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This week, Slate Plus listeners will hear the critics talk about Rebecca Onion and David Haglund’s list of the best podcast episodes of all time.

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This week on the Slate Culture Gabfest, Steve is out, but David Haglund and Dan Gross are in! Chris Rock’s new movie Top Five has garnered him his best reviews in years. The all-star cast is undeniably excellent, but does some of Rock’s humor cut a little close to the bone? Next, Dan Gross’ series on the seven wonders of the modern world, celebrating the great achievements of our time, is underway at Slate. He joins the gabbers in the studio to talk modern marvels. Finally, Willa Brown’s essay at the Atlantic explores the so-called “lumbersexuality” trend in depth. Does she tells us something new about contemporary masculinity, or is this just a fashion story blown way out of proportion?

Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:

• Dan Gross’ series on the seven wonders of the modern world on Slate.
• David Haglund’s review of Top Five.
• Frank Rich’s interview with Chris Rock for New York magazine.
• Rock in the Hollywood Reporter.
• Mychal Denzel Smith’s Salon piece critiquing Rock’s respectability politics.
• Willa Brown's essay at the Atlantic about lumbersexuality.
• Brown credits GearJunkie with coining the term.
• David Leavitt's review of Brokeback Mountain (2005).
• Slate’s critique of the $248 Boom Town jumpsuit.
• Daniel Engber’s history of the beard.

Endorsements:

David: We Don’t Live Here Anymore.

Julia: People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished From the Streets of Tokyo—and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up, by Richard Lloyd Parry

Dana: David Haglund and Rebecca Onion’s top 25 podcast episodes of all time.

Outro: The Monty Python Lumberjack song.

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Ann Hepperman. Our intern is Josephine Livingstone.

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