10 Shows to (Hopefully) Watch in 2008: #10-8

Cultural Learnings’ 10 Shows to (Hopefully) Watch in 2008 is a list which reflects not the best series to possibly air in the calendar year, but rather those which shall prove most interesting to watch both in terms of the show itself and the buzz surrounding it. Some shows have made this list due to [...]

The Amazing Race – Season 12, Episode 8

“Honestly, They Have Witch Powers or Something!”
December 30th, 2007
While I took last week off in order to spend some time Christmasing with the family, I did watch as Kynt and Vyxsin were saved by the first non-elimination round in Florence, Italy. Their meltdown was an unfortunate one, struggling to overcome both personal tensions and unfortunate [...]

Ringing in the New Year in Front of the TV – The Start of 2008 at Cultural Learnings

While it may not sound productive to my thesis advisor or to those who remain concerned about my academic future, there’s nothing like television to bring productivity back to the forefront after the lethargic post-Christmas period. In what is normally a fairly quiet time for television, as series go on extended hiatuses until mid-January in [...]

Happy Holidays from Cultural Learnings!

Hey everyone,
Hope all is well this holiday season! I have to apologize for not being able to bring you end of year retrospectives and the like, but my real life has taken a turn for the hectic. The result was a whirlwind of essays, exams, theses, and just about everything else under the sun. I [...]

Season Finale: Dexter – “The British Invasion”

“The British Invasion”
December 16th, 2007
I don’t quite have time for a complete analysis of Dexter’s 2nd season finale, but I was going to be making this argument anyways and felt that it would be best served here. In short, Dexter’s 2nd season was a strongly-conceived second season which features more fantastic acting from Michael C. [...]

The Women of ‘Mad Men’: An Essay

[So, admittedly, I had wanted to write about Dexter today, but I am simply not going to have time. In short, finale is good, but I have some serious issues with the season as a whole that keep my from joining the hype train. However, I can offer you the following: it's my Lit. Theory [...]

Because They Won’t Complain About Themselves – The 2008 Golden Globe Nominations

I won’t lie – there are many things that are capable of interrupting my academic productivity and resulting in a lengthy blog post. As of late, this list has been shrinking with the loss of original programming, and with some of that original programming just becoming uninteresting (Heroes, I am looking in your direction). However, [...]

Pushing Daisies – “Corpsicle”

“Corpsicle”
December 12th, 2007
While I am still smack dab in the middle of end-of-term essays and exams at this stage, I couldn’t help but take an hour out of my evening to watch tonight’s Fall Finale of Pushing Daisies. Considering its procedural structure, I think sometimes we as viewers take for granted the rather deft hand [...]

The Amazing Race – Season 12, Episode 6

“Cherry On Top of the Sundae That’s Already Melted”
December 9th, 2007
This will be briefer than in past weeks, but tonight’s episode of The Amazing Race was just so all over the place I feel the need to try to dissect some of it. You see, we are left with six teams at this point which [...]

Let the Academic Hell Begin: Some Cultural Confessions

Yes, folks, it’s been quite some time now since I have been posting here at Cultural Learnings, and I apologize for that – yesterday was our lowest day in six months, so it’s clear that the lack of productivity is hurting big time. Since I still don’t really have time to put together anything all [...]