It’s our first Top 5! In this episode Amanda and Julia share their top 5 favorite non-native English speaking actors. That means that the actors on these lists cannot be from America, Canada, the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand. Amanda and Julia share a bit about who each performer is, their body of work, and what makes them so special.

Movie theaters are back! A full year after the release of Tenet - Christopher Nolan’s eleventh feature film. The film that was supposed to mark the grand re-opening of theaters nation wide. Alas, Christopher Nolan was not able to single-handedly save movie theaters in 2020. So why did Tenet flop? In this episode, Amanda and Julia break down some of the factors that caused Tenet to under-perform. And they discuss their ideas on how to process art that is challenging. What is the line between artistic ambiguity and nonsense? What purpose does Tenet serve, and who is it for?

In America, 40% of people describe their first sexual experience as bad; as opposed to only 10-15% of people in the Netherlands sharing that sentiment. What accounts for such a difference? In this episode Amanda and Julia talk sex, love, and education by unpacking some of the theories put forth by Belgian psychotherapist Esther Perel. They point out that sex education in America is devoted entirely to anatomy and abstinence, without any discussion of communication or feelings. They highlight some of the historical gender myths around sex. And they try to understand why we want more and more from our partners, and what happens when we don’t get everything we need. Then, using the Showtime series Couples Therapy as a backdrop, Amanda and Julia look at ways couples navigate modern relationships - identifying repetitive narratives and giving space for each individual’s personal history.

In this episode Amanda and Julia discuss the emerging data on psychedelic medicine. Prior to becoming illegal in the early 1970’s, psychedelics were studied as a means to treat various different mental health issues. Recently, scientists have begun studying these drugs again, with fascinating and successful results. Amanda and Julia break down some of the ways psychedelics are being tested - highlighting the works of neuroscientist Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris and author Michael Pollan. And finally, they share some of their own experiences with psychedelics, both recreational and therapeutic.

In this episode Amanda and Julia share their thoughts on the complexity of American food. Discussing shows like Netflix’s Ugly Delicious and Hulu’s Taste the Nation, they track how certain immigrant communities have influenced American cuisine and culture. They also investigate the role of cooking shows in shaping modern palettes and popularizing cooking - a historically low-paying and labor intensive profession. Then they touch on some of the dubious ways the food industry has influence narratives around health and diet culture.

This episode of Cultural Cachet deals with the issue of equal pay, highlighting the discrepancy in pay rates between men's and women's professional sports. Using the on-going lawsuit between the USWNT and the US Soccer Federation as an example, Amanda and Julia unpack the impossible metrics to which women athletes are held. And when these metrics are met or exceeded, women athletes are still not justly compensated. How do women’s professional sports suffer due to vast differences in allocation of resources? Why are all of the top 10 highest paid female athletes tennis players? Touching on professions outside of sports, Amanda and Julia try to understand why women’s work is consistently devalued.

Wellness and self-help are ubiquitous in today's culture. But the wellness industry has become ripe for exploitation. What happens when commodification of wellness becomes problematic? In this episode Amanda and Julia discuss lifestyle guru Rachel Hollis's fall from grace. As an author and public speaker, does Rachel have an obligation to practice what she preaches? Then, Amanda and Julia explore the controversy and complexity of Chronic Lyme Disease and its treatments. Sharing personal health history, they try to delicately but honestly probe this seemingly unknowable disease.

The Oscars have come and gone, but the nominated films definitely made an impact. Amanda and Julia breakdown each movie and share what stayed with them, and the power of seeing movies in a theater.

This episode contains brief descriptions of sexual assault and misconduct.

Have you ever wondered what an intimacy coordinator actually does? In this episode, Amanda and Julia break down the history of intimacy coordinators and why they have become so necessary to a production. What happens when we disregard a perfomer’s physical and mental safety during sex scenes? Why are intimacy coordinators only just becoming prevalent after 100 years of cinema history? Touching on past films Last Tango in Paris and Basic Instinct, and current television productions The Deuce, I May Destroy You, and Normal People, Amanda and Julia unpack what happens when professionalism becomes sexy.

Welcome to Cultural Cachet.