The following podcast contains explicit language.

I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gap Fest, Jason Momoa, Scrunchy edition.

It's Wednesday, February 27th, 2019. On today's show, Spike Olivia, the ghosts of Don Shirley and Freddie Mercury on and on. We discussed this year's briskly presented, but still controversial Oscars. And then the other two is a breakout sitcom. I think it's a breakout. It's definitely a sitcom on Comedy Central about two life-stranded siblings of a Justin Bieber-like pop star.

And finally, letterboards, Instagram, and social media spillover.

Hopefully, Julia Turner will tell me what those things mean in the course of our segment.

Joining me today is Julia Turner, who is the deputy managing editor of the LA Times.

Julia, hey.

Hello. This is hey. Hello.

This is a rare config.

I'm actually in the Brooklyn Slate Studios, in the flesche, face-to-face, visage, a visage, with Dana

Stevens and you're remote.

Yeah, yeah.

It's one of the permutations, one of the rare permutations popped into place.

We'll see how it changes the ambiance.

The proton, neutron, and electron that are us have reconfigured.

Dear, I love it.

And, of course, the nucleus known as Dana Stevens.

Hey, Dana.

She slates film critic. All right, uh, and of course the nucleus known as Dana Stevens. Hey, Dana. Hey, hey. Uh, she slates film critic. Um, all right. Well, let's, that's a perfect place to, to dig into the Oscars. Where to begin, though, well, been in the first off, Louis, I think we should acknowledge it was a year of proliferating controversies about the ceremony itself, who would host, who would be cut from the actual broadcast, where it would be abbreviated on and on.

Anyway, they came and they went finally, as they always do, with some richly deserving recipients

finally breaking through, obviously Spike Lee, some upset, some sad but inevitable winners

and some snubs.

...