Joe Rogan hosts one of the world’s most popular podcasts, regularly listened to by over 10 million people. But after interviewing a notorious anti-vaccination doctor on his show, Rogan and Spotify, the company that paid $100 million to exclusively host his podcast, are being targeted by high profile musicians like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.

The episode has sparked important conversations about free speech, censorship, the role of capitalism in art and the ethics of streaming giants.

Today Dr Matt Beard, an expert in philosophy and ethics, joins The Culture to unpack all these questions and more.

Guest: Dr Matt Beard, Director of the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship at the Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership.

Indie music icon Mitski had already released five albums and received critical acclaim before her 2018 song ‘Nobody’ blew up on TikTok. 

On her new album, ‘Laurel Hell’, Mitski explores her relationship to the music industry and making art under capitalism, at a moment when she’s more famous than ever.

Today Shaad D’Souza joins The Culture to talk about Mitski, TikTok, and the grind of being a musician.

Guest: Shaad D’Souza, music critic for The Saturday Paper.

Background reading: Mitski’s Laurel Hell in The Saturday Paper.

The Culture is back for 2022! And to start things off, we’re putting the magnifying glass over a game that has taken the internet by storm.

With no promotion or monetisation, Wordle has grown a player base of over two million in a little less than three months. But what is it about this humble word game that has so many people addicted?

To help unpack where Wordle came from and how it operates in a social media landscape, games reporter for Screenhub and regular games critic for The Saturday Paper, Jini Maxwell, joins The Culture this week.

Guest: Jini Maxwell, games critic for The Saturday Paper

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It’s another special bonus summer episode of The Culture! On this episode, author and The Saturday Paper’s TV critic Sarah Krasnostein breaks down the best TV shows of 2021 - from drama, to comedy, to the best of Australian television.

Guest: Sarah Krasnostein. TV critic for The Saturday Paper.

On this special bonus summer episode of The Culture, we’re talking the best of films in 2021. It was a great year for movies, and there’s plenty of stuff to catch up on if you didn’t have the time to hit the cinema as much as you would have liked.

Joining host Osman Faruqi is film critic and the co-host of the Total Reboot podcast, Alexei Toliopoulos. 

Guest: Alexei Toliopoulos, film critic and co-host of podcast Total Reboot.

Twenty five years ago Paul Kelly, one of Australia’s greatest songwriters, released ‘How To Make Gravy’, a song that has since become a staple at many family Christmas gatherings.

‘How to Make Gravy’ is full of anecdotes and snapshots about summer in Australia: the hot weather, Christmas roasts, dancing, and of course, family reunions. It’s a song that perfectly encapsulates what this time of year is supposed to be about.

Paul Kelly joined The Culture to talk about ‘How To Make Gravy’, the inspiration behind the song, how much it mirrors Paul’s own family Christmases, and why it seems to become more and more popular every year.

Guest: Paul Kelly

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Wes Anderson is back with this 10th feature film, ‘The French Dispatch’, his take on a fictional magazine reporting from France to an American audience in the 1960s and 70s.

The movie has all the hallmarks we’ve come to expect from Wes Anderson, including a massive cast, a very specific sense of colour, and a lot of whimsy. 

To talk about the film, and the work of Wes Anderson more broadly, we’re joined by Flick Ford, film critic and the host of RRR's film show Primal Screen.

Guest: Flick Ford, film critic and the host of Triple R’s movie show Primal Screen

*This episode is not a paid-for advertorial. All opinions expressed are those of the individuals involved.*

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This week the art world lost an icon and a visionary. The fashion designer, Virgil Abloh, passed away at the age of 41, two years after being diagnosed with cancer.

From his beginnings in Chicago, to his collaborations with Kanye West and becoming the first black person in history to be appointed artistic director at Louis Vuitton, Virgil transformed fashion, music and art.

To help unpack just how significant a figure Virgil Abloh was, and to discuss his legacy, we’re joined by Mitch Parker, a fashion writer and editor, current style contributor for GQ and the former managing editor at ID.

Guest: Mitch Parker, fashion writer and editor, current style contributor for GQ and the former managing editor at ID.

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One of the most interesting seasons of ‘The Bachelorette’ has just wrapped up. After a sustained drop in ratings, the show’s producers announced a big shift in the core mechanics of the show - Brooke Blurton was announced as this year’s Bachelorette making her both the first Indigenous and queer woman in the role, and for the first time, contestants would be a mix of men and women.

So did it work in injecting some new energy into what has become a pretty predictable and tired format? And are there lessons for the rest of Australia’s reality TV ecosystem, which has basically been unchanged for the past decade?

Joining The Culture this week is Patrick Lenton, the deputy arts editor at The Conversation and the co-author of ‘The Bachelorette’ recap newsletter ‘All the heterosexual nonsense I was forced to endure’. He helps us review this season of ‘The Bachelorette’, and discuss the future of reality TV in Australia.

Guest: Patrick Lenton, writer and Arts and Culture Deputy Editor at The Conversation.

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Last week Taylor Swift re-released one of her most critically acclaimed albums, Red. The re-recording is the result of a complicated financial and legal battle over who owns the rights to the original versions of her songs.

Red (Taylor’s Version) features all of the songs on the original album, plus a bunch of new tracks and a 10 minute long version of her iconic song ‘All Too Well’, where she takes some pretty pointed shots at a very famous ex-boyfriend.

This week on The Culture, we’re joined by writer and musician Eilish Gilligan to talk about the new release of Red, how the Taylor’s Version project is transforming the music industry, and the unique relationship she has with her fans.

Guest: Eilish Gilligan, musician and writer.

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Grammy-nominated musician Courtney Barnett is one the most successful Australian artists performing right now. She’s just released her much-anticipated third studio album, ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’.

This week on The Culture, Osman Faruqi caught up with her as she was gearing up to head on her first tour post-pandemic in the United States. They chat about the creative journey behind the album, writing about love, and ’The Sopranos’.

Guest: Courtney Barnett

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