You may not know Claire McCardell's name, but if you're an American woman or know one, you know her work. She was an inventive & influential midcentury fashion designer who freed women from all kinds of strictures, social and literal. Reviewed a terrific new bio: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Praised be! Knobs and buttons 4-ever. (And bring them back on washer/dryers too!)

Guess whose office WAS warned about the extreme fire risk before her trip to Ghana? www.latimes.com/california/s...

Karen Bass' astonishing new line is that *no one told her about the windstorm* before she went to Ghana. www.foxla.com/news/mayor-b...

If this week's culture podcast has one takeaway, it's "See 'One of Them Days.'" Fun gab this week: slate.com/podcasts/cul...

Really fun to dissect why the Dylan movie works so well and to have the whole gang back together!

About time! variety.com/2024/film/aw...

WHEEEEEEEEEEE Elf on a shelf NASA training

Gotta say this dialogue between a newsnation anchor and incarcerated prisoners is some of the most compelling live tv I’ve seen in a while.

What if the road not taken was the one leading to a life where this tissue box cover made perfect sense:

Curtains, 1885 https://botfrens.com/collections/43/contents/12489/

Me welcoming new followers & showing them around Bluesky:

Fun @SlateCultFest this week: Two movies set in the gritty NYC of the 1970s about young legends making their names. (The Apprentice has more to say on Donald Trump than Saturday Night does on Lorne Michaels.) slate.com/podcasts/cul...

The Substance is not very good but it is VERY fun to look at and VERY fun to talk about, and we had a blast discussing it with Wesley Morris and exploring his GOBSMACKINGLY good podcast about Stevie Wonder on this week's show: slate.com/podcasts/cul...

On this week's pod we talk PENGUIN and what exactly Farrell is doing (pirouettes!) under all that latex, plus a perfect growing-up movie that will make you want to be a cranberry farmer in Canada. Listen here: slate.com/podcasts/cul...

Finally, a profoundly great film about the bizarre, heartbreaking, boring, dada limbo that is hospice. Vivacious @SlateCultFest this week on "His Three Daughters" and more... slate.com/podcasts/cul...

New Slate Culture Gabfest on Tim Burton getting his groove back: slate.com/podcasts/cul...

On this week's Slate Culture Gabfest we discuss the irresistible (except to Julia) The Fall Guy, the spooky/queer/inscrutable I Saw the TV Glow, & the campus protests of the war in Gaza w/ @polgreen.bsky.social, who's been on the student-protest beat for the @nytimes.com. slate.com/podcasts/cul...