This week, our Gabfest panel includes Steve and guest hosts Nadira Goffe and Laura Miller with a typically eclectic collection of topics. First up, Dana hops on the call to decode the unspoken truths and dream imagery of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s film The Secret Agent. Set in 1970s Recife, Brazil and starring a very charming Wagner Moura, the film is a heterodox brew of political thriller, magical realism, and attentive character study about the everyday surreality of life under dictatorship.Next, it’s back to Westeros with a discussion of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a Game of Thrones prequel set 100 years before the original show based on George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic. Grounded and surprisingly funny, don’t expect dragons in this knight’s tale.Finally, they turn to “<a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/justin-mcdaniel-existential-despair-course.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gluttons for Punishment</a>,” a recent Vulture article by Lila Shapiro about UPenn religious studies professor Justin McDaniel using some extreme, unorthodox measures to get his students to finish books.In an exclusive bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, the panel talks to Laura about the secret pleasures of wood stacking as discussed in her recent piece “<a href="https://slate.com/life/2026/01/holzhausen-woodpile-stack-house-german-scandinavian.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Art of the Holzhausen</a>.”EndorsementsNadira: Some melancholy shoegaze pop from Scandinavia, specifically the albums <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/goodbyehouse/1827338632" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Goodbyehouse</a> by Snuggle and <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/big-city-life/1802661282" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Big City Life</a> by Smerz.Laura: The novels of Robert Jackson Bennett in his Shadow of the Leviathan series including Hugo-winning <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-tainted-cup-robert-jackson-bennett/f4718cb17009890c?ean=9781984820716&next=t" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Tainted Cup</a> and <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-drop-of-corruption-an-ana-and-din-mystery-robert-jackson-bennett/873b326585e7cd10?ean=9780593723821&next=t" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Drop of Corruption</a>.Steve:&nbsp; The Substack essay “<a href="https://data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-wall-looks-permanent-until-it" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls Down</a>” by Adam Bonica about the cost of American exceptionalism.And a bonus one from Dana: <a href="https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/pictures-of-ghosts/umc.cmc.2i7e89uuw9putdrpf1xpbf2jk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pictures of Ghosts</a>, the documentary by The Secret Agent director Kleber Mendonça Filho about Recife, Brazil in the 1970s.--Email us your thoughts at <a href="mailto:culturefest@slate.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">culturefest@slate.com</a>.&nbsp;Podcast production by Kevin Bendis. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

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