Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 359 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner with the audio player below.
Subscribe in iTunes ∙ RSS feed ∙ Download ∙ Play in another tab
And join the lively conversation on the Culturefest Facebook page here:
Go to slate.com/cultureplus to learn more about Slate Plus and join today.
This week on Slate Plus, the critics join Carl Wilson to share their favorite country music lyrics.
On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, the gabbers discuss Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, the fifth installment in the Tom Cruise franchise that’s been around for almost 20 years. What makes this plotless movie so mesmerizing to watch? Next, Katy Waldman recently demystified the hashtags #squad and #squadgoals in Slate. Why is this the summer of #squad? Finally, Carl Wilson’s recent Slate review of Kacey Musgraves’ latest album explores the problem with country music for people who don’t like country music. Why has the dismissal of this genre become widely acceptable?
This episode of Slate’s Culture Gabfest is brought to you Braintree, which offers a best-in-class mobile checkout experience. To learn more, and for your first $50,000 in transactions fee-free, go to braintreepayments.com/culture. The Culture Gabfest is also sponsored by Volvo. Get a month’s payment on Volvo and spend your summer doing the things that matter to you. Visit volvocars.com/us or test drive a Volvo at your local dealer.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:
- Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
- Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
- Steve’s piece about Tom Cruise from 2008 in Slate
- Mark Harris’ piece about Tom Cruise’s Oscar nominations in Grantland
- Magnolia
- Live, Die, Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow
- David Edelstein’s review of Rogue Nation in New York magazine
- “Taylor Swift, Waka Flocka, and the Roots of #Squad” by Katy Waldman in Slate
- Megan Garber’s piece about #squad in the Atlantic
- “Going Way Too Deep Down the Rabbit Hole With Nicki Minaj’s Recent Bar Mitzvah Appearance” by Rembert Browne in Grantland
- Carl Wilson’s review of Kacey Musgraves’ album in Slate
- Same Trailer, Different Park by Kacey Musgraves
- “Merry Go ’Round” by Kacey Musgraves
- “Girl Crush” by Little Big Town
- “Follow Your Arrow” by Kacey Musgraves
We learned after taping the show that the great Nashville producer Bill Sherrill died on Tuesday morning. Sherrill worked on lots of George Jones’ songs that Dana, Steve, and Carl mentioned in the Plus segment. He also produced the Elvis Costello country covers album, Almost Blue, that Carl discussed.
Endorsements:
Dana: Anindo Chatterjee on Pandora and “The Song Decoders” by Rob Walker*
Julia: Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow and a request for academic and popular sources that analyze The King and I
Steve: Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett
Outro: “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other)” by Willie Nelson
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Ann Heppermann. Our intern is Lindsey Albracht.
Follow us on Twitter. And please “like” the Culture Gabfest on Facebook.
*Correction, Aug. 10, 2015: This article originally misspelled the first name of Anindo Chatterjee. (Return.)
