Life and Art from FT Weekend

This week, we talk about the new film ‘Civil War’, directed by Alex Garland, which depicts a future US that’s divided and decimated. It stars Kirsten Dunst as a veteran photojournalist, who is on a road trip with a ragtag group of colleagues. They’re driving through the war-torn north-east to reach the White House before it is stormed by rebel forces. The film has been highly praised as well as highly criticised. What is it trying to say about the state of America? Is it a war film, a political film, or both? The FT’s politics columnist Stephen Bush and US executive producer of audio Topher Forhecz join Lilah to discuss.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews, on Apple, Spotify, etc.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Danny Leigh’s review of Civil War (he liked it less than we did): https://on.ft.com/4aTzD6P – FT critic Leslie Felperin’s interview with Alex Garland: https://on.ft.com/3W03lmt – You can get a free trial of Stephen’s political newsletter Inside Politics – which includes a daily cultural recommendation – by clicking here– Stephen Bush on X at @stephenkb.– Listen to our episode ‘How to process the news when it all feels bad’, with FT foreign editor Alec Russell. You can find it in our feedMore or Less:– Topher wants to see more interesting landmarks used in films, as in ‘North by Northwest’ and ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’– Stephen wants to see no more ‘Ghostbusters’ ever. Here’s the FT’s 2-star review of ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’: https://on.ft.com/4aVOEot – Lilah wants fewer menus. She recommends 15 Fox Place in Jersey City, and Osteria 16 in Copenhagen-----The FT Weekend Festival is coming back, and will be in Washington on May 4. Speakers include Nancy Pelosi. To book tickets, go to ft.com/festival-us and use our exclusive discount code: weekendpodcast. Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart—Clips this week are from A24Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Welcome to the final episode in our special four-part series on design. Brands are everywhere and sometimes feel so omnipresent that it’s hard to know what counts as one. So we’ve invited designer, educator and Design Matters podcast host Debbie Millman to help us make sense of brands. At its core, Debbie says, branding is the process of manufacturing meaning to come up with a shared symbol. And it’s something we’ve been doing for thousands of years. Today, Debbie and Lilah discuss the history of branding and its relationship with design, and the relatively recent phenomenon of ‘personal brands’. Debbie also shares insights from nearly two decades hosting Design Matters.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email the show at lifeandart@ft.com.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Lilah recommends Debbie’s interview with cartoonist Lynda Barry: https://www.designmattersmedia.com/podcast/2019/lynda-barry – Here are the latest episodes of Design Matters: https://www.designmattersmedia.com/ – Debbie has written seven books. Here’s Brand Thinking: https://www.debbiemillman.com/brand-thinking -------The FT Weekend Festival is coming back, and will be in Washington, DC, on May 4! To book tickets, go to ft.com/festival-us and use our exclusive discount code: weekendpodcast. -------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam GiovincoRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

The FT’s foreign editor Alec Russell has been reporting on crises around the world for more than 30 years. He was in Romania during the fall of the Ceaușescu regime, in South Africa for the fall of apartheid, and in 1994 he reported on the genocide in Rwanda. So when we recently felt ourselves losing hope at the news from Gaza and Ukraine, we decided to ask him: is this an especially tough time in history, or does it just feel that way? And what has he learned from being present for so much of history? Today, Alec gives us tips for finding perspective, and tells us where he finds hope. -------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews, on Apple, Spotify, etc.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Alec’s piece commemorating 30 years since Rwanda’s genocide is here: https://on.ft.com/3QnQbfx– You may also be interested in Alec Russell’s book After Mandela: the Battle for the Soul of South Africa– Alec is on X @AlecuRussell-----The FT Weekend Festival is coming back, and will be in Washington, DC, on May 4! Speakers include Nancy Pelosi, Alec and Lilah! To book tickets, go to ft.com/festival-us and use our exclusive discount code: weekendpodcast. Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandartRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

For the third episode in our design series, we’re talking fashion design through the lens of the 2006 classic The Devil Wears Prada. The film is having a moment on the internet. We’re here to revisit it with fresh eyes, and with two experts in fashion: Jo Ellison, the editor of our luxury magazine HTSI, and Rob Armstrong, our men’s style columnist (OK, he’s also our US financial columnist). The film stars Meryl Streep as a powerful magazine editor based on Anna Wintour, and Anne Hathaway as a young, idealistic journalist who becomes her assistant. It’s a Y2K fairy tale about the fashion industry, magazine politics and power. How accurate was the film about fashion then, and why is it still resonating now?-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews, on Apple, Spotify, etc.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – The Devil Wears Prada is available on Netflix and Disney+ in the UK, and HBO/Max and Hulu in the US.– Rob wrote his most recent fashion column about power dressing in The Devil Wears Prada: https://on.ft.com/4cS25Yr – Jo recently interviewed the actor Cillian Murphy. Read the interview here: https://on.ft.com/3vOnCRi – You can follow Jo Ellison on Instagram @jellison22 and on X @jellison. Rob is on X @rbrtrmstrng.– Rob recommends the late André Leon Talley’s book The Chiffon Trenches. You can read the FT review here. More or Less recommendations:– Rob wants to see more womens’ college basketball. This FT piece is on how star Caitlin Clark is changing women’s sport: https://on.ft.com/3Jbfehw – Lilah recommends the Apple TV documentary, ‘Steve! (Martin) A Documentary’. You can read Rob’s interview with Martin here: https://on.ft.com/440txzm -----The FT Weekend Festival is coming back, and will be in Washington, DC, on May 4! Speakers include Nancy Pelosi, Jo, Rob and Lilah! To book tickets, go to ft.com/festival-us and use our exclusive discount code: weekendpodcast. Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart—Clips this week are from 20th Century StudiosRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Designer Jonathan Adler is known for a style that is classic but eccentric. Think gold chairs shaped like hands, vases shaped like heads, and beautiful cookie jars labelled ”quaaludes”. He got his start as a potter, but he now designs everything from furniture to dinnerware to custom upholstery, which are sold by hundreds of retailers around the world. In the second instalment of our design series, Jonathan talks to Lilah about how he developed his style and how we can develop ours. And his biggest piece of advice is to “turn it up”.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email the show at lifeandart@ft.com.-------Notes: –Jonathan Adler has retail stores across the US (from New York to Dallas to Miami to Chicago) and in London-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam GiovincoRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

What do you get when you mix female bodybuilding, guns, and a twisted romance? You get Love Lies Bleeding, the latest film from director and co-writer Rose Glass. When she first emailed Kristen Stewart about appearing as its lead, Rose says she described the film as a “crime, romance, thriller, dark comedy, farce, surreal thing”. She talks with Lilah about how she developed the idea, and the kinds of stories she's drawn to as a creator. She also walks through the process of how the film got made – from the script to the final edit.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email the show at lifeandart@ft.com.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – The FT’s review of Rose’s first film, Saint Maud: https://on.ft.com/3PRIw8C– Love Lies Bleeding is in theatres now in the US, and will be in theatres in the UK on May 3– Saint Maud is on Amazon Prime in the US, and Apple TV in the UK– Here’s a link to watch some of Rose’s short films: https://rose-glass.com/short -------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam GiovincoRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Park your Lexus, throw your keys up, and let’s get into Cowboy Carter, the new genre-bending, country-angled album by Beyonce. Here are the facts: it’s the second instalment in her Renaissance trilogy. It features Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Post Malone and Miley Cyrus, and spotlights Black country artists such as Linda Martell. But what was Beyonce’s goal with this album? And how does it fit into her career arc? Lilah’s joined by the FT’s music critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney and US labour and equality correspondent Taylor Nicole Rogers to chat about the album.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews, on Apple, Spotify, etc.Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Cowboy Carter by Beyonce is available to stream now. – Ludo’s review of Cowboy Carter is here: https://on.ft.com/3U3L0TW – His review of Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce is here: https://on.ft.com/3J3k54q – You can follow Ludo on X @ludohunter. Taylor is @TaylorNRogers. More or Less: – Taylor wants to see less wellness in culture. For more on the dark side of wellness, check out new FT podcast ‘Untold: The Retreat’ here, or by searching wherever you listen. – Ludo wants more David Lynch content. Read about David Lynch’s installation at the Milan furniture fair here: https://on.ft.com/3vvcOr7 – Lilah wants to see more pubs in the US. While she was in London she had pints with our producer Lulu Smyth at The Hemingway near Victoria Park and at the The Eagle in Farringdon, and everyone had a swell time. Here’s a list of the FT’s best pubs in London’s West End: https://on.ft.com/4cJz94H – Relatedly, here’s a great piece, ‘Three Cheers for the pub’, by friend of the podcast Rebecca Watson: https://on.ft.com/4cXv6lN Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Welcome to the first episode in our special four-part series on design! Today, Lilah speaks with the FT’s longtime architecture and design critic Edwin Heathcote to talk about an often-forgotten element of design in cities. It’s called “street furniture,” and it describes the objects we pass every day: from phone booths and lampposts to manhole covers and park benches. Last year, Edwin published a book on this called “On the Street”, which elevates the small pieces of design that surround us on the sidewalk. He tells Lilah what he notices when he takes walks, and offers advice for how to see these details in our own cities, too.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email the show at lifeandart@ft.com.-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Edwin’s piece about street furniture for the FT: https://on.ft.com/49b0z0p – Edwin’s book is called On the Street: In-Between Architecture: https://heni.com/publishing/on-the-street-edwin-heathcote – Pieces from Edwin’s original series in the FT, published between 2015 and 2017: manhole covers // fire hydrants // telephone boxes // street lights // sidewalks // advertising columns // public benches– We also recommend this recent piece by Edwin about Italian designer Enzo Mari, who hated the design industry: https://on.ft.com/4aQvWPp -------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart------Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam GiovincoRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com

To celebrate the first signs of spring, we’re bringing you a special Easter weekend episode full of tips for spring travel. FT Globetrotter editors Rebecca Rose and Niki Blasina run our insider guides to great cities. They tell Lilah how to make the most out of a holiday in April and May: from where to go and how to pack, to tips on travelling alone, with kids, and with pets.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews, on Apple, Spotify etc!-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): Here are some relevant Globetrotter pieces: – Five of Vancouver’s best ‘sea to sky’ adventures: https://on.ft.com/3PEKFVp – A month-by-month guide to what’s on in Madrid: https://on.ft.com/49fbGFP  – The best ski resorts for a day trip from Tokyo: https://on.ft.com/43Ftito – Lilah’s recent favourite Globetrotter piece is art critic Ariella Budick’s guide to MoMA in New York: https://on.ft.com/3VJ6FC2 – You can explore more from Globetrotter here (paywalled). They have food, drink and activity recommendations for cities around the world– A dog-friendly hotel that Nikki recommends is the Fife Arms in Braemar, a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland– Rebecca is on Instagram @rebeccarosegoes. Niki is @nikiblasina-----Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandartRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com