Culture Gabfest - 10 Rings, 12 Minutes, and 20 Years
Slate Culture Feed
Slate Podcasts
4.2 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 September 2021
⏱️ 58 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Steve and Dana are joined by Slate senior editor, Allegra Frank. First, the panel discusses the surprising achievements of Marvel’s newest addition, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Next, the panel is joined by Slate senior editor Jeremy Stahl to talk about Spike Lee’s docuseries NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½ and 9/11 trutherism on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Finally, the panel discusses the frustrations of the star-studded time-loop video game 12 Minutes.
In Slate Plus, the panel discusses big swings—that missed—but, still hold special places in their hearts.
Email us at culturefest@slate.com.
Outro music: "Break the Line" by Coma Svensson
Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Nadira Goffe.
Endorsements
Dana: The indie film Short Term 12 from Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton. Also, an endorsement for flood-proof spatial planning–especially for your precious physical media.
Allegra: Upon the release of the famous rapper’s newest album, Allegra’s curated playlist of Drake Songs That Don’t Suck. And a quick shout out to the everlasting enjoyment of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Steve: Christoph Reuter’s beautifully reported deep-dive on the Western presence in Afghanistan post-9/11 titled The Entirely Predictable Failure of the West’s Mission in Afghanistan for Der Spiegel.
Slate 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.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Stephen McAff, and this is the Slate Culture Gapest, 10 Rings, 12 minutes, and 20 years. |
| 0:15.6 | It's Wednesday, September 8th, 2021. |
| 0:19.6 | On today's show, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the first Marvel movie to feature an Asian hero and a predominantly Asian cast. |
| 0:26.6 | It's only in theaters. It's not streaming, and it made a ton of money, domestic and global box office over the weekend. |
| 0:33.6 | We will discuss both aspects of it. |
| 0:36.6 | And then Spike Lee has a new HBO docu-series. It's called NYC Epicenters 9-11 to 2021-1-1-1-1-1-1-thushours. It's to about seven-and-a-half-ish hours. We discuss both the epic love letter to his home city and the controversy surrounding its original edit, which gave credence to 9-11 conspiracy theories. |
| 0:56.1 | We'll be doing that with Slate's own Jeremy Stahl, who played an instrumental role in having |
| 0:59.9 | the documentary re-edited. |
| 1:01.5 | And finally, 12 minutes is a wild, time-loopy video game voiced by Hollywood stars. |
| 1:08.0 | We will discuss in part because Allegra Frank is on the show. |
| 1:12.0 | Allegra, you're a senior editor for Culture at Slate. And unlike the rest of us, you know a lot |
| 1:17.2 | about video games. I sure do, Steve. Too much, arguably. Never too much. Well, we have to |
| 1:23.2 | exploit that because we're fogies and we don't. By that, I mean, me and Dana Stevens |
| 1:27.8 | played film credit. Hey, Dana. Hello, Stephen. Wait, I have to reclaim, in addition to being a foge or perhaps, I mean, it was actually true before I was a fogey. I'm also a non-gaming person, as everyone who listens knows, like, not only do I not play video games, I don't play board games or card games or hopscotch |
| 1:43.6 | or any competitive game whatsoever. |
| 1:46.2 | Mind games. Do you play mind games? |
| 1:47.9 | All. play video games. I don't play board games or card games or hopscotch or any competitive game |
| 1:45.0 | whatsoever. Mind games. Do you play mind games? Always, always, Steve, especially with you. Yes. Yeah. |
| 1:51.7 | All right, Chongchi and the Legend of the Ten Rings opens with not one but two captivating setups. |
| 1:57.0 | And one, the sinister head of a shadowy criminal organization, he's part mastermind, |
| 2:01.5 | part martial arts wizard, and part kind of vampire, he appears to have achieved immortality |
| 2:06.5 | thanks to the 10 rings. Anyway, he falls in love and probably, and before our eyes, he is humanized |
... |
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