The Slate Culture Gift Guide

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia

Slate Podcasts

Music, Music History,

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hark, the holiday season is upon us—and with it, the most solemn of festive traditions: a gift guide! In this video and podcast special, Slate hosts Dana Stevens, Chris Molanphy, and Willa Paskin beam in from their collective hearths to deliver unto the internet their favorite gifts for culture lovers. In addition to sharing gifts, they also discuss the cultural artifact that is the “holiday gift guide,” and its history going back to the early 20th century, up to the modern day. See the entirety of the 1910 gift guide Our Special Holiday Gift-Book from Greenhut-Siegel Cooper, and Esquire’s ultra-mod gift guide from 1961. Check out our gift recommendations below: Dana Stevens’ Cozy Movie Night-In: The Salbree Collapsible Silicone Microwave Popcorn Popper & Amish Country Popcorn L'agraty Chunky Knit Blanket Throw The Adventures of Antoine Doinel, The Criterion Collection Box Set Chris Molanphy’s Hit Parade Collection: The Beatles’ Revolver CD Box Set Mad Men Blu-Ray Box Set Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year, by Michaelangelo Matos Willa Paskin’s Fruit-Themed Trompe-l'œil Housewares: Cantaloupe-shaped bowls in the style of Bordallo Pinheiro 4-Pack Orange-Shaped Candle Stocking Stuffer Cherry-Shaped Toilet Brush The Slate Culture Gift Guide is produced for Slate Studios by Benjamin Frisch and Micah Phillips, with Meryl Bezrutczyk and Andrew Harding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, Hit Parade listeners. This month's episode about the producer, Mutt Lang, is coming out soon.
0:07.2	Part 1 will hit your feed later this week. In the meantime, we're bringing you Slate's take on a time-honored tradition, the holiday gift guide.
0:16.9	I recently sat down with my fellow Slate podcast hosts, Willa Paskin from Dakota Ring,
0:23.4	and Dana Stevens from the Culture Gab Fest, to offer our picks for culture gifts this season.
0:30.2	To no one's surprise, my picks have pop music connections, but I think you're going to like what
0:36.0	Willa and Dana picked, too.
0:38.4	Enjoy this audio version, or check out the video at slate.com slash culture gift guide.
0:46.3	Either way, I'll see you back here this weekend for this month's hit parade episode.
0:58.5	Thank you. this month's hit parade episode. Hi, and welcome to the Slate Culture Gift Guide.
1:02.0	I'm Willa Paskin, the host of Decodering, and I'm joined today by Slate's film critic and the host of the Culture Gab Fest, Dana Stevens.
1:08.5	Hi, Dana.
1:09.2	Hey, hey, Willa.
1:10.1	And Chris Malanfi, the host of Hit Parade. Hi, Chris. Hey, hey, Willa. And Chris Malanfi, the host of Hit Parade.
1:13.0	Hi, Chris. Hey, Willa. How are you? Chris, can you explain why we're all here, like, some
1:18.7	crossover, MCU, special, spectacular to talk about gifts? What are we doing here? I like to think of us
1:26.3	as a Voltron that have joined forces,
1:28.4	but, you know, pick your metaphor. Sure. So with the holiday season upon us, we thought that we
1:34.1	would gather to bring you one of the seasons most cherished, most solemn traditions, a gift guide.
1:40.9	Today we're going to share with you some of our favorite gifts. Nothing too expensive.
1:45.4	We kept it around the $100 mark. So hopefully there's something here for everyone.
1:49.9	Yes, I don't know about the two of you, but I had fun researching these gifts and figuring out
1:53.3	what to submit for our little shared list. And I can't wait to hear what you chose. But first,
	...

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