Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 307 with Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and Stephen Metcalf with the audio player below.

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On this week’s episode, Julia, Stephen, and Dana take aim at intergalactic caper Guardians of the Galaxy. Is Bradley Cooper à la raccoon enough to charm them, or does this movie have too many echoes of blockbusters past? Next, the worlds of political journalism, advice columns, and British tennis have all been lately hit by plagiarism scandals. No big deal, or unforgivable transgression? Finally, the Culture Gabfest is in need of some new introductory music, having inherited the current ditty from the Political Gabfest. Like any hand-me-down, it is beloved, but move on we must. Composer Nicholas Britell joins the critics in the studio to discuss the process of dreaming up a theme tune, our listeners’ suggestions, and new directions for the Culturefest sound.

Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:

• Dana Stevens’ review of Guardians of the Galaxy
• Iron Man
• The Dark Knight
• Last Year at Marienbad
• Emily Yoffe notices some eerie similarities between her “Dear Prudence” advice column and Debbie Reynolds’.
• Stanley Fish thinks plagiarism is not a big deal
• Carol Vogel at the New York Times faces plagiarism accusations
• Benny Johnson loses his job at BuzzFeed
• Ben Rothenberg writes about the Wimbledon fraudster on Slate
• Guest composer Nicholas Britell
• The Gabfest’s signature sound—Summer Strut!
• The All Things Considered theme tune

Endorsements:

Dana: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Julia: Joss Whedon’s spirited space western, Firefly.

Stephen: That other intergalactic ensemble romp, Galaxy Quest.

Outro: The Runaways, “Cherry Bomb”

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Ann Heppermann. Our intern is Josephine Livingstone.

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