The Culture Gabfest “Vancouver, France” Edition
Slate’s Culture Gabfest on Whit Stillman’s The Cosmopolitans, Twitch.tv, and “Against [X]” essays.
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On this week’s episode, Steve, Julia, and Slate senior editor David Haglund talk about the new Whit Stillman pilot The Cosmopolitans, part of the current raft of Amazon pilots. Is this a return to form, or just more of Stillman’s characteristic bourgeoisie-skewering? Next up, Seth Stevenson joins the gabbers to talk Twitch.tv. Amazon has just bought the online platform for watching other people play video games. Are video games the new spectator sport and, if so, how should critics of more, er, classic media feel about it? Finally, Ivan Kreilkamp's screed contra screeds in the New Yorker takes on the genre of [X]-bashing, citing Cicero, Sontag, and Slate's Ruth Graham in the process. But what's a critic to do, if she may not critique? The gabbers weigh in on Kreilkamp’s aggressive argument.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:
- The Cosmopolitans on Amazon
- Whit Stillman’s 1990 movie Metropolitan
- Adam Gopnik’s Paris to the Moon
- Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris
- Amazon’s new show Transparent
- Twitch.tv
- Seth Stevenson’s article on Twitch on Slate
- Ivan Kreilkamp’s New Yorker piece “Against ‘Against [X]’”
- #slatepitches on Twitter
- Dana Stevens’ classic piece of invective against flip-flops on Slate
- “Against Chairs” in Jacobin
This year’s call-in show is coming up! Don’t forget to call in with your questions for the gabbers while they’re on retreat: 725-222-FEST (725-222-3378).
Endorsements:
David: the late singer Phyllis Dillon, particularly her version of “Perfidia”
Julia: Women in Clothes, by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, and Leanne Shapton
Steve: A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (1958) by Eric Newby
(Almost) every product recommended on every Slate podcast since the dawn of creation.
Outro: Phyllis Dillon, “Perfidia”
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Ann Heppermann. Our intern is Josephine Livingstone.
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