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This week on Slate Plus, Dana and Steve talk about their cultural blind spots: the books, movies, and texts that they consider essentials but have not yet found the right moment to tackle.
On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, the critics discuss Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of The BFG. Is Roald Dahl’s a sacred text best left alone? Next up, another adaptation: TNT’s series Animal Kingdom, based on the 2010 movie of the same name. Does the source material provide enough inspiration to make the series an original take on a crime family drama? Finally, Facebook is continuously tweaking its algorithm; most recently it has announced that it is prioritizing friends and family over publications and news sources. Slate’s senior technology writer, Will Oremus, explains why Facebook has opted for this latest update to its brand.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:
- Roald Dahl’s books including The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Fantastic Mr. Fox directed by Wes Anderson
- Jon Mooallem’s Wired profile of Spielberg
- Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies starring Mark Rylance
- Animal Kingdom on TNT
- Animal Kingdom, the original movie on which the series is based.
- Outlander
- Fargo
- Facebook’s philosophical statement outlining the values its new algorithm prioritizes
- Dana’s piece on Abbas Kiarostami for Slate.
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Endorsements:
Dana: Close-Up by the late Abbas Kiarostami
Will: Sandra Boynton’s board books, including Moo Baa La La La and Philadelphia Chickens.
Stephen: “How to Grow a Weetabix” by James Meek in the London Review of Books.
Outro: “Atomic Dog” by George Clinton
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Ann Heppermann. Our intern is Lizzie Fison.
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