The following podcast contains explicit language.

I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest, Steampunk Deer Edition.

It's Wednesday, February 13th, 2019.

On today show, Barry Jenkins blew the world away

with the movie Moonlight. He's back now with If Beale Street Could Talk, an adaptation of the

James Baldwin novel. And the masked singer is a glitzy lowbrow singing competition show with a

twist. The contestants are celebrities dressed up in elaborate

disguises. You only find out who they are when they lose. We're joined by Mike Pesca to talk about

this improbable brew. And finally, why does one recipe go viral and another one not go viral?

We discuss among many things the chickpea stew recipe that went crazy.

All right. Joining me today is the, of course, the deputy managing editor of the LA Times,

Julia Turner. Hey, Julia. Hello, sir. And of course, Slate's film critic is Dana Stevens. Hey, Dana.

Hey, hey, hey. Shall we just dive in? All right, Barry Jenkins, Moonlight was a cinematic rhapsody, a story of a queer boy coming of age. It was rhapsodized. In turn, critics and audiences loved it. Of course, won the big awards. And we very much loved it. He's returned now with If Beale Street Could Talk. It's based on a 1974 novel by the incomparable James Baldwin. This movie, I should say,

is both written and directed by Jenkins. It tells the story of two young lovers in New York City

in the early 1970s. Tish 19, who falls in love with Fani, her childhood friend. She becomes

pregnant with his child, but before they can get married, Fonnie is falsely accused of rape. He's

thrown in jail where he's awaiting trial as Tish's form fills out with their child. The story's told in nonlinear fashion, switching back and forth between the oasis of innocence, hope, and sensuality that is the love affair. It's quite beautifully done, I think. And Fonnie's grim scapegoating by the criminal justice system. Why don't we listen to a clip?

Here we are. Hey, I know it doesn't look like much right now, but we're not done. You see, you got to imagine that there's like walls all the way up and down here and I mean yeah it's a work in progress

yeah see tears it's not done it's a work in progress

honey I'm sorry but how we gonna make this into a home look like imagine

on walls right over here and over here but where we gonna cook and sleep and bat I

mean where my mama and them gonna sit easy but I put a couch right over here

...