Slate's Culture Gabfest

This week on Spoiler Specials, Dan Kois, Forrest Wickman and Marissa Martinelli spoil Toy Story 4. What’s the logic of the Toy Story Universe? As we ask of all sequels, does this one deserve to exist? Does the movie succeed as a rom-com?    Podcast production by Danielle Hewitt. Engineering by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

When a band member leaves to go solo, usually it means the band’s best days are over. That’s what everybody thought when Peter Gabriel left Genesis in the ’70s. Except not only did the band survive—fronted by drummer-turned-singer Phil Collins, they got bigger. Then Collins went solo…except he didn’t ditch Genesis. In fact, his success made them bigger—one of the definitive pop bands of the 1980s, as Collins’s monstrous drum sound took over pop music. By mid-decade, current and former members of Genesis—even side projects from its guitarists—were all competing head-to-head on the Billboard charts. On Hit Parade , we explore the knotty family tree of Genesis, the unlikeliest group ever to become a Hot 100 juggernaut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

Stephen Metcalf, Willa Paskin, and Marissa Martinelli discuss Big Little Lies season two, the movie The Last Black Man in San Francisco, and The Sims 4, with Slate's Dawnthea Price.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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Pyotr Tchaikovsky composed and conducted his final symphony in 1893. He died 9 days later, after having knowingly drunk an unboiled glass of water during a cholera epidemic. Deep into the symphony, Symphony no. 6, there is a paradoxical passage that, when played, no one will be able to hear.  This is because Tchaikovsky scored it to contain a musical illusion. We uncover the mystery of why he put it there. Sound illusions reveal some of the most puzzling features of the human mind, most notably its insistence that it knows reality better than reality itself. On this episode, we listen to some of the most curious auditory illusions to find out how some of the features of sounds are generated by the human mind, rather than features of the external world. The illusions reveal something deep about some of the most treasured human endeavors, including music and language. Guest voices include Diana Deutsch, Casey O'Callaghan, and Christine Howlett. Thanks to Kenna Tuggle for violin passages. Get $50 off your first job post at LinkedIn Talent Solutions. Go to