The following podcast contains explicit language. I'm Dana Stevens and this is the Slate Culture Gabfest Talkin Tras Edition.

It's Wednesday March 27th, 2019 and on today's show Jordan Peel's new horror film

Us is the follow-up to his get-out from a And on today's show, Jordan Peel's new horror film Us

is the follow up to his get out from a couple years ago

and is already a massive critical and box office hit,

we will discuss.

Then Shrill is a new comedy from Hulu that's based on the book Shrill Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West.

It's about navigating friends, romance, and the publishing industry as an overweight woman.

And finally, we'll talk about the book Dryers English English an utterly correct guide to clarity and style with the author Benjamin dryer.

You might remember that I endorse this book a few weeks ago and we're very excited to have Benjamin coming into the studio to talk about it with us today.

Stephen is out this week. He is traipsing around the northern Spanish Galician coast.

I'm incredibly jealous. And he's going to be writing on it apparently so maybe we can we can

debrief him on that when he comes back. But as usual I am joined by the deputy

managing editor for Arts and Culture at the LA Times Julia Turner.

Hey Julie welcome back.

Hello thank you so much for holding down the fort last week

when I had to take my kids on a whale watching field trip.

I'm glad to be back.

Tell me about the whales you saw?

We saw a gray whale surface many times barnacled up close and a humpback whale breach in the

distance and it's a speckled fluke to disappear under the sea and so many dolphins that everyone was bored in a very Californian

fashion. You grew over the dolphins very quickly? Yeah it's like oh yawn

...