Slate Culture Feed

After hearing from more than 200 listeners about their siblings, it's clear that the people we spend our childhoods with aren't the easiest ones to act like adults toward. This episode first aired in 2015.Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter, and follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org.EVENT: Come sing along with me at a special sing-a-long karaoke party in honor of the paperback release of my book, Let's Talk About Hard Things. We'll drink, talk and SING about hard things.In San Francisco: on May 3rd, at 6:30pm at Manny's.In NYC: On May 6, at 7pm at The Greene Space.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TikTok star William White has a large and devoted fanbase of middle-aged women lusting after him as he lip-syncs to ‘80s songs. But things have taken a darker turn recently, as his fans have started turning on each other. On today’s show, Madison and Rachelle talk with journalist Jessica Lucas, who reported on White’s fanbase in a recent piece for Input. They discuss why these women are so obsessed with him, the alarming culture that has sprung up around him, and how he’s used his following for monetary gain.Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the panel begins by assessing Nicolas Cage’s satirical cinematic metaverse in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Then, the panel is joined by co-host of Slate’s Working podcast, Isaac Butler, to discuss the final season of Better Call Saul. Finally, the panel is joined by Washington Post columnist Will Oremus to break down Elon Musk’s recent acquisition of Twitter.In Slate Plus, Steve corrects a mistake and the panel discusses their relationships to imaginary places.Email us at culturefest@slate.com.EndorsementsDana: Cousin endorsements involving the Mankiewicz family. First: Nick Davis’ book Competing With Idiots: Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, A Dual Portrait. Second: This video of Ben Mankiewicz interviewing Bruce Dern.Julia: Snorkeling!Steve: A 2015 edition of local radio program Alternative Radio: Audio Energy for Democracy in which Timothy Snyder (author of On Tyranny) discusses the Holocaust.Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Nadira Goffe.Outro music is "Back to Silence" by OTESlate Plus members get ad-free podcasts, a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest, full access to Slate's journalism on Slate.com, and more. Sign up now at slate.com/cultureplus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When we think of method acting, we tend to think of actors going a little over the top for a role – like Jared Leto, who allegedly sent his colleagues dead rats when he was preparing to be The Joker, or Robert De Niro refusing to break character on the set of the movie Raging Bull.But that’s not how method acting began. On this episode of Decoder Ring: we look at how “The Method” came to be so well-known and yet so widely misunderstood. It’s a saga that spans three centuries and involves scores of famous actors, directors and teachers. And it altered how we think about realism, authenticity, and a good performance.Our guest today is Isaac Butler, who wrote The Method: How The 20th Century Learned to Act.Decoder Ring is written and produced by Willa Paskin. This episode was produced by Elizabeth Nakano. Derek John is Sr. Supervising Producer of Narrative Podcasts. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com.If you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you get ad-free podcasts, bonus episodes, and total access to all of Slate’s journalism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vinson Cunningham, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin talk about the decline of the Brooklyn Nets and the rise of the New Orleans Pelicans. They also discuss Wimbledon’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes, and they review the HBO series Winning Time, on the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers. NBA playoffs (3:55): What’s gone wrong for Brooklyn? What’s going right for New Orleans? Wimbledon (25:34): Is there any logic to banning individual Russian athletes? Winning Time (49:08): What the show gets right and what it gets wrong. Afterball (1:09:52): Josh on hiding in sports. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the past few years, trend pieces have flooded the internet telling us that Gen Z is a bunch of “puriteens” and not having as much sex as the rest of us. Looks like we’ve got a new moral panic on our hands. On today’s show, You’re Wrong About’s Sarah Marshall joins Rachelle to talk about the hand-wringing reasons people think the youth aren’t engaging in sex, why our society is so obsessed with the sex lives of teenagers, and how Gen Z might just have the healthiest relationship with sex yet, even if they aren’t having any.Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three people involved with Club Penguin Rewritten, a fan-made remake of a popular Disney game, were arrested last week by the City of London police because they were infringing on Disney’s copyright. On the show today, Rachelle and Allegra talk about the history of Club Penguin, growing up on browser games, and what this news could mean for other fan-created remakes of now-defunct games.Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the panel begins by entering the multiverse of Everything Everywhere All At Once. Then, the panel dives into Apple TV+’s newest spy drama Slow Horses (based on books that were reviewed by Slate’s own Laura Miller). Finally, the panel talks about music’s next big thing: British indie-rock duo Wet Leg’s newest self-titled album.  In Slate Plus, the panel discusses a Gawker article from Rachel Connolly, titled “The ‘Pity Me!’ Personal Essay.”Email us at culturefest@slate.com.EndorsementsDana: Dana reads Herman Melville’s sonnet titled “Art” about…art! Also, this video of Dana’s recent book event in Philadelphia!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyODZSE6w_oJulia: L.A. Times’ Festival of Books—where both Julia and Dana are doing panels!—which takes place April 23–24th. In addition: L.A. Times’ “Lit City” package which includes a list of “The 65 best bookstores in L.A.” Notably from that list is Julia’s listener-inspired selection: Children’s Book World.Steve: An essay in the NYRoB by M.W. Feldman and Jessica Riskin, titled “Why Biology Is Not Destiny,” in which they review The Genetic Lottery by Kathryn Harden.Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Nadira Goffe.Outro music is "Lonely Calling" by Arc De SoleilSlate Plus members get ad-free podcasts, a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest, full access to Slate's journalism on Slate.com, and more. Sign up now at slate.com/cultureplus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the early 2000s, an arms race broke out in the world of men’s shaving. After decades with razors that had only one blade and then decades with razors that had only two, the number of blades rapidly spiraled up and up and up.It’s a skirmish sometimes referred to as The Razor Blade Wars, and it was a face-off about innovation, competition, capitalism, masculinity, and most of all, how strange things can become after you’ve created something that’s the best a consumer can get — and then you have to keep going.Some of the voices you’ll hear in this episode include Rebecca Herzig, author of Plucked: A History of Hair Removal; Tim Dowling, Guardian columnist and author of Inventor of the Disposable Culture: King Camp Gillette 1855-1932; Dan Koeppel, razor blade zelig; and Kaitlyn Tiffany, writer for the Atlantic. If you want to read more about razor blades, check out:Cutting edge : Gillette's journey to global leadershipKing C. Gillette, the man and his wonderful shaving deviceSatisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass MarketDecoder Ring is written and produced by Willa Paskin. This episode was produced by Elizabeth Nakano. Derek John is Sr. Supervising Producer of Narrative Podcasts. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.comIf you love the show and want to support us, consider joining Slate Plus. With Slate Plus you get ad-free podcasts, bonus episodes, and total access to all of Slate’s journalism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vinson Cunningham, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin discuss the epic Game 1 of the Nets-Celtics series. They also talk about the Minnesota Timberwolves, young playoff stars, and Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai. Finally, the Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh joins for a conversation about near-perfection at the start of the baseball season.Nets-Celtics (3:05): Jayson Tatum, Kyrie Irving, and a whole lot more. NBA playoffs (26:39): What we’re watching this postseason.Baseball (49:02): The sadness of two perfect games that almost were.Afterball (1:09:34): Vinson on the Timberwolves’ spotty playoff history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.