Culture chat: why writers love video games, with Naomi Alderman

Roger Federer is one of the world’s greatest tennis players – but is he dramatic enough for a full film? Today we discuss the new Federer documentary, just released on Amazon Prime. It’s called Federer: Twelve Final Days, and follows the tennis star in the run-up to his retirement. Does the film fully reflect his legacy well? Is Federer boring? And how do we feel about the next batch of tennis stars? Chief features writer Henry Mance and deputy arts editor Raphael Abraham join Lilah to discuss. -------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and on email at [email protected]. We are grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify. And please share this episode with your friends!-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Raph’s interview with 22-year-old Italian Grand Slam winner Jannik Sinner: https://on.ft.com/4etUAro – Henry’s interview with tennis star Boris Becker on his money, marriages and what he learned in prison: https://on.ft.com/3VPUMKy – Henry is on X @henrymance. More or less: – Raph recommends the Julio Torres film Problemista. You can check out his stand-up comedy here– Henry recommends Creation Lake, the upcoming novel by Rachel Kushner publishing in September-------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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine a world in which the typical life arc isn’t one of studying for 20 years, working for 40 years, then sitting retired and lonely for 35. As people live longer than ever, our chief economics columnist Martin Wolf worries that this approach to old age is unsustainable and unaffordable. He thinks we can and should do better. Martin is one of the world’s most respected writers on economics and politics, and at 77, he’s a prime example of staying active later in life. Today, he joins Lilah to discuss what we can do to age better, individually and as societies.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and on email at [email protected]. We are grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify. And please share this episode with your friends!-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Martin’s column, ‘Increased longevity will bring profound social change’: https://on.ft.com/4aX6FTg – His column on falling fertility rates, ‘From the baby boom to the baby bust’: https://on.ft.com/4ejtxip – Our earlier episode, ‘Martin Wolf on how to change one’s mind’.– Martin’s podcast series ‘Democracy in Peril’ is available now via the FT News Briefing feed. Click here for the latest episode, or search ‘Martin Wolf series’ wherever you listen– Lilah and Martin refer to Andrew Scott’s book The Longevity Imperative-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners are here: http://ft.com/lifeandartRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shakespeare turns 460 this year, and this week we’re talking about why he’s still as important as ever. FT Weekend Magazine editor Matt Vella and deputy editor Cordelia Jenkins join Lilah to share what they learned while putting together their recent special, which features Shakespeare mysteries, lore, and some of the UK’s best known theatre actors. We also talk about the experience of watching his plays live. It’s summer, after all, and the outdoor Shakespeare festivals are on, and as the Magazine’s tagline suggests: Shakespeare Lives!-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and email at [email protected]. -------Shakespeare links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Cordelia’s interview with the four actors who played King Lear is here. – Explore 28 great Shakespeare mysteries here: https://on.ft.com/4ccEz7p – Unravelling the secret history of the red book of Hamlet: https://on.ft.com/3x5ZFFP– Who was Shakespeare? What do we really know about his life? https://on.ft.com/4cgvfzm– Here’s Cordelia’s column on Love Island being like the Elizabethan court: https://on.ft.com/3x6CkDT– Lilah recommends the new Bat for Lashes album, The Dream of Delphi. Here’s Arwa’s profile of her: https://on.ft.com/4ely8Rc– Cordelia Jenkins is on X @CordeliaJ. Matt Vella is @mattvella-------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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is it like to build an Oscar-winning film set on one of the most meticulously-designed action movies of all time? Jacinta Leong did just that on Mad Max: Fury Road, and she’s back again as an art director on Furiosa, which is out now in theatres. Director George Miller’s prequel to Fury Road, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, is set in the same desert wasteland as the previous Mad Max movies. It also repurposes many of the same machines in Fury Road. Jacinta brings us behind the scenes, and tells us how the creative team built them. -------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and on email at [email protected]. We are grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify. And please share this episode with your friends!-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – The FT’s review of Furiosa is here: https://on.ft.com/4bRJue4-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandartRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, in a first for our Friday chat show, we take on a video game! Two avid gamers join us to discuss What Remains of Edith Finch: novelist Naomi Alderman and FT political columnist Stephen Bush. The game follows the title character as she returns to her childhood home to discover what happened to her family. And it’s considered a model for what storytelling games can do. Naomi is the author of bestselling novels The Power and The Future, and a game designer herself. So does Edith Finch hold up? And what can games teach those of us creating in other mediums? -------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and email at [email protected]. -------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Naomi Alderman is the author of novels including The Power (2016) and The Future (2023). You can find her games, including Zombies, Run! and Doctor Who: Borrowed Time, here.  – A recent FT magazine piece, ‘Are video games coming for the novel?’ by Imogen West-Knights: https://on.ft.com/4e8qIkk – Stephen Bush on why UK politicians should value video game designers: https://on.ft.com/4e1rGPc – Naomi is on X @NaomiAllthenews and Stephen Bush is @stephenkb. Stephen also writes the FT’s daily Inside Politics newsletter. Sign up here for witty, insightful UK election coverage– For those who are looking to get into games, Stephen and Naomi recommend Disco Elysium (2019), Flower (2009) and Citizen Sleeper (2022). – Naomi recommends Leech by Hiron Ennes-------Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art listeners are here: http://ft.com/lifeandartRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Women’s basketball is having a big moment. Take this stat: the final game in the US women’s college NCAA playoffs in April had more viewers than the Academy Awards. And those college stars, such as Caitlin Clark, have just brought that rabid fandom to the professional league. The WNBA has seen a huge rise in viewers, ticket sales and fans. So what impact is this having on culture? The FT’s US sports business correspondent Sara Germano brings Lilah to a WNBA game to explore how women’s basketball became so popular, and what it all means.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and on email at [email protected]. We are grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify. And please share this episode with your friends!-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Sara’s article about the WNBA and superstar Caitlin Clark: https://on.ft.com/457HTym– Here is the WNBA schedule in case you’re considering seeing a game in person: https://www.wnba.com/schedule?season=2024&month=all– Sara is on X @germanotes-------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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The spicy Netflix series Bridgerton is currently the most-watched show globally on Netflix, after the first half of season three dropped this month. The period drama, produced by Shonda Rhimes, came out in 2020 with some wink-to-camera self- awareness. But this season feels more earnest. Why is the show so popular, and what are we craving from period dramas now? Lilah is joined by the FT’s US financial editor and historical romance expert Brooke Masters and work and careers writer/TV buff Emma Jacobs, to chat through it. -------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and on email at [email protected]. We are grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify. And please share this episode with your friends!-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – The first 4 episodes of Bridgerton season 3 are available now on Netflix. The next four will air on June 13.– The FT’s review of Bridgerton is here: https://on.ft.com/452Gs45 – Listen to our episode with Brooke Masters on Jane Austen here, or by searching ‘Jane Austen, forever’ wherever you listen.– Brooke Masters is on X @brookeamasters. Emma Jacobs is @emmavjMore or Less: – Emma wants to see fewer recipes with maple syrup on Instagram. Read more on the ‘maple-pocalypse’ here– Brooke wants fewer musicals based on classic films. Our Mean Girls episode is here– Lilah wants more cooking with eggplant 🍆. Her eggplant dip recipe: grill the eggplant whole, to an inch of its life (no tautness!). Grill some garlic, too. Peel the eggplant, chop it into cubes, add the garlic (minced), chopped fresh white onion, lots of salt, too much lemon, good olive oil, and some parsley. Let it sit for a bit, then eat!Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Actress Gaby Hoffmann grew up in New York in the 1980s, in the famed Chelsea Hotel, among misfits and creatives. In the new Netflix series Eric (out May 30) she plays the mother of a young child who goes missing, also in 1980s New York. The show stars Benedict Cumberbatch among others, and explores what happens when adults, and city institutions, fail children. She joins Lilah to talk about similarities between this series and her own childhood and how good acting can help “invite people deeper into themselves”.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and on email at [email protected]. We are grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify. And please share this episode with your friends!-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Eric is on Netflix May 30– The Joan Armatrading song is called ‘Love and Affection’ (1976): https://youtu.be/sBohO1zr7jw – Gaby’s sister Alexandra Auder wrote a book about growing up in the Chelsea Hotel. It’s called Don’t Call Me Home– Here’s the Fresh Air episode Lilah mentioned: https://www.npr.org/2016/10/10/496958090/i-never-set-out-to-be-an-actor-says-transparent-star-gaby-hoffmann -------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 GiovincoAudio credits this week go to A&M Records and UMG RecordingsRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Billie Eilish’s new album Hit Me Hard and Soft has been hailed by critics as her best album yet. She describes it as an “album-ass album”, meant to be listened to in its entirety, but it’s also provocative: it takes on fame and body-shaming ("People say I look happy just because I got skinny") and women she wants to please (“I could eat that girl for lunch, she dances on my tongue”). So what do we think? Lilah is joined by two experts, the FT’s music writer Arwa Haider and US media business correspondent Anna Nicolaou, to discuss the role Billie plays in our pop pantheon.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and on email at [email protected]. We are grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify. And please share this episode with your friends!-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – The FT’s four-star review of Hit Me Hard and Soft, by Ludo Hunter-Tilney: https://on.ft.com/4bP4rWH – Arwa’s latest review is of the album A La Sala by Khruangbin, a mash-up of “Iranian rock, Jamaican dub and Thai folk”: https://on.ft.com/4dPdFnN – For more from Anna, listen to our recent episode ‘Why Olivia Rodrigo might be our last pop star’. Search where you get your podcasts or click here– Arwa is on X @arwahaider. Anna is @annaknicolaouMore or less: – Arwa wants more Arabic diaspora voices. She recommends British-Lebanese DJ Salia (here’s Habibi Riddim), Lebanese singer songwriter Yasmine Hamdan and Palestinian-Canadian artist Nemahsis– Lilah wants to see people use more stuff in your home: read your books, eat your food, wear your clothes. The book she picked up, which she recommends, is called Subway Lives: 24 Hours in the Life of the New York City Subway, by Jim Dwyer– Anna wants less social media, especially around oat milk bashing.-------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 Giovinco. Clips this week are courtesy of InterscopeRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After more than 25 years reviewing art, the Financial Times’ US art critic Ariella Budick is full of sage advice on how to approach museums and exhibitions, and how to discover our personal taste. Her biggest tip is that art is a form of communication, “a cry in the wilderness”, and “you’re just listening”. So don’t run to the wall label and forget to look at the work. Approach the art first, then see if it sparks you to learn more.-------We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and on email at [email protected]. We are grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify. And please share this episode with your friends!-------Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): – Ariella’s recent review of a Renaissance mysteries exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://on.ft.com/3WKBhUl– Her take on the Joan Jonas retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York: https://on.ft.com/3K4SGzK– The review of Hannelore Baron that she mentioned: https://on.ft.com/4bI9NCW – Ariella also recently published her MoMA top 10 picks: https://on.ft.com/3UIOSZK-------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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.