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The following podcast contains explicit language.

I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest, Initiate Neural Handshake Edition.

It's Wednesday, July 17, 2013.

On today's show, the Blockbuster Pacific Rim failed to bust blocks at the box office, say it seven times fast.

We'll explore why.

The new Comedy Central show, Drunk History, it's exactly what it sounds like and pretty awesome. And finally, nostalgia.

It was once considered a malady by psychological science, but new research claims that perhaps

it's good for you. Joining me today is Slate's deputy editor, Julia Turner. Hello, Julia. Hi, Steve.

Julia, I just want to say that all the excitement from having you back on the show has dissipated in the past week. I'm at baseline once again. Thank goodness. That was too much to handle. I know, exactly. And, of course, Dana Stevens, who is Slate's film critic. Hey, Dana. Hey, Steve. Steve, actually, before we start with our first topic, I want to make an announcement. You're pregnant again.

Triplets.

No, I certainly hope not.

Summer strut. It's back. It's time to get strutton. It is 97 degrees outside in New York City.

And to even move through that murk and muck, we need some music that has a little bit of a vibe, a little bit of some rhythm, something that's going to get you strutting. Otherwise, you're just going to simply melt forward into the pavement. Summer sag. Okay. No summer sag. We need summer strut. So the summer strut playlist, this is something we've done now two years in a row. We ask for listeners to submit their nominations for super strutty summer tunes.

These can be new.

This can be Carly Ray Jepson style, Song of Summer stuff you think we haven't heard of yet or you think we have, but we should be listening to.

It can be something from the distant past.

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