Community on NBC, NASA's arsenic scandal, and The King's Speech on this week's Culture Gabfest podcast.

Community on NBC, NASA's arsenic scandal, and The King's Speech on this week's Culture Gabfest podcast.

Community on NBC, NASA's arsenic scandal, and The King's Speech on this week's Culture Gabfest podcast.

Slate's weekly roundtable.
Dec. 15 2010 11:17 AM

The Culture Gabfest "Swarm of Humbugs" Edition

Listen to Slate's show about The King's Speech, Community, and the state of peer review.

1_123125_2187915_080423_cgf_header

The Culture Gabfest has moved! Find new episodes here.

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 117 with Daniel Engber, Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

You can also download the program  here, or you can subscribe to the weekly Culture Gabfest podcast feed  via iTunes or directly with our   RSS feed. Find the Culturefest Facebook page   here. Leave us a note and see what other listeners have to say about the latest podcast.

This episode of the Slate Culture Gabfest and a special
Insider Survey for this podcast are brought to you by the new 2011 Hyundai Equus. Discover the Hyundai Equus, the new premium luxury sedan from Hyundai, offering first-class refinement and features, including an iPad equipped with the Equus Owners Manual App. And take the Insider Survey for the Culture Gabfest at podcastinsidersurvey.com.

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner discuss director Tom Hooper's film The King's Speech and the NBC sitcom Community. They're joined by Slate's Daniel Engber to discuss NASA's flawed arsenic-based life study and the state of peer review.

Here are some links to the things we discussed this week:

The official Web site for The King's Speech.
Barry Harbaugh's "History of Stuttering in the Movies" for Slate.
The Wikipedia page for Wallis Simpson.
Stephen Frears' film The Queen.
 
The official page for the NBC sitcom Community.
Community episodes "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas," "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" and "Modern Warfare."
The television tradition of "bottle episodes."
The genre parodies of filmmaker Edgar Wright.
The 1990s sitcom The Larry Sanders Show.
Community creator Dan Harmon.
Carl Zimmer on NASA's study of arsenic-based life in Slate.
Slate
's Daniel Engber on "the case against peer review."
The announcement of the "missing link" Darwiniusfossil.
Evolutionary biologist Marc Hauser's scientific misconduct.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Dana's picks: The History of the World in 100 Objects book and Bogs winter boots.
Julia's picks: This American Life's segment "Special Effects Story" from the episode "Recordings for Someone" and the New York Times Magazine's guide to making mozzarella.
Dan's pick: the New York Times'recipe for "no-knead bread."
Steve's picks: his J. Crew corduroy pants and Movietone's album Blossom Filled Streets.

Outro: "Autumn Sweater" by Yo La Tengo from I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One.

You can e-mail us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Jesse Baker. Our intern is Forrest Wickman.

Follow us on the new Culturefest Twitter feed. And please Like the Culture Gabfeston Facebook.

Like Slate on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Stephen Metcalf is Slate’s critic at large. He is working on a book about the 1980s.

Dana Stevens is Slate’s movie critic.

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

Daniel Engber is a columnist for Slate.