The Culture Gabfest: On Tenterhooks Edition

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 216 with Stephen Metcalf, John Swansburg, and Julia Turner by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

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Culturefest is on the radio! ?Gabfest Radio? combines Slate?s Culture and Political Gabfests in one show?listen on Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m. on WNYC?s AM820.

On this week?s Culturefest, our critics are joined by Slate Editorial Director John Swansburg to discuss Flight, the new Robert Zemeckis movie starring Denzel Washington, and whether it?s a deft and emotionally complex genre mashup or a clich?-laden addiction movie. The Gabfesters then discuss Disney?s purchase of Lucasfilm: Does it mean doom or rescue for the Star Wars franchise? Finally, they consider the poetry and comedy of the Twitter hashtag, its pithy functionality, and its potential future as a marketing super tool.

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

John?s pick: The opera The Rake?s Progress, written by Igor Stravinksy, based on William Hogarth?s engravings, with libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman. This is an approachable introduction to opera for the nonbuff.

Julia?s pick: The song ?In a Big City? by Titus Andronicus, the band that sounds like what the Pogues would sound like if they were from New Jersey in the early 1990s.

Stephen?s pick: The Tim Allen movie Galaxy Quest which lovingly spoofs Star Wars and the space movie genre.

Outro: ?In a Big City? by Titus Andronicus

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Dan Pashman. Our intern is Sally Tamarkin.

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