AAA: Ask America Anything

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Utisz
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AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Utisz » Wed May 19, 2021 6:22 am

I have so many questions.

What's the deal with SNL? I know a lot of talent came through those doors, but it seems kinda crappy? Is it good? Was it good?

Another doubt. I was in California this one time and I bought a six pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon because I never had it but had heard of it and wanted to try it. And people made fun of me, which made me want to buy it more. And then they made fun of me even more with the cashier saying I wasn't from around there. What was that about?

Have to ask about tipping too. Do you always walk around with dollar bills handy? Been to the US twice and my biggest worry was padding my left back pocket with some singles in the airport.

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Senseye
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Senseye » Wed May 19, 2021 5:07 pm

I'm under the impression Pabst Blue Ribbon is a discount brand these days. It didn't start out that way but here we are. So I am guessing they were just chuckling about your desire for what they would consider a low end product.

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starjots
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by starjots » Wed May 19, 2021 7:10 pm

SNL is like popular music, except it is socially minded comedy. So in that respect, you have to develop a taste for it, ideally when younger. When SNL debuted in the 1970s, I thought it was hilarious as did every other kid my age. I still think many of those 70s/early 80s skits are funny (search SNL bassamatic on YouTube). But watching later years from time to time my reaction is ‘meh’ to ‘this is supposed to be funny?’ Much like popular music.

Pabst Blue Ribbon beer is a cheap decent beer that became the stereotypical favorite drink of hipsters in the 2000s. Hence, they laughed at you perhaps because only hipsters buy PBR (hipsters call it PBR). I thought this was an urban legend until I went to a community theater play with many hipsters about and they were all drinking PBR. I tried one, thought it wasn’t bad for the price.**

As far as tipping and travel. Yes, if we fly I feel compelled to carry $10 in ones, a dollar a bag is what I tip if someone touches the bag. It is weird.

**bonus hipster story. We went to a bar once and noticed a fellow dressed in dark horn rim glasses, odd goatee and moustache, vest, jeans etc. It was an odd outfit to catch my attention. A moment later I saw the same guy on the other side of the room — wait! It’s a different fellow dressed identically including hair style, even the same runty build. These were hipsters, dressing to be unique but ending up looking identical. I found that very funny.

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Julius_Van_Der_Beak » Thu May 20, 2021 12:20 am

I feel like the last time SNL was funny was the Dubya's first term. But then, that's when I was in high school. It seems like a show that always seems to be at its funniest when you are in high school/middle school.

Pabst Blue Ribbon is fine for what it is but it's seen as a "hipster beer." Whatever. If you like it, I say drink it.

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SomeInternetBloke
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by SomeInternetBloke » Thu May 20, 2021 2:31 am

Utisz, I used to have friends who could only offer aggressive advice for just about everything. They'd probably tell you that next time grab a wad of your Irish boulders and rummage 'em a bit. Sniff. Do some throat clearing. Be sure to wear your punk rocker jacket. Then they won't question you about the beer. Blacks are notorious for not tipping. If you were a certain type of Irish you could pull that off too. Next!

Make a queue/line, please ...
"My favourite song from one of my favourite albums, Nena asking you to please, please let her be your pirate. So smooth and joyful, I have to listen to it three times if I listen once" - ashi

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Roger Mexico
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Roger Mexico » Thu May 20, 2021 4:52 am

Well, 20 years ago, when I was in college, Pabst was very popular among college students. I think there were a couple of reasons for this:

A. It's very cheap. As far as national brands that you can easily find in any gas station/grocery store/liquor store anywhere in the country, Pabst will usually be the cheapest brand they have, or close to it. Hence, if you're in the age group where you tend to frequently drink in large quantities despite living on a rather small personal income, it has a certain obvious appeal. Not that we don't have many other ultra-cheap beer brands to choose from, but Pabst kind of caught on for a while as one singled out for the reputation of "cheapest beer you can find."

B. Prior to this trend, or in its earlier stages, PBR was not terribly popular among older people, hence we were able to claim it as a distinctive signifier of our unique "youth culture" aesthetics.

C. There was something of a generalized fad about "liking things ironically", and conspicuously advertising a superlative enthusiasm for Pabst worked as a form of this, since it's not like it's actually good (not terrible, either, honestly, but very bland and IMO excessively watery, not that this is surprising considering how little it costs).



SNL has established itself as a cultural institution. Obviously, it's been going for so long that the quality inevitably oscillates a lot as new cast members and writers get cycled in and out, but to some extent I think we all just keep watching it regardless out of ingrained habit.

Even if you don't especially enjoy it, most of the people you know are going to be talking about it all the time, so you'll end up paying attention to it anyway, for one reason or the other.

Plus a quite large number of people have gone on to very successful careers in acting and/or standup after initially getting famous as SNL performers, so there's a customary expectation that it's showcasing the best of up-and-coming new stars at any given time. (Like, even if it's not that great, it's probably the best the American comedy industry has to offer right at that moment.)

I take the point about liking it in high school, though.

Here I was about to say "Hey, it was pretty good in the 90's (with Sandler, Myers, Carvey, Hartman, etc.)" but then that's literally just me saying "It was funny when I was in high school."

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starjots
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by starjots » Thu May 20, 2021 6:26 am


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Madrigal
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by Madrigal » Thu May 20, 2021 4:13 pm

Americans seem to find political satire particularly difficult to pull off without patronizing their audience; maybe it's just the polarization we're seeing these days that leads people to be insufferable blowhards while pretending to be funny, I dunno. And a parody will fail 99.9% of the time, even though people seem to think it's the low-hanging fruit of comedy. So yeah, SNL and every show like it is pretty awful.

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SomeInternetBloke
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by SomeInternetBloke » Thu May 20, 2021 5:21 pm

America, why are there so many Karens minding other's business?
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"My favourite song from one of my favourite albums, Nena asking you to please, please let her be your pirate. So smooth and joyful, I have to listen to it three times if I listen once" - ashi

starla
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Re: AAA: Ask America Anything

Post by starla » Fri May 21, 2021 11:00 pm

Re: tipping, you can tip on your credit card at restaurants. At hotels you can ask for change at the front desk. For people helping with your luggage you need small bills. That’s really the only time I worry about having small bills.

You said you have a lot of questions but only asked three. What else?

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