Slate’s Culture Gabfest on The Simpsons, surreal romance The One I Love, and the ALS ice bucket challenge.

The Secret of the Ice Bucket Challenge’s Viral Success

The Secret of the Ice Bucket Challenge’s Viral Success

Slate's weekly roundtable.
Aug. 27 2014 11:43 AM

The Culture Gabfest “Mmmm … Simpsons” Edition

Slate’s Culture Gabfest on The Simpsons, The One I Love, and the ALS ice bucket challenge.

The Culture Gabfest has moved! Find new episodes here.

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Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 310 with David Haglund, John Swansburg, and Julia Turner.

And join the lively conversation on the Culturefest Facebook page here:

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On this week’s episode, Julia is joined by Slate senior editor David Haglund and deputy editor John Swansburg to talk about the many joys and sorrows of The Simpsons, on the occasion of FXX’s syndication and complete rerun of the show. Next up, Elisabeth Moss and Mark Duplass star in the surreal romance The One I Love. Can surrealism and romance reach a happy equilibrium, or is this movie just too strange to be good? Finally, the gabbers take on the ice bucket challenge. It might be impossible to critique a charitable enterprise without veering into gauche territory, but they give it their best shot.

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

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Endorsements:

John: Comedy podcast The Champs, especially the episodes featuring Blake Griffin, MC Serch, Arsenio Hall, and Chris Rock.

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Julia: “See My Vest” from the “Two Dozen and One Greyhounds” episode of The Simpsons.

Outro: Buddy Guy, “Feels Like Rain

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

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

Follow us on Twitter. And please “like” the Culture Gabfest on Facebook.

David Haglund is the literary editor of NewYorker.com. 

John Swansburg is a senior editor at the Atlantic.

Julia Turner, the former editor in chief of Slate, is a regular on Slate’s Culture Gabfest podcast.