Ninja Turtle...Masterpiece?

This week, the panel begins by dissecting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, a zany piece of intellectual property that’s been taken off the shelf by Jeff Rowe, Seth Rogan, and a slew of animators and turned into a critical darling. Then, the trio reviews The Retrievals, a five-part narrative podcast hosted by Susan Burton for The New York Times and Serial Productions that chronicles the systematic ways American healthcare continually denies, discounts, and ignores women’s pain through a series of events that unfolded at the Yale Fertility Clinic. Finally, they are joined by Wesley Morris, critic at large at The New York Times, to discuss his tour de force essay, “How Hip-Hop Conquered the World,” and how the history of the radical art form is as porous and complex as the nation itself.  In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel commemorates hip-hop’s 50th anniversary with a lightning round of personal accounts about their first encounters with the form.  Email us at [email protected].  Endorsements: Dana: Since their conversation about Sinéad O’Connor a few weeks ago, Dana has dived even deeper into the late Irish singer/songwriter’s oeuvre. One gem she found was The Year of the Horse, a concert documentary recorded live in 1990 at Forest National, Brussels. It’s a fantastic snapshot of a live performance at a very specific time in O’Connor’s life.  Julia: Taylor Swift fans! Julia recently attended Swift’s concert in Los Angeles and was struck by the overall kind, positive, and good vibes of the crowd. Fans of all ages and body types exchanged bracelets with one another, trading “Hi Barbie!” greetings, which made the concert-going experience feel even more special.  Stephen: It may be difficult to convince a teenage girl in 2023 to listen to Tom Waits’ catalog, but Stephen has done exactly that: he created a playlist for his daughter called “Broken Bicycles,” which highlights Waits’ extraordinary ability to write a pop melody.  Outro music: “Spinning Wheels” by Dusty Decks. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong.  This episode is sponsored by the podcast About the Journey. Learn more here: https://traveler.marriott.com/about-the-journey/ If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work.