Slate's Culture Gabfest

Over the last half century the decorative pillow has been crowding out our sitting and sleeping spaces, multiplying across our beds and couches decade by decade. For some, decorative pillows are a fun design accent, for others a symbol of useless overconsumption. Today on Decoder Ring we explore the world of the decorative pillow to try and figure out why they've become so ubiquitous and what they tell us about our homes, interior design, and the way we develop our tastes.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

In the new episode of

This week on Spoiler Specials, Sam Adams, Inkoo Kang and Alex Barasch spoil Spider: Far From Home. Does Jake Gyllenhaal make for a good villain? How does the movie’s depiction of high school stack up? Where does the MCU got from now? Listen to them discuss! Podcast production by Danielle Hewitt. Engineering by Cameron Drews. This episode is sponsored by Anchor. Anchor is a Spotify-owned company that makes it easy for anyone to make a podcast, for free. Get started at

Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and Stephen Metcalf discuss the film Midsommar, the life and work of the bossa nova progenitor João Gilberto with critic Nate Chinen, and the end of life-hacking with Slate's Laura Miller.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf, and Dana Stevens are joined by Chris Molanphy to discuss the song of the summer and our annual summer strut playlist. You can find our