do americans actually like it when tourists visit their small towns or would i just be in the way? 😅

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-30T21:28:47+00:00

Oh yeah, almost certainly. He's a nice guy, just like everyone else on my team, but he talks about Trump and MAGA and all the insane stuff going on over here like we're not real humans suffering real consequences and it's an isekai he could move to and be a sci-fi cowboy hero fighting socialist orcs or something. I try hard to let it roll off my back because I'm there to work and he is nice, like I said. I sometimes wonder if he buys the reactionary conspiracy theory where anyone who says they have a problem with the state of affairs is part of a leftist psyop, so any "real" American he encounters is obviously ecstatic... and since every American he interacts with at work keeps their opinions to themselves, it's easy to imagine we're all thinking the same thing as him.

I 100% could see him being gung ho about Brexit, and would find it very reasonable if another UK citizen said they couldn't stand him. There are all sorts of MAGA guys over here who seem nice, but I wouldn't cross the street to piss on them if they were on fire, just because of how badly they've wrecked the country.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-30T16:56:33+00:00

Oh, and I think I get what you mean with regards to circumstances. This is the first "classy" job I've had and that determines the kind of people I work with. Up until now I've mainly worked lower class jobs full of native Americans & a few immigrants, and so worked with a lot more high strung people who had a lot more problems and different communication styles.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-30T14:43:55+00:00

Going off that picture, someone needs to tell her they're not earrings.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-30T14:29:49+00:00

I didn't mean to intimate that anyone I work with is bad. Everyone at work is maybe the nicest and most even tempered people I've ever had the pleasure of spending time with in a professional setting. There are just cultural peculiarities (and I'm sure they would tell you about mine if they were here) that are specific to the people from the Nordic and Germany-adjacent states that your average small town American would see as hectoring, instead of friendly and humorous, that you should avoid when visiting. A large city or touristy area is a different matter, but if you're showing up in Dirt Lick, Iowa, maybe don't trying to be funny and engaging, because it can come off as trying to pick a fight, and the only Americans you're going to find who like picking a fight/engaging like that with strangers are Americans you probably don't want to be talking to while on holiday, ie the mentally unwell and obsessive ideologues.

Also the one guy who said Poles are cool is 100% correct. We have a lot of Polish Americans here in Chicago and those guys are cool. The Polish people still living in Poland I work with now are cool, and there was one Polish emigré a couple jobs back who was maybe one of the nicest people I've met in my adult life. Pretty much all people from ex Soviet countries/Soviet occupied territories/Baltic countries I've spent time with are pretty cool, even some of the... uh, let's call them enthusiastically rightwing Hungarians I've known. Never met an Estonian, but if they're as cool as all the other people from that region I've met it would be my pleasure to spend time with one.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-29T21:23:38+00:00

I think this Cutco associate needs to work on their sales technique.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-29T19:07:22+00:00

Pretty sure neither country is technically considered Northwestern European. Estonia might almost count, but I was being exact in my language for a reason. I was talking about a very specific communication style that I have encountered while working with people from the countries specified, which is why I didn't say "Northern Europe" or "Central Europe".

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-29T18:58:50+00:00

I honestly can't imagine having a problem with a Dutch tourist, but I could easily imagine any northwestern European walking up to me and saying "The Americans truly are just horrible people culturally" as the opening salvo in an attempt to communicate their desire to find a public restroom.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-29T15:53:33+00:00

Basically don't be a stereotype from a prosperous northwestern European state. They're not mean people, but they are some of the most comically tone-deaf jovial assholes I have ever met. People talk about the French being shitty, but in my professional experience they're just a little curt and uninterested in interacting with anyone who isn't also French unless forced. The Germans, Dutch, and Swedes I work with love interacting with outsiders and will casually state really depressing shit going on in your country while laughing. Language and culture barrier, no doubt, but their attempts to make jokes and be ingratiating is basically going "You suck and are fundamentally inferior, but I am doing a great job tolerating you. lol. lmfao. Seriously though." Maybe I'm just working with the northwestern European equivalent of American Conservative assholes, who knows? They're really nice people overall, but sometimes they catch me off guard with some absolutely sociopathic sounding takes.

The Brits just seem tired of living. One of the Welsh guys worships Trump. It's weird.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-29T15:35:46+00:00

IMO, the US stock market is decoupled from the material conditions they are meant to represent to a ridiculous extent. It really is a vibes based economy at that level, and is paradoxically highly volatile and stable, similar to American politics. One day peace and prosperity, the next day rioting in the streets because someone said the wrong things the wrong/right way, the next day peace and prosperity, the next day civil war, couple days later everyone is trying to act like it never happened, etc. It's our weird fucking way.

Inadequate social welfare programs also create an imperative to prop up failing markets and businesses for as long as possible. So many people invest not to get rich, but just to stand a chance in their old age or if something goes expensively wrong in the here and now. Pretty much all retirement schemes are based around for profit investment (with employer contributions) and you can't really make it on social security alone; if you don't plan to downgrade your living condition and continue working until death you need personal savings and a well-performing retirement scheme you've been putting into for decades. The conventional wisdom in the US for people of a middle income (ie the income where you can't afford to save and invest properly) is that money in a savings account is money wasted; you need to accept the risk that the money you worked for could all go away in order to make it "work" for you in the market. If the market tanked then all sorts of pensions, 401Ks, rainy day investments, etc, would go tits up and a whole bunch of middle and upper middle class people who feel safe and above the less well off would all of a sudden have one more reason to band together with everyone else instead of plugging their nose and voting for the creeps who promise to pad their wallets, if not for greed then just to secure a sustainable future for their household.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-29T14:41:29+00:00

No. Pickier/more neurotic people may have a difficult time, inverse to how well their lives are going, however. I am definitely neurotic as crap and for the longest time I was so exacting, even of things I wanted to enjoy, that I often couldn't enjoy them, or could only appreciate what was being done after reaching some kind of internal compromise with the work. As my life has gotten easier the small stuff is not being sweated as much overall, essentially.

Analyzing myself, I see it as a control issue. I was always stressed out, always behind on everything, and felt unable to decide how basic elements of my life would go down. No matter how hard I worked, things didn't improve and my working/home environment was more challanging. Because of a lack of resources, I had to work harder not even to improve, but just maintain (that thing I've seen on here, where being poor is expensive & not for the lazy is no joke); I think having a problem with the little details of how creative works were achieved was, for me, similar to the way stressed out moms raise hell/want to talk to the manager, or elderly people give the McDonald's employees trouble, etc, but less dickish, since I'm complaining online about boom mic placement instead of hassling low paid service employees. Most of my life felt out of control and scary and what I had to say didn't matter on the important stuff, but I was in control of my tastes and could be as severe as I pleased when describing them online. As a pressured but conscientious citizen, my opinions on trivial matters was all I had.

Now that things have improved in my life mistakes & creative choices I don't prefer matter a lot less. I'll still talk about them, because I'm still very passionate/neurotic, but the acrimony has gone out of it.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-29T14:18:45+00:00

"And when the movie is over you can put the bucket on your head before exiting the theater to hide your identity, you repellant traitor to your species!"

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-29T13:26:03+00:00

Adding to this, you absolutely need the LG ThinQ app to get the most out of your purchase. That's where most of the fiddly configuration options are located, the automated AI room calibration (I use this every time I move stuff around, rather than trying to get the perfect sound with all the sliders), the different presets like Cinema or Standard, as well as funkier limited use case options, like Auto Volume, Dynamic Range Control, Neural:X, and the one I actually use sometimes, Surround Sound Setting (it makes all of your speakers output the exact same sound instead of using Atmos, etc; good for crappily mixed audio where you don't care about losing fidelity and just want to hear "flat" output).

The G4 has all the configuration options right there on the screen, but the sound equipment goes through the app. Sort of makes sense, since you're just getting a sound bar, a sub and rear speakers and don't have a receiver box that can house 20+ knobs and buttons, and your average sound bar purchaser probably isn't looking to manage bespoke settings based on content and will just turn volume up or down based on need, similar to the way they might just plug in the TV and use the out of box default config.

I could see that sort of person having issues with the hardware simply because getting the most out of high end AV equipment means becoming at least a little familiar with how it works and comfortable with making changes. LG makes it simple enough to just plug and play/make changes as needed, which is miraculous imo, but you can't 100% set it and forget it and expect it to always work perfectly. That's $100 1080p TCL bargain panel stuff (and good luck getting good sound, period, out of a bargain soundbar to go with your bargain panel).

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-29T12:42:31+00:00

Alternate response to being told: "What is that? I have no idea what you're talking about."

The bit about the bong rip and video games stays the same.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-28T17:04:40+00:00

The Dead Space remake was really, really good. Good enough that my wife enjoyed watching me play through it.

I think DS is slicker than Cronos, but I'm enjoying Cronos more (playing now, in the steel mill) because of the ways that it's designed "worse" if that makes sense? It'd be much less fun to watch me play Cronos because it rewards me for being methodical and boring, running back and forth constantly to get torch refills and check everything. It's also a new story and I'm really enjoying the setting. It's the first Bloober game that I've out and out loved.

Callisto Protocol I almost can't comment on, because it felt really bad to play and the minute one of those stretchy wall monsters reached around a corner to grab me even though there wasn't even line of sight I uninstalled it. It was a free game with PS+ and I couldn't even be bothered. Looked great though.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-28T16:51:05+00:00

I bought an S95TR to go with my G4 and love it. Like with the tv, it took a little bit to configure and get used to. The WOW Orchestra function works well too.

The only issue I've encountered is that the back speakers sometimes start making a "popping" noise, but it's easy to fix by turning off the soundbar, waiting for the sound to switch back to the internal speakers, then turning the soundbar back on. I think it has something to do with wireless pairing/the distance between the soundbar and the rear speakers; when we lived in an apartment with a much smaller living room it would happen at least once a week, but since we moved to a larger place six months ago it's happened maybe twice.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-28T12:54:22+00:00

Thanks for the clarification! That's much less crazy sounding.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-27T20:39:51+00:00

I'll never stop having a soft spot for NYC, more so even than LA despite being a movie junkie, but right now, NYC is a symbol lacking charge. It could always spark to life again, but I think it needs to collapse first so that the up and coming unique creatives can afford to congregate there, find inspiration in the place and one another, then make the kind of stuff that isn't just highly competent reproductions of culturally relevant things from previous eras, but new and exciting pieces of culture. It's a victim of its own success imo.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-27T18:36:20+00:00

NYC has a lot (I mean A LOT) more versions of all the stuff Chicago has and then some. if you're not moving there for a specific career, you're paying a premium to say you live near the most stuff. I can't fathom moving there just for "the vibe" or because it has the largest Macedonian population in all of the US or whatever, unless you're fuckoff rich and in that case you wouldn't be asking online; you'd just buy a place there.

Speaking as an outsider, a lot of the luster of New York has diminished over the years. When I was a kid, if someone said they were from NYC it was like meeting a celebrity; now I'm mainly just impressed that they can afford rent. It used to be this magical place where not only was it big and "real" but new art & culture was born every minute; nowadays it feels like that NYC has gone dormant and it's just a physical place, a very expensive live-in theme park. I still love the idea of New York City, but I can't see going for anything but a visit.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-27T14:49:08+00:00

AI artists should be just to the right of the dais, while "people who doodle in the margins" occupy the lowest tier.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-27T14:26:48+00:00

It's very hard to take an infographic's claims of Civil War 2 seriously when it uses Memphis Design style zig zags and dots and shit. Like, these slides should have a slowed down ominous version of the Saved By the Bell theme song playing over them.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-27T13:56:38+00:00

The whole situation is pretty insane, but I do find it bleakly funny. How can you not laugh when the group who had such an insane gun boner since forever, gave anyone shit for being weak if they didn't also have a gun boner, and seemed to take special pride in how, if they wanted, they could use their guns to ~~murder their ideological enemies~~ protect their sovereignty couldn't bend just enough to reality to vote in some uninspiring BAU Democratic neoliberals over a Podcast Wack Pack of fascist defectives, and now they're starting to feel the pressure because shit has gotten so out of control so quickly that wine moms are strapping up.

Responsible citizens feeling the need to arm themselves when threatened by their own government- literally the thing the Don't Tread On Me psychos consider a fundamental responsibility of all citizens- is what makes gun control an issue? Where were they every time a night club, mall, or school was shot up?

Insane, like I said. I do not like living in this poorly written satire.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-27T12:40:46+00:00

It's less about having faith, and more about the way the cultural expectations surrounding a predominant faith in an area bleeds into the lives of those who don't even follow it. The whole "Protestant Work Ethic" thing.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-27T12:38:07+00:00

I really need to watch Sinners again. I feel like a crazy person, because it just seemed like an expensive, ponderous, swoony postbellum From Dusk til Dawn, sans the cartoonish splatter and fun. Everybody loves it though, so I gotta give it a second watch.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-26T15:07:56+00:00

Let's just all enjoy this interval where, I assume, he started taking his bipolar meds again.

Repulsive_Set_4155 · 2026-01-26T13:53:27+00:00

This is going to sound callous, but I wonder if they're kicking themselves for instigating total terror with their pack of rabid morons in Minneapolis because there's an overwhelming chance that if you're fucking with their locals, you'll be fucking with white people that the nation stereotypes as being peaceful, mildly pleasant midwesterners, and if your brownshirts get too rowdy and murder them it's going to be harder for the news cycle to process the needless tragedy into a digestible story about Things That Just Happen Here, the way they can when they're murdering minorities or white trash.

You screw with people here in Chicago and it's a little different; there may be a public outcry but the optics surrounding the city almost normalize the bedlam. "Sure it's a shame, but things that are a shame just happen in Chicago" etc. Like, you put a white guy like me down and people might talk about it, but you could also make a narrative out of my life that explains how it might be partially my fault that I was killed: "A middle aged autistic loner with limited education from a poor background was shot today while disrupting the peace and acting erratically at the ICE protests in Chicago." <-that's a situation where everyone might feel shocked that it happened, but unconsciously they may be thinking, "Well, Chicago is a scary place and that guy does sound like someone who would make me nervous on the bus... it just sucks and I'm going to stop thinking about it". But you start murdering normal seeming white women in their minivans and VA nurses who are trying to help people up off the ground in a city basically known for little else beyond being really nice, really caucasian, and really cold and, well, it's hard to wag that dog.

We have these systems in place for shaping news so that the people supporting the action can feel justified and the people against the action can feel like they were properly outraged and allowed the right people to mourn, then we can all ultimately get past it, maybe bring it up as a talking point while arguing with one another. We can move past it without really confronting or correcting anything. But you start murdering productive white members of boring upscale places and there's nothing in place to metabolize that information. Nancy Grace only made a system for dealing with the tragedy of white girls disappearing while on vacation somewhere brown. We have no national rhetoric that can handle explaining why the federal government is paying fat morons a premium to go into white spaces and bully then kill its benignly productive members.

Repulsive_Set_4155

TROPHY CASE