Culture Gabfest - The Timothée Chalamet vs. the Blue Aliens Edition

Culture Gabfest - The Timothée Chalamet vs. the Blue Aliens Edition

This week, Julia and Steve welcome guest host Sam Adams to deconstruct the aggravating, yet strangely charming, table tennis phenom on the make that is Marty Supreme. Played with “BDE off-the-charts” (Steve’s words) by Timothée Chalamet, the unceasingly shameless hustler may just be an avatar for our age.

Speaking of avatars, we can’t avoid discussing Avatar: Fire and Ash, the latest installment of James Cameron’s immersive mega-franchise. Once again, the big blue folks peopling Pandora drew boku bucks at the box office… but do the Avatar films have any “cultural impact”? And what does “cultural impact” even mean? New Yorker staff writer Michael Schulman steps into the cultural cage match to debate this long-simmering internet argument.

On this week’s bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, the hosts take up a listener question about “cultural bran muffins,” the bits of culture you know would be good for you if only you could get them down. The hosts confess their bran secrets.

Endorsements

Steve: The essay "Two Pins and a Lollipop" about Judy Garland by Bee Wilson in the London Review of Books.

Sam: The album Penthouse by the band Luna, particularly the song "Chinatown."


Julia: Slate's beloved annual tradition Movie Club which for its 2025 edition gathers film critics Bilge Ebiri, Alison Wilmore, Justin Chang, and our very own Dana Stevens for a rollicking exchange about the year in film.

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Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(2956)

Culture Gabfest - Money On Film: Margin Call

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Culture Gabfest - One Oscar After Another Edition

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On this week’s show, Dana and Steve are joined by long-time FOP Isaac Butler (and author of the forthcoming book The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars.) They step ...

18 Mar 1h 2min

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On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate staff writer Nadira Goffe to answer the question everyone is asking since he appeared in a viral moment from the Oscars’ red carpet: Who TF is ...

18 Mar 38min

Death, Sex & Money - AI Confessions: A Chatbot Ended My Marriage

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Soon after his wife started experimenting with ChatGPT last summer, Rob* says her demeanor began to change. He says she started using mystical speech, running all communication through AI, and filed f...

17 Mar 50min

Hang Up and Listen - America's Wild, Weird World Baseball Classic

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Hosts Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh discuss the thrilling World Baseball Classic semifinal between Team USA and the Dominican Republic, as well as the missed calls, Navy SEAL visits,...

16 Mar 58min

ICYMI - The “My Husband Hates Me” Influencer

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On today’s episode, guest host Scaachi Koul is joined by journalist and content creator Melanie Hamlett to talk about the trend of wives who make content about the husbands who seem to hate them. Mela...

14 Mar 31min

Culture Gabfest - Paul Is Not Dead Yet Edition

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On this week’s monster mash, Steve, Dana, and Julia gather around the proverbial reanimation laboratory to take on the nutty, goth, and unbridled The Bride! Maggie Gyllenhaal’s feminist—or not, it’s u...

11 Mar 59min

Decoder Ring - Was "Eyes Wide Shut" a Warning?

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When Eyes Wide Shut opened in the summer of 1999, it was widely considered a disappointment. This final film from legendary director Stanley Kubrick had been sold as an erotic thriller, and potentiall...

11 Mar 47min

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