Culture Desk - Notes on arts and entertainment from the staff of The New Yorker.

Podcasts
October 21, 2013

Out Loud: Startup City

In recent issues of the magazine, D. T. Max Profiled Jack Dorsey, one of the founders of Twitter, and Nathan Heller wrote about the values and lifestyles of young San Francisco entrepreneurs. Here, they both talk with Sasha Weiss about why the cultural center of gravity may have shifted west to San Francisco, how the economic and creative force of the tech industry is changing the city, and what it means for the rest of the country.

Also on the podcast, why the poet Brad Leithauser finds some words unusable.

October 14, 2013

Out Loud: Always Advertising Himself

Norman Mailer died six years ago, and, already, five biographies have been written about him. The most recent is J. Michael Lennon’s “Norman Mailer: A Double Life,” which is a springboard for an essay on Mailer by Louis Menand in this week’s issue. Here, Menand and the film critic Richard Brody talk about Mailer’s life and legacy with the literary editor of the New Yorker’s Web site, Sasha Weiss.

Also on the podcast, Deborah Treisman explains why Alice Munro’s first story in the magazine in 1977 caused an in-house ruckus.

October 7, 2013

Out Loud: The Trouble with Bach

In this week’s issue of the magazine, the Money Issue, pianist Jeremy Denk revisits a kitschy musician-for-hire gig from early in his career. Denk was just awarded a fellowship by the MacArthur Foundation, and he’s on tour now to promote his latest album, “J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations.” He spoke with Leo Carey and Sasha Weiss about the challenges of playing music that everybody knows, what he loves about the Goldberg Variations, and how writing fits into his musical career.

Also on the podcast, one man’s personal debt ceiling.

September 30, 2013

Out Loud: Re-Reading Philip Roth

This week in the magazine, Claudia Roth Pierpont examines the long career of novelist Philip Roth and his many literary friendships. Here, Pierpont talks with Sasha Weiss about Roth’s relationships with Saul Bellow and John Updike, the portrayal of women in Roth’s novels, and why people confuse his characters with the writer himself.

Also on the podcast, Peter Schjeldahl on the cats and controversial girls of Balthus.

September 23, 2013

Out Loud: Crossing Comedy Lines

This week in the magazine, Emily Nussbaum reviews the third season of the sketch-comedy show “Key & Peele.” Jelani Cobb writes frequently about race and culture for newyorker.com, and his essay on Dave Chappelle and African-American comedy is collected in his book “The Devil and Dave Chappelle.” Here, Sasha Weiss talks with Nussbaum and Cobb about how Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele’s biracial identities allow them to cross lines other comics might avoid, and how their humor moves past mockery toward empathy.

Also on the podcast, Simon Parkin on why we’re about to hear a lot more about video-game violence.

September 15, 2013

Out Loud: Not As Easy As It Looks

In the September 23rd issue of the magazine, the Style Issue, Rebecca Mead profiles Andrew Rosen, the C.E.O. of the fashion company Theory. The company found success in the nineties by making stylish and comfortable work clothes for women. Here, Mead talks with Susan Morrison, who edited the issue, and Sasha Weiss, the literary editor of newyorker.com. They discuss the effort it takes to look effortless, how the codes of dressing for work have changed over the years, and why people who work at The New Yorker are sometimes referred to as “the Waltons.”

Also, Ethan Kuperberg has an S.A.T. test for adults.

September 9, 2013

Out Loud: TV as Torture

This week in the magazine, Tad Friend writes a Profile of Bryan Cranston, who plays the drug kingpin Walter White on AMC’s “Breaking Bad.” The show is currently wrapping up its final season. On the podcast, Sasha Weiss talks with Emily Nussbaum and Friend about what has made the show so satisfying. Nussbaum, The New Yorkers TV critic, explores how Walter White adds a layer of punishing moral complexity to the the vicarious thrills of a traditional anti-hero, and Friend explains how Bryan Cranston’s understanding of Walter differed from that of Vince Gilligan, the show’s creator.

Also on the podcast, Andrew Marantz on the “Truman Show” delusion.

September 2, 2013

Out Loud: The Case for Doping

This week in the magazine, Malcolm Gladwell reviews David Epstein’s “The Sports Gene,” which looks at the biological advantages of élite athletes, from extra-long Achilles tendons to exceptionally high red-blood-cell counts.

Here, Nicholas Thompson talks with Gladwell and Ben McGrath about our inconsistent ideas about fairness in sports and whether doping should or shouldn’t be allowed. Gladwell asks, if we allow laser surgery to improve eyesight or Tommy John surgery to replace ligaments, why don’t we allow athletes to take F.D.A. approved testosterone, in doses that are not harmful, in order to accelerate their recovery time after workouts and competition? He argues that we should legalize performance-enhancing drugs and then regulate them, and imagines a world where athletes make their biological passports public: “What I really would like is to have complete liberalization and complete transparency. I would like to know about every single baseball player, track-and-field athlete, basketball player, precisely what they are on. And then I’d like to reach my own conclusions as a fan about how to evaluate their performance.”

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August 26, 2013

Out Loud: The Real Jane Austen

This week in the magazine, Anthony Lane reviews “Austenland,” one of many films on Jane Austen’s work, or in this case, on the fans of her work. Not everyone loves Jane Austen, but her fans definitely include Joshua Rothman, the New Yorkers archive editor, and staff writer Rebecca Mead. They’ve both written about Jane Austen for newyorker.com, and they recently spoke about the enduring appeal of her books with Sasha Weiss.

August 19, 2013

Out Loud: The Center of the Stage is Naked

At Page-Turner last week, we published “The Life of the Artist: A Mimodrama in Two Parts,” a newly translated short play by Albert Camus. Here, the New Yorker editor Leo Carey reads selections from the text, and the translator Ryan Bloom talks to Richard Brody about the play and where it fits into Camus’s life. Also, James Surowiecki considers the high price of lobster in restaurants when the wholesale price of lobster is plummeting.

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