On this week’s show, the panel is first joined by Wesley Morris, New York Times’ critic at large, to dissect This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, Jennifer Lopez’s bizarre, nutty, yet utterly delicious self-funded vanity project that cost the singer $20 million to produce. (Wesley wrote a brilliant piece about it for the Times.) Then, the three explore 20 Days in Mariupol, the Oscar-nominated documentary by Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov that depicts the atrocities of the Russia-Ukraine war through on-the-ground footage and harrowing accounts of civilians. Finally, in a new oral history of the Village Voice, entitled The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture, author Tricia Romano tells the iconic alt-weekly newspaper’s history through 200 interviews with its legendary writers, editors, and photographers. We discuss.

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, we share an impromptu conversation between the hosts and Wesley Morris.

Email us at culturefest@slate.com.

Outro music: "Zero Gravity" by ELFL

Endorsements:

Cameron: Longtime Culture Gabfest producer, Cameron Drews, is moving onto his next project but came on one last time to endorse! He endorses movie theater subscriptions and is a big fan of Alamo Drafthouse’s season pass.

Dana: The Criterion Channel’s new “Gothic Noir” series.

Julia: An algorithm-recommended bop, UNTZ UNTZ by Inji.

Steve: The Milk Carton Kids’ cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and a performance of their song, “All of the Time in the World to Kill,” featuring some lovely on-stage banter.

Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong.

Hosts

Dana Stephens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf

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The Politics of Andor (Season 2 Episodes 4-6): Too Much Information