Away from keyboard, but not really.

I want to apologize first off for not having uploaded any blog posts. Events in my personal life became too overwhelming for me to indulge in the things that I do in my leisure time. But, I promise I have about four separate posts that I have drafted up that just need to be edited and uploaded which I plan to be more consistent about.

Sometimes reality gets in the way of my movie watching and book reading. But summer is upon us! I have one part-time job at the moment and am taking two spring courses at my university so I have lots of time to watch movies and talk about them here with whoever will read. I don't have Internet at my house right now which means I'm watching a lot more DVDs with roommates and reading.

Since the winter season has ended, so have most of my favourite television shows. Over the past couple months I have been keeping up to date with... Girls (HBO), How I Met Your Mother, New Girl, The Big Bang Theory, Grey's Anatomy, Community, Glee, and Game of Thrones and Mad Men, which are still currently releasing episodes. I know... I watch quite a bit of television. But seriously, I've put in eight seasons worth of investment into How I Met Your Mother to give up on finding out who the mother is.

In terms of my popular culture indulgences right now... I just finished watching all the episodes currently released for Community. (Oh man, this show gets more and more glorious every time I watch it. I don't know if I'll ever be able to talk about it without being biased on here though). As well, my great fascination with Game of Thrones has led me to read the books which the show is based on, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin.

I was expecting the books to be far more difficult to read than they actually are, which of course was a pleasant surprise. But having already seen the show and knowing what's coming has resulted in me taking my time in reading the books. But I want to so badly to catch up to where the television show is and read ahead. Which conflicts with the fact that I'm a slow reader and the books are unbelievably long at 800 pages for the first book. But I am determined to get through what has been released of the series by the end of the summer. I know this is a big feat to take on, but it's worth it.

In other recent popular culture experiences of mine, I went to my first real concert at the Sound Academy in Toronto to see Paramore! They are one of the only bands whose songs I know all the words to. Unfortunately, at about 5 feet tall, standing concerts prove to be quite an unfortunate experience for me. I couldn't see the band for most of the concert but hearing them live was worth it. I do hope they come back to Toronto again soon so I can make sure I'm front and centre to ensure optimal vision.

Other than that, nothing too exciting has come my way. I eagerly await season five of Community, frantically try and get through Game of Thrones, and try to find some more television shows to watch during the summer. If anyone has any recommendations, please leave a comment. And I will write soon!

The Infamous Women's Magazine

It's a Friday night and I'm taking the evening to relax with my roommates. Watching some Food Network, drinking a smoothie, and casually flipping through a Cosmo that my roommate just bought. I flip through the first couple pages and I wonder "WHERE IS ALL THE CONTENT?!?"

I've never really been one to buy magazines (being a student, I just look at everything online), but wow, I forgot how many advertisements are in these things!

Right off the bat we got the one and only Ms. Natalie Portman, looking as lovely as always, laying next to a bottle of Miss Dior perfume. It isn't till about page 37 that I realize that most of what I just read or flipped through (cause there's nothing to read) are just advertisements of stuff that I can't even afford!
What. Is. Happening?! Who is the target audience for these types of magazines, I wonder. So of course, I do a quick ol' Google search. Ah! Just as I should have suspected, 18-39 year old, WHITE, UPPER CLASS women... Well, I fit two of those descriptions. My roommate doesn't even fit this description.

Part of me didn't even want to continue reading. What's the point? It's going to be filled with useless information because whatever they're selling me or the lifestyle they want me to live is one that is unaffordable and therefore unattainable! Yet, I find myself wanting to indulge and continue reading anyways. Can you blame a girl for wanting to know what the newest spring trends are even if I can't afford them? Or reading those hilarious confessions section of the magazine?

But really, there needs to be more of an emphasis on content as opposed to advertisements. Could this be a sign that the magazine industry might not survive much longer?

Welcome to The Study Room!

If you're a TV junkie like me and my friends, I really do hope that you understand why I named my blog "The Study Room". If you have no idea what that is a reference to and have a love for all things popular culture, go watch Community (it's on Netflix), you won't regret it.

Essentially what this blog will be is a compilation of my reviews on television shows, movies, and books. As well, any other popular culture event that I feel I have a strong opinion on.

This would be a good time for a short introduction of myself. My name is Rucha (pronounced Roo-Cha), I am 21 years old and currently attending Brock University in my 3rd year majoring in Popular Culture. So... You know... I'm pretty smart and all when it comes to movies and TV and junk.

I love learning about new films and television shows all the time. I want to ensure you that I will not just be talking about how much I looooove Pretty Little Liars because the girls are sooooooo pretty and I want their lives. (Even though I do). But this blog will be more of an attempt to be critical about texts that I like but also ones that I don't like.

The aim will be to update at least once a week and more if I feel the urge to talk about something really important. This is a fun, pop culture reference loving space. I hope you will enjoy what I have to say and feel comfortable enough to share your loves with me too!