I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gapfest.

Portrait of Taylor on Fire edition.

It's Wednesday, February 26th, 2020.

On today's show, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the latest from French film director, Celine Shama.

It's a historical drama about the love affair between a noble woman and the woman hired to paint her portrait.

And then Taylor Swift is back on the Gap Fest, but did she ever really go away?

She's the subtext of everything

we do on the show. We discussed the Netflix documentary, Miss Americana. Thank you, Julia.

That was for you. And finally, the garbage language, quote unquote, of the modern American

office. We discuss a spate of articles about vacuous signifiers rocketing around the office suites these days.

Joining me is Dan Koyce, Slate contributor and author most recently of How to Be a Family,

the year I dragged my kids around the world to find a new way to be together.

Dan, welcome back.

Thanks.

With these key learnings, I can definitely co-create innovative win-wins.

We don't do pre-prepared jokes on this show, Dan.

That was just off the cuff, buddy.

You nailed it.

All right.

And, of course, we're joined by Julia Turner, who's the deputy managing editor of the LA Times.

Hey, Julia.

Good morning, gentlemen.

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