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The following podcast contains explicit language.

Hi, I'm Dana Stevens, filling in for Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture

Gab Fest.

I remain your ever-fond servant edition.

It's Wednesday, March 20th, 2013.

First, we'll talk about the new Sundance crime drama, Top of the Lake, created by Jane Campion and starring Elizabeth Moss and Holly Hunter. Then we'll talk about David Bowie's new album the next day. It's his 24th studio album. Is there anything left from Bowie that we want to hear? And finally, is it time to put away the tiresome email sign off, or is it the last shred of polytest that exists in our digital age? Stephen Metcalfe is out this week, but we're joined by Slate's editorial director, John Swansberg. Hello, John. Great to be here. And I'm pleased to announce that while our beloved Julia Turner is away on maternity leave, we will have one of our favorite guests filling her chair, Slate Culture Critic, June Thomas. June, make yourself comfortable. Thank you, Dana. Okay, so we all watched the first two

episodes of Top of the Lake, the new Jane Campion crime drama airing on the Sundance channel.

And I'm very curious to hear what we all thought of it. June, you saw a little bit more of it than the

rest of us, and I think you also have a longer history as a Jane Campion fan. So let me go to you first. How do you find Top of the Lake? Are you going to keep watching?

...