be a smarter culture hound—is The Confessions of St. Augustine, read by Simon Vance. Go to Stamps.com and use the promo code “CULTUREFEST” for your no-risk free trial and bonus offer.
Culturefest is on the radio! “Gabfest Radio” combines Slate’s Culture and Political Gabfests in one show—listen on Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m. on WNYC’s AM820.
Subscribe on iTunes to Mom and Dad Are Fighting, Slate’s new parenting podcast featuring Allison Benedikt and Dan Kois.
On May 4, the Culture Gabfest will be hosting a live show in Montreal as part of the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival. Stay tuned for tickets to the show and a cocktail party with the gabbers on May 3. Tickets will go on sale April 2.
And don’t forget you can find Culture Gabfest T-shirts for sale in the Slate Store.
On this week’s episode, the critics discuss The Americans, Joe Weisberg’s FX series about Soviet spies living undercover in 1980s suburban D.C. Next, inspired by the price hike of Amazon Prime membership, the gabbers discuss George Packer’s New Yorker piece on Amazon.com. What are the true costs of Amazon’s convenience? And finally, the critics grapple with the use of trigger warnings on the Internet and in college classrooms. Are they respectful or condescending to those living with PTSD?
- The Americans on FX
- True Detective on HBO
- The Sopranos on HBO
- An Ordinary Spy by The Americans creator Joe Weisberg
- George Packer’s profile of Amazon.com in The New Yorker
- Jordan Weissmann claims that Amazon Prime is “still cheap” on Slate
- A Slate widget allows you to determine whether Prime is still worth it for your needs
- Omnivoracious, Amazon.com’s less-than-prominent book blog
- Jenny Jarvie laments the spread of trigger warnings to academia in the New Republic
- Katie McDonough defends trigger warnings in college classrooms at Salon
- Susannah Breslin mocks the use of trigger warnings on True/Slant
- Jezebel editor Anna North responds to Breslin’s piece
Endorsements:
Dana: The viral video of Stanford professor Andrei Linde celebrating an astrophysics discovery that vindicates his theory of an inflationary universe.
Julia: Fitbit Flex, a fun fitness bracelet that quantifies your physical activity and may change your behavior.
Steve: Discovering your “karaoke self” and “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” by Petula Clark.
Outro: “Brass in Pocket” by The Pretenders
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
Follow us on Twitter. And please Like the Culture Gabfest on Facebook.